24 Nov 2011

CR IP TI ON BS SU

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

Gingrich rises to the fore in Republican debate

Pakistan names new envoy to US in wake of scandal

India’s Tata names successor to iconic boss

Brilliant Barcelona beat Milan to secure top spot

NO: 15278

11 25 20 Police arrest activists

for storming Assembly

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www.kuwaittimes.net

THULHIJJA 28, 1432 AH

Amir calls for restraint, unity • Police break up demo

Max 20º Min 08º Low Tide 04:59 & 16:50 High Tide 11:25 & 22:25

By B Izzak

Remittances by expats trouble Saudi officials DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s suggestion last month that it will try to limit how much money expatriate workers send home showed concern about the cost of having foreigners make up nearly a third of the population.

An estimated 9 million foreign workers and their dependents remitted 26.8 billion riyals ($7.1 billion) out of the country in the second quarter of this year, central bank data shows. That amount was equivalent to 17 percent of Saudi Arabia’s current account surplus at a time of historically high oil revenues.

With the stability of the global financial system threatened by the euro zone debt crisis, and Saudi Arabia keen to use more of its monetary resources domestically under a $130 billion government spending plan announced this year, the outflow of funds may be starting to look uncomfortably large. Saudi Arabia, which wants to develop its economy to reduce its reliance on oil revenue, also appears to be waking up to the opportunity cost of having so much economic output produced by foreigners, most of whose money is not spent or invested within the kingdom.

“The balance of payment considerations are obviously a risk, and they are a structural risk in that if oil prices come down, they would become a challenge,” said Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist of National Commercial Bank in Jeddah.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: Policemen confront opposition protesters including MP Jamaan Al-Harbash during a demonstration outside the General Department of Criminal Investigation in Salmiya yesterday against the arrest of opposition activists over charges of storming the National Assembly last week. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: The public prosecution began late yesterday interrogating about 20 opposition activists for storming the National Assembly building last week after police arrested some of them while others turned themselves in. As the activists were brought into the Palace of Justice, MPs and supporters cheered them. They face charges of breaking into and damaging public property. In a dramatic day, riot police also clashed with a crowd of 250 people who gathered outside the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters in Salmiya in a show of solidarity with the youth activists who are behind bars awaiting investigation.

Special forces with riot gear beat a number of people, and at least one protester was hurt and taken to hospital by ambulance, while Islamist MP Jamaan AlHarbash was beaten and fell to the ground. About 50 lawyers have volunteered to defend the activists and formed defence teams to take up all the cases, coordinator of the defense teams lawyer Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie said. Al-Subaie said police first arrested youth activist Youssef Al-Shatti as he was leaving the country at Kuwait Airport. Later, around 20 other activists who were summoned by police surrendered voluntarily and many others plan to do the same.

“Right now, I am heading to surrender to police. They have called me for interrogation although I was not involved in storming parliament,” Mohammad AlBulaihees, a youth leader, said. “This is a deliberate government policy to arrest opposition youth activists in a bid to silence them,” he added.

Continued on Page 13

Saleh finally signs deal to quit power

SAKHIR, Bahrain: Cherif Bassiouni (second left), head of the commission charged with investigating Bahrain’s uprising, presents a report to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa (second right) in Sakhir Palace yesterday. — AP

Probe finds Bahrain used excessive force No Iran link to unrest found MANAMA: In a stinging blow to Bahrain’s leaders, a special commission that investigated the kingdom’s unrest charged yesterday that authorities used torture, excessive force and fast-track justice in crackdowns on the largest Arab Spring uprising in the Gulf. The head of the panel, Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, also said there was no evidence of Iranian links to Bahrain’s Shiite -led protests. That was a clear rebuke Gulf leaders, who accuse Tehran of playing a role in the 10-month-old showdown in the Western-allied kingdom.

The 500-page study - authorized by Bahrain’s Sunni rulers in a bid to ease tensions - marks the most comprehensive document on security force actions during any of the revolts that have flared across the Arab world this year. It also displayed a stunning image of a powerful Arab monarch facing a harsh public reckoning, as King Hamad bin Isa AlKhalifa listened to a bullet-point summary of the report’s conclusions.

Bassiouni’s summary - presented at a royal palace news conference attended

by Bahrain’s king and crown prince - read like a checklist of complaints by rights groups since February: Middle-of-thenight raids to “create fear,” purges from workplaces and universities, jail house abuses including electric shocks and beatings and destruction of Shiite

mosques that “gave the impression of collective punishment”.

Bahrain’s Shiite-led opposition reacted coolly to the report, some saying it did not go far enough while others complained that those responsible for the abuses remained in office. Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the Shiite Wefaq bloc which quit parliament over the unrest, said: “We cannot say Bahrain is turning a new leaf yet...because the government that carried out all those abuses is definitely not fit to be given the responsibility of implementing recommendations.”

At least 35 people have been killed in violence related to the uprising, including several members of the security forces. It appeared unlikely that even the strong criticism would satisfy opposition forces, who accused the Sunni monarchy of using all methods at its disposal to avoid sharing power with the nation’s Shiite majority. Just hours before the long-awaited report was released, security forces used tear gas and stun grenades in the latest of nearly daily clashes on the strategic island, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Still, the inquest was seen as a bold step in a region of monarchs and sheikhs who rarely acknowledge shortcomings or face uncomfortable criticism in public.

Bahrain’s government promised “no Continued on Page 13

RIYADH: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed a deal yesterday to hand over his powers after 33 years in office, ending months of delay that had seen protests that erupted in January degenerate into deadly unrest.

Saleh promised “real partnership” with the opposition in implementing the Gulf- and UN-brokered agreement, and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who hosted the signing ceremony at his Al-Yamama palace in Riyadh, hailed a “new page” for the impoverished neighbouring country.

But thousands of demonstrators again to took the streets of the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday to protest against the deal’s promise of immunity from prosecution for both Saleh and his family. A spokesman said they rejected the agreement signed in Riyadh. The organising committee of youth protesters said the Gulfbrokered deal “does not concern” protesters, Walid AlAmari told AFP. It called for new demonstrations to demand his immediate departure.

Under the agreement, which Saleh had stalled for months in defiance of intense domestic and international pressure, the veteran leader will hand his powers Continued on Page 13

RIYADH: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh (left) signs a document agreeing to step down yesterday in the presence of Saudi King Abdullah. — SPA

Clashes, 4 more deaths in Egypt

CAIRO: An Egyptian riot policeman fires at protesters during clashes near Tahrir Square yesterday. — AP

CAIRO: The grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, called on Egyptian police yesterday not to shoot on protesters demanding democratic change as four more people died in clashes. As thousands rallied for a fifth straight day in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square - epicentre of the Arab Spring uprising which overthrew veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February - an opinion poll found that 43 percent of Egyptians thought the ruling military was trying to slow down or reverse its gains. The UN human rights chief called for an independent investigation into the “excessive use of force” against demonstrators while world leaders expressed concern.

In the unusually strong statement from Al-Azhar, grand imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyeb said that any dialogue “stained with blood is doomed

and its fruit will be bitter”. Al-Azhar “calls on the police leadership to immediately issue orders not to point their weapons at demonstrators... no matter what the reasons”, Tayyeb said in the recorded address broadcast on state television. It calls “on the armed forces to throw all their weight behind preventing confrontations between one people”, he added. “Al-Azhar also calls on our children in Tahrir Square and all the squares of Egypt to maintain the peaceful nature of their revolution, despite the sacrifices and difficulties they face and to protect all private and public property.”

The statement came as three more people died in clashes with police in and around Tahrir Square, a medic said, and a fourth was shot dead in the northwestern city of Mersa Matruh Continued on Page 13

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

Years

LOCAL

Jollibee to open branch in Kuwait next month Largest international Filipino fast-food chain

By Ben Garcia

Zain hosts party for Filipinos KUWAIT: For the second year in a row, Zain Kuwait, the largest network operator in country, hosted a free of charge social event for the Filipino community attended by 2,500 people including the Filipino ambassador and embassy staff.

The event consisted of a concert and various competitions, the proceeds of which went into a charitable fund to help the outstanding Filipino students within the community to study abroad.

The Company stated that it has strong ties with all the expatriate groups. We recognize that life in other countries is not always easy and we help them stay in touch with family and friends back home.

Helping outstanding students realize their expectations is another way of bring them into Zain’s “wonderful world”. Zain has a proud history of helping the Filipino and other communities as part of its strong corporate social responsibility program.

Attempt to alleviate airport congestion with new plan KUWAIT: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is seriously considering a project to build a hall outside the Kuwait International Airport where passengers can deposit their luggage early before their day of travel, which would significantly reduce the daily pressure on luggage processing areas.

“The DGCA seeks to utilize all efforts and opportunities in order to improve the quality of service and performance of facilities to facilitate travel procedures as much as possible,” said director Fawaz Al-Farah in a statement

announcing plans to built the new hall.

He explained that passengers can bring their luggage to the hall a day prior to their travel so that the weighing of the luggage can be finished early, which would mean they could skip the entire procedure on their day of travel. This project is one of many aimed as boosting the airport’s ability to cope with the increasing aviation activity. Al-Farah further discussed the new terminal building, which is currently under construction, as well as the ongoing project to renovate the current building. — Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: Jollibee, the largest international Filipino fast-food chain, will open its first branch in Kuwait City next month, announced franchisee owner Yacoub I Al-Hajer y-General Manager of Al-Hajery Commercial Bureau Co. “I am very excited to begin with. The restaurant will be turned over to us within the next two weeks and we are in the process of securing visas for 30 trained and experienced Jollibee crews and managers right now. They’ll be here by the first till second week of December,” AlHajery noted. Jollibee is tentatively set to open on Dec 23, although dates are subject to change.

Jollibee is a home brand that many Filipinos identify with, foraying into the fast food business in Manila in 1975. But the taste of Jollibee is more than just a Filipino taste. Rodel Alcantara, Jollibee Foods Corporation Operation Director for International Operation (Middle East) noted Jollibee is not a mere Filipino food brand but an international fast-food chain.

“We are a proud Filipino brand...yes, but we are also an international food brand competing among other top fast-food chains around the world like McDonald’s and Burger King. We have a presence all over the world and I am sure Kuwaitis and other expatriates would love to see Jollibee here again,” he quipped. Jollibee has been in the market for quite some time now. In fact, Jollibee-Kuwait opened its first store in 1994 and lasted till 1999. Jollibee is proud of its latest expansion in the Middle East. “We are currently operating seven branches of Jollibee stores in Saudi Arabia; one in Qatar and there are other places in the Gulf region that will open soon. We have a number of branches in the United States, Vietnam, China and Brunei. So we are expanding and going to expand further,” he added. “Opportunities for expansion are very promising. It is obvious in the Middle East and we are searching for the right and perfect partner like Al-Hajery,” said Alcantara.

He noted that Al-Hajery has waited for about four years to obtain the franchisee for Jollibee Kuwait, not because of anything else, but because of some requirements needed to award the franchise deal. “We’ve got about 75 applicants from Kuwait intending to get the Jollibee franchisee once again, Al-Hajery complied and met with all of necessary requirements including the fact that he loved the Jollibee products. One of our requirements is that the franchisee should believe in the products. Al-Hajery is the perfect partner because he really loved Jollibee products and he has this kind of passion that we really look for.”

Praise for teachers’ civil approach KUWAIT: Teachers adopted a sophisticated approach in pushing for their financial demands and made sure to express their point of view in a civil way, according to Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Khurafi. AlKhurafi commented on the issue during at an event held by the Kuwait Teachers Society to celebrate the enforcement of a teachers allowance, which was passed by the parliament last week. “ This is Kuwait’s democracy,” Al-Khurafi said as he acknowledged the efforts of the Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education, Ahmad Al-Mulaifi. The speaker further added that the government is “working seriously” to settle all other financial demands made by public sector employees in order to end the current strikes and protests.

The event featured commemorations to MPs Marzouq Al-Ghanim, Mohammad Al-Huwailah and Mihkled Al-Azmi for their efforts in pushing the teachers’ general allowance.

Meanwhile, Al-Mulaifi ended his participation abruptly when he walked out in protest after the KTS viewed a documentary explaining the stages that preceded the allowance’s introduction, which reportedly contained some harsh criticisms to the Minister given his stance against the allowance.

Al-Mulaifi had proposed a bonus-based allowance, by which teachers would be paid annual payments based on their level of productivity. —Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: Al-Hajery, second left, with visiting Philippine-based Jollibee senior managers.

— Photo by Ben Garcia Ariel Reyes, Jollibee Research and Development Manager said product testing and other concerns have been approved and tested.

“Having been approved in Saudi Arabia and other major Muslim countries around the world, we are pretty sure that it will be widely accepted here as well. We are ready for Kuwaiti and other expats customers. We will definitely serve 100 percent Halal products, certified by Halal Certification Board of the Philippines,” Reyes asserted.

Jollibee is an American-style fast-food restaurant serving three main flagship recipes; chicken, burgers and spaghetti. The major ingredients will be delivered from the Philippines but local products here will be considered and used for minor recipes. Located behind Kuwait City’s post office, the venue is spacious. It is approximately 550 meters away from the Holy Family Cathedral, the National Evangelical Church and about 100 meters away from a known Filipino Mosque in Kuwait City.

Maxi D. Peralta, Senior Marketing Manager International Operations said Jollibee follows international design concept that allows free movement of customers and crew. Jollibee Kuwait City can accommodate up to 300 customers at the basement, ground and the first level of ‘Albolbul’ building. “The ambiance, decorations used follows the modern concept of Jollibee back in Manila. We call it a neutral and

non-racial environment. We have a separate party room where birthdays and special occasions can be celebrated, that can accommodate up to 60 people,” Peralta opined. There are about 733 Jollibee stores in operation all over the Philippines.

The famous Jollibee mascot in one of its stores in Manila.

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

local

Conference to shed light on cognitive disabilities ‘Kuwait cares for the disabled’

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The first international conference on learning disabilities and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder aims to play a pioneering role in diagnosing and treating cognitive disabilities. The Center for Child Evaluation and Teaching (CCE T ) and the Kuwaiti Association for Learning Differences (KALD) will jointly host the event and a press conference to announce its launch was held

Development Program during a press conference.

Kuwait cares for the disabled. “We have set one of our national projects, a project that deals with the challenges posed by early learning disabilities, through which international and local consultations and experiences can be made use of. This great project will serve many organizations like the Kuwait Autism Association, Kuwait Association for Dyslexia, Kuwait Teachers Association and many others.

KUWAIT: Amal Al-Sayer, Dr. Adam Abdulmaula and Faten Al-Bader.

— Photo by Joseph Shagra yesterday at the UN House in Mishref yesterday. The United Nations is one of the sponsors of the event. “The UNDP in Kuwait is glad to provide with specialized technical consultation for two non-profit organizations that cooperate with organizing the conference. We appreciate the role played by Dr Huda Nuhad Shaaban, a specialist in the field,” said Dr Adam Abdulmaula, Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations

In addition, it also serves some ministries,” added Abdulmaula.

Faten Al-Bader, Director of CCET said, “The conference demonstrates the leadership Kuwait possesses in providing better services to students with AD and/or HD disorder who we firmly believe in. We are capable and have the potential to achieve.

“The weakness lies in the methods used. It is our role to guide teachers, specialists, par-

ents and even students to improve the quality of teaching and create awareness to be part of the community.”

Al-Bader added that the conference will include a number of workshops such as Early Detection, Diagnosis and Assessment and Cognitive Therapy for Students with LD/ADHD among many other sessions that will take place. “ The human mind can be activated through different methods of teaching to be able to retain and understand the information more effectively and efficiently.”

He went on to say, “The long term relationship the center shares with UNDP Kuwait, different non-profit organizations and governmental entities whether at the local, regional, or international levels reflects positively on the organization of the conference as well as the high quality of workshops and lectures that take place during the conference.”

Amal Al-Sayer, Director of KALD elaborated further on the event, “The conferences objectives are mainly to (I) clarify the role of all institutions working in the field of learning disabilities and ADHD in terms of the services provided (ii) improve coordination among all educational institutions and between them and other concerned governmental and non-governmental institutions to better serve the students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD (iii) raise awareness among concerned parties (parents, students, teachers, principals, policy makers) about learning disabilities and/or ADHD; (iv) share experience and expertise in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities and or ADHD; (v) and discover the latest developments in the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities and / or ADHD.” The conference will feature about 19 internationally renowned experts in the fields of Learning Disabilities (LDs) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) who will shed light on the latest development that are of immediate relevance to professional specialists, teachers, parents, students, researchers, and educationists in the public and private sectors.

KUWAIT: The Charge d’Affaires of Royal Thai Embassy Trit Kiriratnikom visited Kuwait Times yesterday and discussed matters of mutual concern with Deputy Editor-in-Chief Dr. M Ziad Al-Alyan and General Manager Badrya Darwish.

Ahmadi residents continue to complain of gas leak KUWAIT: A group of Kuwaiti residents from Ahmadi’s Block One argue that their area remains unsafe for habitation despite (government) assurance that the gas leak issue has been contained.

MPs Ali Al-Omair and Adnan AlMutawaa from the Parliament’s environment committee visited the area as per residents’ request. They complained that the odor of natural gas continues to linger. It also complains about procedures the government has taken to manage the problem since it appeared more than a year ago.

Al-Omair urged the government to request the Kuwait Institution for Scientific Research(KISR) to assign a team of professionals that can gauge the per-

centage of gas composition.

“Residents have the right to demand solutions if traces of gas remain,” he said, adding that the environmental committee will continue to take follow up action on the matter.

The government had evacuated citizens from affected areas to resolve the problem. The residents were each paid an approximate KD 1,000 monthly allowance for renting temporary accommodations. Workers dug up underground pipes to ascertain the source of gas leak.

Earlier this year, the government announced that the problem had been tackled, and hired personnel to fix all the damage done to homes. — Al-Rai

KFAS joins Kuwait Science Fair as honorary founder KUWAIT: The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) has become an honorary founder of the Kuwait Science Fair (KSF), the largest student science competition in Kuwait encompassing over 200 public and private schools in Kuwait.

The KSF was launched in 2008 by ExxonMobil and Kuwait Energy, as part of a shared commitment to inspire students to explore, innovate and excel in the fields of math and science. This year’s competition, is endorsed by the Minister of Oil, Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs and Chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, HE Dr. Mohammed Al Busairi.

KFAS formally joined the competition last year, following the competition’s widespread success in promoting science among the youth in Kuwait. KFAS will provide a grant to support the competition’s drive to encourage students to participate, enabling KSF to offer full educational guidance to each ‘Best 100’ project. KFAS Director of the Scientific Culture Directorate, Dr. Jasem Al Besharah, said: “KFAS supports research, initiatives and individuals who contribute to Kuwait’s scientific and technological advancement. And the surest way to influence future advancements is by working to attract and inspire the young scientists of tomorrow. We are very excited to be working with the KSF team on this very goal.”

The Kuwait Science Fair Managing Director, Aseel Al-Turkait said: “KFAS is one of the major drivers of science and innovation in Kuwait and the Middle East. Having them on board in our student competition is a great honor and

testament to the work of all the students and teachers who had a role in making KSF a success over the last three years.”

Meanwhile, The Scientific Center, an initiative by the KFAS, announced its continued suppor t for the Kuwait Science Fair (KSF), the largest student science competition in Kuwait.

Now in its fourth year, the Kuwait Science Fair is an annual science competition that encourages students from more than 200 public and private schools to develop innovative projects in the fields of math and science over a five-month period. KSF was launched by ExxonMobil and Kuwait Energy in 2008.

The 2011/2012 season kicked off on October 16, 2011 and is held under the patronage of the Minister of Oil and Chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Mohammed Al Busairi.

The Scientific Center’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mijbil Almutawa said: “We are delighted to renew our suppor t for KSF. We believe in the importance of motivating students to excel in science and mathematics and we thank ExxonMobil and Kuwait Energy for this valuable initiative.”

“Throughout its three years running, the KSF has been a great inspiration to hundreds of students in the fields of math and science. Thanks to the continued support from its sponsors, KSF was able to provide students with the opportunity to excel and create very interesting and thought-provoking science projects. We are very excited to kick-off a new year, and look forward to more remarkable innovations,” said Al Mutawa.

Farwaniya medical facilities to undergo expansion KUWAIT: The Far waniya Health Directorate seeks to expand its medical facilities’ capacity at par with rising population. It is currently home to one million people, accounting for 30 percent of the country’s total population. “The bed capacity of Al-Farwaniya Hospital was increased to add 920 beds,” said Dr Saud Al-Derah, Director of Farwaniya Health Directorate. He added other hospital

wings like radiology, laboratories and nuclear medicine will undergo expansion. According to Al-Derah, an average of 1100 patients visit the hospitals clinics every day, while the Trauma Center receives a daily average of 700 patients.

He added that the overcrowding will be resolved soon after the inauguration of a new complex which will have 104 specialized clinics. — Al-Rai

Veiled Kuwaiti doctors not eligible for French scholarships KUWAIT: The Kuwait cultural office in Paris has said that veiled Kuwaiti Doctors will not be able to benefit from any scholarships to study in France. It added that the rule is not because of the law banning the wearing of the Niqab, but is an implementation of a law issued in 2004 that bans the wearing of anything representing religious symbols. The restriction was

noted in a letter from the cultural office to the Civil Service Commission, to warn the Ministry of Health of the rule.

The Ministry of Health had signed a protocol with its French counterpart, which also included a note on not wearing anything with religious indication. The office added that each trainee working in French Hospitals is dealt with as a French employee.— Al-Watan

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

Local KD1.5bn for road development KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works is working to develop the current road networks and build new ones having allocated KD 1.5 billion for a fiveyear plan to build future roads in the country. Saud Al-Naqi, Undersecretary of Road Engineering at the Ministry, said yesterday that the ministry is working within an approved structural framework implemented by the Kuwait municipality to develop first, second, third and fourth ring roads as well

KUWAIT: Lebanese ambassador Dr Bassam Omani held a reception at his embassy on Tuesday to mark the 68th Independence Day anniversary of his country. A number of diplomats and other dignitaries attended it. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

Too many polluters, but too little attention in Kuwait Activists call for quick action KUWAIT: Amid the increasing amount of abuses against the environment individuals and groups alike have been sounding the alarm and striving to draw attention to the many environmental violations in Kuwait, especially those inflicted on the marine environment. ‘Green Line’ is one such group, and its chairman, Khalid Al-Hajri, said yesterday that while the marine environment of the Arabian Gulf region as a whole has suffered significantly in recent years, Kuwaiti waters have suffered the most damage given their geographical location.

Violations include individuals or groups’ discarding any type of waste or unwanted material on the beach, which, according to Al-Hajri, is due to the slack imposition of rules and laws by the authorities, “The Environment Public Authority is at fault here. It is failing to issue fines and impose penalties against offenders even though it has the legal authority to do so.”

Another disaster affecting Kuwait’s waters is the recent malfunction in the Mishref waste water management plant, which resulted in a spill of mass amounts of untreated sewage water into the sea. Al-Hajri added that all living organisms near the points of

disposal of the refuse are now polluted.

Another activist, Faisal AlOmani, said sewage water is the main cause of pollution in Kuwaiti waters. The situation is alarming, he said, as some cling to the now proven-false notion that the sea cleans and heals itself, “Big fish eat smaller fish and the pollutants are, by now, in all organisms’ very cells, from human biological substances to industrial lubricants and chemicals.”

As a more responsible approach, he stressed that sewage refuse could be treated to achieve a two goals at once; there would be less pollution of our waters if the refuse was treated, and the process would yield material which could be used as fertilizer. Worsening the already problematic situation in Kuwait, he said, is that some 300 oil tankers habitually discard lubricants and chemical-tainted water into the sea. The consequences of this, he added, are visible in the reduction of fish resources.

An example of the efforts exerted to quell some of the damage, he said, was placing blocks of cement in certain locations. He and his friends hope that the blocks will prove a suitable habitat for flora

and fauna and that they will serve as the base for expanses of coral at some point in the near future.

Activist Khalid Al-Klaib is also pushing for change in Kuwait by promoting the campaign ‘Kuwait the Oasis,’ which is based on his idea that each family that goes camping will plant a number of seedlings and care for them until the end of the season after which, hopefully, they will be able to survive alone. He said that in 2005, he and a fellow friend planted seedlings haphazardly and noticed a positive end result, “Some 60 percent of the plants thrived, unharmed by the harsh weather.

We chose to plant seedlings in the chalets area and saw positive results there too. We believe we’ve planted 600 trees so far.” Stressing the feasibility of his campaign, AlKlaib said “If each camp of the 40,000 camps we see in the desert each year planted one seedling, and this 60 percent success rate proves true, we would have remarkable results.” Whereas camps now cause pollution, soil erosion, and disappearance of habitats and conditions suitable for indigenous birds and plants, the campaign could provide considerable help in reversing these particular aspects

of damage, as well as reducing dust and providing a greener horizon for all to enjoy, he further added.

Many of the activists are passionate in their criticism of the action, or rather the lack thereof, taken regarding polluters and violations in both the desert and at sea.

Rudaina Abdelghafour, who declares herself an avid lover of the sea, says she cannot enjoy it because of the level of pollution, and most specifically where Kuwait’s islands are concerned. The coral reef is disappearing day by day because of people’s disrespect of the sea and because of the chemicals left behind by oil tankers and other vessels.

It is time the authorities took a tougher stance on such violations, she stressed, adding that it is time for more thorough monitoring and accountability. This lack of accountability was also pointed out by Jasem Ashkanani, who noted that the stench that assails us at many locations on our coastline attests to the level of pollution. In a statement, which echoes the beliefs of those interviewed, Abdelghafour exclaimed, “Reckless people will continue to act recklessly, unless they are held accountable for their actions.” —KUNA

as Jamal Abudalnasser and Jahra streets. The Ministry is also developing the west part of the Fifth Ring Road and building new roads to ease off traffic jams in some of the areas such as Abdullah Al-Mubarak, South Jahra, Mangaf, Sabahiya and Qairawan. New roads will also be built during the Ministry’s five-year-plan such as an Eighth Ring Road, regional highways, a Doha conjunction and the Jaber Al-Ahmad Bridge. —KUNA

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

LOCAL

Local Spotlight

in my view

Egypt needs a strong leader

Enjoying the weather

Muna Al-Fuzai

By Lisa Conrad

muna@kuwaittimes.net lisa@kuwaittimes.net

T

he stifling heat usually associated with much of the Gulf is finally subsiding for the year. Outdoor seating areas have become more popular, and suddenly more pedestrians are populating the once-empty streets. What’s more, daily routines have become considerably lighter as tasks such as remembering sunscreen, sunglasses and fearing the burn of a piping hot steering wheel in the morning are no longer necessary.

Having been born and raised in the UK, I found it extremely surreal to, for once, enjoy seeing the rain.

Walking by the sea one evening, I wasn’t at all phased as a light drizzle started coming down. Had I been in the UK, it would have been such an annoyance to see rain pouring down. The difference now, however, was most welcome, and I’m quite sure I’m not the only one relieved that the summer has finally come to an end. Bloggers report rainfall the same way Brits used to rejoice at the tiniest sight of sun, whipping out tank tops and filling

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Kuwait, however, is already incredibly well-adapted at accommodating indoor activities. All of the malls allow light to stream in and keep the atmosphere fresh and light, and very few tasks require you to actually step out of your car into the oftentimes harsh climate. parks in the hope of getting a tan. What’s strange, however, is that unlike sunshine, very little can be done in the rain and it usually works to keep you indoors as opposed to out. Kuwait, however, is already incredibly well-adapted at accommodating indoor activities. All of the malls allow light to stream in and keep the atmosphere fresh and light, and very few tasks require you to actually step out of your car into the oftentimes harsh climate. The difference felt here is in the air, the streets and sky as they all appear seemingly refreshed by the changing seasons.

Activities can continue as normal and, for once, citizens and residents alike are no longer bemoaning having to stay indoors. What’s more, for those who do enjoy sitting in the rain, cafes are happily promoting covered outdoor seating areas for punters to revel the rare occurrence of light, tolerable weather.

In the uncommon event of someone actually praising Kuwait’s weather, I must admit that it is very nice to see the seasons change and be able to enjoy the distinct differences between them. Much of Europe has sporadic weather. Western Europe especially, suffers from frequent, heavy rainfall that strikes during spring, summer, autumn and winter alike. Kuwait, at least, is relatively predictable. You know that in summer it will be extremely, extremely hot but you also know that once that period ends, you’ll genuinely appreciate a lighter climate and the new activities that come along with it. It all depends on your preference, of course, but as someone accustomed to pouring, plan-ruining rain and harsh, bitter winds, it’s quite refreshing to see cooler weather interpreted and enjoyed in such a different way here.

in my view

Who do we entrust our fate with?

By Hussain Al-Qatari umming up what’s taking place in Kuwait’s bedoon, traffic, illegal immigrants, lack of services, political scene today, often includes a word of and this is only naming a few?” two that are best written in asterisks. To put it The other faction which we can call the opposieloquently is almost impossible. I’ll try my best: We tion sides with MPs like Tabtabaei, Al-Barrak and are knee-deep in very foul-smelling muddy sur- Al-Meslim, Hayef, and others who are notorious for roundings. If it were a movie, this is the scene in their anti-Sheikh Nasser sentiments. This faction is which we find out whether the ending is going to joined by a number of independent individuals, be happy or sad. This is the climax, and for the first some of whom are shockingly liberal, agree to join time, political speakers aren’t using the cliched forces with the aforementioned ‘fundamentalists’ band-aid flowery speech that says things like to topple Sheikh Nasser’s Cabinet. This strategy “During the 1990 war, might be something we stood side by side that is quite common and fought the eneThe two major factions here are pro- during times of battle, my.” Such sentimental joining forces with an government and the anti-government, speeches have enemy to fight a bigger and it is my personal opinion as well as become redundant enemy. However, I find and boring. We have that it is an ideal the opinion of many people that both heard them over the oppor tunity for the factions are equally corrupt. The govpast years, and nothbir th of a third indeernment is obviously involved in many pendent faction, one ing changes for the better. For the first that is solely liberal and scandals, and has proved repeatedly time, Kuwait’s different that does not follow that it is inept at facing challenges. political factions are the dictates and agenunanimously agreeing das of corrupt parliain their speeches that mentarians or governwe are seriously in trouble. The two major factions ment officials. Both bodies, the government and here are pro-government and the anti-govern- the Parliament are to blame for the current backment, and it is my personal opinion as well as the wardness we live in. Joining one to attack the othopinion of many people that both factions are er is not going to solve the problem. It may give an equally corrupt. The government is obviously illusion of victory, but soon we will be faced with involved in many scandals, and has proved repeat- bigger problems. My concern is this: the people edly that it is inept at facing challenges. People who are speaking in the name of reform, the ones who support the government put themselves in a who are supposedly fighting corruption, are the position where their loyalty is questioned, and very same people who fought against women’s where they are accused of accepting bribes to rights, and who forced segregation in universities, defend a corrupt establishment. and who vowed to force segregation in workplaces The question they are asked often goes some- in the future. Are these really the people we want thing like: “How could you defend a government to stand beside and chant against the corrupt govthat is delaying all development projects? Why is ernment? Are these the people we are entrusting the government not solving the issues of the our fate with?

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kuwait digest

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah s news about a potential Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities are being picked up by international news agencies every day, concern is mounting in countries surrounding Iran, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council countries against potentially catastrophic results of military action, especially regarding radiation leak that can have long-term effects on the region. Kuwait’s small size and close location to Iran’s nuclear plants means that chances of being affected by radiation leak is large should a strike take place. This raises the obvious question of what kind of preparations our government should take to protect civilians in case a war takes place.

There’s no doubt that Israel will still receive American support even if it carries out the strikes alone. The US and its allies will provide direct and indirect support - including information and artillery. According to studies held, the US owns air-to-surface missiles that can infiltrate through 15-meters thick concrete surfaces.

Out of all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel is mostly worried about the Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center, the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and the heavy water reactor in Arak. Should any of these facilities be subjected to a military attack, a subsequent radiation leak will put us at huge risk.

I am hoping that the government announces the plan it currently has to deal with the multiple war scenarios, instead of keeping those plans secret to avoid causing panic. Concern at this time is necessary because it raises people’s concern and pushes them to take precautionary measures. Therefore, it’s necessary that people are made aware of the potential threats and be prepared for any cases of emergency. In addition to building shelters, the preparations must include first aid training, providing enough supplies of food and medications, as well as creating plans based on teamwork. — Al-Rai

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Egypt is going through a hard time again, and the recent bloody chaos left dead bodies behind and this mess will not end on its own. An initiative has to be taken to put an end to the spread of anger and frustration among many Egyptians, many who are unemployed and can’t afford a decent life. into friends.

He should be a man who does not lack the wisdom to assess that Egyptians will no longer accept a dictator.

Do they need a ‘superman’ to come and save them?

Possibly, if the hero understands that his mission is to fulfill his task and that no benefits will be enjoyed by his family!

What do the Egyptians need now? I think the answer is simple. Problems crop up when the people take an emotional and sentimental path to address grievances without using logic.

I think the Egyptians need a leader who is willing to listen to them. A man who can bring about change by reducing poverty and creating new jobs for millions of unemployed youth. Egypt is facing a difficult time and we Arabs should support all initiatives to help our Egyptians brothers. The GCC countries must help Egypt recover and build a new system with the aim of spreading peace and prosperity in the region. Egypt should not be forgotten amid the chaos.

kuwait digest

Alas, the opposition blocs!

The bountiful land

kuwait digest

Preparing for a potential war

he latest unrest in Egypt is a matter of concern not only to citizens of the country but to all Arabs and international political analysts. Throughout history, Egypt has always been the first to direct and lead Arabs towards peace during times of conflicts and wars. The Gulf Arab countries never argued or disagreed with Egyptian views.

Now, Egypt is going through a hard time again, and the recent bloody chaos left dead bodies behind and this mess will not end on its own. An initiative has to be taken to put an end to the spread of anger and frustration among many Egyptians, many who are unemployed and can’t afford a decent life.

I believe Egypt needs a strong leadership at the country’s helm. Not another power-hungry maniac or the head of an Islamist outfit. Egypt needs a sophisticated, polished visionary who can engage in a dialogue with his countrymen, starting with the youth, Islamic factions, the military and the supporters of the former president. The leader should know how to turn enemies

By Dr Ahmad Al-Duaij h e wor st of my fear s is to exper ien ce in countries that are deprived of Allah’s bounties.

Almighty Allah’s saying in Surat Al-Kahf There are also rivers of surplus milk from dairy applied to us, when He spoke about the man farms that are dumped into sewage lines. There who owned a garden, “And he went into his gar- are rivers and lakes of crude oil flowing beneath den while in a state (of pride and disbelief ) unjust our feet, after being brought to the surface by to himself. He said, ‘I think not that this will ever those who God sent to us to help. perish, “And I think not the hour will ever come, We do not appreciate the bounties that God and if indeed I am brought back to my Lord, (on gave us. Extravagance has crossed all limits and the Day of Resurrection), I surely shall find better political corruption is widespread. The unwise than this when I return to Him.’ Until He said, “So government is responsible for the happenings. his fruits were encirc led (in ruin), and he MPs are colluding with it, as most are polluted by remained clapping his hands (in sorrow) over bribes. what he had spent upon it while it was all There are ‘bribes sources’ located outside destroyed on its trellises, and he could only say: Kuwait who stash away large sums of money into ‘ Would that I had the accounts of ‘Abu ascribed no partners Shareef ’ and his to my Lord!’” friends.

It is not time Allah Almighty granted us in Kuwait, Allah Almight y yet to uncover them. many blessings that others dream of, granted us in Kuwait, The government and not because we are outstanding in civimany blessings that its six predecessors others dream of, not have been weak. lization and technology, not because of because we are outTo ensure its contiour piety or our efforts and perseverstanding in civilization nuity, it has resorted to ance. I am not saying that the founding and technology, not all kinds of gimmicks because of our piety to stay in power. The fathers who realized the potential of or our efforts and pergovernment planted inherent wealth had no expectations. severance. I am not highly potent mines Our democratic set-up has proven to be a that may blow up saying that the founding fathers who realKuwait in the near big joke. ized the potential of future. They are the inherent wealth had mines of labor unions no expectations. Our that toy with the state’s democratic set-up has proven to be a big joke. budget. When an imbalance occurs in the state’s Nothing equals the Paradise which God has budget that is heavily dependent on oil revenues, promised his faithful. If paradise were to be envi- it will result in the government’s inability to prosioned in human terms, Kuwait can be considered vide salaries. one. We have rivers of drinking water ‘not allocatNo other country can compete with us in terms ed for sale. ‘ of our government employees’ lack of productiviThe rivers of brackish water and rivers of ‘treat- ty. Kuwait will enter a true period of crisis that ed’ water are much better than what others drink may prove difficult to deal with. — Al-Watan

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By Dr Hassan Abdullah Jouhar ast Wednesday’s incident and the breach of the National Assembly’s Abdullah Al-Salem Hall was a sure political setback to opposition groups. That has to be discussed and approached with utmost objectivity.

Regardless of justifications given, these are the results of a sick political phase we have been experiencing over the past three years, the consequences of breaking into the Parliament did a lot of damage to the public, political and media campaign. It really exposed the government’s failure to confront future grilling motions. Voting on that session theoretically proved the government’s political, parliamentary failure. Such results could not have been achieved unless considerable parliamentary coordination is achieved among MPs who mobilized all efforts to tackle one of the most dangerous national issues by combining all forces, powers and blocs to focus on a pure Kuwaiti concern and prepare well-tailored grilling elements. These would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for this last miscalculated move that brought everybody and everything back to square one: to where the raid of MP Jaman AlHarbash took place.

Some opposition leaders have to realize that they have been blacklisted for ‘personally targeting the PM’ and constantly instigating unrest in a ‘Kuwaiti Society’ that still holds and clings to peaceful approaches. It favors full observation of the Constitution and democratic values. It is a society that fully appreciates security, stability and protection of public property and facilities such as the house of the Parliament that belongs to them. So, whether we like it or not, we have to realize that whatever has happened stirs a state of resentment, sadness, and immediate anxiety.

On the other hand, there is a gigantic well-organized media system capable of covering a country that is ten times bigger than Kuwait, as well as sectarian and tribal affiliations that have been provoked and enhanced creating a fragmented and distracted public opinion that has been, nevertheless, moved by this incident. To make things worse, HH the Amir’s displeasure at the Parliament storming incident was expressed in sharp words of condemnation. Therefore, all the cards were not shuffled immediately as I had expected. Rather, the opposition will not ‘go into service’ for a while, long enough for public interest in corruption to fade away. The media will be busy covering the ‘storming ‘incident in more depth. — aljarida

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Kuwait, China hold groundbreaking ceremony for $9 billion refinery ZHANJIANG: Kuwait and China jointly held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $9 billion refinery and petrochemical complex in the southern Chinese city of Zhanjiang, with completion scheduled for late 2014, Kuwaiti Consul General in Guangzhou Abdulwahab AlSager said yesterday.

“The project is a major pillar that helps spur investments, trade, and the oil industry between the two countries,” Al-Sager said in a statement. “At the ceremony, leaders across the province have expressed happiness in realizing their dream to start this important project, which is vital in the field of energy, and have also shown interest in future cooperation with Kuwait in other mutually-beneficial projects,” the diplomat added.

Under the 50-50 joint venture between state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and China’s top refiner Sinopec, a 300,000 barrel-perday refinery and a 1 million-ton-a-year ethylene plant, and related utilities will be built in a petrochemical industrial park on Donghai Island of Zhanjiang in the Guangdong Province. Kuwait has pledged to supply all the crude feedstock for the world-class integrated complex.

Guangdong’s Party Secretary, Wang Yang, Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) Business Development Director Meshari Al-Mahmoud, KPI Beijing Office Coordinator Khalifa Al-Qallaf, and Sinopec President Wang Tianpu, among others, also attended the ceremony. — KUNA

Car accidents KUWAIT: An unidentified individual sustained severe head injuries in a car accident that took place in Fintas and was admitted to Adan Hospital.

Two citizens in their 20s were injured in a motor accident that took place near the Farwaniya Hospital. They were admitted to the same hospital.

An 11-year-old Kuwaiti boy suffered lacerations to his chin and right shoulder, an 8-year-old Kuwait boy fractured his right leg in a car accident that took place along King Fahad Road.

The injured were admitted to Adan Hospital. In another incident, a 24-year-old Saudi national fractured his wrist in a car accident that took place along Arabian Gulf Road. He was admitted to Mubarak Hospital.

A 46-year-old Egyptian fractured his left shoulder in a car accident that took place beneath the Second Ring Road Bridge. He was admitted to Amiri Hospital.

Also, an 18-year-old citizen suffered a spinal injury in a car accident that took place along Fahaheel Road. He was admitted to Adan Hospital.

Two youths in police net for car stealing attempt Missing wife ‘returned’ to husband KUWAIT: Two people were arrested while a third suspect escaped in a hot police chase that foiled the trio’s attempt to steal a citizen’s car.

The incident took place in Jabriya where a citizen learnt that his car, which was left switched on for a few minutes while he visited a bank, went missing. He reported the theft to police.

However, while driving along the Fahaheel street, the citizen spotted his stolen vehicle being driven by three young men and began chasing them. However, police cut their adventure trip short by intercepting them in Salmiya.

However, one of the suspects escaped on foot while two others were detained despite initially resisting arrest. Furthermore, police found heroin in their possession. Investigations revealed that the suspects have a criminal history and already face multiple charges. One of the men has been sentenced to nine years in jail over drug trafficking charges. A hunt for their accomplice is ongoing.

Murder attempt A Kuwaiti faces attempted murder charges after allegedly stabbing his friend following a heated dispute. In response to an emergency call, police and paramedics rushed to a home in Sabah Al-Salem where a young man reported being attacked by his friend who barged into the family’s diwaniya. The victim was admitted to the Adan Hospital. Meanwhile, investigators arrested the suspect at his office, and the assault weapon used was found in his car. The suspect admitted to attacking his victim. In other news, two individuals emerged unscathed after a gunman missed his target while firing at them.

Police headed to a location in Sabah Al-Salem where two men reportedly fired his gun. Bullet

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

LOCAL

shells from a 9mm gun were recovered from the suspect’s car. Police eventually arrested the suspect after identifying him using a description obtained. It was revealed that the gunman, a citizen in his twenties, and his foes had been friends. Their relationship soured during a previous diwaniya visit where arguments were exchanged. The suspect has been detained.

Suspected foul play Police launched a criminal investigation into a case where a young man died at a local polyclinic shortly after being admitted. Medical staff from the Mishref polyclinic informed police that the young man was pronounced dead. An autopsy will be performed to ascertain the cause of death. The mysterious circumstances of the case has led Hawally investigators to believe that foul play may have occurred.

Unhappy wife Sabah Al-Salem police detained a female resident and handed her over to her husband shortly after reported that she had been missing. The husband headed to the area’s police station after finding a farewell letter by his Jordanian wife explaining that she was leaving him for good. A case was filed as per the husband’s request, based on which a team of investigators were assigned to find the missing wife. Eventually, she was located at a relative’s place and was taken into custody. the woman was reunited with her husband at the police station despite insisting that she no longer wishes to remain married.

Debtor held A fugitive wanted in connection with incurring an unpaid debt of KD 47,000 was arrested in

NBK awarded ‘Best Investor Relations Company in Kuwait’

KUWAIT: The General Department for Drug Control arrested an Arab expat in connection with possession of hashish and illicit drugs. Detectives acted on a tip-off and obtained a warrant to arrest the suspect. He was caught near Farwaniya Hospital, while attempting to sell a joint of hashish to a decoy customer. Following interrogation, he admitted to the charges pressed against him, adding that he obtained the drugs from another Arab. The suspect was referred to higher authorities.

KUWAIT: For the second consecutive year, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has been honored as ‘Best Investor Relations Company in Kuwait’ in recognition of their international standards and best practice in transparency and governance. In a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi, the Middle East Investor Relations Society recognized NBK for practicing the highest standards in Investor Relations. NBK’s selection for the award was based on the results of an independent global survey led by Thomson Reuters Extel, which collected votes from more than 350 investors around the globe. The award confirms the international investment community’s recognition of NBK’s ongoing efforts to achieve the highest levels of governance and promote transparency in Middle Eastern markets.

Jahra. The suspect was pulled over by patrol officers who cast doubt on his behavior. The man was arrested immediately after verifying his identity. He has been convicted in a financial crime. He was referred to higher authorities.

Passport forgery An Asian man was arrested at the Kuwait International Airport while attempting to flee the country using a forged passport. The man was whisked away to Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh police station soon after the officer at the immigration counter discovered that his passport was forged.

It was revealed that the suspect has been convicted in a criminal case and had been trying to avoid arrest by committing an identity theft. He was referred to the Criminal Investigations General Department.

Self-immolation A man committed suicide by immolating himself at his place of residence. Family disputes allegedly drove him to end his life. Police and criminal investigators headed to an apartment in Nugra where roommates of the 32-year-old Egyptian man reported the incident. His roommates explained to officers that the man had been suffering from depression for a while. The body was referred to the forensic department.

Bombs found A bomb squad defused explosives found in Shaddadiya. Security officers headed to the location where a passerby reported that he found a foreign object that lay half buried beneath the ground. The explosive is believed to be remnant of the Iraqi invasion that took place twenty years ago. —Al-Watan, Al-Rai

Kuwaiti consul hosts annual diplomats function in Macau KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuwaiti Consul General and Head of the Diplomatic Corps in Hong Kong and Macau, Bader Saleh Al-Tenneib, hosted on Tuesday the annual function for accredited Consul Generals in Macau. Among the senior guests in attendance was Macau Governor Fernando Chui, Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Macao, Hu Zhengyue, Secretary for Administration and Justice and the second most senior government official in Macau, Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan, as well as diplomats

accredited in Hong Kong and Macau.

Al-Tenneib expressed appreciation for the hospitality of his host country towards diplomats and their families, and expressed pleasure over the annual affair which gathers them with Macau’s officials.

He also extended congratulations on the 62nd anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, and stressed his belief in the success of the one-state, two-administrations system of government between China and Macau. — KUNA

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

Thaksin says he has no plans to return home

Libyan tribes protest new government line-up Page 9

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WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidates from left, former Pennsylvania Sen Rick Santorum, Rep Ron Paul, R-Texas, Texas Gov Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney, businessman Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, and former Utah Gov Jon Huntsman stand for the National Anthem before a Republican presidential debate in Washington on Tuesday. —AP

Gingrich rises to the fore in US top debate Candidates clash repeatedly WASHINGTON: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich cemented his place Tuesday as the main rival to Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination with a solid debate performance on foreign policy.

Buoyed by opinion polls that gave him a four percent lead over the former Massachusetts governor, Gingrich, whose campaign had been all but written off a few months ago, came out of the blocks quickly on national security.

Asked the first question on the Patriot Act, which extended counter-terrorism search and surveillance powers in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, he set the tone by sounding tough and authoritative. “I’d look at strengthening it because I think the dangers are literally that great,” Gingrich said, adding that there should be “an honest understanding that all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives.”

During a two-hour debate at DAR Constitution Hall, just a few blocks from the White House, the candidates clashed repeatedly, disagreeing on how to handle

several of the main global threats to America. In one of the testiest exchanges, Texas Governor Rick Perry suggested cutting off all financial aid to strained US ally Pakistan, as “they’ve showed us time after time that they can’t be trusted.” This drew fire from Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who said Perry was being “highly naive” because Al-Qaeda might obtain Pakistan’s nuclear weapons if the United States becomes disengaged.

“These weapons could find their way out of Pakistan into New York City or into Washington DC, and a nuclear weapon could be set off in this city,” she warned.

Romney, assailed by the White House hours before the debate for a disingenuous campaign ad, launched a fierce counter-attack, accusing President Barack Obama of seeing the United States as “just another nation with a flag.” “President Obama apologizes for America,” he said. “President Obama seems to think we’re going to have a global century, an Asian century. I believe we have to have an American century where

America leads the free world.”

It was then Perry’s turn to attack China, the perennial scapegoat for America’s economic woes, and he predicted that Beijing’s communist leaders were destined for the “ash heap of history” for not running a “country of virtues.” Former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman had his strongest debate so far, displaying his seasoned grasp of foreign policy and clashing notably with Romney when he suggested a more rapid drawdown from Afghanistan.

Veteran Texas Congressman Ron Paul also got plenty of airtime and although his libertarian views are outside Republican orthodoxy, he has maintained a strong and faithful following in the battle to contest the November 2012 election. But in the topsytur vy Republican race, Gingrich has emerged as the main threat to Romney, who looks like the man to beat as he has built a financial and organizational advantage founded on a slick campaign machine.

Gingrich must show more staying power

Syrian forces kill four ahead of Arab League talks DAMASCUS: Regime forces gunned down at least four civilians yesterday in the latest surge of violence in Syria, activists said on the eve of Arab League talks aimed at ending the bloodshed. Syria’s northern Muslim neighbor Turkey warned meanwhile that the crisis was at “the point of no return” amid a growing chorus of international anger over the eight-month crackdown on dissent.

But China described as “counterproductive” a UN human rights resolution condemning Assad’s regime over the crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed more than 3,500 people, mostly civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the latest deaths yesterday included two people killed in Hayalin, in central Hama province, and another two in the nearby besieged city of Homs.

On Tuesday, six children and five mutinous soldiers were among 34 people killed across the troubled country, the Observatory said in a statement received by AFP. “Twentyeight civilians were killed during search operations and indiscriminate firing from checkpoints manned by soldiers,” said the Britain-based organization.

Among Tuesday ’s dead were 11 people killed in the besieged central city of Homs, six in southern Daraa, six

in northwestern Idlib, three in Deir Ezzor to the east and two in central Hama. For its part, the official SANA news agency reported yesterday the funeral of nine soldiers, members of the security services and police in Homs, Daraa and suburbs of the Syrian capital. In Damascus, a rights activist group said it would sue the government for violating a law that allows authorities to detain people without charges for up to 60 days, saying many people had been locked up for more than five months.

“We will pursue the interior and justice ministers for each case in which the legal period of detention was exceeded, amounting to torture for parents who have no news of their children,” said dissident Walid al-Bunni.

In London, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Syria had reached a “point of no return” as the regime steps up violence against pro-democracy protesters, warning the crisis could drag the whole region into “turmoil and bloodshed.”

“The Baath regime continues to use oppression and violence on its own people. Violence breeds violence,” Gul warned. His comments come after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called for Assad to go, branding his onetime personal friend a coward and warning he risked

the same fate as dictators who met bloody deaths. Gul told an audience in London that the fate of Syria, where the risk of civil war is s looming, was “important for the entire region, since the country sits on top of sectarian fault lines”.

His comments came as the 22member Arab League, which suspended Syria’s membership last week, prepared to hold key talks in Cairo today about the crisis. The suspension was followed by a decision to impose sanctions against Assad’s regime after it failed to honor an Arab League deal it signed on November 2 to pull its troops off streets and talks to the opposition. Beijing yesterday blasted a UN human rights resolution that condemned the Syrian crackdown.

“Using a resolution to pressure other countries is counterproductive to easing the situation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters. “We always believe that constructive dialogue and cooperation is the only way to promote and protect human rights,” he said. Last month, China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown. But days later Beijing urged Damascus to speed up the implementation of reforms, veering away from its policy of non-interference. — AFP

than Bachmann, Perry and retired pizza executive Herman Cain, who have all surged to the front of the field only to wither in the full glare of the presidential campaign spotlight. A poll of nationwide Republican voters released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University showed Gingrich leading with 26 percent support, compared to 22 percent for Romney. A CNN poll had Gingrich ahead by the same margin.

In his debut as nationwide poll leaderthe important state-by-state polls show a more mixed picture-Gingrich risked angering the Republican base by suggesting he would offer an amnesty to long-term illegal immigrants. “If you’ve been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you’ve been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don’t think we’re going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out,” he said.

