25 Nov 2011

The mystery behind misbah

11

Beckham eyes PSG

61

FR EE

4

Saleh orders Yemen deaths probe after exit deal

Max 21º Min 07º

www.kuwaittimes.net

NO: 15279- Friday, November 25, 2011

Egypt military says sorry SEE PAGE 1٢

CAIRO: An Egyptian woman shouts slogans during a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square yesterday as Egypt's military rulers apologised for the deaths of demonstrators at the hands of police and a truce brought calm back to the outskirts of the square. — AFP

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Local Spotlight

Be grateful, it’s Thanksgiving!

Just kiddin’, seriously

Sweating the make-up out

By Muna Al-Fuzai

By Sahar Moussa

muna@kuwaittimes.net

sahar@kuwaittimes.net

T

he American people celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. The day is usually celebrated with good food and drink. Some of us actually remember to be thankful for all the blessings they enjoy all year long.

Now, I was recently asked if I could name one or two important things that I am really grateful for. My list was really long. Does that make me greedy? What should we be really thankful about?

Health: If you think about all the people whose lives are confined to wheelchairs owing to an accident or illness, we should be grateful that we are fit.

Wisdom: This comes second on my list because few have the wisdom to do the right thing at the right time. In the course of our life, we may make mistakes. However, it is better to be responsible and fix them in the best manner possible.

Children, when they are young, take away your heart.

As they grow older, they become part of your life till you die. Their happiness becomes yours. Being able to give unconditional love is amazing and it is a blessing that parents need to be thankful about.

When it comes to what I wish I had, I’d like to keep some things a secret! That aside, I really hope to achieve success in the coming year. Success, in all aspects of life is of tremendous importance to me. Success is not about passing an exam or having a career. It is about garnering accomplishments that make you feel proud. You would want to face the mirror and feel good about yourself.

Also, I wish to see a happy ending to everything. It brings a smile to the face and comfort to the soul.

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody.

“I

don’t understand why women come to the gym wearing so much make-up, I do admit it distracts us men, but I guess they do it with the intention - ‘to distract!’” said Yusuf, a fitness enthusiast.

When I asked male friends about what they felt, the unanimous response was: “We prefer women who look natural.” When I sought a girlfriend’s opinion, she rolled her eyes and said, “What men don’t understand is that to get that ‘natural’ look, it takes three hours of makeup!”

Although I find it hard to believe them, most men actually stare at women who are colorfully made up like clowns, wear high heels and have performed some serious changes to their noses, lips and places below the neck. So I always wonder if the girl who looks plain has a chance when compared to an ‘unnatural’ one! Men who are seriously looking for long-term relationships prefer a natural beauty who has taken care of herself well.

I’m not against wearing make-up. I love women who pamper themselves, look classy for a business meeting or a dinner and fix their hair and apply neat, nice makeup. But I am against those women who arrive at a gym, parading themselves as if in a beauty competition with ‘pancaked’ faces. They would need turpentine to remove it all! How do they manage to sweat it through four layers of make-up?! Don’t they know about the damage it causes to skin?

I still can’t forget the image of a girl I saw while at the gym trying hard to burn those extra calories on the treadmill. There I was, almost drowned in my sweat, with sticky hair and a ruddy face thanks to the exertion.

She wore a very tight-fitting training suit, pulled back her hair extension (for a second, I thought that she was Kim Kardashian’s twin), glued on very thick and long fake eyelashes that extended to her eyebrows, masked her face with thick foundation, powder and red lipstick, (not forgetting lip liner, of course). She then got on to the treadmill. I felt I was watching a slow motion scene from a movie. Trust me, I’m not making a mountain out of a molehill.

Women, I know it’s a tough judgmental world out there, but do you feel comfortable coming to the gym dressed like that? Isn’t it enough that we try so hard to compete with each other, actually forgetting how comfortable it is to be in our own skin? Men will appreciate women more if they look natural, confident and selfassured. It only shows how secure you feel without the help of your painting kit.

Men at the gym should try not to brag about their muscles by lifting extra weights, swinging on the pull-up bar or making unnecessary grunting noises to impress a woman they like in the gym. The face you are vying for may just be hidden beneath a veil of make-up.

In my view

Has no one considered it an issue before?

By Lisa Conrad

lisa@kuwaittimes.net

O

CD hygiene sufferers rejoice: some obsessive behavior isn’t as illogical as many insist.

Hand-washing, one of the simplest tasks everyone (hopefully) undertakes on a daily basis, may require more attention than many assume.

Washing your hands, and then touching the potentially dirty washroom door handle (thanks to those with lower standards of hygiene), is completely redundant. Why wash them and then re-infect them with the bacteria of not one, but many, other people? What’s worse is that your hands are still slightly damp after washing them. Perfect. What’s better for bacteria multiplication than warm, damp hands, freshly coated in a film of community bathroom bacteria?

When previously attempting to explain this undeniably logical point, colleagues, friends and family had put it down to obsession, insisting that refusing

to touch a washroom door-handle was excessive.

Imagine my satisfaction when a friend recently recounted her experience with her doctor after falling unwell. How, she asked him, had she come down with an infection? Her immunity, she insisted, was high. She took her vitamins and exercised regularly. Despite the obvious point that anyone can fall ill at any time, without much explanation, she pressed her practitioner until he provided her with an answer.

“Some harmful bacteria lurk around in every day places,” he said. “If you touch the door handle in a public washroom, for example, you risk picking up really harmful bacteria. If someone has an infection, and didn’t wash their hands, that bacterium is potentially still sitting there. It’s very possible to contract illnesses that way.” As my friend shared her experience with me, I realized that my ‘logic’ had been, all

along, very logical. It actually is risky, and unhygienic, to grab public washroom door handles, the doctor confirmed. Countless people insist that certain practices, or the avoidance of them, make sense. When they go against the ‘norm’ many insist that they’re illogical, extreme or obsessive. However, it’s important to keep in mind that, occasionally, these obsessive, extreme people are actually pointing out a valid issue that just hasn’t crossed your mind yet. Had I found this information before World Hand Washing Day, I would have synchronized the release of this article with it but, alas, it passed already.

Nevertheless, it’s never too late to join the hoards of obsessive compulsives already avoiding door handles near and far, especially those in public washrooms. When it becomes a ‘norm,’ which it will, feel free to refer back to this with shock at how no one considered it an issue before.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

From the editor’s desk

Conspiracy Theories

Can’t take my eyes off of you

Slipping into a state of chaos

By Badrya Darwish

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

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

I

have been dying for the weekend to come so I could write on this topic because our editor Velina refused to take it during the week. She is worried about your taste, guys, saying that people are protesting in Cairo and Syria and that there are threats in Kuwait with parliamentarians barraging the parliament. She asked me, “You want to write about beautiful eyes amongst the news of violence, revolutions and dead bodies? Sorry, Badrya but you have to write it for the Friday Times.” I think she is right. So here we are.

Maybe by now you know the news that mutawa (moral police) in Saudi Arabia intend to ask women who have beautiful eyes to cover them when in public. I laughed my head off at this news. I can’t stop thinking why the mutawa who are supposed to be religious people stare at the eyes of women. Actually, in Quran there is a verse that says: “Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah the Almighty is acquainted with what they do.” (in Surat Al-Noor Aya 30) Mutawa in particular are ordered not to stare at women when they are in the market or anywhere else in public. A mutawa should turn his face and not stare. I think if he behaves himself according to Islam, women will not have to cover their eyes when they walk in public as per the intention. And plus, who decides on the degree of beauty of a girl’s eyes? I find this awfully insensitive towards women. It is an insult, too. Would that mean if we see a woman on the street with covered eyes, her eyes are beautiful and the one walking without a veil has eyes which are not pretty?

After all, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. What a mutawa!

The news did not specify how the woman should cover her eyes. Is she supposed to wear sunglasses even after sunset or do the mutawa mean that she should throw a veil over her face? In this case even mubarqaa women (those covering their nose and mouth but show their eyes) should cover

more. I am sure you know what mubarqaa is. Even this type of veiling does not satisfy the mutawa in Saudi Arabia. A woman will be strolling like a walking tent. At least it suits some mubarqaas. Even poetry in the history of Arabia speaks about the beautiful eyes of mubarqaa women.

They think it is charming. Because the rest of the face is covered, you cannot tell if she has a nice nose, beautiful mouth or forehead. So, if the rest of her face is not proper then her personality is conveyed through the eyes. It is considered sensational to show the eyes. The mutawa want to deprive people of that enjoyment, too.

I think the mutawa should address more serious issues instead of always worrying about the beauty of women and what women can and cannot show. Hey, girls, if you have beautiful eyes you should hide them because if the situation in the country continues to be like this, we might end up having our own mutawa, God forbid.

Satire Wire

Foodie or ‘foodaholic’?

By Sawsan Kazak

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

F

or as long as I can remember, I have had a fondness for food that is unsurpassed by any other aspect of my life. I prided myself on being a true foodie. Food is what gets me out of bed in the morning, gets me through the day, it’s what keeps me entertained on TV, and food is what has me dreaming all night long. I enjoy every aspect of food, from fine-dining to fast-food and everything in between.

Recently while eating lunch and planning what I was going to have for breakfast the next day, a friend of mine commented that I was such a ‘foodaholic.’ To which I protested furiously ‘I am a foodie, thank you very much.’

You might be asking yourself what is the actual difference.

Well, one implies I enjoy good food and give it the respect it deserves; the other entails a problem with a substance, a misuse of it if you will.

Being a foodaholic would mean I need help with my

‘problem,’ a support group, a twelve-step program and a detox session. Being addicted means the inability to control myself around this substance and that food is in control of me and not the other way around. I couldn’t be addicted to food; I adore it too much to misuse it.

I always thought that my love affair with food was a healthy one, with distinct boundaries. A relationship that has give-and-take; one where both parties benefit from each other. But recently I have noticed that my love has slowly evolved into a fixation. Could it be that I don’t eat to live but rather live to eat?

I eat when I am happy, sad, sleepy, confused and indifferent. The majority of my salary goes into purchasing of ingredients to make food, restaurants and order-ins and to top it all off, food is constantly on my mind. If you replace food with any other substance, the above is the perfect description of an addict. But I guess every passion borders on obsession and it’s hard to draw a distinct line between the two. I have to come to terms with it. My name is Sawsan and I’m a foodaholic (Hi Sawsan, the Foodaholic Anonymous Group replies).

myopinion@kuwaittimes.net

R

evolutions, acts of retaliation and strikes are normally the result of unfairness or oppression, be it economical or political. When these forms of retaliation turn violent, it means that the oppressed have reached a level of desperation and have nothing to lose.

As a Kuwaiti, I have access to free education, free medical service, free basic food items for a year and a half, and even after that, it is subsidized, a liter of petrol is probably 10 times cheaper than bottled mineral water, landline telephones are charged at a fixed annual fee of KD 30 (equivalent of KD 2.5 per month). Water and electricity are offered at extremely low subsidized rates and nobody ever bothers to pay them.

Also as a Kuwaiti, I really can’t complain about paying taxes because no income tax is paid and import tax is one of the lowest in the world. As a Kuwaiti, I am entitled to several benefits like government grants to study abroad, government accommodation (which is a house and not a flat), unemployment allowance, employment allowance which increases depending on the level of education, marital status and number of children you have, a staterun pension scheme for which I pay peanuts on a monthly basis because the government pays the rest and the list goes on.

As a Kuwaiti, I am a free and proud person who does not have to worry about any political oppression by the government or its security forces, as we are not a policerun state. In fact, Kuwaitis hardly pay any regard to the police. I have to bow down to no one but God and even that, I do willingly. When it comes to freedom of the press, we are leading the way in the region and are even ahead of Israel, as a matter of fact.

Looking at last week’s events, it seems that as a Kuwaiti I also have the right to crash into Parliament, manhandle security forces, throw the blame on opposition MPs and walk away!

Enough is enough! Kuwait is a spoilt nation and what the opposition blocs are doing seems like a rich man’s revolution that is fueled by greed and money, followed by a bunch of bored spoilt kids. Yes, there are always disputes and room for reforms, but all that can be resolved in Parliament where the majority rules. I am yet to see a majority vote of no-confidence in the current Prime Minister since he has passed all the previous ones. I am beginning to sense we have a clear case of ‘sore loser’ in the opposition who continuously refuses to accept the vote of the majority in Parliament.

If there is one thing I agree with the opposition blocs, it is about the weakness of the government. I don’t understand why some MPs are still walking free after they have clearly broken the law and the privacy of many other MPs’ offices; by breaking into Parliament, attacking the guards on duty and going through private and confidential papers.

The problem we are facing in Kuwait is that many people think that they are above the law. The fact that the government deals with them leniently and tries to be diplomatic with all sects of the society has fuelled the audacity of the opposition, which they have interpreted as a sign of weakness.

The government has to react like for like and do it soon because Kuwait is slipping into a state of chaos.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

By Sawsan Kazak

I

n a store tucked away between two buildings in Salmiya, Mohammed Abo Garbe sits in his misbah shop which is named after himself (Abo Garbe). As he toils away with the beads of a broken misbah, Abo Garbe speaks of his 17 years in the field of misbah sales and repair.

The misbah is rosary beads strung together with a slight space between each bead so that they can be moved back and forth. Solely used for religious purposes before, these days the misbah has become a necessary accessory and somewhat of a status symbol. Men in Kuwait, both young and old alike can be seen with a misbah in their hands. Whether in a coffee shop, diwaniya or at the mall, many men will always have a misbah on hand.

“I learnt this profession from my father and my uncles,” says Abo Garbe. The store is lined with multicolored misbah made from different precious stones as well as strings in every color. “Each precious stone is derived from a different part of the world,” explains Abo Garbe. “Like the amber stones come from places like Poland, Russia, Germany, Ukraine; basically the Baltic Sea region. This is the main source of amber in

the world. There are other stones that come from South America, countries like the Dominican; cobalt for instance comes from Mexico. There are some items we get from the sea like the pearl or Marjan,” Abo Garbe says.

Like many items in Kuwait, the prices can range from a few dinars to hundreds and even thousands of Kuwaiti Dinars. “We have them from the average to the extraordinary; but of course here in Kuwait people search out the unique types of misbah like the natural stones, the rare pieces and antiques; antiques usually came from Istanbul, Iraq, Egypt,” says Abo Garbe.

Handmade to order Abo Garbe prides himself on the fact that his shop not only sells misbah but they also fix broken or damaged ones and make some from scratch. “There are some misbah that we get already made because some materials are hard to come by or hard to work with. However, there are

some we make here ourselves as in we get the material in rock form and we make the beads ourselves, string them and make the whole misbah here,” explains Abo Garbe.

“Most of them we have here are hand-made, some to order, depending on what the buyer is looking for. A misbah is a matter of taste and usually custom-made to fit the personality of the person that is going to hold it. A person can choose the stone he wants, the shape of the bead, the size of the bead, the color of the string, how many beads or even how long he wants the misbah to be,” says Abo Garbe.

The amount of beads strung on to the misbah depends on the preference of the holder and sometimes even the religion; some religions call for longer misbah than others. “There are also different types of rosary beads. There is the Greek style, Christian style, Islamic just to name a few.

The basic misbah would have 17 beads and could go up to cost hundreds. There are some that have 33, 41, 45, 66, 99 and sometimes even more than that,” says Abo Garbe.

The misbah shop owner recalls the largest misbah he ever made: “We once made a misbah for a Sufi client that went up to 5,000 beads; that was quite an accomplishment,” says Abo Garbe. “Sufis usually have misbah that are special orders

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

because the misbah has thousands of beads strung onto one string. This is because when they pray, a few dozen people sit around in a circle and all pray on the same misbah; this is why they need such long misbah,” explains Abo Garbe.

Decorative touch At the end of the misbah there is usually a decorative tassel. Some are made using strings, others with chains depending on the style or region of the world you are in. Traditionally in the Gulf, the misbah are adorned with string tassels. Tassels hang in the corner of a store in every color and shape. “We hand-make all of our tassels here and

KUWAIT: Abo Garbe shows off the misbah in his shop. Various misbah are pictured all across his store. — Photos by Sawsan Kazak

in fact are known for our tassels,” says Abo Garbe proudly. “We can make them in any color and with any type of string, from silk to cotton,” Abo Garbe says, adding “We even get orders from outside Kuwait,” Abo Garbe says of the locally handmade tassels.

The trend A large number of the misbah in the store were made with beads in different shades of yellow, which Abo Garbe explains are the misbah made with amber stones. “Amber is a very popular stone for misbah, especially the older antique ones,” says Abo Garbe. He has, however, noticed a trend in Kuwait where black misbah are gaining in popularity; as well as those made with natural sea stones like Marjan. Some mishah are even made with materials that give out pleasant scents, such

as brown wood beads made with things like sandalwood.

The number of people buying misbah has grown exponentially according to Abo Garbe.

“Before, young boys never used to really pay much attention to the misbah; they would just borrow one from their fathers or uncles; it was

somewhat considered to be a tradition for older men. But now the new generation highly regards the misbah and have made it an essential in their lives. They are interested in the shape, design, and materials used,” he explains.

Abo Garbe is surprised to see how knowledgeable the younger boys are about the making of a misbah. “Kuwaitis in general are usually knowledgeable about the different types of misbah and the various quality levels. Many Kuwaitis could be in a diwaniya and see a misbah from afar and know what the material is and what it is worth.

But in the past few years, my clients have got younger and more knowledgeable and investing in high quality misbah,” Abo Garbe says about the new trend.

Traditionally in the Kuwaiti culture, the misbah was reserved for men, or solely for prayer when it came to women, but this tradition is slowly changing. “I have noticed a new trend in the past five years, girls have been coming in and buying misbah for themselves. This is a new phenomenon as I hadn’t seen that before a few years ago.

Apparently the women have been carrying their own misbah when in the company of other women. They are interested in quality misbah, in certain colors and shapes,” says Abo Garbe.

Adding “women are also taking pride in their misbah and are not settling for anything less than high quality and trendy styles.”

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Local

Virtual high

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

KUWAIT: Velina Nacheva (left) is captaining a flight to Hong Kong as a photographer captures her in Flight Experience’s cockpit of Boeing 737-800 with first Officer Nathan Wells.

Living the dream with Flight Experience

By Velina Nacheva

I

eagerly strapped myself in the captain’s seat of Boeing 737-800. Slowly bringing the jet engines to a roar, guiding the jetliner to taxi into a take-off position, I almost felt the aircraft meandering on the runway. When I pulled the yoke back and raised the nose of the huge machine, I slowly propelled the world’s most popular jet into the air. I was instantly seized by an adrenaline rush. The jetliner’s climb started cutting through the clouds, high into the sky. It felt almost real looking at the high fidelity of the 3D visuals from the cockpit of the Middle East’s first flight simulator located on the top of 360 Mall in Kuwait.

Feeling at ease at the flight-deck, I was holding the thrust levers with one hand and the yoke with the other. Soon after switching on and off a few lights on the control board, checking the fuel and altitude indicators on the navigation display, and pushing the levers forward, my crew of two departed Kuwait Airport en route to Hong Kong one of the 24, 000 airport locations available as a destination of choice. As a newbie I wanted to challenge myself with a difficult airport to land, hence we headed to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport - one of the most haphazard runways in the world.

The take-off switched my brain to a state of meta-awareness and excitement, and I almost forgot I was piloting the true replica of the Boeing 737-800 jetliner. It looked and felt real. I was carefully navigating the flight under the instruction of Nathan Wells, my personal instructor and first officer on the flight who coached me into landing at the airport. Under Officer Nathan’s careful supervision, I took over the flaps and the control board in the cockpit and prepared for descent. Our crew gradually brought back the aircraft to the ground, ending the almost 30-minute journey. As the daughter of a commercial airline pilot who was raised in the cockpit (more figuratively than literally) and a globetrotter at heart, I can safely say that this was the closest experience to flying without taking off.

Becoming a jetliner pilot My flight from Kuwait to Hong Kong was just one of many options that wannabe fliers can choose from at Flight Experience in 360 Mall.

“Everything that you see in this flight simulator is what you see in the cockpit of the real aircraft,” said Nathan, adjusting his headphones during the pre-flight instruction. Nathan explains that flight simulator packages can be tailored to suit the knowledge and experience of a wannabe flier. A newbie can opt for a scenic flight that features take-off and landing circuits or a 60-minute ‘city flier’ choice demonstrating what it is like to be a realworld pilot with a practice of take-offs and landings in challenging weather conditions. On the other hand, flying enthusiasts are shown into the pilots’ lingua, cockpit orientation, airline procedures and auto-flight systems.

“The whole idea is to give people a chance to fly an aircraft. It gives them a chance to see what’s going on in the cockpit. It is a unique experience,” said Iain Pero, Director of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Development with Flight Experience. He further explained that various educational scenar-

ios in the cockpit, such as turbulence, heavy snowfall, crosswind, emergency or engine failure are also included in the Flight Experience’s options.

Some 900 ‘pilots’ have tried Flight Experience since the simulator opened doors to customers six months ago. Women, men, real world pilots, flying enthusiasts and children have captained a flight to various destinations. “Some of the most popular routes here are Las Vegas. Heathrow and New York,” explains Nathan.

“In five hours, you can learn how to fly alone and fly circuit operations,” Nathan explained.

Cataloguing four or five hours in the air, Nathan says, allows a pilot to fly ‘solo’ without an instructor on any simulator around the world. The simulator in Kuwait, I was told, conforms to various flight training device standards. Pilots are able to use it to assist with interview preparations and jet transitions. For me it was the choice to live my dream and fly a plane. Upon disembarking the aircraft, Nathan shared something that still echoes in my head. He said, “It is a cool opportunity to instill aviation passion in other people.” This, in a nutshell, is what Flight Experience is all about.

‘As a newbie I wanted to challenge myself with a difficult airport to land, hence we headed to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport - one of the most haphazard runways in the world’

C a r : K D 2 0 ,000 Phon e : K D 199

fe: Your Li

Drive Now. Talk Later.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Local

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Passport to preferential treatment?

Everyone knows that nationality hierarchy is prominent here, but to what extent?

By Lisa Conrad

E

xperiences of prejudice and stereotyping always depend on two key factors: the host society and your ethnicity and nationality. This creates a wide array of differential treatment depending on who you are, and where you happen to be. Kuwait is no exception in this issue, and has its very own hierarchy of ethnicity at play. Kuwait Times interviewed an array of expatriates and citizens to gain some insight on how much nationality and ethnicity come into play in society here, making life much easier for some, and unbearable for others.

Western expats “My life is easy here,” said 29year-old American expatriate, Mona.

“Nationality makes a huge difference, and being American makes your life a lot easier. I know that it’s harder for me to be pigeon-holed into a problem, whereas others are much more vulnerable.” Mona, who has been living in Kuwait for two years, said that having an American passport has affected every single aspect of her life here. “I’m paid more at work because I’m American, I’m very sure of that. There’s somewhat of an allure about Americans here which, given the current circumstances in the States at the moment, makes it great for us.”

English expat Luke agreed, “You do get better treatment here if you’re Western, especially English or American. I think the Americans are favored for their ties with Kuwait, but the English are also really respected, especially since so many Kuwaitis love the UK.” Shaymaa, a 24-year-old Kuwaiti national, said “I think many of us like the Western culture and mentality. Kuwait is very Americanized anyway, and the UK is close enough that we can take quite frequent trips there. The problem with this preference for Westerners, however, is that it’s always assumed that Westerners are better and smarter than everyone else and sometimes good candidates aren’t taken as seriously because of their nationality.

American Mona added that not only does she feel that her nationality contributes to her sense of safety, as well as her paycheck, in Kuwait, but it also increases the ease of even the most mundane of tasks, “When I arrive with my mom and we go to get her visit visa, we get jumped to the head of the queue. I’m not particularly proud of that, and we always refuse but they insist, so we go.” She continued, “When I have to handle stuff at one of the Ministries, it’s much easier when I mention my nationality. It literally makes everything way, way easier.” Mona did, however, mention one negative element, “It’s often assumed that American women aren’t very virtuous, and that they’re devoid of religion. That

Arab expats “Kuwaitis do like the Lebanese.

Just look at how many Kuwaitis you see in Lebanon during the summer, there’s huge investment there and it’s not just for the weather, I think

ing on arrogant sometimes, and I think we get some slack for that.”

25-year-old Rena, however, disagreed, “It’s true that the Lebanese are liked in general, but they don’t become friends that are brought into close social circles. I think they are liked but not treated equally.”

She added, “Plus, there are a lot of stereotypes about us which are mentioned and discussed openly.

So yes, there is prejudice.”

A 51-year-old PalestinianJordanian expat, Ahmed, said

nationality than me, but maybe I’d have to travel afterward. You never know what will happen. Even in simple arguments it’s known that if a citizen claims that you insulted the Amir, it’s all over.” Ahmed further explained, “After the invasion, we couldn’t go out on the street because we were so hated. There was a risk you’d be grabbed and killed on the spot. It didn’t matter what your opinions were as an individual, what mattered was that you were a Palestinian, Jordanian pass-

they really love the culture and lifestyle of Lebanon,” said 31-yearold Lebanese expatriate, Aseel. She continued, “I get the feeling that we’re seen as good communicators, which is why people usually associate charm, and sales, with the Lebanese.” However, she further added, “There is some stigma attached to us here. The Lebanese are extremely confident, even verg-

“There is a serious superiority complex here. I’ve been here my whole life and the feeling I get is that any expat is treated as a lesser-being, except Western expats.” He further added that the power differences between nationalities dictate what he can, and cannot, say in different situations, “I’d stand up for myself in an argument or problem with someone holding a ‘stronger’

port or not.” He added, “You still feel some anger or dislike sometimes, but it depends on the person of course.”

can be really annoying; it’s as if you’re walking around with a big red target begging for attention if you look Western. It’s inconvenient but also really insulting when you feel a snap-judgment has been made.”

Asian expats It would be safe to say that Asian expatriates suffer some of the worst prejudice in the country. A 35-yearold Indian expatriate, Rajesh, said “There’s the assumption here that

all Indians are laborers. We’re treated in a totally different way, and it’s so obvious.” He continued, “Just look at the roads and how people drive. If it’s an Indian driver, they get beeped at continuously and people always flash their lights to make them move. Plus if there’s an accident there’s no way the Indian driver will be sided with, regardless of what happened.” 50-year-old Prasad added, “We have very close ties with Kuwait that span across decades, but the relationship has really changed in some ways. There are many very powerful Indians here, but the only association with us is laborers. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with doing labor work anyway, but it gets no respect here and many are mistreated.” The difference in the treatment of Indians in Kuwait was highlighted in the story of an elderly Indian expat who came in to Kuwait Times’ office personally to ask advice after he had been told to wait over a year for a doctor’s appointment, “They told me, ‘Go, get out of here!’ when I complained,” he had explained.

Many Filipino expats also reside in Kuwait, but, according to 32-yearold John, they don’t get as much prejudice, “I don’t think there’s that much prejudice against us here; we’re treated quite well most of the time.” He added, however, “There was an occasion when a group of Filipino friends and I were rejected from a sports tournament because we were Filipino. They said the tournament was only for Kuwaitis. It was sponsored and organized by a major company, so we were shocked when they refused us.” He continued, “I haven’t felt a lot of prejudice here personally, but there is definitely the sense that you are inferior. It’s not a direct attack kind of thing, but it is a continuous feeling. Only Westerners are considered equal to locals.” 41-year-old Mary insisted, “You have to be careful from the start. If you give the impression that you’re inferior or subservient, then you will be treated accordingly. It’s better to take pride in your job, whatever it is, and just go on with your day-to-day life.” She added, however, “If prejudices or stereotypes become extreme, like your boss assuming you’re so desperate for you salary and scared of getting fired that you won’t complain if they delay it or slash it, then it’s a problem.”

The solution to these problems is still unknown, as reports of rules and regulations being introduced are shadowed by a steady stream of stories revealing prejudices, many of which lead to violations and abuse. For some the nationality hierarchy in Kuwait places them in a position of power and presents them with a life laden with much more ease and respect than they would expect in their own home country. For others, it presents a choice that forces them to decide between happiness and survival.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

News

in brief

Finance ministry ready to implement new strategy KUWAIT: Ministry of Finance announced yesterday that it is ready to implement a new strategy based on financial and economic stability in order to realize the country’s developmental goals. The ministry said in a press statement that the strategy aims at turning the ministry to a “more professional” organization which sets comprehensive financial and economic policies for the country, saves spending on developmental investments and restructures the country’s financial system through implementing modern management methods. The ministry is working on setting up a timeframe for achieving these goals, the statement noted.

Blood bank open on new Hijri year holiday KUWAIT: Kuwait Central Blood Bank (KCBB) will continue working during the new Hijri year holiday, director of the KCBB Dr Reem Al-Radhwan said yesterday. Al-Radhwan added in a press statement that the bank will receive blood donors during the holiday from 8:00 am until 1:00 pm. She noted that this decision is made to guarantee there is no shortage of any blood type during the holiday as well as to help maintain a healthy strategic reserve.

Kuwait’s envoy reviews developments SARAJEVO: Kuwait’s Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Mohammad Khalaf reviewed yesterday the state of Kuwait’s civil, architectural, and democratic advancements over the past few decades. This was during a lecture held at Sarajevo University, at the philosophy college, on the occasion of “Italian Language Day.” “Kuwait has made tremendous efforts to catch up with advanced countries through developing its democratic institutions and modernizing the infrastructures according to international standards,” the Kuwaiti ambassador noted. He further said that progress has been made in all aspects of life in the country, especially relating to the healthcare and education sectors. The Kuwaiti ambassador recalled Kuwait’s goal of realizing the potential of local talent and diversifying national recourses to further develop and advance the country’s living conditions.

Kuwait can benefit from China’s experiences: Safar KUWAIT: Minister for Public Works and Municipal Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar yesterday said Kuwaiti cadres would seek to benefit from China’s expertise and experience with projects to do with airports, bridges, and recycling facilities. He told KUNA he looks forward to an Arab-Chinese forum which is to be organized by the Arab Towns Organization (ATO) aiming at exchange of expertise in these fields. Safar had earlier met with first vice chairman of the China-Arab friendship association and his accompanying delegation, visiting the country upon invitation of the ATO. Anesthesia conference kicks off with international participation KUWAIT: Ministry of Health launched yesterday Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Treatment Conference, with an international participation, to ameliorate medical care in the country. The Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Dentistry Affairs Dr Yousef Al-Dwairi, said on behalf of the Health Minister Hilal Al-Sayer, that Kuwait always strives to offer the best and latest healthcare services to people. He emphasized that since anesthesia, intensive care and pain treatment are some of the most important medical specialties, therefore; the ministry focuses on brining the best international talents on these fields to the country. The conference will focus on some of the major issues of intravenous anesthesia, outpatient anesthesia, anesthesia for open heart surgeries and anesthesia on children. On his part, Head of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit at the Ministry Dr Mohammad Shamsah said that the conference will include intensive workshops at Adan and Mubarak hospitals and the Holiday Inn Hotel. Some of the best international talents that are taking part in this conference are from Europe, the United States, and Arab countries.— KUNA

US military gets set to bring troops home faster from Iraq About 1,200 troops permanently based at Camp Virginia CAMP VIRGINIA: The US military is ordering that soldiers crossing from Iraq into Kuwait be returned home at a faster rate, a move that comes as commanders work to break up a bottleneck of troops who have been pouring across the border ahead of a year-end deadline to withdraw, CNN has learned. “The order is to have these soldiers off the ground in Kuwait as soon as possible,” a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN. The official, based in Kuwait, was not authorized to speak to the media.

“They don’t want these soldiers sitting around here. They want them home.” The official did not immediately know whether the military was moving up or adding flights for troops from Kuwait. The order follows President Barack Obama’s announcement last month that he would pull virtually all troops from Iraq by year’s end, meeting the terms of a US-Iraqi security pact that set a December 31, 2011, withdrawal deadline.

Kurds anxious over withdrawal The president’s announcement followed news that negotiations to extend the deadline broke down after Iraq’s top political leaders refused to grant US troops legal immunity, opening up the prospect of soldiers being tried in Iraqi courts and being subjected to Iraqi punishment. Of the approximate 11,000 troops in Iraq, down from the 50,000 three months earlier, only about 150 will remain after the deadline to assist in arms sales, a US official previously told CNN. The road home for most troops will require them to cross from Iraq, either by convoy or airplane, into Kuwait.

There, they will turn in equipment before starting the journey back to the United States. The move to rotate soldiers more quickly out of Kuwait also is aimed at placating the oil kingdom.

Kuwait has long been concerned that the US military doesn’t increase its footprint in the country.

Since mid-October, troops have been rolling almost every day into Camp Virginia, a short distance from the very border crossing used in the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

About 1,200 troops are permanently based at Camp Virginia. The population has swelled, at times, to more than four or five times that number.

To accommodate the influx, the dining facilities extended hours of operation, expanded retail hours, opened a second PX, and increased the number of cleaning crews. “We increased the space

CAMP VIRGINIA: Soldiers load their duffle bags onto a shipping container in Kuwait. The road home for most troops requires them to cross from Iraq into Kuwait, where they turn in equipment before starting the journey back to the United States.— CNN available for housing troops, as well as doubled our space for units to perform the administrative work they need to do to redeploy,” said Lt Col Brian Bobo, commander of the 134th Brigade Support Battalion, a Minnesota-based National Guard unit deployed to Camp Virginia. “We also increased showers and latrines to make sure we had enough.”

In Iraq, a US military spokesman says every step in the withdrawal is a “deliberate operation in which we collect intelligence, coordinate with the Iraqi Security Forces, clear routes and ensure that every convoy has ground security and air cover.” “We take that approach because force protection is inherent in every one of our operations, and we’re going to do everything we can to protect our troops,” Army Maj Gen Jeffrey Buchanan, the senior military spokesman for United States ForcesIraq, told CNN. Buchanan said the US withdrawal is

on track, with all troops out of Iraq by year’s end. While Buchanan did not address whether troops were being sent home at a faster rate, he said that the US military in Iraq was working with counterparts in Kuwait to streamline the effort to move troops across the border.

“As a result, we’re able to get them on a plane headed home quicker than before,” he said.

Meanwhile, the US military is moving tens of thousands of pieces of equipment, including armored vehicles and equipment to counter improvised explosives, across the border from Iraq to Kuwait. More than 5,800 armored vehicles are expected to pass through Camp Virginia by year’s end, though it will take months more before the equipment is either shipped back to the US or Afghanistan, said Lt Col Ronald O’Bryant, a liaison officer with the team overseeing the receipt and shipment of equipment at Camp Virginia. — CNN

Foul play involved in tenders: MEW KUWAIT: Sources at the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) said there are suspicions over the procedures of rewarding tenders to supply high voltage cables. Its estimated value is KD 30 million, but was rewarded to a company for KD 36 million, after excluding a company that came up with a lesser price. A third company

was not fined as the tenders law stipulates.

Sources said the Audit Bureau is discussing the manner in which the four companies were tendered; the first was KD 38 million, the second 36.8 million, the third 27.98 million and the fourth KD 22.672 million. They added the market value of the

requested amount is no more than KD 17 million.

The sources added the approval of the tender with a KD 6 million over the estimated value, calls for its cancellation, and will take the matter to the Cabinet for approval since this is beyond the authority of CTC. — Al-Watan

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Local

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Liberals insist Premier must face grilling motion Interior minister asked to quit over disciplinary measures

By B Izzak

Infant’s body unearthed KUWAIT: The corpse of a new-born infant was found by workers who were conducting an excavation at the First Ring Road. They immediately informed police about the event.

The corpse was removed for an autopsy. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the body was buried recently.

Female swindler arrested KUWAIT: A citizen in her fifties was arrested for duping citizens and expats by luring them with non-existent projects that promised high returns. Several complaints were reportedly registered with Sabah Al-Salem police station about an elderly female citizen who coaxed people to be part of the scam. The woman disappeared without a trace and detectives began tracking her whereabouts. Police have learnt that she swindled an amount that totals to KD 250,000.

Drugs seized An Egyptian was arrested in Kheitan with possession of 10 grams of heroin. The man tried to escape upon spotting police and they intercepted him. After conducting a thorough search, the banned substance was found.

He was referred to concerned authorities.

Gamblers arrested Ahmadi police arrested four Asians from their apartments in connection with gambling. Detectives were tipped off on the illegal activities. The gamblers charged KD 5 for a game in the Mahboula. After confirming that gambling was practiced, police raided the apartment.

KUWAIT: The Public Prosecution Department continued yesterday to question over 30 opposition activists in connection with storming the Assembly building. The opposition bloc asked the interior minister to quit over the riot police beating of activists. Liberal groups insisted that the Prime Minister face the grilling motion .

In a brief statement issued after an emergency meeting, the opposition blocs said that the “brutal attack of the special forces on citizens and MPs is rejected and represents a serious infringement on freedoms which requires the interior minister to shoulder responsibility and submit his resignation.”

The statement stipulated that there is no other alternative for the prime minister except to face the grilling motion on November 29, and warned against the government’s attempt to ‘kill’ the grilling motion either by referring it to the legislative committee or by postponing it.

The opposition blocs also warned the council of ministers against adopting an opinion of one of the ministers to lift the immunity of a number of opposition MPs involved in storming the assembly.

They should be detained to prevent them from voting on the planned noncooperation motion filed against the Prime Minister.

Hundreds of opposition group activists meanwhile gathered outside the Palace of Justice late yesterday. The Public Prosecution Department resumed questioning of dozens of activists on charges of storming the National Assembly building on November 16.

It interrogated around 24 activists on Wednesday night and ordered their

detention pending further investigation.

Yesterday, around 10 more activists were either arrested or turned themselves in, raising the number to around 33.

The coordinator for the defense team Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie said that most people were charged with storming the assembly, damaging public property, assaulting police and others for which they face a jail term between six months

KUWAIT: Protestors campaigning against the activists who were arrested for storming the Parliament building are pictured in front of the Palace of Justice yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat and a lifer. Three activists were stopped and arrested at the airport while they were leaving the country whereas others surrendered voluntarily including Kuwait University media professor Ahmad Al-Thayedi.

The Public Prosecution Department earlier in the week issued around 50 arrest warrants. Those under questioning include former Islamist MP Fahad AlKhanna and youth leader Mohammad Al-Bulaihees.

Democratic Alliance signed the statement. Independent Shiite MP Faisal AlDuwaisan meanwhile issued an apology to Saudi Arabia yesterday over a statement he had issued that was misquoted, according to him. Duwaisan was accused of blaming Saudi Arabia of having a hand in the storming of the assembly and the ‘troubles’ in Kuwait because it was disturbed by Kuwaiti democracy.

The lawmaker has denied that he intended to accuse Saudi Arabia.

Policeman ‘kidnapped’ by drunks GCC drug trader arrested

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

Thieves caught Three bedoons and two GCC citizens were arrested in connection with stealing tents used to pitch camps. The trio was spotted by police who were patrolling the deserted area. Police saw them dismantling tents and approached the suspects who attempted to escape. They were caught after a hot chase.

Domestic issues A bedoon (who recently obtained Dutch citizenship) accused his divorced wife, a citizen, of kidnapping his three children. She allegedly refused to return them to his custody after visitation. Investigations into the case are underway.

Illegal sale Farwaniya police arrested an Asian man who sold subsidized food items granted only to citizens. Police were alerted by the presence of a large gathering at an open space in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. Upon approaching, they found the Asian selling subsidized food items. At least 200 kilograms of rice and 100 kilograms of cooking oil were seized from his possession. He was referred to concerned authorities. —Al-Watan

Three liberal groups issued a joint statement yesterday, strongly denouncing the police atrocities committed against citizens outside the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters in Salmiya, insisting that the Prime Minister face the grilling motion initiated against him over allegations of corruption or resign.

The Kuwait Democratic Forum, the Progressive Movement and the National

KUWAIT: The GCC citizen and two bedoons who were arrested by detectives of the General Department for Drug Control (GDDC) are pictured.

— Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: A security source said a policeman in public security was kidnapped for nearly eight minutes and investigations are underway to find out what exactly happened, and why the other policeman did not use the wireless system.

The officer called 112 using his mobile to say a policeman who was with him was kidnapped, when he went to check on a suspicious car. One of the suspects pushed the policeman inside the car before they escaped. The other police officer could not chase them because his patrol car was old.

The two men were later arrested and found drunk, and the car they were in was found to be stolen.

In another development, detectives from the General Department for Drug Control (GDDC) arrested a GCC citizen and two bedoons in connection with possession of drugs and trading. The suspect was arrested with the help of a

decoy customer. At least 100 Keptagon pills were seized from his place of residence. He divulged details to police about the two bedoons that were arrested with 500 grams hashish and 2,000 Keptagon tablets. They were referred to concerned authorities.

Meanwhile, two Kuwaitis, both aged 23, fractured their arms, ankles and thigh bones in a car accident that took place between Nuzha and Dahiyat Abdallah Al-Salem. Both were admitted to Amiri Hospital.

In another incident, a 40-year-old Egyptian sustained a head injury and fractured his right arm in an accident that took place near Abdaly. He was admitted to Jahra Hospital. Also, Two Saudi nationals in their twenties sustained injuries to the head in a car accident that took place in Amgharah.

They were admitted to Jahra Hospital.

A 27-year-old Egyptian also fractured his right ankle after being run over by a car in Fahaheel. He was admitted to Adan Hospital.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Gun issue represents tough politics for Obama

13

Belarus opposition activist convicted

15

Madagascar’s ex-leader ends exile, urges reconciliation

16

SANAA: Protestors run during a demonstration demanding the prosecution Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen yesterday.—AP

Saleh orders Yemen deaths probe Yemeni prez condemns violence SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered a probe after his loyalists killed five people in Sanaa yesterday, a day after he signed a deal to immediately hand all “necessary” powers to his deputy. Saleh, condemning the violence, “ordered the interior ministry to carry out a full investigation” and “bring those responsible for this crime to justice, whatever party they belong to,” the state Saba news agency reported.

He signed a Gulf-brokered deal on Wednesday under which he was to hand all “necessary constitutional powers” to implement it to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi with immediate effect and hold office on an honorary basis only for the coming 90 days. Loyalists of Saleh, who has been in power for three decades, shot dead at least five people in Sanaa yesterday and wounded 34, medics said.

“Yesterday he signs the agreement and today he issues orders. In what capacity is he giving orders?” asked Walid al-Ammari, a spokesman for the youth activists. “He (Saleh)

still orders killings and then appears to say don’t kill,” Ammari said. “We will continue until we have toppled the rest of the regime,” he said.

“We did not start a revolution to keep half of the killers.” Hadi, Yemen’s low-profile vice president for the past 17 years, is “just another arm of Saleh,” Ammari said. The shooting by gunmen in plain clothes came as tens of thousands gathered for a mass protest against promises of immunity from prosecution for Saleh and his family under the UN-backed accord signed with the parliamentary opposition.

The five were all gunned down by live rounds, said medics at a field hospital set up by protesters in Sanaa’s Change Square, where they have been camped out since February. An AFP correspondent said the anti-regime protesters came under fire as they marched towards the city centre, with the demonstrators blaming the attack on Saleh’s “thugs.” Activists behind 10 months of protests had called for a huge protest rally against the promises of immunity under

the deal which the veteran president finally signed in Riyadh after months of prevarication.

The protesters also chanted slogans against the Common Forum parliamentary opposition bloc led by the Islamist party Al-Islah which was the first to sign up to the plan drawn up by impoverished Yemen’s wealthy Gulf neighbors.

“Common Forum, Islah, leave after the assailant,” they shouted, referring to Saleh who is expected to travel straight from the Saudi capital to New York for medical treatment.

The 69-year-old sustained serious blast wounds in a June bombing of his residence and has already received extensive treatment in Saudi Arabia. After the latest killings, the marchers returned to Change Square as proand anti-Saleh gunmen deployed across the capital, sending tensions soaring, residents said.

In Yemen’s second-largest city Taez, another centre of the protests against Saleh, “hundreds of thousands” took to the streets yesterday with similar demands, organisers said, without

reporting any early clashes.

The youths, as the driving force of the protest movement in the face of a bloody crackdown that has left hundreds dead since January, are demanding Saleh and his family face prosecution and that the whole regime be dismantled.

Wednesday’s agreement provides for Hadi to assume “all powers necessary... for organising early elections within a 90-day period.” The opposition is to nominate a candidate to head a government of national unity charged with holding talks with the youth activists. World leaders including those of the United States and Italy have called on both sides in Yemen’s protracted power struggle to seize on the opportunity of the Riyadh agreement to end the bloodshed.

“For 10 months, the Yemeni people have courageously and steadfastly voiced their demands for change in cities across Yemen in the face of violence and extreme hardship,” said US President Barack Obama. —AFP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Saudi Arabia says two killed in clash in eastern province DUBAI: Two people have been killed and three wounded in an exchange of gunfire in oil-producing eastern Saudi Arabia between security forces and what the government called gunmen serving a foreign power. The shooting on Wednesday night raised the death toll to at least four in Eastern Province since Sunday. It broke out during the funeral of one of two people killed in what the government has described as a string of attacks this week on security checkpoints.

“These casualties have occurred due to the exchange of gunfire with unknown criminal elements who have infiltrated among citizens, and are firing from residential areas and narrow streets,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement yesterday. An activist in the provincial town of Qatif, who requested anonymity, told Reuters: “Everything was fine until the body arrived, then the people got very angry and started to chant anti-gov-

ernment slogans and the riot police shot in the air.” “People came back onto the streets after evening prayer and the riot police started shooting at them directly. I could hear shooting from 8 pm until midnight.”

The government has implied that protests supported by members of the Shiite Muslim minority and attacks on police stations and checkpoints were instigated by its rival Iran. Activists say they started after police at a checkpoint shot a young man on Friday, which the government denies.

Echoing language it used after an attack on a police station in Eastern Province last month, the ministry said: “The goal of those who provoke unrest is to achieve dubious aims dictated to them by their foreign masters.”

The previous references to foreign meddling have been widely read to mean Shiite Iran, the Sunni Muslim-led kingdom’s rival for influence in the

Gulf. Sunni Arab monarchies in the region see Tehran as the force behind unrest earlier this year in majority Shiite Bahrain. Iran has denied the accusations that it is trying to destabilize Bahrain and an inquiry commissioned by the island state’s government on Wednesday said there was no evidence of Iranian interference. There are close ties between the Shiite communities of Bahrain and the Eastern Province, including family connections.

Saudi Arabia has avoided mass protests that have led to the overhrow of four Arab leaders this year, reacting to the unrest in the region by promising to spend some $130 billion on housing and other social benefits for its citizens. But small-scale protests have taken place in the Eastern Province’s al-Qatif oasis district, which comprises a town of the same name surrounded by farming and fishing villages. In its statement yesterday, the

ministry said tyres had been burned and roads blocked during the funeral that preceded the most recent shootings.

“The security forces in the area are fully authorized to deal with the situation and end these criminal actions,” it said. Last month, the government pledged to use “an iron fist” after it said 14 people, including 11 members of the security forces, had been wounded in an attack on a police station in Awamiya, a village in Qatif district.

Saudi Shiites complain of systematic discrimination, neglect in public spending, and incitement against them in religious sermons and educational materials. The kingdom, which is founded on an austere form of Sunni Islam and regards itself as the guardian of that faith, disputes this, and Saudi King Abdullah has appointed Shiite officials to advisory government bodies. — Reuters

Egypt military apologizes, says vote will go on 3 Americans arrested during protests released

KASSERINE: In this photo made available yesterday demonstrators clash with police forces, unseen, Wednesday, in Kasserine, a city of Tunisia’s impoverished central region. —AP

Curfew decreed after violence in Tunisia TUNIS: An overnight curfew has been declared across the central Tunisian mining region of Gafsa, in the wake of violence that began late Wednesday over job hiring, the TAP news agency reported yesterday. The curfew was imposed from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am, according to a note from the Gafsa governor’s office cited by TAP. The violence particularly hit two towns in the region, Oum Larayes, where schools were closed yesterday, and Mhdilla. Police stations and the buildings of the Gafsa Phosphates Company (CPG) were ransacked and set ablaze after the publication in these two towns of the outcome of recruitment exams by the CPG, the main employer in the region. “The situation remains very tense and we fear what will happen after the planned released of results today in Metlaoui and Redeyef,” two other towns in the mining basin.

The interior ministry announced that calm

had returned to Kasserine and Thala, two other towns where trouble broke out overnight on Wednesday and demonstrators clashed with police. According to medical sources, 76 people were injured by tear gas in the two towns, where police stations and goods depots were sacked according to interior ministry spokesman Hichem Meddeb.

The demonstrators were protesting about being left out of a tribute to the “martyrs of the revolution” that last January led to the toppling of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Kasserine and Thala paid a high price in repression before the regime fell. “This reminds us of 2008,” a source in the Gafsa region said. That year, Ben Ali’s regime violently repressed unrest in the phosphate mining zone, but the demonstrators held out for six months. That trouble in Gafsa was widely seen as one of the sparks that led to the Tunisian revolution that led to the ouster of Ben Ali in January 2011.— AFP

CAIRO: Egypt’s military rulers apologized yesterday for the deaths of demonstrators at the hands of police, while insisting elections will go ahead next week as planned. “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt’s loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square,” it said in a statement on its Facebook page. There were still large crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square yesterday, scene of days of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters demanding an immediate end of military rule, but the mood was calm after a truce negotiated by Muslim clerics.

“An agreement has been reached between security forces and protesters to halt confrontations between the two sides,” Egypt’s cabinet said in a statement on Facebook. At least 38 protesters have been killed since Saturday-when the clashes first erupted-and more than 2,000 injured, prompting expressions of concern from Western governments and a UN call for an independent inquiry into the “excessive use of force.” The demonstrators have been demanding the military leadership step down immediately and allow a return to civilian rule. But the military council said yesterday that doing so would amount to a “betrayal” of the people.

“The people have entrusted us with a mission and if we abandon it now, it would be a betrayal of the people,” senior SCAF member General Mukthar al-Mulla told a news conference.

“The armed forces do not want to stay in power. We want to put the wishes of the people above all else,” he said, adding that since the start of the transitional period it had been the army’s “first objective” to restore security on the Egyptian streets. “We will not delay the elections,” said another senior SCAF member, Major General Mamduh Shahine. “This is the final word. They will be conducted according to the original dates.” Egyptians are set to vote on Monday in the first legislative elections since Hosni Mubarak was ousted, but the violence has cast a dark shadow over the country’s first step to democratic rule.

An Egyptian court meanwhile decided to release three Americans arrested during protests in the square, pending an investigation, according to the official MENA news agency.

And Egyptian-American columnist Mona

Eltahawy who was arrested overnight after joining the protests for democratic change said on Twitter that she had been released, but was subjected to hours of sexual assault by police during her detention.

Standard and Poor’s ratings agency said yesterday that it had cut its long-term rating on Egypt, by one notch to ‘B+’, given the country’s deteriorating political and economic outlook.

“The downgrade reflects our opinion that Egypt’s weak political and economic profile... has deteriorated further” following the clashes in recent days, S&P said. The army’s apology came after a speech by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s long time defence minister now in charge of the country, on Tuesday which was aimed at appeasing protesters in the square but was heavily criticised for not making mention of the deaths at the hands of police.

The SCAF vowed to investigate and prosecute all those behind the deaths, and to offer assistance to the families of the dead and injured. The deaths prompted an unusually strongly worded statement from Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, calling on police not to shoot at demonstrators.

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 a message aired on state television. It calls “on the armed forces to throw all their weight behind preventing confrontations between one people,” he added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the images coming out of Egypt “deeply shocking,” and urged the authorities to end their “clearly excessive use of force” against protesters. British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed deep concern at the “unacceptable violence and loss of life” in and around Tahrir. Analysts said that while the demonstrators in Tahrir 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

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

24 killed in Mexican state Investigators find 12 bodies in back of truck CULIACAN: Attacks in the home state of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel left 24 people dead and 17 of the victims’ bodies were found burned in two pickup trucks, officials said Wednesday.

Authorities are investigating whether the attacks in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa are related. Neighbors called police after seeing a pickup truck on fire early Wednesday in the Antonio Rosales neighborhood of state capital Culiacan, said state Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez.

Investigators found 12 bodies in the back of the truck, some of them handcuffed and wearing bulletproof vests, Higuera said. Authorities are trying to determine if some of the victims were part of a group of nine people, including

three police officers, who were kidnapped in the town of Angostura on Monday.

Minutes after the first fire was reported, authorities received another call about a truck burning behind a store.

Police found four bodies inside that vehicle. All the victims had been shot. Hours later, Mexico’s federal Interior Department - which is in charge of domestic security - issued a statement saying it “energetically condemned” the killings, and placed the number of dead in the two vehicles at 17. Also Wednesday in Sinaloa, four men were shot to death in the town of Mocorito and another three were killed in the town of Guamuchil, Higuera said.

Sinaloa is the cradle of the powerful

Gay marriage push pressures Republicans CONCORD: Whether they like it or not, Republican US presidential candidates are joining an intensifying gay marriage debate in a key early voting state. New Hampshire lawmakers plan in the coming weeks to take up a measure to repeal the law allowing same-sex couples to wed, and a vote is expected in January - the same month that the state holds the nation’s first Republican presidential primary contest.

Already, candidates have been put on the spot over the divisive issue when most would rather be talking about the economy, voters’ No 1 concern. The gay marriage issue carries risk for several of White House contenders, including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former businessman Herman Cain, whose inconsistencies on the topic are well documented. The Republican candidates’ increasingly vocal support for “traditional marriage” also threatens to alienate a growing number of younger Republicans and independents here who support legal recognition of same-sex couples.

Even so, the Republican candidates aren’t shying away from the topic as they run for the nomination of a party dominated by conservatives and pushed further to the right by the tea party over the last few years. “As conservatives, we believe in the sanctity of life, we believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage, and I applaud those legislators in New Hampshire who are working to defend marriage between one man and one woman, realizing that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father,” Perry told a New Hampshire audience recently, becoming the latest contender to address gay marriage directly.

Most Republican candidates declare support for the effort to repeal the law. And groups like the National Organization for Marriage hope to force the presidential contenders to publicly embrace the repeal. Romney was governor when Massachusetts legalized gay marriage. The Romney administration, as directed by the courts, granted nearly 200 same-sex marriage requests for gay and lesbian couples in 2005.

Campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said the former governor had little choice but to follow the state Supreme Court ruling. He noted his candidate’s consistent opposition to both civil unions and gay marriages, adding that Romney openly supports the New Hampshire repeal effort. Both Perry and Cain have drawn conservative criticism for recent comments related to gay marriage. Asked in mid-October whether he supports a federal marriage amendment, Cain told the Christian Broadcasting Network that federal legislation is necessary to protect traditional marriage. That seemed to be a direct contradiction of his statement of just six days earlier, when he told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory that states should be allowed to make up their own minds. —AP

Sinaloa cartel, led by Mexico’s most wanted fugitive, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The cartel has been fighting the Beltran Leyva cartel in the state since the gang split off in 2008. Mexico’s drug war has claimed more than 35,000 lives nationwide since President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of soldiers and federal police in late 2006 to crackdown on drug cartels, according to the government. Others put the death toll at 40,000.

A survey released Wednesday found few Mexicans believe the government can defeat drug cartels. The poll shows 14 percent of those questioned believe Calderon’s strategy is succeeding, compared to 23 percent in a poll released in March 2010. The survey by the Mitofsky

polling agency also found that 44 percent think the situation won’t improve during Calderon’s last year in government, which ends in December 2012.