Gingrich could prove Romney’s toughest challenge yet as he retains ties to the party establishment and is polling strongly in

Iowa, the first state to vote when the Republican nomination battle begins in earnest on January 3. The 68-year-old veteran of Congress was a central figure in US politics in the 1990s, rising to become House speaker as Republicans turned the tide on 40 years of majority rule by the Democratic Party.

But he fell from grace and resigned in 1998 after losing a battle of wills over a government shutdown with then president Bill Clinton. The confessed adulterer has divorced twice and left his first wife following her treatment for cancer-actions seen as potentially fatal to his chances of winning over social conservatives, a key Republican voting bloc.

Gingrich’s campaign was almost over before it started when staff walked out en masse in June as he went on a Greek cruise vacation with his wife. The candidate, in unusually jovial form after Tuesday night’s debate, paraphrased writer Mark Twain’s famous line, saying: “The reports of my death were premature.” — AFP

Iran mulls retaliation for fresh sanctions TEHRAN: Iran yesterday looked to expelling the British ambassador in angry retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over its nuclear program, which have been slammed by both China and Russia. Iranian lawmakers, some crying “Death to Britain”, adopted an emergency bill to be voted on Sunday that would downgrade diplomatic relations to the level of charge d’affaires if passed, the legislature’s website said.

The bill also said parliament could take action “on other countries that behave in a manner similar to that of Britain,” according to the Fars and Mehr news agencies. Britain this week, in coordination with the United States and Canada, announced the new sanctions on Iran. They cited as justification a report by the UN atomic energy watchdog this month suggesting Tehran was researching nuclear weapons.

Britain said it was “ceasing all contact” between its financial system and that of Iran. The United States and Canada said they would also clamp down on the sector, including on Iran’s central bank. France has called for a freeze on Iranian central bank assets and an embargo on oil exports. Britain, Canada and France have embassies in Tehran. Canada’s is headed only by a charge d’affaires; the other two by ambassadors.

The United States does not have a diplomatic mission, having closed its embassy after Islamic students took its diplomats hostage in 1979 following Iran’s revolution. US interests are handled by the Swiss embassy.

China yesterday criticized the Western sanctions, saying they would “exacerbate” the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear activities. “We believe pressuring and sanctions cannot fundamentally solve the Iranian nuclear issue.

On the contrary, they will complicate and exacerbate the issue and intensify confrontation,” said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin.

Russia on Tuesday blasted the sanctions as “unacceptable and against international law.” China and Russia have used their weight on the UN Security Council to block any possibility of the sanctions being more broadly imposed through a UN resolution. Iran is already subject to four sets of UN sanctions. It has rejected the UN atomic energy agency’s report, and insists its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful, civilian purposes. The latest sanctions put more pressure on Iran’s financial sector, with the US and Britain invoking anti-terrorist laws to target the central bank and other financial institutions.

They aim to make it more difficult for Iran to be paid for its oil exports, and put pressure on Iran’s currency.

They stop short, however, of hitting the central bank with more draconian measures, which Western officials and analysts feared could cause a spike in oil prices, worsening the global economic downturn and providing Iran with a revenue windfall. Iran’s representative in OPEC, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, told ISNA news agency his country could “adopt special stances” in terms of using its vast oil exports as a political tool if “emergencies and special situations demand.”

He stressed, though, that Iran was not at this time changing its approach in the global oil market.

Pressure on Iran looked likely to be raised a notch on December 1, when EU foreign ministers were expected to announce additional sanctions on some 200 Iranian firms and individuals, according to diplomats. US President Barack Obama said in a statement Monday as the latest sanctions were unveiled: “As long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions, to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime.” — AFP

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Libyan tribes protest at new government line-up No sign of dissent yet from most powerful groups TRIPOLI: Some of Libya’s clans said yesterday they would not recognize the government, after the unveiling of a new cabinet revived regional rivalries which threaten the country’s stability. Prime minister designate Abdurrahim El-Keib named a cabinet line-up which aimed to placate Libya’s patchwork of tribes, regional interests and ideological camps which are competing to fill the vacuum left by Muammar Gaddafi’s fall from power.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said during a visit to Tripoli that the trial of Gaddafi’s captured son, Saif al-Islam, could take place inside Libya as long as certain conditions were met. He also told Reuters that he believed Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, like Saif alIslam wanted for prosecution by the ICC, had not been captured. Libyan officials had earlier said he had been arrested.

There was no immediate sign of dissent over the cabinet from the most powerful interests - in particular the Islamists who were given none of the biggest government posts - but smaller groups complained they had been neglected. Announcing the government was the latest step in Libya’s halting progress towards building new institutions, three months after the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings ended Gaddafi’s 42-year rule. About 150 people protested yesterday morning outside a hotel in the eastern city of Benghazi where the National Transitional Council has offices, a witness told Reuters.

The protesters held up banners saying: “No to a government of outsiders!”, the witness said. The demonstration was led by members of the Benghazi-based Awagi and Maghariba tribes, who were angry their rep-

resentatives were not in key posts.

A group calling itself the Libyan Amazigh Congress called for a suspension of all relations with the NTC over the formation of the government. The Amazigh, or Berber, are an ethnic minority which suffered persecution under Gaddafi and which is pressing for

officials, Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC would not insist on his transfer to The Hague for trial. “My standard, the standard of the ICC, is that it has to be a judicial process that is not organised to shield the suspect. That’s it,” Moreno-Ocampo told reporters. “The point is that for Libya, and I respect that, it is

TRIPOLI: The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Luis MorenoOcampo speaks during a press conference in Tripoli, Libya yesterday. —AP greater recognition for its language and culture in the new Libya. “The temporary freezing will be effective until the NTC reconciles with the demands of Amazigh Libyans,” the group said in a statement.

The ICC earlier this year issued a warrant for Saif al-Islam’s arrest on charges of crimes against humanity. After talks with Libyan

very important to do the cases in Libya. This is a right and I have nothing to say. I’m not competing for the case.”

Western countries, which backed the revolt against Gaddafi and have a big stake in seeing his replacements succeed, welcomed the new government, saying it would guide the oil exporting country

Syria army rebels fight from the shadows BEIRUT: Working under the cover of darkness, their faces wrapped in scarves and black masks, defectors from Syria’s army are still a bit of an unknown quantity in the rise of an armed challenge to President Bashar Al-Assad. Thousands of soldiers who fled the regular army after it started cracking down on an eight-month protest movement have formed nebulous armed units loosely linked to the umbrella “Free Syrian Army”, led by officers hiding in Turkey.

Isolated inside cities across Syria, the fighters work like a shadowy guerilla operation, promoting slogans like “victory or death” and “death before humiliation.” The deserters say they turned their guns against the state to protect peaceful protests in which some 3,500 are estimated by the United Nations to have been killed. The government, which says it has lost 1,100 security forces to the fighters, calls them foreign-backed “terrorist” groups.

But it is hard for anyone to know much about these faceless men-most journalists are barred entry into the country, and even protesters, whose demonstrations are surrounded daily by these armed masked guards, are unlikely to know their identity. “We have to hide what we do, other than with a few trusted activists.

Covering our faces is necessary-if our identities were revealed, our families could be tortured or killed,” said Mazen, a deserter who spoke to Reuters by telephone.

Mazen refused to give his location or describe his role in his armed unit: “The secret police are always listening.” Fighters attack soldiers and checkpoints in protest hotbeds across Syria almost daily, but say it is only to prevent harm to protesters.

They also launch attacks to seize weapons. Damascus, under pressure by the Arab League to stem bloodshed or face sanctions, has continued to crack down on the revolt in what it calls an act of self-defence.

Scattered reports of attacks on the Syrian army or intelligence units are as old as the protest movement, but a more organised force of deserter attacks began

in September. Colonel Riad al-Asaad, who heads the Free Syrian Army, told Reuters over 15,000 men have joined him, though some opposition sources say only 2,000 of them are armed. Either way, their numbers are dwarfed by Syria’s regular army which is roughly 200,000-strong. It is unclear how much control the Free Syrian Army has beyond that of an umbrella group. The units are relatively independent and say frequent cuts of phone lines and the Internet make communication with each other tough.

Even more challenging is finding ways to coordinate without detection by intelligence forces. “It’s a daily challenge to find ways to get in touch. We also have to work at night, and that helps give us a little advantage against the army,” Mazen said.

New units appear often, and many have tried to stay in contact with followers in recent months through Facebook. “We swear to Assad and his oppressive supporters we will chase you down, anywhere and any time ... we will regain dignity and freedom for our people,” shout the “Hawks of Damascus,” hoisting rocketpropelled grenades and Kalashnikovs in a video on Facebook announcing their unit’s formation on Nov 17.

Activists support the need for the armed deserters- rejecting the idea that they have tarnished what began as a peaceful protest movement. “The Free Syrian Army has become a necessity,” said Omar Idlibi, a prominent Syrian activist working in Lebanon. “Their protection allows us to preserve our peaceful protests.”

Regular Syrians in the opposition welcome the defectors but with a mix of enthusiasm and caution. Reports of attacks raise morale for some. Others fear increased potential for violence that could easily spiral into sectarian strife or chaos. “I don’t sense any one ideology uniting these groups- their personal background is influencing how they act,” said Hassan, a Syrian opposition sympathiser who recently fled to Beirut. “Some places have sectarian strife or just a conservative attitude, and their battalions keep those ideas.”

Reports of killings between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Alawites, the same sect to which the Assad family belongs, are on the rise in the central city of Homs, a centre of armed revolt which has seen daily attacks on security forces.

While many units have names such as the “Hawks” or “Freedom Brigade”, many also name themselves the “Al-Farouq” and the “Khalid bin al-Walid” battalions, after Islamic figures.

“They don’t help the revolution by using those Islamic names. Why Khalid bin al-Walid? What will the Christians think? Of course they’ll stay by the regime’s side,” said Abdullah, a Syrian from Damascus. Colonel Asaad himself says his troops need to be more diverse to reflect the ethnic and religious makeup of Syria itself.

“We hope our brothers from the Alawites, the Druze and the Christian religions and our Kurdish brothers will join,” he told Al Jazeera television. “No one should be afraid.” Some deserters working for the Free Syrian Army denied their groups’ Islamic names were provocative and blamed sectarianism on attacks by “shabbiha”-pro-Assad, Alawite militia men. “The reality is the majority of Syria is Sunni Muslim, but we haven’t been acting out of sectarianism. That’s a card the government plays by using shabbiha to anger people,” said Ali, a defector working for the Free Syrian Army from exile in Jordan.

Ali fled his regular army unit four months ago. “We are not sectarian ... but if the government wants to make it sectarian, I will accept it and keep fighting them.”

Activists privately complain that the group’s message is confounded by a plethora of disorganised Facebook and Twitter pages run by each battalion.

Some groups announce attacks which are denied by the Free Syrian Army hours later. Others post gruesome videos that appear to show beaten and bruised army officers confessing to killing protesters. “There is a lot of chaos right now,” said one activist working with the Free Syrian Army, who declined to be named. “It will take them some time to organize.” —Reuters

towards democracy. The NTC’s choices to fill ministerial posts appeared to have put regional affiliation ahead of experience or a track record. Foreign diplomats had expected the foreign minister’s job to go to Libya’s deputy envoy to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi. Instead, it was given to Ashour Bin Hayal, a little-known diplomat from the eastern city of Derna, a long-standing antiGaddafi stronghold.

Ali Tarhouni, a US-based academic who returned from exile to manage the oil and finance portfolios in the rebellion against Gaddafi, had no role in the new government. He was seen as a reliable partner by Western diplomats. Hassan Ziglam, an oil industry executive, was named finance minister, and Abdulrahman Ben Yezza, a former executive with Italian oil major ENI, was made oil minister. The cabinet line-up appeared to be a setback for the Islamists who in the past few months have emerged as a powerful force and had been eyeing the post of defence minister. That job went instead to Osama Al-Juwali, the commander of the military council in the western Libyan town of Zintan. He staked a late claim to the post after forces under his command captured Saif al-Islam at the weekend.

Ahmed Abu Ghalisha, Juwali’s deputy on the Zintan military council, said the new defence minister would focus on trying to secure the weapons flooding Libya after the conflict to oust Gaddafi. The proliferation of weapons had prompted concerns about violence between rival groups inside Libya, and also that guns and anti-aircraft missiles could fall into the hands of al Qaeda’s north African branch. “The biggest issue right now is the spread of weapons. In the desert, weapons can travel with ease,” Ghalisha told Reuters. —Reuters

Hezbollah claims ‘victory’ in war with CIA BEIRUT: Iranian-backed Hezbollah boasted yesterday that it has succeeded in exposing CIA operatives in Lebanon and urged the government to take immediate measures against the US embassy near Beirut. “Our security... has exposed several American and Israeli plots on Lebanon,” Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah told reporters outside parliament. “We call on the Lebanese government to take immediate action... and raise the issue with the United Nations and embassies, so that the whole world is aware of what the US embassy in Lebanon is doing,” he added.

Fadlallah, who heads parliament’s telecommunications committee, said the Lebanese Shiite militant group, which is also backed by Syria, had succeeded in uncovering Central Intelligence Agency operatives that had infiltrated Hezbollah. “Lebanese intelligence vanquished US and Israeli intelligence in what is now known as the intelligence war,” Fadlallah said.

“The resistance blinded American intelligence eyes.” The MP ’s comments came days af ter reports emerged that Hezbollah had uncovered several operatives within the movement working for the CIA.In the first acknowledgement of infiltration since the Shiite group’s founding in the 1980s, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in June said members of his group had confessed to being CIA agents.

Nasrallah accused his archfoe Israel of turning to the US spy agency after failing to infiltrate his party, slamming the American embassy in Beirut as a “den of spies.” The US embassy in Beirut dismissed the accusations as “empty”. More than 100 people in Lebanon have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel since April 2009, including militar y personnel and telecoms employees.

Lebanon and Israel technically remain in a state of war and convicted spies face life imprisonment or the death sentence if found guilty of contributing to Lebanese loss of life. Lebanon has protested to the United Nations over the alleged spy networks. —AFP

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

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

Nigeria president fires anti-corruption czar LAGOS: Nigeria’s president unexpectedly fired the head of the oil-rich and graft-prone nation’s lead anticorruption agency yesterday, removing an official who has been criticized and portrayed as being controlled by the country’s political elite.

Farida Waziri still had at least another year in her tenure as chairwoman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission before the sudden decision by President Goodluck Jonathan, agency spokesman Femi

Babafemi said. Babafemi confirmed Waziri had been fired, but said he didn’t know the president’s reasons for pushing Waziri out.

Waziri could not be immediately reached for comment, nor could presidential spokesman Reuben Abati. The anti-graft agency came into existence only a few years after Nigeria became a democracy in 1999 following a series of military rulers and failed civilian governments. Its first chief, Nuhu Ribadu, claimed at

one point that Africa’s most populous nation likely lost more than $380 billion to graft between 1960 and 1999, the country’s post-independence period that saw a string of military dictatorships and failed civilian governments.

Theft may also be rising as crude oil prices have spiked in recent years, sending more unaccounted-for cash into one of the top suppliers to the US. The administration of late President Umaru Yar’Adua forced

Ribadu from the agency in 2008.

Waziri, who took over the commission, has been criticized by US diplomats in leaked cables for being unprepared and for apparently being controlled by politicians.

Others have leveled corruption allegations against her and operatives of the commission, though none have been proven.

The commission under Waziri has charged several prominent bankers over the fraud that caused the near-

collapse of the country’s banks in 2009. It also recently arrested and charged former House Speaker Dimeji Bankole over corruption allegations - the first major strike against the nation’s political elite in many months. Still, prosecutions by the agency have not risen since 2007, according to a recent Human Rights Watch report. The rights group said the commission’s funding tripled during that period.

The president appointed agency

deputy Ibrahim Lamurde as the commission’s acting chairman, Babafemi said. Lamurde served as a trusted official under Ribadu, but later was sidelined following his departure.

The return of Lamurde could signal a more robust and aggressive pursuit of corruption in Nigeria. However, the agency under Ribadu trampled on suspects’ rights while avoiding targeting the allies of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Human Rights Watch has said. —AP

Protests as last German nuke convoy leaves France Germany phasing out nuclear use VALOGNES: Baton-wielding French police battled anti-nuclear protesters yesterday as the last convoy of German nuclear waste to be treated in France was prepared for its final journey home.

Spooked by Japan’s Fukushima disaster, Germany has decided to phase out its use of nuclear power, and thus bring to an end the controversial practice of sending radioactive waste overland to France for reprocessing.

police played cat and mouse with hundreds of activists, firing teargas and making at least five arrests.

As dense fog rolled in off the Channel, police set up roadblocks to prevent more demonstrators converging on the French nuclear giant Areva’s yard. A police helicopter flew overhead and rows of riot vans lined the roads. Cows scattered in the fields as police charged groups of stone-throwing protesters trying to get to the line,

Germany for storage. There has long been widespread public opposition in Germany to nuclear power, which environmentalists believe presents an unacceptable danger.

In March, the Japanese nuclear plant at Fukushima Daiichi was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami, triggering a meltdown and massive radiation leak-and increasing worldwide concerns over nuclear power. In Germany, Chancellor

NORMANDY: Riot police face protesters at a burning barricade near Lieusant, Normandy yesterday. Police have used tear gas on hundreds of nuclear protesters trying to head off the departure of a train carrying recycled uranium to Germany. —AP Anti-nuclear activists want France to follow suit and ban nuclear energy, an idea firmly dismissed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, and fierce protests were expected along the 700 kilometre (435 mile) route to Germany. The shipment was to leave a railway yard in the Norman town of Valognes in northwest France, as

and a few kilometres outside Valognes a group managed to block a section of track with rocks and metal debris.

The train is the 12th and last shipment of German waste treated in France by Areva. Spent uranium fuel rods have been reprocessed to extract plutonium, and the remains vitrified and returned to

Angela Merkel’s government buckled under political pressure and agreed to halt its reactors by 2022, forcing energy suppliers to close profitable plants and levying a tax on the reactor’s fuel. In the meantime, Germany will no longer send nuclear waste for reprocessing in France, but will instead stockpile it until a way is found to

make it safe.

Fukushima also increased concerns in France, but opposition to nuclear power has never been so strong here, and the country still produces more than 75 percent of its electricity needs through fission reactors. Areva is a huge employer, and Sarkozy’s government has vowed to stand by the industry, despite criticism from the left.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Sarkozy’s minister for transport and the environment, expressed astonishment that anyone would protest the shipment. “The system is that we are sent waste, we treat it and send it back. This is waste we’re sending abroad. Do they want us to keep it?” she demanded in an interview on Europe 1 radio. According to pressure group Greenpeace, the shipment of 11 containers holds the same quantity of “highly radioactive” waste as the last one to leave the French reprocessing plant at La Hague for the German site at Gorleben.

Last November the train took 91 hours to arrive at its final destination- an entire day longer than planned-and it was dogged the length of the route by French and then German protesters. German police said they were expecting tens of thousands of protesters on their side of the border, but the demonstration was expected to be less angry now that the government has backed down over future shipments.

Sarkozy’s main rival in next year’s presidential election, Socialist flag-bearer Francois Hollande, has signed an electoral pact with the Greens vowing to cut the share of power produced by nuclear reactors to 50 percent.

But the opposition remains divided on the issue, with many on the left critical of the Greens’ stance, arguing it will hurt jobs in a rare industry in which France is still a world leader. —AFP

Obama to Congress: ‘Don’t be a Grinch’ MANCHESTER: President Barack Obama challenged the US Congress on Tuesday to vote next week to save an expiring payroll tax cut, a day after a high-profile effort to tackle huge US deficits collapsed in acrimony. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing that Americans blamed Obama in part for the “super committee” failure underscored the challenges he faces to persuade voters he is the still the best steward of the economy.

Obama, who is seeking re-election in 2012, was in campaign mode when he traveled to New Hampshire-a key voting state where his Republican challengers will hold one of the first primary votes of the 2012 election in January. He caricatured Republicans as the “Grinch,” a mean-spirited character in a popular children’s book about Christmas, for failing to back his $447 billion jobs package and an extension of payroll tax cuts due to expire at the end of the year.

Investors are already fretting about the fate of the tax cuts, worried that Congress’ failure to extend them could put a damper on fragile economic growth. Obama flew to New Hampshire after members of a bipartisan congressional super committee announced that months of talks failed to produce a deal to cut $1.2 trillion from US deficits. An online Reuters/Ipsos poll showed

Americans blamed a combination of Obama, Republican and Democratic lawmakers the most for the panel’s failure. More than one-third of those surveyed said it lowered their opinion of Obama.

The president ramped up pressure on Republicans to back the tax cut extension. “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are going to give them another chance,” Obama said, referring to lawmakers in Congress and this week’s US Thanksgiving holiday. “Next week they are going to get to take a simple vote. If they vote no again, the typical family’s taxes will go up $1,000 next year,” Obama said in a campaign-style speech to a cheering crowd packed into a high school gymnasium.

He got a roar from the crowd when he urged them to tell lawmakers, “Don’t be a Grinch.”

Lawmakers initially hoped to include the tax break for workers and other expiring economy-boosting measures in any deal that would have emerged from the 12-member super committee. A senior Democratic congressional aide said plans were being made to debate the payroll tax cut measure in the Senate in early December and possibly as soon as next week.

The White House specifically chose New Hampshire for Obama’s latest rebuke of Republicans, a state that has mostly seen

MANCHESTER: President Barack Obama gestures during an address on the American Jobs Act, Tuesday at Central High School in Manchester, NH. —AP

Republican presidential hopefuls visiting as they try to woo voters before the January primary.

Republicans have not ruled out extending the tax cut and jobless benefits, but they are likely to insist on additional spending cuts to offset their $168 billion cost. That could dampen the stimulative effect of the tax cuts. While the details of the legislative effort are still being worked on, Democrats could attempt to pay for the payroll tax cut extension by raising taxes on the wealthy. Republicans have blocked that idea in the past and likely would do so again. In that event, the tax cut extension could come up again in an end-of-year, catch-all bill to fund many government programs through next September, the end of the current fiscal year.

“I think it will happen but not without a lot of drama. But I don’t think that will have any effect on markets. If it doesn’t happen, though, that could spook people and trigger a rally in bonds,” said James Sarni, a money manager at Payden & Rygel in Los Angeles. “It would just feed the fire by confirming that we are in real trouble economically.”

Even though global stock markets dropped on Monday amid reports the super committee had collapsed without a deal, most markets have moved on to more near-term worries like the debt crisis in Europe. US stocks were flat on Tuesday.

Analysts warn that economic growth could slow by up to 1.5 percentage points in 2012 if the 2 percent payroll tax cut and enhanced jobless benefits are allowed to lapse. “If Congress doesn’t want to extend some of these benefits, then it’s going to ensure that the economy faces more hurdles,” said Joel Naroff chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “Add that to the uncertainty in Europe and you have a very disturbing outlook for the first half of next year.” Investors are also worried Congress might try to undo $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over 10 years that will begin in 2013 as a result of the super committee washout.

Republicans are already scrambling to shield the military from $600 billion in cuts. One Republican defense hawk, House of Representatives Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, announced his intention to undo the military cuts even before the deficit committee had admitted defeat on Monday.

Obama has vowed to veto such a move. His own defense secretary is lobbying hard to preserve the Pentagon’s budget. Credit-rating agencies, already dismayed by Washington’s inability to tackle the country’s fiscal woes, could downgrade US debt if the cuts are rolled back. —Reuters

PANAMA CITY: In this Nov 8, 1989 file photo Panamanian military strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega talks to reporters in Panama City. A Paris appeals court ruled yesterday, to grant an extradition request from Panama, which plans to try the elderly ex-military strongman in the latest phase of his complex legal odyssey. —AP

French court rules on Noriega extradition PARIS: Behind bars for more than two decades in the United States and France, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega may soon be headed home - likely to another prison cell. A Paris appeals court rules yesterday whether to grant an extradition request from Panama so the elderly ex-military strongman can serve out sentences given after he was convicted in absentia there, in the latest phase of his complex legal odyssey.

Friends and foes alike have feared that Noriega might die in a French prison notably Panamanians who fought against human rights abuses during his 1983-1989 regime. They want to see him face justice at home. Noriega, a one-time CIA asset who lorded over Panama from 1983 to 1989, turned into an embarrassment for the US after he sidled up to Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel and turned to crime.

In the waning days of the Cold War, Noriega was seen by US President Ronald Reagan’s administration as a pivotal ally against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. But he eventually fell out with Washington. In late 1989, US President George HW Bush ordered an invasion to oust Noriega. The dictator holed up in the Vatican Embassy, and US forces blasted with incessant loud rock music until he surrendered in January 1990.

Taken to Miami, he was accused of helping the Medellin cartel ship tons of cocaine into the United States. Jurors convicted him in 1992 on eight of 10 charges, and he was sentenced to 17 years in prison. After his US sentence ended, he remained in legal limbo in Miami from 2007 to 2010, when France issued a lastminute request for his extradition to face money laundering charges. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years behind bars.

Panama wants Noriega returned to serve two prison terms of 20 years handed

down after convictions in absentia for embezzlement, corruption and murder. He is accused of murdering opponents including Moises Giroldi, a military commander who led a failed rebellion two months before the US invasion, and Hugo Spadafora, whose decapitated body was found on the border with Costa Rica in 1985. The extradition was rendered especially complex because the United States, as the country that authorized Noriega’s initial transfer to France, had to give its consent for him to be shipped onward to Panama.

France has refused to extradite him on the murder charges - forcing Panama to revise its request, and putting Noriega again in a legal no-man’s-land while the three countries iron out the niceties of a transfer. In the meantime, Noriega has grown feeble and was expected to arrive for yesterday’s proceedings in a wheelchair, his lawyer said. He’s now in his 70s, though his exact age isn’t clear. “(This is) the last hearing - unless another extradition request is pulled out of a hat,” said defense lawyer Yves Leberquier. If, as expected, the court signs off on the extradition order, France’s prime minister, Francois Fillon, would need to sign an administrative decree allowing for Noriega to be transferred - possibly within days. Panama’s government and judicial authorities have been closely monitoring the French proceedings.

Noriega “is going to go to jail when he arrives in Panama,” President Ricardo Martinelli has said, while adding “the law does say that a citizen who is over 70 years old can be granted the privilege of house arrest.” “That’s not necessarily going to happen - but it’s something the judge has to decide,” Martinelli told reporters last week.

Noriega has three Panamanian convictions in absentia hanging over his head, which carry combined sentences of 60 years in prison on charges of homicide, corruption and embezzlement.— AP

Oregon governor bans death penalty for term SALEM: Haunted by regret for allowing two men to be executed more than a decade ago, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber now says it’ll never happen again on his watch. The Democratic governor said Tuesday he’ll issue a reprieve to a twice-convicted murderer who was scheduled to die by lethal injection in two weeks. He said he would do the same for any other condemned inmates facing execution during his tenure in office.

“I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be morally wrong,” the governor said in uncharacteristically emotional remarks during a news conference in his office. “It is time for this state to consider a different approach,” he said. Death penalty proponents quickly criticized the decision, saying the governor is usurping the will of voters. His moratorium means Oregon joins, at least temporarily, four other states that have halted executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

Illinois this year outlawed the death penalty after the discovery of wrongful convictions. New Mexico voters abolished it in 2009, two years after New Jersey’s Legislature and governor did the same. A New York

appeals court struck down a portion of the death penalty statute. Kitzhaber’s decision halts the execution of 49-year-old Gary Haugen, who had disregarded advice from his lawyers and asked to waive his remaining appeals in protest of a justice system he views as unjust.

Haugen, who was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec 6, is one of 37 inmates on Oregon’s death row.

Haugen was serving a life sentence for fatally bludgeoning his former girlfriend’s mother, Mary Archer, when he was sentenced to death for the 2003 killing of fellow inmate David Polin, who had 84 stab wounds and a crushed skull. Oregon has executed two men since voters reinstated the death penalty in 1984, one each in 1996 and 1997.

Both inmates, like Haugen, had voluntarily given up their appeals. Kitzhaber declined to intervene in their cases, however, citing his oath to uphold the constitution.

But the governor now says he’s long regretted his decision to allow those executions, and he’s come to believe that Oregon voters did not intend to create a death penalty scheme in which the only inmates who are put to death are those who volunteer. —AP

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

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

Would-be Afghanistan suicide bomber tells of Taleban lure KABUL: Islamuddin never imagined joining the Taleban to become a suicide bomber but things changed for the teenage Afghan farmer when he said his best friend was shot dead by US troops in a night raid. In a rare insight into the mind of an Afghan suicide bomber, Islamuddin told Reuters the shooting 18 months ago was a turning point in his decision to join the Taleban -and ultimately, to train as a suicide bomber. “I was really upset and it had a bad impact on me. I became alone. My work was not enjoyable anymore. The whole world became boring for me,” he said.

Four months later, Islamuddin, 17, was arrested for planning to blow himself up in an attack on a US convoy in Kunduz province. He is now serving a four and a half year sentence in a juvenile detention centre. Islamuddin’s mother, who asked Reuters not to release her name, said her son changed after his best friend, who was also his nephew, died-and that the insurgents took advantage of his grief to recruit him. “Whenever (Islamuddin) comes into my mind I am upset,” she said. “He was young and was deceived by the Taleban .” Suicide bombings-one of the main methods the Taleban use to target coali-

tion and Afghan forces-are a relatively recent tactic.

The first suicide bombing by an Afghan was in 2004. The majority of victims have been Afghan civilians. Many Afghans are horrified by the bombings and they have been declared un-Islamic in fatwas by senior clerics. But numbers of the attacks have been steadily rising. In the past six months, Afghan police have arrested at least 20 would-be bombers. Many get training abroad, or are foreigners, according to the Interior Ministry. Afghan suicide bombers can be motivated by a lack of jobs, education, financial and religious rewards, opposition to foreign troops, as well as revenge for the death of relatives or friends, according to academic and UN reports.

Islamuddin’s nephew’ also 17, was killed in a night raid, long one of the most hated foreign military tactics in Afghanistan, that critics say often claim innocent victims but the military say are an important, and precise, tool. A spokesman for NATO did not confirm the raid. He identified a possible match that took place in the Dash-i-Archi district in northern Kunduz, a province where violence has increased in the past year, but said the only man

killed was an armed insurgent.

Islamuddin said the two teenagers, who worked on farms together earning about 9,000 Afghanis ($190) a month, knew members of the Taleban , but were not active members of the insurgent group.

“Sometimes the Taleban came to have dinner with us, but then they went back,” Islamuddin said. Then Taleban commanders pinned the raid that killed his firend on the Americans and cajoled Islamuddin into joining a madrassa-or an Islamic seminarywhere Afghan Taleban provided food, religious instruction and lessons on attacks.

“They visited me every day and encouraged me to take revenge,” he said. His first test was to target a policeman, by planting a mine under a bridge. “A car came and the Taleban told me it was a district police chief and to press the button. I pressed the button. The car divided in many pieces.” Later he was told a more junior police commander was in the car. But they pushed him to go one step further in his attacks. “They trained me how to detonate a suicide vest,” he said. “They said they would support my family and I would go to paradise, but I was concerned about my mother.”

Islamuddin is the eldest child and was the family’s main breadwinner since his father’s death years earlier. But he began lying about his whereabouts, and warned his family: “This world is worth nothing; very soon you will go to another world.” His mother started worrying about him, and his new friends, but said she never suspected he had joined the Taleban . “If I had known, I would never have let him kill. If he had killed himself, I don’t know how I would have endured it,” she said. Islamuddin then received his final assignment: blow himself and a US convoy up on the Kunduz-Baghlan highway that connects Kabul to the country’s north. “They told me to go there on a motorbike and commit suicide,” he said.

On his way home for a last farewell, police arrested him. “He joined the Taleban and they brainwashed him,” said Samehullah Qatra, police chief for Kunduz. “We got the tip he was meeting a family member and waited for his return.” Islamuddin said he now regrets his actions and his mother has begged the government to free him. “I know now that suicide is illegal and I shouldn’t have done it, but I was unaware,” he said.— Reuters

Pakistan names new envoy to US in wake of scandal Country moves quickly to replace old envoy

AMRITSAR: Sikh devotees known as Punj Pyara, or five beloved, hold swords as they escort Sikh head Priest Jaswinder Singh, center, carrying the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikh’s holy book, during a religious procession at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India yesterday. The procession was held to mark the eve of the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru. —AP

Law protecting Afghan women has ‘long way to go’, says UN KABUL: Afghan authorities are failing to enforce the law to protect women from murder, beating, rape and other violence and being sold into marriage and prostitution, the United Nations said yesterday. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) revealed in a report that only a small number of cases of violence against women have been prosecuted under the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, passed more than two years ago.

Prosecutors in Afghanistan filed indictments in 155 cases of 2,299 estimated incidents of violence against women, the UN mission said in the report. Just 101 cases were brought to court for final judgments. “There is still a long way to go to ensure that more cases of violence against women are prosecuted,” UNAMA human rights director Georgette Gagnon told reporters. She said cases that are prosecuted “sends a message that these are crimes and they need to be stopped and perpetrators . . . need to be punished”.

Women had few rights under the harsh rule of the Taleban, who were ousted in 2001, and an improvement in the lot of women has been a top priority of Western backers of the government of President Hamid Karzai, who has ruled since then. The law, passed in August 2009, supports equality for women, including criminalizing child and forced marriage, selling and buying women for marriage or for settling disputes, as well as forced self-immolation, among other acts. But police, prosecutors, governors and other officials have only sporadically enforced the law, UNAMA said in the report. Most cases were still unreported and some withdrawn.

Some murder cases, for example, were instead prosecuted under sharia law, which sometimes resulted in acquittal of the perpetrators or lighter sentences.

In other cases, the female victims themselves were in turn accused of so-called moral crimes. Low numbers

of female police, a lack of women’s shelters and overuse of mediation in areas such as domestic violence also discouraged women from filing complaints. “In some cases, authorities inappropriately pressured women to withdraw complaints and opt for mediation,” said Gagnon.

The UN mission recommended raising awareness of the law among all levels of government and officials and to train prosecutors, police and judges better on how to apply the law. In addition, weaknesses in the law, such as the failure to offer protection to women who run away from home to escape abuse and are then detained for “moral crimes”, needed to be amended. Twelve of 28 special women’s groups that the law required to be set up to stop violence in rural areas have collapsed, UNAMA said in the report.

UNAMA cited cases where the law was or should have been used, including that of two sisters, 15 and 17, who were killed in western Herat province in July 2010 after the elder sister refused to marry an older man. The future husband and father-in-law were sentenced to 16 years in prison, while three other people were acquitted. In central Daikondi province, a prosecutor used the law to challenge a verdict by a court that found two girls impregnated by a 60-year-old religious leader guilty of adultery. An appeals court rejected that challenge, the UN mission said.

A woman in southern Kandahar province complained in March of her daughter’s forced suicide. She said her daughter, who had been sold into marriage for $6,600, set herself on fire in her room when, after 10 years of the marriage, her in-laws forced her to have sex with three male guests visiting the family. “She was always saying that she would burn herself one day. I would tell her, please tolerate, this is life as it comes and one day you will have a bright future,” the mother complained, according to the report. Police did not investigate. —Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan appointed a democracy activist who has faced militant death threats as its new ambassador to the United States yesterday, moving quickly to replace the old envoy who resigned after upsetting the country’s powerful military in a scandal dubbed “memo-gate.” Sherry Rehman will likely be well-received in Washington, though she will have a tough task representing Pakistan amid widespread suspicion in the US that nuclear-armed Pakistan is not a sincere ally in the fight against Islamist extremists.

Rehman is an important and respected player in Pakistan’s ruling party and a vocal proponent of civilian supremacy in the country. Her appointment was surprising to some observers, who had presumed the army, having ousted the last ambassador, would try to force its own candidate on the weak government. Rehman’s appointment “suggests that the military has failed to assume complete control of Pak-US relations,” Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director for Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter.

She was close to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed by militants in 2007. Rehman has spoken up against the country’s blasphemy law, which is used to persecute Christians. Police warned her that she could be targeted by extremists, and she was under heavy guard for some time.

Rehman currently heads the Jinnah Institute, an organization she founded to “invest in policies that promote fundamental rights, tolerance and pluralism.” She is seen as quite a glamorous figure in Pakistan and is a lover of art, literature and fashion. She once coauthored a book titled “Kashmiri Shawl: From Jamavar to Paisely.”

Ambassador Husain Haqqani resigned from the post late Tuesday amid allegations he engineered a memo to Washington asking for its help in reining in the military in exchange for a raft of pro-American policies.

He has denied any connection to the memo.

Haqqani was summoned to Pakistan by the army after the scandal broke a few days back.

He had made no secret of his desire to try and wrest some of the power in Pakistan from the army to the civilian government, which is nominally in charge, earning him the distrust of the army establishment.

Yesterday, he tweeted: “Ah! To wake up in my motherland, without the burden of conducting Pakistan’s most difficult external relationship.” Haqqani later met with Rehman yesterday to discuss her new job, the former ambassador said on Twitter, calling her a “dedicated democrat” and wishing her the best.

The diplomatic post is a crucial one for both nations. Washington wants to work with

ISLAMABAD: Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s new ambassador to the US, leaves after talking to media representatives in Islamabad yesterday.—AFP

1000s of Indian custody deaths from ‘torture’ NEW DELHI: More than 14,000 people died in custody in India between 2001 and 2010, most of them from being tortured, a human rights body has said, heightening concern over police abuse. The New Delhibased Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) said in a report released on Monday that 1,504 people died in police custody and 12,727 in judicial custody across the country over 10 years. “A large majority of these deaths are a direct consequence of torture in custody,” the ACHR said. “These deaths reflect only a fraction of the problem with torture and custodial deaths in India.”

The ACHR collated statistics from India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), an independent body established by the government in 1993. “ Torture remains endemic, institutionalized and central to the administration of justice and counter-terrorism measures,” the report said, urging the government to demonstrate the “political will” to end the abuse.

The report also criticised the NHRC for registering only six deaths in police custody in the insurgency-hit Muslim-majority Kashmir region during the past decade.

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated this year that more than 341 people had died in police custody since 1990, it noted. Custodial deaths are seen as a major problem in Kashmir, but the ACHR report detailed alleged torture across India, highlighting that 250 people died in police custody in the western state of Maharashtra between 2001 and 2010. The ACHR said almost all deaths in Indian police custody happened within 48 hours and were due to torture, while judicial custody deaths were also due to poor medical facilities and “subhuman conditions” in jails.

In one case study, the report said Sanjay Nishad, 22, and Ashok Nishad, 30, died after being taken to a police station in Uttar Pradesh in February 2010. They were accused of firing on a police constable, and their families said their injuries proved they were beaten through the night with sticks and rifle butts. The Indian government has not commented on the ACHR report. In July, Home Minister P. Chidambaram rejected accusations of torture within the judicial system after Denmark refused to allow the extradition of alleged arms trader Kim Davy on the grounds he may be treated inhumanely.— AFP

Bangladesh trial sparks rival calls for justice

KABUL: An Afghan policeman and a civilian walk near a police checkpoint in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday.—AP

DHAKA: Suspects accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces in Bangladesh’s war of independence are now on trial, but claims of appalling crimes are also tarnishing the “heroes” of that bloody struggle. Migrant families who moved to what was then East Pakistan after the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 say they were targeted as outsiders during the 1971 fight to become the independent nation of Bangladesh.

Thrown out of their homes and often murdered during the country’s bloody birth, they believe their suffering at the hands of native Bengalis has been forgotten as Bangladesh focuses instead on alleged collaborators with Pakistan. The day after Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan on December 16, 1971, Sairun Nesa survived a massacre in which 15 of her family-including her husband, son

Pakistan to defeat al-Qaida and negotiate a way out of the Afghan war. Islamabad relies heavily on US aid and diplomatic support.

Relations between the two countries have soured badly over the last year, especially over the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town, which was carried out without informing Islamabad. “She is an excellent nomination because she is highly regarded in Pakistan’s intellectual and political circles, and I think even in those circles close to the military establishment,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

“She has courage and she has a vision of a progressive, liberal, democratic Pakistan, and she has worked for that,” he added. — AP

and daughter-were killed by “freedom fighters”.

As one of tens of thousands of Urduspeaking Muslims who had migrated to East Pakistan, Nesa said she and her family were rejected by those fighting to establish independent Bangladesh. “ We were stripped naked at gun-point. Bangladeshi fighters herded us onto the bank of a river.

Then they slaughtered us one after another with machetes and knives,” she said.

“With a knife one of them gouged out my right eye and stabbed me several times in the chest,” she said, adding that she was left for dead in a pile of bodies in Goalonda, a small town west of Dhaka. Bangladesh’s government says up to three million people were killed and hundreds of thousands of women raped during the savage ninemonth battle for independence. —AP

Militant attack on police station in Pakistan kills 2 PESHAWAR: Islamist militants armed with rockets and grenades attacked a Pakistani police station before dawn, killing two officers in a gunfight lasting nearly an hour yesterday, police said. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the assault in Darbaan Kalan, west of Dera Ismail Khan, a flashpoint for sectarian violence in the northwest, despite claims from some commanders to have begun peace talks with the government.

“They killed two policemen and injured seven others,” district police officer Sohail Khaliq told AFP. “There were around 10-12 militants, who came in vehicles and used grenades, rockets and firing during the attack.

They fled in the same vehicles.” Another police official, Riaz Hussain, who was wounded in the attack said the fight continued for more than 40 minutes. “We suddenly heard a hand grenade blast, followed by the intense firing. We retaliated and fired back,” Hussain told AFP from his hospital bed, wounded by a bullet in his right shoulder. —AFP

Indian police detain suspect after fire on train kills seven PATNA: Indian police said yesterday they had detained a man in connection with a fire which engulfed a passenger train and killed seven people including an Australian woman in the east of the country. Indian Railways police official PK Srivastava said the man was taken in for questioning after detectives spoke to others travelling in an air-conditioned coach which was gutted by fire on Tuesday in Jharkhand state.

“Sabotage cannot be ruled out,” Srivastava told AFP while rejecting suggestions that Maoist guerrillas active in the area could be behind the lethal blaze in the state’s Giridih district. A four-year-old girl was also among the seven killed and 12 injured in the blaze which spread from one coach to another carriage of the train travelling from Kolkata in eastern India to the northern town of Dehradun. Four Australian female researchers were travelling to the Buddhist holy city of Bodh Gaya. One of them from northwest Tasmania died while the remaining three were hospitalized with burn injuries.

Media reports gave various other possible reasons for the accident including an electrical malfunction in the carriage’s heating system, a blast in a gas cylinder or arson. Police officer Srivastava confirmed that passengers on board the train had offered different statements to investigators. —AFP

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Thaksin says he has no plans to return home Potential pardon threatens to inflame tensions SEOUL: Fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he has no plans to return home, following suggestions that the current government headed by his sister may seek to pardon him. Thaksin told a news con-

Adulyadej. Thai media reported last week that this year’s decree-which needs to be approved by the king-would be expanded to apply to “convicts who are at least 60 years old and are sentenced to under three years in jail”. Thaksin,

SEOUL: Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra speaks during a press conference at Seoul yesterday. Shinawatra said he has no plans to return home, following suggestions that the current government headed by his sister may seek to pardon him. —AFP ference in South Korea that he would not go back until “reconciliation really happens” in his homeland.

Royal pardons are granted each December 5 on the birthday of Thai King Bhumibol

who was ousted by the army in a 2006 coup, is 62 and lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid a two-year sentence for graft.

His potential pardon had threatened to inflame tensions in Thailand, with rallies both

Thai man sentenced to 20 years for insulting queen BANGKOK: A Thai criminal court sentenced a 61-yearold man to 20 years in prison yesterday for sending text messages deemed offensive to the country’s queen. The court found Amphon Tangnoppaku guilty on four counts under lese majeste and computer crime laws, sentencing him to five years imprisonment for each charge, to be served consecutively.

Lese majeste is the crime of insulting a monarch, and Thailand’s laws against it are the most severe in the world. Even repeating the details of an alleged offense is illegal. The court said Amphon sent offensive text messages in May 2010 to a personal secretary of thenPrime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Amphon denied the charges, saying he was unfamiliar with the text message function on mobile phones and did not know the recipient of the message.

Lese majeste arrests and convictions in Thailand spike during times of instability, when the law is used by political rivals to harass opponents. That has been the case since a 2006 military coup ushered in political upheaval that has at times spiraled into violent street confrontations. Statistics obtained by The Associated Press from the Office of the Attorney General show 36 lese majeste cases were sent for prosecution in 2010, compared to 18 in 2005 and just one in 2000.

Amnesty International’s Benjamin Zawacki condemned yesterday’s verdict, accusing the government of suppressing freedom of expression. “Thailand has every right to have a (lese majeste) law, but its current form and usage place the country in contravention of its international legal obligations,” Zawacki told The Associated Press. “Repression remains the order of the day in Thailand on freedom of expression, and Amphon is a political prisoner.”

Amphon was arrested August 3, 2010, and detained at Bangkok Remand Prison without bail after being indicted by the public prosecutor for lese majeste.

Before his arrest, he had lived with his wife, daughter-inlaw and three grandchildren in a rented room in Samut Prakan province, on the outskirts of Bangkok. He is retired and receives a 3,000 baht ($100) monthly allowance from his children. He has mouth cancer and has required regular medical care since 2007. —AP

Indonesia plane crash kills pilot TIMIKA: A small plane crashed into a mountain after an aborted landing attempt in Indonesia’s remote Papua region yesterday, killing the Spanish co-pilot and critically injuring the New Zealand pilot, local rescue officials said. The pilot aborted the landing after spotting a villager who had wandered onto the airstrip in Paniai district, local search and rescue chief Sumpeno Yuwono told AFP. After flying away the Susi Air’s Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft crashed into a mountain some seven miles (11 kilometres) away. “Just as the aircraft was coming in to land the pilot spotted a villager walking on the runway. He decided to abort the landing and fly away again, but he failed and the plane hit a mountain seven miles away,” he said. “The New Zealand pilot has been rescued to a hospital in Timika town and the body of the Spanish co-pilot was sent to a nearby airport.”

Like most airstrips in the remote area, the Paniai runway is unprotected by a fence. Locals cut through it to take shortcuts and children sometimes use the area to play football, he said.

The plane, coming in from neighboring Nabire, was flying food supplies to remote villages in the district, other rescue officials said.

The sprawling Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has a poor aviation safety record. Turbulent weather conditions in Papua have caused several accidents in recent years. In September an Australian and a Slovak pilot were killed when their Grand Caravan, owned by the same company, went down in a remote area of Papua province.

Another small aircraft, also transporting supplies to remote villages for a Christian organization in Papua, crashed the same month, killing its American pilot and two passengers. —AFP

for and against the decree in recent days.

Thaksin, speaking during a private visit to South Korea, said he had been the victim of injustice since the 2006 coup “but I’m ready to sacrifice and stay outside until the whole country brings back reconciliation and unity.

“So I would not go back home until the reconciliation really happens,” he said in English. “I don’t want to be part of the problem but I want to be part of the solution.”

The Thai government late Sunday ruled out a pardon after strong criticism from opponents of a reported draft decree. “(Thaksin) will not receive any benefit” from this year’s royal pardon, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok told reporters. But the reports came at a delicate time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is Thaksin’s younger sister and widely considered his political proxy, as she faces criticism for her handling of floods which have killed more than 600 people.

The ex-leader said he had no ambition to go back to prepare to resume power since his sister had received a very strong mandate for her premiership. “When reconciliation happens, then I will go. I don’t mind which method — amnesty or anything — but it should be a solution for reconciliation.” Thaksin has been studying a massive flood control project during his four-day visit to South Korea. The $19 billion Four Rivers project is also aimed at conserving water and beautifying riverside areas.

He said the floods cost Thailand some 15 billion dollars, but damage could have been mitigated with a similar river control system.

Thaksin told reporters he had a plan in 2005 for a very similar project to South Korea’s.

“Unfortunately in 2006, I was ousted by the military coup and now... (as) my party is running the country, we’d like to bring back the project which will be helpful for flood prevention and drought prevention.” —AFP

Khmer Rouge leader asks why Cambodia’s ex-king not in dock PHNOM PENH: The former head of state in Cambodia under the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge denied involvement in mass killings under the regime in the 1970s and asked prosecutors yesterday why ex-King Norodom Sihanouk, a sometime ally, was not also in the dock. The U.N.-backed court started a case on Monday against Khieu Samphan and two other leaders of the “Killing Fields” regime blamed for the deaths of as many as 2.2 million people, or about a quarter of Cambodia’s population, from 1975-1979.

They are charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide for transforming Cambodia into a mass labor camp where people were executed or died from torture, starvation, disease and overwork. Pariseducated Khieu Samphan accused the court of re-writing history with “fairy tales” extracted from books and newspapers, and said that as a leader he promoted a communist administration but had no control over those who carried out killings.

“At that time, communism was the one

PHNOM PENH: In this photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary sits during the third day of a trial of the UNbacked war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia yesterday.—AP movement that gave hope to millions of youths around the world. What I actually wanted at that time was the best experience for my country,” he said. The Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge, led by ‘Brother Number One’ Pol Pot, declared war on modernity, emptying towns and cities and abolishing money and markets, after seizing power in 1975 by toppling a U.S.-backed general, Lon Nol, who five years earlier had overthrown Sihanouk in a coup. Khieu Samphan said that at the time, Cambodia was poised for a “major disaster of human life” following waves of carpet bombing by U.S. fighter planes from 1969 until 1973 and he accused the United States of destabilising the country.

Designed to create a resurgent and pure peasant society, the policies of ‘Year Zero’ instead gave birth to one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. But Khieu Samphan said his role was limited. At the 14 of 19 policy meetings he attended, he said, he only spoke twice on subjects that had nothing to do with

mass killings. “It had nothing at all to do with the crimes that you alleged against me,” he said. International co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley told the tribunal this week it should not be tempted by feelings of compassion for elderly and infirm defendants in their 80s as these were people who had “murdered, tortured and terrorized” fellow Cambodians. Historians say Khieu Samphan was the leading intellectual among the small group of Cambodian students in 1950s Paris who became imbued with communism and returned home to the Southeast Asian country to form the core of the guerrilla movement that became the Khmer Rouge.

He published a book in 2004 portraying himself as a virtual prisoner of the regime and denying knowledge of any atrocities. He was arrested three years later at his jungle home in the old Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin on the Thai border. In court, he suggested that if he witnessed mass killings as prosecutors allege, so too would have former King Norodom Sihanouk, who was briefly head of state when the Khmer Rouge took over. He became king again in 1993 and abdicated in 2004. “Why don’t you invite King Sihanouk to join me in the dock?” Khieu Samphan said. “Do you really think, Mr Prosecutor, when I visited these work sites accompanied by the king, workers were murdered in front of us with hoes or bullets in the back of the neck?” His French lawyer, Jacques Verges, known for defending reviled figures such as Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, said the court should take into account the context of Cambodia in the 1970s after the coup d’etat, carpet bombing by the United States and what he called territorial claims by Thailand and Vietnam.

“Your Honours, let me simply say that, in this torment that Cambodia went through, men made mistakes, they even committed crimes, but they are not monsters,” Verges said.

Co-defendant Nuon Chea, “Brother Number Two” and chief ideologue of the Khmer Rouge, also denied all the charges on Tuesday, saying his party had acted to free Cambodia from colonialism and protect it from invasion by Vietnam.

The third defendant, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, at first refused to read his statement to the court yesterday, pleading ill health, but he was ordered to do so by the judges and was brought to the dock in a wheelchair. He said he had received a pardon and amnesty from Sihanouk in 1996, which had been approved by the national assembly, and would not answer questions in future sessions. The court was subsequently adjourned until Dec 5. A fourth defendant, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, was declared mentally ill and unfit for trial last week. She remains in detention pending an appeal by prosecutors. The Khmer Rouge was finally forced from power when Vietnam invaded in 1979. Remnants fought on until 1998 when Pol Pot, its French-educated leader, died. This is the second case brought before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which has spent close to $150 million since its creation in 2005 and has been mired in controversy because of delays, resignations and allegations of political interference. In the first case, Kaing Guek Eav, known as “Duch”, was sentenced to a 35-year jail term, commuted to 19 years, for overseeing the killing of more than 14,000 people at a torture centre. A decision on his appeal is set for February. —Reuters

YEONPYEONG: South Korea Marines participate at a military exercise on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea yesterday. The South’s military staged drills involving aircraft, rocket launchers and artillery guns to send a strong message to North Korean rivals stationed within sight just miles (kilometers) away, and to their authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Il. —AP

S Korea flaunts firepower year after N Korean attack YEONPYEONG ISLAND: South Korean attack helicopters screamed through the skies above the Koreas’ disputed Yellow Sea waters yesterday in a display of power exactly a year after North Korea launched a deadly artillery attack on a front-line island. Residents of Yeonpyeong Island laid flowers at statues to commemorate the four South Koreans killed in the barrage and sent aloft a balloon carrying a banner with their portraits. On the mainland, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik joined families of the victims at the National Cemetery south of the capital for a solemn tribute on a cold, windy day.

Kim Yong-sub, a former marine who was stationed on Yeonpyeong during the attack, laid a flower at the cemetery in his friends’ honor. “I still think a lot about that day,” he said. Yesterday’s drills involving aircraft, rocket launchers and artillery guns took place off Baengnyeong Island, another front-line territory near the disputed maritime border, and were meant to send a strong message to North Korean rivals stationed within sight just miles (kilometers) away.

The exercises represent far greater firepower than the South Korean military mounted last year in response to the artillery shells showered on military garrisons and fishing villages on nearby Yeonpyeong, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Bung-woo said. “South Korea’s government will never compromise, and will take firm measures when it comes to the safety and security of our people and the country,” Prime Minister Kim said. South Korea’s delayed response to the shelling at the time - the first on a civilian area since the three-year Korean War ended with a truce in 1953 - drew heavy criticism and concern that Seoul was unprepared for a North Korean provocation. The defense minister resigned, and successor Kim Kwan-jin has pledged a fierce air strike if the North stages another attack.

Two construction workers and two marines were killed, dozens of homes decimated and scores evacuated to the

mainland. Most islanders have returned but remain traumatized by the attack, which turned the tiny island’s downtown into an inferno. “I often become tense when something goes ‘boom,’” said Yoo Dae-geun, 33, who runs a restaurant on the island. “Whenever there are military drills, we all cannot work and must take refuge in bomb shelters. So, we cannot have normal daily lives.”

Pyongyang blamed Seoul for provoking the attack, saying it struck after warning the South not to carry out live-fire drills in waters both Koreas claim as their territory. “The pursuit of continued military confrontation and war will eventually bring about the fate of devastation,” North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said yesterday, again accusing South Korea of provoking the attack.

North Korea’s official government website called the plan to conduct drills “reckless.”

North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by the U.N. at the close of the war, and three deadly naval gunfights have taken place in the Yellow Sea waters since 1999. South Korea also holds North Korea responsible for the sinking of one of its warships in March last year; 46 sailors were killed. Pyongyang denies involvement. In the past year, South Korea has spent millions of dollars to beef up its arsenal in the Yellow Sea, installing additional radars, setting up a separate defense command and deploying precision-guided rockets designed to take out North Korea’s hidden coastal artillery.

However, there have been recent signs that animosities between the rival Koreas are easing, with diplomats seeking to resume North Korean nuclear disarmament talks. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told officers that he was sorry North Korea has not yet apologized for the shelling, according to the presidential Blue House. Lee paid a visit yesterday to a military command that handles the defense of the Yellow Sea area. He said he expects Pyongyang to apologize if North Korea wants to improve the relations between the two Koreas. —AP

Calls for justice two years after Philippine massacre AMPATUAN: Relatives of 57 people killed in the Philippines’ worst political massacre called on authorities yesterday to speed up the suspects’ trial as they marked the second anniversary of the murders. While key leaders of the Ampatuan clan who are accused of orchestrating the killings have been charged, their trial is still in its early stages and prosecutors fear it could take years before anyone is punished for the crime.

Meanwhile, 100 suspects-including members of the Ampatuan family, policemen and soldiers-remain at large and relatives of the victims have complained that witnesses are being killed, intimidated or bribed. “Two years on, we still have not received justice for their deaths,” said Grace Morales, 35, whose husband and sister were among the 32 journalists killed in the massacre. “We are demanding justice for them, even if we know it may be difficult to get.”Morales and other relatives of the victims converged on a remote, grassy hill in the southern province of Maguindanao where gunmen mowed down the victims and dumped their bodies in a shallow pit.

Relatives offered prayers and flowers and lit candles on a stone marker etched with the names of the victims in the world’s deadliest attack on journalists.

They then released white doves and balloons in the air as a sign of hope, and comforted each other as the solemn ceremony gave way to sounds of anguished weeping.

Military armored personnel carriers patrolled the hill to prevent sabotage attacks, after police said they found and defused two bombs left by the side of a highway leading to the site earlier in the day.

The devices however were not strong enough to badly hurt or kill but could have been intended to send out a warning, they said. Philippine politics is well known for its violence, but the events of November 23, 2009 in this remote farm-

ing community shocked the world. Andal Ampatuan Jnr allegedly led a group of about 100 gunmen in stopping a convoy of cars carrying relatives of a rival political candidate, their lawyers and journalists, then massacring them.

He allegedly led the killings because he wanted to stop Esmael Mangudadatu from challenging him in elections. Thirtytwo of the victims were journalists travelling with the convoy to witness Mangudatatu’s wife, pregnant sister and other relatives lodge his candidacy to run against Ampatuan Jnr for the post of provincial governor. Andal Ampatuan Jnr’s father and namesake was at the time governor of Maguindanao and had been planning to install his son as successor.

Ampatuan Snr ruled Maguindanao for nearly a decade, building a reputation as a feared warlord who used a private army of a few thousand men to ensure he and his relatives won elections.

He ruled the province with the support of then-president Gloria Arroyo, who helped fund and legitimise his private army so it could be used as a proxy force against Muslim separatist rebels.

Ampatuan Snr and Jnr are among 64 people who are on trial in Manila, with a total of 93 suspects having been arrested.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International said the pressure was on President Benigno Aquino to speed up the “very slow wheels of justice”. “The government has to show that it has the ability to render justice in a massacre that constituted the world’s worst-ever attack on journalists and the world’s worst-ever election-related single incident,” it said.

The US government said in a statement that the international community was watching. “The prosecution of this case is seen by many around the world as demonstrative of the Philippines’ commitment to upholding the rule of law and protecting human rights,” US ambassador to Manila Harry Thomas said. —AFP

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NEWS Probe finds Bahrain used excessive force Continued from Page 1

HARMAR, Pennsylvania: A car with its wheels covered in driveway sealant sits in a parking lot after exiting the Pennsylvania Turnpike Tuesday night. A flood of the gooey material dropped from a tanker truck disabled more than 100 cars and damaged an unknown number of other vehicles along a nearly 40-mile stretch of the Turnpike, officials said. — AP

immunity” for anyone suspected of abuses and said it would propose creating a permanent human rights commission. “All those who have broken the law or ignored lawful orders and instructions will be held accountable,” said a government statement, adding that the report notes that the “systematic practice of mistreatment” ended shortly after martial law was repealed on June 1.

Bahrain’s Shiites comprise about 70 percent of the island nation’s 525,000 citizens. They have complained of widespread discrimination such as being blocked from top government or military posts. The monarchy has offered numerous concessions - including more powers to the parliament - yet have refused to bow to protest demands to surrender its command of all top positions and main policies. “A number of detainees were tortured ... which proved there was a deliberate practice by some,” said Bassiouni, whose report covered the period between Feb 14 and March 30.

The report also was highly critical of a special security court created under martial law that “overtook the national system of justice” and issued harsh sentences - including life in prison and death row rulings - that “denied most defendants elementary fair trial guarantees”. Bahrain has abolished the security court and some of its decisions are under review by civilian magistrates. Bassiouni urged Bahrain to review all the security court verdicts and drop charges against all those accused of nonviolent acts such as joining or supporting the protests.

The document spotlighted abuses at the island’s main hospital, the state-run Salmaniya Medical Center. The authorities saw its mostly Shiite staff as opposition sympathizers. Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters were detained during crackdown. Many were sentenced to five to 15 year prison sentences. Their appeal will be heard in a civilian court. “All reports indicated that there were protests, and indeed chaos, in the SMC,” the report says, It adds, “The hospital generally continued to function normally” through the unrest.

“You found real shortcomings from some government institutions,” Bahrain’s king told Bassiouni, an Egyptianborn professor of international criminal law and a former member of UN human rights panels. But the king lashed back at finding that Iran did not influence the uprising, saying his government could not provide clear evidence but insisting Tehran’s role was clear to “all who have eyes and ears”. He blamed Arabic-language outlets in Iran’s state media of “inciting our population to engage in acts of violence, sabotage and insurrection. Iran’s propaganda fueled the flames of sectarian strife - an intolerable interference in our internal affairs.”

Although Bahrain’s bloodshed and chaos is small in comparison with the huge upheavals across the Arab world, the island’s conflict resonates from Tehran to Washington. Bahrain is a critical US ally and Washington has taken a cautious line because of what’s at stake: urging

Bahrain’s leaders to open more dialogue with the opposition, but avoiding too much public pressure. Some US lawmakers have shown signs of growing impatience with Bahrain’s rulers. A $53 million arms deal with Bahrain is on hold until the upcoming report is examined.

For Gulf leaders, led by powerful Saudi Arabia, Bahrain is seen as a firewall to keep pro-reform protests from spreading further across the region. Gulf rulers have rallied behind the kingdom’s embattled monarchy and sent in military reinforcements during the height of the crackdowns and Saudi-led units still remain. Shiite-led protesters began occupying a square in the capital Manama in February - just days after crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square celebrated the downfall of Hosni Mubarak.

Weeks later, security forces stormed Manama’s Pearl Square, tore down the landmark six-pronged monument at its center and imposed martial law. Hundreds of activists, political leaders and Shiite professionals such as lawyers, doctors, nurses and athletes were jailed and tried on antistate crimes behind closed doors in a special security court that was set up during emergency rule. On Tuesday, a group of Bahrain rights groups issued their own report on the unrest, accusing authorities of “systematic” abuses and “unceasing human rights violations.”

A leading Shiite opposition figure cautiously welcomed the report which “documented the violations,” but lamented that the “government’s response was negative” and that the king’s reaction should be more forceful. “The king should act seriously,” ex-MP Khalil Marzouq told AFP, reiterating the opposition’s demand for a democratic government and drastic reforms. “Logically, how could a government stay in place with this amount of atrocious violations listed?” against it, asked the leading figure in Al-Wefaq, adding that the king’s promise to introduce reform is a mere “repetition”.

The crackdown has left Bahrain polarised along sectarian lines, with low expectations from both sides that the inquiry would lead to reconciliation. “It should have criticised the opposition that claims to represent the Shia, it only criticised the government,” said Sheikh Muhsin AlAsfoor, a pro-government Shiite cleric who advises the king on Shiite affairs. Maryam Al-Khawaja, an activist with a Bahraini human rights group, suggested the investigation wound up exonerating Bahrain rather than identifying abuses, noting on Twitter: “Minutes after talked of violations...Hamad thanked the police.”

Hours before the release of the panel’s report, Bahraini security forces chased youths in a Shiite town and one man was killed when his car was hit by a police vehicle, activists said. Witnesses said riot police in 4x4 vehicles sped through the streets of Aali, outside the capital Manama, in pursuit of dozens of teenagers, before seizing one and beating him with batons as helicopters circled overhead.

Graffiti in the area read “Death to Al Khalifa”, a reference to the Sunni ruling family, which Bahrain’s majority Shiites accuse of denying them access to housing, land and state employment on sectarian grounds. — Agencies

Clashes, 4 more deaths in Egypt Saleh finally signs deal to quit power Continued from Page 1 to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi but remain honorary president for 90 days. Saleh has repeatedly backed out of signing the deal brokered by Yemen’s wealthy Gulf neighbours since the parliamentary opposition inked it back in April. During his months of prevarication, deadly clashes between loyalist and dissident troops had riven the capital, while militants, some linked to Al-Qaeda, took advantage of the decline of central government control in the provinces to set up base.

But at yesterday’s signing ceremony, Saleh insisted: “We welcome partnership with the opposition to manage the country’s affairs and rebuild what the crisis has destroyed.” He was dressed smartly in a dark business suit with a matching striped tie and handkerchief and he smiled as he signed the deal, then clapped his hands a few times. He then spoke for a few minutes to members of the Saudi royal families and international diplomats, promising his ruling party “will be cooperative” in working with a new unity government. “This disagreement for the last 10 months has had a big impact on Yemen in the realms of culture, development, politics, which led to a threat to national unity and destroyed what has been built in past years,” he said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he had called Saleh on Tuesday and “strongly urged” him to sign the deal, which his Yemen envoy Jamal Benomar played a major role in brokering during repeated visits to Sanaa. “I told him that the United Nations will spare no efforts and as the secretary general of the United Nations I will do my best to mobilise the necessary resources and support so that... peace and stability and democratic order will be restored in Yemen,” Ban said.

“I understand the arrangement and agreement is that he will still remain as president. But he told me that he will come to a deal to take medical treatment immediately after signing this agreement,” he said. “If he comes to New York I will be happy to meet him,” the UN secretary general added, saying he was “encouraged by the positive development of the situation in Yemen”.

The 69-year-old Saleh sustained serious blast wounds in a June bombing of his residence for which he has already received extensive treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Under the roadmap brokered by Benomar, Saleh will hand to Hadi “all powers necessary for proceeding with the Gulf initiative and its implementation mechanism and for organising early elections within a 90-day period which begins immediately after the signing”. The opposition will immediately put forward a candidate to head a government of national unity, which will be charged with holding talks with the youth activists who have spearheaded the 10 months of protests, the UN envoy said.

Saleh will remain honorary president for 90 days until Hadi is elected as consensus president for an interim two-year period, political sources said. The parliamentary opposition spokesman warned that the protesters were unlikely to give up their almost daily demonstrations until Saleh has finally quit office completely. “ The streets reject the Gulf initiative,” Mohammed Qahtan, spokesman for their Common Forum parliamentary bloc, told AFP. “People will not go back to their homes until the honorary term ends.”

Protesters again demonstrated in Sanaa earlier yesterday to protest against the immunity promised to Saleh and his family from prosecution for their roles in the regime’s bloody crackdown that has left hundreds dead and thousands wounded. “No immunity, no guarantee, Saleh must be tried with his regime,” they chanted. There were also brief clashes in Sanaa between dissident troops and forces loyal to the president, residents said. The unrest has left Yemen’s armed forces and security services deeply divided, and under the first three months of the agreement, Hadi will also form a committee that will oversee their restructuring. Saleh’s son Ahmed commands the Republican Guards, his nephew Yehya heads the central security services, and Tariq, another nephew, controls the presidential guard. But two major army divisions - one in Sanaa and one in Yemen’s second-largest city Taez - rallied to the opposition and have fought repeated battles against Saleh’s loyalists leaving scores dead. — Agencies

Police arrest activists for storming Assembly Continued from Page 1 Many other activists, who have not been summoned and who have not taken part in breaking into the Assembly, plan to give themselves up to the police in a campaign titled “Arrest Us All” in solidarity with the arrested activists.

Rashid Sanad Al-Fadala, who was among those who had heard they were on a wanted list and were preparing to surrender to police said: “We believe in the rule of law.

If they believe that we broke the law we are going right now to hand ourselves in.” Another of those who turned himself in, Meshari AlMutairi said: “This kind of thing will not stop us and will not weaken us or make us lose faith in our demands and our cause.”

The crowd at the CID headquarters included leading opposition MPs Musallam Al-Barrak, Faisal AlMislem, Dhaifallah Buramia, AlHarbash and others. Al-Barrak strongly blasted the special forces

and charged its commander of deliberately beating the crowd without justification. Other MPs threatened to grill the interior minister over the incident. The opposition bloc, a gathering grouping about 20 MPs, warned in a statement later in the day the interior minister against resor ting to oppressive measures and called on the Assembly office to withdraw charges against the activists.

The arrested activists include former Islamist opposition MP Fahd AlKhannah. So far, the public prosecution has issued arrest warrants for around 50 activists and defense lawyers expect more warrants to be issued later. Liberal MP Aseel AlAwadhi strongly blasted the government for beating the activists yesterday, saying this will only accelerate the demise of the government.

In a related development, the Amiri Diwan issued a statement yesterday quoting HH the Amir as urging the Kuwaiti people to unify

ranks and stop divisions for the sake of supreme national interests.

The Amir also called for the firm implementation of the law, and added that all issues and differences can be settled through dialogue. The statement quoted the Amir as thanking all those who rallied to reiterate their loyalty to the Amir.

Meanwhile, Islamist opposition MP Khaled Al-Sultan asked the education minister if the ministry provided its buses to transport people to the pro-government rally on Tuesday. In a similar development, opposition activist and lawyer Nawaf Sari claimed that the head of the social welfare care brought inmates of the home to take part in the pro-government rally.

In other parliamentary business, the public utilities committee approved a proposal yesterday to increase the housing allowance from KD 70,000 to KD 100,000 and the marriage loan from KD 4,000 to KD 6,000, half of which is a grant.

Continued from Page 1 when security forces clashed with demonstrators tr ying to storm a police station, state said. The violence came despite a pledge by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s long-time defence minister now in charge of the country, on Tuesday that the military does not seek indefinite rule. In Cairo, riot police fired tear gas and birdshot, which ricocheted off concrete buildings, sending dust and chips of cement into tear gas-filled air, an AFP correspondent reported.

The military beefed up security on Mohammed Mahmud Street, a flashpoint road leading from Tahrir Square to the heavily fortified interior ministry, deploying extra armoured vehicles. A 10-year-old child was among the latest casualties, hit in the head by a live bullet, according to Father Fawzi Abdel Wahib at a church turned into a field hospital. “He was taken to the Qasr Al-Aini hospital. He probably won’t make it alive to the hospital,” said Abdel Wahib. The health ministry

said in a statement yesterday that a total of 35 people had died countrywide since the latest clashes began on Saturday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the images coming out of Egypt “deeply shocking.

“I urge the Egyptian authorities to end the clearly excessive use of force against protesters in Tahrir Square and elsewhere in the country, including the apparent improper use of tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition,” said Pillay. “There should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses that have taken place should be ensured,” she added. British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed deep concern at the “unacceptable violence and loss of life” in and around Tahrir Square. Egypt’s military ruler pledged in a rare televised address on Tuesday night to hold a presidential election by the end of June - six months earlier than scheduled. Tantawi said he was also ready to transfer power immedi-

ately, through a referendum, “should the people wish it”. But the tens of thousands of demonstrators on Tahrir Square said they did not believe a word he said. “The ball has been in SCAF’s court for months, and they didn’t do anything,” said Ibtisam AlHamalawy, 50, referring to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

An opinion poll published by the University of Maryland yesterday found that 43 percent of respondents believed Egypt’s military rulers were working to slow or reverse the transition to democracy. Just 21 percent felt they are trying to advance it, while 14 percent considered them to be indifferent, the survey found. Analysts said that, while the demonstrators in Tahrir Square might not represent the majority of the Egyptian population, their influence was unquestionable.

“We are seeing middle class youth being killed, and that moves big segments in the cities and provinces,” said Nabil Abdel Fatah, of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. — AFP

Remittances by expats trouble Saudi...

Continued from Page 1 “But the Saudi economy has gone through a number of rough patches over the decades without compromising the basic stability of the monetary situation.” He added, “It’s not an unmanageable problem, but the issue is the opportunity cost of the remittances. Many residents live here for the pure purpose of making as much money as they can and sending as much of it back home to their families as they can. That money isn’t being used to stimulate domestic economic activity.”

Expatriates account for nine out of 10 private-sector jobs in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter. They fill roles that range from domestic service and factory work to management positions in large finance companies. The value of their remittances has almost doubled in the past five years from an officially recorded 15.3 billion riyals in the second quarter of 2006. Three economists told Reuters that the true figures for money outflows were probably much higher because they did not include informal transfers. “In practice, when oil prices are high remittances go up, and when oil prices fall, remittances go down automatically because employment falls and new recruitment falls,” said Khan Zahid, chief economist of Riyad Capital.

Labour Minister Adel Al-Fakieh said in an Oct 22 television interview that the Labour Ministry was “preparing a monitoring program aimed at reducing the huge quantity of transfers of foreign workers”. He did not elaborate, and economists said it would be difficult to develop practical measures to limit remittances, partly because money can be taken out of the kingdom in many different ways. Most of the money is thought to be remitted by lower-paid workers, most from South and Southeast Asia, who frequently carry cash with them on trips home rather than making formal bank transfers. Higher-paid workers tend to spend more of their income inside Saudi Arabia because they are more likely to bring their families with them, but they often have their salaries paid directly into foreign bank accounts. An even bigger obstacle to controlling remittances is the fact that foreign workers are needed to keep the economy running.

Weaning businesses off them is a difficult and long-term task. “Theoretically there is an opportunity cost because when expats do not consume here they are not adding to domestic demand, which is a leakage from the economy,” said Zahid. “But foreign workers are producing more than they consume, making a net contribution to the economy.

The only way to avoid this is to have Saudi workers instead

of foreigners.”

Addressing unemployment among Saudi nationals, which officially stands at 10 percent, is a key goal for King Abdullah in a country where the population is growing more quickly than the government can provide public sector jobs. Around half of Saudis in full-time employment work for the government, central bank data shows, and King Abdullah announced the creation of tens of thousands of new Interior Ministry jobs earlier this year. On Oct 21, Eqtisadiah newspaper reported that the kingdom planned to cap the number of long-term foreign workers at a fifth of its total population - a measure which, if implemented, could mean an exodus of several million people. The newspaper quoted an unnamed Labour Ministry source and did not give a time frame or details of how the goal might be reached.

Economic reforms over the past decade have aimed at creating jobs by strengthening the private sector, while the government has tried to force companies to employ Saudis in these posts by using a quota system. “Saudi Arabia went through years of ambitious regulatory and institutional reforms which had significant success in accelerating economic growth, yet somehow the job opportunities for Saudis haven’t materialised in the way they were supposed to,” Kotilaine said.

Earlier this year, the government refined its “Saudisation” program by rewarding companies that employ more Saudis and making it more difficult for those that employ fewer Saudis to gain visas for expatriate workers. Efforts to move local people into the workforce are contradicted, however, by a decision to provide a more generous social safety net in the wake of this year’s Arab Spring social unrest elsewhere in the region. In March, King Abdullah announced an unemployment benefit which will start to be paid when the new Islamic year begins at the end of this week.

Economists also point to a perception among private companies that a substantial proportion of Saudis are unwilling to work hard, lack the skills to replace foreign workers and are protected by a legal framework that makes them hard to sack. For these reasons, cutting the flow of worker remittances out of the country substantially may be impossible for at least several years. “You can trim remittances and it won’t have too much impact on the economy,” said Gamble. “But there are costs to the private sector because they need to train nationals to make them suitable for the positions they would want. It means the transition may well cause some short-term disruption.” — Reuters

14

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

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Issues

Iran’s nuclear showdown still short of war

By Peter Graff ran’s nuclear standoff with the West has led to much harsher words and new economic sanctions, but Tehran has yet to cross the red lines that would prompt Israel or the United States to contemplate military action. A report by the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency this month suggested that Iran has pursued the capability to develop nuclear weapons.

That has provided new impetus for Western efforts to isolate Iran on the diplomatic stage and formed the basis for a wave of sanctions restricting banks from doing business there.

Some media coverage has suggested a new Middle East war could be coming, if the leadership of Israel decides that it cannot tolerate a nuclear bomb in the hands of a state committed to its destruction. Over the long-term, most experts hedge their bets rather than make firm predictions about such a volatile region. But for now at least, experts say there was nothing in the IAEA report that makes military action more likely. If anything, it points to the limits of the effectiveness of a military campaign, which would have to be weighed against the risk of starting a potentially catastrophic regional war.

The report was mainly based on information already known to Western intelligence agencies. It did not reveal the sort of new evidence of immediate danger that would lead Israel or the United States to take a decision now about whether they can live with an Iranian atomic bomb or must take urgent military action to prevent it.

Instead, Western states are likely to stick to diplomacy and economic measures, while keeping a vigilant eye out for as-yet-untaken steps - such as expelling international monitors or diverting nuclear material from known sites that might show Iran was embarking on an all-out bid to build a bomb.

“The route that continues to be taken and favoured by the international community when dealing with Iran is very much one of applying pressure and a desire to return to the negotiating table,” said Marie Bos, Middle East analyst for Control Risks Group, a consultancy firm.

“We still feel at this stage that the scenario of a military strike remains an unlikely one.”

The IAEA report, like earlier US intelligence estimates, suggested Iran had been pursuing the science needed to make an atomic bomb at least until 2003. But that interest mostly took the form of research, rather than building actual bomb-making infrastructure. Experts refer to that knowledge as a “nuclear intangible”, and you can’t destroy it by air strikes, said Andrea Berger of Britain’s Royal United Services Institute: “Because it would be a nuclear intangible, it’s something that can’t be rectified with a military strike.”

The West’s main concern of late about actual activity on the ground in Iran has been its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, a level which Western states say is more than it needs for peaceful nuclear power. But 20 percent pure uranium is still not pure enough to make a bomb. The enrichment is taking place at sites that are known and monitored, and the IAEA says it has not seen material being diverted. It would take another event - a decision by Iran to expel inspectors, the emergence of evidence of other undeclared nuclear sites or the diversion of material from existing sites - to raise the enrichment from a worry to an immediate threat. “We know what’s going on in (the monitored sites) now, and what’s going on in them now is not indicative of an Iran that’s racing toward a nuclear weapon,” said Berger. “There might be something that would compel a change in thinking on the military option, but right now it doesn’t have much utility. So other options might be better.”

For the long term, Western countries have still not exhausted the economic weapons in their arsenal.

Blocking international access to Iran’s central bank could theoretically bring a halt to its huge oil trade, but that could cause a global supply shortage with farreaching consequences. “There’s still a possibility of formally sanctioning the Iranian central bank. We can expect that it would significantly hamper Iran’s ability to trade internationally, including on the oil and gas market, and it could have an impact on oil and gas prices,” said Bos of Control Risks.

The toughest economic measures would require support from the UN Security Council, which would mean persuading veto-wielders Russia and China that the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon is serious enough for the world to pay a serious price. —Reuters

I

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Arab League breaks habit, turns on Syria

By Edmund Blair fter months of silence, Arabs are showing old formulas in the region no longer apply. The Arab League, which for six decades barely lifted a finger in anger at a member state, is now threatening Syria with sanc tions for crack ing down on protests. What led to this is a mixture of Syria’s blindness to - or at least determination to ignore - change brought with the Arab Spring; Damascus’s choice of friends which has for years riled Arabs particularly in the Gulf; and a new chief at the League with a record of human rights work he is now bringing to bear.

Arab foreign ministers meet at the League’s headquarters in Cairo today to discuss stepping up pressure on Syria. A founding member of the pan-Arab body, Syria itself won’t attend because it was suspended this month at a gathering in Morocco.

Damascus had agreed to an Arab League plan on Nov 2 that would have meant drawing its troops out of cities, allowing in monitors and starting talks with the opposition. But scores have been killed since then as tanks and troops have bombarded towns. Leading the campaign are Sunni Muslim Gulf states that have long fretted about Syria’s alliance with their non-Arab rival Shiite Iran and accuse it of trying to unsettle the oil-rich monarchies. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are at the forefront of League action against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Uprisings sweeping the region have broadened Arab support for action, drawing in governments newly keen for public favour. Egypt, long wary of change, voted for action against Damascus. Libya went a step further. After ousting its leader of 42 years, it recognised Syria’s opposition as the legitimate government. “The first factor for the change is the Arab Spring and the challenge which is unprecedented. It is extremely difficult for other states not to react” to bloodshed in Syria, said Ezzedine ChoukriFishere, an experienced Egyptian diplomat and now on a panel that will outline reforms at the League.

Change at the pan-Arab body began with Libya, when in March it suspended Tripoli and called for a no-fly zone after Muammar Gaddafi’s forces pummelled a rebellion against his rule. But Libya was long a maverick in the 22-member organisation. Gaddafi routinely sparred publicly with other Arab leaders and, in recent years, he had turned his attention to Africa. A move against Syria targets a country at the heart of the Arab world, a frontline state with Israel and champion of Arab unity, though analysts say its policies were often divisive.

Saudi Arabia has been at loggerheads with Syria since the 2005 assassination in Beirut of Rafiq AlHariri, who made his billions in the kingdom, also held Saudi citizenship and was long seen as Riyadh’s ally during his years as prime minister of a Lebanon that was struggling to shake off Syrian domination.

At heart of the Sunni state’s worries is Iran. Saudi Arabia has long accused Tehran of trying stir up its Shiite minority and more recently has, with the United States, accused Iran of planning to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington.

“Saudi’s problem is Iran. Going after Syria today ensures you remove Iran from the picture. There is an attempt to create a new Sunni bloc in the region,” said analyst Safwat Zayaat. Sunni rulers fear the growing influence of Iran on Shiite populations in an arc sweeping from the Gulf, through Iraq to Lebanon, where Shiite Hezbollah wields considerable power.

Qatar’s role in leading the charge appears to have more varied motivations. The tiny state with huge gas resources has taken an increasingly prominent regional diplomatic role. It was an early backer of the rebels in Libya and has sought to provide support to Palestinians in Gaza, controlled by Islamist Hamas.

It riled Egypt’s authorities under now ousted President Hosni Mubarak when the Doha-based Al Jazeera television provided graphic coverage of the uprising against his rule. Qatar heads a small steering committee of League states in dealing with Syria. The League has voiced increasing frustration with Damascus for not cooperating with mediation efforts.

When Syria accepted the Arab plan on Nov 2, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani pointedly said after the meeting: “We are happy to

A

have reached this agreement and we will be even happier when it is implemented immediately.”

The deal was not and the League voted to suspend Damascus. The move was opposed by Lebanon, where Syria for years had a military presence, and Yemen, battling its own uprising. Iraq, whose Shiiteled government is wary of offending neighbouring Iran, abstained. But 18 states backed the move. “Syria has not offered anything to move the situation forward,” said one senior Arab diplomat at the League, adding that changes in the region meant that there was a new alignment of interests in the Arab world helping the League act.

Some however were still cautious. Egypt’s ruling generals, say analysts, still have Mubarak’s reluctance for dramatic shifts but have been swayed because they don’t want to risk a public backlash for backing a repression in Syria, even as they have poured tear gas on their opponents in Cairo. Others were also wary but have been won over. The Islamist government of Sudan, which traditionally sides with Syria’s hard line on negotiations with Israel, was swayed to back steps against Damascus by Egypt’s influential Islamists, who have ties to their oppressed Syrian counterparts, one League source said. “Now the Arab League is flexible in taking action. We must give value to the Arab League, which Arab people think has

“The Arab countries have trade relations with Syria but they have to take a position on Syria. These sanctions will affect this trade. The Gulf states are at the forefront of countries that have investments with Syria,” said the Arab diplomat. Action demanded so far has not, however, been implemented by all Arab states. Egypt has said it will not remove its ambassador, saying it needs a channel for talks. But the fact that Arab states have moved towards sanctions marks a shift.

“The Arab League is changing and is creating a new norm for itself that wasn’t there. It is now intervening in domestic affairs when those affairs touch on protection of civilians,” said Choukri-Fishere. He has a leading role on a commission headed by veteran UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, from Algeria, to review League structures, including involvement in peace and security affairs. The commission was charged by new secretary-general Nabil Elaraby with forming a plan on responding “effectively to the Arab Spring and how to make the Arab League part of the change in the Arab world, not an obstacle to it”, said ChoukriFishere.

The panel meets this month and reports back in February to Elaraby, a trained lawyer who represented Egypt at the United Nations and served as judge at the International Court of Justice from 2001 to

An image grab taken from a video shows two of three men killed when Syrian security forces fired at their car on the road between Sirmin and Idlib in the northwest of the country near the border with Turkey. – AFP not accomplished anything for 60 years,” said the Arab diplomat.

Founded in 1945, the only action it could agree on for years was to boycott Israeli goods. Even that unity gradually fell apart after 1979 when Egypt, the most populous Arab state, became the first to sign a peace treaty with Israel. It has barely moved against an Arab state. No action was taken when Assad’s father, Hafez Al-Assad, pounded the city of Hama in 1982, killing thousands to quash an Islamist uprising. The League did authorise a peacekeeping force for war-torn Lebanon in 1976, but that force turned into Syria’s virtual occupying army. It ordered a force to Kuwait in the 1960s when Iraq threatened, but couldn’t agree to act when Iraq actually invaded in 1990, though some Arabs joined a US-led coalition.

The picture could not be more different with Syria.

The League is demanding Syria agree to receive a monitoring team, including military personnel, and it is considering sanctions.

“There are many ideas and suggestions for sanctions that can be imposed on the Syrian regime,” said one Arab government representative at the League, who asked not to be identified. They include imposing a travel ban on Syrian officials, freezing bank transfers or funds in Arab states related to Assad’s government and stopping Arab projects in Syria.

2006. For most of its 60 years, the League has been led by former Egyptian foreign ministers. Elaraby, 76, is no exception though his tenure at the ministry lasted just two months before he was picked as the League’s secretary-general.

Yet in that short time, with Mubarak no longer in power, Elaraby left his mark on Egyptian foreign policy. He suggested tense ties with Iran should be mended and pointed to a softer approach towards Mubarak’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. “Think of the forward-leaning Egyptian foreign policy in the time he was minister,” said one Western diplomat, describing him as “very active”.

S ome analysts say those policies were what prompted Cairo’s traditional-minded military rulers, startled by his desire for change, to move him from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and push him a few blocks down the Nile Corniche to the Arab League.

Choukri-Fishere said Elaraby “believes wholeheartedly in promoting the rules of international law and respect for human rights” - routinely violated in Arab states, rights groups say. But he said Elaraby faced a stiff challenge in changing the League’s course regardless of the regional shake -up: “ The Arab League is a very heavy machine,” he said. “And it functions in the middle of 22 other machines, which are also heavy.” — Reuters

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

sp orts Ogier joins Volkswagen PARIS: Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, who finished third in this year’s rallying world championship with Citroen, has joined Volkswagen.

“Sebastien Ogier has been signed as the first official Volkswagen driver for the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC),” the German team said in a statement. “Ogier (...) will be instrumental in helping to shape the development of the Polo R WRC for Volkswagen’s 2013 entry in the World Rally Championship.”

Ogier, who is joining with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia following their exit from Citroen, will therefore miss the 2012 season. “Volkswagen is number one in Europe and will soon be number one in the world,” Ogier was quoted as saying in the team statement.

“I’m sure that they’re going to compete with the goal of clinching the WRC title. I’m happy to be part of this from the outset.” Ogier left Citroen after it was announced that world championship runnerup Mikko Hirvonen of Finland would join the French manufacturer. Volkswagen added that Ogier would “perform his first run as a Volkswagen factory driver at the Race Of Champions in Duesseldorf on 3 and 4 December”. —Reuters

Australia suffer setback MELBOURNE: Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson and all rounder Shane Watson may miss the first test against New Zealand after suffering injuries during the South Africa tour.

Johnson sustained a toe injury during Australia’s victory in the second test against South Africa, while Watson remained under a cloud after straining his hamstring, Cricket Australia said in a statement yesterday.

“Mitchell Johnson has an injury to the main joint of his big toe in the left foot,” the team’s physiotherapist said in the statement. “The scans will be reviewed in the next 24 hours and he will also be assessed by medical staff at the WACA on return to Perth.

“Shane Watson had a scan that has confirmed the extent of the ham-

string injury he sustained in the first innings of the second test.”

Late-bloomer Ryan Harris, Australia’s most consistent fast bowler over the past year, expects to start the test in Brisbane but is also a fitness concern after sustaining a hip injury in South Africa which forced him to leave the tour early. “I’m planning to be fit, the other thing now is I’ve got to be picked again,” the 32year-old told local reporters yesterday. “There’s a young fellow that’s done pretty well over there, obviously got an opportunity because of my injury,” Harris said, referring to 18year-old Pat Cummins, who became the youngest test debutant to take five wickets in Australia’s second test victory over the Proteas. —Reuters

Margarito rematch cleared NEW YORK: The eagerly-awaited rematch between Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico and Mexico’s Antonio Margarito will go ahead as planned in New York next month after officials finally gave the go ahead for the world title fight to proceed.

The super welterwight bout, scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 3, was in doubt after the New York State Athletic Commission raised questions about the health of Margarito, who suffered a serious eye injury that required surgery in his loss to Manny Pacquiao last year.

The Commission rejected Margarito’s initial application to fight Cotto but agreed to let him undergo further medical examinations by an eye specialist of their choice. On Tuesday, the Commission reviewed their decision and agreed to grant a boxing license to the Mexican.

Had the Commission refused to let the fight proceed, the promoters were considering moving it to another American state although Cotto caught them by surprise when he told reporters he wasn’t going anywhere else.

“I’m not going to present myself in any other state,” Cotto, the WBA super welterweight champion, said on a conference call. “If the people from the New York commission said that Margarito is not able to fight because of his eye, then (everybody) has to respect that and any commission in the US has to respect that.” —Reuters

Oilers demolish Predators NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Tuesday.

Toronto 7, Tampa Bay 1; Los Angeles 3, St. Louis 2; Edmonton 6, Nashville 2.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA Pittsburgh 12 6 3 65 50 Philadelphia 11 6 3 73 62 NY Rangers 10 4 3 47 38 New Jersey 10 8 1 52 54 NY Islanders 5 10 3 35 61 Northeast Division Toronto 12 8 2 70 70 Boston 12 7 0 65 39 Buffalo 12 8 0 58 51 Ottawa 10 9 2 62 70 Montreal 9 9 3 53 50 Southeast Division Florida 11 6 3 60 51 Washington 11 7 1 62 59 Tampa Bay 9 9 2 55 67 Winnipeg 8 9 3 58 65 Carolina 8 11 3 53 72

PTS 27 25 23 21 13 26 24 24 22 21 25 23 20 19 19

Western Conference Central Division Chicago 12 6 3 71 67 27 Nashville 10 6 4 55 54 24 Detroit 11 7 1 53 43 23 St. Louis 10 8 2 50 46 22 Columbus 5 13 2 47 70 12 Northwest Division Minnesota 12 5 3 47 40 27 Edmonton 11 8 2 57 51 24 Vancouver 10 9 1 58 57 21 Colorado 9 11 1 56 65 19 Calgary 8 10 1 42 51 17 Pacific Division San Jose 12 5 1 57 43 25 Los Angeles 11 7 3 52 50 25 Dallas 12 8 0 53 55 24 Phoenix 10 6 3 54 49 23 Anaheim 6 10 4 41 61 16 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

Elway looking for QB in the wrong places NEW YORK: Since joining the Broncos’ brain trust in January, the only franchise quarterback John Elway has glimpsed in Denver is the one staring back at him in the mirror every morning. And that guy is 51 years old.

As for the QB who’s won four of five starts for his suddenly resurgent team, including a week ago against the New York Jets, Elway’s verdict was, “No. No.” A moment later he added: “Tim Tebow did exactly what we thought he could do on Thursday night - that when we get in tough situations, he was the guy that was going to be able to make those plays. He’s got the will and the competitiveness to do the things that, you know, you can’t coach. ... We know we have that, but we’ve got to get better in the passing game.”

Tebow responded the way he always does, like an unfailingly polite honor student. He called Elway “one of the best ever,” adding that it was an honor “to play for him and try to win games for him, Coach Fox and Bowlen and everybody involved in this great organization.”

Yet when the next question was whether Elway’s criticism seemed unfair, Tebow said, “I honestly don’t pay much attention and I don’t try to focus on anything that doesn’t affect me personally. I go out there every single day and I’m going to try and continue to work hard and focus on what I can control and that’s it.”

Picking a fight with a fan favorite when he’s on a roll isn’t just bad timing. Foolish as it sounded, that was Elway’s way of letting Tebow know he’s never going to be Denver’s franchise quarterback, no matter how well the rest of the season goes.

Especially since soon after the dueling radio interviews, the Broncos put Kyle Orton, the quarterback Tebow deposed as the starter five games ago, on waivers.

Instead of a vote of confidence, the move was designed to find another club the Texans, Bears and Chiefs are the most likely buyers - willing to pick up the $3 million or so remaining on Orton’s contract.

That was the organization’s way of signaling that the rebuilding effort can’t begin soon enough, even though Tebow

has pulled the Broncos back to within a game of the Raiders for the top spot in the AFC West.

The only people who don’t seem to have gotten the message are Tebow, his teammates and his fans. Even they likely know that he isn’t going to be Denver’s future, not with the show Elway & Co. have made of their scouting missions to see this season’s top college quarterbacks.

But Tebow is definitely the present, and the more games he wins, the further the Broncos’ chances of drafting an NFLready quarterback like Stanford’s Andrew Luck or Southern California’s Matt Barkley recede. If nothing else, it’s going to be a fascinating experiment while it lasts.

Elway is almost certainly right about the long term. Tebow’s success flies in the face of NFL convention. Since Tebow became a starter, the Broncos’ 25 percent conversion rate on third down is the lowest in the NFL, and their 154 yards passing per game ranks next to last.

They’ve offset that lack of production with a stingy defense that’s kept games close enough - Denver scored less than 20 points in three of those wins - to let Tebow pinball his way through opponents at the end.

But the read-option offense the Broncos run won’t be a novelty to defensive coordinators for much longer, and while all those brave collisions make Tebow an easy guy to rally around, eventually they’re going to take their toll. The only question that matters is when, since Tebow won’t go down easily. “I’ve had a blast living out my dream for the last five weeks,” he said.

Elway doesn’t have to like it, but he has to learn to keep quiet. Or better still, say a few nice things about his QB and the surprising run his team is on, and even less about the college quarterbacks he’s still scouting. On top of that, Tebow’s rookie deal still has three years to run, and even if Denver settles on another starter, his skill set might still come in handy on more than a few occasions.

Besides, if Elway’s standard for a franchise QB continues to be measured less by success than the beauty of the throwing motion, he’s never going to get very far from that mirror. — AP

NASHVILLE: Jordan Eberle had two goals and an assist and Shawn Horcoff scored twice to send the Edmonton Oilers to a 6-2 victory over the Nashville Predators 6-2 Tuesday night.

Ales Hemsky and Jeff Petry also scored, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Ryan Smyth each added a pair of assists and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves for Edmonton. Jordin Tootoo and Jonathon Blum scored for the Predators.

Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne gave up three goals on 13 shots in the first period and was replaced by Anders Lindback to start the second period.

The Oilers opened the scoring when Horcoff got control of a loose puck in the crease on the power play and backhanded it behind Rinne at the 9:31 mark of the first.

Hemsky skated past a Predators’ defender and through the slot to take on Rinne one-onone, firing a wrist shot over Rinne’s left shoulder at 11:39.

Eberle closed out the first-period scoring at 15:51 with a wrist shot from inside the right circle that beat Rinne to his left side.

With 11:59 left in the second period Edmonton’s penalty kill held off a 5-on-3 advantage by the Predators for 51 seconds.

Neither team scored in the second, but the Oilers needed only five minutes to score in the third as Eberle skated around the right circle before beating Lindback. Tootoo broke the shutout at 11:32 when he tipped in a slap shot

by Shea Weber.

Petry scored the Oilers’ second power-play goal at 12:22 and Horcoff added his second goal at the 15:03 mark. Blum scored with 20 seconds left to play.

Kings 3, Blues 2 At St. Louis, Mike Richards had a goal and an assist and Willie Mitchell scored the winner on his first goal of the season to help the Los Angeles Kings slip past the St. Louis Blues 3-2 Tuesday night.

The Kings got a team-leading 10th goal from Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 23 shots in only his fourth start of the season as the Kings won in St. Louis for only the third time in 11 tries.

Alex Steen and Vladimir Sobotka scored for the Blues, who only lost for the second time in regulation in 10 home games. Jaroslav Halak stopped 25 shots.

Mitchell’s shot from the left point got through after the Blues’ Scott Nichol went down to block the shot, but it beat Halak on the near side with 5:49 remaining.

Steen put the Blues up 1-0 with his teamleading eighth goal of the season just 1:07 into the game off a nice give-and-go play with TJ Oshie.

The Kings’ Kopitar scored the tying goal 7:36

NASHVILLE: Ryan Smith No. 94 of the Edmonton Oilers skates past Anders Lindback No. 39 of the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. — AFP into the second, a power-play goal after Richards picked off Barret Jackman’s turnover in the right corner, feeding Kopitar in the crease, beating Halak.

Patrik Berglund nearly put the Blue’s ahead twice in the later stages of the second period, once after stripping a puck at the blue line shorthanded and creating a 2-on-1 breakaway. But Berglund couldn’t finish his shot as Bernier made a shoulder stop. Berglund also saw Bernier rob him in the slot on a backhand after taking Sobotka’s feed.

Richards broke a 1-all tie in the third when Andrei Loktionov picked off another Jackman puck, fed Richards in the slot and he beat Halak cleanly 4:41 into the period.

Sobotka got the equalizer for the Blues, finishing off Matt D’Agostini’s pass in the left circle with 7:32 remaining.

Maple Leafs 7, Lightning 1 At Tampa, Tyler Bozak scored two goals and added an assist and Tim Connolly had a goal and two assists to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Clarke MacArthur, Joe Colborne, Joffrey Lupul and Joey Crabbe also scored for the Maple Leafs, who had lost four of five. Vincent Lecavalier scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost four of five.

Toronto went ahead 3-1 when Connolly

(17:56) and Bozak (19:22) scored first-period power-play goals. Connolly scored after Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman received a four-minute penalty after his high-stick struck MacArthur in the face.

Bozak and Lupul scored 1:21 apart early in third as Toronto took a 6-1 lead. Crabbe had a goal later in the period. Lupul has two goals and five assists during a four-game point streak.

MacArthur put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 just 41 seconds into the game. The left wing had missed the previous three games due to an undisclosed upper body injury.

The Lightning had a couple strong scoring chances shortly after MacArthur’s goal, but Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson made a pad save on Lecavalier’s shot during a 2-on-1 and Brett Clark had a drive from the top of the right circle that hit the post.

Lecavalier did convert his next chance, tying it at 1 from the right circle during a power play at 8:38 of the first.

Colborne got his first NHL goal to make it 4-1 with 2:15 remaining in the second. The center, playing in his fourth NHL game, scored on goalie Dwayne Roloson from the slot off a back-hand pass from Matt Frattin.

NHL scoring leader Phil Kessel had an assist, giving him 30 points this season. The Toronto center has league-leading 16 goals.—AP

Wataniya Telecom sponsors Gulf Run Karting Race For the first time in the Middle East a 26 hour Endurance Race KUWAIT: Stemming from its passion of being socially responsible and in an effort to spread the awareness in the community around safe road driving to reduce the rate of accidents, Wataniya Telecom has announced its sponsorship Gulf Run 26 hour Karting Endurance Race. The race will place at the Mishref Exhibition tomorrow (Friday) and will close on Saturday 26th November.

Twenty two professional and beginner teams will be participating and competing at the 26 hour endurance race where qualifying positions will be chosen today Thursday 24th November in order to prepare for the race that will start at 1:00

PM the following day. The Gulf Run Race will end on Saturday at 3:00 PM and the winning teams will be announced and awarded with prizes and medals on the same day.

Commenting on the sponsorship of this exciting race, Abdolaziz Al Balool praised the success Gulf Run races have achieved in previous years and said: “ The inspiration behind sponsoring the Gulf Run races comes from our dedication to spread the message about safe driving as well as educating the youth on the rules and regulations that should be met as well as being responsible drivers for the sake of protecting their own lives and the lives of others on

the road.”

Al Balool fur ther added: “Wataniya Telecom exerts lots of effort to educate the drivers as well as providing them with a platform to enjoy racing in a safe and controlled environment rather than having them perform such races on the public streets.

The Gulf Run races are certified and safe and that is why we encourage and promote the youth to participate in them.”

A special circuit in the parking of the Mishref Fairground exhibition has been designed for the Gulf Run Race. Briefing for the race will take place two days prior to the event to make sure all rules and regulations are clear to all 22 captains. Wataniya

Abdolaziz Al Balool

Telecom invites everybody to attend and witness this thrilling event, which is also considered an important one for the youth and the community.

Kubica to miss start of the 2012 season SAO PAULO: Renault’s Robert Kubica will miss the start of the 2012 Formula One season after the Polish driver conceded yesterday that he would not be fully recovered from a near-fatal rally accident in February. Renault said in a statement that they remained committed to helping the driver return, with a test car and crew ready for whenever he wanted to get back in the cockpit, and were already in contract talks for 2013.

However, the 26-year-old’s Formula One future remains in the balance after he missed all of this season and spent two months in hospital immediately following the crash in Italy.

The Pole, a race winner with Sauber in 2008, had been tipped for greatness and a possible move to Ferrari alongside his friend Fernando Alonso before suffering arm and leg injuries

that almost severed his hand.

Despite taking on an intensive training program to regain full fitness after a series of operations, Kubica doubted he would be ready for the start of 2012 season in Australia in March.

“Even if I’ve been working very, very hard over the course of the last few weeks, I came to the conclusion that I am not yet certain to be ready for the 2012 season,” Kubica said. “This was a difficult decision to make, but it is the most reasonable one. My recover y is still ver y encouraging and my doctors keep being impressed. I just need more time, as I want to be 100 percent ready before I commit to anything driving related.”

GROSJEAN FAVOURITE Renault principal Eric Boullier, whose team will be renamed Lotus next year, backed

Kubica’s decision. “Everybody in the team is very disappointed today,” he said. “However, he has taken a very mature decision, acting in the best interests of Lotus Renault. As a team and as a family, we remain 100 percent behind him and we’ll help as much as we can.” Kubica’s continued absence poses a dilemma for the Malaysian-backed team, who will be seeking the strongest available replacement while allowing for the possibility of the Pole coming back during the season.

Germany’s Nick Heidfeld took Kubica’s place for the first 11 races this year with Brazilian Bruno Senna taking over the seat for the final eight races, including this weekend’s closing round at Interlagos.

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion with Ferrari, has had talks with

Renault as well as Williams about a possible comeback. However, French driver Romain Grosjean, the new GP2 champion who raced for Renault in 2009 as a replacement for dropped Brazilian Nelson Piquet junior, has emerged as the leading candidate to partner Russian Vitaly Petrov.

“He is part of the plan. We would like to have him in the car if Robert cannot come back,” Boullier told the formula1.com website in an interview before yesterday’s announcement. “(Next year) we know will be another year for rebuilding the team and so we are not in the position to attract big names now,” Boullier said.

“The driver market is closed anyway for 2012 so our priority is not to have a big name in the car but to have a fast car which can then be given to a big name to win races (in 2013).” — Reuters

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

sp orts

NFL Preview

Holiday offers first sibling rivalry of coaches BALTIMORE: Families usually come together for American Thanksgiving holiday, but today’s NFL holiday schedule features a first-ever clash between teams coached by rival brothers. San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who has guided his club to a 9-1 start, will be tested against his brother John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens (73), in one of three holiday games with major implications in the standings. In addition to the clash of division leaders at Baltimore, the unbeaten Green Bay Packers (10-0) visit Detroit (7-3) while Dallas (64) will play host to Miami (3-7).

But the sibling showdown, a potential Super Bowl preview, has sparked the biggest conversations, in part because no brothers have ever been on opposite sides as head coaches in an NFL game.

“There’s not a lot of time to really think about the warm and fuzzy reunions, the nostalgia,” Jim Harbaugh said. “I definitely think it was very con-

siderate of the NFL to reunite the brothers on Thanksgiving. I think that’s going to be very difficult for our team. There’s no question that we drew the short end of the straw on this one.”