The survey was carried out through face-to-face interviews with 1,000 people from Oct. 21-24. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The turnaround in opinion is a reflection of the public’s growing impatience with the crackdown, said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, general secretary of Mexico United Against Crime, which sponsored the poll. “This reflects the perception that Mexico United Against Crime shares, which is that concrete actions are not being taken to correct the path of President Felipe Calderon’s fight against organized crime,” Torres said. — AP

Gun issue represents tough politics for Obama WASHINGTON: They are fuzzy about some issues, but the Republican US presidential candidates leave little doubt about where they stand on gun rights. Rick Perry and Rick Santorum go pheasant hunting and give interviews before heading out. Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain speak to the National Rifle Association convention.

Michele Bachmann tells People magazine she wants to teach her daughters how to shoot because women need to be able to protect themselves. Mitt Romney, after backing some gun control measures when governor of Massachusetts, now presents himself as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms.

President Barack Obama, on the other hand, is virtually silent on the issue. He has hardly addressed it since a couple months after the January shooting of Rep Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, when he promised to develop new steps on gun safety in response. He has failed to do so, even as survivors of the Arizona shooting came to Capitol Hill last week to push for action to close loopholes in the background check system. Democrats have learned the hard way that embracing gun control can be terrible politics, and the 2012 presidential election is shaping up to emphasize just how delicate the issue can be. With the election likely to be decided largely by states where hunting is a popular pastime, like Missouri, Ohio or Pennsylvania, candidates of both parties want to win over gun owners, not alienate them.

For Republicans, that means emphasizing their pro-gun credentials. But for Obama and the Democrats, the approach is trickier. Obama’s history in support of strict gun control measures prior to becoming president makes it difficult for him to claim he’s a Second Amendment champion, even though he signed a bill allowing people to take loaded guns into national parks. At the same time, he’s apparently decided that his record backing gun safety is nothing to boast of, perhaps because of the power of the gun lobby and their opposition to anything that looks like gun control. “Gun control is a fight that the administration is not willing to pick.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha and Malia, pardons Liberty, a 19-week old, 45-pound turkey, on the occasion of Thanksgiving, Wednesday on the North Portico of the White House in Washington. At left is National Turkey Federation Chairman Richard Huisinga. —AP They’re not likely to win it,” said Harry Wilson, author of a book on gun politics and director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research in Virginia. “They certainly would not win it in Congress, and it’s not likely to be a winner at the polls. ... It comes down to one pretty simple word: Politics.” Administration officials say they are working to develop the gun safety measures promised after the Giffords shooting, and they say have taken steps to improve the background check system.

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich says the White House goal is to “protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens while keeping guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them under existing law.” But when it comes to guns and politics, Democrats haven’t forgotten what happened in 1994. That year,

President Bill Clinton was pushing for passage of a landmark crime bill featuring a ban on assault weapons. That November, Democrats suffered widespread election losses and lost control of the House and the Senate. Clinton and others credited the NRA’s campaigning with a big role in the outcome. And when the assault weapons ban came up for congressional reauthorization in 2004, it failed.

Given that history, the NRA expects to see Obama treading carefully on guns through 2012. “It’s bad politics to be on the wrong side of the Second Amendment at election time,” said Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president. “They’re trying to fog the issue through the 2012 election and deceive gun owners into thinking he’s something he’s not, which is pro-Second Amendment.” —AP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Arizona lawmakers say will build border fence PHOENIX: The US state of Arizona is taking on immigration once again, with lawmakers collecting donations from the public to put a fence along every inch of the state’s border with Mexico. It is an unprecedented effort by a state that is the busiest US gateway for both illegal immigrants and marijuana. The idea came from state Senator Steve Smith, a Republican who says people from across the nation have donated about $255,000 to the project since the state in July launched a website that urges visitors to “show the world the resolve and the cando spirit of the American people.”

Smith acknowledges he has a long way to go. The $255,000 will barely cover a half mile (800 meters) of fencing. Smith estimates that the total supplies alone will cost $34 million, or about $426,000 a mile. The fence is Arizona’s latest attempt to force a debate on whether the US

government is doing enough to stop illegal immigration. A judge suspended key provisions of the state’s contentious immigration bill, and Gov. Jan Brewer is appealing to the US Supreme Court to get them reinstated. Brewer also signed the fencing bill.

Critics of the private fence plan say the idea is a misguided approach that will prove to be ineffective and hugely expensive. They point to the billions of dollars spent by the federal government to build fencing that hasn’t stopped illegal immigration. Smugglers often circumvent the barriers by cutting or driving through them, climbing over them, launching drugs with catapults over them, or digging tunnels under them. In the last week alone, two drug tunnels were found in Nogales in southeastern Arizona.

But Smith and other supporters don’t

care. They say the federal government has done little to secure the border and that additional fencing will close gaps exploited by smugglers and illegal immigrants. Even if the fence isn’t completed, Smith and others believe the project will send a message to Washington.

They have found support for the idea from some US Border Patrol agents. “I take my hat off to them,” says George McCubbin, apresident of the National Border Patrol Council, the agency’s union. “I don’t believe it’s the state’s responsibility, but by them attempting this, they will continue to have this problem brought out, and hopefully someone will take notice of it.” Although he praises the effort, McCubbin thinks building more border fencing is “a waste of time.”

“A fence slows down traffic. It doesn’t stop it,” he says. “You need to put your money in effective resources that you

Plane with three men, three children crashes in Arizona Body of one child recovered PHOENIX: A small airplane with three men and three young children onboard crashed Wednesday evening into mile-high mountains east of Phoenix while going around 200 mph, the Pinal County sheriff said. The body of one child was recovered and “it is not hopeful” there are any survivors because of the nature of the crash and explosion, said Sheriff Paul Babeu. Ten deputies spent the night on the mountain to keep it secure. They and dozens of volunteers were to start searching the area at first light, he said, adding that hikers and curiosity seekers should stay away.

Some immediate family members are out of the country, so the names of those involved can’t yet be released, Babeu said. The twin-engine aircraft flew from Safford in southeastern Arizona to Mesa’s Falcon Field to pick up three children for the

Thanksgiving holiday and was headed back to Safford, Babeu said. KPNX-TV reported the father of the three children, who are ages 5 to 9, lives in Safford. Their mother lives in Mesa.

“Our hearts go out to her at this time,” Babeu said. The aircraft slammed into an area of rugged peaks and outcroppings in the Superstition Mountains, 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix, at about 6:30 p.m. MST Wednesday, authorities said. Callers reported hearing an explosion near a peak known as the Flat Iron, close to Lost Dutchman State Park, Sheriff’s spokeswoman Angelique Graham said. Witnesses reported a fireball and an explosion. “I looked up and saw this fireball and it rose up,” Dave Dibble told KPHO-TV. “All of a sudden, boom.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Elias Johnson said the body of one child was recovered late Wednesday night from the crash

APACHE: A helicopter search light looks over the scene of an aircraft that crashed in the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, on Wednesday,. —AP

scene. Besides the pilot and three children, a mechanic and another adult were also on board, Babeu said.

Rescue personnel used infrared devices to search for bodies but had not been able to detect any sign of movement, according to Johnson.

Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site reported finding two debris fields on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact.

“The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we’re doing our best at this point in the darkness,” Babeu said. “This is not a flat area, this is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain.”

Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common. Flames could still be seen from the suburban communities of Mesa and Apache Junction hours after the crash. The region is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and cactus.

Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century. Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains’ highest point.

Calls to Falcon Field, which mostly serves small, private planes, weren’t immediately returned Wednesday night.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Rockwell AC-69 was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford. A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined comment. Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash. — AP

know will work.”

He believes the US government needs to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, increase penalties against those caught in the country illegally, cut off social services for others and put more agents at the border. The project’s first priority is to build fences at busy border-crossing points. Other plans include constructing fences along the 80 miles (128 kilometers) of border where none currently exist.

Fencing currently covers about 650 miles (1.046 kilometers), or one-third, of the 2,000-mile (3,218-kilometer) US Mexico border. Nearly half is in Arizona, with the rest equally divided among California, New Mexico and Texas.

Existing border fencing varies in quality from simple barbed wire or vehicle barriers to carefully engineered, 18- to 30foot-high fences. —AP

Amish concerned over haircut attacks OHIO: Members of the Amish community in three states have been frightened by recent haircutting attacks in Ohio, making fearful calls to authorities and arming themselves with pepper spray and shotguns, a sheriff said. Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said Amish in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana were concerned about the attacks that led federal authorities on Wednesday to raid the compound of a breakaway OHIO: In this Oct. 10, Amish group and charge seven 2011 file photo, Sam men, including group leader Mullet stands in the Sam Mullet, with hate crimes. front yard of his home “We’ve received hundreds in Bergholz, Ohio. —AP and hundreds of calls from people living in fear,” he said. “They are buying Mace, some are sitting with shotguns, getting locks on their doors because of Sam Mullet.” The sheriff added, “Sam Mullet is evil.” A daughter-in-law and former brother-in-law told federal investigators Mullet allowed the beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop and had sexual relations with married women to “cleanse them.”

Several members of the group outside Bergholtz in eastern Ohio carried out the attacks in September, October and November by forcibly cutting the beards and hair of Amish men and women and then taking photos of them, authorities said. The Amish believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry. One victim told the FBI he would rather have been “beaten black and blue than to suffer the disfigurement and humiliation of having his hair removed,” according to court papers.

Mullet told The Associated Press in October that he didn’t order hair-cutting but didn’t stop his sons and others from carrying it out.

He said the goal was to send a message to other Amish that they should be ashamed of themselves for the way they were treating Mullet and his community. “They changed the rulings of our church here, and they’re trying to force their way down our throat, make us do like they want us to do, and we’re not going to do that,” Mullet said.

U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said Wednesday that religious differences should be a matter of theological debate, not disputes “resolved by late night visits to people’s homes with weapons and violent attacks.”

He said he did not know how often hate crimes involve intradenominational disputes. Those arrested include Mullet; his sons Johnny, Lester and Daniel; Levi Miller; Eli Miller; and Emanuel Schrock. The charges carry a penalty of up 10 years in prison. —AP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

International

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Belarus opposition activist convicted Observers call trial ‘politically motivated’ MINSK: A court in Belarus yesterday sentenced a prominent opposition activist to four and a half years in prison for tax evasion following a trial that some observers described as politically motivated. Ales Belyatsky is the head of Vesna, a group providing legal and financial assistance to hundreds of opposition activists arrested for protesting the results of last year’s presidential election in this former Soviet nation in December. Some 700 people, including two presidential candidates, were detained at the rally. Some of them are still in prison.

President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in office since 1994, was declared the winner of the vote, tightening his grip on power. Belyatsky, 49, was charged with tax evasion after Polish and Lithuanian authorities provided data about Vesna’s account in those countries. Governments in both countries later apologized. In a packed courtroom in the capital of Minsk, Belyatsky, who has been in jail since August, looked tired but composed while listening to the judge reading out the verdict. Some in the audience shouted “Shame.”

“My case is politically motivated,” Belyatsky said in his final statement. “I’m fighting for human rights but now I feel like a voice crying in the desert.” The US embassy in Minsk condemned the verdict and called on Belarusian authorities “to release Belyatsky and all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, remove any barriers to their future participation in public life, and cease its campaign against critics of the government.”

European Union spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said the verdict illustrates “the ever-intensifying crackdown on civil society in Belarus.” Poland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said that yesterday’s verdict “confirms that the current regime does not observe the basic UN standards on civic rights and freedoms.” Warsaw called on the authorities in Belarus to immediately release Belyatsky and “other political prisoners.” Without that, the Polish foreign ministry warned, “the European Union’s dialogue with Belarus will not be possible.”

Belyatsky’s lawyer, Dmitry Loevsky, said the defense team would appeal the verdict. United Nations experts yesterday warned that a law passed in Belarus last month “unduly restricts fundamental rights.” Legislators in Belarus passed a law in October, banning political and civil society groups from receiving foreign assistance and from holding money in foreign banks. The new measures also gave police the authority to break into residences and offices without a warrant.

UN experts voiced fears that the amendments could be linked to various court cases against Belarusian opposition activists including Belyatsky. “When defenders are allowed to associate but cannot effectively seek, receive or utilize funding resources, the right to freedom of association becomes void,” Margaret Sekaggya, UN expert of the situation of human rights defenders, said in a statement. Monika Scislowska from Warsaw, Poland and Frank Jordans from Geneva contributed to this report. —AP

MINSK: The head of Vyasna (Spring) rights group, Ales Beliatsky, waves as he sits in the defendant’s cage in a court in Minsk yesterday. —AFP

Half a million Russians queue to touch holy relic MOSCOW: Braving sub-zero temperatures and a line stretching several kilometres, almost half a million Russians queued this week to venerate a relic of the Virgin Mary brought to Moscow from Greece. The Moscow authorities said 400,000 people had waited outside Moscow’s vast Cathedral of Christ the Saviour since The Belt of the Virgin Mary relic arrived on Saturday. Around 82,000 were queuing yesterday alone. In an extraordinary display of the strength of Orthodox Christianity in post-Soviet Russia, the faithful have stood in a queue stretching five kilometres (three miles). The Belt of the Virgin Mary is believed to help women’s fertility and cure illnesses. It toured ten other Russian cities before arriving in the capital. “There is something I need to ask.

Nobody in this line is here just for fun,” said 40-year-old Ivan, who was waiting at the front of the line for his wife and child.

He said venerating the belt is especially meaningful since it rarely leaves mount Athos, a Greek peninsula with very strict visitation policy, where only men are allowed to go. “I joined the line

at midnight, so it’s been about 12 hours,” he said. The wait could be up to 26 hours, news agencies said.”I am 74, and I have suffered a heart attack. I am handicapped in my arm and leg,” said another man, identifying himself as Vladimir, after exiting the imposing white cathedral and leaning on his wife’s supporting arm.

“Maybe it will help?” he said, tears welling up in his eyes. The head of the Moscow city centre prefecture Pavel Bolshunov told Russian news agencies that as of yesterday morning over 407,000 people had visited the relic since the weekend and another 82,000 were currently waiting. Faced with the queues, the Russian Orthodox Church extended the relic’s stay in Moscow by three days to Sunday. An intercom announcement on the Moscow metro at the stop nearest to the Cathedral warned people arriving by the subway that the line stretched along the Moscow river for nearly five kilometres and its end was in a distant neighborhood four metro stops away.

Struggling to contain the throngs of Orthodox believers, the city erected a

maze of metal barriers, rerouted traffic on some of the streets, and brought in 1,500 police officers to ensure order. The Cathedral asked on its website that people simply touch the small silver chest holding the relic with their hand, without kissing it in the Orthodox tradition, “so that as many people as possible could touch the relic.”

But by yesterday afternoon the cathedral staff moved the chest to sit atop of an arch which people simply walked through, allowing 80 people to worship it every minute, RIA Novosti reported. A woman pleaded with one officer yesterday to be allowed to the top of the queue. “But I took the day off already!” she said, wringing her hands.

Parents ushered boys and girls through the barricades in a separate queue for children and the handicapped.

Another pale young woman asked an officer: “Where is the line for pregnant women?” A makeshift booth offered free hot tea. The Belt of the Virgin Mary is kept permanently in Vatopedi monastery on the Greek mount Athos and this is its first ever appearance in Russia. — AFP

France delays nuclear train amid demo threats REMILLY: French authorities yesterday ordered a train carrying reprocessed nuclear waste to be delay crossing into Germany for 24 hours to try to avoid mass protests from anti-nuclear demonstrators. Riot police battled protesters when it began its journey in northern France on Wednesday and thousands more demonstrators are expected to try to block it once it crosses the border.

The train was halted at Remilly junction 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border while nuclear company Areva, French rail firm SNCF and police decided which of three possible routes it can now take, a security source said. A heavy police presence was deployed in and around the small town and on the tracks around the station, where a dozen buses full of riot police were on standby, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

German police were due to take over from their French counterparts once the train, carrying the last German nuclear waste to be reprocessed in France, resumes its 1,500-kilometre trip to Gorleben in eastern Germany. Last November a similar convoy took 91 hours to arrive at its final destination-an entire day longer than planned-as it was dogged the length of the route by French and then German protesters.

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.

Anti-nuclear activists want France to follow suit and shut its reactors, an idea firmly dismissed by President Nicolas Sarkozy. The final shipment left a railway yard in the town of Valognes in Normandy, northwest France, more than an hour late Wednesday after police clashed with hundreds of activists, firing teargas and making 16 arrests. The train travelled across France towards the German border overnight without further incident. Six of those arrested were ordered yesterday to appear in court next year to face charges that included stealing soda from a police van, carrying weapons such as flick-knives, hatchets and tear gas, and trespassing on rail lines.

There has long been widespread public opposition in Germany to nuclear power, which environmentalists believe presents an unacceptable radioactive threat to public health and the environment. 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. — AFP

Blast in flashpoint town in Kosovo PRISTINA: A blast hit Kosovo’s ethnically divided town of Mitrovica yesterday, police said, after clashes between NATOled troops and Serbs over control of a road to the disputed border left 21 soldiers slightly injured. The explosion occurred in a predominantly ethnic Albanian area in the north of the Serb-majority part of the town shortly after the tense late night confrontation, police spokesman Besim Hoti told AFP. “The force of the explosion damaged three cars, but there were no casualties,” he said.

NATO-led peacekeepers fired teargas as they clashed with Serbs late Wednesday over control of a roadblock on a highway leading to a disputed border post in northern Kosovo.

Twenty-one soldiers were injured during the clash, the KFOR peacekeeping force said in a statement. KFOR said “the demonstrators used force including throwing of stones and pushing back KFOR troops by attacking them with trucks loaded with gravel.”

“KFOR also used tear gas and batons for self-protection against the protestors,” it added.”One KFOR soldier was injured by the truck, five KFOR soldiers suffered minor injuries, the remainder superficially,” it said. The situation was calm in the disputed area yesterday, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The vast majority of the population in the north comprises Serbs who have rejected Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence and still consider the territory a Serbian province.

They have erected roadblocks leading to Jarinje and another disputed border post with Serbia, Brnjak, resisting the presence of customs and border officials from Pristina. The deadlock has sparked violence between Serbs and KFOR and was the subject of talks between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels this week, but no breakthrough has been made. — AFP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

International

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Kenyan soldier killed after airstrikes on Somali rebels NAIROBI: Kenya said yesterday its warplanes destroyed two Islamist insurgent bases in neighboring Somalia, but a bomb back on home soil killed a soldier and wounded four others. The exchanges came six weeks after Nairobi sent troops and tanks into Somalia to fight the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents, accused of a series of attacks in Kenya including the abduction of four foreign women.

“KDF (Kenya Defence Force) air strikes successfully destroyed two AlShebab camps,” army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the day after the attacks near Badade, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Kenyan border. Early yesterday a bomb exploded under a military truck on patrol just inside Kenya, Chirchir said. “Five KDF soldiers were seriously injured and

have been airlifted to Garissa for treatment,” he said, adding that one later “succumbed to his injuries.”

Attackers opened fire on the soldiers after the blast, which happened near the Kenyan border town of Mandera, according to a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity. Kenyan officials have blamed the hardline Shebab or their sympathizers for a spate of recent shootings and bombings, although armed bandits also operate in the border areas. The extremist militia face growing pressure as regional armies slowly encircle them, with Kenyan forces in the south, Ugandan and Burundian African Union forces in Mogadishu and Ethiopian troops in the west.

The conflict however comes at a

cost for civilians caught up in the skirmishes. The United Nations warned yesterday that Ethiopia’s reported deployment of troops into Somalia could worsen what is already the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis. “Local sources report that hundreds of Ethiopian troops entered Somalia on November 20 opening a new front against Al Shebab,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report.

“The humanitarian community is deeply concerned about the consequences that this intervention could have on the already fragile humanitarian situation due to access to the population,” the report warned. “The intensification of the conflict in Somalia threatens to increase internal displacement,” it added, the first time the

United Nations has warned of the potentially dangerous consequences of Ethiopia’s move. Some 250,000 people in south and central Somalia face imminent starvation, the UN report added, despite massive international efforts to get emergency aid out to critically affected regions of the war-torn country.

Witnesses told AFP on November 19 that convoys of lorries and hundreds of Ethiopian troops crossed into south and central Somalia. Addis Ababa has denied the reports. Ethiopia pulled out its soldiers from Somalia in 2009 after a two-year invasion that defeated an Islamist movement, but the group’s military wing, the Shebab, regrouped and has waged a bloody war against a provisional government that has only a tenuous hold. — AFP

Madagascar’s ex-leader ends exile, urges reconciliation ANTANANARIVO: Madagascan former president Didier Ratsiraka returned home yesterday, ending a nine-year exile in France and urged reconciliation to resolve the country’s long-running political crisis.

Ratsiraka arrived three days after a unity government was unveiled with the aim of ending a protracted political crisis that has seen the island nation isolated by regional blocs and the international community.

“There should be a conference not just by the four main political leaders, but all the other parties and civil society groups must be involved,” Ratsiraka said upon arrival. “There’s need for reconciliation... I will shake everybody’s hands in the overall interest of the nation,” he added.

“The government says it wants to reach out, I’m reaching out in return.”

His return offers hope of ending the turmoil, especially after two main opposition groups led by two other former presidents agreed to join the unity government unveiled Monday by consensus Prime Minister Omer Beriziky. The 75-year-old Ratsiraka has however declined to sign a deal mediated by a regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to resolve the crisis. Ratsiraka, who was accompanied by his wife and two daughters and welcomed by aides at the capital’s airport, kissed the ground on his arrival. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the airport dressed in red, the colour of his political party, and waving flags to welcome him home.

Ratsiraka was president from 1975 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2002.

He fled to France following a sevenmonth election dispute which sparked violence and chaos when he refused to concede defeat to Marc Ravalomanana. The impasse split the vast island nation in two-with two capitals, two governments, and a divided army-until Ravalomanana was officially proclaimed president in May 2002. In 2003, Ratsiraka was sentenced in absentia to hard labour, five years in jail for threatening state security and 10 years for embezzling public funds.

However, current president Andry Rajoelina, who ousted Ravalomanana in an army-backed coup in March 2009, has said several times that Ratsiraka was free to return home. On Wednesday, the party of Ravalomanana, living in exile in South Africa, and that of another expresident, Albert Zafy, agreed to take up cabinet posts in the new 35-member government.

The two parties had initially rejected that government on grounds that it was not formed in accordance with the SADC-brokered accord. All the Madagascan leaders-Ratsiraka, Zafy, Ravalomanana and Rajoelina have played key roles in the vast island nation’s turbulent political history.

Ratsiraka’s long reign was broken in 1991 by a popular movement that forced him into exile in France for the first time, but he returned four years later and defeated Zafy in elections.

Six years on, his attempts to cling to power plunged the country into chaos, eventually forcing him again to seek refuge in exile in a posh Paris suburb. His rival Ravolomanana took the presidency in 2002, but his rule crumbled seven years later when young Antananarivo disc jockey and opposition leader Rajoelina led weeks of sometimes bloody protests against him.

Differences between Rajoelina and the three former presidents often frustrated the SADC-led negotiations to steer Madagascar back to normalcy. — AFP

ANTANANARIVO: A file photo taken on June 26, 2001 shows Madagascar’s President Didier Ratsiraka addressing the Malagasy people during celebrations for the country’s 41st year of Independence from France. —AFP

HOMBORI: An undated handout picture taken from the Hotel Dombia internet site shows the Hotel Dombia in Hombori, eastern Mali. —AFP

2 French nationals kidnapped in Mali Assault bears hallmark of Qaeda linked Islamists BAMAKO: A gang kidnapped two French nationals at gunpoint from their hotel in the Malian desert early yesterday, local security sources said, the latest abduction of foreigners in the troubled region. The two geologists were seized from the village of Hombori, which lies in eastern Mali between Mopti and Gao near the border with Niger, in an assault bearing the hallmark of Al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants.

A Hombori municipality source said seven armed men entered the hotel at about 1:00 am (0100 GMT) and made off with their hostages to the north of the country, a hotbed of Al-Qaeda militants. The latest kidnap brings to six the number of French hostages in the Sahel area, with the group known as AlQaeda in the Islamic Magreb still holding four nationals abducted in Niger in September 2010.

Northern Mali is home to a number of AQIM bases used to launch attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel region on the southern side of the Sahara that includes

Mali, Algeria, Niger and Mauritania.

The two geologists, who were working for a cement works in the region, were seized a day after a former French military official involved in efforts to free the hostages in Niger was shot and wounded in the shoulder.

An Italian and two Spaniards kidnapped in Algeria in October are also believed to be held by AQIM, although the group has not claimed responsibility. At a regional security meeting in Mali’s capital Bamako this week, delegates complained that a lack of support by Algeria for military operations against AQIM was a serious setback to efforts to crack down on the group.

“We must recognize that up against a transnational enemy, which is well organized and disposes of enormous financial and material means, we need to develop further our capacity to carry out joint multinational operations,” Mali’s army chief General Gabriel Poudiougou said Monday.

Negotiations for the release of the four Frenchmen, who were among a total of seven people snatched by AQIM in the uranium mining town of Arlit in Niger, have been complicated by the fallout from the conflict in Libya.

Yesterday’s kidnapping came the same day as news that a French woman aid worker seized two days ago in Yemen’s restive south had been released.

AQIM grew out of Algeria’s Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which took part in a lowlevel civil war there that has now ended. Since 2007, AQIM has launched a range of operations in the vast Sahel strip south of the Sahara.

Operating from bases in northern Mali, the radical Islamists have carried out attacks against troops and civilians, kidnappings, particularly of Westerners, of whom several have been executed. AQIM is also engaged in trafficking of various kinds, including weapons and drugs. —AFP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Lanka takes first count of civilian war deaths COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said yesterday that it was counting on its own how many civilians were slain at the end of its bloody civil war to counter claims that tens of thousands were killed and fend off international calls for a war crimes probe. Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also acknowledged for the first time that soldiers may have committed unspecified “crimes.” He promised to investigate and punish them.

Both the count of the killed and the admission of misconduct were a major shift for a government that had sworn its soldiers were beyond reproach and insisted for more than two years that not a single civilian was killed by its forces during the final stages of the war. Rajapaksa’s speech

to a conference on postwar ethnic reconciliation was the government’s latest attempt to show it was taking action on its own and blunt the calls for outside investigations into the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Rajapaksa said the census department’s count, which is near completion and will be released soon, shows a very small number of civilians died because of military action.

He said people who died due to natural causes or accidents, as well as those who fled the country illegally, died fighting for the rebels or were killed by the rebels, were also counted in order to reconcile the number of people unaccounted for. “It has been possible to identify by name all such persons (dead or missing),” Rajapaksa said. “As a result of the census, we already know that

the real number of the dead and missing is far too small to provide any substance to absurd allegations of genocide and war crimes that have been made,” he said. A UN report released in April said tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed in the last months of the decades-long war that a final government offensive ended in May 2009. Alan Keenan, senior analyst with International Crisis Group, said he is skeptical of Sri Lanka’s latest move, calling it an “attempt to short-circuit” calls for an international investigation. “No government accused by so many credible witnesses of such grave crimes can be relied on to count the number of their own victims,” he said.

“The process by which the supposed count has happened is not at all clear, but the

conditions under which the census would have been conducted in the north - an area under effective military occupation by a victorious army accused of the crimes in question - are not conducive to a fair and accurate count,” Keenan said.

The government had insisted there were “zero civilian casualties” in that fighting, conceding only in August that civilian deaths did occur but that they were unavoidable. The UN report said most of the casualties came from government shelling and called for an independent international investigation into what it called credible allegations against the government and the Tamil Tigers, who fought for more than 25 years to carve out a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils.—AP

Man angry about food prices slaps Indian minister NEW DELHI: A man slapped India’s agriculture minister in the face yesterday, apparently to draw attention to rising food prices and corruption. Sharad Pawar was talking to reporters at a political function when the man attacked him. TV news reports said the man was shouting slogans about inflated food prices and graft.

Television footage showed the man brandishing a knife as he was dragged away by security officials and Pawar’s aides. “Don’t you know why I hit him? The common man is distressed. Am I wrong?” he shouted as he was being taken away. CNN-IBN TV reported that the man was detained by police. Pawar was not seriously hurt. Such incidents have become increasingly common in India, where ministers and other officials have had shoes thrown at them and their offices ransacked by angry citizens. The incidents have usually been over political decisions, corruption, or real or perceived injustices.— AP

Pakistani woman kills, attempts to cook husband KARACHI: Pakistani police yesterday arrested a woman who had killed her husband and was attempting to cook his body parts after he planned to marry another woman without her permission. The police arrested Zainab Bibi, 32, and her nephew Zaheer, 22, in the Shah Faisal colony of Pakistan’s southern megacity Karachi, and recovered the bowl of flesh she planned to cook, said police chief for the area Nadeem Baig.

“They killed Ahmed Abbas, Zainab’s husband, and chopped his body into pieces and were about to cook the flesh in a bowl,” he told AFP, adding that the knife with which they killed the man had been recovered.

Television networks showed gruesome footage of the human flesh in a bowl ready for the stove. A neighbor had alerted the police and investigations were ongoing, said Baig.

“There could be two factors behind her intention to cook the husband. One is to destroy the evidence and the other could be her immense hatred against him,” over his plan to marry another woman, he said.

According to family law in the Islamic country, a man has get permission from his first wife before his seconto marriage, but the law is rarely observed.— AFP

KABUL: US soldiers have their Thanksgiving Day meal at Bagram air base, 50 kms north of Kabul yesterday. The meal was served to mark the US celebration of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. —AFP

7 Afghan security guards killed KABUL: An Afghan provincial official says seven Afghan guards working for a private security company were killed in the west of the country when Taleban militants attacked a convoy carrying goods for NATO. Spokesman for the governor of western Farah province Nakibullah Farai said the attack yesterday lasted two hours and ended after Afghan police intervened.

He says there were no foreign troops involved.

Farai says 10 vehicles were also destroyed in the attack. He says he does not know if there were Taleban casualties.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has nominated a U.S.-educated banker as the new governor of the country’s central bank, his spokesman said yesterday. Presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi named the candidate as Noorullah Delawari. His nomination comes after a five month vacancy in the post caused by turmoil in Afghanistan’s banking system due to the near-collapse of the Kabul Bank, once the country’s largest private financial institution. Parliament is expected to discuss its approval of the appointment tomorrow, said lawmaker Gul Pacha Majeidi. Delawari is a former central bank governor who

now sits on the institution’s governing board. He will replace Abdul Qadir Fitrat, who fled to northern Virginia in late June after claiming to have received threats to his life in connection with Kabul Bank scandal. Kabul Bank became a symbol of the country’s deep-rooted corruption, and the case was closely followed by Afghans and international donors because it is widely perceived to be a test of the government’s pledge to root out patronage and graft. Afghanistan’s financial system appears to be slowly recovering from the aftereffects of the near-collapse, which required a massive central bank bailout.

Last week, the IMF approved a threeyear $133.6 million loan for Afghanistan because it found the government had taken steps to address governance and accountability issues that surfaced during the Kabul Bank crisis. The decision reassured international donors, many whom had withheld aid while waiting for the IMF decision.

The Kabul Bank has been split into two parts, a healthy one being run by the Afghan Finance Ministry, and another which is has taken over hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans. The Afghan

government hopes to put the healthy bank up for sale in the middle of next year.

In October, the Afghan Finance Ministry said that of the more than $800 million in fraudulent loans issued by Kabul Bank, more than $70 million has been recovered; $350 million in loans have been restructured for repayment; and $110 million in assets associated with the loans have been seized and transferred to the government.

Delawari, who is in his mid-60s, also heads the Afghan Investment Support Agency. The Afghan government set up the agency in September 2003 as a onestop shop for investors. The agency oversees registration, licensing and promotion of new investments in Afghanistan.

Delawari left Afghanistan in the 1960s and studied in the United States and Britain. He worked at several banks in the United States, including 16 years as vice president of the multinational division of Lloyds Bank of California. Since returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Delawari has also been an adviser to the president. He was governor of Afghanistan’s central bank from November 2004 to December 2007.— AP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Malaysia PM lifts security law, student politics ban KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak repealed another security law yesterday, setting the stage for hundreds detained without trial to be freed or face criminal charges. He also pledged to lift a student politics ban in line with promises to expand civil liberties ahead of polls widely expected to be called within months. Najib has been scrapping or amending a range of decades-old laws criticised as oppressive and outdated in an attempt to win back voters, who dealt the government its worst election results ever three years ago.

Opposition leaders and activists claim the reform pledges are election ploys, which do not herald any real change. “All our moves are the result of the government’s respect for the people’s aspirations and listening and responding to the pulse of the people,” Najib told parliament in a rare televised address. “It is not cheap rhetoric or false promises; it is one of taking a brave moral stand.” Najib said the government was withdrawing three emergency declarations, which allow for detention without trial and date back to racial riots in 1969, saying they were no longer relevant.

“The repeal will not affect the government’s ability to prevent crime or any other matter that may threaten the security or the economy or public safety,” he said, adding that the declarations would expire within six months, giving authorities until then to either charge or free those held. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was quoted by the national news agency Bernama as saying that 36 detainees would be released soon but gave no further details.

A government spokesman said a total of 1,481 detainees were currently being held under the Emergency Ordinance. Police say more than 700 people were detained in the first eight months of this year.

A UN Human Rights Council report last year put the figure of those in detention at up to 6,000. Activists have long lobbied for the law to be abolished, saying it is increasingly used to hold suspected petty criminals without due process. An opposition lawmaker was briefly detained under the law earlier this year.

Senior opposition lawmaker Lim Kit Siang dismissed Najib’s latest announcements as “election motivated”. “Whether he is prepared to walk the talk is still to be tested,” he told AFP. “This should all have been repealed three, four decades ago.” In his address, Najib also said he would amend a provision forbidding students from participating in politics, which critics say stifles academic freedom.

He said students above the age of 21 would be allowed to join political parties “to respect the rights of undergraduates”. He also defended a proposed new law, the Peaceful Assembly Bill. Dozens of activists protested against the bill outside Parliament yesterday, saying it aims to curb the right to peaceful protest by banning street demonstrations. Najib’s coalition has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, often with an iron fist. But yielding to increasing demands for greater civil liberties and trying to regain support, Najib has promised to break with the country’s authoritarian past.

Nalini Elumalai, a representative of local human rights group Suaram, said Najib should provide further details for the legal changes. “We question the sincerity of the government,” she told AFP. “They have been so secretive all the while. We hope they won’t come out with new bills... that are repressive.”

Earlier this month, police detained 13 suspected militants on Borneo island under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which also allows detention without trial and Najib has pledged to repeal. Critics say the fresh arrests under the security act undermined Najib’s promise to do away with it. The government says the detentions were necessary to protect the country’s security.— AFP

N Korea threatens strike on South’s presidency Threat in response to military exercise SEOUL: North Korea threatened yesterday to turn South Korea’s presidential palace into a “sea of fire” in response to any provocation, a day after Seoul’s military held a big exercise near the border. The land, sea and air drill was staged to mark the first anniversary of a deadly North Korean attack on the South’s border island of Yeonpyeong, which sparked outrage among South Koreans and prompted international alarm.

Pyongyang has always justified its bombardment on November 23, 2010 as a response to a South Korean artillery drill on Yeonpyeong, which it said dropped shells into the North’s territorial waters. The North’s military Supreme Command said yesterday the South should not forget the lesson of the Yeonpyeong attack. It described Wednesday’s anniversary drill as “little short of a new political and military provocation”.

If the South dared in future to “fire one bullet or shell” towards the North’s territorial waters, air space and land, a “sea of fire” would engulf Seoul’s presidential palace. The North’s armed forces “are in full readiness to go into a decisive battle to counter any military provocation”, said the Supreme Command statement on Pyongyang’s official news agency. North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland later also threatened “merciless” retaliation for further provocation, the North Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported.

“If the puppet bellicose elements provoke from (Yeonpyeong) island again, the island will entirely disappear and the citadel of the enemy be reduced to ashes by the merciless and annihilating strike of the Korean People’s Army, the strike more powerful than the previous one,” it said in a statement carried by Yonhap. Last year’s shelling killed two Marines and

YANGYANG: South Korean special warfare command soldiers patrol during a sea infiltration drill in the port city of Yangyang, South Korea yesterday.—AP

two civilians and damaged scores of buildings. It was the first attack on a civilian-populated area since the 1950-1953 war and caused fury in the South.

Seoul’s military faced severe criticism for its perceived slow and weak response and Wednesday’s drill was intended to simulate a tougher response-including air strikes-to any new attack. South Korea has significantly strengthened troop levels and weaponry- including multiple rocket launchers and Cobra attack helicopters-on Yeonpyeong and other frontline islands in the past year. The North’s statement “is meant as a strongly worded warning in that it threatened a sea of fire against the (presidential) Blue House,” Yang MooJin of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, told AFP. “However, it does not foreshadow any military action.”Last year’s island bombardment came eight months after the sinking of a South Korean

warship with the loss of 46 lives. The North denies the South’s claim that it torpedoed the corvette. Cross-border tensions have eased somewhat this year. But Seoul insists Pyongyang admit responsibility for both incidents before there can be any substantial dialogue, a demand restated Wednesday by President Lee MyungBak. Seoul and US officials said the 2010 bombardment was probably ordered to burnish the military credentials of Kim Jong-Un, youngest son and heir apparent of Kim Jong-Il. The North has this year made an international appeal for food aid and restated its willingness to return to nuclear disarmament talks. UN officials say a quarter of the North’s people urgently need food aid while Seoul officials say the situation is no worse than normal.

The United States and its allies say the North must take steps to show its sincerity before disarmament talks can resume.— AFP

Myanmar passes law allowing protests YANGON: Myanmar’s parliament has passed a bill allowing citizens to stage peaceful protests, a lawmaker said yesterday, the latest in a string of reforms pulling the pariah state out of isolation. The “Peaceful Assembly and Procession Bill” requires advance permission for would-be demonstrators but represents a major step in a country where just four years ago the army opened fire on peaceful mass protests led by Buddhist monks.

“This bill allows peaceful assembly and procession by holding flags with prior permission from the authorities five days in advance,” said Aye Maung, an upper house delegate and chairman of Rakhine Nationalities’

Development Party. “Monks are also citizens so I think they can also join,” he told Reuters. The bill was passed on Tuesday and requires the ratification by President Thein Sein to become law, he said.

In recent months, Myanmar’s new army-dominated parliament and government have surprised critics by introducing the most sweeping reforms in the former British colony since a 1962 military coup. They have included freeing more than 200 political prisoners and letting the media cover heretofore taboo topics like politics and crime. In October, Thein Sein enacted a new Labor Law under which Myanmar’s workers are entitled

to stage protests and set up labor unions, both of which were banned under the junta that ruled the country with an iron fist until ceding power to parliament following elections last year.

Japan said on Wednesday it would hold working-level talks with Myanmar next week to discuss aid projects, another step in growing international involvement as the country moves tentatively towards democracy. Last week, Myanmar won a powerful endorsement when US President Barack Obama announced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit Myanmar, citing “flickers of progress”. — Reuters

A

e niv rsar n

y

Business

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Indian govt mulls retail revolution

Outsourcing stems Philippines labor exodus

PAGE 24

PAGE 22

LISBON: People stand beside stationary trains as the station announcement system displays a notice which translates as ‘Trains Cancelled’ at the Cais do Sodre train station during a general strike in Lisbon yesterday. —AFP

Fitch cuts Portugal credit rating to junk Portugal paralyzed; Workers protest austerity LISBON: Portugal’s efforts to climb out of its economic crisis suffered a double setback yesterday as its credit rating was downgraded to junk status and a major strike gave voice to broad public outrage over austerity measures that have squeezed living standards. Portugal’s deepening plight underlined Europe’s difficulties in finding a way out of the continent’s sovereign debt crisis which has recently shown alarming signs of spreading to bigger nations, most notably Italy.

Like others in the eurozone, Portugal has embarked on a big austerity program to make its debts sustainable. That was a requirement of a the $104 billion international bailout it received earlier this year.

As in bailed-out Greece, though, the government’s tough medicine is unpopular and the general strike had a huge turnoutmaking it possibly the biggest walkout in more than 20 years.

Fitch, one of the three leading credit rating agencies, blamed Portugal’s “large fiscal imbalances, high indebtedness across all sectors, and adverse macroeconomic outlook” for its decision to cut the country’s rating by one notch to BB+. Rival Moody’s already rates Portuguese bonds as junk but Standard & Poor’s rates them one notch above. Fitch’s decision to cut Portugal to a non-investment grade will

likely mean it’s even more difficult for the country, which is already mired in a deep recession and is witnessing rising levels of unemployment, to return to bond markets by its 2013 goal.

However, Portugal’s main stock market held up alongside the general tone in Europe’s markets yesterday, trading 0.6 percent higher. “Portugal’s downgrade goes to show how hard it will be for troubled economies to pull themselves out of the crisis and how long this will take,” said Sony Kapoor, managing director of ReDefine, an economic think tank. “The Portuguese downgrade highlights the limits of austerity policies both domestically in Portugal and in the wider euro area.”

The 24-hour walkout came as Portugal, one of western Europe’s smallest and frailest economies, endures increasing hardship as it tries to get its borrowing levels down. Airlines canceled hundreds of international flights, and the airports of Lisbon, Porto and Faro were mostly empty as tens of thousands of workers walked off the job. Commuters had to get to work without regular bus or train services. The Lisbon subway was shut, and police said roads into the capital were more congested than normal.

Few staff were working at government offices, local media reported. Many med-

ical appointments, school classes and court hearings were canceled, while mail deliveries and trash collection were said to be severely disrupted. An unsustainable debt load and feeble economic growth over the past 10 years pushed Portugal towards bankruptcy earlier this year, forcing it to ask for a financial rescue. Greece and Ireland also needed financial help to weather the crisis which has since spread to bigger countries such as Italy and Spain.

Even Germany got embroiled Wednesday when it suffered its worst bond auction since the establishment of the euro in 1999. In return for the aid, Portugal agreed to cut its debt burden to a manageable level by 2013. That goal requires it to enact deep spending cuts and hike taxes.

Income tax, sales tax, corporate tax and property tax are all being increased. At the same time, welfare entitlements are being curtailed. Falling living standards have stoked outrage at the austerity measures.

The Portuguese government, which came to power in June, has already conceded that its deficit reduction efforts have gone “off track” this year but says one-off measures, such as a 50 percent tax on Christmas bonuses and transferring banks’ pension funds to the Treasury, will ensure Portugal achieves its 2011 budget deficit goal of 5.9 percent. — AP

SP downgrades Egypt’s rating PARIS: Standard and Poor’s ratings agency said yesterday it has cut its long-term rating on Egypt by one notch to ‘B+’ as popular unrest undercuts the country’s already weak political and economic outlook. “The downgrade reflects our opinion that Egypt’s weak political and economic profile... has deteriorated further (following)... the clashes between protesters and security personnel that began on November 20 and resulted in significant loss of life,” S&P said. Last month, S&P downgraded Egypt to ‘BB-,’ citing increased risks to the economy during the country’s political transition and warning it could lower it again if there was fresh turmoil. Since Saturday, at least 38 protesters have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in clashes with police in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular uprising which forced Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak to step down as president earlier this year. S&P said the violence has put increased pressure on Egypt’s international reserveswhich have fallen to $22 billion at end-October from $36 billion at the start of the year-weakening the country’s economic profile. “We assess the policy choices of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) - such as allowing violence to escalate in Tahrir Square from November 20 in an effort to disburse protestors-as having weakened the prospects of a smooth political transition to democracy and having reduced the ability of the government to place the public finances on a more sustainable path,” S&P said. — AFP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Business

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Crisis casts doubt on China rebalancing plans BEIJING: China has been forced into self-help mode after a series of international crises have hollowed out its export markets and left it feeling like the only man standing. But Beijing may not have time to administer its ideal medicine-a project to spur domestic demand. Instead, policymakers may be spurred to action by a sharp weakening in the domestic picture-and the measures they choose are likely to err on the side of growth at any cost, rather than much-needed restructuring.

“My concern is that when we look at the numbers they are very reminiscent of early 2008 and that was not a good scene,” said Arthur Kroeber of economics consultancy Dragonomics. He asserts that weaknesses in steel demand and construction are signs that all is not well in China. “They see things slowing down so they will do what they can, which means all rebalancing will be kicked down the road,” Kroeber said. “They are more interested in retaining growth

through the channels they have.” Or, as China’s vice premier Wang Qishan put it this week: “An unbalanced recovery would be better than a balanced recession.”

Already, bank lending is reviving, after months of a credit crunch that starved China’s private sector-the most productive in terms of jobs and taxesforcing more and more companies to turn to underground banking and loan sharks for funds. This week, China confirmed it is pressing ahead with a vast spending plan for so-called “strategic sectors”. Other measures by which China might stimulate growth include a pilot VAT tax reform and some reduction of fees to smaller firms-both of which should help the private sector which had been left out in the cold during the past three years of emphasis on big, state-owned firms.

There are voices calling for serious structural reform- sometimes from surprising quarters. Prominent newspapers

carried an editorial from an Agricultural Bank of China economist saying that a stronger yuan would help China transform its economic model, and another editorial from a vice minister of industry saying that the overseas crises would force Chinese industry to raise its competitiveness. Long Yongtu, the man who negotiated China’s entry to the World Trade Organization, told Reuters that provincial leaders support a greater opening of the economy.

LOOK TO YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST Internationally, the financial crises roiling the West are expected to hit China’s export sector, which still accounts for about 15 percent of GDP and employs millions in the coastal regions. But worryingly, the latest HSBC purchasing managers’ index showed that while new orders for exports held their ground, overall orders had their biggest drop in a year and a half- implying that domestic demand is as much a

German bond sale scare shakes euro and stocks US shares fell more than 2 percent SINGAPORE: Japanese stocks hit a twoand-a-half-year low and the euro struggled yesterday after a disappointing German bond sale raised alarm that Europe’s ever-worsening sovereign debt crisis is starting to affect even the continent’s economic powerhouse. Stocks elsewhere in Asia failed to sustain a rebound from sharp falls in the previous session, but European shares were expected to eke out small gains.

Financial bookmakers predicted Europe’s major indexes in London, Frankfurt, and Paris would open 0.3-0.5 percent higher. Oil and copper made modest rebounds from a sell-off on Wednesday, when weak data from Europe, the United States and China stoked fears the global economy may be heading for a recession that would dull demand for industrial commodities.

Germany’s bond sale on Wednesday had one of the worst results since the launch of the euro, raising concern about the price Berlin may pay for its role as paymaster to a region racked by a crisis that has toppled governments in Greece and Italy.

“If Germany has to pay higher costs for its borrowing, it’s obvious it cannot help the entire euro zone,” said Makoto Noji, senior strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo. “If German bond yields keep rising, that could even be a trigger for break-up of the euro.” Tokyo’s Nikkei share average fell 1.8 percent to their lowest close since March 2009.

Japanese markets were closed for a holiday on Wednesday, when other Asian markets had tumbled. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan spent much of the trading day in positive territory before running out of steam. The earlier gains had been partly driven by expectations that a slowdown in China will prompt Beijing to take monetary policy easing steps such as cutting banks’ reserve requirement ratios, allowing them to lend more of their deposits.

“Anticipation of policy loosening in China after the bad flash PMI yesterday is spurring some short-covering,” said Linus Yip, strategist with First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. Wall Street shares fell more than 2 percent on

markets as a whole,” said Marc Ostwald, strategist at Monument Securities.

“There’s certainly a partial element of ‘they would rather not have euros’ in there.”

The single currency tottered to

MUMBAI: Indians react as they watch a display screen on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai. Indian stocks tumbled amid concerns over the Indian rupee that plunged to an all time low against the dollar. — AP around $1.3360, up a bit less than 0.2 Wednesday , and world stocks fell to a percent yesterday, having fallen as low six-week low, on data showing slowing as $1.3318 in the previous session. factory output in manufacturing titans Against the yen it fell around 0.2 perChina and Germany and weak consumer cent to a six-week low just below 103.0. spending in top consumer the United States. US markets will be closed yester- The inexorably widening euro zone crisis-which has pushed up risk premiums day for the Thanksgiving holiday. for Spanish, French, Italian and Belgian government bonds-is making it increasGERMAN GLOOM Germany’s bond sale added to the ingly hard for European banks to access gloom, knocking the euro down 1 per- dollar funding in the money markets. cent. Depressed yields in Europe’s last The stresses pushed dollar LIBOR rates, safe haven played a part, but analysts the benchmark for banks lending to warned it also signaled a broader shun- each other, up for the 103rd straight sesning of the region’s financial system. sion on Wednesday and has driven the “The other part is that market makers cost of swapping euros into dollars to don’t want to have a position because of the most expensive levels since the the very distressed nature of financial global financial crisis in 2008. — Reuters

concern as exports. China’s factory sector shrank the most in nearly three years in November, data released on Wednesday showed.

China has long said it wants to reorient the economy towards more sustainable, consumer-led growth. But the huge stimulus it launched to stave off a slowdown during the global financial crisis of 2008 — a program totaling about $650 billion-had the opposite effect. It transferred more of the nation’s assets to the less productive state sector. Return on investment in China is falling fast, in yet another sign that deferring restructuring can only eke out a few more years of rapid growth. “I think it will take another 3-5 years before we see a real rebalancing. At the moment, growth is very much driven by investment,” said Kevin Lai, senior economist at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong. “If you talk about investment ratio close to 50 percent, that’s too high.” — Reuters

Dubai non-oil exports may soar 36 percent DUBAI: Dubai’s non-oil exports may jump 36 percent in 2011 and grow at the same pace next year, boosted by political stability and new trade with East Africa and Central Asia, a government official said, although analysts see a slowdown in 2012 on the global economic outlook.

The emirate, which lacks the oil wealth of neighboring Abu Dhabi, saw economic output shrink by 2.4 percent in 2009 after the global financial crisis burst its property bubble. Its economy, recovering from massive debt restructuring at a state-owned conglomerate, expanded by 2.8 percent last year.

Dubai, one of seven members of the United Arab Emirates which accounts for 28 percent of the OPEC member’s economy, is seen benefitting from political stability, growing tourism to its landmarks such as the world’s tallest tower Burj Khalifa or an indoor ski slope, and new emerging trade partners. Saed Al-Awadi, chief executive of the Dubai Export Development Corporation (EDC), said he expects exports to grow 36 percent in 2011. “Next year, (exports) will be within the same figure which is 36 percent, it will continue as good as this year’s growth,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of an exporters forum. “Our nonoil exports in the first half of 2011 are 36 percent higher than in 2010, from 33 billion dirhams ($8.99 billion) to 45 billion dirhams,” Awadi said.

Last year, he forecast Dubai’s non-oil exports, which account for around 13 percent of the overall trade flows, would grow 20 percent in 2011. However, with the euro zone debt crisis and a slowdown in China set to hurt growth wordwide next year, Awadi’s forecast may be optimistic. “Given the difficult global economic outlook next year and our expectation of significantly lower growth in trade volumes, I wouldn’t expect to see the pace of increase match that of this year,” said Simon Williams, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at HSBC. Dubai’s central geographic location, airport and seaport infrastructure, business environment and political stability were driving exports growth, Awadi said. “We are developing new markets including East Africa and Central Asia, these are the two new markets for 2012,” he said.

Trade with conventional markets such as India, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Middle East, North Africa and South Asia would continue to grow, he said. Imports increased by 21 percent to 214 billion dirhams in the first six months of the year, Awadi said, citing data from Dubai Customs. Re-exports rose to 86 billion dirhams in the first half ofthe year from 69 billion in the same period in 2010.

Dubai’s non-oil trade data exclude trade in its free zones.

Concerns about Dubai’s liabilities have eased since state-owned firm Dubai World reached a deal last year to restructure almost $25 billion of debt. — Reuters

A

y

e niv rsar n

Business

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

China eases lending restrictions for small banks SHANGHAI: China’s central bank said yesterday it has eased lending restrictions on more than 20 small banks nationwide, as it seeks to channel more funds to cash-strapped private firms and the farming sector. The People’s Bank of China will cut the reserve requirement ratio for the rural banks by half a percentage point to 16 percent, effective today, the central bank said in a statement sent to AFP. The group includes six lenders in the eastern province of Zhejiang, where many privately owned companies are facing a credit crunch, said the statement from the central bank’s Hangzhou city branch.

An official at the headquarters of the central bank in Beijing confirmed the total number, but declined to say where the other banks were located.

“All of the more than 20 banks are included (in the cut),” said the official, who also declined to be named. The move, which reduces the amount of funds banks must set aside, is a sign the government is selectively easing tight credit restrictions put in place to curb surging inflation and property prices. The central bank said it would

maintain its “prudent monetary policy”, while giving more credit to support weak parts of the economy such as the agricultural sector and small businesses.

Credit restrictions have fuelled an

explosion in underground lending as private firms borrow money at high interest rates from informal lenders after being rejected by major banks who favour other state-controlled enterprises. But the disappearance of

BEIJING: In this file photo, a CRH high-speed train leaves the Beijing South Station for Shanghai during a test run on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in Beijing, China. China’s bullet train builders have conducted a test run of their showcase Beijing-to-Shanghai line amid controversy over the system’s high cost. — AP

Nokia to delist from Frankfurt exchange HELSINKI: Nokia Corp has applied to delist from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange because of falling trading volumes of its shares, the world’s largest mobile phone maker said yesterday. The announcement came as the Finnish company’s stock continues to tumble as it struggles against stiff competition in the top-end smartphone sector and against rivals making cheaper handsets in Asia. In August, Standard and Poor’s downgraded Nokia’s credit rating, saying its outlook for the company remained negative. Moody’s also downgraded it by two notches in July from A3 to Baa2 due to a “severe weakening” of Nokia’s business position. Nokia said the application was a pragmatic decision in an increasingly Internet-connected world that allows electronic trading from anywhere.

Besides Helsinki, Nokia shares are still traded in New York, but during the last eight years Nokia has delisted from the London, Paris and Stockholm exchanges. Last month, Nokia launched its long-awaited first Windows cellphones nine months after it teamed up with Microsoft Corp. to make smartphones. Standard and Poor’s said the partnership “could help Nokia improve the currently weak competitive position of its smartphone portfolio.” Nokia’s share price, which has plunged by 50 percent since the February partnership was announced to below euro4.00, reviving slightly to reach euro5.00 at the end of October. — AP

more than 90 entrepreneurs in Wenzhou city in Zhejiang, who are thought to have run away over high debts, has fuelled concerns that even the informal lending market could collapse.China, anxious about rising living costs, has pulled on a variety of levers to curb price rises in the past 18 months, including restricting the amount of money banks can lend and hiking interest rates.

But the central bank has said recently it would “fine-tune” monetary policy amid growing concerns that the weak global economy is increasing the risk of a hard landing for China.

Preliminary data released by HSBC on Wednesday showed China’s manufacturing activity slumped to its lowest level in 32 months in November, renewing fears the Asian powerhouse is losing steam amid global economic woes.

China’s consumer inflation eased in October to 5.5 percent, the slowest pace since May, while economic growth slowed to an annual 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 9.5 percent the previous quarter. — AFP

Gasoline under pressure Gasoil in demand DUBAI: Gasoline premiums came under pressure in the Middle East Gulf on a weak outlook for European and Asian demand, while the high sulphur gasoil market remained tight, with traders still awaiting the results of Iraq’s SOMO tender results. “US gasoline stocks are high and unemployment is not softening in the United States and Europe,” one gasoline trader said. “People would rather have dinner on their table than drive around,” he said, adding that fuel supplies were rising despite weak demand. European gasoline barge prices slipped on Wednesday after weekly gasoline inventories rose more than expected in the United States and European refinery production increased to take advantage of strong distillate cracks.

In the Gulf markets, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) bought 150,000 tons of gasoline for

delivery early next year at a premium of $36 a ton over Mediterranean quotes and the tender was awarded to Totsa. United Arab Emirates fuel retailer Emarat sought 1.2 million tons of gasoline for 2012. Traders also awaited the results of Iraq SOMO’s products tender, which has been reissued with lower grade specifications.