The 49ers’ coach said he expects the Ravens will be his team’s toughest foe yet as they try to stay one game behind Green Bay in the chase for a home-field playoff edge. A victory and Seattle loss on Sunday would seal a playoff berth. “There’s a little bit more to it because they are brothers,” star 49ers defender Patrick Willis said. Jim Harbaugh, the younger of the siblings by 15 months, noted that no NFL team has had to travel from one coast to another for a Thanksgiving game since 1975 until his team was given the task this week.

“You probably want to peel back the onion some more and get into my soul, but this week my brother is just somebody we’re trying to beat,” Harbaugh said. “Doing my job as it relates to our

team preparing for the game is first and foremost.

“I think it’ll probably be a big deal for my parents.”

The 49ers, who have been solid on defense all season, will have a short week to prepare for the Ravens and one of the NFL’s toughest defenses, but San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith was trying to follow his game-week routines.

“It’s business as usual, staying with our routine,” Smith said. “There will be obstacles for us that we have to overcome. It will be a crammed week.” San Francisco, enjoying its first winning season since 2002, lost 27-24 in over-time to Dallas in the second week of the season. They are on an eightgame win streak, something the 49ers last achieved in 1997. “We don’t talk about the simple fact that we’re a winning team now,” tight end Vernon Davis said. “We kind of just go with the flow. We expect to win.”

At Detroit, the Lions try to close the gap on the

runaway NFL leaders. Detroit and Chicago each trail the unbeaten Packers by three games in the NFC North division. The Lions edged Green Bay 7-3 last year in Detroit. “They will be pretty jacked up,” Packers defensive end BJ Raji said. “They are probably going to be confident. They beat us last year at home. They believe they can win. It’s our job to convince them they can’t.”

At Dallas, the Cowboys share the NFC East lead with the New York Giants and cannot afford a letdown even against the struggling Dolphins.

Sunday ’s games find Minnesota at Atlanta, Cleveland at Cincinnati, Carolina at winless Indianapolis, Houston at Jacksonville, Buffalo at the New York Jets, Arizona at St. Louis, Chicago at Oakland, Washington at Seattle, Tampa Bay at Tennessee, Denver at San Diego, New England at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh at Kansas City. The Giants visit New Orleans on Monday night. — AFP

Hungry for success, Moore secures seat at top table HAWAII: She belongs-women’s world surfing champion Carissa Moore has created a voluminous barrel of history by becoming the first female to compete against the men in the famed Triple Crown in Hawaii. This is no small deal. Hawaii is the traditional proving ground for surfers, the gung-ho place where respect is gained and lost, where the men have always been separated from the boys... until the arrival of surfing’s No.1 daughter.

She was more than a lamb to the slaughter. A fairytale result failed to materialise because the waves were somewhere between inconsistent and non-existentMother Nature can be frustratingly unhelpful like that-but one ferocious backhand snap showed Moore has all the weaponry required to make inroads in her next battle of the sexes at the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach from Friday.

Moore came last in a four-person heat at the Hawaiian Pro on Tuesday. She was frustrated, disappointed and angry, and her reaction told the real story. This was no Michelle Wie missing the cut by 14 shots at the 2007 Sony Open, out-gunned, outclassed and out of there. This was a young woman who expected to win against the men, who almost demanded it of herself, who will fight tooth and nail to make amends at Sunset.

“Pretty disappointed with myself and my performance,” she said. “Even surfing with the girls, I probably wouldn’t have won. My performance did not meet my standards. I learn a lot when I lose, though, it gets me fired up. “Definitely the guys bring a different vibe even if the girls on tour can get pretty aggressive, too. You can’t do worse than fourth place, so going to Sunset, if we can get a few more waves, awesome. It’ll be a different wave and a clean slate.”

Sur fing’s Triple Crown is a three -leg sweep of Hawaiian events that bows only to the world championship for prestige.

Moore, a 19-year-old from Honolulu, put a white singlet over her green wetsuit. Any waves? Not enough. She paddled out at Haleiwa. Hawaii’s former world champion Sunny Garcia was among those taking a spot on the sand to cast a curious eye. If Moore

lacked respect, if the whole thing was going down like some sort of cheap publicity stunt, Garcia would have been the first to turn his back. He watched every second.

Moore was drawn against Roy Powers, Ian Gentil and Cory Lopez. They looked like the sharks circling at the start of the movie Jaws.

The nerves were extreme. Flustered, all three men took off on the same opening wave.

Inter ference was ruled against Lopez.

Australian Jack Freestone had won the preceding heat. “I wouldn’t want to be against Carissa,” he said. “She’s an amazing surfer and deserves to be here. She can beat guys.”

Hawaii’s big-wave expert Mark Healey added: “She’s definitely good enough. I don’t want her in my draw. There’s no winning that heat.” Moore felt pressure-free. “Everyone expects me to lose,” she said in the build-up.

“It’s win-win. I take it as a compliment when people say I surf like a man. I feel like I can hold my own. I’ll find out soon enough.” Any waves? Not really. The only turn she could make, she did, the flashing white board, the arc of spray. Powers was coming last until an eight-point ride fell in his lap. A former winner at Haleiwa, Powers recorded ten points to beat Gentil (8.5), Lopez (7.5) and Moore (5.6). “Carissa is one of the best people to have represented Hawaii,” Powers said. “She’s an absolute sweetheart of a person and as a Hawaiian, I feel privileged to have been in a heat with her. I was as nervous as I’ve ever been. She’s a world champion at a time when women’s surfing is out of this world.

I’ve surfed with her before, free-surfing outside of competition, and she’s smoked me.

“The waves were a shame. I want to see her get the chance to open up. She’ll get that at Sunset. Carissa is only starting to create her story.” The women’s world tour was slashed to a paltry seven events this year because of a lack of sponsors.

“One of my goals is to bring awareness to the fact we don’t have women’s events in Hawaii this year,” Moore said. “I wish I could have made more of a hurrah, but my point is still the same. The girls were sitting on the beach saying they wished they could go out there in one of our own events. I hope and cross my fingers and pray that we get events back next year.” —Reuters

LONDON: Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates winning a point during the round robin singles tennis match against Rafael Nadal of Spain at the ATP World Tour Finals at O2 Arena. (Right) Rafael Nadal of Spain poses with the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award presented to him on day four of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London on November 23, 2011. The award was presented to Nadal in recognition of his contributions through the Rafa Nadal Foundation which offers educational programmes for the socially disadvantaged. — AFP

Sublime Federer thrashes Nadal

LONDON: Holder Roger Federer produced an hour of sublime quality to crush Rafa Nadal 6-3 6-0 at the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday and clinch a place in the last four with a match to spare. The 17,500-capacity crowd crammed into the O2 would have been expecting something longer from the eagerly anticipated 26th clash of the great rivals but the 60 minutes of magic Federer served up will live long in their memories.

Blazing winners to all corners of the court, the Swiss 16-times grand slam champion was simply unstoppable as he recorded his most emphatic victory against the man who had beaten him in 17 of their previous encounters.

“This win ranks high because it’s against my biggest rival, probably,” Federer, whose game looked sharper than ever despite him turning 30, told reporters. “It was a great match for me from start to finish. I’ve felt the power of Rafa in the past, so this is a great match for me, a nice win.” World number two Nadal now faces a win or bust clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Thursday in his final Group B match after the dangerous Frenchman produced fireworks of his own to beat American Mardy Fish 7-6 6-1 and stay in contention. “It’s not the moment to say goodbye. If I win my next match I will be in the semi-finals,” Nadal said. “I just have to accept today he played too good for me.”

Federer’s dazzling display softened the blow for the home crowd and organizers after local favorite Andy Murray withdrew when his superb season was cut short by a groin injury.

Murray, the world number three, announced he was pulling out after aggravating the injury during his opening Group A defeat by Spain’s David Ferrer on Monday. Serbia’s world number nine Janko Tipsarevic, the on-site alternate, will take the Briton’s place for the remaining matches. There was something of a novelty value about the evening match as it was the first time the two dominant players of the last decade had clashed with neither at number one in the ATP rankings and the first time they had met in round-robin play.

Federer trailed 17-8 in their head-to-head record but had won all three previous meetings indoors, including last year’s final at the O2, and once again the court proved perfect for his game as winners flowed from his strings like liquid gold.

There was no real hint of what was to come as the first five games went with serve.

Federer, bidding for a record sixth title at the tournament in three different cities, took charge in the sixth game when he prevailed in a 33-shot exchange on break point to lead 4-2 and from that moment never looked back. He needed just 32 minutes to seal the first set and, try as he might, Nadal was powerless in the face of the onslaught as Federer swept to a victory every bit as ruthless as Nadal’s thrashing of the Swiss in the 2008 Roland Garros final when he offered up just four games in three sets.

“We’ve played so many times, sometimes it just derails for you, like it derailed for Rafa

today and it did for me at the French Open,” Federer said. “You know what good front-runners the top guys are. Once you start rolling, it’s hard to stop the player. Next thing you know, you’re facing a debacle.” Nadal, winner of 10 majors but never the season-ending title, can still redeem himself although Tsonga will fancy his chances after a convincing display against weary debutant Fish who can no longer reach the semis. Tsonga, sporting a pair of bright red tennis shoes, stormed through the last six games in swashbuckling fashion although Federer still tips Nadal to progress.

“You can never count out Rafa,” he said of the match which has now become a traditional knockout.

“It’s an open match to a degree but I still favor Rafa because of who he is.” Murray can only rest and start preparing for next season after a long campaign, in which he reached the semi-finals of all four grand slams and won five titles, caught up with him. “It was one of those things where you kind of hope that things are going to get better, but the reality was that wasn’t ever going to happen,” a glumlooking Murray told reporters. “Yesterday I was really unhappy on the court. I wasn’t enjoying it at all. I couldn’t give anywhere near my best.”

World number one Novak Djokovic seeks his second Group A victory on Wednesday against Ferrer, while Tomas Berdych, who lost a tight three-setter to Djokovic on Monday, faces Tipsarevic who will be making his debut in the elite event.— Reuters

McIlroy and McDowell seek winning formula HAWAII: In this photo provided by the Association of Surfing Professionals, Nat Young competes in the Reef Hawaiian Pro surfing competition at Ali’i Beach Park, in Haleiwa, Hawaii. —AP

Molinaris feeling WCup pressure HAIKOU: Italian brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari acknowledge they are under more pressure at golf’s $7.5 million World Cup following their success at the event two years ago in Shenzen. The pair won the title for Italy for the first time in 2009 and begin their defense at Mission Hills on China’s Hainan Island today. All 28 participating nations lined up at yesterday’s opening ceremony, including three of the world’s top 10 in Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Germany’s Martin Kaymer (four) and American Matt Kuchar (10).

“The course is very similar to the course we won on two years ago with quite big fairways, and quite small greens,” said Edoardo Molinari. “There are some very good holes, and it’s a great course for this format, because there are some holes where one player can go for it and the other can play it more defensive.

“But as defending champions there is extra pressure on us, and when you compare what we did two years ago, everyone is expecting the same this week.”

Sharing the spotlight with major winners

Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell was the Guatemalan team of Pablo Acuna and Jose Toledo, who clinched the last available spot with a birdie at the closing hole of the South American qualifier. The US pair of Kuchar and long-hitting Gary Woodland will make their World Cup debut and are looking to add to America’s 23 wins in the tournament. “I’ve got to play with Gary a number of times this year and we pair together well,” Kuchar told reporters. “When I got in position to play this event, I was able to pick a partner, and thought about who I would have fun with, and then whose game fitted in well with mine.

“I thought about who I also wanted to spend the week with, and who would help the United States have a shot at winning this, and Gary was top of the list.” Schwartzel and Oosthuizen hope the familiarity with each other’s game will lift South Africa to the title.

“A lot this week will be about understanding each other’s game and Louis and I do that well,” said Schwartzel. —Reuters

HAINAN: Major winners Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell are hoping their chemistry will produce a winning formula for Ireland at the World Cup teeing off in southern China today. The pair are seeking to go one better in the two-man team event after finishing joint runners-up two years ago behind Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, who are defending their title on Hainan Island. “It’s a partnership that has worked well in the past and I think we have a very good chemistry on and off the course,” said 2011 US Open winner and world number two McIlroy.

The Ryder Cup partners are favorites to win the tournament at the Mission Hills golf resort, which includes four-ball and foursomes play. “There is no doubt that chemistry on the golf course is very important.

You have to be able to motivate and inspire each other-especially if we go through a run of a few holes where we are not playing great,” said 2010 US Open winner McDowell.

Brotherly love might again play an important in the winning equation for the Molinari brothers after they secured Italy’s first World Cup win at Mission Hills’ sister golf complex in Shenzhen in 2009.

Only the United States and Spain have retained the title since the inaugural competition in 1953, with America dominating the tournament with 23 wins. “It was just fantastic to win two years ago because neither of us had won such a big tournament before.

And when you play for your country, there’s always a little bit of extra pressure,” Edoardo Molinari said. “Hopefully, we can

do the same this year. But the most important thing is that we are playing quite well and we know each other’s game,” he added.

The Molinaris are one of three sets of siblings competing at the $7.5 million event, along with Colombia’s Camilo and Manny Villegas, and Ricardo and Hugo Santos of Portugal.

Twenty-eight nations will vie for the 56th World Cup on the tricky 18-hole Blackstone course, which is built on a dormant volcano and landscaped out of the complex’s signature lava rock. The event pits some of golf’s top stars against players well down the rankings. Reigning Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel and 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen are representing South Africa while 2010 PGA Champion and world number four Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka represent Germany. England’s hopes lie with Ian Poulter and Justin Rose and Gary Woodland and Matt Kuchar are representing the United States.

Spain’s Alvaro Quiros and Miguel Angel Jimenez are also strong contenders. Host nation China are hoping veteran Liang Wenchong, ranked 252, and fledgling talent Zhang Xinjun, ranked 647, will upset the natural order with a strong showing. “There is going to be a lot of pressure on Zhang and myself but at the same time we can use that as motivation.

We should have a lot of Chinese supporters following us,” Liang said. The Chinese players qualified due to their host status and it is hoped their presence will draw in the crowds at the five-star golf and spa resort replete with fake volcanoes.— AFP

Rory McIlroy

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Pakistan’s cricketers lose appeal against jail terms LONDON: Two disgraced Pakistan cricketers will remain jailed after losing their appeals against their sentences in one of the biggest fixing scandals to rock the sport. London’s Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the terms handed to Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir for their role in the spot-fixing case that marred a test match between England and Pakistan last year. Justice Igor Judge said the cricketers betrayed their team, their country and their sport by conspiring to deliberately bowl no-balls as part of a betting scam.

Butt, the former Pakistan captain, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail earlier this month after being convicted of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments. The 19-year-old Amir pleaded guilty and was handed a six-month sentence in a young offenders’ institution.

Mohammad Asif, who was sentenced to 1 year in jail for his part in the case, decided not to appeal. Agent Mazhar Majeed was sentenced to 2 years, 8 months. The players were convicted of conspiring with Majeed to bowl noballs at predetermined times during the fourth test at Lord’s in August 2010.

“These three cricketers betrayed their team, they betrayed the country which they had the honor to represent and betrayed the sport that had given them their distinction - and of course betrayed all the very many followers of the game throughout the world,” the judge said. The cricketers were caught

after Majeed was recorded by an undercover reporter working for the now-defunct News of the World tabloid saying that the three Pakistan players had accepted money to fix betting markets by bowling three noballs at prearranged times. Majeed was secretly filmed accepting $242,000 in cash from the journalist.

It was the biggest fixing scandal in cricket since South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life in 2000 for taking bribes from bookmakers. The court said what the Pakistani players did was “not simply a matter of breaking the rules of the game.” “It is also criminal conduct of a very serious kind which must be marked with a criminal sanction,” the judge said. The court rejected a plea that Butt’s sentence was “manifestly excessive” and that Amir should receive a suspended sentence.

Ali Bajwa, the lawyer for Butt, said the player’s sentence was “out of propor tion to the seriousness of the offense that was committed.” He described Butt as a broken man in a state of “ruin and disgrace.” Henry Blaxland, Amir’s lawyer, urged the court to impose a suspended sanction that would enable the teenager ’s immediate release. But the judge called it a “notorious” case in which the corruption was “carefully prepared.” “It was not set up on the spur of the moment and it was not the result of some temptation to which either (player) succumbed, in effect, on the spur of the moment,” he said.— AP

Future Stars bag KOC Cricket Cup KUWAIT: Future Stars Cricket Club led by young Murad defeated the experienced Emerging Stars by 6 wickets to lift the coveted KOC Cup last Friday at KOC’s Ahmadi Cricket ground.

Gayoor, captain of Emerging Star won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket which assisted the bowlers.

Opener Nabeel was out in the second over for three. Captain Gayoor made only four runs.

Hisham who batted patiently was claimed by Abdullah when on 23.

Emerging Stars wickets kept falling at regular intervals to some fine bowling from Ali, Abdullah and Murad who claimed three wickets each. Saud was the top scorer with 32 runs.

In reply, Future Stars lost Mohd. Khan cheaply for six but Asghar (27), Kashif (23) and Haroon (25) ensured an easy victory for their team. Young and promising spinner Waseef took two for 11 and Haji took 2 for 29. Asghar was adjudged man of the match for his 27 runs and one wicket.

Hussain Al-Shatti, VC of KOC CC presented the winner’s cup to Murad, captain of Future Stars and runner’s cup to Gayoor, captain of Emerging Stars. Iqbal Vanoo, and Fadhel Abbas, Sameer Desai and Shub Datta gave away prizes to the two finalist teams. Mohd. Sarwar, GS KOC CC conducted the presentation and thanked all teams and umpires Asif Malik and Mohammed.

Bravo ton takes Windies to mammoth total of 575 MUMBAI: Darren Bravo tormented India’s bowlers with a classy 166 as West Indies racked up a mammoth 575 for nine in their first innings yesterday, virtually ending the hosts’ hopes of inflicting a whitewash in the final test at the Wankhede Stadium. The visitors thrashed the home attack on an easypaced surface on the second day of the third test before debutant paceman Varun Aaron picked up three wickets in four overs to force a mini collapse in the last session.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin added two more to his overnight tally of two wickets as West Indies, trailing 2-0 in the series, added 308 runs to their overnight total.

Bravo continued his rich vein of form, notching up his third ton in the last four tests, his first career century coming against Bangladesh in Mirpur last month. “I think I am in pretty good form at this point in time and hopefully it can continue,” the centurion told reporters. “It was very important for me to stay positive as much as possible. “The openers did a tremendous job as well as the number three, Kirk Edwards. When you come in on that platform, try and continue from where they left off.”

The top six West Indies batsmen all made half- centuries, forcing India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to resort to desperate measures, including bringing on Sachin Tendulkar to bowl, in search of wickets on a placid pitch. Off-spinner Ashwin, who went for 154 runs from 51 overs for his four wickets, did not hide his disappointment with the playing surface. “It is the first time I have seen a wicket like this (at Wankhede). It is similar to the practice wicket to the left of the pitch, (I) was praying it wasn’t like that,” Ashwin said. “I don’t know the reason, I’m not a Mumbai boy... Quite disheartening to see the wicket behave the way it did.”

Bravo, the 22-year- old lef t-hander, brought up his second successive ton with an elegant square -driven boundar y off Ashwin and celebrated by kissing his bat before raising it aloft along with his cap. The stylish Bravo, who made 136 in the second innings in the last test in Kolkata, started the day with two straight-driven fours off Aaron and looked extremely comfortable at the crease throughout his extended stay.

The cousin of former West Indies batting great Brian Lara hit 17 boundaries during his 284-ball stay, the only blemish coming on Tuesday, when Rahul Dravid dropped him at slip on 33 off lef t-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha’s bowling. Bravo became Aaron’s maiden test wicket when he edged the paceman to Dhoni, going for a drive away from his body. “I think I became a bit tired. I was suffering from a little bit of flu over the last couple of days and I think it took a toll on me,” Bravo added. He was

hopeful that the fast bowlers in his team could extract some help out of the pitch when India bat next.

“I think the wicket is a decent batting wicket. There is a bit of spin for the spinners but I think our fast bowlers can get something from the wicket the longer they bowl in the right areas,” Bravo said. “We have Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards who can close in on 90 mph, so we are going to go out there with high energy, we are going to go out there positive and try our best to get their top order in very early.” Resuming on 267-2, Bravo and Kirk Edwards (86) added 164 for the third wicket before the latter edged paceman Ishant Sharma to wicketkeeper

Dhoni on the stroke of the first drinks break of the day.

Bravo then added 160 for the fourth wicket with Kieran Powell (81) as the tourists recorded a third century partnership of the innings. Powell, who replaced the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the team, made the most of his opportunity and hit nine fours before he edged Ojha to Dhoni while going for an extravagant backfoot drive.

Dhoni took five catches behind the stumps but dropped a difficult low catch off Marlon Samuels (61), when the batsman was on 46, off the bowling off Aaron. Samuels went on to complete his 13th half-century before he edged Ashwin to Dravid at slip.— Reuters

MUMBAI: West Indies player Kieren Powell bats during the second day of the third Test cricket match against India. —AP

SCOREBOARD MUMBAI: Scoreboard at the close of the second day of the third and final test between India and West Indies at Wankhede Stadium yesterday: West Indies first innings (overnight 267-2) A. Barath c Dhoni b Ashwin 62 K. Brathwaite c Kohli b Ashwin 68 K. Edwards c Dhoni b Sharma 86 D. Bravo c Dhoni b Aaron 166 K. Powell c Dhoni b Ojha 81 M. Samuels c Dravid b Ashwin 61 C. Baugh b Aaron 4 D. Sammy c Dhoni b Aaron 3 R. Rampaul c Kohli b Ashwin 10 F. Edwards not out 7

D. Bishoo not out 2 Extras (b-8, lb-15, nb-2) 25 Total (nine wickets; 181 overs) 575 Fall of wickets: 1-137 2-150 3-314 4-474 5518 6-524 7-540 8-563 9-566 Bowling: Sharma 30-9-72-1 (1nb), Aaron 284-106-3, Ojha 48-10-126-1, Ashwin 51-6-154-4, Sehwag 16-1-61-0 (1nb), Kohli 2-0-9-0, Tendulkar 6-0-24-0 India lead the series 2-0.

Maroons beaten by Chinchinim Grand opening ceremony held: KIFF League KUWAIT: Highly rated Kuwait Indian Football Federation (KIFF) League 2011-12 for JP D’Mello Memorial Trop hy k icked o ff w it h a grand opening ceremony on Friday, Nov 18 2011 at MOH grounds, Shuwaikh.

Presidents of all the participating teams attended the grand function.

H u g h Fer n a n d e s, M ar k e t i n g Manager of Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. was present on the occasion. A number of distinguished dignitaries were also present.

R e vere n d Fr. Fra n co re c i te d a short prayer followed by a welcome speech by the KIFF President Fidelis Fernandes. Colorful balloons were released in the skies amidst lively cheers while the National anthems of Kuwait and India were played with respect. Ceremonial cake was cut by the KIFF President along with all the club Presidents and other dignitaries. Bernard Fernandes compered the function. KIFF President Fidelis Fernandes kicked the league open.

In the first match of the leaguephase, defending champions Goa Maroons suffered a shock defeat (13) at the hands of a rejuvenated CRC Chinchinim.

S om e b ad defending al l owed Edwin Gomes of Chinchinim to score i n t h e f i r s t h a l f. H owever, G o a M a roon s equ al ized so o n af ter resumption of play in the second session with a goal by Albert Pereira.

But Chinchinim were in a aggressive mood throughout and a brilliant shot by Joe Gomes from outside the 18 yard box found the M aroons

goalkeeper Guilereme Gomes helpless (2-1). Joe Gomes virtually walked through the M aroons defence to score his second goal of the match (3-1). Later, Joe was adjudged man of the match. The prize was presented at the hands of Hugh Fernandes, the chief guest.

In the second game, Curtorcares outpaced Santos United after the teams were almost equally balanced

In the other match, DHL Football Club and Indian Strikers Football Club (ISFC) played out a goalless draw.

DHL attacked with their main playmaker Vico D’souza while Jai John controlled the midfield and distributed the ball with precision passes. DHL defender John Furtado was seen upfront - attacking the ISFC goal time and again.

Anthony Joseph made a few good attacks on the DHL goal but was unfortunate not to find the target.

DHL’s Vico D’souza was declared man of the match which was presented by Vice President of KIFF Mr. Clifford Pinto.

I n the final match of the day Skynet Raiders held a star-studded AVC Overseas Association to a goalless draw. Both the teams had equal

in the first half. An error by Santos defence allowed Braz Vaz to score which turned out to be the winning goal of the match. KIFF President Fidelis Fernandes presented the man of the match to Braz of Curtorcares.

ISFC defender Mervin Varghese made it hard for DHL strikers to enter the penalty box while in the upfron t, th eir star p l aye r R oy Pathrose forced many inroads into the DHL territory with his majestic runs. In the 2nd half Indian Strikers’

share of spoils, and AVC missed the best chance in the dying minutes when Braulio’s rasping shot from close range hit the goal post.

AVC ’s B r a ul i o R od r i gue s w a s awarded man of the match at the hands of KIFF General Secretary Mr.

Michael Fernandes. The KIFF league consists of 19 clubs affiliated to KIFF. They are AVC Spor ts & Cultural As s oc i a t i on, C R C C hi nc hi ni m , Curtorcares United, D.H.L. Sports Club, Don Bosco Oratory, FC Sparx, Goan O verseas Association, Gulf Cable Football Club, Indian Strikers, Kuwait Goan association, Malabar United Football Club, Navelim Youth Centre, Real Betalbatim Football Club, Santos Football Club, Santos United, Skynet Raiders Soccer Club, United Friends Club, United Goans Center, and Y.R.C Rising Stars.

The teams are drawn into 4 groups as below: Group A - Maroons, Chinchinim, Curtorcares, Santos United and Don Bosco.

Group B - Indian Strikers, DHL, Skynet, AVC and R. Betalbatim G roup C - U F C , KG A , U ni te d Goans, Santos FC and Gulf Cable Group D - Rising Stars, Navelim, Sparx and Malabar Top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the knock-out stage of the league. The final is scheduled to be held on 15th June 2012.

G o a M a ro o n s a n d N ave l i m YC have won the league 3 times each in the last 10 years KIFF League Fixture (25/11/2011): YR C R ising Stars V/S Navelim Youth Centre at 6.45am Spar x FC V/S M alabar FC at 8.00am United Friends Club V/S Kuwait Goan Association at 9.15am United Goans Centre V/S Santos FC at 10.30am

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Blatter calls racism incident as ‘closed’

ITALY: Manchester City’s Italian striker Mario Balotelli reacts at the end of the Champions League, Group A soccer match against Napoli on Tuesday. —AP

Europe cuts City’s grand ideas down MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s shiny veneer of invincible domestic form has been scraped off in Europe to leave manager Roberto Mancini giving his team of big-money signings only a 30 percent chance of reaching the Champions League knockout stages. A nine-match unbeaten run and the confidence that comes with that counted for nothing on Tuesday when they conceded two “stupid” goals to lose 2-1 at Napoli as the debutants learned they really should not try to run before they can walk.

Aiming to qualify from the group at the first time of asking would be a bold move for any team but in City ’s case it had looked a reasonable target given their stunning start to the Premier League campaign and huge outlay on quality players.

To stay in the continent’s elite club competition they need to beat Group C winners Bayern Munich in their final game at home next month, while also hoping Napoli do not defeat already eliminated Villarreal.

“I give 70 percent chance to Napoli and 30 percent chance to us,” was Mancini’s frank and possibly optimistic assessment of the situation given Villarreal have yet to pick up a point. “We should still believe because it is my opinion that Villarreal can get a result against Napoli.” More likely than not, the world’s richest club will finish third and drop into the Europa League, reminding them that a club aiming to win its first English top-flight title since 1968 still has some way to go before it can party with the big boys.

While City have been running riot in the English league, scoring at will and making easy work of even the most formidable defenses, they have suffered stage fright in Europe.

A 1-1 draw at home to Napoli in their group opener was put down to first night nerves as they had plenty of chances, while their 2-0 defeat at Bayern in the next match was dominated by the Carlos Tevez debacle when he refused to warmup. They appeared to have got themselves back on track with successive wins over Villarreal before unravelling at Napoli, also first-timers and with a considerably smaller budget. Mancini’s men enjoyed plenty of possession in Naples and had their chances but defensively they looked vulnerable against their firedup opponents.

Conceding soft goals has been something of a problem in the Premier League-Newcastle United’s 89th minute consolation on Saturday being a case in point-but a goal machine that has scored 42 in 12 domestic league games has masked the issue. Against the continent ’s best, that weakness has been exposed with City conceding six times in five games and this time playmaker David Silva’s tricky passes and Mario Balotelli’s eye for goal have not been able to dig them out of a hole. “ We conceded t wo stupid goals because we knew (Edinson) Cavani likes the near post and for the second he had far too much room, so we didn’t help ourselves in that respect,” Mancini said of the Italian team’s double goalscorer. “I don’t think we deser ved to lose this game, but at the same time, it is impossible for us to go and score three or four goals every game. “We have one more game and everything is possible in football-as long as we believe in ourselves and that anything can happen. I think Villarreal will get a result against Napoli and then the rest is up to us.”— Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he’s apologized enough for his recent comments on racism that triggered a furor and considers the matter “closed.”

Blatter expressed regret last week for the uproar caused by his claim that racial incidents between players on the field could be settled by a handshake at the end of a game.

“I can only say this item for me is closed,” Blatter told a news conference at the Asian Football Confederation’s headquarters in Malaysia yesterday. “There is no tolerance (of ) racism. I have been interpreted as such and I have made my apologies. I cannot say anything more.”

Blatter was responding to a question about his next move after Neil Warnock, manager of Premier League club Queens Park Rangers, suggested last week that black players around the world boycott their next international matches in a show of protest against Blatter.

“There is no discrimination in my feelings, there is no racism, nothing at all,” Blatter said.

“This matter for me is over. We go forward.

There is zero tolerance (for) racism, zero tolerance (for) discrimination in all activities in the field of play and outside the field.”

Blatter insisted he was not surprised by the British media’s strong criticism of him and calls for him to stand down as head of soccer’s world governing body, but added that he was “very much hurt by these comments because it touched me in my conscience and my determination to go against racism.”

The 75-year-old Blatter, who was re-elected to a four-year term in June, last week ruled out leaving his post. FIFA has been caught up in a corruption scandal that resulted in a life ban from soccer for former FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, the former head of the Asian Football Confederation.

Blatter was re-elected unopposed after the Qatari was forced to withdraw because of allegations he tried to bribe Caribbean officials to vote for him.

Bin Hammam has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Asked whether he

KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA President Sepp Blatter (right) talks to media as Zhang Jilong, the interim Asian Football Confederation president, looks on during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur. —AP president wanting the position to remain vacant pending the outcome of the appeal process.

China’s Zhang Jilong, the AFC’s senior vicepresident, has stepped in as the interim president. If bin Hammam’s appeals aren’t resolved

by May 29, the AFC will be bound by its own

KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asian Games champions Malaysia suffered a 2-0 defeat to Syria in Olympic qualifying yesterday, just two days after clinching the regional crown in a highly charged final in Jakarta. Two second-half goals took Syria level on points with Group C leaders Japan in the Asian football qualifying for next year ’s Olympics, as Malaysia and Bahrain stayed rooted at the bottom, both yet to score a goal.

LYON: Olympique Lyon’s likely failure to advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League is a result of the French side’s lack of ambition, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said yesterday. The France international was speaking a day after Lyon were held to a goalless stalemate by Ajax Amsterdam that leaves the Dutch side needing just a draw from their final Group D match to reach the last 16 along with runaway leaders Real Madrid.

Lyon (5) are three points behind Ajax (8) and have a vastly inferior goal difference, so even a big win at Dinamo Zagreb in the final round of matches may not be sufficient enough to claim second place in the group. “We have one foot in the Europa League,” France keeper Lloris told reporters of the side’s probable fate resulting from a thirdplace finish in the group.

Lyon dominated in the closing stages against Ajax and came close to breaking the deadlock through Michel Bastos and Yoann Gourcuff, but they now face the prospect of not making it to the last 16 for the first time since the 2002-03 season. “It’s a disappointment. When you have ambition, you have to do better than that,” said Lloris, who also pulled off a couple of superb saves. “We should have played with more ambition and be a little bit meaner to go and get a good result.”

Lyon had the talismanic Lisandro Lopez starting for the first time in 12 weeks after an injury layoff, but the Argentine striker lacked sharpness and created only once chance early on before being replaced midway through the second half. Although only a minor miracle would enable Lyon to advance, Lloris said the Dinamo Zagreb game would still be important. “We have to win this game for our public image,” he said. “Miracles are possible but it will be difficult.” — Reuters

Solaiman Solaiman’s 52nd minute goal looked to be the clincher in the tie at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, before substitute Nassouh Nakkdahli made sure for Syria with a second goal in the 88th minute.

The result comes in an eventful week for Malaysia’s under-23 side, after it triumphed in a tragedy-marred final at the SEA Games in Indonesia on Monday.

Two fans died and a boy was left in a coma following a stampede

home a cross from Lafaele Moala to score a consolation goal in the 87th for Tonga, which is 201st in the rankings. In a thrilling second match, Albert Bell scored in the second minute of stoppage time to give Samoa a 3-2 win over the Cook Islands. Strikers Luki Gosche and Campbell Bell traded goals as Samoa twice took the lead and as the Cook Islands twice battled back to parity. Gosche gave Samoa a 1-0 lead when he ran onto a pass from Desmond Fa’aiuaso and beat Cook Islands goalkeeper Iona Lupena. Lupena made amends when he first saved a penalty from Fa’aiuaso and, when the referee ruled the ‘keeper had impeded the shooter, saved the second penalty

forfeited a 2012 Olympic women’s qualifier against Jordan in June because the players refused to play without the hijabs.

The AFC said in a statement that its women’s committee was seeking a review of the rule in light of new equipment in the marketplace.—AP

at the evening’s much-anticipated final between Malaysia and hosts Indonesia, which Malaysia won on penalties. On Tuesday in the other Group C clash, Japan beat Bahrain 2-0, a win that takes them top of Group C, with six points. Syria are second on goal difference, after also winning their first match against Bahrain last month.

Tuesday and Wednesday ’s games, followed by another six on Sunday, are the second and

attempt from Silao Malo.

Campbell Best equalized after Paavo Mustonen’s curving free kick was saved

by Samoa’s Masi Toetu but Samoa immediately regained the lead with Gosche’s second goal after a mistake in defense. A low volley from Campbell Best locked the scores a 2-2 after 85 minutes but Albert Bell’s scrambled goal in extra time gave the hosts victory. The group winner advances to the eight-nation second round, which includes 2010 World Cup qualifier New Zealand in a tournament at Fiji in July that doubles as the 2012 Oceania Nations Cup. The top four teams from the OFC Nations Cup will advance to the third and final round of Oceania qualifying for Brazil 2014.— AP

third installment of Asia’s final qualifying round, with the top team in each of three groups gaining automatic ber ths at London 2012. The three runnersup will enter a round-robin for the prize of a play-off against a team from the African confederation. Men’s football is played as an under-23 tournament at the Olympics, although the rules allow for three over-age players.

The group stage wraps up in March next year.— AFP

Djeparov and Aya clinch Asian Player of the Year KUALA LUMPUR: Smiling Uzbek Server Djeparov swiped his second Asian Player of the Year prize at a glittering ceremony yesterday as Japan cleaned up with a staggering nine awards.

Top-rated attacking midfielder Djeparov, 29, sporting a crushed velvet tuxedo with a mullet-style haircut, was crowned Asia’s best for the second time in three years at the swish bash in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter was guest of honor at the televised event, just months after the downfall of disgraced Asian soccer chief M ohammed bin Hammam following his ill-fated tilt at the world

Samoa, American Samoa win World Cup qualifiers APIA: American Samoa won its first international football match after 30 consecutive losses by beating Tonga 2-1 to the start Oceania qualifying for the 2014 World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night. American Samoa, equal 203rd and last in the FIFA rankings, had been outscored 229-12 since starting international play in 1994, including a world record 31-0 defeat to Australia in a World Cup qualifier a decade ago. New coach Thomas Rongen was hired in October after being fired as coach of the US Under-20 team in May. Ramin Ott scored on a long-range shot in the 44th minute and Shalom Luani lobbed over goalkeeper Kaneti Falela in the 74th for American Samoa. Unaloto Faeo headed

laws to elect a new leader.

Also, Blatter declined to take a clear stance on renewed calls from Asia to allow the use of Islamic headscarves for female players. FIFA banned the Islamic scarf in 2007 citing safety concerns.

Blatter said the issue could be handled by the International Football Association Board, which determines the rules of the game.

Leaders and sports officials in Islamic countries have criticized the ban, saying it discourages women from playing soccer. Iran’s team

Syria spoil Malaysia party

Lloris bemoans Lyon’s lack of ambition as exit looms

FRANCE: Lyon’s Kim Kallstrom of Sweden (right) challenges with Ajax’ Nicolas Lodeiro (left) during their Champions League soccer match on Tuesday. —AP

believes the door is closed to bin Hammam’s return, Blatter said it is up to the appeals process.

“We will wait for the outcome of the next step,” Blatter said on his first trip to AFC headquarters since Bin Hammam’s ban.

In his opening remarks at the news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Blatter did not mention bin Hammam by name, but praised the AFC’s current leadership for standing united. The AFC had agreed to follow procedure on filling bin Hammam’s position despite the exiled

KUALA LUMPUR: Uzbekistan’s Server Djeparov (left) the winner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Player of the Year, and Japan’s Aya Miyama, the winner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Player of the Year, pose with their trophies during its awards ceremony. —AP

body’s presidency.

Djeparov’s sole competition for the top player award was Iranian defender Hadi Aghily under a controversial rule which says only those present at the awards show can win, and which generally rules out Asia’s Europebased players.

Fellow nominees Shinji Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund, CSKA Moscow’s Keisuke Honda and South Korea’s Koo Ja-Cheol and Yeom Ki-Hun were all tied up with club commitments.

“This is my second time I receive this honor,” beamed Djeparov, who kissed the gleaming silver trophy and laughed “Cheers!” in Russian.

“It’s a great pleasure for me-this is very important for me and also very important for the Uzbekistan people,” he told the audience of hundreds of dignitaries.

And it was a bravura night for Japan as they dominated the annual Asian Football Confederation (AFC) awards on the back of their Asian Cup win and women’s World Cup triumph.

Aya Miyama was women’s player of the year, Japan’s men’s and women’s teams were both named as the best national sides, and Japan was honored as the best member association. Japan also won best men’s coach through Norio Sasaki and top women’s coach through Takako Tezuka.

Qatar’s Al Sadd were club of the year after their AFC Champions League triumph, while Japan’s Nagoya Ocean were the best futsal team. Japan also had the best women’s referee and men’s youth player, Hideki Ishige.

Malaysia’s Sultan of Pahang, Haji Ahmad Shah, received the Diamond of Asia lifetime achievement award for his eight-year stewardship of the growing regional body until 2002.

Djeparov got the nod after he helped FC Seoul to the South Korean double and also shone in Uzbekistan’s run to the Asian Cup semi-final. He joined Saudi outfit Al Shabab in July and has also played for Pakhtakor and Bunyodkor.

The 2008 winner had earlier defended the controversial “no show, no win” rule which has led to a number of unexpected recipients of Asia’s top football award.

“The award is conducted only once a year. It’s not only important for players but for the entire AFC. We need to sacrifice. Anyone who wants to win the award, they are supposed to be present at the ceremony,” he said Tuesday.

An AFC official suggested this week that the body would review the policy, which has attracted much criticism and was described as “unfair” by its former secretary-general, Peter Velappan.

Qatar’s bin Hammam is currently banned from football activities after FIFA found him guilty of vote-buying during his campaign to unseat Blatter. He is appealing the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.—AFP

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S P ORT S

APOEL make history as they hold Zenit

LONDON: Arsenal’s English striker Theo Walcott (right) vies with Borussia Dortmund’s German midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz (left) during their UEFA Champions League Group F football match. —AFP

Van Persie fires Arsenal into knockout stage LONDON: Robin van Persie scored twice as Arsenal booked their place in the Champions League knockout phase here yesterday with a 2-1 defeat of German side Borussia Dortmund.

Dutch international van Persie took his tally for the season to a remarkable 21 in all competitions with two second half goals that ensured the Premier League side will finish Group F in top spot with one game left.

Van Persie’s double strike underscored the Arsenal captain’s importance to the English club, who have gradually got their campaign back on track after a disastrous start to the campaign. Van Persie struck in the 49th and 86th minutes to finally snuff out the challenge of the Bundesliga side.

Japan international Shinji Kagawa scored a late consolation for Dortmund in injury time but it was too little too late as Arsenal reached the last 16 of the Champions League for the 12th straight year.

A disappointing first half saw neither side manage to take control of the contest, with Dortmund’s feisty midfield tackling preventing Arsenal from establishing any sort of rhythm.

Dortmund’s hopes of victory were dealt a blow within the opening half an hour however when coach Jurgen Klopp was forced to reshuffle his pack after two injury substitutions.

Sven Bender was the first to exit, replaced by Moritz Leitner on 26 minutes after suffering an apparent facial injury in a collision with Thomas Vermaelen.

Mario Goetze-the 19-year-old wunderkind linked with a move to Arsenalwas the next to depart, coming off for Ivan Perisic with what looked like a knee injury.

Goetze had threatened to make a dramatic impact early on when he played in Robert Lewandoswki in the first minute

but Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was alert to the threat and smothered the danger.

At the other end Arsenal chances were few and far between, with van Persie getting the home side’s first attempt on goal with a tame header on 12 minutes that posed no threat to Dortmund’s Roman Weidenfeller.

Theo Walcott had the ball in the net on the 40 minute mark after receiving a neat pass from Aaron Ramsey but the England winger was correctly adjudged offside.

Another promising Arsenal attack came to nothing just before the break when Walcott’s dangerous first-time cross into the box was palmed away by Weidenfeller.

But the game came to life in the opening minutes of the second half, with Dortmund slicing open the Arsenal defence with a lovely passing move that ended with Szczesny saving smartly from Kagawa.

Dortmund were made to pay for their profligacy on 49 minutes however when van Persie fired Arsenal into the lead.

The Dutchman’s goal owed everything to an improbable assist from Alex Song, the Cameroon midfielder dribbling past three Dortmund defenders before crossing for van Persie to steer a downward header past Weidenfeller.

The goal settled Arsenal and they could have been out of sight on 60 minutes when Gervinho was sent racing through on goal after a clever flick from Ramsey.

The Ivorian rounded Weidenfeller but fatally took one touch too many and Felipe Santana was able to lunge in and clear to safety.

With full-time looming van Persie then made sure of the victory, sweeping home after Vermaelen’s flick-on from Mikel Arteta’s corner. —AFP

SAINT PETERSBURG: APOEL Nicosia became the first Cypriot club to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League yesterday when they drew 0-0 with Zenit St Petersburg in Russia in their Group G clash.

APOEL — formed in a sweet shop 85 years ago — have nine points after five games and lead Zenit by a point. However, even were APOEL — who had 2,000 faithful fans in the stadium — to lose their final match to Shakhtar in a fortnight only one of Zenit or Porto can overtake them as they face each other.

The Cypriot side manager Ivan Jovanovic couldn’t hide his satisfaction with his side’s historic achievement.

“It’s a fantastic result for us!” he said. “We’re trying to play attacking football. We may be a small team if compared to the European giants but we’re a team with a big heart!

“My players all have a strong desire to succeed. APOEL is a good team consisting of good players, who are playing their best in every single match. We all worked hard and managed to achieve a major success.”

Zenit had the visitors under pressure for the whole match but either through poor finishing, luck or brave defence by APOEL they were unable to break the deadlock.

The match had to be temporarily halted twice by German referee Felix Brych when smoke bombs covered the whole pitch making it impossible for the players to carry on - it led to Zenit star Roman Shirokov remonstrating with the fans to stop letting them off.

Zenit started in punchy fashion creating their first chance in the

third minute but forward Alexander Bukharov’s header failed to hit the target.

In the 37th minute Brych had to stop the match for the first time for almost five minutes and it was

keeper Urko Pardo.

In the 55th minute Brych stopped the match again as the local fans continued their pyrotechnic show making play impossible and forcing not only

SAINT PETERSBURG: Tomas Hubocan (right) of Zenit St Petersburg fights for the ball against Gustavo Manduca of APOEL during their UEFA Champions League, Group G football match. —AFP shortly after the resumption that Zenit had their best chance of the first-half.

Midfielder Viktor Faizulin was the guilty party when his shot from 20 yards out after he benefited from APOEL defender Helio Pinto’s error was deflected by goal-

Shirokov but also Zenit’s Italian coach Luciano Spalletti to plead with them to stop.

Bukharov missed another opportunity just before the hour mark his header from 10 yards out crashing onto the crossbar, and though he reacted fastest to the

Olympiakos stun Marseille MARSEILLE: Greek side Olympiakos delivered a blow to Marseille’s hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League beating them 1-0 in their Group F clash here yesterday. A well-taken 82nd minute goal by substitute Ioannis Fetfazidis - brilliantly picked out by Spanish midfielder Fran Yeste - was enough to keep alive the battle for the second qualifying spot from the group.

Arsenal clinched one of them with a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund leaving Marseille still second but just a point ahead of Olympiakos while Dortmund are three points adrift with the Germans due to host Marseille in the final match whiel Arsenal visit Olympiakos.

The first-half was a poor affair with the visitors creating what chances there were veteran Swedish defender Olof Mellberg actually had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for offside.

French international goalkeeper Steve Mandanda saved his side in the 36th minute after Mathieu Valbuena lost posses-

sion in his opponents half.

While Valbuena flapped his arms in disgust Giannis Maniatis made good ground unopposed and unleashed a shot that Mandanda beat out, only for Jose Holebas to recoup the ball and his effort was heading for the top corner after taking a deflection only for the Marseille stopper to somehow get a hand to it and turn it away for a corner.

Marseille were more ambitious in the second-half and created two excellent chances to break the deadlock.

France international midfielder Mathieu Valbuena sneaked in at the near post but his effort from three yards out was a tame one and it hit the arms of the ‘keeper and went for a corner. His fellow French international Diarra too was denied by the ‘keeper as he ran in unmarked at the far post but his header diagonally across goal was kept out by a one-handed save from Olympiakos’s Hungarian goalkeeper Balazs Megyeri. —AFP

“We were trying to play fast and break through their defence but the uneven surface ruined the majority of our chances.

“In the last 20 minutes APOEL were obviously tired allowing us to create several clear chances but we missed them all.” —AFP

Hulk keeps Porto on track DONETSK: Hulk, and a last minute own goal, kept alive Porto’s hopes of making it into the Champions League knockout stages after the Europa League holders beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 here yesterday.

Porto retain third place in Group G, but are only one point behind Zenit St Petersburg, their opponents in the concluding group stage clash next month.

For bottom of the table Shakhtar this defeat spelled the end of their bid to finish third and with it a ticket to the Europa League.

Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu was missing Dmytro Chygrynskiy (injured) and Darijo Srna (suspended), but recalled fit again Fernandinho.

For Porto, Belgian midfielder Steven Defour stepped in for Fredy Guarin, who had to skip last weekend’s Portuguese Cup defeat with a calf muscle injury.

All a fiercely competitive first period lacked was a goal, with Porto’s Brazilian striker Hulk proving a handful for Shakhtar’s backline.

Around the half hour mark Porto had one of their best chances when Djalma laid the ball onto Hulk whose curling shot lacked legs, while Shakhtar went close when lively midfielder Luiz Adriano burst free of his marker Rolando only to watch his shot bounce off the right post.

And Porto keeper Helton looked on with relief after a swerving freekick from

Shakhtar’s Brazilian midfielder Willian wreaked havoc only for Olexandr Kucher’s overhead kick to fly narrowly wide.

There was more entertaining fare on offer at the Donbass Arena after the break, Helton comfortably dealing with Adriano’s low shot minutes into the second half while Porto’s Defour had a shot blocked by Yaroslav Rakitskiy after good work with Djalma.

Hulk’s pace and strength continued to cause all sor ts of problems for Shakhtar, on the hour he unleashed a low dangerous drive which was only kept out by the quick think ing of Romanian defender Razvan Rat. With the clock ticking Por to had Helton to thank for keeping the status quo when the keeper ’s finger tips denied Shak htar midfielder Fernandinho’s long range attempt on 73 minutes.

Six minutes later Hulk broke the deadlock - charging into the area to run onto Joao Moutinho’s pass and flick the ball right-footed out of reach of the onrushing Olexandr Rybka.

Porto doubled their lead in the last minute when Rat turned the ball into his own net as he was trying to clear a shot from Por to substitute Cristian Rodriguez. This result, coming after Zenit ’s draw with qualified APOEL Nicosia, sets up a tense decider in Porto on December 6. —AFP

Champions League results/standings FRANCE: Marseille’s French midfielder Andre Pierre Gignac (right) vies with Olympiakos’ defender Olof Erik Mellberg during the UEFA Champions League football match. —AFP

rebound he sent his shot wide.

Shirokov admitted that they had let a chance slip. “APOEL played very well and were compact in defence, without taking too many risks,” he said.

Group E At Leverkusen, Germany Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2 (Derdiyok 73, Friedrich 90+1) Chelsea (ENG) 1 (Drogba 48)

Group G At Saint Petersburg, Russia Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS) 0, APOEL Nicosia (CYP) 0

At Valencia, Spain Valencia (ESP) 7 (Jonas 10, Soldado 13, 36, 39, Pablo Hernandez 68, Aduriz 70, Alberto Costa 81) RC Genk (BEL) 0

At Donetsk, Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 0, Porto (POR) 2 (Hulk 79, Rat 90-og)

Group F At Marseille, France Marseille (FRA) 0, Olympiakos (GRE) 1 (Fetfatzidis 82)

Group H At Milan, Italy AC Milan (ITA) 2 (Ibrahimovic 20, Boateng 54) Barcelona (ESP) 3 (van Bommel 14-og, Messi 31-pen, Xavi 63)

At London Arsenal (ENG) 2 (van Persie 49, 86) Borussia Dortmund (GER) 1 (Kagawa 90+2)

At Minsk BATE Borisov (BLR) 0, Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1 (Bakos 42)

European Champions League tables European Champions League group stage tables after yesterday’s drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Group E Group G APOEL Nicosia Leverkusen 5 3 0 2 7 7 9 - qualified Zenit Chelsea 5 2 2 1 10 4 8 FC Porto Valencia 5 2 2 1 12 4 8 Shakhtar RC Genk 5 0 2 3 1 15 2 Group F Arsenal

5

Marseille Olympiakos Dortmund

5 5 5

3 2 0 6 3 11 - qualified 2 1 2 4 2 7 2 0 3 5 5 6 1 1 3 4 9 4

Group H Barcelona -qualified AC Milan qualified Viktoria Plzen BATE Borisov

matches (played, won, 5 5 5 5

2 3 0 6 4 9 - qualified 2 2 1 7 5 8 2 1 2 7 7 7 0 2 3 4 8 2

5

4 1 0 16 4 13

5

2 2 1 9 6 8-

5 5

1 1 3 2 9 4 0 2 3 2 10 2

DONETSK: Luiz Adriano (bottom) of Shakhtar vies for a ball with Nicolas Otamendi of Porto during their UEFA Champions League Group G football match. —AFP

Plzen edge BATE 1-0 in Champions League MINSK: Marek Bakos scored in the first half yesterday as Viktoria Plzen won 1-0 at BATE Borisov in a Champions League match between two teams out of contention for the knockout stages.

Bakos shot into an empty net in the 42nd minute after receiving the ball following Milan Petrzela’s run into the box.

Czech Republic club Plzen and BATE of Belarus are fighting for third place in Group H for a spot in the Europa League. Plzen is third, two points ahead of winless BATE with one round left to play. Plzen hosts AC Milan and and BATE visits Barcelona on Dec. 6.

Barcelona and AC Milan, which are playing in a later match, have already advanced to the knockout phase. “We needed this victory and we have proved that we can play such important matches,” Plzen coach Pavel Vrba said. “We are happy we took three points. We were better today on counterattacks.”