India’s Reliance was also in private talks to sell gasoline, a second gasoline trader said. “It is interesting to see that Reliance is still selling their December volumes. Usually they would be all sold out a month or more in advance,” he said. “It shows how weak gasoline in the East is,” he said.

Gasoline cracks remained in negative territory for the eighth straight session as off-peak seasonal demand coupled with higher supplies continued to weigh on sentiment. In the Gulf, two traders pegged premiums for 95 RON gasoline at $95-100 a tonne over

benchmark Middle East naphtha quotes. Gasoline’s weakness did not support naphtha either. Naphtha can be reformed into gasoline or be used for blending.

Current naphtha sentiment has been week due to reduced cracker runs in Taiwan, Japan and pockets of Southeast Asia. At a time of weak sentiment, state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) has offered a total of 905,000 tons of naphtha for first-half 2012, for lifting from Suez and Alexandria. The high sulphur gas oil market drew support from the strength of markets to the east and west. A combination of demand from Myanmar, Libya and Israel, together with seasonal winter demand in the Europe, have placed further pressure on a tight distillates market. Earlier in the week, in Asia, gasoil refining margins climbed to their highest level in five months. — Reuters

Brent oil up above $107

ESPOO: Photo shows a telecommunications services company Nokia Siemens Networks company headquarters in Espoo, Finland. The Finnish-German telecommunications company Nokia Siemans Networks is planning to cut about 17,000 employees by the end of 2013. — AP

SINGAPORE: Brent crude rose above $107 yesterday, recovering from the previous day’s losses, as potential strong winter fuel demand and turmoil in the Middle East offset fears that a global economic slowdown could hurt consumption. Crude stockpiles in the United States unexpectedly fell last week as refinery rates rose and crude imports were down. A botched German bond sale on Wednesday raised alarm that the crisis could hit even Europe’s largest economy. Brent crude rose 54 cents to $107.56 a barrel by 0802 GMT. Brent is poised for a third year of gains because of the political turmoil in the Middle East.

US crude, set for its second straight week of decline, was up 53 cents at $96.70 a barrel. Trading volume is expected

to remain thin as the United States is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. “OECD inventories are so low and we’re running into winter,” said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp. “Seasonally December is the highest demand period.” US crude inventories fell 6.22 million barrels last week, against an expected increase of 500,000 barrels, data from the US Energy Information (EIA) showed.

Nunan expects Brent to average at $110-$113 a barrel while maintaining a $7-$10 spread with US crude. Brent’s premium against US crude was at $10.86, compared with $10.85 at Wednesday’s close. Both contracts lost nearly 2 percent on Wednesday as weak economic data from Europe, China and the United States painted a sombre outlook for global oil demand. — Reuters

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Business

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Outsourcing stems Philippines labor exodus MANILA: Malaysia-based computer whiz Arlene Teodoro packed his bags and flew home to the Philippines this year, going against the tide in an impoverished country that sends millions of workers abroad. Forced to leave his family and friends in 2008 in search of a decent job overseas, the 35-year-old bachelor says he is back for good because his skills are suddenly in big demand amid a business process outsourcing boom. “Nothing compares to being back in the Philippines,” said Teodoro, part of a 30strong computer science class at a Manila university in the early 1990s, most of whose members also went overseas to find work.

“When I was working abroad I’d use up all my vacation leaves to attend family events and reconnect with my family.” Teodoro now earns about $3,000 a month as a business intelligence analyst for a US data mining firm, which uses powerful software to predict such key measures as future sales and trends for clients. Big multinationals from aircraft manufacturers to retail chains are increasingly using these sophisticated tools, and the Philippines and India offer the most cost-efficient locales for such laborintensive tasks, he said.

They also, crucially, have large English-speaking populations. Data mining is one small part of the outsourcing phenomenon in the

Philippines that has emerged from virtually nothing 10 years ago to become one of the country’s most important economic planks and sources of jobs.

The Philippines has for decades suffered an exodus of people who have headed overseas to escape dire economic conditions, with one quarter of the population currently living on a

$18.17 billion back to the Philippines last year, equivalent to 10 percent of the country’s GDP, and their importance to the nation is such that they have earned the nickname: “Mga Bagong Bayani,” or “Modern Day Heroes”. However the exodus has also led to a massive “brain drain” and caused social disruption as families are

MANILA: Photo shows the Bonifacio Global City skyline in suburban Manila. — AFP dollar a day or less.

Nine million, or 10 percent of all Filipinos, now live overseas, performing low-skilled jobs such as maids and sailors, but also working as nurses, engineers and IT specialists. They sent

Tata backs Indian trend in looking beyond family MUMBAI: The giant Tata Group overlooked an obvious family candidate to be its next chairman, a move at odds with the owners of other big private businesses in India who are busy grooming their heirs. Noel Tata, the half-brother of current chairman Ratan Tata, was widely seen as the frontrunner to take over when the 73-year-old boss retires in December 2012, but the job instead went to Cyrus P Mistry, an existing group director.

Mistry, a 43-year-old trained engineer, is certainly no outsider plucked from obscurity, but he was described as a “surprise choice” by India’s leading business newspaper Mint.

His family has historically been close to the Tatas and he is distantly related to Ratan, a bachelor who has no children.

Mistry’s father Pallonji owns 18 percent of Tata Group. But Cyrus is the first chairman from outside the immediate family in the group’s 143-year history and his comparatively young age also signals a generational shift at the top of the company.

The head of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Chandrajit Banerjee, applauded Wednesday’s announcement, calling it “an exemplary move that speaks volumes about the norms of corporate governance” at Tata. “CII commends the leadership in the Tata Group for setting standards which would be a benchmark for large global corporations,” Banerjee said in a statement. Family-owned businesses are commonplace in India, from the smallest of local grocery stores to conglomerates such as Tata, the energy and telecom empire of Reliance, consumer goods giant Godrej or energy and steel group Essar.

The Bollywood film industry is also awash with actors, producers and directors related by birth or marriage. In politics, too, a family name goes a long way—particularly if it’s Nehru or Gandhi. But Mistry’s appointment indicates a shift from appointments in business based on bloodline and birthright to ones made on experience and ability, observers say. Across India’s big private business houses, young managers carrying the family name have made their entrance in recent years, often after gaining expensive qualifications and professional experience overseas. — AFP

torn apart, with one or both parents going overseas and leaving their children at home with relatives. But now the rise of outsourcing is giving many Filipinos a chance to stay at home.

The outsourcing workforce grew

about 10 percent this year to 600,000, and is expected to expand to 900,000 employees by 2016, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines. More than than 60 percent of the outsourcing jobs are in call centres with Filipinos fielding telephone inquiries from, or selling products to, customers across the globe. Although they are the lowest-paid in the sector, an entry-level call centre job still pays between 14,000-20,000 pesos ($325$465) a month. This is roughly equivalent to what a Filipino maid would typically earn in a wealthier Asian country such as Singapore, or a seaman’s starting salary in the global merchant fleet.

The local industry is also increasingly attracting work for higher-paying skills such as data warehousing, accounting and medical transcription, as well as creative work ranging from webpage design to animation and video games. “Before, it was the call centre boom in the Philippines, but now it’s more of really specialized skills,” said Teodoro. The Philippines has risen to have the second biggest outsourcing sector in the world behind India partly because it has a huge English-language workforce. Filipino workers are also particularly prized in the United States and other Western nations because of their familiarity with their culture, a legacy of the Philippines’ history as a former US colony. — Reuters

Ex-Olympus boss meets prosecutors on scandal Olympus shares jump on speculation TOKYO: Former Olympus CEO Michael Woodford met yesterday with Tokyo prosecutors, who are investigating an accounting scandal at the once venerable camera maker, a day before attending a board meeting for a showdown with the directors who fired him.

Woodford was also expected to meet police and officials at Japan’s securities watchdog. “I feel fine. It’s a beautiful morning here in Tokyo and I’m looking forward to meeting the Tokyo prosecutors’ staff,” Woodford, who returned to Tokyo on Wednesday for the first time since he was fired, told reporters.

Olympus Corp, which at first denied any wrongdoing, admitted this month it used M&A payments to help hide losses on securities investments for two decades, blaming former president and chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former vice president Hisashi Mori and internal auditor Hideo Yamada. But where the money trail leads is a mystery, fanning speculation of links between “yakuza” gangsters and the murky payments Olympus made for its acquisitions.

Shadowy ties between crime syndicates and Japanese firms have existed for decades.

Tokyo prosecutors, police and the securities watchdog are conducting a rare joint probe of the scandal. Kyodo news agency said prosecutors had questioned Mori and internal auditor Yamada on a voluntary basis and would

also quiz Kikukawa. Shares in the 92year-old camera and endoscope maker, which lost more than 80 percent of their value at one point, jumped in morning trade despite the scandal. “There is no basis for the stock to be up at this level ... In two weeks the company will announce its revised results,” said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing, Jujiya Securities. “What’s going on in the market right now is just traders playing with fire until the company’s announcement.” Olympus fired Woodford on Oct 14, asserting he did not understand Japanese culture or the firm’s management style. His return to Tokyo caps a remarkable turnaround for the 51-yearold Briton, who after being fired by the Olympus board was told his driver would no longer be available and that he should vacate his apartment. Someone Woodford trusted suggested he leave Japan immediately for his own safety, which he did. Woodford, who said he was axed for questioning the M&A deals, fled to England and has campaigned for the firm to come clean. Big foreign shareholders have called for his return to run Olympus, which Woodford has said he was willing to do. Woodford says Tokyo police, who have mobilized an organized crime unit to join the investigation, have a big role in uncovering the truth. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain’s Serious Fraud Office are also investigating.

“The metropolitan police to me is the one that probably has the capability to investigate this in the right way,” a relaxed Woodford told reporters on Wednesday after a low-key return to Tokyo for the first time since his sacking.

Woodford, like Kikukawa, who quit on Oct 26, and Mori, who was fired, is still an Olympus director since only shareholders can dismiss directors. Woodford had refused to come back to Japan because of safety concerns but says he is now confident police will protect him.

Speculation of organized crime links has swirled around the scandal. The firm said on Monday a third-party panel it set up to investigate the matter had found no evidence that organized crime syndicates, or “yakuza” gangsters, were involved in the M&A payments. The payments included a massive $687 million advisory fee paid mostly to an obscure Cayman Islands firm.

The panel is due to report its findings in early December. Woodford, who acknowledges he can be “loud-mouthed” and “strong-headed”, has called for a thorough investigation of the transactions and for a clean-out of top management. But echoing calls by major foreign shareholders, Woodford said Olympus shares should not be delisted, in part to help ensure full disclosure of information.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange has placed Olympus on a watch list as a prelude to possible delisting.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Business

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Brazil suspends Chevron’s drilling rights Oil regulator sees signs of negligence BRASILIA: The Brazilian government has suspended Chevron Corp’s drilling rights in Brazil until it clarifies the causes of an offshore oil spill, the latest twist in a political firestorm threatening the US company’s role in Brazil’s oil bonanza.

The decision was announced as the chief executive of Chevron’s Brazilian unit testified before the Brazilian Congress, where he publicly apologized for the Nov 8 spill that leaked about 2,400 barrels of oil into the ocean off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency said it decided to halt Chevron’s drilling rights after determining that there was evidence that the company had been “negligent” in its study of data needed to drill and in contingency planning for abandoning the well in the event of accident. The agency, known as ANP, also rejected a request from Chevron made before the leak to drill wells in the deeper subsalt areas in the Frade field where the spill occurred. The field is located in the oil-rich Campos Basin and is the only block in Brazil where Chevron produces oil as the operator.

The Campos Basin is currently the source of more than 80 percent of Brazil’s oil output. The spill is an ominous reminder of the risks involved in offshore drilling, cooling the euphoria over vast subsalt oil reserves Brazil found in 2007 up to 7 km (4.4 miles) below the seabed.

The country is banking on those reserves of up to 100 billion barrels to speed its

development. Chevron has previously drilled for subsalt depth targets in the field, which is also owned by Brazil’s state-controlled energy giant Petrobras and Frade Japao, a Japanese consortium.

Chevron owns 52 percent of Frade,

as they have pledged to do. Chevron had halted all of its local drilling operations after the leak occurred, before ANP’s announced suspension. The ANP said the suspension will remain in place until Chevron fully restores safety conditions

RIO DE JANEIRO: Photo shows an aerial view of a boat crossing an area of an oil spill in an offshore field operated by Chevron at the Bacia de Campos, in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. — AP whereas Petrobras owns 30 percent and Frade Japao 18 percent.

The second-largest US oil company has already been fined $28 million by Brazil’s environmental agency for the spill, an amount that is sure to rise sharply when the ANP and Rio’s state government slap fines on the company,

in the field. Chevron’s CEO in Brazil, George Buck, told Brazilian lawmakers on Wednesday that the company “acted as rapidly and safely as possible” and “used all resources” to contain and stop the flow of oil from the well. “We controlled the source in four days. We worked with transparency and cooperation with the

authorities of Brazil,” Buck said.

INVESTIGATIONS, RECRIMINATIONS Some lawmakers scoffed at Chevron’s claim that it did not initially realize the spill, when first detected, was linked to its own nearby well that it rushed to shut off after a pressure surge or “kick” a day before the oil spill was spotted. Chevron at first attributed the “sheen” on the sea surface to naturally occurring seepage from the seabed. The company is being investigated by the Federal Police, which noted discrepancies between Chevron’s account of the spill and the government’s.

The Frade leak, while small, is likely to provide more ammunition for the growing worldwide opposition to offshore drilling in the wake of the estimated 4million-barrel BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the US Gulf in 2010. The oil flow has now been staunched except for residual droplets still bubbling up from a fissure in the sea floor but this is expected to cease in a few days. Chevron said the oil “stain” on the sea surface now equated to about a barrel. Most of the oil has been mechanically dispersed while 350 cubic meters of oily water has been recovered and will undergo processing.

Addressing a crowded congressional commission through an interpreter, Buck said Chevron still did not understand how the crude rose 567 feet up to the seabed after rock “parted” while drilling an the 8.5 inch-wide column. — Reuters

Business mood brightens after German debt shock Indicator boosts euro after poor Bond auction BERLIN: German business sentiment rose unexpectedly in November for the first time in nearly half a year, suggesting Europe’s largest economy is weathering the euro zone debt crisis and turmoil in international markets better so far than experts had feared. A day after weak demand for a German bond auction raised concern the crisis may be spreading to Europe’s economic powerhouse, the closely-watched Ifo business climate index bucked expectations to rise for the first time since June.

The Munich-based Ifo think-tank’s index, based on a monthly survey of 7,000 companies, edged up to 106.6 in November from 106.4 in October. The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 43 economists had been for a drop to 105.1.

“The German economy is still performing relatively well despite the international turmoil,” said Ifo chief Hans-Werner Sinn, ascribing the increase to “somewhat less sceptical” expectations in German trade and manufacturing.

The news pushed up the euro and European shares, providing some relief after Wednesday’s poor Bund auction when the German debt agency could not find buyers for almost half a 6 billion euro bond sale. Analysts called the auction of 10-year bonds a “disaster”. Ifo economist Klaus Abberger said the November index showed the debt crisis had not yet

reached the real economy and that Germany had a good chance of avoiding recession this winter, with domestic demand looking stable. “A slowdown will come but not a drastic one. We are not in free-fall,” Abberger said.

Manufacturers told Ifo they expected “hardly any further stimulus from exports” and retailers were also cautious, while wholesalers and the construction industry reported an improved business climate after a recent cooling in both sectors. “The German economy will not be able to escape these general recessionary tendencies (in the euro zone),” said ING economist Carsten Brzeski. “However, today’s Ifo index shows that if policymakers get a grip on the crisis management, Germany could get off more lightly than most other countries.” Earlier yesterday Germany confirmed that gross domestic product growth accelerated in the third quarter, with private consumption growing at its strongest pace in more than a year.

STAGNATION, AT BEST German retailer Douglas, which sells perfumes, cosmetics and books making it very focused on Christmas sales, said last week it was “seeing no signs the mood of the consumers has been dampened by the euro zone crisis”. “In fact, they seem in the mood to shop,” Douglas Chief Executive Henning Kreke told Reuters.

GDP growth accelerated to 0.5 percent in Q3 while private consumption swung back to growth of 0.8 percent after shrinking in the previous quarter. Investment in plant equipment rose 2.9 percent. On an annual basis, however, growth eased again, and the bond auction demonstrated clearly that Germany is not immune to the negative sentiment sweeping across the continent. Timo Klein of IHS Global Insight has pencilled in average GDP growth dropping to 0.8 percent next year from an estimated 3 percent for 2011 and said euro-crisis risks “continue to bias any future forecast revisions to the downside for now”.

The Ifo index rise reverses “only a fraction of the sharp fall in expectations seen over the last six months and left the index pointing to stagnation-at best-in the economy over the coming quarters”, said Capital Economics’ Jonathan Loynes.

Germany recovered swiftly from the 2008/09 financial crisis, with its growth outstripping all others in the single currency zone, but there are clear signs the economy is now shifting down a gear.

German industrial orders saw their steepest decline in September since early 2009, weighed down by sharply weaker demand from the euro zone.

Industrial production has already begun to feel the pinch, falling 2.7 percent in September. — Reuters

Microsoft, Yahoo in confidentiality pact SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Corp has signed a confidentiality agreement with Yahoo Inc, allowing the software giant to take a closer look at Yahoo’s business, according to a source familiar with the matter. Microsoft joins several private equity firms that are also poring over Yahoo’s books and operations, as they explore various options for striking a deal with the struggling Internet company.

Yahoo, which fired its chief executive in September, is undergoing a “strategic review,” to revamp its business and its stagnant revenue growth. Private equity firms KKR and TPG Capital have also signed confidentiality agreements with Yahoo, people familiar with the matter previously told Reuters. The firms are looking to potentially buy minority stakes in Yahoo of up to 20 percent, with an eye toward eventually taking over the whole company, the people said.

Silver Lake, another private equity firm, has also signed an nondisclosure agreement with Yahoo, according to the technology blog AllThingsD. Some private equity firms have balked at signing Yahoo’s NDA because of restrictions that would prevent them from forming consortiums, people familiar with the matter said. — Reuters

A

y

e niv rsar n

Business

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Spain debt pain hits home Families evicted

BRUSSELS: European Commissioner for the Economy Olli Rehn pauses before speaking during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels. — AFP

OECD says eurozone recession avoidable MILAN: The OECD’s chief economist said that a eurozone recession can still be avoided but warned in an interview that upcoming forecasts from his organization would show “declining and very weak growth.”

“We are very concerned,” Pier Carlo Padoan, who is also deputy secretary general of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said in an interview with Italy’s La Stampa daily. Padoan said the OECD report on Monday would also examine the potential fallout from a grave eurozone crisis, saying there would be “very worrying consequences in terms of a plunge in revenues and increased unemployment.”

The OECD bring together some of the main developed world economies. Padoan said a recession “can still be avoided” but Europe needed “sufficient resources to calm the markets and governments need to restore” public finances. “If that is done, we can not only get out of the crisis but resume on a path of more sustained and stable growth,” he said. Padoan said Mario Monti coming to power in Italy was “good news for Europe” which “needs an Italy that is moving towards economic and financial healing.” Asked about the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) as a possible lender of last resort, he said that role should go to a new European Monetary Fund which would lend money only “in exchange for precise conditions.”

EURO CRISIS IMPACT Meanwhile, Japan’s fiscal policy minister said yesterday the government wants to cooperate with other Asian nations to minimize the possible impact of European debt crisis contagion denting the region.

“We’d like to aggressively seek cooperation with Asian partners, and expanding our currency swap deal with Korea is a good example,” Motohisa Furukawa, state minister of economic and fiscal policy, said at a seminar in Tokyo. South Korea and Japan agreed in October to expand their currency swap arrangement to the equivalent of $70 billion from $13 billion in the face of global uncertainty, and to revive efforts to reach a free trade pact. The deal was seen to help ease market volatility as the deepening eurozone crisis plagues global markets. Furukawa will visit Seoul this weekend to discuss energy and economic issues with his Korean counterparts. His comments come in the wake of assessments from the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government over the threat to growth posed by fallout from the eurozone debt crisis and slowing global demand. Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa was quoted by government officials as saying that Japan should prepare for possible major shocks from Europe, at a meeting of economy-related ministers on Thursday. —Agencies

MADRID: Grim-faced and flanked by riot cops, two bailiffs arrive on Consuelo Lozano’s doorstep in Madrid to evict the latest victim of Spain’s burst property bubble. Police shove away a crowd of her friends and neighbors, dragging off several by the arms and legs. “Sons of bitches!

Bastards!” yells the 60-strong crowd, pinned back by a line of riot shields. “Shame! Injustice! Banks are robbers!” A 40year-old unemployed cleaning lady, Consuelo is the last of her family to quit their first-floor flat in Torrejon de Ardoz, a largely immigrant suburb in northern Madrid.

She had already sent her two sons and daughter back to her native Ecuador with her husband to spare them the trauma of eviction, before authorities forced her too to leave on foot on a cold November morning. But she cannot walk away from her 200,000-euro mountain of debt. “This has destroyed my family. The bank has taken the house. It’s theirs now, I’m not going to fight for it,” Consuelo tells the crowd, holding back tears. “But they’re trying to reclaim double the value of the house. I told them I cannot pay this. I have nowhere to go. They said go to a shelter,” she added.

Like many immigrants in Spain, Consuelo’s husband Jaime found work as a builder during a construction boom of 1998-2008 and was persuaded in 2006 he could buy his home with an easily obtained mortgage-more than 220,000 euros ($270,000). And like many of the five million people now unemployed in the country, he was left jobless after the speculation-driven bubble burst, leaving him deep in arrears.

Outside Consuelo’s door, until he is shoved away by police, is Chema Ruiz, the bespectacled spokesman for the Platform for those Affected by Mortgages (PAH), a volunteer network that supports people facing eviction and confronts the bailiffs. “We are going to talk to them and try to convince them that an injustice is being committed and that they cannot leave these people in the street because they have nowhere to go,” Ruiz said.

Joining other grassroots groups, PAH has held numerous peaceful blockades at evictions in recent months, pushing for changes to the law to protect homeowners it says are victims of exploitative bank lending. It demands a moratorium on evictions, a law to protect mortgage holders from disproportionate hikes in repayment rates, and the creation of a public stock of affordable social housing.

Protestors, publicizing their actions via Twitter and other online platforms, say they have helped to postpone evictions in some cases, including two in the Madrid area in late October.

But the PAH estimates that 300 families are still being evicted every day across Spain. The evictees are front-line casualties of an economic crisis that brought Spain from strong growth a decade ago to widespread hardship.

Spain’s unemployment rate has reached 21.5 percent, the highest in the industrialized world, and spending cuts are already affecting healthcare and education services in some regions.

The conservative Popular Party that swept to victory under its leader Mariano Rajoy in last Sunday’s general election has warned that in order to control Spain’s deficit, more deep cuts are on the way. “It’s all the fault of the goddamned banks,” said dreadlocked protestor Nicolas San Martin, 29, unhurt after being peeled away from Consuelo’s doorstep by police and pushed back into the crowd. “It’s going to get worse with Rajoy.” Across the street at number seven, Luis Mendes, a 40-year-old immigrant from Guinea Bissau, awaits a visit from the bailiffs the following morning. — AFP

MADRID: A homeless man sleeps in a bank in Madrid. — AP

Indian govt mulls retail revolution NEW DELHI: India’s cabinet is considering a plan to open the nation’s vast retail sector to global supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart in a reform that could herald a consumer revolution. Foreign multinationals have lobbied for years to be able to sell directly to consumers in the world’s second most populous nation, seeking access to a 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.

The proposal to relax the investment retail rules was set to be discussed at a cabinet meeting at 1230 GMT, a government official said.

Supporters see the opening up of the retail market to foreign players as a way

to increase efficiency in the food supply chain, reducing prices and easing inflation, which is now close to 10 percent.

The full-scale entry of western retail chains could revamp storage and transport methods, reducing a chronic problem of food spoilage and ensuring fresher products are available.

Critics worry, however, that big, airconditioned stores will drive small family-owned stores out of business, despite assurances from industry figures that the market is big enough to embrace all players. “If they let in the multinationals, what will Indian shopkeepers do? They are big and they will undercut us in price,” said Chitan Vashisht, 27, who works at his cramped family-owned grocery store in New Delhi.

“I don’t want them to be allowed in.”

Even if the corruption-plagued and weakened cabinet led by Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh approves the change, dissenting voices within his ruling coalition could scupper the plan. The proposal is “a tool to kill the domestic (retail) industry,” said Murli Manohar Joshi, a 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.” Multi-brand foreign groups such as US-based Wal-Mart currently operate as wholesalers in India but are prevented from selling directly to the public. The vast majority of consumers currently shop at small local markets. Wal-Mart and France’s Carrefour, which are seeking entry into India to grow their revenues in the face of saturated domestic markets, both declined to comment yesterday ahead of the cabinet meeting. — AFP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Business

Years

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Lessons for US: Canada ‘basket case’ moment Canada transformed from fiscal pariah to fiscal darling OTTAWA: Finance officials bit their nails and nervously watched the clock. There were 30 minutes left in a bond auction aimed at funding the deficit and there was not a single bid. Sounds like today’s Italy or Greece? No, this was Canada in 1994. Bids eventually came in, but that close call, along with downgrades and the Wall Street Journal calling Canada “an honorary member of the Third World,” helped the nation’s people and politicians understand how scary its budget problem was.

“There would have been a day when we would have been the Greece of today,” recalled then-prime minister Jean Chretien, a Liberal who ended up chopping cherished social programs in one of the most dramatic fiscal turnarounds ever. “I knew we were in a bind and we had to do something,” Chretien, 77, told Reuters in a rare interview. Canada’s shift

Canada, the vicious debt circle turned into a virtuous cycle which rescued a currency that had been dubbed the “northern peso.” Canada went from having the second worst fiscal position in the Group of Seven industrialized countries, behind only Italy, to easily the best.

It is far from a coincidence that the recent recession was shorter and shallower here than in the United States.

Indeed, by January, Canada had recovered all the jobs lost in the downturn, while the U.S. has hardly been able to dent its high unemployment.

“We used to thank God that Italy was there because we were the second worst in the G7,” said Scott Clark, associate deputy finance minister in the 1990s.

Canada’s experience turned on its head the prevailing wisdom that spending promises were the easiest way to win elections. Politicians of all kinds and at all

WASHINGTON: Debt supercommittee co-chair Sen Patty Murray, D-Wash, speaks outside her office on Capitol Hill as the work of the debt reduction panel ends in failure, in Washington. — AP from pariah to fiscal darling provides lessons for Washington as lawmakers find few easy answers to the huge US deficit and debt burden, and for European countries staggering under their own massive budget problems.

“Everyone wants to know how we did it,” said political economist Brian Lee Crowley, head of the Ottawa-based thinktank Macdonald-Laurier Institute, who has examined the lessons of the 1990s. But to win its budget wars, Canada first had to realize how dire its situation was and then dramatically shrink the size of government rather than just limit the pace of spending growth. It would eventually oversee the biggest reduction in Canadian government spending since demobilization after World War Two. The big cuts, and relatively small tax increases, brought a budget surplus within four years.

Canadian debt shrank to 29 percent of gross domestic product in 2008-09, from a peak of 68 percent in 1995-96, and the budget was in the black for 11 consecutive years until the 2008-09 recession. For

levels of government learned that austerity could win.

I WILL DO IT The turnaround began with Chretien’s arrival as prime minister in November 1993, when his Liberal Party - in some ways Canada’s equivalent of the Democrats in the US- swept to victory with a strong majority. The new government took one look at the dreadful state of the books and decided to act. “I said to myself, I will do it. I might be prime minister for only one term, but I will do it,” said Chretien. A shrewd political strategist, Chretien believed Canadians were on board, after they were shocked and embarrassed a year earlier when Standard & Poor’s downgraded Canadian foreign currency debt to AA plus from AAA. He wanted history to remember him as the man who rescued Canada from financial ruin and humiliation. Chretien sat his skeptical cabinet down and laid down the hard truth. He would get rid of the deficit, it would be painful and

unpopular and nobody would be spared.