BATE, which is yet to win a game, had chances early in the game. Brazilian striker Renan Bressan failed to beat goalkeeper Marek Cech one-on-one in the 21st minute.

“If Bressan cannot score then we have no one else to score,” BATE coach Viktor Goncharenko said.

“It’s a good lesson for BATE.” Maksin Bardachev also missed a chance to equalize, hitting the crossbar in the 52nd minute. —AP

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Bravo ton takes Windies to mammoth total

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

Djeparov and Aya clinch Asian Player of the Year Page 18

MILAN: AC Milan’s Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (left) jumps for the ball during the Champions League Group H football match against Barcelona at San Siro stadium. —AFP

Barca dazzle to secure top spot MILAN: Barcelona dazzled as they beat AC Milan 3-2 at the San Siro here yesterday night to ensure top spot in Champions League Group H. An own goal from former Barca player Mark van Bommel, a Lionel Messi penalty and Xavi gave the title holders victory in a thrilling game.

Although largely outplayed Milan, who were already guaranteed second place in the group, fought gamely and replied through another former Barcelona player Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a wonderful goal from KevinPrince Boateng.

But the Spaniards left no doubt as to who the better team was with a scintillating performance full of verve, quick passing, incision and energy.

Goalscorer Boateng felt his team had more than matched Barca. “It was a good game, we were unlucky but the most important thing is that we’ve qualified,” he said.

“Barcelona are the best team in the world but we played really well and when everyone’s concentrating we can match anyone.” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri felt this was a good learning curve for his players.

“It was important to play a match such as this to see what stage we’re at,” he said. Barca gave an early sign of things to come as Thiago Alcantara stepped over a Messi pass to free David Villa but the Spain striker’s finish was woefully high.

The visitors took the lead on 14 minutes as they strung the passes together again and Messi found Seydou Keita in acres of space on the left side of the area with his devilish cross into the six-yard box being turned in by the unfortunate Van Bommel.

Another great move saw Thiago’s flick put in Cesc Fabregas, whose powerful shot hit goalkeeper Christian Abbiati.

Milan should have been level when a cross from Ibrahimovic found Boateng at the back post and his mishit shot fell to Robinho inside the six-yard box but the Brazilian embarrassingly lifted the ball over the bar.

Milan kept pushing and Clarence Seedorf played in Ibrahimovic in the inside left channel and his finish crept under Victor Valdes on 20 minutes.

That turned out to be a false dawn

Valencia thrash Genk 7-0 MADRID: Roberto Soldado grabbed three first-half goals to help Valencia thrash Genk 7-0 yesterday in a crucial result that kept alive the Spaniards’ hopes of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Jonas Goncalves got an early opener before Soldado’s solo show gave Valencia a 4-0 lead before the interval and Pablo Hernandez, Aritz Aduriz and Tino Costa added three more to round off the thrashing.

The win means Valencia go second in Group E, a point behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen who beat Chelsea 2-1 also yesterday.

Valencia now travel to London level on points with Chelsea and need at least a 1-1 draw to qualify, thanks to a better goal difference than the Londoners gained in the main from this result. Valencia coach Unai Emery made it clear that goals were on his mind from the start.

“We made sure we started at a quick pace looking for an early goal so we could look for a big result,” he said. “We can go to London now in a confident frame of mind after this performance,” he added.

The in-form Soldado now has five goals in five Champions League games and with his eight goals in the Spanish league this season he is a strong candidate to add to two substitute appearances for the full Spanish side in the near future.

The Belgians arrived in Spain with slight possibilities of qualification and a decent reputation after a hard fought 0-0 draw in the first game of the group in September.

Valencia knew that only victory would be enough and coach Unai Emery decided to leave left-back Jordi Alba, who recently made his Spanish debut, on the bench preferring to start Frenchmen Jeremy Mathieu in his place. Both teams started brightly mounting dangerous attacks into enemy territory to win early corners.

And it was from one of those corners, taken short, that Tino Costa won enough space on the left to whip in a cross that was solidly headed home by Goncalves to ease the home team’s nerves on 10 minutes.

Soldado then latched onto a Goncalves pass three minutes later and checked back from left to right foot to beat defender Khaleem Hyland and clip the ball past the advancing Genk goalkeeper Laszlo Koteles.

Koteles had to be alert on 20 minutes to beat out a Costa free-kick and four minutes later he had to be at full stretch to tip-away a shot from the Brazilian Goncalves, who pulled the strings for Valencia all night long.

At this stage ‘Los Che’ were in total control but the Belgian side did show signs of pegging back the lead with Fabien Camus and Kevin De Bruyne always quick to launch a counter-attack.

However two further goals on 35 and 39 minutes from the lethal Soldado finished any hopes the Belgians had.

Firstly Soldado latched onto a defence splitting pass from Goncalves and clinically finished, before stabbing the ball home from close-range after Hernandez fired in a low cross from the right.

With the game decided the second-half gave both teams the chance to introduce players, among those rested early was hattrick hero Soldado.

While Valencia continued to pass quickly and attack in numbers, the urgency of the first-half was not as prominent. Hernandez and Pablo Piatti had drawn good saves from Koteles before the former curled a right foot shot home on 67 minutes.

Substitute Aduriz then danced through a hesitant Genk defence two minutes later to add the sixth and Costa got his reward firing home with eight minutes remaining to round-off a disppointing evening for the Belgians. —AFP

as Barca stepped up the pace. Xavi passed to Fabregas who crossed for Messi but he proved unusually human and his shot from six yards deflected off Abbiati and onto the bar.

A Xavi free-kick found Villa but his free header went well off target. Barca were awarded a seemingly generous penalty when Alberto Aquilani bundled over Xavi in the box and Messi, who was booked for stopping in his run-up when scoring at the first time of asking, duly fired home on the second take.

A stunning run from the Argentine wizard then saw him beat four players but Abbiati was equal to his shot. The second half saw no let up from Barca as Fabregas chipped over the defence but Messi shot into the side-netting.

Out of nothing Milan equalised again after Boateng played a Messiesque flick to leave Eric Abidal standing and thrashed his shot past Valdes at his near post.

But again Barca carved open the Italian champions as a stunning pass from Messi picked out Xavi and his 64th-minute finish was precise. —AFP

Bayer strike late to deal another blow to Chelsea

GERMANY: Chelsea’s Portuguese head coach Andre Villas-Boas reacts during the Champions League Group E football match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. —AFP

LEVERKUSEN: Chelsea’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stages suffered a huge blow yesterday after they lost 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen a defeat that will increase the pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas.

A header from Leverkusen defender Manuel Friedrich in the 91st minute saw the hosts round off a great comeback which saw them come from 1-0 down to seal a valuable win which sends them top of Group E. Valencia’s 7-0 rout Genk leaves them second with Chelsea now third in the table and just one point separates the three teams.

After Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba’s second-half strike had put the guests ahead, Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok came off the bench to equalise before Friedrich’s dramatic winner.

With his side having lost three of their last four Premier League matches, defeat in Leverkusen is sure to amplify the pressure on Villas-Boas, in his first season, as his team suffered their second straight defeat.

Chelsea must now beat Valencia at Stamford Bridge in a fortnight to go through, while Leverkusen can afford to draw at Genk to make the Last 16.

Villas-Boas made three changes to the team beaten 2-1 by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday in the Premier League.

Portugal’s Jose Bosingwa replaced Ashley Cole at left-back, Daniel Sturridge came in for Florent Malouda while Raul Meireles took the defensive midfield role from John Obi Mikel.

Germany striker Andre Schuerrle started on the bench having battled ‘flu all week while former Chelsea star Michael Ballack, playing with a mask to protect his broken nose, was impressive in leading the Leverkusen attack.

He headed against the bar in the firsthalf, then fired over after the break and was only denied by a great save from Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech in what was the playmaker’s 100th Champions League appearance.

Chelsea had several chances in the first-half with Sturridge and Drogba finding plenty of space to keep Leverkusen’s teenage goalkeeper Bernd Leno busy.

Hungarian referee Zsolt Szabo handed out three yellow cards to Leverkusen players Ballack, Kiessling and Czech defender Michal Kadlec in the first half alone.

Chelsea took the lead on 48 minutes when Sturridge’s lofted ball found Drogba who turned his marker and slammed the ball into the bottom left corner.

With 19 minutes left Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt threw caution to the wind by switching defender Kadlec for Swiss striker Derdiyok.

He had been on for just two minutes before he headed home after a super ball from Sidney Sam pulled Cech off his line and the Swiss headed into an empty net on 73 minutes. And Leverkusen completed the fairytale when Friedrich rose highest from a corner with time almost up to cap a memorable night in Europe for Ballack’s Bayer. —AFP

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Rising Arab Islamist parties woo private sector

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Germany, France clash on ECB role Page 25

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

New Mercedes-Benz F 125! research vehicle

Italians want to cut debt but ‘without sacrifices’

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DUBAI: Visitors enjoy the beach at Dubai’s Jumeira beach. Two years after its debt crisis rocked global markets, Dubai has emerged as a safe haven in a troubled region, reaping the benefits of building strong service and tourism sectors. — AFP

Two years on, Dubai steadies ship after debt crisis Dubai emerges as a safe haven in troubled region DUBAI: Two years after its debt crisis rocked global markets, Dubai has emerged as a safe haven in a troubled region, reaping the benefits of building strong service and tourism sectors. But the Gulf emirate, which has so far succeeded in restructuring its mountain of debt, could face tougher conditions if it seeks refinancing in a sickly international market, while a global drop in demand could harm its core sector, analysts say. Before the global financial crisis struck in 2008, drying up its main source of funds, the economy of the desert city of skyscrapers had been growing at breakneck speed.

The emirate’s fortunes took a further blow in 2009 when it warned on November 25 that its largest government-related entity (GRE) Dubai World needed to freeze repayments on some $26 billions of debt, triggering fears of a sovereign debt default. Its gross domestic product contracted 2.4 percent that year. That statement raised the international focus on weak countries in the bond market, adding to the spotlights on Greece which was soon to become the first domino in what is

now the eurozone debt crisis. But in Dubai the sluggishness in the economy was followed by a recovery in 2010 as Dubai negotiated debt restructuring and began to quarantine problem assets.

Economic growth stood at a mere 0.5 percent last year, and is expected to be at least 3.0 percent this year thanks to expanding transit trade and flourishing tourism, although the property sector remains subdued after shedding more than half its value. “Dubai has planned, and started, to address its debt issues through all possible channels: restructuring, refinancing, asset selling but also simply through GDP growth, which improves the debt ratio dynamic,” said Philippe DaubaPantanacce, a senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

“Dubai’s amount of debt certainly did not vanish but it has not prevented the core assets of Dubai’s growth engine from registering a healthy acceleration this year,” he said. “All major sectors of Dubai’s traditional assets-trade, tourism, retail sales, infrastructure, and transports-have been strong contributors to the emirate’s growth this

News

in brief

Fed announces 3rd bank stress tests WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve has announced that it would conduct a third round of stress tests to determine if major US banks can withstand a downturn in the economy. The latest round of tests comes at a time when many are concerned about US banks’ exposure to the European debt crisis, which could throw that region into a recession and rattle global financial markets. Vice Chairman Janet Yellen last week said the Fed would purse the stress tests in coming weeks. The Fed performed the first stress tests in the spring of 2009. The country’s 19 largest banks participated. The initial stress test reassured investors that America’s biggest banks had the resources to get through the recession and the 2008 financial crisis. For the latest test, the field has been expanded to 31 banks. The financial regulatory overhaul passed last year requires banks with at least $50 billion in assets take part. Banks have until Jan 9 to submit the information to the Fed. They must show they have enough capital reserves to withstand projected loan losses from an economic downturn.

US warns of risks in Kurdistan oil deals WASHINGTON: The United States yesterday warned US firms including oil giant ExxonMobil, which has signed a contract with Iraqi Kurdistan against Baghdad’s wishes, of the legal risks of such deals. “The United States has advised all of our companies, including ExxonMobil... that they run significant political and legal risks if they sign contracts with any parties in Iraq before there has been a national agreement,” on how to distribute oil revenue, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Last week, an Iraqi oil ministry official said Baghdad was studying its options with respect to ExxonMobil, which last month signed a deal with Kurdistan to explore six areas. The Iraqi oil ministry official said two of those areas-Al-Qosh and Bardarash-are actually parts of Nineveh province that Kurdistan wants to annex into its autonomous region, a move Baghdad opposes.

year.” Tourist arrivals grew 14 percent in the first half of 2011, while hotel occupancy rates rose over 80 percent, according to regional investment bank EFG-Hermes. It said that high occupancy was evident during the summer as many Gulf tourists avoided troubled traditional destinations like Egypt and Syria.

Dubai’s trading sector has also been growing.

Container traffic increased by 11 percent in the first half of the year, according to EFG-Hermes, which said ports could also be benefiting from diversions due to the regional uncertainties.

“Dubai stands out in the region as it is benefiting from its safe haven status, particularly in areas such as tourism, trade, and banking sector deposit inflows,” said the bank. The financial crisis hit the bustling city at a time when it was building larger than life projects with a set of superlative aims, including the world’s tallest towers and the largest man-made islands-big plans for which it borrowed heavily.

Projects that were completed or nearly completed by the time the crisis hit escaped its paralyz-

ing effect, but many others-mostly now deemed unrealistic stayed at the drawing-board stage. “The mood has completely changed; the hyped hubris of the past has gone-people are much more realistic now,” said Simon Williams, chief economist for the region at HSBC. He argued that the after effects of the “boom and bust cycle” are still around. “Real estate is still weak, access to bank credit is still tough and Dubai’s international reputation has yet to be rehabilitated,” he pointed out.

But he highlighted the comparative advantages that put Dubai on the right track to achieve steady growth. “The emirate has, by far, the best physical infrastructure, most tolerant social system in the Gulf, and most entrepreneurial risk taking private sector,” said Williams. “Its stability during a period of widespread regional unrest has further enhanced its appeal,” he said. It has also become more affordable for companies and investors after years of high inflation. “Before the crash, Dubai was tax-free but an expensive place to do business. It is still tax free, but with real estate down by half and wages flat, it is much more competitive than it was

Jetmakers battle for United order PARIS: Airbus and Boeing are bidding to sell around 150 jets to United Continental as the world’s largest airline joins an industry-wide scramble for fuel savings, people familiar with the matter said. The merged giant has become the latest battleground as Boeing tries to close a recent sales gap with its European arch-rival and capitalize on a huge Indonesian plane order unveiled by US President Barack Obama last week.

The roughly $15 billion deal could include 130 revamped narrowbody jets, designed to cut airline fuel costs sharply from mid-decade, and up to 50 of the planemakers’ existing models. Talks could be completed as soon as late December but may slip into 2012, the people said, asking not to be named. “It is not guaranteed but there is a good likelihood, I’d say more than a 50 percent chance, of a deal before the end of the year,” said a source involved in the negotiations.

Another person familiar with the discussions cautioned the deal may take longer than the few weeks remaining until the end of the year to finalize, while others noted that volumes can also change as major airplane purchases fall into place.

“Negotiations are well underway,” a further source said.

Boeing declined comment. An Airbus spokesman said, “We are always in dsicussions with current and potential customers and these discussions remain confidential”. United Continental Holdings was formed last year from a merger of United parent UAL Corp and Continental Airlines, creating a hybrid fleet containing both Airbus and Boeing jets.

A spokesman for the Chicago-based group said it had ongoing talks with planemakers about its fleet needs, but declined to comment on a potential narrowbody order.

Despite fears of recession, the world’s leading planemakers have had a harvest of plane orders this year after moving to upgrade their best-selling models-the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 — with new engines capable of saving 12-15 percent fuel.

Airbus took the lead by promising to introduce the revamped A320neo from 2015 and has sold more than 1,000 of the aircraft, making what the EADS unit claims as the fastest-selling launch. Boeing responded with the 737 MAX, due to enter service in 2017, and has accumulated more than 700 provisional orders even before finalizing the aircraft’s design. Narrowbody jets are the industry’s workhorse, feeding the big hubs or operating quick turnarounds for low-cost carriers.

SCRAMBLE FOR JETS Demand from cash-pinched airlines for fuel savings was highlighted last week when Obama oversaw a record sale of Boeing jets to Indonesia’s Lion Air, months after Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia handed a similar order to Airbus.

Whereas major US carriers used to dominate the world’s aircraft industry, the rise of Asian and Middle East airlines and shift of economic power to emerging markets has generated a sudden scramble to get hold of fast-disappearing stocks. With jetmakers running out of production slots, and some banks avoiding the aircraft market due to Europe’s debt crisis, Airbus and Boeing are expected to scour the world’s leasing firms to find enough aircraft to pull together a United deal.

Even then, supplies are becoming so scarce that the two rivals may have to make do with only part of any deal depending on the timescale United wants for deliveries, analysts said.

“This could be an interesting order. Although United flies Airbus narrowbodies, Continental flies Boeing and the Continental management team has been happy to source its aircraft from Boeing over the years,” said Rob Stallard, aerospace analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York. —Reuters

DUBAI: (File Photo) An Emirati man walks past a poster promoting Airbus A350 planes at the Dubai air show on November 16, 2011. Airbus outpaced US rival Boeing in promoting the new versions of their single-aisle ecofriendly jets, but both walk away from the Dubai Airshow with deals of around $20 billion each. — AFP

before and that’s key for its long term prospects,” he added.

Fears of narrowing access to international finance due to worsening global conditions could harm Dubai which has to refinance its obligations.

The emirate’s GREs reportedly have nearly $14 billion of maturing debt next year. “Dubai risks remain if there is a marked deterioration in access to foreign funding for a sustained period, given Dubai’s significant refinancing obligations,” EFGHermes said. But the emirate should not face a problem meeting its short-term debt servicing obligations, putting them at $600 million in the fourth quarter of this year, it said, adding as restructuring continues, difficulties would likely be a result of “external shocks rather than domestic.” A drop in global trade due to the escalating eurozone crisis, could also affect Dubai which has established itself as a transit hub for trade. “A protraction of the eurozone turmoils could translate into a further erosion of global demand-dampened by market stress and collapsing consumer confidence,” said Dauba-Pantanacce. —AFP

Kharafi ‘committed’ to Zain KUWAIT: Major Zain shareholder Kharafi Group, which has twice tried to sell its stake in the Kuwaiti telecoms operator, will now stick with its holding as the firm embarks on expansion plans. Bader Al-Kharafi, whose family and related companies are thought to control about a quarter of Zain, and who sits on the company’s board, also said in an interview that Zain would not be selling any of its seven mobile licences and planned to acquire Internet service providers to boost data revenue.

Kharafi’s family conglomerate, which directly owns about 16 percent of the telecoms group, remains committed to Zain, he said, dismissing speculation the family needed to sell up. Kharafi Group has led two consortia that agreed to sell a controlling stake in Zain. The last deal, a $12 billion sale to the UAE’s Etisalat, collapsed in March. When asked if the family was looking to sell its holdings in Zain, Kharafi said: “No, we are not.”

Kharafi has emerged as a higher profile figure in the family conglomerate since the death of his father, Nasser AlKharafi, in April. The senior Kharafi built a business empire that spans real estate, retail and financial services and is core to the Gulf state’s economy. It owns stakes in Kuwait Food Co, NationalInvestments Co and National Industries Group.

Kharafi said Zain would focus on implementing a new strategy, which has been approved by the board and management.

“We are keeping all the assets and we are focusing on improving them and investing in them,” Kharafi said in an interview at his Kuwait City office. “The board is aligned. This is a new board and we have approved our new vision, which is going into data, acquiring ISPs (internet service providers) and submarine cables.” Bitter disagreement among Zain’s board over the Etisalat deal was among the reasons the UAE operator walked away. Zain shareholders elected a new board in April, including Kharafi, prompting one former member who was not re-elected and had opposed the Etisalat deal to launch legal action. A Kuwaiti court in September ruled the board meeting void, but Zain has appealed and the latest hearing is expected this week. “We are confident we did everything by the book and according to the laws and regulations,” said Kharafi, acknowledging that Zain’s day-to-day operations were affected by the protracted Etisalat discussions. “During the year we were working on the deal, there wasn’t really a vision of putting more capex (capital expenditure),” said Kharafi. —Reuters

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

BUSINESS

China manufacturing hits a 32-month low Overall new orders slump, even as export orders grow BEIJING: China’s factory sector shrank the most in 32 months in November on signs of domestic economic weakness, a preliminary PMI survey showed, reviving worries that China may be slipping towards a hard landing and fuelling fears of a global recession. The steep fall in the HSBC flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) to 48 in November from 51 in October largely reflected domestic weakness as both output and new orders shrank even as export orders continued to grow.

The flash PMI, the earliest readout of China’s industrial activity, was the lowest since March 2009 and suggests the factory sector contracted during the month. A PMI reading of 50 demarcates expansion from contraction. The PMI unnerved financial markets already roiled by the euro zone debt crisis and a downward revision in US economic growth and underscored expectations that Beijing will lean more on policies to support growth than ones to fight inflation. “They are not going to want this to go too far,” said Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING in Singapore. “I’m not sure if it (PMI) is a tipping point but I think it adds to the evidence.”

Beijing has already announced some selective steps, geared to small business, to support the economy.

HSBC said evidence in the PMI of a sharp drop in inflationary pressures meant Beijing had room for more selective measures if need be. “There remains no need to panic,” HSBC economist Qu Hongbin said. “Easing inflation provides room for more easing measures, which will keep China on track for a soft landing.” The sub-indexes for input and output prices dropped around 10 points each to below 50 to lows last seen in April 2009.

HSBC said the output sub-index tumbled to a 32-month low of 46.7, a steep drop from October’s final reading of 51.4 and new orders suffered the biggest drop in 1-1/2 years to sink well below 50. Qu said the PMI data suggested industrial output growth in China will moderate in coming months to an annual rate of 11-12 percent, a pace not seen since 2009 when China was pulling out of the global financial crisis. Output has averaged close to 14 percent this year. The final PMI reading for November may be slightly higher than the flash number, a comparison of the data shows.

HSBC has reported a flash PMI, which captures up to 90 percent of total responses, since February. On five occasions, the final PMI reading was higher than the flash reading; twice it was lower and the other two months it was unchanged. Kevin Lai, senior economist at Daiwa in Hong Kong, said the PMI data showed China’s industrial production had started to contract on a month-onmonth basis. “We see a 25 percent probability of a hard landing in the first quarter of next year,” he said, meaning growth of less than 8 percent.

GLOBAL GROWTH COOLS The Australian dollar fell to a sixweek low after the data on concern that demand growth from Australia’s biggest trading partner and export market will ease. Asia shares outside of Japan dropped more than 2 percent and US S&P stock futures lost further ground as China’s PMI added to the risk of a global recession. A downward revision to US third-quarter growth data on Tuesday had already put markets under pressure.

Vice Premier Wang Qishan is con-

vinced the world is heading into a major downturn, saying at the weekend that a “chronic” global recession was “certain”, the most dire reading from a senior Chinese policymaker to date. Similar flash PMI surveys for the eurozone released yesterday reinforced recession fears by showing the bloc’s private sector contracted for a third month in November. The World Bank forecast on Tuesday that growth in the world’s biggest economy after the United States would slip to 9.0 percent in 2011 and then to 8.4 percent in 2012, adding “the risks are tilted to the downside.”

China’s export growth hit an eight-month low in October as industrial output grew at its weakest in a year. Up to a third of Hong Kong’s 50,000 or so factories in China could downsize of shut by the end of this year, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries said this month. The exuberant Chinese property market is also coming off the boil, a factor HSBC said had weighed on the PMI. Average home prices ticked lower in October for the first time this year and property sales fell. “Worse is yet to come,” Conita Hung, head of equity research of Delta Asia Financial Group, said after the data.

“Companies involved in shipping, exports and even banking and finance will be affected.”

Most analysts argue that China will keep to a policy Beijing has dubbed “fine tuning”, under which it offers support to parts of the economy. These measures have included support for small businesses. In the latest move, the central bank effectively cut reserve requirements for five rural banks in eastern Zhejiang province-a cradle of private enterprise-sources with knowledge of the matter said. Broader measures, such

as a rate cut, are not warranted unless the downturn becomes much more serious. “We’re not witnessing a collapse yet,” said Connie Tse, an economist at Forecast in Singapore.

“Policymakers are going to rely on selective fine-tuning measures.”

BANK RESERVE CUT POSSIBLE More aggressive policy easing measures are not needed because China’s exposure to western demand is less now than it was during the 2008-2009 downturn and its dependence on exports for growth is lower, Qu at HSBC said. The underlying strength of the industrial sector is also stronger, he suggested. “It’s not like 2008,” Ting Lu of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said.

“This is not as bad. There’s no need for China to be in a hurry to roll out measures. The central bank needs to become more flexible and watch the unfolding crisis. It’s not the time for them to change policy stance.” Still, like some other analysts, Condon said the selective measures could spread to broader measures in the months ahead as the economy weakens, so a cut in nationwide bank reserve requirements, currently a record high of 21.5 percent for big banks, may be on the cards within three months.

Wang Hu, an economist of Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai, agreed but said a bank reserve cut could come by the end of the year. Chinese policymakers will also be wary of easing policy too quickly for fear of reigniting inflation after a long battle.

Consumer inflation dropped from a three-year high in July of 6.5 percent to 5.5 percent in October, raising hopes the peak has passed. “Inflation risks are still on the radar,” said Tse. “It’ll be premature for the PBOC to loosen on the macro front.”—Reuters

Christmas gifts from the BMW lifestyle collection DUBAI: No desire to push your way through the pre-Christmas shopping crowds with your family? No problem. A few clicks on www.bmw-shop.com should suffice. In no time at all, you will have found exciting Christmas presents for mother, father, daughter and son from the BMW Lifestyle Collection:

out of his sister’s way while she rides her bike.

THIS MAKES LETTER WRITING FUN While your daughter and son are figuring out who has the right of way with their bicycle and car,

it’s finally time for the parents to exchange gifts. She loves her new BMW writing set, which consists of a ball-point pen and a classic fountain pen. Both writing utensils have a black glossy finish and components made of high-quality rhodium. Both the end piece and the

HORSEPOWER FOR THE SIDEWALK It’s only natural that your son might need more excitement than his sister. He’s delighted to have his first BMW X6 - a miniature version, of course. The remote-controlled car is available in sporty red or elegant white. At a scale of 1:14, the speedster can be precisely guided with the remote, which means your son should have no trouble staying

cap feature a BMW engraving. And for dad ...?

THE SECONDS PASS STYLISHLY He receives his gift at precisely 6:57 pm. The exact time appears on the face of the sporty stainlesssteel M chronograph, which is revealed after opening the highquality gift box. The tips of the hands and hour markers are luminous white, and below them, inside the watch, a Swiss Ronda movement runs with a stopwatch function, date indicator, and a small seconds dial. The watch is water-resistant to ten atm. Many more gifts are available at select BMW dealers or online at www.bmw-shop.com, including clothing, sporting goods, children’s products, miniatures, luggage, and accessories.

BMW Group Middle East ‘Stay Alert, Stay Alive’ 5 Reasons to Buckle Up EVEN THE BEST DRIVERS HAVE ACCIDENTS Your driving experience and confidence levels will not account for the often unpredictable actions of other drivers. Even the most skilled drivers cannot be 100 percent certain of the ability to prevent an accident when another driver is at fault.

It is therefore essential that every driver and passenger wears a seatbelt any time they are in a moving vehicle. If you respect life you must take the necessary steps to protect it.

KUWAIT: A split-second is all it takes. Just a momentary lapse in concentration can result in a terrifying collision. It needn’t be your fault, as no one can predict it, yet you need to ensure that all steps are taken to protect you, your family, and all passengers within your vehicle. It is not about how skilled a driver you are but, rather, whether you are a responsible driver.

This year’s BMW Group Middle East ‘Stay Alert.

Stay Alive.’ road safety campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of wearing seatbelts.

To encourage drivers to really think before they drive, BMW Group urges drivers to ask themselves the following questions: Do you buckle up as soon as you get in the car? - Do you insist that your passengers wear a seatbelt? - Do your children have the right safety restraints for their weight and age?

If you have answered no, even just once, you need to read the following 5 reasons to buckle up...

SEATBELTS REDUCE CHILD FATALITIES Children are not small adults - they need specialised protection in a moving vehicle. Until the age of seven, children’s bones are still forming, which means they must be protected from the force of an accident. Babies’ skulls are extremely flexible and even a small impact can result in significant deformation of the head and brain. Also, an infant’s rib cage is still elastic, and any impact to the chest can damage the heart, lungs and other internal organs. At this age, the pelvis is unstable and cannot withstand the forces from the use of regular seat-belts featured in your car. Therefore, appropriate child restraints are essential to reduce the risk of injury. It is essential for you as a parent to make sure that you use the right restraint for your child’s age and size. There are different seats available and the selection of the appropriate one is crucial in ensuring that your child is effectively protected: Rear-facing Infant Car Seat: Designed for infants under the age of 1 year, they provide the best protection until the infant is both one year of age and weighs at least 13 kg. At BMW, this is known as BMW Baby Seat 0+. l Child Safety Seat: Targeting toddlers aged 1-4 years; they secure your child and spread the crash forces over a wide area. This seat should last until either the child’s weight exceeds 18 kg or it grows too tall for the seat. At BMW, this is known as BMW Junior Seat I-II. lBooster Seat: Made for small children aged 4-6 years, it works by raising the child to the correct height for the car’s adult seat-belt to work properly. It has a seat back that can provide additional protection in the event of a side impact. The booster seat should be used until the child is approximately 145 cm tall. At BMW, this is known as BMW Junior Seat II-III. l Booster Cushion: The final option before your child transitions to the three-point lap and diagonal seat-belt featured in your car and is designed for children aged 6-11 years that weigh from 22 to 36 kg. Some manufacturers are now producing backs that cover the full 15 to 36 kg range. At BMW, these are known as BMW Booster Cushions.

SEATBELTS SAVE LIVES It’s been proven time and again. Seatbelts save lives and reduce injuries in a road traffic accident.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of a fatality among front seat passengers by 40-50% and among rear seat car occupants by 25-75%.

IT’S THE LAW Wearing a seatbelt while driving or as a front seat passenger is UAE law and any person found not to be buckled up will face a considerable fine.

Similarly, if a child is over 10 years old they must wear a seatbelt, while children less than 10 years old must be restrained using the correct type of child seat. Adults found to be travelling with children not correctly restrained will face a monetary fine, and worse, if they are involved in a road traffic accident.

SEATBELTS = LIFE According to the laws of physics, if a vehicle is travelling at 120 kilometers per hour, its contents and passengers are also moving at 120 kilometers per hour. A sudden stop or head-on collision at 120 kilometers per hour can mean the difference of life or death to the passengers wearing seatbelts. In a road traffic accident, passengers who are not buckled up will fly toward the point of impact, colliding with anything in their path such as dashboards, windshield or steering wheels with several pounds of moving force. Seatbelts are designed to stop the uncontrolled movement of people within a vehicle and therefore one of the most important tools to prevent serious injury or death in a road traffic accident.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2725000 .4310000 .3700000 .2980000 .2650000 .2720000 .0040000 .0020000 .0747670 .7284350 .3810000 .0700000 .7140980 .0040000 .0430000

.2785000 .4430000 .3790000 .3140000 .2760000 .2830000 .0072500 .0035000 .0755170 .7357560 .4010000 .0760000 .7212750 .0072000 .0530000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2754000 .2775000 GB Pound/KD .4323920 .4356890 Euro .3706060 .3734320 Swiss francs .2993750 .3015980 Canadian dollars .2668730 .2689080 Danish Kroner .0497950 .0501740 Swedish Kroner .0404670 .0407760 Australian dlr .2732240 .2753080 Hong Kong dlr .0353590 .0356290 Singapore dlr .2118460 .2134620 Japanese yen .0035860 .0036140 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 .0053780 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 .0025220 Pakistan rupee .0000000 .0031910 Bangladesh taka .0000000 .0036390 UAE dirhams .0750100 .0755820 Bahraini dinars .7307950 .7363670 Jordanian dinar .0000000 .3925040 Saudi Riyal/KD .0734600 .0740200 Omani riyals .7156030 .7210600 Philippine Peso .0000000 .0064530

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.617 5.316 3.163 2.427 3.336 212.700 35.571 3.590 6.384 8.866 0.271 0.273

GCC COUNTRIES 73.923 76.168 720.020 736.280 75.484

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 47.750 46.187 1.268 191.100 391.470 1.860 5.984 34.042

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 277.100 Euro 374.090 Sterling Pound 432.550 Canadian dollar 267.470 Turkish lire 153.940 Swiss Franc 304.510 Australian dollar 277.000 US Dollar Buying 276.700

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

SELL CASH 274.400 736.560 3.810 268.600 544.000 44.800 51.300 167.800 48.290 377.000 36.250 5.760 0.032 0.224 0.241 3.700 393.330 0.187 90.030 46.300 4.260 210.200 1.795

49.000 719.380 3.340 6.610 76.620 73.950 213.950 35.800 2.639 437.000 41.800 305.900 5.500 9.310 198.263 75.510 277.300 1.220

719.200 3.175 6.390 75.190 73.950 213.950 35.800 2.428 435.000 304.400 5.500 9.090 75.410 276.900

10 Tola

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 435.000 276.900

Sterling Pound US Dollar

SELL DRAFT 272.500 735.560 3.606 267.100

214.300 46.141 375.500 36.100 5.320 0.031

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro 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

274.68 270.12 307.70 375.64 434.44 3.65 3.605 5.285 2.431 3.326 3.182 75.37 736.54 46.21 393.94 719.64 76.36 73.94

282.00 270.27 305.00 378.00 437.00 3.62 3.740 5.740 2.610 4.150 3.370 75.75 736.00 48.20 392.00 719.50 76.65 73.95

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 392.490 0.186 90.030 3.310 208.700

Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar

Selling Rate 276.850 268.505 443.300 374.970 303.055 733.125

UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

75.350 75.990 73.785 389.700 46.310 2.422 5.309 3.179 3.615 6.383 679.095 3.675 8.955 5.830 3.415 91.960

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

GOLD 1,775.120

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

GOLD 315.000 159.000 81.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Currency Rate per 1000 (Tran) US Dollar 276.900 Pak Rupees 3.165 Indian Rupees 5.310 Sri Lankan Rupees 2.435 Bangladesh Taka 3.620 Philippines Peso 6.430 UAE Dirhams 75.495 Saudi Riyals 73.995 Bahraini Dinars 736.200 Egyptian Pounds 46.220 Pound Sterling 438.100 Indonesian Rupiah 3.190 Yemeni Riyal 1.550 Jordanian Dinars 393.400 Syrian Pounds 5.750 Euro 378.800 Canadian Dollars 272.100 Nepali rupee 3.690

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 276.250 Euro 376.300 Pound Sterling 438.000 Canadian Dollar 270.900 Japanese Yen 3.625 Indian Rupee 5.335 Egyptian Pound 46.205 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.501 Bangladesh Taka 3.590 Philippines Peso 6.365 Pakistan Rupee 3.170 Bahraini Dinar 735.700 UAE Dirham 75.300 Saudi Riyal 73.825 *Rates are subject to change

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

business

New Mercedes-Benz F 125! research vehicle Redefinition of automotive luxury KUWAIT: As a highlight marking 125 years of the automobile, Mercedes-Benz is presenting a visionary outlook on future technical developments in the luxury segment.

The F 125! research vehicle anticipates future trends and prepares the way for implementation of an innovative premium concept for large, luxurious automobiles.

In the F 125! Mercedes-Benz rigorously follows its vision of emission-free driving with hydrogen power, underlining the potential of H2 as an energy source for the future. While previous Mercedes-Benz research vehicles have “looked ahead” by roughly one vehicle generation - seven to eight years - the F 125! as the latest technological visionary goes a whole step further, by more than two generations to the year 2025 and beyond.

“With the F 125! we want to show that large, comfortable and safe saloon cars have an excellent future, partly because they are able to operate with no emissions.

The legend that is the S-Class will continue into the future thanks to intelligent solutions that always have the customer’s needs in mind,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “The new research vehicle illustrates and underlines this claim to leadership with innovative ideas and traditional Mercedes strengths in the areas of design, safety, comfort and performance.”

INNOVATIVE IDEAS The F 125! demonstrates how completely emission-free, individual mobility might be realised in the luxury segment in the future. The researchers and developers at Mercedes-Benz have incorporated already well-proven concepts and technologies which are not yet available today, but for which basic research has shown great future promise, and therefore a realistic chance of implementation in future series-production cars. The decisive innovations are: - A logical further development of the fuel cell drive system in combination with plug-in technology. Revolutionary tank technology: the structure integrated hydrogen composite storage unit. - Lighter and more powerful batteries, in this case based on lithium-sulphur technology, which Mercedes-Benz is examining in parallel with further development of the current lithium-ion battery and research into lithium-air technology.

On this basis the F 125! was created as an innovative four-seater luxury saloon with a powerful, emission-free electric drive system based on the fuel cell technology developed to series production maturity by Mercedes-Benz. This study combines pioneering and highly efficient storage, drive and bodyshell technologies with unique control and display concepts.

The research vehicle also presents itself with an expressive design which transfers the classic Mercedes design idiom into the future.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE F 125!: - Completely emission-free mobility with a range of up to 1000 kilometers, full day-to-day suitability, superior performance and first-class comfort.

- A bodyshell of innovative, lightweight hybrid construction with a high proportion of fiber-reinforced plastics and an intelligent mix of carbon-fiber, aluminum and high-strength steels, which allows a significant weight reduction while offering a further considerable improvement in safety. A high-strength construction with crash-responsive protective systems within the doors allows the omission of B-pillars, as well as the use of wide gull-wing doors which allow convenient access to the four seats. In this way the MercedesBenz safety philosophy and in particular the decisive principle of the rigid passenger cell developed by Bela Barenyi in 1952 are being concertedly taken forward for the future of individual mobility.

• A high-voltage lithium-sulphur battery with a specific energy density of 350 Wh per kg at cell level, which allows considerably higher recuperation rates in combination with the e4MATIC all-wheel drive.

• A control and display concept based on touch, speech and hand-gestures makes the F 125! a true “companion” with whom the driver is able to interact flexibly and effortlessly. The gull-wing doors of light-weight CRP construction can also be opened and closed by hand-gestures.

• Highly attractive displays using 3D and projector-beam technology to open up new visual possibilities.

• Next-generation, substantially networked telematics allow internet-based voice control, integration into social media and extensive remote control of vehicle settings and entertainment functions.

• Innovative assistance systems for lasting driver stress relief, e.g. Advanced Driving Assist for semi-autonomous driving.

• Trailblazing exterior and interior design based on a completely new saloon architecture.

REVOLUTIONARY To store the hydrogen as the fuel of the future, Mercedes engineers adapted a technology which is still the object of basic research. This opens up completely new perspectives with respect to the vehicle architecture and operating range. “The structural integrated hydrogen composite unit of the F 125! represents a real technological revolution, as it allows the hydrogen tank to be fully integrated into the bodyshell structure for the first time. In the future, vehicles with emission-free fuel cell drive systems could achieve the operating ranges of current diesel models with no loss of interior space,” says Prof. Dr Thomas Weber. Based on the current level of knowhow, Mercedes specialists consider it possible that they may develop this technology to series production level from 2025.

LITHIUM-SULPHUR BATTERY A highly advanced, very powerful lithium-sulphur battery is envisaged for the F 125!. It has a storage capacity of 10 kWh and is installed behind the rear seats.

Combining the fuel cell drive system with the innovative lithium-sulphur battery makes a total operating range of up to 1000 km possible, of which up to 50 km can be under battery-electric power alone.

It can be inductively charged at “intelligent” charging stations, and the convenient charging process can be monitored by smartphone. When designing the F 125!, the developers worked on the assumption that by the time of its introduction into series production, this battery type will be capable of energy densities up to 350 Wh per kg. This would represent roughly a doubling of current performance. The real potentials of this technology are however the subject of basic research, and are still difficult to assess at present.

ALWAYS ONLINE, ALWAYS CONNECTED With the visionary infotainment system “@yourCOMAND”, the F 125! provides an outlook on future Mercedes-Benz telematic systems. Its trailblazing features include:

In Natural Handling, operation is substantially by natural speech supplemented with touch and intuitive hand-gestures. In the interests of maximum driver-fitness and operating safety, the F 125! becomes the perfect, always alert companion for its driver and passengers. The possibilities go well beyond those of current systems. The driver can eg request news items that are tailored to his personal needs, and make specific, contextual enquiries, without removing his hands from the wheel. The COMAND of tomorrow also becomes proactive.

In the future, the driver will be able to start with the traffic report or retrieve personal messages before the selected music program begins. The weather report will then automatically come on before the journey ends, for example. Thanks to the mood-based configuration function “Moods”, such individual adjustments will be completed in a matter of seconds in future. The F125! also opens up completely new dimensions when it comes to external commu-nication and the use of social networks. With the help of the Social Community Assistant, the driver alone can decide who is allowed to “disturb” him, or who receives information.

Thanks to the Seamless Experience functions, the multimedia systems of the F 125! are seamlessly and cross-functionally networked, socially interactive and non-distracting. The exchange of information is no longer impeded or interrupted on journeys, but is an integral part of the concept. Because of constant connectivity with the Cloud, the driver has seamless access to all the media he normally uses. The tedious synchronisation of different communication and entertainment devices is also completely eliminated. The so-called “digital lifestyle” of many customers can therefore be continued both seamlessly and safely when on board.

Sensory Perfection in the F 125! means high-end sound and high-resolution screens with brilliant, individual displays.

If required, the autostereoscopic 3D display for spatial representation of the instrument cluster is able to show relevant information in clustered form. The

3D image adapts natural visual habits, allows a better overview and thus relieves the driver of stress. The head unit in the upper section of the centre console uses projector-beam technology, and is controlled via a touchpad with 3D fingertracking located within easy reach of the driver. In addition to the head unit, the integrated selection bar enables the instrument cluster and rear-view display to be selected.

Activated in this way, these displays can also be centrally operated. A further, retractable 17-inch display is installed on the front passenger side, and this is fully controlled by hand gestures. In this way a rear passenger can select his personal film program with no physical contact. - A high-resolution wide -image display allows the entire traffic situation behind the vehicle to be conveniently monitored, and makes exterior mirrors unnecessary.

The image is adapted to human perceptive powers at all times, and once again provides a much clearer overview with more rapid and intuitive registration of the relevant traffic situation.

The vehicle and its multimedia system, as well as all applications and contents, can be completely remote-controlled using the Remote Convenience functions.

This e.g. means that via the vehicle’s specific homepage, authorised individuals have access at all times to information such as the fuel level, next scheduled service or fuel consumption. Just as easily, a home PC or of course a smartphone can be used for remote configuration of the onboard navigation or entertainment system, and to select individual interior temperature settings for each seat.

F 125! - A SPECIFIC OUTLOOK With the new Mercedes-Benz research vehicle, the vision of emission-free driving with large, luxurious automobiles takes on a concrete form. The F 125! shows that the mobility of the future is emission-free and sustainable, comfortable and visually very appealing. It embodies technical and design innovation, and shows the way towards a society able to cope without fossil fuels.

Copper hits one-month low on slowdown woes Eurozone industrial new orders slump

SILIGURI, WEST BENGAL: An Indian farmer winnows rice at Milanmore village on the outskirts of Siliguri yesterday. India is the world’s secondlargest producer of wheat and rice. — AFP

Indian shares tumble MUMBAI: India’s leading share index of bluechip companies tumbled to a two-year low yesterday on growing investor concerns about high inflation, slowing growth and signs of political deadlock. India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee blamed the slide on selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and a falling rupee against a backdrop of the eurozone debt crisis and worries about slowing domestic expansion.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex ended the day down 365.45 points or 2.27 percent at 15,699.97 - its lowest closing level since November 3, 2009 - with telecoms, banking and engineering shares suffering the most. The fall was the ninth in the past 10 trading sessions. Indian equities are among the worst-performing in the world this year with the Sensex down by nearly 25 percent since the start of 2011. “Markets have crashed because of the continuous withdrawal of (funds by) FIIs,” Mukherjee told reporters in the capital New Delhi. “There is still uncertainty prevailing in the eurozone. The rupee’s depreciation also has an adverse impact. All these cumulative effects are there.”

Overseas funds have bought Indian stocks worth around $414 million so far in 2011 while buying for the same period a year earlier totalled $29 billion. Investor confidence has also been weakened by the rupee’s slide against the dollar, which raises import costs and fuels inflation, already at near doubledigits. The unit, the worst performing major Asian currency, dropped to a record low of

52.73 rupees to the dollar on Tuesday but firmed slightly to 52.11 by mid-afternoon yesterday. Hemen Kapadia, chief executive of investment advisory firm Chart Pundit in Mumbai, blamed government inaction for investor unhappiness.

“The market’s in a disaster zone,” he said.

“There is no second-round of (economic) reform and rising interest rates and slowing growth are pulling the market down. The government has failed on all fronts.” India’s parliament, which opened for its winter session on Tuesday adjourned for a second day in disarray, disappointing investors who have been hoping the government could reinvigorate its pro-business legislative agenda. Only 15 laws have been passed by parliament in the past year due to disruptions by the opposition who have been protesting against a slew of corruption scandals and high inflation. Other analysts said bleak local conditions were affecting economic growth. “The long-term negative impact of rising inflation on growth, due to reducing investment and productivity growth, is likely to meaningfully impact GDP growth,” said Deepali Bhargava.

Bhargava, an economist at Espirito Santo Securities, forecast 7.2 percent growth in the 12 months to March 2012 and 7.0 percent next year. The central bank expects growth of 7.6 percent this year and has made no forecast for next. Growth has been slowing in recent months as industrial activity has been hit by 13 interest rate hikes since March 2010 aimed at curbing inflation.— AFP

LONDON: Copper hit a one-month low yesterday, on worries a global slowdown would corrode demand after factory growth in top consumer China slowed in November while a poor bond sale in Germany intensified concerns about the euro zone debt crisis. Copper traded at $7,225 a ton at 1059 GMT, down 1.4 pct from a close of $7,330 a ton. The metal used in power and construction has fallen 8.4 percent so far in November.

Aluminum also hit its lowest in more than a year, while nickel touched its weakest in two months. Metals markets have been battling mounting evidence of slowing Chinese factory growth, a European return to recession and a political deadlock in the US over budget reduction, all of which cast a shadow over industrial demand next year. “It’s been pretty ugly all round. The question is whether markets have fully priced that in,” said analyst Nic Brown of Natixis.

“The Chinese economy is slowing and the authorities are waking up to that fact...It’s now a question of whether they are prepared to ease monetary conditions as a result,” he

added. Chinese factories battled with their weakest activity in 32 months in November, a preliminary purchasing managers’ survey showed, reviving worries that China may be skidding towards an economic hard landing and compounding global recession fears.

China is the world’s top consumer of base metals, and accounts for around 40 percent of global refined demand. Negative sentiment extended to Europe where stocks and the single currency were also under pressure. One of Germany’s worst bond sales since the launch of the euro prompted concerns the debt crisis was even beginning to threaten Berlin yesterday, with the Bundesbank forced to buy large amounts of the bonds to ensure the auction did not fail.

Also hitting sentiment, Euro zone industrial new orders slumped in September from August, EU statistics showed, the deepest fall since December 2008 and far worse than economists had forecast. Investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co lowered its Brent and US crude price forecasts

for 2012 and downgraded commodities to underweight partly due to the economic uncertainty in Europe, the United States and signs of weaker growth in China. “A sharp decline in LME three-month copper in September was one of the primary real-time indicators that Europe was entering recession,” the bank said.

COPPER DEFICT Markets are seen choppy ahead of US Thanksgiving holiday today that is expected to drain liquidity this week.

“A lot of pressure from America will be taken away because often we see selling in the afternoon. I don’t think we are up for big, big correction-support for copper at $7,200 looks like it wants to hold,” a London trader said.

In other news, the world refined copper market was in deficit of 161,000 tons in the first eight months of the year, compared with a deficit of 339,000 tons in the same period last year, an industry report showed on Tuesday.

The industry body sees a 250,000 ton production deficit in 2012, before easing to become near balanced in

2013 as global growth slows, it said in October. On balance, new mine supply is not expected to meet climbing demand, although new mediumsized projects will come onstream.

Anglo American said this week it expects its Chilean Los Bronces mine to more than double annual copper output from 2010 to produce a peak of 490,000 tons of copper annually, to become the world’s No. 5 copper mine.

More immediately, copper stocks rose for a second session, arresting an outflow from east Asian locations, mostly enroute to bonded warehouse in China, where analysts said stockpiles have grown in recent weeks. In other metals, tin was at $20,450 a tonne from $20,800 a ton. The Indonesia Commodity & Derivative Exchange (ICDX) will launch a physical tin contract and palm olein contract in early 2012.Zinc, used in galvanizing was at $1,914 from $1,940 and battery material lead was at from $1,985 from $2,019.50. Aluminum traded at $2,036 from a last bid of $2,070. It hit its lowest since late August 2010 at $2,028.— Reuters

India close to opening up $450bn retail sector NEW DELHI: India’s cabinet could decide as early as this week to throw open the nation’s vast retail market to supermarket behemoths such as WalMart and Tesco in a bold but highly controversial reform. Foreign multinationals have lobbied for years to be able to sell directly to India’s 1.2 billion consumers, seeking access to a retail market estimated by consultancy McKinsey to be worth $450 billion a year.

“If this proposal gets through, consumers will have many more choices-it will truly be a borderless world in terms of products available,” Gibson Vedamani, board member of the Retailers Association of India said. Supporters also see the opening up of the retail market to foreign players as a way to increase efficiency in the food supply chain, which would lead to reduced prices and lower inflation, which is now close to 10 percent.

The full-scale entry of international retail chains would also revamp storage and transportation methods, reducing a chronic problem of spoilage and ensuring fresher products are available. Critics worry however that big, air-conditioned stores with shrink-wrapped produce will drive small players out of business, despite assurances from industry figures that the market is large enough to accommodate all players. A decision could be taken this week, a government official said.

But even if the corruption-plagued and weakened cabinet led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approves a change, it is likely to face a severe challenge in parliament. The plan is “a tool to kill the domestic (retail) industry,” said Murli Manohar Joshi, a top leader of the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “If foreign direct investment in the retail sector is allowed,

small traders will lose their jobs as their products will not be able to compete with foreign traders.”

Multi-brand foreign groups such as US-based WalMart currently operate as wholesalers in India but are prevented from selling directly to the public.

Most consumers currently shop at local markets.

The policy change would enable foreign groups to welcome the public into big-box stores opened via partnerships with Indian retailers, which could be up to 51 percent foreign-owned. The Congressled central government may also raise the foreign investment cap to 100 per cent from 51 percent at present for single brand retail operations such as Nokia or Reebok. India’s chain retail industry, which has been lobbying hard for the changes, is cheering the Congress-led government on from the sidelines, anticipating lucrative tie-ups with foreign firms. —AFP

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Global General Index down by 0.08 percent Global Daily Market Report KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) could not sustain its short-lived gains and ended yesterday’s session on a mixed note. The major indices are fluctuating these days and they will continue this trend until next Tuesday when Kuwait parliament is expected to discuss the interrogations.

MARKET INDICES Global General Index (GGI) ended the day down by 0.08 percent, at 180.01 point. Market Capitalization was down for the day, reaching KD29.46bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 5,798.2 point, adding 1.50 points (0.03 percent) to its previous close.

MARKET BREADTH During the session, 93 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 39 equities declined versus 29 that advanced.

DAILY TRADING ACTIVITY Trading activity was up yesterday. Total volume traded was down by 29.94 percent with 134.11mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD22.96mn (2.01 percent lower compared to Tuesday session). Services sector was the volume leader. The sector accounted for 37.82 percent of total shares exchanges. AlSafat Energy Holding Company was the session’s most traded stock with 20.96mn shares exchanged. The banking sector was the value leader, having 30.44 percent of total traded value.