There was no choice, no room for negotiation. It had to be done. The chill in the room was such that newly appointed junior minister for veterans affairs, Lawrence MacAulay, called his wife afterward to say he would soon be out of a job.

“He said, ‘Darling, I will be back home in the next election. I will be defeated, because the prime minister explained to us this morning what he intended to do,’” according to Chretien’s recollection.

MacAulay, who represents the Prince Edward Island fishing community of Cardigan, has been reelected six times and sits in the House of Commons today.

He couldn’t be immediately reached for comment to recall the conversation.

RAISING THE ALARM Canada’s scrape with disaster had been building for a long time. Over a decade earlier, top finance department bureaucrats had begun raising the alarm about the problem of rising debt, a hangover from the big government era of the 1970s. The period before Chretien came to power in Canada is often likened to the situation in the US today. The country was not yet peering over a precipice, but was fast approaching it.

Clark said he and his colleagues sent memos to their bosses in the 1980s explaining “the arithmetic”: growth was low, interest rates were high and it was only a matter of time before Ottawa would not be able to pay interest on its debt. But successive governments ignored the warnings and wrote budgets that allowed spending to continue to grow. “It was hugely frustrating,” said Clark. “Every year we put out forecasts showing the deficit going away. We just based every budget on ridiculous assumptions.”

The budget deficit more than doubled between 1980 and 1990, rising to 8 percent of GDP in 1983 and 1984, before shrinking to a still unsustainable 5.6 percent just before Chretien took over, and all the time debt was soaring. The debtto-GDP ratio shot up to 67 percent in 1993-94 from 29 percent in 1980. The numbers aren’t that different to the U.S. today with its deficit of around 9 percent for 2011, and debt-to-GDP ratio at 74 percent, up from 40 percent at the end of 2008. Drawing a parallel to Washington, Clark said Canadian leaders before Chretien paid lip service to the debt problem but did nothing.

“There are no lights blinking saying you’re at the edge of the cliff,” he said.

“The one lesson others can give the US is that the higher that debt-to-GDP ratio goes, the more difficult it’s going to be.”

Canada already faced a gaping current account deficit, a weakening currency and high interest rates, and more misery was inevitable if the debt crisis wasn’t addressed. The first kick in the teeth from abroad came from the October 1992 S&P downgrade.

Even two decades later, Don Drummond, in charge of the budget at the finance ministry at the time, bristles at the memory, saying that the down-

grade should have been “completely irrelevant” because so little of Canada’s debt was in foreign currency. But the damage to public opinion was done. “We were just mobbed by the media. Here’s some foreign institution that says Canada is a basket case. If we had had a Canadian agency downgrade us, probably nobody would have shown up,” said Drummond. The politicians had ignored the bureaucrats, but there was no way to sweep international criticism under the rug. “Fear drives people. It drove us,” said Clark.

THEY DON’T GET IT The Liberals thought their first, rushed budget - delivered in February 1994, three months after taking office, was tough. It reformed unemployment insurance entitlements, and cut defense and foreign aid, as well as closing some business tax loopholes and ending a C$100,000 lifetime capital gains exemption. The savings totaled C$10 billion over two years. The government said it would review all programs and predicted a deficit of 3 percent of GDP in 1996. But program spending was still budgeted to rise slightly, and the budget was widely seen as a failure.

Pete DeVries, who headed the fiscal policy division, remembers overhearing chatter from economists’ and others as he waited for a flight to Toronto just after the budget. “The mood was so depressed on that plane that I thought we’re never going to get off the ground and if we did get off the ground we’d crash, because it was just doom and gloom,” he said.

“Everywhere you heard the words, ‘They don’t get it. They just don’t get it.’”

Voters certainly didn’t get it. People who had canceled vacations or taken a second job to make ends meet in the recession couldn’t understand why Ottawa thought it could live beyond its means. The upstart Reform Party, then the main national opposition party, had campaigned on “zero-in-three” - balance the budget in three years. “We were always trying to go faster,” said Reform’s leader at the time, Preston Manning.

Three months later, Moody’s Investors Service lowered its rating on Canada’s foreign currency debt, citing the government’s large and growing debt.

In December 1994, Mexico suffered a run on its currency and the following month the Wall Street Journal stung with its “Bankrupt Canada” editorial, lumping Canada with Mexico as a country that might need an International Monetary Fund bailout.

STIFFENING SPINES, AVOIDING CLIFFS The Liberals were stung by the criticism and, at first reluctantly but then with gusto, they got out the chain saws.

“I think the Moody’s and Wall Street Journal stuff reflected what we knew inside,” said then-industry minister John Manley. Cutting government spending programs went against the Liberal grain.

Contrary to the Reform Party, the Liberals saw a more important role for government. — Reuters

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Opinion

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

The Mexican drug cartel threat in Central America

By Karen Hooper

G

uatemalan President-elect Otto Perez Molina told Mexican newspaper El Universal on Nov 9 that he plans to engage drug cartels in a “full frontal assault” when he takes office in 2012. The former general said he will use Guatemala’s elite military forces, known as Los Kaibiles, to take on the drug cartels in a strategy similar to that of the Mexican government; he has asked for US assistance in this struggle.

The statements signal a shifting political landscape in already violent Central America.

The region is experiencing increasing levels of crime and the prospect of heightened competition from Mexican drug cartels in its territory.

The institutional weakness and security vulnerabilities of Guatemala and other Central American states mean that combating these trends will require significant help, most likely from the United States.

From Sideshow to Center Stage Central America has seen a remarkable rise in its importance as a transshipment point for cocaine and other contraband bound for the United States. Meanwhile, Mexican organized crime has expanded its activities in Mexico and Central America to include the smuggling of humans and substances such as precursor chemicals used for manufacturing methamphetamine. Substantial evidence also suggests that Central American, and particularly Guatemalan, military armaments including M60 machine guns and 40 mm grenades have wound up being used in Mexico’s drug conflict.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Colombian cartels transited directly to Miami. After US military aerial and radar surveillance in the Caribbean effectively shut down those routes, Mexico became the last stop on the drug supply chain before the United States, greatly empowering Mexico’s cartels. A subsequent Mexican government crackdown put pressure on Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) to diversify their transit routes to avoid increased enforcement at Mexico’s airstrips and ports. Central America consequently has become an increasingly significant middleman for South American suppliers and Mexican buyers of contraband.

The methods and routes for moving illicit goods through Central America are diverse and constantly in flux. There is no direct land connection between the coca-growing countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. A region of swampy jungle terrain along the PanamanianColombian known as the Darien Gap has made road construction prohibitively expensive and thus barred all but the most intrepid of overland travelers. Instead, aircraft or watercraft must be used to transport South American goods north, which can then be offloaded in Central America and driven north into Mexico.

Once past the Darien Gap, the Pan American Highway becomes a critical transportation corridor. Honduras, for example, reportedly has become a major destination for planes from Venezuela laden with cocaine. Once offloaded, the cocaine is moved across the loosely guarded Honduran-Guatemalan border and then moved through Guatemala to Mexico, often through the largely unpopulated Peten department.

Though precise measurements of the black market are notoriously difficult to obtain, these shifts in Central America have been well-documented - and the impact on the region has been stark. While drug trafficking occurs in all Central American countries to some extent,

most violence associated with the trade occurs in the historically tumultuous “Northern Triangle” of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. No longer receiving the global attention they did when the United States became involved in their Cold War-era civil wars, these countries remain poverty stricken, plagued by local gangs and highly unstable.

The violence has worsened as the drug traffic has increased. El Salvador saw its homicide rate increase by 6 percent to 66 per 100,000 inhabitants between 2005 and 2010. At the same time, Guatemala’s homicide rate increased 13 percent, to 50 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Meanwhile Honduras saw a rise of 108 percent, to 77 per 100,000 inhabitants. These are some of the highest homicide rates in the world.

In comparison, the drug war in Mexico caused murder rates to spike 64 percent, from 11 to 18 deaths per 100,000 between 2005 and 2010. Conservative estimates put the number of dead from gang and military violence in Mexico at 50,000. These numbers are slightly misleading, as Mexican violence is concentrated in scattered pockets where most drug trafficking and competition among drug traffickers occurs.

Even so, they demonstrate the disproportionate impact organized criminal groups have had on the societies of the three Northern Triangle countries.

Guatemala’s Outsized Role Increased involvement by Mexican cartels in Central America inevitably has affected the region’s politico-economic structures, a process most visible in Guatemala. Its territory spans Central America, making it one of several choke points on the supply chain of illicit goods coming north from El Salvador and Honduras bound for Mexico.

Guatemala has a complex and competitive set of criminal organizations, many of which are organized around tight-knit family units. These family organizations have included the politically and economically powerful Lorenzana and Mendoza families. First rising to prominence in trade and agriculture, these families control significant businesses in Guatemala and transportation routes for shipping both legal and illicit goods. Though notorious, these families are far from alone in Guatemala’s criminal organizations. Major drug traffickers like the well-known Mario Ponce and Walther Overdick also have strong criminal enterprises, with Ponce reportedly managing his operations from a Honduran jail.

The relationship of these criminal organizations to Mexican drug cartels is murky at best.

The Sinaloa and Los Zetas cartels are both known to have relationships with Guatemalan organized criminal groups, but the lines of communication and their exact agreements are unclear. Less murky, however, is that Los Zetas are willing to use the same levels of violence in Guatemala to coerce loyalty as they have used in Mexico. Though both Sinaloa and Los Zetas still need Guatemalan groups to access high-level Guatemalan political connections, Los Zetas have taken a particularly aggressive tack in seeking direct control over more territory in Guatemala.

Overdick facilitated Los Zetas’ entry into Guatemala in 2007. The first indication of serious Los Zetas involvement in Guatemala occurred in March 2008 when Leon crime family boss Juan Leon Ardon, alias “El Juancho”, his brother Hector Enrique Leon Chacon and nine associates all died in a gunbattle with Los Zetas, who at the time still worked for the Gulf cartel. The

fight severely reduced the influence of the Leon crime family, primarily benefiting Overdick’s organization. The Zetas most flagrant use of force occurred in the May 2011 massacre and mutilation of 27 peasants in northern Guatemala intended as a message to a local drug dealer allegedly tied to the Leon family; the Zetas also killed and mutilated that drug dealer’s niece.

MS-13 and Calle 18 In addition to ramping up relationships with powerful political, criminal and economic players, Sinaloa and Los Zetas have established relationships with Central American street gangs.

The two biggest gangs in the region are Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Calle 18. The two groups are loosely organized around local cliques; the Mexican cartels have relationships at varying levels of closeness with different cliques.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates

Minister Pompeyo Bonilla, Mexican cartels primarily hire members of these gangs as assassins.

The gangs are paid in drugs, which they sell on the local drug market.

Though limited in their ties to the Mexican cartels, the prevalence of MS-13 and Calle 18 in the Northern Triangle states and their extreme violence makes them a force to be reckoned with, for both the cartels and Central American governments. If Central American street gangs are able to better organize themselves internally, this could result in closer collaboration, or alternately serious confrontations with the Mexican cartels. In either case, the implications for stability in Central America are enormous.

The US Role The United States has long played an important, complex role in Latin America. In the early 20th century, US policy in the Western Hemisphere was characterized by the extension

US agents look at the entrance to a tunnel discovered Nov 15, 2011 near Otay Mesa, California. – AP that there are 36,000 gang members in Honduras, 14,000 in Guatemala and 10,500 in El Salvador.

They were formed by Los Angeles gang members of Central American origin whose parents had immigrated to the United States to escape the region’s civil wars. After being arrested in the United States, these gang members were deported to Central America. In some cases, the deportees spoke no Spanish and had no significant ties to their ancestral homeland, encouraging them to cluster together and make use of the skills learned on the streets of Los Angeles to make a living in Central America via organized crime.

The gangs have multiplied and migrated within the region. Many have also returned to the United States: US authorities estimate that MS-13 and Calle 18 have a presence in as many as 42 states. Though the gangs are truly transnational, their emphasis is on controlling localized urban turfs. They effectively control large portions of Guatemala City, Guatemala; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and San Salvador, El Salvador. Competition within and among these gangs is responsible for a great deal of the violence in these three countries.

In a March statement, Salvadoran Defense Minister David Munguia Payes said his government had evidence that both Sinaloa and Los Zetas are active in El Salvador, but that he believes MS-13 and Calle 18 are too anarchic and violent for the Mexican cartels to rely on heavily. According to Honduran Security

of US economic and military control over the region. With tactics ranging from outright military domination to facilitating competition between subregional powers Guatemala and Nicaragua to ensuring the dominance of the United Fruit Company in Central American politics and business, the United States used the first several decades of the century to ensure that Central America - and by extension the Caribbean - was under its control. After World War II, Central America became a proxy battleground between the United States and the Soviet Union.

On a strategic level, Central America is far enough away from the United States (thanks to being buffered by Mexico) and made up of small enough countries that it does not pose a direct threat to the United States. US interest in the region did not end after the Cold War, however, as it is critically important to the United States that a foreign global competitor never control Central America or the Caribbean.

The majority of money spent combating drug trafficking from South America to the United States over the past decade has been spent in Colombia on monitoring air and naval traffic in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts, though the US focus has now shifted to Mexico.

Central America, by contrast, has languished since the Reagan years, when the United States allocated more than $1 billion per year to Central America. — Stratfor

A

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

y

e niv rsar n

Years

www.kuwaittimes.net

Mexican actress Salma Hayek poses as she arrives for the German premiere screening of the animation film Puss in Boots she voiced on November 22, 2011 in Berlin. — AFP (See Page 47)

A

y

e niv rsar n

Te c h n o l o g y

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

‘The speed gain through SSD is enormous’ Adding a solid state drive to your computer

I

f you want to give your computer a speed boost, you should think about flash drives.

If you want something affordable, you need to stick with tried-and-trusted hard drives. Or you can try to have the best of both worlds and install both in your computer. The trick is splitting the load, so the operating system and frequently accessed programs are stored on the flash solid state drive (SSD), a more modern form of drive that boosts speed by allowing all data to be accessed simultaneously, as opposed to magnetic drives, which can only give up their information as they are read front to back.

Everything else goes on that old-fashioned drive. “The speed gain through SSD is enormous,” says Christof Windeck, a hardware expert for the German computer magazine c’t. You don’t have to be an expert to install an SSD drive into a PC. Most SSD drives are produced in a 2.5-inch format, meaning you’ll need a 3.5-inch case so it fits into the PC. Those cases usually come with any SSD drive you might order.

Laptops are a little trickier, since space is

limited. You might have to decide if you can do without your optical CD/DVD drive, since that function could be provided by an external device. If you make that plunge, you’ll have freed up space for an SSD drive, which also needs to be fitted into a special frame to fit into a laptop.

“Installation is no problem,” says Wolfgang Hantz, who owns a hardware upgrade company in Germany. “Even a beginner can do it.”

Alternatively, set up the SSD as your boot-up drive, using the freed-up hard drive space for your optical drive. An SSD with about 100 gigabytes (GB) costs about 120 euros (167 dollars) at online stores. Windeck says it doesn’t make sense to get one with less than 80 GB if you’re planning to run Windows 7 and have a slew of space-consuming applications.

There are quality differences between different kinds of SSD. “If you can afford it, you should consider an SLC-SSD,” advises Daniel Mauerhofer, of hard drive maker Western Digital, referring to a Single Level Cell model.

“These last much longer than multi-level cell drives and have better performance,” he says.

Then there’s the hybrid solution of a magnetic hard drive with an integrated SSD, like the kind Acer has built into its “ultrabook,” the Aspire S3. The 20 GB flash drive complements the 320 GB magnetic drive.

This kind of hybrid is also available for sale as an individual building block. There’s the Momentus XT from Seagate with a capacity of between 250 and 640 GB, with the integrated 4 GB SSD drive acting as a buffer for vital data.

Even if you don’t want to check out SSD drives, you might still find yourself needing to explore the hard drive market, especially if your computer crashes. “The hard drive market has changed,” explains Windeck. “For years it was all about performance, now there’s an eye on energy conservation.”

The fastest magnetic drives, with 10,000 to 15,000 rotations per minute, are mostly targeted at gamers, though some large companies need drives like that, says Mauerhofer.

Windeck says there are advantages to slower drives: “They don’t get as hot, need less ventilation and are quieter.” Also keep an eye on whether a drive has a modern SATA connec-

tor. Avoid a drive with the older IDE technology, advise the experts at c’t magazine.

To get at your notebook’s hard drive, you usually just need a screwdriver to remove a plate on the bottom of the machine. Another option is to boost your working memory.

Getting at that is also a simple operation.

SDRAM memory modules with Double Data Rate (DDR3) are the most modern and, according to Windeck, usually cheaper than the older DDR2 standard. Neither standard is compatible with the other, because they use different housings.

You can usually boost speed by adding more working memory. But before you start refitting your motherboard, compare the cost of getting new RAM with that of getting a new computer. Often, and just for a little more money, you can get a brand new computer with all the latest technology. And remember, 4 GB is usually enough. “If you only have 2 GB of working memory, then it makes sense to expand to four,” recommends Windeck. “But an expansion from 4 to 8 GB only helps a very few applications.” — dpa

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Relationships

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Till death do us part Couple soldiers on against wife’s cancer

I

n a few hours, her husband would be on a plane to his base near Tacoma, Wash. She would meet him at the airport. He would go back to the Army; she to fighting ovarian cancer. But on a recent morning when the phone rings with news from the hospital, Bill Caudle is still beside his wife, Michelle, on the couch in their Watertown, Wis., home.

“Tissue,” she asks, and he passes one. She holds the phone to her ear, listening to the medical report, saying little. Bill reads the news on her face. A tear rolls down her cheek. She tries to force a smile. “Remember 9:45 am,” Michelle tells their youngest daughter, Chelsea, now a 16-year-old sophomore at Watertown High School.

The next morning Michelle must see her doctor at Aurora Women’s Pavilion in West Allis. The new medication she started three months ago has not stopped the cancer. Her CA 125, the number measuring cancer antigens, should be dropping.

Instead, it keeps rising. Her treatments are the main reason Bill signed up to join the Army on May 13, 2009, his 39th birthday. That decision is the reason he won’t be there the next morning when she asks the doctor what comes next.

Still, Michelle is glad to have him home, if only on a four-day pass from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It is a comfort to have him beside her when the bad news lands.

Another comfort rests in the crook of her arm: her first grandchild, 3-month-old Trevor, son of her oldest daughter, Alysha, 22. Michelle, 42, had wanted so badly to be a grandmother and had worried that cancer might rob her of the chance. Now she finds herself lingering in the baby aisles at stores. When she puts down the phone, her forefinger strokes the soft skin and feathery hair on his forehead. “I guess,” she says, “I feel like one more part of my life is complete.”

Financial contributions A year ago, the Caudles’ story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spread across the Internet, fed by a divisive health care debate that led, at last, to passage of President Barack Obama’s landmark reform bill. A year later, the issue remains with us. The new law faces challenges in the courts and from the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

Like many Americans, though, the Caudles are not so much debating the health care issue as living it. Joining the Army was the answer Bill Caudle came up with after getting laid off in 2009 from his longtime job at the plastics company PolyOne. He simply could not find work, and Michelle needed the health coverage. By then she had been fighting cancer for almost three years.

Their story touched readers across the country and on both sides of the debate. Dozens of people they didn’t know sent more than $15,000 to a special fund for the family. Two sisters from Portland, Ore, sent Michelle a quilt they had sewn with positive messages from women in other states. “America helped us out more than they’ll ever know,” Michelle says. “I was really glad when I could put Chelsea on a plane to go spend a couple of weeks with her Dad before the start of school.”

The financial contributions also allowed Michelle and Chelsea to fly out to Seattle earlier in the summer. Some people wondered why they didn’t just move to Bill’s base. But Michelle’s doctor, the man she trusts with her life, is here in Wisconsin. Her family and friends are here. When she tries to imagine moving, she sees herself home alone in a strange city, her husband off working. No friends. No other family. A recipe for depression.

The miles between Bill and Michelle have been hard. “It’s tough, but she’s tough,” says Peter Johnson, her oncologist at Aurora. “I think Bill is in her life every minute. There is such a bond there. It’s as if he is sitting in the exam room with her.”

Michelle grew stronger last year, those who know her say.

She had to. Early in 2010, she finished her third round of chemotherapy. Her counts appeared promising. Having graduated from boot camp in Kentucky, Bill moved on to advanced individual training at Fort Gordon in Georgia, where he learned how to be a signal support systems special-

ist, a soldier who works with communications equipment.

Michelle and Bill spoke almost daily, Watertown to Fort Gordon. Michelle was adjusting better to their split life.

Alysha was pregnant, and that gave her something else to think about. Still, sometimes she would be doing the laundry and find a sock or something Bill had left behind and the sadness of all the distance between them would press down on her.

Intuition In May, Bill graduated and came home for a short stay. Just before he left for his new base near Tacoma, Michelle learned her cancer count was on the rise. She’d had an intuition the cancer was back. “Can I take some time and go out to Bill before I start treatment?” she asked the doctor. Johnson said it was fine. So she and Chelsea flew out and helped Bill find an apartment near his base. They bought cooking pans at Goodwill. They found a cat to keep Bill company, a black tabby named Charlie. Soon after Michelle returned to Wisconsin, a scan picked up three small spots on her lung, what the doc-

Not time yet Cancer was the background hum in Michelle’s life, overshadowed sometimes, but never gone. On Sept 18, she went with her daughter to the hospital in Watertown where first grandchild Trevor was born. He was 8 pounds and 4 ounces.

Bill helped name him via long distance, weighing in for Trevor William Caudle rather than the other possibility, Trevor Patrick. He didn’t like the initials “T.P.” the term they use for toilet paper in the Army. “Trevor has made such a difference in Michelle’s life,” Hemiller says. “He’s brought her such happiness.”

On the Friday before Christmas, Bill came home. Instead of conducting their annual gift exchange, Michelle’s relatives all pooled their money together and gave her a check to pay for Bill’s airline ticket. It was wonderful and over too soon. On Dec 28, Michelle returned to the hospital. Her mind is fixed on the one calendar that matters anymore. “Do I have months?” she asks her oncologist. “Do I have years?” More than months, he says. “Should I have Bill come home?” “I don’t think it’s at

Michelle (left) and Bill Caudle enjoy holding their grandson, Trevor William Caudle, 3 months, at their Watertown, Wisconsin home. — MCT tors call nodules. It wasn’t clear what they were. They could have resulted from an old infection. But they were worrisome.

The doctor consulted the latest presentations from the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

He and Michelle decided to try a new treatment that combines more frequent use of the chemotherapy Doxil with doses of Avastin, a biologic agent. In mid-August, she was the honorary survivor for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Watertown. Then, a couple of weeks later, Michelle’s younger sister, Jaime, and Jaime’s fiance were badly injured in a single-car accident. Her sister fractured a vertebra. The fiance was left paralyzed from the chest down. Michelle helped organize a benefit to raise money for them. “Now you’ve got to take care of yourself,” her son, Little Bill, told her that day. Tests showed the nodules on her lung were cancer.

The CA 125 number kept increasing. She leaned on Bill’s mother, Marguerite Hemiller, who accompanied her to treatments and doctor visits.

that point right now.”

Johnson, the oncologist, tells Michelle that the cancer is not affecting her quality of life. She is walking, taking care of her grandson, not incapacitated. On the contrary, she looks well, apart from the tears in her eyes. He suggests a brief vacation from chemo, a chemo holiday. “Let’s see how the numbers are next month,” Johnson says. “Let’s just watch.

You’ve been through a lot.” In the car on the way home to Watertown, the phone rings and it is Bill asking about the appointment. After a few minutes, Michelle hands the phone to Bill’s mother. Hemiller knows her son would not leave the Army. He would not have people call him a quitter. But maybe the Army could assign him closer to Wisconsin. “Bill, it’s time to come home,” she tells her son. “It’s time to be by your wife.” “Mom,” he says, “I know. I’m working on it.” Later that night Bill and Michelle talk again. She loves him, but it isn’t time. Not yet. For him to come home, Michelle says, “means it’s ending for me.” “We’re not there.”— MCT

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Food

Everyday cooking

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

By Sawsan Kazak eing a total foodie, I usually change my favorite food on a monthly basis.

My obsession right now is sub sandwiches; I order them everywhere I go.

There something so appealing about the shape of the bread and the distinctive fillings that separates them from your run-ofthe-mill sandwich. Well with a few simple steps, I found these addictive subs are easily prepared at home.

B

Send your suggestions to: sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

Basic sub bread

2 Cups water, lukewarm 2 1/2 teaspoons Instant Yeast 5 3/4 Cups bread flour 1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar (Regular brown sugar works fine) 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 Tablespoon salt 1 Egg white, lightly beaten 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

ix flour, salt and yeast in a bowl and blend ingredients so they mix well.

Using a dough hook attachment, add the flour and brown sugar to the water and mix on low speed until the dough starts to form. Drizzle the oil into the dough and beat on medium speed for 8 to 10 minutes, or until a smooth, firm, elastic dough is formed. (At this point I take it out and hand knead, adding flour if needed, for 5 minutes or until I’m happy with the texture of the dough. You want it smooth, not sticky.)

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and spray the dough with a thin coating of cooking spray. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap (I use plastic shopping bags instead of wasting plastic wrap. Put the bowl in the bag and tuck the handles underneath to keep out any breeze) and set aside to proof in a warm, draft-free place for 1 to hour or

M

until doubled in size. Remove the plastic wrap (bag), punch down and flatten the rounded dough with the heel of your hand, and split into two equal pieces. Roll the dough up tightly, sealing the seam well. The dough should be elongated and ovalshaped, with tapered and rounded (not pointed) ends.

Preheat the oven lined with a pizza stone to 400º F. Alternately, an inverted baking sheet may be used in place of a pizza stone.

Place the dough on a baker’s peel heavily dusted with semolina flour, or cornmeal, or alternately on an inverted baking sheet. (I

use parchment paper on my peel dusted with cornmeal, so I can slide it all onto my pizza stone) Allow the dough to proof, loosely covered with sprayed plastic (I cut up the bag) and a dishtowel, for about one hour, or until doubled in size. Brush the dough with the egg white and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. Using a razor blade or sharp knife, score 3 (1/4-inch deep) slashes across the top of the dough at a 45 degree angle.

Spray the dough with water from a water bottle and place in the oven on the baking

stone. Immediately close the oven and bake for 3 minutes. Open the oven door and spray the dough again with the water bottle. Close the oven door and bake for an additional 3 minutes before spraying the dough for a third time (the spraying of the dough will ensure a crisp golden brown crust). Bake the dough for 30 minutes, or until a hollow thud is heard when the bread is whacked with the bowl of a wooden spoon. Bread should have internal temperature of at least 200º F. Allow the bread to cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Meatball sub 1/4 cup olive oil 1 lb lean ground beef 2 cups Italian style bread crumbs 1/2 lb Italian sausage meat or ground pork 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped 1 tbsp fresh basil, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste) 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper (or to taste) 3 eggs 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 cups pasta sauce shredded mozzarella crusty sub bread 2-3 garlic cloves, split n a large bowl, combine beef, sausage meat or pork (remove casings), bread crumbs, herbs and seasonings, garlic, cheese, eggs and salt and peppers. Mix lightly (the dough hook of a stand mixer can be used).

Using wet hands, lightly form meatballs (do not compress or the meatballs will be tough).

In a skillet, heat olive oil (you may flavor the olive oil by adding a few whole cloves of garlic). When oil is hot, add

I

Philly Cheesesteak sub with garlic mayo

meatballs leaving an inch of space between them for turning. Turn frequently over medium low heat until all browned all around. Remove and drain on paper towels (after about 15 minutes, but this depends upon the size of the meatballs).