TOP GAINERS AND BIGGEST DECLINERS In terms of top gainers, National International Company (Holding) was the top gainer for the day, adding 42.86 percent to its share value and closing at KD0.050. On the other hand, Al-Ahlia Holding Company shed 12.50 percent and closed at KD0.014 making it the biggest decliner in the market.

SECTORS WISE During yesterday’s session, three out of the eight sectors ended the session on a negative note. Real estate sector topped the loser’s list

yesterday shedding 0.93 percent, as six of the sector ’s components dipped yesterday, amongst which was Mabanee Company. The scrip fell by 2.27 percent to close at KD0.860.

Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Company was the top loser in the sector. The scrip closed down by 6.25 percent at KD0.0375. Meanwhile, Real Estate Asset Management Company (REAM) was the only gainer in the sector after it traded ex-dividend during the session. On April 13, 2011, the company’s AGM approved the distribution of 5 percent cash dividend for the year ended December 31, 2010. The stock was not traded since that date.

Services sector followed declining by 0.57 percent, affected by telecom stocks: Zain (1.10 percent) and National Mobile Telecommunication Company (-2.06 percent).

On the other hand, industrial sector added 0.71 percent. Kuwait Metal Pipe Industries & Oil Services Company maintained its bullish trend for the second consecutive day. The scrip closed up by 6.35 percent at KD0.134. In the meantime, Gulf Cables & Electrical Industries Company closed at KD1.500, up 1.35 percent.

CORPORATE NEWS The Court of Appeal rejected in November 22, 2011 the injunction in appeal No. 190/2011 lodged by Oman-based Al Majd Livestock against Livestock Transport & Trading Company. Al Majd filed this appeal, claiming OMR2.20mn from the KSE-listed company. Livestock Transport & Trading Company had earlier said that the injunction appeal was adjourned from November 1 to November 22.

OIL NEWS Price of Kuwaiti crude oil increased $0.18pb on Monday to $107.89pb compared to $107.71pb on Tuesday, the state -run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said yesterday. Kuwait’s crude oil exports to China surged 50.2 percent in October from a year earlier to 1.28mn tons, equivalent to around 302,000 barrels per day (bpd), latest official data by the Chinese government shows.

Kuwait provided 6.1 percent of China’s total crude oil imports, compared with 5.1 percent in the same month of last year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

World stocks hit by signs of slowdown in China, US FTSEurofirst 300 slips 0.5 percent LONDON: World stocks hit their lowest in six weeks yesterday and oil prices fell after China’s November factory activity shrank at its sharpest pace in 32 months, reviving fears of an abrupt slowdown for the world’s second largest economy. Adding to global growth concerns, manufacturing in European heavyweight Germany contracted for a second straight month, and at a faster rate, as expor t demand slumped.

However, the rush to safe-haven assets has pushed returns on them so low that they are less attractive to hold.

Germany’s debt auction yesterday was technically uncovered, sending the yields on 10-year German Bunds 5.5 basis points higher to 1.964 percent-still lower than inflation. Meanwhile the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis is eating into business and consumer confidence as well as leaving investors with ever decreasing options. “The souffle we hoped we were going to eat is collapsing in front of us. We had hoped for a soft landing in China, better figures out of the United States and progress in Europe,” Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management, said.

The evidence of weakening in China, whose rapid growth has provided a major prop for the world economy, came a day after the United States cut its third quarter growth figure.

The euro was down 0.9 percent at $1.3388 after a newspaper said France, Belgium and Luxembourg were in talks on how to provide temporary state debt guarantees for failed financial group Dexia, stirring worries France will face a further fiscal burden.

The dollar, which has been benefiting from recent investor unease, rose 0.7 percent against a basket of major currencies to hit its highest in six weeks. “Dexia and the Chinese

flash PMI are the two factors that are driving a risk-off trade,” said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC World Markets. “Euro flash PMIs are not looking good and this will not help either. Model funds are looking to buy dollars and investors will be look ing to sell into any rebound in the euro.”

STOCKS HIT SIX-WEEK LOW World stocks measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.7 percent to their lowest level since Oct. 10. The global gauge was down for the eighth straight session, its longest losing run since late July and early August when the debt crisis that began in Greece two years ago spread to Italy. The world index has lost 13.8 percent this year.

Europe’s FTSEurofirst 300 slipped 0.5 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei average eased 0.4 percent. Brent crude dropped 1.1 percent to trade below $108 a barrel, while copper prices slipped 1.4 percent to above $7,200 a ton. Gold eased 0.7 percent after rising 1.1 percent the previous session. The precious metal has risen nearly 20 percent this year, on track for its 11th straight year of gains.

However, the pace of deterioration in European, US and Japanese companies’ earnings momentum moderated, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data showed, indicating analysts’ downbeat outlook on corporate profitability had eased, which may give equities some support amid the concerns over the euro zone debt crisis.

The data showed earnings momentum-analysts’ upgrades minus downgrades as a percentage of total estimates-for STOXX Europe 600 companies was -15 percent, versus -19.8 percent a month ago. S&P 500 companies’ earnings momentum moderated to 3.4 percent from -18.2 percent last month, while that for Japan’s Topix companies was -8.5 percent, from -11.2 percent in October. — Reuters

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Germany, France clash on ECB role ‘Disastrous’ German bond auction hits euro

Zain, Ericsson ink $650 million deal KUWAIT: In one of the largest deals of its kind in the Middle East, Zain, one of Iraq’s leading mobile telecommunications providers, has signed a $650 million fiveyear network outsourcing agreement with Ericsson, the world’s leading provider of telecommunications technology and services and its local partner SIM (Service in Motion). Under this agreement, Ericsson will optimize, modernize and manage IT operations and Zain’s mobile network in Iraq that currently includes more than 3,700 sites across the country. This agreement also extends to the northern region of Kurdistan where Zain has recently launched commercial services and is expanding to meet customer demand.

This is a significant deal for Zain as the agreement is expected to enhance the company’s competitiveness in the Iraqi market. Zain served over 12.4 million active customers in Iraq as of 30 September 2011.

The deal with Ericsson will enable Zain to increase its focus on its core customer facing business activities such as managing its customer relationships and to offer a shorter time-to-market for offering new services and technologies. The arrangement with Ericsson has the objective of improving network efficiency, reducing operating costs and optimizing Zain’s investment in Iraq.

The deal also gives Ericsson its first major managed services agreement in Iraq, reflecting the increased attention of both companies on the growing Iraqi market.

Preparing for the future, Ericsson will replace and upgrade Zain’s network by introducing a single-RAN (Radio Access Network) platform, the latest advanced multi-technology, multi-standard and multi-band platform. This more advanced technology combined with Ericsson’s managed services offering built on improved quality of service and operational efficiency is a step towards giving Zain in Iraq the ability to launch and support 3G technology, and improve its customer experience.

Nabeel Bin Salamah, Zain Group CEO said that “Through this agreement, Zain in Iraq will be better positioned to support the evolution and growth of the Iraqi

telecommunication industry. Zain Group’s investment in Iraq since the launch of commercial services in 2003 and the subsequent development of the country’s largest mobile network has exceeded $4.5 billion and we will do our utmost in ensuring that all Iraqis receive the urgently-needed quality mobile telecommunication services they deserve” Emad Makiya, CEO of Zain Iraq, confident that the outsourcing agreement will have many benefits for the company and its customers, commented, “Choosing Ericsson, which has well over 15 years’ experience in managing outsourced networks in partnership with SIM to help operate our network in Iraq, fits perfectly within our business objectives of improving efficiency and the quality of our networks and operations.” He further added, “As a result, we will be in a stronger position to dedicate resources and assets to our core business operations, continuing to improve customer support, developing and launching new products, services and mobile applications, and delivering on the Zain brand promise of ‘A wonderful world’.”

Anders Lindblad, President of Ericsson Region Middle East, said: “This agreement will allow Zain to strengthen its competitiveness in this growing market and allow them to focus on providing an improved experience to its mobile services subscribers.” He continues to add, “Ericsson has more than 45,000 service professionals and over 15,000 sourced resources, working with the same tools, methods and processes globally. We are now welcoming additions to that through the knowledge and expertise of the Zain employees in Iraq.”

Following its recent expansion to northern Kurdistan, Zain plans to invest in its network infrastructure in the coming years to increase its network coverage in the country. The company’s Corporate Social Responsibility support programs have stretched across many needy areas over the years, with Zain Iraq’s total contributions exceeding $25 million to date. The company employs over 2,500 Iraqi nationals who regularly undergo professional training and advancement programs.

India’s Tata group names successor to iconic boss MUMBAI: India’s Tata group named a successor yesterday to its veteran chairman and business icon Ratan Tata, bucking tradition by appointing a non-family member for the first time in its 143-year history. Cyrus P Mistry, an existing director, was promoted to take over at the end of 2012, ending years of speculation over the future leader of one of India’s biggest and most influential groups with interests from steel to salt.

Ratan Tata, a bachelor with no children, took over the family business Tata

Cyrus P Mistry Sons in 1991 and is credited with building it into an international behemoth with worldwide sales totalling $83.3 billion.

The softly-spoken leading industrialist, 73, had announced he would retire by December 2012 leading to a global search for a new leader in which his half-brother Noel was tipped as a leading contender.

The chairman said yesterday that the appointment of Mistry, a 43-year-old with five years experience in Tata who is distantly related to the boss by marriage, was “good and far-sighted choice”.

“He has been on the board of Tata Sons since August 2006 and I have been impressed with the quality and calibre of his participation, his astute observations and his humility,” he added. “I will be com-

mitted to working with him over the next year to give him the exposure, the involvement and the operating experience to equip him to undertake the full responsibility of the group on my retirement.” Ratan Tata, a trained architect and leading public figure in the minority Parsi religious group in India, had previously stipulated only that his successor must uphold the company’s tradition of corporate responsibility.

M istr y, who will initially become deputy chairman and take over the top job only after Tata retires next year, said in a separate emailed statement that he was “deeply honored” to be chosen. He said he was “aware that an enormous responsibility, with a great legac y, has been entrusted to me”.

The Tata group was founded by Ratan Tata’s great-great-grandfather Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in 1868 and has developed into one of India’s most well-known and trusted brands. It comprises more than 100 companies operating in more than 80 countries and had a total revenue of $83.3 billion in 2010-11. Some 58 percent of revenues came from business outside India.

Its 31 publicly-listed firms have a combined market capitalisation of about $77.44 billion as of mid-November and employs more than 425,000 people worldwide, it said. Prominent companies in the group include British luxury car marques Jaguar and Land Rover, European steel giant Corus and Tata Consultancy Services, which is India’s leading software exporter. It also owns the Indian Hotels Company, which operates the Taj chain, including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower in Mumbai, which was the focus of the deadly 2008 Islamist militant attacks on the city that killed 166.

Mistry is currently the managing director of the real estate-to-energy Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which has an 18-percent stake in the Tata conglomerate and a long association with the conglomerate. He has been a director at Tata Sons for more than five years and is a civil engineering graduate from Imperial College, London, with a master’s degree in management from the London Business School. His sister is married to Ratan Tata’s younger halfbrother Noel.— AFP

BERLIN: Germany and France clashed yesterday over whether the ECB should take bolder steps to stem the eurozone debt crisis, with Chancellor Angela Merkel issuing one of her starkest warnings yet against fiddling with the central bank’s strict inflation-fighting mandate. In a forceful speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Merkel also hit back at proposals from the European Commission on joint euro zone bond issuance, calling them “extraordinarily inappropriate”. One of Germany’s worst bond sales since the launch of the euro yesterday hinted that the two-year old crisis was beginning to threaten the bloc’s paymaster, with the Bundesbank having to buy almost half of the 10-year bonds on offer.

But the public jousting underscores just how divided European leaders are on how to resolve turmoil which has accelerated to engulf big countries like Italy and Spain, and pushed out leaders in Rome and Athens. “ The European currency union is based, and this was a precondition for the creation of the union, on a central bank that has sole responsibility for monetary policy.

This is its mandate. It is pursuing this.

And we all need to be very careful about criticizing the European Central Bank,” Merkel said. “I am firmly convinced that the mandate of the European Central Bank cannot, absolutely cannot, be changed.”

Shortly before she began speaking, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin offered a polar opposite view on the ECB’s role, telling a conference in Paris that it was the central bank’s responsibility to sustain activity in the currency bloc. “The best response to avoid contagion in countries like Spain and Italy is, from the French viewpoint, an intervention (or) the possibility of intervention or announcement of intervention by a lender of last resort, which would be the European Central Bank,” Baroin said. Baroin pointed to market inter-

vention by the US Federal Reserve, Swiss National Bank and Bank of England as a model for the ECB. But Merkel said it was impossible to compare the role of the ECB, which sets monetary policy for 17 countries, with those of national central banks.

The poor auction - 3.9 billion in bids versus an offered 6 billion-meanwhile

cost of any solution to the crisis. “(The auction) perhaps goes to show the uncertainty surrounding the euro zone crisis has escalated in terms of the overall outlook to incorporate even Germany,” said John Davies, interest rate strategist with WestLB in London. The euro fell in response to the results and European shares hit a

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: The Euro sign is seen in front of the ECB in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. — AFP helped prod market interest rates for Germany’s 10-year bonds above those for US Treasuries for the first time since October.

Bund rates have reached record lows by investors who view them as the only safe place to keep their money in a volatile euro zone, but there is concern in the background that it is Germany who will cover the

7-week low.

With time running out for Europe’s politicians to forge a crisis plan that is seen as credible by the markets, the European Commission will present a study yesterday of joint euro zone bonds as a way to stabilize debt markets. Some leading European politicians, including Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, sup-

port the bonds. But Berlin has rejected them outright as a near-term solution to the crisis, saying they would raise Germany’s borrowing costs and reduce incentives for other euro zone countries to bring their fiscal houses in order. In her speech, Merkel pointed to repeated violations of the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact in the currency area’s first decade, saying they had damaged market faith in the bloc’s ability and willingness to crack down on fiscal rule-breakers.

“And this is why I find it extraordinarily inappropriate that the European Commission is suggesting various options for euro bonds today-as if they were saying we can overcome the shortcomings of the currency union’s structure by collectivising debt. This is precisely what will not work,” Merkel said. The German leader also sent a clear warning to Antonis Samaras, the leader of conservative New Democracy in Greece, who has resisted pressure to join other parties and make a written commitment to painful austerity measures. Merkel said Greece would not receive an 8 billion euro aid tranche it needs to avert a default next month unless Samaras signed the pledge.

Merkel raised pressure on the bloc to finalise plans for a “leveraging” of its rescue fund and a recapitalisation of vulnerable banks, saying guidelines were needed by the time European finance ministers meet on Nov 29-30. “The fact that we have been talking about (bank recapitalisations) for weeks but still have no clarity is not very reassuring, and yesterday we saw with the example of one German bank how fragile the banks themselves are,” Merkel said.

Shares in Germany’s second-biggest lender, Commerzbank , tumbled on Tuesday after people close to the bank told Reuters it needs considerably more capital than previously expected to meet the core capital targets demanded by the EU by mid2012. — Reuters

RAK Airways arrives in style KUWAIT: The first of RAK Airways daily flights to Kuwait arrived at Kuwait International Airport on Monday November 21st to a warm welcome by Kuwaiti dignitaries and officials. RAK Air ways, a national carrier of the UAE, recently increased its GCC footprint with the announcement of daily flights to Kuwait and Doha, Qatar. The carrier’s GCC network now covers Jeddah, Kuwait and Doha. RAK Airways began operations in October 2010 with two routesover the last twelve months the airline has focused on extending its route network across the GCC, Indian sub-continent and North Africa; now operating to 10 destinations.

Vice Chairman Sheikh Salem Bin Sultan Al Qassimi and CEO Omar Jahameh, were met by a delegation upon arrival at Kuwait International Airport. UAE ambassador to Kuwait Hassan Salem Al Khayal and Chairman, Civil Aviation Kuwait, Fawaz Al Farah were among the dignitaries present at the airport event.

The welcome ceremony included a water salute for the arriving aircraft and an exchange of mementoes between RAK Airways and VIP guests. Following the reception RAK Air ways hosted a trade event for Kuwait’s travel trade industry and Civil Aviation Authorities at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kuwait.

Sheikh Salem Bin Sultan Al Qassimi, RAK Airways Vice Chairman, said, “ The launch of RAK Airways Kuwait flights is in keeping with our commitment to expand our route network and further enhance our high-value offering to our customers. I would like to extend my appreciation to the Kuwaiti authorities and Kuwait International Airport officials for warmly welcoming the launch of RAK Airways Kuwait route.”

According to recent reports, the total value of UAE-GCC non-oil foreign trade was AED31.8 billion in the first half of last year. Kuwait was ranked as the UAE’s second largest trading partner from the GCC during the first half of 2011, with a total trade value of AED5.7 billion. With daily flights to Kuwait, passengers can capitalize on the growing opportunities for trade that exist between the two countries.

“We look forward to introducing Kuwaiti travelers to our ‘Small Fares, Big Deals’ offering and supporting greater trade and tourism exchange between the UAE and Kuwait,” added Omar Jahameh, CEO, RAK Airways.

With the introduction of RAK Airways flights to Kuwait passengers from the Indian sub-continent and North Africa will be able to take advantage of convenient connec tions to Kuwait via R as Al K haimah. Daily flights to Kuwait leave RAK International Airport at 11.15 and arrive in Kuwait at 11.55. Return daily flights from Kuwait leave at 12.55 and arrive at RAK International Airport at 15.25.

Return, all-inclusive fares between Ras Al Khaimah, UAE and Kuwait start at AED 449/ KWD 34 to Kuwait.

Included in the price of all fares is a full hot meal and beverages served complimentary on-board all flights, along with a baggage allowance of 30kg per passenger in addition to the normal hand baggage allowance. There is also a free shuttle ser vice between other emirates and RAK International Airport for each flight. Bookings can be made online at www.rakairways.com; through phoning a 24-hour call centre on +971-7-2075000 in UAE or +965 22494654-5 in Kuwait; through sales offices across all Emirates as well as across the airline’s network destinations; and through appointed travel agents.

Poles quit UK in search of better life back home LONDON: Marcin Grodski is among an estimated one million Poles who flocked to Britain over the last decade, but after a failed business and a broken heart, he is heading home unhappy and underqualified. Grodski, 30, arrived in London in 2002, two years before Poland and seven other former eastern bloc countries joined the European Union, opening the door to their residents to seek work in the continent’s wealthier West.

He jumped the gun and moved to Britain ahead of the masses to “make a proper living”, pursue higher education and support the relatives he left behind in his hometown of Lomza, eastern Poland.

But faced with Britain’s stagnant economy, rising living costs and a failed relationship, Grodski is quitting the capital to return to Lomza in April-and he cannot hide his disillusionment.

“It’s been the experience of my lifetime, it’s a beautiful country, but after nine years I still cannot afford to buy a place in London and I don’t think I can stay here any longer,” he said. Grodski, who currently shares a house with friends in Norbury, south London, was hit hard by the recession. When he arrived he started at the bottom, spending nine months holding a massive placard on London’s Oxford Street shopping district directing people to discount shops. In his spare time, he learned English. Then he turned his hand to construction-”a natural choice for Poles,” he says-which suited his tall frame and generous build and he quickly rose to the position of site manager.

Filled with confidence, he set up his own construction firm but his timing was bad-shortly after he went into business the economic crisis took hold in 2008. One of his clients went bankrupt, leaving Grodski £20,000 (23,500 euros, $32,000)

out of pocket, and back to square one. “It was going very well for the first six to eight months and then suddenly everything crashed,” he said. “It wasn’t nice, I needed another year to get back on my feet.”

Grodski said the tide has now turned back home in Poland where investment, particularly in the construction industry, is creating more attractive opportunities for people like him.

“All the Polish people I know, including myself, were working hard getting the money just to build a place in Poland.

‘Much better in Poland’-”So the country invested a lot to build roads and public facilities to deal with this. In every city no matter how big or small, there is something going on. Poland is one big building site.” Grodski believes his experience in Britain should help him secure a job with a big construction firm in Poland. But far from returning well-equipped to take advantage of these new opportunities, he fears he will lag behind his peers who never left the country.

Unlike him, they have the qualifications he could never take the time to obtain because he was so busy working in London to make ends meet. “Everyone in Poland is qualified and three-quarters of the people I know are engineers. I’m still underqualified so I was thinking of getting back to school for a year or two,” Grodski said. He admits he always earned enough in London to have cash in his pocket and until recently was financing his younger sister’s education, but now he is willing to reduce his income in return for a better quality of life.

“It’s sad to say but the standard of living is much better in Poland. If you have a decent job you can live like a human being. In London you can barely afford a double room.” —AFP

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business

Clogged reforms a speed bump for Indonesia’s economy JAKARTA: At a time when many countries are slipping off investors’ radar screens, Indonesia is a beacon with stable finances and the fastest growth rate in Asia outside China and India. Yet its failure to improve a stifling bureaucracy, to end wasteful subsidies and to systematically curb graft could derail a growth story that has made resource-rich Indonesia into Southeast Asian’s sweet spot.

Doubts are growing that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who’s been in office seven years and has three left, can deliver on promised reforms that would improve creaky infrastructure and creating higher-value jobs for the young in the world’s fourth most populous country.

While Indonesia has had solid growth rates during Yudhoyono’s tenure, much of that is rooted in demand from overseas for the country’s coal and other commodities. If there’s a major global slump that depresses demand, Indonesia could fail to get needed investment because it remains a difficult place to do business and one where personalities matter, not process. There has been no real reform of the inefficient civil service - where bribery remains rife-and no sustained progress in building institutions that enhance the business climate such as credible courts.

“The political elite in the parliament and the government are busy with politicking, ignoring an urgent and important economic agenda that needs to be dealt with,” said Syamsudin Haris, senior political analyst at the government-funded Science Research Institute. After getting improved grades in recent years as a place for business, Indonesia’s posi-

tion has slipped. In the World Bank’s 2012 rankings for ease of doing business, Indonesia was 129 out of 183 countries, down from 126 a year earlier.

Re-elected by a landslide in 2009, Yudhoyono has so far squandered a mandate to drive reforms and, according to polls, has lost popularity. His longawaited cabinet reshuffle last month reflected a desire to shore up political support more than to initiate real change before a presidential election in 2014 which he cannot contest. “We haven’t seen any headline reforms done, which has led to some market disappointment and also to disappointment among voters,” said Prakriti Sofat, an economist at Barclays Capital in Singapore. “If Yudhoyono and company don’t put things in order, and there’s not a good candidate coming through in 2014, then the risk will go up.”

THE INDIAN EXAMPLE Having solid GDP growth by itself does not mean trends are good. Just look at India: Although growth is still relatively strong, its image as an emerging market star is losing its shine as corruption scandals, high inflation and a flagging reform agenda have dented investor confidence. Business leaders openly fret that the government may be squandering India’s chance at the big time. Azim Premji, billionaire chairman of outsourcing giant Wipro , summed up a sense of policy paralysis in India when he recently attacked a “complete absence of decision-making among leaders in government.”

The result has been investors fleeing from Mumbai stocks , making it one of the world’s worst

performing major markets in 2011. While Indonesia has been drawing investors, “long-term, if there are better opportunities elsewhere, money will go somewhere else,” said Sofat. Yudhoyono’s government has been often commended for good macroeconomic policies. It has maintained fiscal discipline, steadily cutting the debt-to-GDP ratio and boosting foreign reserves, while lifting its budget for infrastructure by 28 percent this year.

But the government’s administrative mechanism is often clogged. Lifting budgets is not translating into spending in the real economy. Overall, government spending grew just 2.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, a slower pace than in the second quarter. “The government has never shown any reliable track record of efficient budget spending and I don’t think that will change in the foreseeable future,” said Lanang Trihardian, investment analyst at Jakarta-based Syailendra Capital, which manages around $460 million.

“The impact of that is I don’t believe Indonesia can grow above the 8 percent level as seen in China and India.” Officials often rush to spend some of a budget overhang in the fourth quarter. A muchneeded project to improve woeful drainage in Jakarta recently started on the main thoroughfarejust as the torrential rainy season began, causing gridlock terrible even by the capital’s traffic standards.

‘COMPLICATED’ BUREAUCRACY “You know what the bureaucracy is like for government projects-long and complicated,” the head of

Jakarta’s public works office, Ery Basworo, told a press conference called to address complaints. “For us to even get the project started in September was an achievement.” At one time, many Indonesians felt Yudhoyono was making good gains to combat the old, damaging problem of graft, but it remains entrenched. To some citizens, corruption has worsened, in part because of decentralisation since the era of strongman Suharto.

In the remote provinces of the scattered archipelago, greater regional autonomy has sometimes resulted in corrupt local authorities to siphon off resource wealth meant for development. Yudhoyono has declared eradicating corruption a top priority and said no official is above the law. But his recent cabinet shuffle did not signal a tougher or more effective approach. Two ministers whom the Indonesian media alleged to be tainted retained their seats. Meanwhile, political squabbles led to a demotion of the trade minister and the narrow survival of the finance minister, both well-respected internationally. The reshuffle “was an opportunity for Yudhoyono to have a stronger team and he missed it,” said Erman Rahman, director of economic programs in Indonesia at The Asia Foundation, a SanFrancisco-headquartered nongovernmental organization. Another longtime impediment to business, the bloated and inefficient bureaucracy, remains a source of big frustration. “It will take more than very strong leadership to change this,” Rahman said. So far, there are no signs of planned reforms for the police department or justice system, which are often the source of complaints.— Reuters

Business leaders urge US, EU to consider trade pact US aggressively pursuing Transpacific trade deal

CAIRO: Egyptian traders are seen at the Egyptian stock exchange in Cairo. — AP

Rising Arab Islamists woo private sector CAIRO: Hassan Malek, one of the top financiers and business advisors of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, describes his movement’s economic policy agenda: free trade, more manufacturing investment, and a crackdown on the corruption that has plagued business. Islamic banking would be offered alongside conventional banking, as it is in Malaysia. The movement would advise citizens on lifestyle issues such as alcohol consumption and Islamic attire, but not impose rules. “We want to attract as much foreign investment as possible...and this needs a big role for the private sector,” Malek, a businessman with interests in textiles and furniture, told Reuters. He was jailed by Hosni Mubarak’s government in 2006 and released after the former president resigned.

In most of North Africa, political change triggered by the Arab Spring uprisings is set to give Islamist parties major influence on economic policy for the first time, after decades in which dictatorial governments kept economics and religion apart. The Islamist Ennahda party will dominate Tunisia’s coalition government after last month’s elections. Islamist groups are expected to do well in Morocco’s parliamentary polls this Friday, and in a series of Egyptian elections starting late this month.

Libyan elections are due next June and the country’s interim leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, has already urged the country to “purify” its financial laws along Islamic lines.

Even in the Gulf, where the Arab Spring has not ousted governments, there are some signs of greater Islamic influence on policy. Oman announced in May that it would introduce Islamic banking after resisting this for years; in February, Qatar asked conventional banks to close down their Islamic operations to prevent any overlap of business with full-fledged Islamic banks.

Some local and foreign businessmen around the Middle East are concerned, even alarmed. They fear Islamist parties could disrupt financial markets and trade with religiously inspired regulations, scare away foreign investors, or damage economies with their inexperience in governing. Amine Tourki, who owns a travel agency Tunisia, thinks Ennahda may be secretly planning a radical Islamisation of society that could cripple the tourism sector. “The tourists still have doubts, especially the French. They are afraid that the hotels are going to be controlled by Islamists,” he said, adding that hotels in the south were empty even though it was the tourism season in the Sahara.

A foreign businessman operating in Libya said the country’s new leaders would face a tricky task satisfying popular desire for economic change while accommodating the business community. But so far, the signs are that the region’s Islamist parties are aware of the dangers and determined to avoid them. Knowing they need economic growth to cut unemployment and pay for social spending, they are working to reassure the private sector-and in many cases espousing policies that are as promarket as those of their secular rivals.

Ennahda, for example, says it wants to improve Tunisia’s infrastructure to attract foreign investment, and work towards a regional common market. Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD), which looks likely to win the most seats in Friday’s polls and may govern in a coalition, aims to streamline rules and involve the private sector more in development projects. “If you look at the parties in North Africa, none of them are against the free market, private property or private business,” said Florence Eid, chief executive of research and advisory firm Arabia Monitor.

“These are not parties which are going to devastate the economy.” —Reuters

SARAWAK: File photo shows a worker loading palm oil fruits onto a lorry at a plantation in Bintulu Sarawak. Palm oil is a key ingredient in the soap we use and everyday foods ranging from peanut butter to sweets but its cultivation is one of the biggest threats to the world’s dwindling rainforests.— AFP

WASHINGTON: After President Barack Obama’s commitment this month to a transpacific free trade agreement, business leaders in Europe and United States are asking for a similar initiative across the North Atlantic to spur economic growth and create jobs. The private sector Transatlantic Business Dialogue wants Obama and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to agree when the two leaders meet on Monday to explore the idea of negotiating a “TransAtlantic Economic and Trade Pact.”

The advisory group includes US corporate giants General Electric, Coca-Cola and Microsoft as well as European heavyweights Airbus, Siemens and ThyssenKrupp. The business leaders also called on Obama and Barroso to tackle the “transatlantic debt crisis” with a plan to bring debts and deficits back to sustainable levels and to take a number of steps to promote innovation and green growth. “Even though the president had a very successful trip to Asia and many of our member companies of course are invested in Asia ... the transatlantic relationship is where the money is,” Kathryn Hauser, the group’s US executive director for business organization, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Obama and leaders of eight other Asia Pacific economies announced this month in Honolulu they had agreed on the “broad outlines” of a deal to cut tariffs and other trade barriers and were committed to reaching a comprehensive final agreement. Japan, Mexico and Canada also expressed interest in joining the talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, which now include the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Peru and Chile. Obama then traveled to the East Asia Summit in Indonesia, where he underscored that the United States sees its future prosperity tied to the fast-growing Asia Pacific region.

Still, the 27-nation European Union remains the United States’ largest trade and investment partner. Together, they account for about half of world economic output and nearly one-third of world trade. Two-way trade is about $3.6 billion a day and transatlantic investment supports an

estimated 7.1 million jobs, according to the US Trade Representative’s Office website. Claude Barfield, a resident trade scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said Obama was unlikely to start trade talks with the EU without first consulting with Congress.

Also, negotiating a US-EU free trade pact “would not be a walk in the park” because of big differences in the way the two sides approach regulation, he said. In addition, both Obama and Barroso have to consider that launching bilateral talks might kill off the beleaguered Doha round of world trade talks, soon to enter its eleventh year without any successful conclusion in sight.

An announcement the United States and the EU are starting talks on a bilateral pact could be

LOS ANGELES: An anti-Wall Street demonstrator shouts slogans in front of the Federal Reserve Bank following a march through downtown Los Angeles on November 22, 2011. Demonstrations and protest in southern California from the growing nationwide movement have so far remained generally nonviolent. — AFP

Italians want to cut debt but ‘without sacrifices’ ROME: Few Italians are willing to make personal sacrifices - like retiring at age 67 instead of 65, or even earlier - though they believe cutting the country’s public debt is a top priority, according to an AP-GfK poll released Tuesday. And most Italians think the country should stay in the 17-nation eurozone even though the European Union is demanding such tough economic reforms. A full 93 percent of Italians said reducing the public debt was either an “extremely” or “very important” goal for the government to tackle. Only 2 percent said it was “not too important” or “not at all important.”

Yet, only about a quarter of Italians favor reforming labor laws to make it easier to fire workers, or raising the retirement age - considered critical to curb Italy’s public spending and boost economic growth. Italy has been engulfed in financial turmoil for weeks as markets woke up to the enormous size of its debt - ?1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), a eurozone high at 120 percent of gross domestic product. The market turmoil and a loss of confidence in Italy’s ability to repay its debt forced Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign Nov 12, ending his 17-year domination of Italian politics.

The AP-GfK poll was conducted last week during the first days of economist Mario Monti’s new government, made up of bankers, academics and corporate executives instead of politicians. Monti is under enormous pressure to quickly rein in the debt and get the economy growing again. Italy’s economy is hampered by high labor costs, low productivity, fat government payrolls, excessive taxes, choking bureaucracy and low numbers of college graduates. Yet as the third-largest economy in the eurozone, Italy is too big for Europe to bail out like it did

seen by other World Trade Organization members as evidence that Washington and Brussels “have given up” on the Doha round, Barfield said.

In fact, the Transatlantic Business Dialogue in a separate letter to White House international economic affairs adviser Michael Froman and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht - pointed to the “fading” prospects for the Doha round as the reason for the United States and the EU should consider bilateral trade talks. “The time is right to do something and do something that addresses the challenges our companies are facing today,” not when the rules-based world trading system got its start in 1948 or was last modified in 1995, Hauser said. — Reuters

Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

Monti got high marks from the Italians surveyed, with 67 percent saying they viewed him favorably. Only 10 percent had a negative view and 16 percent were neutral. “Let’s say there’s hope,” said Fortunato Porcheddu, 63, as he strolled Tuesday with a friend through a piazza in Rome. “If I close my eyes and look back over the past 15 years and everything that has happened, I cringe.” Monti has pledged to reform Italy’s pension system, reimpose a property tax annulled by Berlusconi’s government, fight tax evasion, streamline civil court proceedings, get more women and young people into the work force and cut political costs.

But, critically, only 32 percent of Italians surveyed are strongly confident that his technocratic government can fix the country’s economic ills. Forty-two percent say they’re “moderately confident” and 22 percent say they have little or no confidence he can turn Italy’s finances around. While there is some hopefulness about the future of the economy - 55 percent anticipate a better situation five years from now - the longer-term picture is gloomier. Only 35 percent of Italians think people will be better off in 20 years than they are today, while 43 percent anticipate a harder life for the next generation.

“Our generation always looked forward with the possibility of improvement,” said Alfonso Marozzi, 72. “Now, young people are resigned to wonder if they’ll be able to hold onto what their parents were able to build.

There’s a lack of hope in the future.” The survey found that Italians are especially concerned about corruption: 87 percent called it an “extremely” or “very serious” problem.

Unemployment, the debt and organized crime followed. —AP

Oman 2012 draft budget foresees $3.1 billion gap MUSCAT: Oman set its 2012 draft budget with a deficit of 1.2 billion rials ($3.1 billion) and spending should rise 10 percent from an increased 2011 plan after the government boosted the budget to create thousands of new jobs, a finance ministry official said yesterday. The budget draft, which still needs to be approved by the consultative Shura Council and signed by the sultan, put 2012 expenditures at 10 billion rials and revenue at 8.8 billion.

That would put the 2012 budget shortfall at 5.4 percent of the sultanate’s gross domestic product, according to Reuters calculations. A Reuters poll in September forecast a fiscal surplus of 4.0 percent in 2012 and 5.0 percent in 2011 due to robust oil prices. “We set aside more expenditure for 2012 to create more jobs since we expect thousands of graduates to leave higher education next year, which results in a higher deficit,” the official at the ministry’s budget office, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

The small non-OPEC oil producer has originally planned to spend 8.1 billion rials in 2011. But protesters demanding jobs and an end to graft prompted Sultan Qaboos bin Said, a US ally who has ruled Oman for 40 years, to promise a $2.6 billion spending package in April.

As a result, this year’s fiscal spending was expected to reach about 9.1 billion rials, Finance Minister Darwish AlBalushi said in October. The Shura Council is expected to discuss the 2012 budget draft later yesterday.

The new budget is based on an average oil price of $75 per barrel, well above $58 penciled in for 2011, and on an expected daily oil production of 920,000 barrels, the official said. “We will cover the deficit from our foreign reserves if the price of oil does not average $88 per barrel,” he said. Oman sold its oil at an average price of $102 a barrel in January-August 2011, and the average production reached 883,000 barrels a day. Oman, whose debt to GDP is forecast by the IMF to be the lowest in the Gulf at 4.0 percent this year, plans to issue development bonds worth around 150 million rials before the end of 2011. —Reuters

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TECHNOLOGY

Text-message bullying becoming more common CALIFORNIA: A growing number of US children say they have been picked on via text messaging, including having rumors spread about them or been threatened, a study said. Of more than 1,500 middle school and high school students surveyed in 2008, 24 percent said they had ever been “harassed” by texting-up from 14 percent in a survey of the same students the year before, according to findings published in Pediatrics this

week. “Harassment” meant that peers had spread rumors about them, made “rude or mean comments,” or threatened them. Outright bullying, which was defined as being repeatedly picked on, rose to 8 percent of students surveyed from just over 6 percent the year before.

Researchers, led by Michele Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids Inc in San Clemente, California, told Reuters Health that the findings suggest that

attention needs to be paid to children’s text-messaging, but that parents need not be alarmed. “This is not a reason to become distressed or take kids’ cellphones away. The majority of kids seem to be navigating these new technologies pretty healthfully,” she said.

The study included 1,588 10- to 15-year-olds who were surveyed online for the first time in 2006. The survey was repeated in 2007 and

2008, with about three-quarters of the original group taking part in all three. It did not say why the results of the survey completed in 2008 were released now.

When came down to Internetbased harassment, as opposed to texting, there was little change over time.

By 2008, 39 percent of students said they’d ever been harassed online, with most saying it had happened “a few times.” Fewer than 15 percent said

they’d ever been cyber-bullied.

Even when students were picked on, most seemed to take it in their stride, which researchers said was a good sign. Of those who said they’d been harassed online, 20 percent reported being “very or extremely upset” by the most serious incident, down a bit from 25 percent in 2006.

Ybarra and other experts said that the main message for parents was to try to help their children manage

their relationships in a healthy way, since the issue was fundamentally a relationship problem.

Cyber-bullying still remained a smaller problem than the old fashioned kind, they said. “Meanness and bullying are still much more likely to occur face-to-face,” David Finkelhor, who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham said. —Reuters

Tech leaders ponder future of mobiles Kinect technology could be the next big change

ESPOO: A photo taken on August 17, 2010 shows the Nokia Siemens Networks headquarters in Espoo, Finland. The Telecommunications services company announced on November 23, 2011 that it is planning to cut down 17000 jobs by the end of 2013. —AFP

Chase rolls out card with chip technology NEW YORK: Chase is rolling out a credit card embedded with a “smart” chip technology that reduces fraud and is widely used outside the United States.

The British Airways co-branded card, available, is intended to appeal to frequent travelers who may experience hiccups with US credit cards overseas.

The US is the only developed country still primarily using credit and debit cards with magnetic strips that are swiped at the register. The rest of the industrialized world has already switched, or is transitioning, to the chip-based cards.

Chip-based cards aren’t swiped like most US cards. Instead, users insert the cards into a slot then punch in a PIN number to finalize a transac tion.

Although card terminals overseas also have a slot where magnetic strip cards can be swiped, cashiers in less-traveled areas are sometimes confused by how to process such transactions.

In other circumstances, such as train ticket kiosks, credit cards with magnetic strips can’t be read. Naney Pandit, general manager of Chase’s card services, said not having a chip-based card was becoming a hassle for customers in recent years, as Europe and Asia adopt cards with the chip technology. “ What used to be a trick le a few years ago has become a frequent point of irritation,” she said. Chip technology remains a rarity in the US Magnetic strip technology is so entrenched that the

transition to chip-based cards poses logistic difficulties. Stores have little reason to install terminals for smart cards because banks didn’t issue them.

Banks don’t issue them because stores wouldn’t accept them.

But increasing concerns over fraud could mean chip-based cards soon become more common. Visa this year announced new policies that will give US banks, payment processors and stores incentives to adopt the smart cards, star ting in 2015. Visa’s move comes as industry experts are warning that US merchants may become targets for fraudsters from countries where payment systems have tighter security.

US banks have recently started offering the cards on a limited basis to highend clients. The British Airways card by JP Morgan Chase & Co., for example, has a $95 annual fee. Earlier this year, Chase introduced two other cards with chip technology. The J.P. Morgan Select card has a $95 annual fee after the first year and the Palladium card has a $595 annual fee.

Other banks began experimenting with the newer technology this summer.

US Bank gave 20,000 of its travel rewards customers cards with the chip.

Wells Fargo & Co. started testing the chip technology with 15,000 customers.

The company says the response has been overwhelming, and it plans to roll out the chip-based cards more widely. —AP

LivingSocial goes national with Black Friday deals NEW YORK: Here’s one way to avoid getting trampled by bargain-hunting hordes knocking down store doors on Black Friday: Online deals service LivingSocial is unveiling a slew of bargains for the holidays that are just a couple of mouse clicks away.

LivingSocial is announcing Monday that it will offer discounts from national businesses such as Verizon Wireless, Electronic Arts Inc. and the sneaker brand Sketchers USA Inc., a contrast to the local deals for spas, restaurants and weekend escapes that it’s known for.

Such offers will give national brands access to social media-savvy customers who might not otherwise think to visit their stores. It’s also good, cheap marketing, as the deals are often widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.

LivingSocial, meanwhile, gets to sign up new subscribers and take a cut from the money they spend on the coupons. It also gets to participate in a day-after-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza that’s normally reserved for brick-and-mortar retail stores.

One set of deals, available for three days starting on Black Friday, includes $5 for magazine subscriptions that normally cost $12. Customers won’t be able to redeem those coupons until Monday, so stores already offering monster sales on Black Friday won’t have to cut their profit margins even

thinner.

On Cyber Monday, the online shopping day that follows Thanksgiving weekend, LivingSocial will unveil another set of deals. Nearly all of the discounts are 50 percent off - such as paying $40 to be able to spend $80 at wine retailer Wine.com. These coupons will go on sale Monday, Nov. 28, and can be redeemed starting the next day.

OfficeMax Inc. isn’t known for attracting big holiday crowds, but Chris Duncan, a vice president of direct and loyalty marketing, said the company decided to offer a LivingSocial deal to reach new customers looking for ereaders, tablets and other gadgets.

Mitch Spolan, senior vice president of national sales at LivingSocial, said the service isn’t changing its local-business focus, but gets the opportunity to offer something special nationally from time to time. LivingSocial, which is based in Washington, D.C., has more than 46 million subscribers, who typically get deals through emails and other alerts sent at least daily.

LivingSocial’s larger competitor, Chicago-based Groupon Inc., is not doing Black Friday promotions this year.

Instead, it’s promoting discounts on big, expensive experiences dubbed “once in a lifetime,” such as $5,000 for a threeday trip to studio tours and tapings of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. —AP

ASPEN: The pace of innovation and change in mobile devices is so dizzying it is difficult to predict the winning platforms and products of the next few years.

With that caveat, a panel of technology executives and experts nevertheless took out their crystal balls on Wednesday at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in this Colorado resort to take a glimpse into the mobile future.

Before an audience of movers and shakers from Silicon Valley and elsewhere, they looked at trends among smartphones and the fastgrowing market for tablet computers pioneered by Apple’s iPad. “I’d say that whatever we can imagine in this room right now will be possible in five years,” said George Colony, founder and chief executive of technology and market research company Forrester.

“Everyone will have smartphones within four years, all over the world, it’ll be so cheap,” Colony said. “By 2014 we believe that onethird of Americans will own a tablet.”

Frank Meehan, founder of handset maker INQ Mobile, repeatedly brought up the futuristic Steven Spielberg film “Minority Report” to describe the possibilities on the horizon for mobile devices.

In the 2002 film, star Tom Cruise notably moves pictures, documents and video around on an interactive screen at lightning speed using just hand motions.

Colony traced the evolution of the user interface for mobile devices to the current touchscreen technology popularized by the iPhone and iPad and pondered what might come next. “Microsoft could take the Kinect technology and that could be the next big change,” he said of the motion-sensing XBox 360 game controller from the US software giant.

“If you look back at over 30 years of tech, all of the big changes have come through changes in user inter face,” Colony said.

“Always look to user interface if you want to understand where the thunderstorm will be.”

Stephen Hoover, chief executive of PARC, Xerox’s legendary research and development unit, said next-generation mobile capability will involve the seamless “integration of the physical and digital worlds.”

Mobile devices will be able to provide “the information that’s most relevant to me now, physically where I am, and in the context of what I’m trying to do,” Hoover said.

New York Times when I’m at Starbucks.” The US coffee chain is already allowing patrons in the United States to pay for their lattes with mobile phones, and the Fortune Brainstorm panelists said they expect huge growth over the coming years in mobile payments.

“I actually wonder if the lead in mobile isn’t going to come from Asia,” said Meehan. “In China, in India, in Indonesia the mobile opera-

Latest touch screen mobiles “We’re at the cusp of really being able to integrate all of these different sources of data and understand people’s intention in context and give them the information that’s useful at the time they need it,” he said.

Todd Bradley, executive vice president of US computer giant Hewlett-Packard, agreed and said mobile devices will possess an ability to deliver what he called a “ubiquitous experience.”

He spoke of “the ubiquity of a device that knows I’m at Starbucks and that I read The

tor is your source of cash.”

Hoover said the increasingly powerful cameras built into mobile phones and tablets will provide all sorts of other opportunities.

“You look at the quality of the cameras today in the device and the power that they have and there’s a lot of things you can do with scene recognition,” he said.

“I hold up a camera to the sign of the restaurant and get recommendations,” Hoover said. “We have that technology today, it’s about putting it together.” —AFP

COMPUTER NEWS Apple on track SAN FRANCISCO: Apple was once an afterthought among the world’s largest makers of personal computers, attractive only to graphic designers, wealthy students and trendy wannabe artists. But thanks to the amazing success of the iPad and a resurgence in interest in its Macbook, the company could oust Hewlett Packard as the world’s biggest personal computer maker in 2012, according to a report Tuesday by research firm Canalys. IPad sales have expanded Apple’s share of the world’s PC market from 9 per cent to 15 per cent in the past year, and an expected sales boost coming from the release of a new iPad next year could help it leapfrog HP’s 18 per cent market share. “Pads, and particularly the iPad, have radically changed the dynamics of the PC industry over the last year, already propelling Apple into second place in the worldwide PC market” as of the most recent quarter, wrote Canalys analyst Tim Coulling. “HP and Apple will fight for top position in Q4, but Apple may have to wait for the release of iPad 3 before it passes HP.” Asustek enters race Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc, known foremost for making laptops, said Wednesday that it had branched out into cloud computing services as it seeks to keep up in a highly competitive technology market. The world’s fifth-largest personal-computer maker said it focussed on security as it unveiled its Asus Private Cloud package of motherboards, servers and software.

Company officials said it would let institutions share confidential information among staff members without the risk of security breaches that might occur in public clouds. “We found that a lot of businesses were afraid of the security problem,” vice president Jonathan Tseng said, adding that the private cloud system could be accessed on devices ranging from desktop computers to mobile phones. Taipei-based Asustek’s private cloud is now available in Taiwan only, but the company plans a push in China and Hong Kong from next year. The term private cloud generally refers to computing and data storage united on the internet for a limited number of people, such as a group of employees, who use the services from behind a firewall.

Google offers tips Google is starting an information campaign for more security on the web. The initiative,

under the name “Good to Know,” is designed to help users properly manage their information and what they share with websites. There are tips and explanations about the web under the site www.google.com/goodtoknow.

One tip is on using your own complicated password for each account - and how you can remember it even though it looks like nonsense at a first glance. The service describes how cookies work in recognizing that a user has previously visited a website. There is also information about how Google uses your data.

High-definition music MP3s are widespread, but it is not the best audio format because of the loss caused by compression. Albums nowadays are also being offered to music lovers in lossless formats such as FLAC, AIFF or WMA Lossless, which provide studio quality sound. But the better quality of the high-definition music cannot really be heard without a high-quality system and very good speakers, according to the IT industry association Bitkom. Good cabling is important as loose contacts and inferior cables could compromise sound quality. Albums in lossless audio formats provide a quality comparable to sound studios, meaning up to 24 bit resolution and a so-called sampling frequency of 192 kilohertz (kHz). A compact disc meanwhile has only 16 bit resolution and a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz. The kHz stands for up to which level tones can be played back, while the bit rate measures how many times the sound is digitally compressed. The higher the rate, the more original and less distorted the sound quality is. The biggest offering of high-definition music is currently available in the classical music sector.

Apple’s iCloud compatible Apple’s new iCloud synchronizes data with Mac laptops, iPhones and iPads through an internet server. But Windows users can also calibrate their contacts, calendar and email between their PC and an Apple mobile device.

Apple has instituted an iCloud Control Panel, which can be installed under Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 and makes possible the mobile use of data with Outlook 2007 and 2010. The settings for the synchronization can be set in the Windows system control. The iCloud Control Panel also shows how much memory is available in the free 5 GB account.

App lets you ‘see’ products in home before buying SAN FRANCISCO: If you’ve ever wanted to see how a new lamp or sofa would look in your living room without having to actually lug it home, a new iPad shopping app could help. Shopping search engine TheFind has rolled out an updated version of its free Catalogue app for Apple Inc.’s iPad with a new feature called “camera view.” The feature shows an image of furniture or a home accessor y from one of the app’s catalogs on the iPad’s screen while the tablet’s camera is on. This lets you get an idea of how, say, a chest of drawers would appear against the backdrop of a real room in your home when peering through the iPad’s screen.

With TheFind’s app, camera-view users can adjust its size or placement to make it fit in better with the background, and take a photo of the juxtaposition to send to others. Initially, only a handful of the app’s over 170 catalogs have products available that work with the feature, including furniture and housewares retailer Crate & Barrel. TheFind plans to bring in more items from more catalogs over time.

The sort of “augmented reality” has popped up on a number of apps and video games over the past several years. It often involves using a mobile device’s camera, GPS and compass along with its access to a high-speed data network to connect online content to the real world.

Online review site Yelp, for example, offers mobile apps that include a feature called “monocle” that allows you to hold up your smartphone or tablet and see information and ratings for nearby businesses.

Eventually, the feature could work with other types of products such as clothing, enabling a user to “try on” clothes by having a friend hold up a camera-equipped iPad that has a pair of jeans on its screen, adjust the size of the pants and snap a photo. —AP

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

Starting at the bottom - Africa needs better toilets MONROVIA: Colourful billboards lining the roads outside Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown tell villagers: “Stop Running Stomach,” (using the local term for diarrhea.) “Use pit latrines.”

In Sierra Leone and other hot, humid countries of West Africa, toilet-building initiatives are sometimes met with indifference.

“At first I didn’t see why we needed them,” said 55-year-old Alfred Koroma, who is the chief of a village outside the capital. “There is lots of land around the village and we have trees and a small stream.” But word of the success of a latrinebuilding project in the next village reached him.

After speaking with a nurse there he was convinced that “there is a relationship between using latrines and a healthy stomach.”

Ahead of World Toilet Day, to be marked on Saturday, the organization Water Aid has warned in a new report that Africa risks seeing more children die each year from easily-transmitted diseases if governments do not invest in basic infrastructure.

“The lack of access to water and sanitation is the primary cause of diarrhea, which is biggest killer of children in Africa,” said John Garret at Water Aid. According to the new report Garret

Health

in brief

Rest before taking your blood pressure BERLIN: Anyone having to take their blood pressure at home themselves should rest for at least three minutes before taking a reading, and a morning reading should be taken before medication is taken. Norbert Smetak of the association of German cardiologists adds that when using devices attached to the wrist, it is important to raise the arm up to the level of the heart for a correct blood pressure reading to be taken. Smetak also advises always using the arm giving higher blood pressure readings. Another important factor is to ensure that the cuff fits properly and that it is adjusted to the width of the wrist or the upper arm, depending on how the reading is being taken. He acknowledges that the upper arm devices are less comfortable and more difficult to use than those made for the wrist, but notes that they provide a more accurate reading. Taking one’s own blood pressure is important for certain groups of patients, as a high morning reading could indicate an increased risk of damage to the heart, brain and kidneys. In these cases, medication often has to be adjusted.

helped author, the shortfall in water and sanitation services costs sub-Saharan African countries around 5 per cent of their GDP each year - which amounted to about 47.7 billion dollars in 2009.

This staggering sum is slightly higher than all foreign development aid dispersed annually in those countries. Building latrines also has a significant effect on West Africa’s schools.

“We had lots of girl children leaving school around the age of 12 or 13,” Joao Djalo, a headmaster in the town of Bafata, Guinea-Bissau, told dpa.

“Some of the girls were dropping out of school at the onset of menstruation,” he added.

“Building latrines has not been a perfect solution, but we think it has helped keep numbers up.” By keeping girls in school, African countries stand a better chance of ending the dire poverty often experienced in rural villages and overcrowded slums.

“During the industrial revolution there was substantial investment in water and sanitation in Britain and Western Europe,” Garret from Water Aid said in an interview. He noted that leaders at the time felt the need to tackle infectious diseases. Today’s newly emerging economies are

seeing things in the similar light and investing to fight the scourge of preventable illness, which is a drain on health care budgets.

“Asian economies, especially the Asian tigers, have to a large extent solved their water and sanitation issue and the health impact is substantial.

And it helps their economic progress,” he said. In South Africa, the continent’s wealthiest country, toilets were a key factor in local elections this year, after it emerged that some municipalities had built communal toilets in townships without a shelter.

The often destitute residents of the slums carry around blankets so they can cover themselves while using the latrines. Many residents pledged to vote for the politicians likely to provide them with more dignified options.

Poorer African nations have even less to work with. In the slums outside of Nairobi, most people still use so-called “flying toilets,” which are not latrines at all. Instead, people defecate into plastic bags and then toss it far away from their homes. Quite often in the cramped slum the package lands in the street or in someone else’s shack. It is common to see the bags resting on rooftops.

Probe widens in Florida buttocks-enlargement case ‘Household, automotive products’ injected into ‘patient’ MIAMI: More alleged victims are coming forward in the case of a Florida resident accused of injecting “super glue” and flattire repair materials into the buttocks of a woman in a botched illegal cosmetic surgery procedure, the Florida Department of Health said on Tuesday.

Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested by Miami Gardens police on Friday in Fort Lauderdale and charged with causing bodily injury and practicing healthcare without a license. Police referred to Morris as a man though he had the appearance of a woman in the arrest photo released by police.

According to the charge, Morris, acting without a required medical practitioner’s

license and starting in May 2010, injected substances into the buttocks of a woman client to improve their “shape and cosmetic appearance.”

Morris was allegedly paid $700 for this.

“Initial laboratory analysis conducted by medical personnel determined the foreign substances injected into the victim consisted of a host of household and automotive products including superglue, mineral oil and “Fix-a-Flat” (a tire repair material),” Jennifer Hirst, deputy press secretary of Florida’s Department of Health, said in an email.

This treatment resulted in “life-threatening injuries” for the victim, who was not named, according to the accusation. “As a

No increase in cancer risk among patients on statins LONDON: Cholesterol-lowering drugs continue to produce benefits without any serious safety problems, such as increased cancer risk, even after more than a decade of use, researchers said yesterday.

The finding from a large British clinical study following patients for 11 years provides reassurance for people at risk of heart attacks who are typically prescribed such medicines indefinitely. So-called statin drugs are not without side effects. They can cause nausea, muscle pain, and occasional kidney and liver damage.

But long-term follow-up in the 20,000-patient Heart Protection Study (HPS) found no evidence that statins increased the risk of non-vascular mortality or made patients more likely to develop cancer. Richard Bulbulia of the University of Oxford’s Clinical Trial Service Unit, one of the leaders of the trial, said the persistence of the benefit and the long-term evidence of safety was “remarkable”.

Outside experts agreed it was reassuring. Some past studies have indicated a possible cancer risk with statins, although a major analysis by US researchers three years ago concluded there was no causal link. “Concerns should be put to rest, and doctors should feel reassured about the long-term safety of this life-saving treatment for patients at increased cardiovascular risk,” Payal Kohli and Christopher Cannon of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital wrote in a commentary in the Lancet medical journal, which published the results online.

The HPS study assessed the benefits of 40 milligrams daily of simvastatin, the active ingredient of Merck & Co’s now off-patent drug Zocor, or placebo. It found a 23 percent reduction in heart attack, stroke and vascular disease after five years in those on treatment-and the benefit persisted largely unchanged for a further six years when statin use, which was encouraged, was similar in both groups of patients.

Other popular statin medicines include Pfizer’s top-selling Lipitor, which is due to lose patent protection in the United States at the end of this month, and AstraZeneca’s Crestor.— Reuters

result of the national and international media attention that Morris’ arrest has already received, several other possible victims have come forward alleging Morris performed similar procedures on them that also resulted in life -threatening injuries,” the email said.

It gave no details of the additional victims. “A joint investigation between DOH and law enforcement continues; a d d i t i o n a l a r re s t s a re p o s s i b l e,” t h e Depar tment of Health ema il s a id.

Excerpts from the report of Morris’ Nov. 18 arrest cited by NBC Miami said that the woman who allegedly underwent the 2010 treatment by Morris began feeling sick within a few hours of the injec-

tions and became “very ill.”

“The injection sites were bleeding and puss was excreting,” said the report quoted by NBC. “The victim sustained extensive disfigurement to her buttocks and scarring, had to undergo several blood transfusions and multiple surgeries ... followed with home nursing care for several weeks,” it added.

In comments to NBC, Miami Gardens Police Captain Ralph Suarez said Morris had displayed “no regards for human life ... no regards for health.” “We would like to keep him inside,” Suarez added. After the arrest last week, Morris was transported to the Miami-Dade County Jail subject to a $15,500 bond. — Reuters

Too much or too little salt is bad

Persistent heartburn sufferers should see doc Occasional bouts of heartburn are no cause for alarm and the symptoms can be treated with over the counter antacid medication. But if the symptoms frequently repeat themselves or persist for more than two weeks without let-up, the patient should see a doctor for an examination, German gastro-intestinal specialists say. This is because they could result in inflammation or ulcers in the oesophagus. Another possible consequence is oesophageal cancer. Heartburn and the breaking of acid wind are among the most frequent symptoms of a range of digestive ailments that make themselves known through chronic diarrhoea, abdominal pain and flatulence.

Restlessness could indicate Alzheimer’s Incipient Alzheimer’s Disease sometimes shows itself through a behavioural change, including restlessness, nervousness, melancholy and irritability.

Previously mild-tempered individuals start to react suspiciously to others or with animosity, according to the German association of geriatric psychiatry and psychotherapy. These symptoms cannot always be distinguished from normal ageing characteristics. If friends and relatives observe indications of dementia of this kind, they should seek the advice of a psychiatrist. Early recognition of Alzheimer’s leads to more effective treatment.

When the bags break the contents are released to mix with the rain water on the mud alleys of slums like Kibera, the largest informal settlement in Africa. More than 800,000 people are packed onto the side of a hill outside Nairobi, with the population density of Kibera estimated to be 30 times that of Manhattan.

The few toilet blocks that do exist in Kibera are often owned by private people who charge a fee for their usage. And they can be dangerous places. “Many blocks are often closed by evening time as there are reports of muggings and rapes,” wrote academics in a paper this year published by the British Institution of Civil Engineers. The research also noted the hardships in accessing clean water in the slum.

On a side alley in Kibera, a young man named Frankie watched as a woman bent over to collect water slowly dripping from a black plastic tank that services several families. “It is really hard work,” the 21-year-old man says in sympathy.

The woman finally loaded the bucket onto her head and then, carefully not to trip in the muddy alleys, she walked towards her shack. Beneath her feet were dozens of slippery plastic bags, many of them “flying toilets.” — dpa

BEIJING: An elderly couple wears masks as protection against air pollution in Beijing yesterday. Several Chinese celebrities have recently joined an online campaign aimed at pressuring the government into improving the way it measures air pollution, as residents increasingly worry about their health. The campaign comes as locals in Beijing, one of the world’s most polluted cities have started to question a discrepancy between US embassy readings of air pollution in the capital and official data that is often milder.— AFP

Hold the pillow mint, send up the yoga mat NEW YORK: Room service? I’d like to order a treadmill. Hotel chains are delivering everything from yoga videos to recumbent bicycles to guests who prefer to work out their jet lag, or shape up for that business meeting, in the privacy of their rooms. “Probably fitness equipment is the biggest request we get from guests,” said Vivian A. Deuschl of the The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. “It’s the biggest preoccupation of business travelers besides getting their work done, so we try to make fitness available on any basis they ask for.” Inroom fitness options aren’t limited to Pilates DVDs and yoga mats, although both are in high demand at most of the company’s 78 hotels worldwide, according to Deuschl.

“We do folding treadmills and folding recumbent bikes,” she explained. “The only things we can’t bring to the rooms are heavy weights.” She said women business travelers are particularly keen on exercising their in-room options.

“Just as a lot of women don’t like to sit by themselves in a restaurant, a lot of them don’t want to work out in a room full of strangers,” she said. Celebrities also tend to prefer their rooms to fitness facilities open to a curious public. Gym shoes with hygienic, disposable insoles, gym clothes and 6 a.m. staff-led jogs are among the amenities considered standard at most luxury hotels, Deuschl said.

You can even request a personal trainer if you call ahead. The Kimpton chain of boutique hotels has provided guests inroom 24-hour yoga channel classes and a basket of yoga gear since 2003, according to president and COO Niki Leondakis.

Pilates and meditation classes followed.

Hula hoops and jump ropes can be had for the asking.

Leondakis believes the modern business traveler’s focus on wellness coincides with the ageing of the baby boomers.

“Twenty years ago it was wine, dine and work, not about maintaining a healthy lifestyle on the road,” she said. “People today are looking at work/life balance in a more integrated way.”

She said while yoga draws mainly women, both sexes are drawn to hotelsponsored group runs and bicycle rentals.

Hoyt Harper, of Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, spearheaded Sheraton Fitness, the chain’s $120 million initiative to expand both inroom and gym facilities, after a guest survey revealed increased demand.

“Sixty-two percent of our guests told us they were very interested in staying fit on the road,” Harper said. Sheraton’s workoutin-a-bag includes exercise cards, mats, and resistance bands. Harper said the foam rollers, which afford a mini-massage, are among the most popular items.

But he said most guests prefer to use Sheraton’s revamped fitness centers.

“Hotel facilities were small and cramped and they weren’t well stocked,” he said.

“Our facility is larger, brighter, fresher,” he said. Deuschl thinks the business traveler’s obsession with staying fit on the road reflects the travails of modern travel. “If you’re coming off an 18-hour trip to China, you feel the need to be pampered,” she said. “If you’re a frequent guest and you ask for a treadmill, after two or three times it will be in your room without having to ask.” — Reuters

CHICAGO: Taking a moderate amount of salt may be healthier than too little or too much, researchers reported on Tuesday in a study likely to fuel the debate over the health effects of salt in the diet. Doctors for years have warned that high salt intake increases the risk of high blood pressure and other heart problems, but recent studies have begun to debunk that notion.

Although lowering salt intake is known to reduce blood pressure, research has yet to show whether that translates into better overall heart health in the wider population. A large review of studies released earlier this month suggested cutting salt may not improve the health of the general population.

In the latest entr y in the debate, researchers at McMaster University in Canada found people who consumed a moderate amount of salt had the lowest risk of heart problems, while people who had high-salt diets had an increased risk of stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular events.

Those in the study with low-salt diets had a higher risk of death from heart disease and an increased risk of being hospitalized for heart failure, the team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Our findings highlight the importance of reducing salt intake in those consuming high-salt diets and the need for reducing sodium content in manufactured foods that are high in salt,” Dr. Salim Yusuf of McMaster, who helped lead the study, said in a statement.

“However, for those with moderate (or average) intake, whether further reduction of salt in the diet will be beneficial is an open question,” he said. The best way to settle that would be large clinical trials, the researchers said.

For the study, the team studied sodium and potassium levels found in a morning

sample of urine taken from nearly 30,000 people in two clinical trials. After about four years, some 16 percent of study participants had some kind of heart event. The team then looked for a correlation between salt intake and the risk of heart trouble.

As with prior studies, high salt intake consuming 7 to 8 grams of sodium a day was harmful to heart health. But low salt intake - consuming less than 3 grams of sodium a day - also carried risks of increased death from heart-related causes and hospitalization for heart failure.

The researchers said the findings could challenge US dietary guidelines, which recommend Americans consume less than 2.3 grams of sodium daily, or 1.5 grams for people who are more at risk of high blood pressure or heart disease. A teaspoon of salt, or roughly 5 grams, holds around 2.3 grams of sodium.

In a commentary in the same journal, Dr Paul Whelton of Tulane University in New Orleans says the study results should be read with caution, noting problems with the way the researchers estimated salt intake based on a single morning sample of urine. Whelton said the increased heart events in the study might be related to underlying disease. He also noted that there were far fewer heart problems at the low end of salt consumption compared with the high-intake group. Taken together, he said, the scientific argument for reducing the amount of salt in processed foods remains strong and that the “available evidence does not support deviating from the stated goal of reducing the exposure to dietary sodium in the general population.”

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one of the leading causes of strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases, which together are the biggest killers worldwide and claim more than 17 million lives a year. — Reuters

HONG KONG: Employees work at seafood and fruit stores in an outdoor wet market in Hong Kong yesterday. Wet markets, where Hong Kongers can find the freshest and cheapest selections for produce, seafood and meats, can be found in many of the city’s neighbourhoods. — AFP

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

he a lt h & s c ie n c e Coffee drinkers show lower uterine cancer risk BOSTON: Women who drink four or more cups of coffee a day may have a reduced risk of developing cancer in the lining of their uterus, according to a US study. Researchers who looked at more than 67,000 US nurses found that women who drank that much coffee were one-quarter less likely to develop endometrial cancer than women who averaged less than a cup a day, said the study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The absolute risk that any one woman, coffee drinker or not, would develop the cancer was fairly small, with only 672 women-or one percent of the study group-being diagnosed with it over 26 years.

While researchers could also not say for certain that coffee was the reason for the lower risk among those who drank a lot of coffee, the study adds to several others with similar results.

Coffee itself may have some benefits, said senior researcher Edward Giovannucci, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. “It can lower insulin levels and may lower levels of free estrogen circulating in the body,” he added.

Higher concentrations of insulin and higher lifetime exposure to estrogen have both been linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer. Researchers looked at a number of other factors, such as differences in women’s weight, since obesity is also linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer, but that did not account for the lower cancer risk seen among coffee drinkers.

Nor did differences in women’s childbirth history or hormone use, though birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy after menopause. Of course, downing four cups of coffee a day may not be a good idea, especially for someone sensitive to the effects of caffeine. The researchers found that while caffeinated coffee was tied to a lower cancer risk, there was no statistically significant link with decaf-though there was a “suggestive” trend in that direction.

In theory, adding sugar and cream to coffee could be bad for the waistline. With obesity also tied to a higher risk of the cancer, that could wipe out any potential benefit of coffee drinking. “It would be premature to make a recommendation that women drink coffee to lower their endometrial cancer risk,” Giovannucci said.

The bottom line, he said, is that people who are already enjoying their coffee can probably continue to do so - but the biggest preventative for the cancer is maintaining a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise. — Reuters

Science not politics must drive Durban climate talks World needs to prepare for more heatwaves and floods NEW DELHI: Global climate talks need to focus on the growing threat from extreme weather and shift away from political squabbles that hobble progress towards a tougher pact to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, the head of the UN climate panel said.

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries meet in Durban, South Africa, on Monday for two-week talks, with minimal expectations of major progress towards an agreement that will eventually bind all major economies to emissions caps.

Rajendra Pachauri warned the latest round of talks risked being bogged down by “short-term and narrow political considerations”. “It is absolutely essential that the negotiators get a continuous and repeated exposure to the science of climate change,” Pachauri told Reuters in an interview late yesterday.

“If we were to do that it will definitely have an impact on the quality and outcome of the negotiations, after all these are human beings, they have families, they are people also worried about what is going to happen to the next generations.”

Pachauri heads the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which issued a report for policymakers on Friday saying an increase in heat waves is almost certain, while heavier rain, more floods, stronger cyclones, landslides and more intense droughts are likely across the globe this century.

“I am afraid the way the whole thing is structured loses sight of these realities,” Pachauri said of the talks. The report comes after a year of costly weather disasters, from floods in Thailand to a string of multi-billion dollar disasters in the United States that have killed hundreds.

At best Durban is expected to result in modest steps towards a deal to lower emissions from factories, power stations and transport that scientists say are heating up the planet. The negotiations have become a battleground between rich and poor nations on the question of how much cuts in greenhouse gases each should take, with developing countries insisting they should be allowed to emit more to grow out of poverty.

“When you have 400 million people who have no access to electricity, can you in the 21st century deny them the very basis of what the rest of the world has been living on for the last 150 years?,” Pachauri said of India. Pachauri is an Indian scientist who was awarded

the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with former US Vice President Al Gore. He has since become a target for climate change sceptics who question the panel’s data.

The IPCC issues major reports every 5 to 6 years for policymakers that involves the work of thousands of scientists. The next major report will be released in 2013-14.

Talking in his cluttered Delhi office, Pachauri said climate change was already triggering more extreme weather and the world needed to prepare for more to come. The IPCC report gave differing probabilities for weather events based on greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. He said the conclusions were clear.

“Two things come out very clearly from this, the link between climate change and heatwaves and the link between climate change and extreme precipitation and sea level rises, Pachauri said.

“Given the fact that you are not going to bring about a turn-around immediately, then you really have to adapt to them in the short run.” Limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius-a threshold scientists say risks dan-

gerous climate change-will be difficult but not impossible, Pachauri, 71, said.

Global carbon emissions rose by a record amount last year, rebounding on the heels of recession. The United Nations, the International Energy Agency and others say global pledges to curb emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are not enough to prevent the planet heating up beyond 2 degrees.

“If we want to do that on a low-cost trajectory, then we will have to ensure that CO2 emissions peak no later than 2015, and that’s just 4 years away. In other words, beyond 2015 they will have to start declining.” However, he was hopeful action at a national and grassroots level would kick in as people came face to face with the consequences of climate change.

“Irrespective of any treaty, if human society understands that something will have to be done, action will take place anyway.” He praised South Korea and some European nations for green economy plans and said he believed China’s leadership was changing its thinking about its growth model. — Reuters

Earthly cash crunch stops US search for alien life SAN FRANCISCO: Aliens can wait. The chief astronomer at the SETI institute revealed Tuesday that the sophisticated telescopic array that trawls the universe looking for electromagnetic transmissions from other planets has been forced to shut down due to lack of funding.

Seth Shostak said that the Allen Telescope Array powered down on April 15 after the University of California, Berkeley ran out of the funds needed to operate the sophisticated receivers.

The array at SETI, which stands for the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, began working in 2007 after Microsoft co- founder Paul Allen provided 50 million dollars to construct the more than 40 radio dishes that scan distant planets for signs of life.

Though Allen paid for the observatory, the university is meant to pick up the annual operating expenses of

around 3 million dollars but has been hit by the budget problems of the state of California and the National Science Foundation. According to a letter sent to donors

by SETI CEO Tom Pierson, the institute is trying to come up with alternative efforts to raise funding including potential work for the US Air Force such as tracking space debris. Shostak said the funding cut came just as SETI’s Allen Telescope Array some 500 kilometres north of San Francisco was honing in on over 1,000 planets identified

by NASA’s Kepler satellite. “If this experiment is going to work, it’s going to work in a few dozen years, simply on the basis of the rapid improvement of the technology,” Shostak said. “If we were to find a signal showing there was intelligent life, that would be an extraordinarily interesting thing. Not only for us but for every generation that follows us.” — dpa

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

W H AT ’ S O N Greetings

Belated birthday wishes to Yousuf Foysul.

Best wishes come from your dad Foysul, mum and all relatives and friends.

Dr Naif Al-Mutawa during his interactive session with students at Kuwait Bilingual School, Jahra.

Dr Naif Al-Mutawa interacts with Jahra school students The 99 values and beyond

By Sunil Cherian

“A Wishing Mohd Abdul Rahman Khan on his second birthday. Best wishes from father Mohd Abbas Khan, mother, brother Mohd Nabeel Khan, Mohd Numain Khan.

re you in the film?” came a question by one of the excited student audience at Kuwait Bilingual School, Jahra to the creator of the 99 comics after the 5th and 6th graders were shown an episode of the animated 99 at the school, Tuesday. “No”, said Dr Naif Al-Mutawa, the creator of the 99 and a fast but lively speaker. No, Dr Naif, who likes to put his characters before him, will not detail his resemblance with Ramzi, the psychologist character in the series. (Both Dr Naif and Ramzi have a French goatee and are psychologists). Nor there was any time left in the 1-hour session he

had with the exhilarated students. The session had Dr Naif talking about the now famous comic series (there is a free app on the 99), a video presentation of one of the 26 episodes, and a flooded question-answer time.

“Why did you name the comic series 99, why not 100” was another question raised by a 5th grader. The 99 attributes of Allah - mercy, wisdom, tolerance and the like - straight went into their head and heart - after Dr Naif briefed about the context in which the comic series were created. The political correctness of human values was felt among the young audience. There were moments of awe across the school multipurpose room when Dr Naif said, “The script is

done in New York, pencilling in the UK, the inking in Ohio, colouring in Los Angeles and lettering and editing back in NY”. The wonder zoomed in when they were told that the 99 characters are from different backgrounds - from Kuwait, US, Pakistan, China and to the Philippines and that the comic books are published in Arabic, English, and Chinese to Turkish and Indonesian languages. There were moments of relief when the students learned that the evil shall perish and the good will triumph.

And the ‘hiyyah!’ moment of the day: Come this Februay, Kuwait Cinema will run the 99 animation across the country.

Drawing attention from super heroes to real heroes to prophets, the young

learners were led to the realization that knowledge is power and it is beyond muscles. Even Jabbar, the strongest character in the series is no exception.

In the series, the 99 characters get their power from knowledge-bearing 99 gemstones, spread around the world.

The ideas for the series, universal in nature, are given flesh and blood by characters that are global but culturally distinct. Dr Naif, who lives in Surra and New York first conceived the idea of the 99 in a London cab. Global enough?

Well, despite the comic’s growing universal appeal, the inner child in Dr Naif would be happier when the attributes grow beyond the books and the movies.

Happy birthday to Sthivika, best wishes from Shiva.

Upcoming events Rak dance academy new year hangama-2012 The RAK Dance Academy (RDA) Kuwait, is planning to put a charity event as celebration of its New Year Hangama 2012, on 31st December, 2011, from 6.00pm onwards, at Carmel School Khaitan. All participants are well known artists from Kuwait. The main purpose of this celebration is to collect donations and raise money for supporting handicapped children in India. Advertisement will be published throughout Kuwait absolutely free of charge. We are expecting huge crowd for this event. The fund raised will be beneficial handicapped children. In order to make this event joyous and successful we are seeking kind contributions from you.

Your attendance is your donation. Please join for an evening for a good cause. Darla Srinivasulu Achari, 99 692266; Mob: 65728740 K. Eswar Babu, Phone 99692266, Lashmeesha 65925730 Email: rakdanceacademy@gmail.com

GUST releases ‘Excelsior 2011’

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xcelsior 2011, a GUST (Gulf University for Science and Technology) annual publication was recently released in the A. M. AlRefai Library. The event was organized by the Library in coordination with the Excelsior Committee. Present for the event were Dr. Robert Cook, the Vice President for Academic Affairs the Deans, a few faculty members, staff, and students of GUST. Dr Cook spoke for a few minutes during which he highlighted the fact that Excelsior 2011, Volume 5 is dedicated in loving memory of Dr. Edward Coyle, who was an Assistant Professor of English at GUST and the Editor in Chief for the Excelsior magazine. He also thanked the contributors for their excellent work, without which the

Aware Center Arabic lessons The AWARE Management is glad to inform you that Winter 1 Arabic language courses will begin on November 20th, 2011 until January 12th, 2012. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed and courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers & those working in the private business sector. Arabic classes at the AWARE Center are unique because students are provided with the chance to practice their Arabic through various social activities that aim at bringing Arabs and Westerners together.

AWARE Arabic courses highlight: l Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics l Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic l Combine language learning with cultural insights l Taught in multi-nationality group settings l Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

For more information or registration, call 25335260/80 ext 105/104/0 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.

Excelsior would never exist. He specially thanked, Shobhita Kohli the chairperson of the Excelsior Committee, and all the other members: Kameleddine Benameur Janet Testerman, Amani Gaber, Claude Marcos, and Carl Nestor.

Dr. Cook appreciated the efforts of the Committee members in producing this excellent publication which, in his opinion, is the best volume in this series both in content and layout.The speech was followed by the ribbon cutting ceremony that was conducted by Dr. Cook.

Excelsior is released annually and is a clear demonstration of the creativity and talent that GUST students, faculty, and staff possess. The release of Excelsior 2012, Volume 6 is anticipated around the same time next year.

BLS Winter Bazaar The BLS Winder Bazaar will be held on Saturday the 26th of November, from 10am to 4pm. The official opening will be at 1.30pm. Bigger and better than ever before, it will include over 80 tables of delightful gifts, unusual ideas and handmade items. It will be held in the Marble Arch area in the British School Kuwait campus, Salwa, Block 1, Street 1.

Entry for visitors is free of charge!

‘KAVIYARANGAM (Poets Meet)’ We are glad to inform that “Valaikuda Vanambadi Poets Association”, Kuwait celebrates every year a grand “KAVIYARANGAM (Poets Meet)” with our NRI Tamil Poets along with Famous Tamil Poets from Tamil Nadu.

This year we are planning to conduct the Kaviyarangam today, 24th Nov 2011 at American International SchooL auditorium which is in Maidan Hawally at 5:00 pm. The Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, His Excellency H.E Satish C. Mehta will be presiding over the function. We have invited Col. Dr. G. Thiruvasagam, Honorable Vice Chancellor, University of Madras and the Famous Tamil Cinema Poet & Lyricist Kalaimamani Kabilan, who has written more than 1500 cine songs and the popular Folk song singers Kalaimamani Selvi Ayyappan and Ayyappan who had performed on more than 1000 stages from India as chief guests, to entertain the Kuwait living NRIs with their tremendous performance and speech. As an additional entertainment, Classical dance will be performed by “Sangamam” dance group and karaoke songs by Valaikuda Vanambadi s singers.

Indian lawyers’ forum celebrates Onam, Eid

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he Indian Lawyers’ Forum, the association of Indian Lawyers and Law Graduates in Kuwait, celebrated ONAM 2011 at the Indian Central School in Abbassiya by holding an Onam-eid family get-together. The function was presided over by President Advocate, Palavilayil Thomas Panicker.

Ambassador of India to Kuwait, Satish C Mehta, was the chief guest at the function. The function was inaugurated by

lighting the traditional lamp by the ambassador. He gave his Onam-Eid messages and expressed appreciation for the activities of the forum.

Long services to the Forum, by Adv Thomas Panicker, Adv Rajesh Sagar, Adv John Thomas, and Adv Aravindhakshan were recognized by the forum and they were honored ceremoniously by adorning ponnada by the ambassador.

Panicker greeted the attendees and

thanked them for the large turnout. He said that ILF has been imparting muchneeded legal information to the needy Indians in Kuwait and conducts various legal seminars enabling members to update their legal knowledge. Several ILF members have more than 15 years of Court practice experience in India and many of the members are working with local law firms in Kuwait as professional legal consultants.

New members Adv Vinod Kumar, Adv Mohammed Basheer, Adv Jaseena Basheer, Adv Saji Joseph, Adv Mohan Kumar and Adv Tasneem Ansari were introduced to the forum by Adv Thomas Panicker. Adv Suresh Pulikkal proposed a vote of thanks for the work of the forum and added that it is effectively functioning and helping the Indian community with their legal needs.

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

W H AT ’ S O N

Children of the Al-Malik family share a photo with HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the groom Sheikh Sabah Nayef Al-Malik Al-Sabah and his father Sheikh Nayef Ahmad Al-Malik Al-Sabah.

HH the Amir and HH the Crown Prince with Sheikh Nayef Ahmad Al-Malik Al-Sabah, Sheikh Sabah Nayef Al-Malik Al-Sabah and Sheikh Faisal Al-Khalifa Al-Malik Al-Sabah.

Sheikh Nayef Ahmad Al-Malik Al-Sabah hosts son’s wedding S

HH the Amir is seen on the groom’s right before the wedding certificate’s signing.

heikh Nayef Ahmad AlMalik Al-Sabah hosted the wedding of his son, Sabah Nayef Al-Malik Al-Sabah, to daughter of Sheikh Faisal Khalifa Al-Malik Al-Sabah, on Sunday night at his house in Al-Surra.

The event was attended by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Sabah, and other ruling family members.

Ministers, diplomats and other dignitaries were among the guests.

HH the Amir shares a conversation with the groom and his father.

HH the Amir signs the wedding certificate as a witness.

A child takes a memorial photo with HH the Amir.

Two young brothers with HH the Crown Prince.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah with father of the bride, Sheikh Faisal Al-Khalifa AlSabah, and the groom.

A group photo with HH the PM Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah who stands between the groom and the father of the bride Sheikh Faisal AlSabah, and Sheikh Sabah Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah on Sheikh Faisal’s right.

Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Fayez with other guests.

The groom stands between the Bahraini Ambassador, Sheikh Khalifa Al Khalifa on his left and Sheikh Duaij Al-Khalifa Al-Sabah.

Sheikh Salman Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah with other guests.

Sheikh Ali Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with other guests.

Sheikh Faisal Al-Malik Al-Sabah with other guests.

Sheikh Fahad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Sheikh Hamad Sheikh Meshal Al-Sabah arrives to the wedding.

Al-Jaber Al-Sabah are seen among other guests.

Sheik h Waleed Malik Al-Sabah with other guests.

The Omani Ambassador Salem Al-Mash’ani with other guests.

Minister of Public Works and State Minister of Municipality Affairs Dr. Fadhel Safar.

The groom Sheikh Sabah Nayef Ahmad Al-Malik Al-Sabah

A family photo for members of the Al-Malik AlSabah family.

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00:50 Beast Lands 01:45 Animal Cops Miami 02:40 Galapagos 03:35 Wildest Africa 04:30 Beast Lands 05:25 Dogs 101 06:20 Animal Cops Miami 07:10 Animal Cops Specials 2009 08:00 Monkey Life 08:25 The Really Wild Show 08:50 Growing Up...: Polar Bear Orphan 09:40 Breed All About It 10:10 Dogs 101: Specials 11:05 Dogs 101 12:00 Animal Cops Houston 12:55 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 13:50 SSPCA: On The Wildside 14:45 Animal Cops Miami 15:40 Galapagos 16:30 Monkey Life 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Baby Planet 18:25 Dogs 101 19:20 World’s Ugliest Dog Competition 20:15 Monkey Life 20:40 Breed All About It 21:10 Dogs 101 22:05 Life Of Mammals 23:00 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 23:55 Untamed & Uncut

00:30 01:00 02:05 02:50 03:40 04:10 04:40 04:50 05:00 05:15 05:20 05:40 06:00 06:10 06:20 06:35 06:40 07:00 07:10 07:30 07:40 07:50 08:05 08:10 08:30 08:40 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:35 09:50 10:10 10:20 10:40 11:40 12:25 13:15 13:45 14:15 15:10 16:40 17:30 18:15 18:45 19:15 20:05 21:00 21:45 22:15 22:45 23:40

00:00 00:45 01:10 02:00 02:50

Gavin & Stacey One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Casualty: Set 3 Doctors: Set 2 One Foot In The Grave 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 The Adventures Of Spot Tweenies: Set 15 Fimbles: Set 2 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 The Adventures Of Spot Tweenies: Set 15 Charlie & Lola: Set 1 Fimbles: Set 2 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 The Adventures Of Spot Tweenies: Set 15 Charlie & Lola: Set 1 Fimbles: Set 2 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 The Adventures Of Spot Tweenies: Set 15 Charlie & Lola: Set 1 Fimbles: Set 2 One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Emma (2009) Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Casualty: Set 3 One Foot In The Grave Emma (2009) The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Casualty: Set 3 Emma (2009) The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Big Cat Diary Coast

Holmes On Homes The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Holmes On Homes

03:35 03:55 04:45 05:35 06:20 06:45 07:35 08:00 08:20 08:45 10:45 11:35 12:20 13:05 13:55 15:55 16:45 17:30 18:15 19:05 19:55 20:20 20:45 21:35 21:55 23:10

The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Holmes On Homes The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me The Naked Chef Cash In The Attic USA Ching’s Kitchen Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Ching’s Kitchen James Martin’s Champagne Eating In The Sun Come Dine With Me Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt

00:00 BBC World News America 00:30 Hardtalk 01:00 BBC World News 01:30 World Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News America 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 Newsday 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Sport Today 04:00 Newsday 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Sport Today 05:00 Newsday 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 Newsday 06:30 Asia Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 Newsday 07:30 Hardtalk 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 World Business Report 11:45 Sport Today 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 Hardtalk 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 World Business Report 14:45 Sport Today 15:00 GMT With George Alagiah 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 BBC World News 19:30 World Business Report 19:45 Sport Today 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 21:30 World Business Report 21:45 Sport Today 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 23:30 World Business Report 23:45 Sport Today

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:00 04:25

The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Johnny Bravo Duck Dodgers King Arthur’s Disasters The Scooby Doo Show Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

TV PROGRAMS 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:15 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:15 10:40 11:05 11:30 11:55 12:20 12:35 13:00 13:15 13:40 13:55 14:20 14:45 15:15 15:40 16:05 16:30 16:55 17:20 Doo 17:45 18:10 19:45 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:25 23:55

The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show New Yogi Bear Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Pink Panther And Pals Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley The Flintstones Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals Top Cat New Yogi Bear Show Puppy In My Pocket Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Jetsons Duck Dodgers Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Tom & Jerry The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races Scooby-Doo And ScrappyDastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Dexters Laboratory Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Top Cat Wacky Races Tom & Jerry The Scooby Doo Show Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Johnny Bravo Dexters Laboratory

00:15 Samurai Jack 00:40 Megas XLR 01:05 Robotboy 01:30 Squirrel Boy 01:55 George Of The Jungle 02:20 Cramp Twins 02:45 Chop Socky Chooks 03:10 Best Ed 03:35 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:25 Generator Rex 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 05:40 Chowder 05:55 Powerpuff Girls 06:30 Ed, Edd n Eddy 06:55 I Am Weasel 07:20 Squirrel Boy 07:45 Cow & Chicken 08:00 Casper’s Scare School 08:05 Cow & Chicken 08:25 Angelo Rules 08:50 Best Ed 09:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 09:40 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 10:05 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 10:30 Courage The Cowardly Dog 10:55 Cow & Chicken 11:20 I Am Weasel 11:35 Adventure Time 12:00 Ben 10 12:25 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 12:50 The Secret Saturdays 13:15 Samurai Jack 13:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 14:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 14:30 Skunk Fu! 14:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 15:15 The Amazing World Of Gumball 15:40 Ed, Edd n Eddy 16:05 Camp Lazlo 16:30 Chowder 16:55 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 17:25 Cow & Chicken 17:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog

THE SPIRIT ON OSN ACTION HD

18:15 I Am Weasel 18:40 George Of The Jungle 19:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 19:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 19:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 20:20 Generator Rex 20:45 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 21:10 Hero 108 21:35 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 22:00 Total Drama Action 22:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 22:50 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 23:00 Ben 10 23:25 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 23:50 The Secret Saturdays

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Backstory 01:30 World Sport 02:00 The Situation Room 03:00 World Report 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Talk Asia 08:00 World Report 08:30 Backstory 09:00 World Report 11:00 World Sport 11:30 The Boss 12:00 World Business Today 13:00 American Morning: Wake-Up Call 13:30 Icon 14:00 World One 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 16:00 News Stream 17:00 World Business Today 18:00 International Desk 19:00 The Brief 19:30 World Sport 20:00 Prism 21:00 International Desk 21:30 Icon 22:00 Quest Means Business 23:00 Piers Morgan Tonight

00:15 00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 06:05 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:45 09:10 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 12:20 14:10 15:05 15:30 16:00 16:25 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:40 20:05 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:20

Swamp Brothers Dual Survival Overhaulin’ Dirty Jobs Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How It’s Made Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Overhaulin’ How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings Dual Survival Ultimate Survival Dual Survival Swamp Brothers Cash Cab Us Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Overhaulin’ Mythbusters Cake Boss Auction Kings How It’s Made Cash Cab Us One Man Army Frontline Battle Machines...

Nothing Personal

00:40 The Gadget Show 01:05 The Tech Show 01:35 Mega World 02:25 Green Wheels 02:50 Weird Or What?

03:40 Brainiac 04:35 The Gadget Show 05:25 How Stuff’s Made 05:50 Mega World 06:40 Stuntdawgs 07:10 Science Of Storm Chasing 08:00 Thunder Races 08:50 How The Universe Works 09:40 The Tech Show 10:10 Weird Connections 10:35 The Gadget Show 11:25 Science Of Storm Chasing 12:20 Sci-Fi Science 12:45 How Stuff’s Made 13:15 Weird Or What?

14:05 How The Universe Works 14:55 Stuntdawgs 15:20 Green Wheels 15:50 Mega World 16:40 Weird Connections 17:05 Thunder Races 18:00 Brainiac 18:50 Sci-Fi Science 19:15 The Tech Show 19:40 Bang Goes The Theory 20:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 21:20 Invisible Worlds 22:10 The Gadget Show 23:00 Bang Goes The Theory 23:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:20 Cody 06:45 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:15 09:25 09:35 09:50 10:15 10:30 10:50 11:15

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Replacements Emperor’s New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Emperor’s New School The Suite Life Of Zack And Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction The Hive Handy Manny Imagination Movers Phineas And Ferb Emperor’s New School Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb

11:35 Suite Life On Deck 12:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 12:25 Sonny With A Chance 12:45 Good Luck Charlie 13:10 Hannah Montana 13:30 Suite Life On Deck 13:55 Wizards Of Waverly Place 14:20 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 14:55 Good Luck Charlie 15:20 Phineas And Ferb 15:45 Fish Hooks 16:10 Shake It Up 16:35 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 17:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 17:25 Good Luck Charlie 17:50 Fish Hooks 18:15 Shake It Up 18:45 Suite Life On Deck 19:35 Good Luck Charlie 20:00 Emperor’s New School 20:25 Fish Hooks 20:50 Hannah Montana 21:15 Sonny With A Chance 21:35 Good Luck Charlie 22:00 Shake It Up 22:25 Suite Life On Deck 22:50 Sonny With A Chance 23:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 40 Smokin’ On Set Hookups 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kendra 10:15 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 12:05 E! News 13:05 Fashion Police 13:35 Style Star 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 Giuliana & Bill 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Ice Loves Coco 17:55 E! News 18:55 E!es 19:55 Dirty Soap 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Bridalplasty 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:40 Cases 01:30 02:15 03:05 03:50 04:40 Cases 05:25 06:15 07:10 08:00 08:50 09:40 10:25 11:10 11:35 11:55 Jones 12:40 13:25 14:15 15:00 15:25 15:50 Jones 16:35 17:20 18:10 19:00 19:45 20:10 20:55 21:20 Jones 22:10 23:00 23:50

Autopsy: Most Shocking

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

Best of Treks in a Wild World Destination Extreme Word Travels City Chase Rome City Chase Marrakech Around The World For Free Nomads Best of Treks in a Wild World Destination Extreme Word Travels City Chase Rome City Chase Marrakech Around The World For Free Nomads Best of Treks in a Wild World Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Travel Madness Deadliest Journeys Dive Detectives On Surfari Departures Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Travel Madness Deadliest Journeys Dive Detectives On Surfari

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Outpost-18 Child’s Play 2-PG15 Don’t Look Up-18 Rocky III-PG15 The Karate Kid III-PG Shinjuku Incident-PG15 The Bannen Way-PG15 The Karate Kid III-PG Deceit-PG15 The Bannen Way-PG15 Deadline-PG15 The Spirit-PG15

Ghost Lab Psychic Witness I Almost Got Away With It FBI Case Files Autopsy: Most Shocking Psychic Witness Ghost Lab Mystery Diagnosis FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Cuff Me If You Can Forensic Justice

01:00 Swansong: Story Of Occi Byrne-PG15 03:00 The Greatest-PG15 05:00 Love N’ Dancing-PG15 07:00 Three Investigators-PG15 09:00 The Front-PG15 11:00 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-PG 12:45 Parlez-Moi De LA Pluie-PG15

FLIPPED ON OSN CINEMA 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Flipped-PG Citizen Jane-PG Just Wright-PG15 Jackass 3-R Winter Of Frozen Dreams-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 South Park 02:00 American Dad 02:30 Entourage 03:00 Friends 03:30 Friends 04:00 According To Jim 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Dharma And Greg 06:00 Yes Dear 06:30 Just Shoot Me 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 According To Jim 08:30 Friends 09:00 Dharma And Greg 09:30 The League 10:00 Friends With Benefits 10:30 Just Shoot Me 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Yes Dear 12:30 According To Jim 13:00 Friends 14:00 Just Shoot Me 14:30 The League 15:00 Friends With Benefits 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Yes Dear 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Friends 18:30 Friends 19:00 Community 19:30 Wilfred 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:30 Entourage 23:00 Eastbound & Down 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:30

Terra Nova True Blood Covert Affairs Once Upon A Time Alias Good Morning America Law & Order Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Terra Nova Once Upon A Time Alias Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Look-A-Like Eureka The X Factor (US) Treme Law & Order

00:00 The Glades 01:00 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior 02:00 Terra Nova 03:00 True Blood 04:00 Once Upon A Time 05:00 Commander In Chief 06:00 The Glades 07:00 Outsourced 07:30 Coronation Street 08:00 Bones 09:00 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior 10:00 Terra Nova 11:00 Once Upon A Time 12:00 Outsourced 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Bones 15:00 The Glades 16:00 The Simpsons 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Bones

19:00 20:00 22:00 23:30

Eureka The X Factor (US) Treme Century City

02:00 From Hell-18 04:15 Public Enemies-18 06:45 Julia’s Eyes-18 09:00 The Box-PG15 11:00 Cirque Du Freak: Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 13:00 Double Impact-18 15:00 The Box-PG15 17:00 Altitude-PG15 19:00 Maximum Risk-18 21:00 Ninja Assassin-18 23:00 Menace II Society-18

The

00:00 Frank Mcklusky, C.I.-PG15 02:00 Miami Rhapsody-PG15 04:00 Stuart Little 2-FAM 06:00 All’s Faire In Love-PG 08:00 Tom And Huck-PG15 10:00 A Film With Me In It-PG15 12:00 The Lizzie McGuire Movie-PG 14:00 Captain Ron-PG15 16:00 Frank Mcklusky, C.I.-PG15 18:00 All Night Long-PG15 20:00 Lower Learning-PG15 22:00 There’s Something About Mary-18

01:15 03:15 05:30 07:30 PG15 09:00 10:45 12:30 14:45 FAM 16:45 18:45 21:00 23:00

Coco Before Chanel-PG15 The Reader-18 Ishtar-PG15 The Young Black StallionNorth-PG The Wronged Man-PG15 Dance With Me-PG Searching For Bobby FischerLeaving Normal-PG15 The Blind Side-PG15 The Third Wave-PG15 The Sisters-18

01:00 Nine Months-PG15 03:00 Nanny Mcphee And The Big Bang-PG 05:00 Garfield-PG 07:00 At Risk-PG15 09:00 The Bounty Hunter-PG15 11:00 Cats & Dogs-PG 13:00 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore-PG 15:00 Lottery Ticket-PG15 17:00 The Bounty Hunter-PG15 19:00 Up In The Air-PG15 21:00 Jackass 3-R 23:00 Get Him To The Greek-18

00:00 Hua Mulan-PG 02:00 Turandot-PG 04:00 Shipwrecked-PG 06:00 True Story Of Puss’n Boots-PG 08:00 Winner & The Gold Child: Part I-PG15 10:00 Astro Boy-FAM 12:00 Barbie: Princess Charm School-PG15 14:00 Shipwrecked-PG 16:00 Pocahontas & The Spider Woman-PG 18:00 Astro Boy-FAM 20:00 I’ll Be Home For ChristmasPG15 22:00 Barbie: Princess Charm School-PG15

01:45 Post Grad-PG15 03:45 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 05:45 Too Big To Fail-PG15 08:00 Too Big To Fail-PG15 10:00 How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days-PG 12:15 Open Season 3-PG15 14:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 16:00 Gasland-PG15 18:00 Made In Dagenham-PG15 20:00 Predators-18 22:00 Film Socialisme-PG15

02:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00

Rugby League 4 Nations Trans World Sport Intercontinental Le Mans Cup WWE Vintage Collection Powerboats Premier League Snooker Trans World Sport Speedway WWE Vintage Collection Live PGA European Tour Futbol Mundial WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 139

01:30 Darts 03:30 Challenge Series Golf 04:30 European Senior Tour Highlights 05:30 FEI Equestrian World 06:00 Futbol Mundial 06:30 FIVB Beach Volley Ball 07:00 Pro 12 Celtic League 09:00 Total Rugby 09:30 Futbol Mundial 10:00 World Hockey 10:30 Golfing World 11:30 Rugby League 4 Nations 13:30 Beach Volley Ball 14:00 Futbol Mundial 14:30 Total Rugby 15:00 World Hockey 15:30 Scottish Premier League 17:30 Trans World Sport 18:30 World Hockey 19:00 European Tour Weekly 19:30 Total Rugby 20:00 Futbol Mundial 20:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 21:00 Trans World Sport 22:00 Premier League Snooker

00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 05:30 06:30 07:00 08:00 11:30 13:30 14:00 14:30 18:30 19:00 20:00

Futbol Mundial European Tour Weekly Golfing World Premier League Snooker The Challenge Series Golf Asian Tour Golf Golfing World Darts Grand Slam Darts Grand Slam Asian Tour Golf European Tour Weekly Live European PGA Tour Asian Tour Golf Trans World Sport European PGA Tour

00:00 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 01:00 V8 Supercars 02:00 V8 Supercars 03:00 WWE Vintage Collection 04:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 05:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE SmackDown 09:00 WWE Bottom Line 10:00 WWE Vintage Collection 11:00 V8 Supercars 12:00 V8 Supercars 13:00 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 14:00 Powerboats 15:00 Powerboats Highlights 15:30 Super Formula 18:00 WWE Vintage Collection 19:00 WWE NXT 20:00 UFC Total Ultimate Fighter Season 21:00 UFC 139

00:00 02:00 03:00 08:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Hosted Top 20 Greatest Hits VH1 Music Aerobic VH1 Hits Music For The Masses Top 10 Music For The Masses VH1 Pop Chart VH1 Hits 90’s Revolution VH1 Superchart Guess The Year Music For The Masses Then And Now Wild 80’s

Classifieds THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Sharing room available for single or two working ladies with Keralite family in Abbassiya, separate room, satellite, facility, bathroom, cable, available. Please contact: 99509436. (C 3744) 23-11-2011 Separate room available in a dbl B/R apartment (furnished) with all facilities in Salmiya near garden. Please contact: 99787621.

(C 3737)

MATRIMONIAL RC boy, MBA, 30 years, 166 cm, Changanacherry, proposals invited from BSc nurses-MOH. Email: tty2002@yahoo.com (C 3745) Orthodox boy 31/172 cm working in MNC Logistics Company in Kuwait as sales manager invites proposal from God fearing qualified Christian girls. Email: mathewzachariah@gmail.com (C 3743)

FOR SALE Mitsubishi Galant 1998 model, dark green, passing ten month, only KD 450. Tel: 65079379.

Suzuki jeep grant Vitar model 2011, white metallic color, full option, registration till March 2014, cash price KD 4,600. Installment possible whose salary KD 300 receiving through banks. Contact: 66507741.

(C 3739) Honda Civic, model 2004, white color, excellent condition, km 56000, Price KD 1400. Mob: 66729295.

(C 3740) 22-11-2011

CHANGE OF NAME I, Jeetendra Raghunath Pilankar, holder of Indian Passport No: F5608119, hereby change my name to Jitendra Raghunath Pilankar. (C 3742) 23-11-2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR KLM JZR JZR ETH THY UAE QTR DHX KAC MSR FDB ETD GFA KAC THY DHX FAH JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB IRA KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC IRA KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA KNE JZR RKM MEA SYR MSR JZR MSC KAC GFA MSR FDB UAL VOS

Arrival Flights on Thursday 24/11/2011 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 447 AMSTERDAM/BAHRAIN 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 620 ADDIS ABABA 772 ISTANBUL 853 DUBAI 138 DOHA 370 BAHRAIN 154 ISTANBUL 612 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 211 BAHRAIN 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 201 DUBAI 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 157 LONDON 412 MANILA/BANGKOK 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 617 AHWAZ 352 COCHIN 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 531 ASSIUT 332 TRIVANDRUM 605 ISFAHAN 284 DHAKA 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 789 JEDDAH 165 DUBAI 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 404 BEIRUT 341 DAMASCUS/DEIREZZOR 610 CAIRO 201 DAMASCUS 9621 SOHAG 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 621 ASSIUT 57 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 93 KANDAHAR/DUBAI

Time 0:20 0:30 0:45 0:50 1:45 2:15 2:35 2:40 2:55 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:15 4:40 4:50 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:00 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:50 7:50 7:55 8:00 8:05 8:15 8:15 8:20 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:55 11:20 11:20 11:45 11:55 12:35 12:55 13:00 13:15 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:50 14:05 14:15

OMA QTR KNE SVA KAC RJA KAC JZR LMU KAC QTR JZR MLR ETD JZR UAE KAC VOS GFA SVA ABY JZR RBG ALK JZR MSC FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB JAI OMA MSR KAC DHX MEA GFA LMU QTR UAE JZR KLM AIC JZR UAL AXB DLH

645 140 745 500 552 640 788 257 407 546 134 535 403 303 357 857 118 84 215 510 127 777 3553 227 177 9623 63 502 542 125 786 618 614 674 104 774 562 61 572 647 618 178 372 402 217 409 136 859 135 445 981 239 981 389 636

MUSCAT 14:15 DOHA 14:20 JEDDAH 14:25 JEDDAH 14:30 DAMASCUS 14:35 AMMAN 14:40 JEDDAH 14:50 BEIRUT 15:00 ALEXANDRIA 15:10 ALEXANDRIA 15:20 DOHA 15:25 CAIRO 16:25 COLOMBO/DUBAI 16:40 ABU DHABI 16:50 MASHAD 16:50 DUBAI 16:55 NEW YORK 16:55 DOMODEDOVO AIRPORT 17:00 BAHRAIN 17:15 RIYADH 17:20 SHARJAH 17:40 JEDDAH 17:45 ALEXANDRIA 17:50 COLOMBO/DUBAI 18:10 DUBAI 18:15 SOHAG 18:30 DUBAI 18:40 BEIRUT 18:45 CAIRO 18:50 BAHRAIN 19:00 JEDDAH 19:10 DOHA 19:15 BAHRAIN 19:20 DUBAI 19:25 LONDON 19:35 RIYADH 19:40 AMMAN 19:50 DUBAI 20:00 MUMBAI 20:10 MUSCAT 20:15 ALEXANDRIA 20:45 GENEVA/FRANKFURT 20:55 BAHRAIN 21:00 BEIRUT 21:20 BAHRAIN 21:25 ASSIUT 21:30 DOHA 21:35 DUBAI 21:40 BAHRAIN 21:55 AMSTERDAM 22:05 CHENNAI/HYDERABAD/AHMEDABAD22:05 AMMAN 22:45 BAHRAIN 23:00 KOZHIKODE/MANGALORE 23:35 FRANKFURT 23:50

Airlines AXB UAL AIC PIA JZR DLH KLM ETH THY FDB UAE DHX MSR ETD KAC QTR THY JZR GFA JZR FDB KAC BAW IRA JZR KAC KAC JZR IRA KAC KAC UAE ABY FDB QTR ETD GFA JZR KAC KAC KNE JZR RKM MEA KAC SYR KAC JZR MSR MSC GFA MSR FDB

Departure Flights on Thursday 24/11/2011 Flt Route 394 COCHIN/KOZHIKODE 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 976 GOA/CHENNAI 216 KARACHI 530 ASSIUT 637 FRANKFURT 447 AMSTERDAM 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 613 CAIRO 306 ABU DHABI 415D KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 54 DUBAI 545 ALEXANDRIA 156 LONDON 606 MASHAD 256 BEIRUT 671 DUBAI 551 DAMASCUS 534 CAIRO 604 ISFAHAN 787 JEDDAH 101 LONDON/NEW YORK 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 56 DUBAI 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 356 MASHAD 165 ROME/PARIS 541 CAIRO 790 JEDDAH 776 JEDDAH 311 RAS ALKHAIMAH 405 BEIRUT 501 BEIRUT 342 DEIREZZOR/DAMASCUS 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 9622 SOHAG 220 BAHRAIN 622 ASSIUT 58 DUBAI

Time 0:40 0:45 0:50 1:10 1:15 1:20 1:45 2:45 3:15 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:00 4:00 4:55 5:50 6:55 7:00 7:30 8:25 8:30 8:40 8:50 9:00 9:00 9:10 9:15 9:15 9:25 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:05 10:10 10:20 10:40 10:50 11:45 12:00 12:05 12:15 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:35 13:40 13:50 13:55 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:35

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

KAC KAC KNE OMA UAL RJA JZR LMU KAC SVA KAC KAC QTR JZR ETD MLR JZR QTR VOS UAE GFA ABY RBG SVA JZR JZR ALK FDB MSC JZR KAC FDB KAC KAC DHX KAC JAI OMA MSR KAC DHX KAC LMU MEA GFA FAH QTR KAC JZR UAE KAC KLM JZR KAC KAC

561 673 746 646 982 641 124 408 617 505 613 773 141 238 304 404 538 135 82 858 216 128 3554 511 266 134 228 64 9624 184 283 62 343 331 171 351 571 648 619 543 373 675 410 403 218 102 137 301 554 860 205 445 528 415 411

AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH MUSCAT BAHRAIN AMMAN BAHRAIN ASSIUT DOHA JEDDAH BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA AMMAN ABU DHABI DUBAI/COLOMBO CAIRO DOHA BAGHDAD DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH ALEXANDRIA RIYADH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DUBAI/COLOMBO DUBAI ASSIUT DUBAI DHAKA DUBAI CHENNAI TRIVANDRUM BAHRAIN COCHIN MUMBAI MUSCAT ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN DUBAI ALEXANDRIA BEIRUT BAHRAIN DUBAI DOHA MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI ISLAMABAD BAHRAIN/AMSTERDAM ASSIUT KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA BANGKOK/MANILA

14:45 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:20 15:35 15:50 15:55 15:55 16:00 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:40 17:45 18:00 18:10 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:45 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:30 19:55 20:15 20:40 20:55 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:15 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:35 23:45 23:55

34

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

stars CROSSWORD 507

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) This is a time during which confidence and self-expression are perhaps limited and disciplined. What you achieve now will hold and prove to be lasting. This time could be seen as a kind of apprenticeship during which you learn to control yourself. You may find yourself succeeding and moving ahead by using your mind. Also, communication and research in all forms could be a key area for career growth. There are plenty of positive aspects to make you feel uplifted and give you a deserved confidence in yourself. Your life takes on a kind of mystical quality. Dreams and illusions, forgiveness and understanding human frailties arouse deep feelings. Keep a wish book; then list three things that will get you started in making each dream come true.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Review your professional achievements. Think of ways to improve and perhaps be more effective in your career. There is plenty of optimism to go around. This is a day for thinking. You may feel like talking a bit more than usual, exploring new ideas or getting happily lost in a conversation.