Transfer meatballs while still hot to pasta sauce and simmer over low heat for 20-60 minutes (or until you need them - they may be transferred to a slow cooker for convenient

serving).

To serve, split crusty sub or baguettes, brush with olive oil and toast lightly under broiler. Rub toasted bread lightly with cut sides of garlic.

Fill rolls with sliced or chopped meatballs. Add a few spoonfuls of sauce and top with a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella. Run under the broiler or heat in microwave just until cheese on top has melted.

Tuna salad sub

1 can of tuna fish 1/3 cup of cottage cheese 2 Tablespoons of mayonaise 1/4 purple onion, chopped finely 1 celery stalk, chopped finely 1 Tablespoon of capers Juice of half of a lemon Pinch or two of dill 2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard (optional - lettuce and sliced tomatoes) Slices of French bread, lightly toasted

1 cup mayonnaise 2 cloves garlic, minced

Breaded chicken marinara

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 pound beef round steak, cut into thin strips 2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips 2 onions, sliced into rings salt and pepper to taste 4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise and toasted 1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese 1 teaspoon dried oregano

4 frozen fully cooked Chicken Fried Chicken Breasts 4 sub breads 1 green bell pepper, seeds and stem removed 1/2 cup marinara sauce 4 slices provolone cheese 4 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese 1 2.25 ounce can sliced ripe olives, drained

n a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and minced garlic. Cover, and refrigerate. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute beef until lightly browned. Stir in green pepper and onion, and season with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are tender, and remove from heat.

Spread each bun generously with garlic mayonnaise.

Divide beef mixture into the buns. Top with shredded cheese, and sprinkle with oregano. Place sandwiches on a baking pan.

Heat sandwiches in preheated oven, until cheese is melted or slightly browned.

eat broiler. Heat chicken in microwave according to package directions. Meanwhile, cut each bun in half horizontally. Place on a baking sheet, cut-sides down. Toast lightly under broiler about 2 minutes. Remove seeds and stem from bell pepper, then cut into 1/4-inch thick rings. Remove bread from oven and turn cut-sides up.

Spread 2 tablespoons sauce and sprinkle 1 teaspoon parmesan over each bottom half. Arrange olives, bell pepper rings and provolone over top halves. Return bread to broiler until cheese melts, about 2 minutes. Remove from oven. Place chicken on bottom halves and close sandwiches with top halves. Heat extra sauce for dipping sandwiches, if desired.

I

H ix all of the ingredients. Serve on toast, either open faced, or in a regular sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. For a low carb option, serve on sliced lettuce.

M

THEY ARE THE 99!

99 Mystical Noor Stones carry all that is left of the wisdom and knowledge of the lost civilization of Baghdad. But the Noor Stones lie scattered across the globe - now little more than a legend.

One man has made it his life’s mission to seek out what was lost. His name is Dr. Ramzi Razem and he has searched fruitlessly for the Noor Stones all his life. Now, his luck is about to change the first of the stones have been rediscovered and with them a special type of human who can unlock the gem’s mystical power. Ramzi brings these gem - bearers together to form a new force for good in the world. A force known as ... the 99!

THE STORY SO FAR : The 99 visits the opening of the brand-new amusement park ROBOT WORLD -- just in time for its robot cowboys to run amok! Noora, Jabbar, and Jami must stop them...

The 99 ® and all related characters ® and © 2011, Teshkeel Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.the99.org

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Tr a v e l

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

10 highlights of Palestine

F

or most people, the words Palestine or West Bank won’t shout holiday destination. But set aside stereotypes: Foreign Office bars on travelling in the West Bank were lifted several years ago, and visitors to Palestine will be met with a warm and enthusiastic welcome. This tiny area packs in more historical, religious and cultural heritage than perhaps anywhere else in the world, and its small size means it’s completely feasible to visit a good proportion of its sights in a fairly short trip.

Several new community tourism and hiking or biking holiday operators also make experiencing Palestine’s stunning scenery and great food increasingly easy.

The vast majority of travellers to Palestine visit over Christmas, when Bethlehem sees thousands of visitors for Midnight Mass. Leaders of the various Christian denominations lead processions from Jerusalem, and Manger Square fills with boy scout bagpipe bands. For religious travellers Christmas and Easter will be major draws, but prices are lower and accommodation easier to find at other times of year.

Getting around the West Bank is pretty simple, on the informal but extensive shared taxi (or service taxi, pronounced “serveece”) network. The longest journey you’re likely to face is between the administrative capital, Ramallah (with its cosmopolitan restaurants and nightclubs and official arts centres), and the northern city of Jenin. That trip can take just an hour and a half if Israeli checkpoints en route are open. Foreign visitors are still rare enough that shared taxis are a great way to meet local people; many Palestinians speak at least some English and are very happy to practise on you - a conversation that often ends in an invitation for sweet Arabic tea or a set of helpful phone numbers.

Recent years have also seen new hotels,

guesthouses, hostels and home-stay programmes opening across the West Bank.

This makes it easier to stay in Palestine without being tied to the pilgrimage hotels of Ramallah and Bethlehem, and for visitors to make a real contribution to isolated rural economies.

Granted, tourism to Palestine still faces many challenges, not least the Israeli border authorities who control all routes into the West Bank and Gaza. For international travellers, crossing the checkpoints into the West Bank at Qalandia and Bethlehem is usually straightforward. Declaring your intention to visit the West Bank at Ben Gurion airport or the land crossing from Jordan will often, however, result in questioning which can last for hours. Travellers with stamps from countries such as Lebanon, Syria or Iran may well face long interrogations or a complete refusal from Israeli border controls. Gaza is another matter; the Foreign Office currently advises against all travel here, and visits require journalistic or diplomatic accreditation to go via Israel.

Sebastia The impressive Hellenic watchtowers, ruined Samaritan palaces and crumbling Byzantine churches of Sebastia are a fairly well-known destination for whistle-stop Israeli tours. But a new community tourism project in the Palestinian village of Sebastia makes staying on in this picturesque region a delight. The elegant little Sebastia Guesthouse serves up breakfasts of fresh bread, olive oil, herbs and fruit sourced literally yards away; eat on a terrace with views over miles of olive groves or in the renovated rooms of Byzantineand Mamluk-era homes. Young locals have been trained up as guides for hikes from the information centre to the Ottoman railway station or the ancient maqamat -

Ruins at Sebastia, Palestine. Photograph: Richard T Nowitz/Corbis Islamic shrines - that dot the surrounding hilltops. Both the information centre and guesthouse are located just on the edge of the village’s main square.

Haram ash-Sharif, Jerusalem The great golden Dome of the Rock may be an internationally recognised symbol of Jerusalem, but actually getting into the “Noble Sanctuary”, Islam’s third holiest site, can be a bit of an enterprise. The entrance for non-Muslims is tucked away behind the security gates for the Western Wall Plaza.

Get there early in the morning, and be prepared to queue, because it’s worth every second of the wait. As well as the soaring gold-and-blue Dome of the Rock (Qubbat as-Sakhra) and the sombre splendour of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the sanctuary complex houses many other smaller, but equally beautiful, structures. Especially worth looking out for is the Mamluk-era Sabil (drinking fountain) of Qait Bey, with its elegant carved stone dome, one of the few of its kind outside Egypt.

Deir Ghassaneh Readers of Mourid Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah will be familiar with Deir Ghassaneh. His autobiographical account of growing up in this small village, north of Ramallah, evokes the brooding atmosphere of its old stone houses, grouped defensively around narrow passages and courtyards. Built for the most part in the

18th century, when the village was the base for one of the families who ruled over small parts of Ottoman Palestine, many of these homes still have wells for storing water, olive oil and grain to withstand sieges. Now, the local women’s association offers a way into the village, running a small museum of rural bits and pieces, where they also serve splendid banquets of local food and give afternoon lessons in authentic Palestinian cookery.

Jenin’s Old City Being woken at 4.30am is rarely a plus.

But heard from the Cinema Jenin guesthouse in the city centre, in a cool, clear dawn, the haunting musical waves of the azan, or call to prayer, roll along Jenin’s hills.

It’s a moment of calm beauty in this bustling town, sadly better known for the Israeli army’s massive 2002 attack on the refugee camp. But in the ancient, dustcoloured Old City, staff at the Palestine Fair Trade Association’s Al-Dabbeh Street offices in a stone Ottoman home explain the difference their fair trade olive oil make to the lives of thousands of farmers. Or Umm Imad, whose journalist son was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in 2002, smiles as she shows off piles of meticulous embroidery for sale in the courtyard of the Women’s Cultural Society a few yards up the street.

As well as making a living for local families, her society continues her son’s mission to keep Palestinian culture alive.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Tr a v e l

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

As Bradt brings out its first guide to Palestine, its author, Sarah Irving, recommends her top 10 things to see and do in the West Bank, from ancient palaces to new community tourism projects

Hiking and biking As Guardian Travel reported last year, organised walking and cycling tours are an increasingly accessible way to see the Palestinian countryside and meet local families in small towns and villages such as al-Fara’a and Aqraba, which are only just beginning to open up to international visitors. Bike Palestine’s itineraries span the lush hills of the northern West Bank, the eerie Judaean Desert in the south and historical cities such as Jericho and Bethlehem. The Abraham Path and Nativity Trail treks, inspired by the wanderings of the Prophet Abraham and Jesus Christ respectively, are hiking trails through the northern and central West Bank which are open to walkers of all faiths or none.

Hammam ash-Shifa, Nablus After all that walking and cycling, some serious relaxation might be in order.

Nablus is home to two Ottoman hammams, which offer the traditional mixture of hot steam, cold water, locally made olive oil soap and bruisingly thorough massages. The 17th-century Hamman ash-Shifa is the best known; the staff are welcoming

but if going it alone seems a little intimidating, some local volunteer organisations and hotels offer organised trips which, as well as the Turkish bath experience, include tea, sweets and shisha in the bath’s luxurious, cushion-lined outer room. The ash-Shifa also occasionally hosts Arabic music concerts and even book readings during the PalFest literature festival.

Hisham’s Palace, Jericho The ancient, sleepy desert city of Jericho has a very different vibe from much of the rest of the West Bank. Summertime visitors will find that the residents turn semi-nocturnal to escape the heat, so at night the broad, flat roads fill up with silent cyclists. The “garden restaurants” along Ein As-Sultan Street, confined to indoor tables during the winter, spread out under the jasmine and bougainvillea for late, leisurely Arabic barbecues. Qasr Hisham - Hisham’s Palace - is one of Jericho’s most spectacular sights; intricate carved stonework gives an impression of the palace’s glory before it was destroyed by an earthquake, and the famous Tree of Life mosaic shows off the skill of the 8th century Umayyad craftsmen. Plans for a new protective structure,

Dome of the Rock interior. Photograph: Alamy

to be built in 2013, mean that the palace’s dramatic “carpet mosaics” may also go on permanent display, instead of having their sand coverings removed only on rare occasions.

Hebron’s souk The Women in Hebron shop Just inside the main entrance to Hebron’s ancient souk is a small, cramped shop, stuffed with beautifully-embroidered materials and with chequered scarves from the West Bank’s only remaining keffiyeh factory, based just up the road. This is the HQ for Women in Hebron, an indomitable little co-operative that is one of the few surviving shops in the souk. Many have closed, shut by Israeli military order to protect the settlers who have occupied parts of the city, or because the settler threat makes business unviable. But with support from the nearby Hebron Rehabilitation Committee and small groups of travellers, a few survivors from what was once the main economic centre for the southern West Bank remain. On the benches across from the shop, you can sit with a falafel sandwich (done in oily, salty, delicious Hebron style with fried potatoes and aubergine) and drink tea with some of these remarkable women.

Akka The new Bradt guide also covers areas of Israel that are home to large numbers of Palestinians and where their culture survives. Not to be missed is the old city of Akka (also spelled Acre), a small port on the Mediterranean which is one of the oldest inhabited sites in the world, was the capital of a Crusader kingdom, and whose fortifications put paid to Napoleon’s Middle Eastern ambitions. It’s a popular day trip with tourists to Israel, but it’s worth staying to explore its Arabic heart, away from the “official” tourist complex near the main gate in the city walls. The sleepy port is home to the famous Abu Christo fish restaurant, which serves the fresh catch from the adjacent port. Just yards away are several of the city’s imposing khans, huge caravanserais whose rows of stone arches housed Silk Road trains for whom this was the end of the journey.

They are mostly half-derelict, and visitors are free to wander round; local fashion photographers looking for scenic settings and gangs of small boys playing football blithely ignore the warning signs under the crumbling walls. — Guardian

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Books

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Hilary Mantel writes

second sequel to Wolf Hall

H

ilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, her dazzling, utterly absorbing invention of the inner life of Thomas Cromwell, will have not one sequel, as expected, but two. Mantel is now planning a Tudor trilogy: a new novel, Bring up the Bodies, to be published by 4th Estate in May 2012, will focus on the downfall of Anne Boleyn. A third book will

keep the title the author had already announced for the sequel, The Mirror & the Light, and will continue Cromwell’s story until his execution in 1540.

“Initially I had set out to tell the story of Cromwell’s career between Thomas More’s death in the summer of 1535 and his own death five years later,” Mantel said, speaking to the Guardian about why her view of the structure of the story changed.

“I didn’t see the project as a trilogy because I thought the difficulties of carrying the backstory into a third novel would be too great. But all my thinking changed in the last month; it shows how hard it is to make predictions about how a novel will evolve.

Wolf Hall, which took the Man Booker prize in 2009, won acclaim for reimagining the often maligned Cromwell, and solving the mystery of how the son of a blacksmith and brewer became indispensable to Henry VIII, enabling him to become the head of the English church. In Mantel’s novel, Cromwell is an omnicompetent hero (a master of business and politicking who can twist a knife to kill silently). Yet he is also a thinking, sensitive man (he loves his wife and daughters; his house is full of laughter; he is loyal to his sometime master, Cardinal Wolsey). Readers of the novel, caught up in the maelstrom by Mantel’s use of the present tense, take pleasure in his talents during his rise,

Bring Up the Bodies, to be published in 2012, will focus on Anne Boleyn’s downfall “When I came to write about the destruction of Anne Boleyn (a destruction which took place, essentially, over a period of three weeks) the process of writing and the writing itself took on an alarming intensity, and by the time Anne was dead I felt I had passed through a moral ordeal. I can only guess that the effect on the reader will be the same; the events are so brutal that you don’t want to take a breath and turn the page, you want to close the book.

“So I parted with my writing far earlier than I would usually, to ask my agent and publisher to read and judge if I had in fact finished a book. They had the same reaction as I did, so it’s decided that the second book will be Bring Up the Bodies, and the third book remains as The Mirror & the Light.

“My fear of having to carry too much backstory vanished as I realised the completeness of the defeat of the Boleyn faction and Anne’s associates, and the speed with which (it seems) Henry dismissed the dead woman from his mind. There are a number of characters who need never trouble the reader of the third book because, quite simply, they’re dead.”

and cheer him on, even though the events he helps to bring about are dark or troubling.

Bring up the Bodies, says Mantel, “is different in feel from Wolf Hall. It’s shorter, more concentrated, covering the action of a few months in close focus.

If you read 20 different historians on Anne’s fall you will get 20 different versions. I can’t add to them, but I can try to convey to the reader what it might have been like to be caught up in those events.

Thomas Cromwell remains a work in progress.”

—Guardian

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Books

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Top four

trilogy books

1

2

Valley of Silence (Circle Trilogy Series)

R

oberts’s paranormal Circle Trilogy concludes with the “circle of six” warriors the sorcerer Hoyt, Hoyt’s vampire brother Cian, the witch Glenna, the warrior Blair, the shape-shifter Larkin and Larkin’s scholar-princess cousin Moira preparing for battle against the evil vampire, Lilith. Having traveled back through time to Moira and Larkin’s ancient kingdom of Geall, Moira raises the sword from the stone to take her place as queen. With her five warrior companions by her side, Moira leads her people into battle against Lilith’s army of vampires, who are intent on destroying Geall. Meanwhile, Moira and Cian give in to powerful feelings of love, stealing nights of passion that could spell ruin for both of them.

Matched (Matched Trilogy Series)

C

assia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (Abhorsen Trilogy)

True Believer (Make Lemonade Trilogy)

W

hen LaVaughn was little, the obstacles in her life didn’t seem so bad. If she had a fight with Myrtle or Annie, it would never last long.

If she was mad at her mother, they made up by bedtime. School was simple. Boys were buddies. Everything made sense.

But LaVaughn is fifteen and the obstacles aren’t going away anymore. Big questions separate her from her friends.

Her mother is distracted by a new man.

School could slip away from her so easily. And the boy who’s a miracle in her life acts just as if he’s in love with her. Only he’s not in love with her. Returning to the characters and language she explored so profoundly in Make Lemonade, Virginia Euwer Wolff rises to the occasion in this astonishing second of three novels about LaVaughn, her family, and her community.

3

L

irael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Now, two years past the time when she should have received the Sight that is the Clayr’s birthright, she feels alone, abandoned, unsure of who she is.

Nevertheless, the fate of the Old Kingdom lies in her hands. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, Lirael must undertake a desperate mission against the growing shadow of an ancient evil. In this sequel to Sabriel, winner of the Aurealis Award for Excellence in Australian Science Fiction, New York Times bestselling author Garth Nix weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger.

4

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Style

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

WHAT TO WEAR to compliment your body shape

Just because you like a certain style, it doesn’t mean that it will necessarily suit your body shape and skin tone

ach person has their own individual fashion style some people prefer smart and tidy, others prefer casual and comfortable. However, just because you like a certain style, it doesn’t mean that it will necessarily suit your body shape and skin tone.

Our body shape, build and skin tone actually dictate how our clothes look on us; once you know your body build, shape and tone you can choose the correct colors and fits to suit you. This what not to wear series helps you to understand exactly what your body shape, build and skin tone is and how to dress (and how not to dress) to compliment them.

Your body type There are three different body type classifications: Mesomorphic Individuals with mesomorphic body types are known to have athletic builds.

They often have an hourglass or ruler shape figure (see body shape definitions below), and gain muscle mass easily. The majority of mesomorphs have broad shoulders and a narrow waist and most have a fast metabolism and can lose weight more easily than

E

endomorphs.

Endomorphic Endomorphs tend to have bigger bones than the other body types. These men and women usually have round faces with larger thighs and hips; their arms and legs tend to be short and tapering, which gives them a stocky appearance.

Most endomorphs have comparatively small hands and feet and a high waist.

Additionally, endomorphs have higher levels of body fat than the other body types, but they can also build muscle and lean mass easily. Weight loss is most difficult for the endomorph body type.

Ectomorphic Ectomorphic men and women have a thin, linear appearance. Most ectomorphs look like rulers, with narrow waists, hips, and shoulders. Ectomorphs can lose weight easily and tend to have low levels of body fat.

However, they also have a harder time gaining lean muscle mass. It often proves difficult to place people into just one of the above 3 categories as sometimes a persons body type will be a combination of 2 body types. Common combinations include ecto-

mesomorph and endo-mesomorph.

YOUR BODY SHAPE In addition to your body type, you will also find that you have a distinct body shape. Your body shape is based upon the size of your physical features and the overall balance of your body. Men and women tend to have different body shapes. Men are often described as having a rectangular shape or a cone shape. Women are typically described as having hourglass, pear, apple, or ruler body shapes.

Rectangle-shaped figure Your figure is straight up and down, without a lot of curves When you gain weight it gets distributed evenly throughout your frame You will also have: ● A full neck ● A broad back ● An average chest ● Undefined waist ● A balanced figure without many curves Pear-shaped figure Your upper body is noticeably smaller than your lower body When you gain weight it goes mostly on your hips and thighs You

will also have: A long or slender neck ● Sloping or narrow shoulders ● Narrow back ● A small to medium chest ● A defined waist ● Full calves ● Very curvy hips, thighs and bottom ●

Apple-shaped figure Your upper body is noticeably larger than your lower body When you gain weight it mostly goes on to your waistline You will also have: ● A full face and neck ● Broad shoulders ● Medium to full chest ● A full, undefined waist ● Narrow hips ● A flat bottom ● Slim legs ● Most of your weight carried in your midsection Cone-shaped figure Your upper body is larger than your lower body

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Style

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

You carry most of your weight in your back, chest, arms and stomach You will also have: ● Broad back ● Broad shoulders ● No waist ● Larger chest ● Large arms ● Slender/narrow hips ● Slim thighs/legs The Hourglass Figure You are curvy with a defined waist. When you gain weight it usually distributes itself evenly on your curves.

You will also have: ● Symmetrical shoulders and hips ● Full, shapely bust ● Distinctly defined waist ● Medium to broad hips in proportion with your shoulders ● Shapely Legs ● Lots of feminine curves Does and don’ts How to dress a coneshaped figure Emphasise: Legs and hips Aim: to divert the eye downward to offset your bust and shoulders.

Avoid strapless, fullsleeved or sleeveless designs, horizontal patterns around the waist area and snug or curvy tops Wearing a tunic top can minimize broad shoulders and full busts and lengthen your waist.

Avoid belts, your bust and shoulders will appear larger. Go for V neck or a plunging necklines as this will soften the appearance of broad shoulders. Don’t wear ruffles and avoid breast patch pockets. Darker colors are best for jackets and tops. For skirts and trousers; try brighter coloured or printed bottoms to draw attention to your lower body. Wrap dresses with a full or 3/4 length sleeve is very flattering.

How to dress a pear-shaped figure Emphasise: Face, neck, bust, waist and arms Aim: to bring the eye up and broaden your shoulder line with wide necks and color. Focus at or above your waist Keep jackets slightly fitted, shaped and belted; asymmetrically wrapped styles,

trench or robe coats suits this body shape best. Tight trousers or jeans will obviously accentuate the hips, thighs and bottom area; instead, go for a pair of jeans or trousers that are a little more relaxed with a slight flare. If you have a larger bottom, do not choose jeans with back pockets if you can. A-line skirts that are gently flared are very flattering.

Avoid baggy full maxi skirts. Always go for draped collars, such as shawl, cowl, round, v-necked, rolled or scooped. This draws attention away from the hip area.

When choosing a dress, keep it softly-fitted, aline with an empire waist and of course make sure that there is emphasis on the neckline. Wrap around or crossover styles are also very flattering.

Length is everything for hour-glass figures so your tops should end at the hip bone. Any detail on your top or t-shirt should appear near the neckline. Stick to dark colors below the waist, but you can wear bright colors and different textures above the waist.

Avoid clinging fabrics and patterns around the hips.

How to dress an hourglass-shaped figure Emphasise: Shoulders, chest, waist and hips Aim: to elongate the overall line. Take the focus away from your hips, thighs and bottom by wearing lightly draping fabrics which will soften your curves. Accentuate your waist. Jackets should have a subtly defined waist, slightly fitted and tailored.

Skirts - pleated, long dresses are best when slightly fitted & flared in shape.

Princess lines are very flattering

Keep collars notched, cowl, rolled or straight. Plunging necklines add the emphasis. Trousers or jeans will tend to look better if they are fitted bottoms look best on when they are fitted.

How to dress a full, appleshaped figure Emphasise: Legs, hips and arms Aim: to elongate the upper body.

Wear skimming straight tops that elongate your upper body and dont cut you in half. Draw attention away from midsection. Draw focus toward your legs Wearing more tailored styles makes you look slimmer and gives you a great shape.

Jackets should be tailored, long, collarless, cardigan, same as for the curved shape.

Tops should have clean lines with open necklines like boat necks, halter, scooped, wide v-necks.

The length of your top should end below your widest point, e.g. below your bottom or longer.

Straight long tunic tops that taper at waist and flair out slightly suit this body shape beautifully. Couple with leggings. Keep pants long and fluid; avoid pants that are too tight around the waist area. Aline that are gently flared and end just a above the knee look great. If you have larger thighs and hips, emphasize the shoulders . Pin-stripes/vertical stripes create the illusion of length.

Avoid fabrics that pull or stick, avoid wearing patterns on your lower half and steer clear from bulky fabrics, such as heavy wool, mohair etc.

How to dress a rectangle-shaped figure Emphasise: arms, hips and legs Aim: to create the illusion of a curvier, more feminine frame. Wear V-neck and Uneck lines. Mini skirts or shorts are a great look for this body shape. Accentuate curves by wearing jackets or tops that hug the waist. Accessorise the neckline with necklaces and scarves, this will add roundness to a straight frame. Make sure trousers and jeans are slightly flared/bootlegged as this will add curves. Steer clear of straight midlength boxy skirts. Belts around the waist also help to create waistlines. Keep shirts well tailored and fitted to emphasize the waist and arms. Bold prints and bright colors are good and can give the illusion of a curvier body. Fabrics that retain their shape (that cling nicely to your shape) are best. This include cottons, linens, wool, denim etc.

TOP 10 DRESS TIPS 1.

2.

Thinner fabrics are more slimming Tops and bottoms of one color will make you look thinner 3. Wear clothes that fit - wearing too large clothes will exaggerate your figure not hide it 4. High collars shortens necks 5. Shoes with straps shorten your legs 6. The torso can be shortened or narrowed with seam lines, belts, bows, and collars 7. Choose your accessories carefully, e.g. a short necklace can shorten your neck 8. A scarf or belt that hangs down toward the legs will make the legs appear longer.

9. Thicker vertical lines lengthen and slim the torso 10. When buying jeans or trousers, be sure they fit properly. Defects are emphasized in a pair of jeans that may go unnoticed in a skirt

Health FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

L

Fingernails and your health

earn about some nail conditions that might require medical attention. If you have a nail problem that doesn’t seem to be going away or is associated with other signs and symptoms, make an appointment with your doctor to get it checked out.

1. Yellow nail syndrome Yellow discoloration in your fingernails may result from a respiratory condition, such as chronic bronchitis, or from swelling of your hands (lymphedema). In yellow nail syndrome, nails thicken and new growth slows, resulting in discoloration. Nails affected with this condition may lack a cuticle and may detach from the nail bed in places.

Although this condition is often a sign of respiratory disease, it’s possible to have yellow nails and not have a respiratory condition.

Yellow nails may also result from any condition that causes the growth of your nails to slow down.

2. Nail pitting Small depressions in the nails are common in people with psoriasis - a skin condition that produces scaly patches. They may also result from nail injuries. Pitting may cause your nails to crumble.

Pitting is also associated with conditions that can damage your nail’s cuticle, such as chronic dermatitis of your fingers or alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss.

3. Nail clubbing Clubbing occurs when the tips of your fingers enlarge and your nails curve around your fingertips. This condition results from low oxygen levels in your blood and could be a

How to keep your fingernails healthy and strong Here’s what you need to know to keep your fingernails in tiptop shape. ake a close look at your nails. Are they strong and healthy looking?

Or do you see ridges, dents, or areas of unusual color or shape? Many less than desirable nail conditions can be avoided through proper care, but some actually indicate an illness that requires attention.

T

Fingernails: What to look for Your nails - composed of laminated layers of a protein called keratin - grow from the area at the base of the nail under your cuticle. As new cells grow, older cells become hard and compacted and are eventually pushed out toward your fingertips.

Healthy nails are smooth, without ridges or grooves. They’re uniform in color and consistency and free of spots or discoloration. Nails can develop harmless conditions, such as vertical ridges that run from the cuticle to the tip of the nail. Vertical ridges become more prominent with age. Nails can also develop white lines or spots due to injury, but these eventually grow out with the nail.

sign of lung disease. Clubbing is also associated with inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease and liver disease.

4. Spoon nails Spoon nails (koilonychia) are soft nails that look scooped out. The depression usually is large enough to hold a drop of liquid. Spoon nails may be a sign of iron deficiency anemia.