There will be an urge to communicate and solve problems. Also, perhaps a short trip or a special phone call is in order. Shopping this afternoon, you may discover that you cease to waste time and money acquiring that which is worthless. You have developed an eye for that which is lasting and worthwhile. Your bright wit and talkative streak make you always ready for a conversation. You love to get your ideas across to others—communication is at a high.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. The rate at which heat is produced by an individual in a resting state.

4. A woman of refinement.

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

13. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

14. Excessively fat.

15. In or relating to or obtained from urine.

16. Explosive consisting of a yellow crystalline compound that is a flammable toxic derivative of toluene.

17. A coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds.

18. A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn.

19. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

21. (South African) A camp defended by a circular formation of wagons.

23. In the Arabian Nights a hero who tells of the fantastic adventures he had in his voyages.

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

27. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

31. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.

33. A unit of absorbed ionizing radiation equal to 100 ergs per gram of irradiated material.

35. A federation of North American labor unions that merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955.

36. Date used in reckoning dates before the supposed year Christ was born.

37. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

42. Type genus of the Gavidae.

44. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

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

49. An independent ruler or chieftain (especially in Africa or Arabia).

52. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

54. (archaic) A fitting reward.

55. A fraudulent business scheme.

57. Wild goose having white adult plumage.

58. (in Scotland or Ireland) A mountain or tall hill.

60. One who works hard at boring tasks.

61. The products of human creativity.

62. (New Testament) Supposed brother of St James.

63. The content of cognition.

DOWN 1. A genus of Viperidae.

2. A member of a nomadic people of the northern Ural mountains.

3. A switch made from the stems of the rattan palms.

4. Large high frilly cap with a full crown.

5. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

6. United States labor organizer who ran for President as a socialist (1855-1926).

7. Inquire about.

8. (South African) An ear of corn.

9. Wild sheep of northern Africa.

10. (informal) Exceptionally good.

11. Make reference to.

12. A mark left by the healing of injured tissue.

20. A French abbot.

22. (of persons) Highest in rank or authority or office.

24. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

25. A member of an agricultural people of southern India.

28. An informal term for a father.

29. A newt in its terrestrial stage of development.

30. Being five more than one hundred fifty.

32. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

34. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

38. Island country in the Atlantic east of Florida and Cuba.

39. A portable brazier that burns charcoal and has a grill for cooking.

40. (psychology) Characterized by avoidance or withdrawal.

41. A lyric poet.

43. British informal term.

45. An independent ruler or chieftain (especially in Africa or Arabia).

46. Of a light yellowish-brown color n 1.

47. A separate part of a whole.

48. A form of Japanese poetry.

50. (Old Testament) The eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the Covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac.

51. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

53. Of or relating to or characteristic of the Republic of Chad or its people or language.

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

57. That is to say.

59. A Mid-Atlantic state on the Atlantic.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Taking care of business is important today but your mind keeps running over several lists that you have going in preparation for a celebration coming up soon. Health and work goals are important as well as a reunion of family and friends this week. Sympathy and understanding are emotional qualities that take on greater importance as you deal with young people this afternoon. There is an open invitation to have a special time with a few extraordinary friends. Marriage and other close relationships give rise to great expectations now, particularly as a new cycle of family and group achievement gets underway. This is a time to enjoy and appreciate your ties to others and to seek and promote harmony in the interaction between people.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

You have an inner drive to improve and reform the world, to share the wealth—true democracy. You have a feel for groups and any large-scale business or community project. You can be quite independent with a touch of the impersonal. With you, all persons get the same treatment. However, you may realize this and begin to work on a more personal approach with others. You may even find that you waste less time with hurt feelings than before. You will prosper by pursuing your dreams of how life could be. Don’t be afraid to project that image— make those dreams real. This could be a time that you feel very passionate toward others and find unusual ways to help or care for others—there is insight into accepting life as it comes.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You find that you can really use your mind to make clear choices. Career decisions are straightforward and easy to make. You will find that today you may be lecturing or speaking to a group. You have more than just the gift of gab. Your words and ideas can transport and enchant listeners, carrying them beyond the world as they know it and into the world as they wish it could be.

Perhaps you will instill some desire in a few of the listeners to think of ways they could contribute in making the world a better place. You may encourage others to volunteer in helping with a reading program for young people. People seem to enjoy hearing you speak and they have plenty of questions for you to answer. Enjoy a light dinner this evening.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) An important message could get lost in the presentation if you do not have notes or at least write notes for the presentation. Then if you do not have the notes with you, it will not matter because you will have gained a focus through the writing. Communicate clearly with your peers. Do not leave out any major details. Your critical faculties are excellent today and you will pick out the important parts of issues in order to create a positive change. There are good practical jobrelated thoughts and ideas available for you. You are a real charmer—able to enchant others and bring them under your spell. Working with public relations issues is your specialty. Your ideals and ability to see the whole picture is obvious to all who come to know you.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Be flexible in your routine today. Outside influences tend to throw you off track. New ways to organize and discipline yourself are possible now. Here is an opportunity to get some insight into some of your responsibilities that may prove of great value in time to come. This is a great time to reflect and understand your own situation: just how you feel about your circumstances. A complicated task demands your expertise. Do not be too hasty in trying to speed up the task—you could eliminate something important. This evening you will find yourself writing notes, making calls and taking time for those in the community who need support. Energetic activities are favored at this time. This evening you may make an important decision concerning a child.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are driven and passionate in your pursuit of change and inner growth. You are well advised to seek the advice of someone you trust when it comes to career matters. Things are happening on which your career or path depends. Your own ambition and drive is strong now. This is the perfect time to get ahead by taking action. This is a real time to settle down and concentrate on your goals. Your organizational abilities and sense of responsibility will be what guides you and proves successful. Your career is moving into a much more determined and solid form—a firm foundation. You can enjoy and depend more on those family members and friends now. You are able to dispense with some of the unessential and develop what is most basic.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your career or life-path may depend on your talent for responding and making something out of ideas, insights . . . whatever is new and challenging. The business world may call for your ability to react and build on opportunities. This is a time for getting ahead and a time to enjoy your career and savor its rewards. The social graces pave your path to success. Your personal reputation is of the utmost importance while visiting with executives today—you will put your best foot forward. The key spot in your personality is your mind—the world of ideas and communication. You will take the opportunity to present your ideas to higher-ups today. Unconventional and possibly eccentric, but positive, solutions to housing are available now.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

There is lots of early action on the job today. Work through the madness. You may also help a co-worker to get on track today. You are wise to pull from your own experience to offer sound advice. Real estate plays a big part in your life goals and a surprise or unexpected event regarding real estate may be quite profitable. Stay with the flow of events and see where the ride takes you.

A pregnancy or upcoming marriage may come to your attention this afternoon. The contributions you make toward a good relationship are very important at this time.

Give of your time, energy and money to help with this relationship. Joint resources prosper under today’s energies. Come together with a plan to expand. Surround yourself with people you can trust.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You may feel you are in the right place today—everything just automatically falls into place. All the numbers add up and there are no complaints from the public, especially if you are working in a complaint department or in an employee department. Money benefits come your way today. This is a nice day that should just flow along. Enjoy the company of your loved ones this afternoon. Meditate to relax your mind. This evening you will do well in activities that include children, young people and your home and surroundings. You could feel real support and harmony at this time for circumstances and those around you. You are compassionate. You also enjoy serving others, you worry about their welfare. Share in merriment this evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

You feel a love of order and law—an appreciation for responsibilities and duty. You may be called on to help with a problem co-worker or customer today. Problems today are valued for the lessons they represent, rather than perceived as obstacles. You are at your most practical when it comes to dealing and working with others. You know just what to do and can act without haste and emotion. Close relationships and other ties between people become a focus for much of your energy now. New partnerships are entered into; old ones are renewed or else they are left behind. You try your strength against another—learning to cooperate or seeking to conquer. Work, achievement and ambition are the things that mean a lot to you now.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

i n f o r m at i o n

FIRE BRIGADE

112

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Al-Salmiya

25616368

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

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

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

Hawally

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

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

171 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22921555 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

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Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

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22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

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22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

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Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

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Dr Anil Thomas

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Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

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Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Marcahuamachuco

Archeological star emerges from obscurity

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arcahuamachuco, an enigmatic 1,600year-old archeological complex built from stone in the northern Peruvian Andes, is emerging bit by bit from oblivion and could become a beacon of tourism on the scale of Machu Picchu. Spread over 590 acres (240 hectares) on a plateau more than 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) high in the mountains, the pre-Incan site embodies all the evils that have befallen Peru’s archeological treasures. Though still full of mysteries-who lived here, and why, is unknown- the complex has been plundered of artifacts that might help unlock its secrets, and has long been subjected to the depredations of nature.

But it’s still there, groups of sometimes monumental stone building, massive rounded walls that rise 10 to 15 meters (yards), galleries, a rectangular plaza and dwellings, and an urban religious center with a sanctuary. “All of it walled in, a fortress of stone on a plateau to defend against invasion,” said Cristian Vizconde, the government’s chief archeologist.

Marcahuamachuco-in Quechua, “the people of the men with hawk like headresses”-has been studied by archeologists since 1900. Parts of the site are still buried under centuries of accumulated earth, masking its true dimensions.

But its splendor was revealed anew in October 2010 when brush was cleared away as part of a major preservation effort by the government in partnership with the Global Heritage Fund, a non-profit whose mission is to protect endangered world cultural heritage sites. The fund is providing scientific help to study, preserve and make Marcahuamachucolong overshadowed by the far more celebrated Machu Picchu more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away-ready for sustainable tourism. The goal is to get it registered as a world heritage site by Unesco. “It is the most important preInca center in the Andes, with its own language, culli (which lasted until the 20th century), with its own gods and buildings unlike any seen in Peruvian archeological sites,” he said.

Even so, the complex remains shrouded in mystery. “We don’t know what culture Marcahuamachuco belonged to. We do know that the stone structures, with walls 10 to 15 meters (yards) high, were built between 350 and 400 AD but we don’t know when its inhabitants arrived or where they came from,” said Vizconde. Canadians John Topic and Theresa Lange-Topic, who have studied the complex, believe its last inhabitants left around the 13th century and that when the Incas arrived two centuries later they found only shepherds among the ruins. “It’s not known why they went, possibly because of an epidemic, but it’s all a mystery that remains to be solved,” said Vizconde.

Archeologists hope to find clues in burial sites found behind thick walls in an area of the complex called the Castle where priests or nobles may have been buried. “Those places

Three men walk at the Marcahuamachuco archaeological complex .

View of the Marcahuamachuco archaeological complex in Huamachuco.

have been sacked but the few human remains that were left will be analyzed with the help of GHF,” Vizconde said, adding that another possible cemetery was found recently and could give up more secrets. Julio Vargas, a GHF expert on archeological structures, said he was impressed by the size of the buildings and the mortar work used to join stones in a way that has endured centuries of rain, wind and abandonment. “What strikes me is the incredible transparence of the ensemble: it was very open, as if it were a public message, built to impress, to show the power of a dynasty, I would imagine,” said John Hurd, a GHF advisor.

Hurd said the site is so imposing that it could “break the dependence of the tourism industry on Machu Picchu.” Tourism could bring work and respect for the ancient ruins in an area where more than 300 other archeological sites are endangered by informal gold mining. Luis Alberto Rebaza, the mayor of Huamachuco province, which has 150,000 people, calls the site’s tourism potential “the great opportunity of my people.” —AFP An Andean woman repairs a wall.

An Andean woman walks towards Marcahuamachuco archaeological complex.

View of the Marcahuamachuco archaeological complex.

View of the Marcahuamachuco archaeological complex.

View of the Marcahuamachuco archaeological complex.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Mia Aspegren (Left) cooks for customers in her home ‘Pop up Restaurant’ called Angry Bird, one of some 300 food outlets in 40 places around the country.

Restaurant Day adds spice to Finnish food culture

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n a Helsinki street corner, a Finnish family savors Indian deep-fried lentil patties with yoghurt and chutney, devouring the rich, exotic morsels for muchneeded warmth in the November chill.

Jaakko Latikka, Krista Kujala and their two young sons are grabbing a bite to eat on Restaurant Day, when ordinary people open “pop-up” eateries for a day and serve food out of their own kitchens or on street corners.

The family enjoys an Indian dish called Dahi Bhalla, cooked by Mumbai expats Nikhil Salian and Krupesh Kothari and served on plastic plates from a knee-high table on the street.

The boys, Antti and Lauri, complain of the cold, but at the first taste of the patties they forget the subzero temperatures. “It’s good!” they declare in unison. Restaurant Day started in Finland earlier this year, “a one-day carnival in favor of free-spirited restaurant and food culture”, according to the Facebook page created by its organizers. “ Why? Because you’re worth it, because we love food, and because every city needs more nostrings fun,” it adds. After successful runs with 40 “restaurants” opened for a day in May and 180 in August, a third installment was held on Saturday, November 19.

“We had over 300 restaurants in 40 cities across Finland, and one in Germany,” said coorganizer Kirsti Tuominen, describing the latest event as a huge success. Organizers estimate that tens of thousands of people had attended, including some in the German city of Toenisvorst. With a variety of menus to choose from, Restaurant Day encourages normally cuisine-conservative Finns, traditionally accustomed to heavy, bland peasantstyle dishes, to be more adventurous.

Opening their homes and kitchens to strangers has also struck a popular chord with many Finns, known as generally reserved and taciturn. “People are excited about the joy of sharing food; it’s a way to build more community, more bonding with others,” said Olli Siren, a co-founder of the Restaurant Day movement.

The creativity shown on Restaurant Day serves as a strong counter to the much-

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Jussi Honkakari gets recommendations from Nitir Kofpab — at a street restaurant serving Indian Snack Food.

maligned comments of Italian ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, who in 2005 quipped that Finland should be ineligible to host the EU’s food authority because its citizens knew nothing about cuisine. Salian and Kothari have been in Finland for five months of a one-year contract with an Indian IT consulting services company, and could not resist the opportunity to share their food culture and reach out to the Finnish community.

“Most of our customers were Finnish. We were not expecting such a huge response, so it’s been a good day,” exclaims Salian. In a cosy flower shop, florist Heli Simola supervises as friends Veronica, Tuuli and Milla serve customers squeezed around two small trestle tables in the front of the stoor.

Surrounded by flowers in vivid hues, passersby catch a whiff of cinnamon wafting from spicy pancakes covered in chocolate and lemon sauce-an eclectic yet tasty combination. Simola’s diverse menu also combines Finnish staples like meatballs and lingonberry jelly, Italian sandwiches, French-style Napoleon cake and Turkish yoghurt. The florist says she didn’t expect to make a profit from the event. “For me this is an easy way to

advertise. People will see the shop and hopefully they will come back after this,” she explains. On the other side of the city, the makeshift Angry Birds Cafe is based in the small, charming apartment of chef-for-a-day Mia Aspegren and her son Topi Ylitalo.

The flat offers respite from the biting cold outside and is a popular choice for families with children. Aspegren has placed a small piggy bank on a kitchen table for clients to pay what they thought the food was worth.

Parents stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the small space, eating and chatting, while their children play the popular Angry Birds game on their mobile phones in a bedroom.

Aspegren’s menu is inspired by the Finnish computer game’s egg-stealing theme, so guests can choose from stuffed eggs, quesadillas, pancakes or omelettes as the smell of freshly-brewed coffee lures more guests in from the courtyard. “All these people are people that I don’t know, so I’m really happy that we now have this openness where they feel they can come and visit my home,” Aspegren says, expertly folding a quesadilla.

The next Restaurant Day is being planned for February. — AFP

Lauri Sieppo tastes food served by his father Jaakko Latikka at a street restaurant serving Indian Snack Food, one of some 300 food outlets in 40 places around the country as part of ‘Finland Restaurant Day’.

Mikko Varamies (second left) and Juha Roppola (second right) buy organic plain coffee bread from Side Rinne (left) and sister Lumi Rinne (right) at the pop up restaurant Aha!, one of some 300 food outlets in 40 places around the country as part of ‘Finland Restaurant Day’ in Helsinki. —AFP photos

Happy trails at cross-country ski destinations

hen winter slithers into Seattle, bringing dank darkness, it’s easy to hide in the house and yearn for spring. Don’t.

Instead, head for the snow and go cross-country skiing. Within about a half-day’s drive of Seattle are world-class areas for nordic skiing that also offer close-to or on-the-trails lodging. Compared with downhill skiing, which can shred knees and wallets, a cross-country getaway is a budgetfriendly and healthful way to go. Here’s a look at some destinations (most hope to open around Thanksgiving) in Washington and British Columbia for a skinny-skis weekend.

Whistler OlympicPark The place: Whistler is best-known as the megadownhill area in southwest British Columbia. But 14 miles south of the ski resort you’ll find days’ worth of groomed cross-country trails winding through a wilderness valley ringed by snowdraped peaks.

What’s there: Whistler Olympic Park was developed for the 2010 Winter Olympics for nordic skiing, ski-jumping and more. Recreational skiers can follow in the tracks of Olympic greats on 56 kilo-

meters (about 35 miles) of trails, groomed for classic (skiing in parallel tracks) and skate skiing (gliding in a V-shape).

Beginners will be happy on flat trails in meadows; more advanced skiers can surge up and down steep, thickly wooded hills. Weekends are getting busier as skiers embrace the new area, but on a weekday last spring with perfect snow and bright sun there were only a few skiers, counting their blessings.

Where to stay: There’s no lodging within Whistler Olympic Park, but Whistler Village has dozens of hotels and condos with rates from around Cnd. $145 a night (Canadian and US dollars are roughly equal) or double or triple that for luxury lodging. See www.whistlerblackcomb.com or www.tourismwhistler.com.

On a budget? Hostelling International’s Whistler hostel charges about $35 per person for a shared room.

Ready to splurge? Callaghan Country Lodge is a ski-in lodge near Whistler Olympic Park. It’s an 8mile ski to the lodge, an island of comfort in the wilderness surrounded by dozens of miles of

groomed nordic trails and endless backcountry skiing. Rates start around Cdn. $169 per person per night and include meals and a trail ticket plus snowmobile transport of luggage. www.callaghancountry.com.

More info, fee: A Whistler Olympic Park day pass is Cdn. $22 with discounts for youths and families. The base area has a spiffy big-windowed lodge with a cafe, ski rentals and shop. www.whistlerolympicpark.com P.S. Next to Whistler Village is Lost Lake Park with 32 kilometers (almost 20 miles) of crosscountry trails. Ski for an hour or all day, although early-season snow often isn’t great since the village is about 2,200 feet elevation (versus about 2,700 feet and up at Whistler Olympic Park). www.whistler.com/nordic/lost(underscore)lake/ Lake Wenatchee State Park The place: For a smaller-scale, closer-to-home getaway, drive over the Cascades and through the woods to central Washington’s Lake Wenatchee State Park near Leavenworth.

What’s there: Swarming with campers and swimmers in summer, the park’s lakeside trails

turn into about 18 kilometers (about 11 miles) of winding cross-country ski trails in winter, part of the state’s Sno-Park program for winter recreation.

It’s a family-friendly place of narrow, gentle trails, groomed mostly for classic skiing. For more snowplay there’s a popular sledding hill and snowshoe routes.

For more challenging terrain, ski on over to the adjoining Nason Ridge with 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) of trails on rolling (and sometimes steep) hills and a ridgetop with big views of mountains and the lake. It’s also groomed through the SnoPark program for both classic and skate skiing (there’s also a new snowshoe route).

Where to stay: For ski-out-the-door convenience, stay at Kahler Glen Golf and Ski Resort adjoining the park. Condos and town houses are spacious and comfortable, and a ski trail (across what’s a golf course in summer) links to the Lake Wenatchee and Nason Ridge trails. Rates start at about $145 a night for a two-bedroom condo with a fully-outfitted kitchen. See www.kahlerglen.com (and check for third-night and fourthnight-free special offers). —MCT

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Clooney, Ronaldo called as witnesses in Berlusconi sex tria A

n Italian court ruled yesterday that George Clooney and Cristiano Ronaldo can be called as witnesses in ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s trial for having sex with an underage prostitute. Lawyers for Berlusconi want the Hollywood heart-throb and Real Madrid football star to help defend their client from charges of paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl and then abusing his powers to get her freed from custody.

The two are among 78 star witnesses including several former government ministers, a singer and two famous starlets being called by the defence, according to the list approved yesterday, a court official said.

Prosecutors are calling a total of 136 witnesses including the woman at the centre of the case, a Moroccan-born nightclub dancer called Karima El Mahroug who is better known by her stage name as “Ruby the Heart Stealer”. They are also calling 32 other young women who attended parties at the former premier’s villa near Milan where the crime allegedly took place. During police questioning, extracts from which have been leaked to Italian newspapers, El Mahroug recounted orgies referred to as “Bunga Bunga” parties.

Berlusconi faces a maximum of three years in prison for the sex charge and 12 years for abuse of power, after he allegedly pressured police to release El Mahroug when she was arrested in an unrelated case. The court official said the judge would decide on a case-by-case basis whether specific witnesses would be called based on how the trial, which began in April but is still stuck in procedural issues, develops. “Usually if they’re called they have to come. But if they didn’t come, we wouldn’t send the police after them,” the official said.

The next hearing on December 2 will see the first witnesses called-seven police officials who will testify on the abuse of power charges. The following hearings will be on December 12, January 27

File photo shows US actor George Clooney leaving the courthouse in Milan.

and January 30. Clooney and Ronaldo are being called to attempt to discredit El Mahroug. The young woman claimed that she had met Clooney at a dinner in Milan hosted by Berlusconi and that she had slept with Ronaldo for 4,000 euros ($5,360).

Clooney has denied being at the soiree although he said one soiree he had with Berlusconi was “one of the more astonishing evenings of my life.” In an interview with Time magazine in November, he said he had been called by Berlusconi’s lawyers. “I said I will come and testify if you like because I wasn’t at the party that I was said to have been at.”

“I wasn’t at his bunga bunga party. But I was at another party, I went there to speak about Darfur. It

File photo shows Real Madrid’s Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo. — AFP photos

was an amazing conversation. He showed me his bedroom and the bed that Putin had given him,” he said. Berlusconi resigned earlier this month and can no longer claim his official duties as a justification to avoid hearings in the three trials he is currently a defendant in, including on charges of tax fraud and bribery. But he is still a member of parliament and therefore has parliamentary immunity, which can only be lifted by a vote in the legislature. Even if convicted, he is unlikely to see the inside of a prison cell as people over 70 are not normally incarcerated except for murder or drug crimes.

Among the other witnesses called by the defence are Argentinian showgirl Belen Rodriguez,

Review

Rihanna’s ‘Talk That Talk’ release tops iTunes

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Knightley a force of nature in Method

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pitting and stammering, clawing and convulsing, her jaw jutting forward and her eyes popping out of her head, Keira Knightley is a frightening force of nature in “A Dangerous Method.” And this is only at the film’s start. It’s a brazenly over-the-top performance, a huge gamble in depicting her character’s mania and self-loathing in such intentionally off-putting fashion. But eventually it pays off as it makes sense in context, and especially as this woman evolves. For this is a David Cronenberg film although the pristine, cultured trappings might suggest otherwise - and this time, Knightley is his monster.

Cronenberg has specialized in a peculiar brand of horror film over the decades, with physical mutations serving as the norm in such 1980s movies as “Videodrome” and “The Fly.” Here, the transformation occurs within; it’s psychological, invisible, but no less startling. Don’t let the genteel, costume-drama niceties fool you. Set in the early 20th century in Zurich and Vienna, “A Dangerous Method” follows the relationship between two of the leading voices in the development of psychoanalysis: Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud ( Viggo Mortensen, a Cronenberg regular of late).

Knightley plays Sabina Spielrein, the wealthy Russian who is as beautiful as she is tormented, and who ultimately comes between these two men.

Sabina goes to Jung as his patient, not only shaking up his dull, structured life but also providing him a bountiful source of research for the new “talking cure” he’s crafting. (The film, written by the esteemed Christopher Hampton and based on his play “The Talking Cure,” is itself based on the John Kerr book “A Most Dangerous Method.”) Seems she’s as screwed-up as she is because of spankings her father gave her starting in early childhood, punishment that she didn’t just endure but actually began to welcome and find sexually stimulating. The buttoned-down

Jung is fascinated from a scholarly standpoint but also secretly aroused as a man; Fassbender, with his proper dress and carriage, quietly conveys Jung’s inner conflict, his percolating desire.

But Jung also turns to his mentor, Freud, for advice. Freud, of course, thinks every symptom is a manifestation of some sort of subconscious sexual impulse, so Sabina’s case gives these two much to chew on. Mortensen, star of Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises” and “A History of Violence,” dials down his smoldering masculinity here for a performance that’s dryly humorous, full of snarky vanity and droll little digs.

Eventually another troubled mind turns this three-way into a foursome when Freud sends Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), a patient of his, to Jung for treatment. Otto is all id, impossible to control - and Cassel does play casual menace beautifully - but he also inspires Jung to follow his own impulses, even though they’re at odds with the comfortable life he shares with his docile, moneyed wife (Sarah Gadon) and their children.

Jung’s interludes with Sabina provide sudden, stunning moments of sadomasochistic intensity, which punctuate a prevailing tone that might actually be too restrained.

Their afternoons at her sparse apartment are thrilling, though, and they help maintain a wild streak in a film that is crisply and meticulously shot and edited. As Sabina’s behavior settles down - as she morphs from patient and lover to student and therapist in her own right - the relationship between Jung and Freud grows more bitter and volatile. The passive-aggressive series of letters they exchange provides some muchneeded humor in this frequently serious, intellectual exercise. —AP

Neapolitano singer and Berlusconi buddy Mariano Apicella, Clooney’s former girlfriend and former foreign minister Franco Frattini. Berlusconi said he had called police to have El Mahroug released when she was arrested for petty theft because he thought she was the niece of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and did not want a diplomatic incident.Prosecutors say Berlusconi was aware of El Mahroug’s true identity and was acting only out of fear that the girl could tell police about their liaison.—AFP

rammy-winning singer Rihanna may soon be headed to the top of the album charts after her latest record, “Talk That Talk” reached No. 1 on iTunes on Tuesday, one day after its release. The singer released early teasers online as much as a week in advance, helping push the album into the top 10 on iTunes. Fans took to Twitter and Facebook to call the album Rihanna’s best yet. Critical reviews, however, were mixed.

“Talk That Talk” is the sixth studio album from the 23-year-old Barbadian singer, following CDs like “Rated R” and “Loud,” which have seen her steadily evolve from teen pop star to adult performer since her 2005 debut. She has earned international success over the years with singles like “Umbrella,” “Rude Boy” and “What’s My Name.” The 11-track “Talk That Talk” features themes of love and sexuality with a mixture of up-tempo dance tracks and reggae beats on “Where Have You Been,” “Birthday Cake” and “You Da One,” along with ballads “We All Want Love” and “Farewell.”

Rihanna also collaborated with rapper Jay-Zwhose Roc Nation label manages her-on the single “Talk That Talk” and Scottish producer Calvin Harris on chart-topping dance anthem “We Found Love.”

The record also features a sample of British indie rock group The xx’s “Intro” on single “Drunk On Love.”

The singer’s fans were upbeat on Twitter. @OhMy_Kayla said, “This TALK THAT TALK album by @rihanna isby far the best one yet!!!!,, I FREAKING LOVE HER,” and @gabixballa tweeted, “I’ve only been

listening to Talk That Talk since yesterday. Lowkey @rihanna’s best album ever.”

Despite the positive fan reception, critics delivered mostly mixed reviews, acknowledging the singer’s move toward dance music but criticizing the lyrics. New York Times’ Jon Caramanica called the record “the blithest Rihanna album” and criticized the singer’s voice for being “certifiably blank.”

Randall Roberts at the Los Angeles Times gave the album two out of four stars, saying it “contains little sweat, slobber or fluids and a lot of plasticized, inflatable insinuation.”—Reuters

Rihanna

‘The Muppets’ true to absurdist, anarchic style

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s someone who grew up on “Sesame Street,” I often imagined that one day, I’d be able to go through the TV screen and live in a brownstone next to Ernie and Bert and Oscar and Big Bird. So when I saw Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), the new Muppet character from “The Muppets,” have that same dream about following Kermit and Fozzie and Miss Piggy to the other side of the glass, I knew that the Muppets’ return to the big screen was in loving and capable hands. Sure, the plot borrows heavily from “The Muppet Movie” (this time, Kermit has to reunite everyone rather than get the band together) and the TV movie, “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,” wherein an evil financier wants to steal the Muppets’ theater.

This time Chris Cooper’s oil billionaire steps in for Joan Cusack’s banker.

But “The Muppets” has the same brilliant absurdity, anarchic humor, subtle uplift and ensemble comedy that fans have come to expect over the years. Jim Henson may be gone, but a new generation of writers and performers are doing right by his creations. The aforementioned Walter has grown up loving the Muppets, as has his brother and best friend Gary (Jason Segel, who also cowrote the film). Gary takes his longtime girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to LA to celebrate their tenth anniversary, and Walter tags along to see the sights-not that there are many of those to behold at the decrepit Muppet Studios, a moth-eaten shadow of its former self.

Walter sneaks into Kermit’s old office and hears the ruthless Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) detail his plans to buy the studio and the theater under the guise of build-

ing a Muppet museum, even though his real agenda is to tear it all down and dig for oil underneath. Horrified, the smalltown trio track down Kermit (voiced by Steve Whitmire), who’s puttering around a moldering Bel-Air mansion, nostalgic for the past. Walter inspires Kermit to reassemble the Muppets to hold a benefit telethon to save the theater, sending them off to collect Fozzie Bear (voiced by Eric Jacobson), who’s performing with a tribute act called “The Moopets” in Reno; Gonzo (voiced by Dave Goelz), now a successful plumbing-fixtures magnate, and all the rest.

In true Muppet fashion, there’s a montage of tracking down beloved characters-and people in the movie mention the fact that they’re in a montage. But there are challenges, of course: can Kermit convince his estranged girlfriend Miss Piggy (Jacobson) to leave her gig as

plus-size editor at French Vogue to return to the fold? Will the Muppets find a celebrity in Kermit’s 1970s Rolodex to host the telethon? And will Walter figure out what talents he might have in time for the show?

The plot, as you may well imagine, is secondary to the barrage of jokes, songs, fourth-wall violations and occasional celebrity cameos that are part and parcel of the big-screen Muppet experience.

And “The Muppets” gets all of this just right. Several of the new tunes are from “Flight of the Conchords” songwriter Bret McKenzie. “Conchords” vet James Bobin directs the new movie. While Segel-who memorably worked singing puppets into “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”-and Adams are perfectly charming, and totally get into the spirit of things, can we take a moment to acknowledge what a great performer Kermit the Frog is? He’s got one of the most expressive skulls in show business (albeit also one of the softest ones), and he can convey a panoply of emotions just by indenting his temples or folding in his top lip. All of the Muppets, of course, have that gift of smiling by opening their mouths as widely as possible.

There are one or two draggy moments in “The Muppets,” but nothing that will render young audiences any more fidgety than, say, the “Never Before and Never Again” number in the original “The Muppet Movie.” —Reuters

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Queen still reigns 20 years on from Mercury’s death

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reddie Mercury died 20 years ago today but his star has only burned brighter in the two decades since, with Queen and their larger-than-life frontman as popular as ever. The British rockers, marking their 40th anniversary this year, are among the world’s biggest-selling artists ever-with most of their sales coming in the 20 years since Mercury died. Queen’s guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor are busier than ever and Mercury’s songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” still endure as classics.

The Independent on Sunday newspaper said the singer’s death “seemed a mere hiccup in his career”. In the years since, Mercury’s stock has risen, with a new generation of artists citing Queen among their influences, including Lady Gaga, Robbie Williams, Foo Fighters and Muse. Mercury, 45, died at his London home on November 24, 1991. He had been diagnosed HIV positive several years earlier and died of bronchial pneumonia, brought on by AIDS. Queen’s lead singer is remembered for his captivating live performances, spellbinding vocals and enduring hits including “We Are The Champions”, “Killer Queen”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. The jukebox musical “We Will Rock You”, launched in

2002, still plays to a packed house in London and has been staged around the world from Australia to South Africa, Japan, Europe and Las Vegas. With interest still high, a film about Mercury, starring Borat creator Sacha Baron Cohen, is in the pipeline, focusing on the years leading up to Queen’s stellar performance at the Live Aid concert in 1985.

“Even though physically he is not here, his presence seems more potent than ever,” May wrote in a blog marking Mercury’s 65th birthday in September. “He will always epitomize the perfect frontman-the consummate channel of communication between a band and an audience. “He devoured life. He celebrated every minute.

And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come.” In a statement on November 23, 1991, Mercury confirmed from his death bed that he had AIDS. Within 24 hours he had fallen into a coma and passed away, having handled his illness in private and never complained of his suffering.

As one of the highest-profile victims of AIDS, his death brought greater awareness of the virus and helped remove the stigma from a disease now ravaging southern Africa. In a 1987 interview, Mercury told journalist David Wigg he had no fears of

becoming a lonely, rich 70-year-old. “I’ve lived a full life and if I’m dead tomorrow, I don’t give a damn. I really have done it all,” he said. Born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946 to a Parsi Indian family living on the East African spice island of Zanzibar and educated at an English-style boarding school in India, the shy teenager arrived in London when his family fled the 1964 Zanzibar revolution.

The classic image of Mercury is him in his 1986 touring costume, moustachioed and with one fist raised to the sky, a pose captured in the statue of him in Montreux on the Swiss shores of Lake Geneva. When they felt able, his three bandmates painstakingly produced full tracks from scraps of vocals an ailing Mercury had recorded there in 1991, in precious hours when he could muster the strength. Once he could no longer record, Mercury decided to come off his medication.

The subsequent album, “Made In Heaven”, released in 1995, is one of Queen’s best sellers. Facing up to life without Mercury was tough. May plunged into severe depression, having also lost his father and his marriage and contemplated suicide. Like May, Taylor produced two solo albums in the 1990s, but despite their efforts to move on from Queen, they

learned to embrace their legacy. Bassist John Deacon retired in 1997 and has vanished from the public eye, though May and Taylor have his blessing to carry on.

Launching the rock theatrical “We Will Rock You” in 2002 was a gamble that paid off, breathing new life into Queen’s music by allowing fans to enjoy their hits played live. More than 13 million people have seen it worldwide, including 5.5 million at London’s Dominion Theatre. A sequel is planned, using songs not in the existing musical, though the original keeps packing out theatres. Queen went back on the road again in 2005 when they joined forces with former Free singer Paul Rodgers. Their collaboration spawned giant arena tours plus a studio album “The Cosmos Rocks” (2008) before Rodgers returned to his solo career.

One outdoor show in Kharkiv-Queen’s first in Ukraine-played to 350,000 people, highlighting the enduring support for the band.—AFP

Freddie Mercury

David Fincher on his ‘Dragon Tattoo’

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ast year’s holiday movie season seemed to belong to filmmaker David Fincher. His “The Social Network,” struck the zeitgeist among movie goers, critics and awards groups.

Twenty-five days after Fincher completed “Network,” the director found himself in Sweden, shooting “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” It’s the English language adaptation of Swedish author Steig Larsson’s first installment of his popular Millennium thriller series, with tales of avenging sexual violence against women.

Fincher’s version stars Rooney Mara as a young computer hacker helping a journalist (Daniel Craig) crack a case of a missing woman.

The film comes out in theaters December 21, but is already the subject of huge interest among fans. Fincher spoke to Reuters about the film, the Swedish franchise and why he feels he’ll be sitting out Hollywood’s awards season this year.

Rolling Stone names Hendrix best guitarist ever

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egendary musician Jimi Hendrix was named the greatest guitar player in history yesterday by Rolling Stone magazine in a list compiled by a panel of music experts and top guitar players.

“Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage,” said Grammy-winning guitarist Tom Morello in the magazine, citing Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” as key tracks.

Hendrix is joined by the likes of Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend among the top 10, in a list laden with rock ‘n’ roll icons spanning decades. The panel of experts recruited to vote for their favorite guitar players included musicians such as Lenny Kravitz, Eddie Van Halen (who was voted No. 8), Brian May and Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys, along with a selection of Rolling Stone’s senior writers and editors.

The experts also weighed in on their favorites, with Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready calling Eddie Van Halen “a master of riffs” and Joe Perry praising Jimmy Page’s “vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do.” The full list will be featured in a special issue with four special covers of Van Halen, Clapton, Hendrix and Page, and will be on newsstands and online at www.rollingstone.com tomorrow.

Rolling Stone’s top 10 greatest guitarists follow: 1.

Jimi Hendrix 2.

Eric Clapton 3.

Jimmy Page 4.

Keith Richards 5.

Jeff Beck 6.

B.B. King 7.

Chuck Berry 8.

Eddie Van Halen 9.

Duane Allman 10. Pete Townshend—Reuters

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Woody Harrelson

police officers in preparation for his explosive portrayal of a dirty Los Angeles cop. “My biggest hurdle was believing that I could be a cop, because it seemed so unlikely to me,” said Harrelson said during TheWrap Awards Screening Series

Q: You have a 17-year-old daughter. Did this story speak to a protective fatherly instinct in you?

A: “I’m not gonna deny that there are things about Rooney that are similar to different women that I have in my life. I would like to say that I felt compelled for reasons of feel-

Q: How about box office. Do you think the subject matter will affect the film’s ticket sales?

A: “When the book was first given to me in 2006 or something, in galley form, the answer (to the question was), ‘I don’t know.’ It was up my alley, but I didn’t know if anyone was was going to read the book. That ‘I don’t know’ thing is important to me to keep. It’s the secret handshake. The fact that 60 million people have bought the books says to me that there is an audience out there who is okay with adult themes and adult material if it’s done well and it has some human characters at the center of it.”

ing injustice. It’s shocking to me the kind of depravity that the story was talking about.

But it was first and foremost these two characters and the story-this bizarre team, these bizarre lovers, these bizarre avengers. This story has a lot of the trappings of pulpy thriller fiction but it also has deeper roots and deeper resonance.”

Q: Would you like to continue working on the rest of the books and direct the second installment?

A: “At this point, no. But ask me again in two months. I’m so tired right now I can’t think straight. You don’t ask a woman in labor, ‘Do you want another child?’” — Reuters

Q: How is your version different from the Swedish film?

A: “I wholly respect what’s been done in advance of our beginning. But I also think that we brought it a different sensibility to it, a different telling. We’re doing parts of the story that were cut for length or budget in the past. There is a lot of back story and some of that stuff is channeled elsewhere in the Swedish version.”

Q: Do you feel pressure to live up to fans’ expectations?

A: “I live to sidestep feeling pressure. Because if you’re spending $250,000 per day of shooting, you learn to deal with pressure. I feel responsibility to an author who is not going to be able to see the movie. I feel responsibility to a Swedish crew who gave everything, 12 hours a day for 100 days to help put this thing on the screen. I feel responsibility to the actors. We don’t want to stink the place up. Hopefully this version will live alongside the other version.”

Q: There were many actresses vying for the explosive character of Lisbeth Salander. How did you pick Rooney Mara?

A: “I didn’t see Lisbeth like that. I don’t see her as a kick-ass avenger. I see her as damaged goods and very real. I was never looking for her to be Joan Jett. I was looking for, ‘How does a girl who’s been through all the things that this girl has been through-how does she survive, where does she find a moment of happiness, at what point in the movie does she smile’?”

Q: And Rooney answered those questions for you?

A: “These are the things that you turn to some-

Harrelsonbuddied up to cops during Rampart shoot oody Harrelson thinks cops are cool. Well, at least, some of them. Monday night following TheWrap’s “Rampart” screening at the Landmark Theater, the actor told the crowd how he buddied up with two

body, not just because they’re a great actor or because they can pretend well, but because they’re sort of an emotional hanger and you’re putting this character, like a suit of clothes, on it. The wonderful thing about Rooney was it kept exposing itself layer after layer.”

discussion moderated by Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman.

Harrelson rode along with two LAPD officers-”these really cool guys named Jerry and Bob”-and joined them at the shooting range while studying for his role as “Date Rape” Dave Brown. To his gratification, they “mostly bought” his performance. “They seemed to believe me as a cop, the guys I rode along with,” said Harrelson, who hasn’t always gotten along with men in blue in the past.

Director Oren Moverman said he’s heard similar feedback. “I spoke with some excops, and their immediate reaction was, ‘I know that guy’,” the director said. The reaction “Rampart” will draw from police officers- particularly those in LA-was a recurring theme during the Q&A, as the film takes place amid the city’s Rampart corruption scandal in the late 1990s. At the center of the narrative is Harrelson’s hard-core cop, who brutally beats (and even kills) criminal suspects, and tosses out racial and misogynistic epithets with aplomb.—Reuters

Q: Last year “The Social Network” cleaned up during awards season. Do you have any hopes for “Dragon Tattoo” doing the same this year?

A: “No. I honestly don’t think that’s in the cards.

There’s probably too much sodomy in this movie for it to be (a contender). But who knows? Maybe sodomy is big this year.

(Laughs)”

Taylor, Gomez join Swift onstage

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aylor Swift closed her “Speak Now World Tour” with her best friend and the man her parents named her after. The 21-yearold brought out James Taylor and Selena Gomez at her concert Tuesday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Swift said her parents named her after Taylor, and the two performed his hit “Fire and Rain.” Taylor also played the guitar while Swift performed her song “Fifteen.” Gomez joined the country singer earlier in the night, and the two sang a duet version of Gomez’s hit tune “Who Says.” Swift’s tour has featured guest appearances from Nicki Minaj to Usher to T.I. to Jason Mraz. She also performed at MSG on Monday.—AP

Taylor Swift performs onstage during the ‘Speak Now World Tour’ at Madison Square Garden on November 22, 2011 in New York City.—AFP

Clooney, Ronaldo called as witnesses in Berlusconi sex trial

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011

A sign advertising Gaga’s Workshop, a collaborative fashion and lifestyle project between Lady Gaga and Barney’s New York, is displayed at the Barney’s store on East 60th Street in New York on Monday. — AP

NYC stores give the gifts of window entertainment L

ong gift list or short, light wallet or big spender, window shopping is something that can be enjoyed by almost everyone.

Manhattan’s most famous Midtown retailers are known for splashy displays that have become as much a holiday tradition here as the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree or sidewalk Santas. Store executives say they see the windows as their seasonal gifts to the city. “I think New York being what New York is - it’s the window capital of the world - it sees people from all over the world come to New York to experience the holiday,” says Paul Olszewski, Macy’s director of windows.

Some stores have added high-tech twists in recent years. At Bloomingdale’s, cameras have been incorporated into displays, and photos will beam from the windows as well as from the retailer’s Facebook page. At Macy’s there are touch screens to design a 3-D ornament that be sent back to your

mobile phone. “It’s all the kids who totally get how to do this,” Olszewski says. Still, it’s largely left to the reindeer, snowmen and jolly St. Nick to spread the cheer. Some highlights: • Tiffany & Co: Using the familiar (and nearby) Central Park as its reference, Tiffany fashioned a miniature wonderland anchored with a carousel. The carousel animals, including zebras, lions and giraffes, take off in the Christmas Eve sky to deliver holiday gems to presumably good girls and boys.

• Saks Fifth Avenue: Snowflakes and bubbles are the stars here, elaborating on two previously popular themes for the retailer. The windows tell the story “Who Makes the Snow” (the picture book is being sold exclusively at Saks), which features a girl searching for the source of these magical, visual treats. A light show projects against the facade of the building to make it appear as if it is snowing. One-of-a-kind dress-

es by Alexander McQueen, Rag & Bone, Nina Ricci and Olivier Theyskens, among others, add a little fashion to the fantasy.

• Bloomingdale’s: The flagship store on 59th Street uses as its centerpiece some of its vintage shopping bags - made bigger and better with movement that allow passers-by to peer inside. Some of the bags have been reproduced, and a different one will go home with shoppers each week through Christmas.

• Lord & Taylor: Inspired by a 1941 illustration by Carl S. Wilson called “What is Christmas Made Of?,” the store asked local children to draw just what they think constitutes the holiday. The favorites: picking out a tree, trimming it with all the bells and whistles, ice skating in Central Park, building a snowman and waiting for Santa.

They’re among the themes incorporated into windows.

• Macy’s: Designers used many shades of

bears, a moose, wolves, a seal and a mountain goat.

• Barneys New York: To support Gaga’s Workshop, a special Lady Gaga-themed, in-store shop, the windows depict four themes: Gaga Constellation, Gaga Machine, Gaga’s Boudoir and Gaga’s Crystal Cave. The boudoir is built entirely with hair, referencing the superstar singer’s own hairstyles; the cave uses lights to sculpt a mermaid Gaga; the time machine transforms her into nonhuman form; and the constellation features a short film.

• Henri Bendel: Some of the ordinary things that transform New York into an extraordinary scene for the holidays get their due in the Bendel’s windows, including the skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, tiny apartments and Times Square-style neon signs. And the Statue of Liberty shares the stage with a New York Christmas tradition, the Radio City Rockettes. —AP

white as both the backdrop and decoration for each scene, encouraging each passer-by to imagine their own magical holiday moment. The story that moves from window to window starts with a mysterious ship headed to the North Pole, by takes a few detours by the Tree of Wishes and a wish factory before reaching its destination.

• Bergdorf Goodman: Bergdor f always weaves high fashion into its holiday story, but this year it shares the coveted Fifth Avenue space with wild animals visiting the urban jungle. The theme of “Carnival of the Animals” puts a black-and-white lace gown by Marchesa within striking distance of a life-sized paper zebra, ostrich, panda bear, aardvark and peacock. A tropical forest made of metals and mirrors is home to a giant brass birdcage and a dress by Naeem Khan, and a mannequin modeling J. Mendel’s gown surrounds herself with polar

Home Centre Shuwaikh opens

with a rejuvenated look and feel H

Municipal workers construct an artificial New Year tree at the Moscow Red Square, yesterday, with the State Historical Museum in the background. New Year’s is the biggest holiday of the year in Russia, and is followed by the Orthodox Christmas on January 7. —AFP

Management Tip of the Day:

Got irrational colleagues?

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rganizations are composed of people, many of whom act irrationally at times. Don’t let that throw you off your game, says Harvard Business Review. The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (http:\\www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters. “It’s frustrating to watch a colleague behave irrationally, whether it’s refusing to follow a policy or failing to recognize a good idea. But people have reasons for doing things, even if you don’t fully understand. Next time a colleague can’t consider a completely reasonable suggestion, try these two things: 1. Don’t insist on rationality. It will only further frustrate you and make the other person defensive. No matter how many well-constructed arguments you offer, you won’t progress until you understand your colleague’s point of view.

2. Figure out the other person’s rationale. Resistance to logic always comes from somewhere. Find out what is motivating your coworker, whether it’s conscious or unconscious. Then you can address the underlying issues.” * Today’s management tip was adapted from “Embrace Your Irrational Colleagues” by Ron Ashkenas. — Reuters

ome Centre Kuwait, the leading retailer in furniture and home furnishings, today unveiled a refreshed store fit-out implementing the up-to-date look and feel of the brand. This event was attended by VIP guests, Landmark officials and the media. Saibal Basu, Chief Operating Officer, Landmark Group Kuwait, said, “The last year has seen some large and exciting changes taking place at Home Centre. The brand’s underlying principle of warm service and welcome are still firmly in place but the look and feel have been strongly enhanced. Over the years we have grown considerably and the renovation encompasses our commitment to our customers in Kuwait and the region. The newly refurbished store provides a platform for our continued development and excellence in the market.”

The unveiling of the new identity of the Home Centre brand in Kuwait earlier this year, preceded the implementation of the new retail project. The newly fitted out Shuwaikh outlet will be followed by similar roll outs across the brand’s retail network in the region.

“Kuwait is now part of a new chapter in the history of Home Centre, as our home-grown brand evolves into an international concept. The re-branded store is much more than just a new logo; it symbolises our growth and commitment towards serving our customers with a better store

experience. Our new look reflects the modern and dynamic nature of the region today,” says Aarti Jagtiani, General Manager, Home Centre.

The design strategy was developed to create spaces within the store that evoke the same experiences and feelings which are reflected in the brand’s new tagline, ‘Find your Home in Ours’. The new store format infuses a sense of warmth and comfort while creating merchandise zones which

replicate the many facets of our home living.

Since its opening in 1996, Home Centre Kuwait has been consistent in providing customers a superior shopping experience. Innovations and customer service also led to the brand being voted as a Superbrand in Kuwait in 2010. Having grown from strength to strength, Kuwait now has four stores in Al Rai, Kuwait City, Fahaheel and Shuwaikh spanning a retail area of 186,883 sq ft.

Photos show the opening of the Home Centre Kuwait in Shuwaikh. —Photos by Yasser Al-zayyat.