5. Terry’s nails With the condition known as Terry’s nails, your nails look opaque, but the tip has a dark band. Sometimes this can be attributed to

aging. In other cases, it can be a sign of serious illness, such as:

• Congestive heart failure • Diabetes • Liver disease • Malnutrition 6. Beau’s lines Beau’s lines are indentations that run across your nails. They can appear when growth at the area under your cuticle is interrupted by injury or severe illness. Diseases or illnesses associated with Beau’s lines include:

• Uncontrolled diabetes • Circulatory diseases, such as peripheral artery disease • Illness associated with a high fever, caused by pneumonia, scarlet fever, mumps or measles • Malnutrition 7. Nail separates from nail bed With a condition known as onycholysis, your fingernails become loose and can separate from the nail bed. If your nails show signs of detaching, this may be associated with:

• Injury or infection • Thyroid disease • Drug reactions • Reactions to nail hardeners or acrylic nails • Psoriasis (www.mayoclinic.com)

Your fingernails can provide clues to your overall health. But do you know how to read the signs?

Health FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Home Remedies For Diarrhea W

hen stools are loose and without consistency it is called diarrhea, it is an effective way for the body to get rid of an undesirable substance, this may be followed with symptoms like vomiting, stomach pain, thirst, fever, nausea dehydration. In children this may be dangerous as in people 65 and older.

Diarrhea and vomiting cause the loss of fluids which need to be replaced. In some cases diarrhea is the secondary symptom of another problem, but in most instances is cause by food poisoning; bacteria in food or water; food allergies; or a virus. Also, excess alcohol consumption; laxatives; caffeine are known to cause diarrhea. Some medicines can trigger diarrhea, such as antibiotics (tetracycline, clyndamycin, penicillin). If you find, blood or mucus in the stool is a sign of infection or parasites.

Some well known drugs will stop diarrhea

but they interfere with the natural process of cleansing that the body desperately needs.

With natural remedies we may help ourselves feel better without stopping the immune system from doing its job.

Your body uses diarrhea to flush bacteria or viruses you might have ingested by eating bad food. Therefore, it might be a bad idea to stop diarrhea too quickly. However, diarrhea does not work sometimes and if goes on for several days, dehydration and loss of important nutrients may occur which can be dangerous specially in children. That’s why we recommend the use of home remedies for diarrhea instead of over the counter drugs, using herbs you can stop diarrhea and target the cause of it at the same time.

Home Remedies for Diarrhea we recommend: * Home Remedies for diarrhea #1: Take

homeopathic Arsenicum if you feel you have eaten spoiled food. This will help control the discharge without interfere with the elimination of toxins. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #2: If you feel weak and have a burning pain in mid-section take cuprum arsenicosum . * Take 4 charcoal tablets every hour this will absorb the toxins from the body. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #3: Drink blackberry tea for mild diarrhea. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #4: Take cayenne in capsules. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #5:Wild oregano oil is an antibacterial, anti parasitic and anti viral. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #6: Ginger tea can stop cramps and pain. Or take Ginger in capsules. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #7: Drink plenty of fluids, but stay away from caffeine

and alcohol. Drinks like ginger ale or carrot juice is good for making the stools less watery. * Home Remedies for diarrhea #8: For decades charcoal has been used for absorbing and expelling intestinal gas. Charcoal may also be used for relieving a variety of ailments, such as indigestion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, high cholesterol and intestinal bloating.

Charcoal’s ability to absorb and prevent substances from dislodging or reabsorbing into the body make it a popular choice for detoxifying the liver and kidneys. (www.homemademedicine.com)

When is the best time to workout ?

D

oes it really matter if you workout in the morning, afternoon, or evening?

The answer is that it does matter.

After reading this please don’t go to your employer and tell them that you quit, because you need to workout at a different time. So when is the perfect time to workout?

Truthfully the best time to workout is different for each person. The best time to workout is when you are most awake. If you wake up at 5:00 in the morning, you probably won’t be real awake when 9:00 and 10:00 come around at night. During your workout you want to be active, energetic, and focused. Do you have problems sleeping a little after working out?

If yes, it is best to workout in the morning or during the day so that when the night rolls around you are able to get the right amount of sleep for muscle growth.

There is no certain time when people are suggested to workout, but I feel that during

the middle of the day is the best time to work out. It is obviously tough for some people to exercise in the middle of the day due to many factors including work, sleep, and nutrition.

Lifting should be based on your own personal schedule. To make your workouts worthwhile you must be full of energy. In order to have this energy you must be on proper sleep, food in your system, and wide-awake. Having enough energy means that you are not fatigue at all. It does not pay to do hard manual labor for 10 hours a day and then go to the gym and workout when you can barely walk the way it is.

The perfect time to workout is a pretty wide range. The first six hours after waking up is usually not a great time to workout because proper nutrition and energy will not be through your body by that time. Anything after twelve hours of waking up is also not a great time to work out because our bodies are

at that time starting to fatigue and get ready for sleep. After figuring it out, we should workout anywhere between six and twelve hours of waking up. For example if a person went to bed at eleven and woke up at seven, they would be best suited to workout between one and seven in the afternoon.

Therefore it gives you a wide variety of time to exercise. Usually people don’t find it hard to train with-in those hours.

After reading this, don’t think that you HAVE to train during those hours to get positive effects. Working out at any time of the day is better than not working out at all. To get the most benefits from working out, it is suggested to workout during those hours. I hope you have learned from me and try to take what I have told you today into consideration the next time you go to workout. (www.trulyhuge.com)

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

C h i l d re n FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Spot the difference

connect the dots

color me

maze

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

C h i l d re n

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

alfa-search

number-search

Can you find the hidden words? Each word ends with theletter G. The words may be horizontal or vertical.

BOXING, EATING, FLAG, FROG, HIDING, ICING, JOKING, KING, RING, SONG, STAG,

STING, STRONG, THING, WAVING, WRONG, YOUNG.

Can you find the hidden numbers? They may be horizontal or vertical.

03838, 09223, 10383, 14398, 18384, 26782, 26983, 27365, 27883, 33589, 34785, 68966, 75976, 81621, 85766, 91479.

mystery-word Can you enter the words correctly into the grid? The letters inthe shaded boxes will spell out the name of the mystery word.

sudoku

4 letters

solution

BOAT RAFT SHIP TAXI TRAM 5 letters COACH FERRY LINER TRAIN YACHT 6 letters DINGHY 7 letters BICYCLE GONDOLA 8 letters AIRPLANE 9 letters MOTORBIKE MOTORBOAT SUBMARINE 10 letters HELICOPTER

Comics

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

C R O S S W O R D

5 0 8

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

ACROSS

1. A blow from a flat object (as an open hand).

5. Italian lawn bowling (played on a long narrow dirt court).

10. A chronic drinker.

13. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.

14. Affect with wonder.

15. A sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain.

16. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

17. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

19. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

20. A motley assortment of things.

22. A feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause).

24. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.

25. A trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

26. (informal) Of the highest quality.

27. One of four children born at the same time from the same pregnancy.

29. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in the blood.

32. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

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

37. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

39. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

42. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

44. An informal term for a father.

46. An agency of the United Nations responsible for programs to aid education and the health of children and mothers in developing countries.

49. (usually followed by `to') Full of eagerness.

53. An independent agency of the United States government responsible for aviation and spaceflight.

56. God of war and sky.

57. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

59. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

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

63. The smallest multiple that is exactly divisible by every member of a set of numbers.

64. A police officer who investigates crimes.

65. 100 lepta equal 1 drachma.

66. An affirmative.

DOWN 1. A right or legal share of something.

2. Lap at the front of a coat.

3. Jordan's port.

4. A South American river.

5. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

6. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

7. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

8. A male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917).

9. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.

10. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

11. Trade name for an oral contraceptive containing estradiol and

norgestrel.

12. A city in southeastern South Korea.

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

21. A white crystalline double sulfate of aluminum.

23. A small ball with a hole through the middle.

28. A light touch or stroke.

30. A person forced to flee from home or country.

31. A chronic inflammatory collagen disease affecting connective tissue (skin or joints).

33. Someone who is morally reprehensible.

35. A brittle gray crystalline element that is a semiconducting metalloid (resembling silicon) used in transistors.

36. A public promotion of some product or service.

38. Tropical American tree producing cacao beans.

40. Water buffalo of the Philippines.

41. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

43. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.

45. An informal term for a father.

47. The iridescent internal layer of a mollusk shell.

48. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

49. Type genus of the Ranidae.

50. A republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula.

51. A daughter of your brother or sister.

52. Tropical tree of Central America and West Indies and Puerto Rico having spikes of white flowers.

54. A boy or man.

55. United States playwright who collaborated with George S. Kaufman (1904-1961).

58. A unit of surface area equal to 100 square meters.

61. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

62. A state in east central United States.

Yesterday’s Solution

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Lifestyle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

5 movies for which to be thankful

In this undated file photo released by Gramercy Pictures, Jeff Bridges, left, John Goodman, center, and Steve Buscemi appear in a scene from the motion picture “The Big Lebowski.” —AP

I

t’s Thanksgiving this week in America, a time to reflect on the people and things for which we’re grateful. Since I love movies, I thought it would be a good time to choose five for which I’m thankful. These are the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, ones I can watch over and over again, and always rely on to make me laugh, lift me up or provide an escape. (The inclusion of anything

by John Hughes goes without saying.) Ask me tomorrow and this list might be different. But for today, dig in: ● “Rushmore” (1998): This was only Wes Anderson’s second movie, but it remains his best - funny, lively, clever and tinged with a sweet sense of melancholy. All of Anderson’s trademark stylistic touches are there, the ones that would seem increasingly precious and self-conscious with each subsequent film he made. Young Jason Schwartzman, making his film debut, stars as Max Fischer, who’s involved in every club, sport and activity at the exclusive Rushmore Academy. A restrained Bill Murray is hilarious as the depressed father of a couple of Max’s class-

mates, with whom Max forms an unlikely friendship - until the two compete for the affections of the first-grade teacher, played by the lovely Olivia Williams. Anderson finds delicate humor in his characters’ loneliness, which gives “Rushmore” greater emotional heft than its quirks might lead you to expect. ● “The Sound of Music” (1965): OK, so I’m just going to put it out there: I played Gretl in our little neighborhood production of this musical when I was 5, and it’s always held a special place in my heart. Yes, it’s a huge movie and a classic, winner of five Academy Awards including best picture. But there’s something so personal about it; we all grew up watching it - it’s one of those movies that was on television every year around the holidays. I recall repeatedly listening to the album - the album, people, that’s how long ago this was - and singing along with every song. Why shouldn’t Julie Andrews be able to come up with just the perfect, inspiring tune on the spot, or make play clothes out of drapes for all seven Von Trapp children, and still find time to make goo-goo eyes at the captain? It’s corny and gooey and irresistible. ● “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984): Pretty much the greatest mockumentary ever, the one that launched Christopher Guest’s entire oeuvre.

Others, such as “Waiting for Guffman,” have their classic moments, but this one sets the standard. So many great, quotable lines. So many ridiculous songs in this fake behindthe-scenes look at a spectacularly awful and over-the-top British rock band. So many

small, deadpan ad-libs that produce huge laughs. Rob Reiner (as director and co-star) nails a particular brand of big-haired musical self-seriousness that was prevalent in this era.

Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, all masters of improvisation, bounce beautifully off each other. This is a truly reliable comedy, one that captures a specific moment yet remains a classic. You know the tiny Stonehenge is coming and it’s still funny every time. ● “The Big Lebowski” (1998): Admittedly, this is not the Coen brothers’ best film - that would be “No Country for Old Men,” their masterpiece. And I could watch that over and over again, too. But the cult of Lebowski is just too powerful. There’s something hypnotic about it: the way The Dude navigates the increasingly surreal adventure in which he’s found himself; the cadence of the banter; the repetition of certain key phrases (most of which can’t be repeated here, sadly). Bowling, Vietnam, white Russians, porn, a toe with green nail polish on it and a crucial rug that really tied the room together all collide in

weird and wonderful ways in this absurd case of mistaken identity. No matter what Jeff Bridges accomplishes in his lengthy and varied career and despite the Oscar he recently won for “Crazy Heart,” he will always be The Dude. And John Goodman is completely great as his volatile, self-serious sidekick, Walter. ● “Sleeping Beauty” (1959): This was my favorite Disney animated film growing up, an uncharacteristically chickish choice on my part, given its themes of a woman in peril who needs a man to rescue her - the man she’s been arranged to marry, of all people. So no, it’s not terribly forward- thinking. But when I was a little girl, it all seemed so romantic. Aurora was so gorgeous and graceful, tall and blond, my epitome of feminine beauty back then. Much of the film’s allure comes from the music - the sweeping score adapted from Tchaikovsky’s ballet. The movie itself is just so beautiful, too, nearly a decade in the making with its hand-inked animation. And Maleficent is just such a great name for an evil witch. “Sleeping Beauty” was one of the movies I watched when I was home on maternity leave, waiting anxiously for my son to arrive. It was a good distraction. —AP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Lifestyle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Review

Seriously, who does not like the Muppets?

V Imogen Heap

Heap to weave Asian sounds into new album

W

hat started as a little girl’s dream to travel around the globe in her own plane with her own classical orchestra has led to a Grammy award and three critically acclaimed albums for Imogen Heap, who will use sounds embodying Asia for her next album. A skilled player of several instruments, the 33year-old English singer is breaking down her upcoming fourth album into several projects with themes set in different parts of the world, she told Reuters at the recent Bacardi NH7 Weekender music festival in Pune, a city outside of Mumbai.

“Every single song in the album has its own kind of ecosystem around it,” said Heap, who was dressed in a black churidar-kameez, a traditional long tunic worn with tight trousers, with a pink dupatta shawl around her shoulders. A do-it-yourself artist, Heap composes, arranges and produces her own music, effortlessly weaving urban dance beats and electronica with a hint of traditional song-writing, while slipping in an odd array of sounds, such as the hiss of a frying pan or the clatter of cutlery.

While in India, Heap wrote a new song with music director Vishal Dadlani for “The Dewarists,” a television show that airs on Asian channel Star World. She has yet to name her new album, which is expected to contain roughly 12 tracks including her song with Dadlani called “Minds Without Fear.” Other songs will be “Lifeline,” based on the tsunami that ravaged Japan earlier this year, with 900 sounds sent by Heap’s fans from around the world forming the base of the tune. Another, “Neglected Space,” is about bringing to life an old Georgian walled garden in her village.

Three months, one song The new album is slated to be ready by September 2012, three years after the release of “Ellipse,” her last CD which earned her a Grammy award for “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.” “I’m doing a song every three months, and in between I’m developing these other things, like I’ve got these magical, musical gloves ... each song is connected to a project.” Heap worked with Thomas Mitchell from the University of the West of England to develop the hi-tech gloves that allow a performer to manipulate and control sounds live on stage.

She plans to travel to China next month to write a song tentatively titled “A Day in the Life of Hangzhou,” and expects to feature on the new album an instrumental song with sounds borrowed from a trip to Bhutan. “It seems ridiculous to go to a country and not try to immerse musically the flavors of that space, but it’s very important to me that it doesn’t sound like that horrible ‘World Music’ word, which doesn’t mean anything anyway,” she said. With tousled hair accentuating her towering 6-foot-tall frame, she wooed fans at the NH7 festival with hits such as “Just For Now” and “Hide And Seek” on the second day of the show, which drew in some 9,500 people. —Reuters

arious artists, “The Muppets Original Soundtrack” (Walt Disney Records) Welcome back, Muppets. It’s as if they never left. On the original soundtrack to their latest film, “The Muppets,” the producers are wise to include some of the most beloved songs from the Muppets’ past in addition to wonderful new additions, including four written by Bret McKenzie, creator and co-star of “Flight of the Conchords.”

Is “Rainbow Connection” included? Check.

“Mah Na Mah Na”? That’s there, too.

But it’s not just a trip down memory lane.

The new songs by McKenzie shine on their own, especially “Man or Muppet.” The soundtrack will appeal both to the middleaged who grew up with the original Muppets, who hit the silver screen for the first time in 1979, as well as youngsters who are experiencing the Jim Henson creations and their songs for the first time. Plus, how can you not like the chutzpah of a bunch of Muppets covering Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”?

Check out this track: A bunch of Muppet chickens clucking their way through Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You” is not only hilarious, it also makes sense in the way that only Muppet chickens clucking their way through a cover of Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You” can. Love it.—AP

Serbian folk queen in court on new battery charges

S

erbia’s folk music queen emerged yesterday from house arrest to face new charges in Belgrade of violent behavior.

Dressed in black, Svetlana Raznatovic, better known as Ceca, appeared briefly at a Belgrade court before the judges adjourned the hearing for December. Raznatovic and another person are accused of insulting and beating up the manager of a soccer club. Raznatovic is already serving eight months under house arrest as part of a plea bargain for pleading guilty in an illegal sale of soccer players from her late husband’s soccer club.

The plea deal from May also envisaged that Raznatovic pay euro1.5 million ($2 million) fine for embezzling millions gained from the players’ transfer. Raznatovic was married to the notorious warlord Zeljko Raznatovic, also

P

known as Arkan, whose troops were accused of atrocities during the 1990s Balkan wars. Arkan was gunned down in a Belgrade hotel in 2000, but Ceca continued to manage his football club while allegedly also maintaining connections with Serbian crime bosses and former paramilitary leaders. The singer is one of the most popular in the Balkans, known for her plunging necklines and hoarse voice. Ceca has for years evaded legal prosecution thanks to the support of many political leaders who consider her untouchable because of her huge popularity. She was jailed for four months in 2003 in connection with the assassination of Serbian reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.Police at the time found a huge cache of weapons in her home in the upscale Belgrade Dedinje district.—AP

Serbia’s folk music queen Svetlana Raznatovic, better known as Ceca arrives in the court building. —AP

Prosecutors seek four years in jail for Jackson doctor

rosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to sentence Michael Jackson’s former doctor to the maximum four years in prison for his involuntary manslaughter conviction in the singer’s 2009 death. In a separate court filing, defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray sought to convince Los Angeles trial judge Michael Pastor to sentence their client to probation.

The dueling court filings come in advance of a hearing on Tuesday at which Pastor will issue his sentence for Murray, who is currently in jail awaiting that court date. Jackson was

found lifeless at his mansion on June 25, 2009, about three weeks before he was due to begin a series of comeback concerts in London. Murray was at the singer’s house and had given him the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, which medical examiners said was the chief cause of his death.

Doctors testified at the trial that propofol, which is often used for surgery, should never be given in a home setting without adequate staffing and equipment. In seeking to justify their request for a maximum prison sentence of four years for Murray, prosecutors David

Walgren and Deborah Brazil argued that the doctor took advantage of Jackson’s trust in him, all while being under salary for $150,000 a month. “Instead of utilizing his medical knowledge and training to provide Mr Jackson with proper medical care, the defendant acted as an employee and as a drug dealer and completely corrupted the trust necessary in a proper doctor-patient relationship,” prosecutors stated. Defense attorneys said in their court papers that Murray’s “background and character” warrant a sentence of probation, not prison time. —Reuters

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Lifestyle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, center right, and actress Salma Hayek pose while promoting ëPuss in Bootsí US animated film, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday. — AP

‘Shame’ poses intriguing test for NC-17 rating T

he NC-17 rated “Shame” poses an intriguing test for the much-lamented rating and stands a chance of being one of the most notable adults-only releases since “Last Tango in Paris” or “Midnight Cowboy.” When Steve McQueen’s film about a sex addict (Michael Fassbender) arrives in theaters Dec 2, it will have already found enthusiastic debate at film festivals, largely laudatory reviews and a significant presence in the Oscar race, where Fassbender is considered a top contender for a best actor nomination.

Although most films tagged by the Motion Pictures Association of America with an NC-17 rating either protest the decision or edit down to an R-rating, Fox Searchlight (which acquired “Shame” at the Toronto Film Festival) has accepted the NC-17 as fair. “We’re releasing it not because of (the rating), but perhaps in spite of it,” says Stephen Gilula, co-president of Fox Searchlight. “We just think it’s a film that deserves

Crew member dies on set of ‘G.I. Joe 2’

A

crew member has died the set of the movie “G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation” in an accident, Paramount Pictures confirmed Wednesday. The studio did not provide details on the death of crew member Mike Huber, which according to media reports occurred on Tuesday in New Orleans while a set was being taken apart.

“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the Huber family at this time,” Paramount Pictures spokeswoman Virginia Lam said in a statement. “The safety of our cast and crew is our top priority and the studio is fully cooperating with all investigating agencies as they examine the circumstances surrounding this unusual accident,” she said. The film “G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation” is scheduled to be released next year. —Reuters

to be seen.” An NC-17 rating still poses challenges for “Shame” and Fox Searchlight, but some believe the stigma of the rating may be fading.

The rating, which restricts anyone under the age of 18 from attending a movie, was created in 1990 after the “X” rating (which the MPAA had failed to trademark) was co-opted by the pornography industry. Since then, the most successful NC17 film at the box office has been 1995’s “Showgirls,” which earned $20.4 million and a great deal of scorn from critics. On the whole, the rating has been taken by smaller, art-house films. Recent NC-17 releases have included Bernando Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” (2004, Fox Searchlight), Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution” (2007, Focus Features) and Pedro Almodovar’s “Bad Education” (2004, Sony Pictures Classics).

Many more movies have received the rating and avoided it by recutting, reportedly including “Pulp Fiction,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “American Pie” and “Basic Instinct.” Last year’s “Blue Valentine” had its rating overturned after an appeal. Some films simply choose to instead go “unrated” rather than accept the NC-17. “(‘Shame’) is potentially an important step in the legitimate use of the NC-17,” says John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “There just aren’t very many movies released in the NC-17 rating anymore. We get maybe one or two a year. Filmmakers and movie studios are inappropriately afraid of the rating.”

Fithian says his association hopes to “eradicate the stigma” of NC-17, which he disputes. In surveying 100 theaters, the theater owners’ group found that 97 would play an NC-17 film. He calls the assertion that NC-17 films are limited in their advertising a myth. Advertising a NC-17 film on television is limited to certain hours. Most newspapers will accept ads for a NC-17 film as long as they are tasteful. “What we currently have is a system that’s slightly flawed in the reluctance of filmmakers and distributors to use the NC-17,” Fithian says. “What they’ll do is cut and trim and try to cram a movie into the R rating category so that it escapes the NC-17, and that’s not a legitimate use of the system. We end up with a very broad R category.”

Joan Graves, head of the movie ratings system for the MPAA, says the MPAA applies the NC-17 rating “much more

In this film publicity image released by Fox Searchlight Films, actress Carey Mulligan portrays Sissy in a scene from ‘Shame.’ — AP often than it’s accepted.” “I’ve always considered it a shame that for some reason some people consider it (a death sentence), and I blame the media in a way because they always act like it’s gotten the kiss of death,” says Graves. “But there isn’t one of our ratings that means a film is good or bad.” Yet the media holds little sway over film producers who cut films to an R, or the movie theater chain Cinemark, one of the country’s largest, which refuses to screen NC-17 rated films.

Important retail stores such as Wal-Mart, too, do not stock NC17 rated DVDs. “There’s a reason that studios and filmmakers do everything they can not to get an NC-17 rating,” says Kirby Dick, whose 2006 documentary about the MPAA rating system “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” was ironically slapped with an NC-17 rating. “It’s definitely an anchor. I don’t think it’s a death sentence, but I definitely think it does impact the marketability of a film, not only because there are certain restrictions as to where it can be advertised and which theaters will take it, but also because the perception around the film then is purely as a sensational film.” —AP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Lifestyle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Miami Beach getting ready for Art Basel

L

ive graffiti painting. A colossal rose bed soaring 20 feet high. Early photos of Andy Warhol, a Picasso up for auction and a naked woman living in a pig pen.

They’re all part of the lineup for Art Basel Miami Beach, which runs Dec 1-4, with a host of related events beginning Nov 30.

The pig pen installation will undoubtedly be the most jaw-dropping event at the art fair. Known for photographing herself nude in subway tunnels or in front of graffiti walls, performance artist Miru Kim will be living with pigs for her performance “The Pig That Therefore I Am.” “The immediate connection between pigs and me will be felt through seeing the living bodies mingle through skin,” Kim told The Associated Press. A glass barrier will act as “an insatiable gap between the spectacle and the onlooker, just like in a zoo.” The international art fair, sister event to Art Basel in Switzerland, is celebrating its 10th year in South Florida this December.

Miami’s art scene has grown tremendously since it started, and last year 46,000 people attended, not counting thousands more

promising another round of great art, with thousands of works by more than 2,000 artists from around the world. Painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, print, photography, film, performance, video and digital art will all be on display at various venues, galleries, satellite fairs, outdoor exhibitions and private parties. New this year is Art Video, a 7,000-square-foot outdoor projection wall on the New World Center building designed by architect Frank Gehry.

The art experience will begin for many at Miami International Airport with Harmonic Convergence, a 72-foot-long window wall with diamond-shaped panes of glass in 150 transparent colors. The installation by architect and composer Christopher Janney creates a gradually changing pattern of colors, similar to a rainbow. It was installed a few months ago in an airport entrance by a people-mover walkway. Travelers will hear sounds Janney recorded during trips to the Florida Everglades, scuba dives in the ocean, and other natural environments. At the top of each hour, a short composition with percussion instruments plays, marking

If you go...

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH: http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/ . Dec 1-4, with related events like Art Miami - http://www.art-miami.com/ - and Design Miami http://www.designmiami.com - beginning Nov 30.

TOURS: Art critics will also be giving walking guided tours - in English and Spanish - each day for an hour, $20; details from ArtNexus, 305-891-7270, ext 4, http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/ijb/ WYNWOOD: Wynwood Walls: http://www.thewynwoodwalls.com/home.html.

Primary Flight: http://www.primaryflight.com .

Vespa tours of street art in Wynwood are available from Roam Rides, $75, http://www.roamrides.com/ and walking tours are $50.

Volunteers interested in helping with the Glenn Kaino installation can visit: http://www.glennkainostudio.com/levitating —AP ing and Indiana holding his iconic LOVE piece, printed from original negatives as silver gelatin fiber prints. SCOPE president and founder Alexis Hubshman said the photos offer a look at Warhol and Indiana “at a time when Americans were undergoing radical changes both politically and culturally.” He said the 1960s images present “a distinct reference point for many emerging and contemporary artists working today.”

Elsewhere in the Wynwood district, which is known for open-air museums of street murals, street artists will be “buffing” - or painting over - dozens of the neighborhood’s graffiti-clad walls. An organization called Primary Flight will help nearly 30 artists find walls to make art, and work by 16 artists will be on display at the organization’s gallery space.

The pig pen installation will be among the Primary Flight shows. “Some people are really going to love it. Some are going to be shocked. And a handful won’t really get it,” said Primary Flight founder Books Bischof.

For the first time, works by artists from the outdoor art park Wynwood Walls will be for sale at “Shop at the Walls,” its first pop-up gallery. Miami gallery owner Gary Nader will launch an auction house during Art Basel

featuring modern and contemporary work by big names like Fernando Botero, Damien Hirst and Roy Lichtenstein. Nader expects prices from $50,000 to $5 million, including for Picasso’s “Buste de Femme,” priced at $3.5 million to $4.5 million, and Lichtenstein’s large-scale aluminum painted sculpture “Three Brushstrokes,” estimated at $3 million to $5 million.

“Auctions like this only happen in New York and London,” Nader said. Hundreds of volunteers will help lift a 20-foot sculptural platform with models of attractions from the 1939 New York World’s Fair for an installation by Los Angeles-based artist

Philipe Almeida takes a picture of a graffiti covered wall during a two-hour graffiti tour given by Roam Rides in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. —AP photos who took in ancillary events piggy-backing on the main arts-filled weekend. The trendy exhibits, films, parties and performances attract not just art collectors but also artlovers of all means, tourists and many others who want to see and be seen.

“The cultural growth emerged about 20 years ago when the world discovered Miami through the lens of South Beach,” said Tony Goldman, chairman and CEO of The Goldman Properties Co., which has helped transform the city’s historic districts into thriving, trendy neighborhoods like South Beach and the Wynwood Arts District. “Ten years ago when we brought Art Basel to Miami, we moved into warp speed and it’s been growing every year since,” the real estate investor said.

Organizers for this year’s event are

the time of day.

Images of art world stars Warhol and Robert Indiana taken in the early 1960s by photographer William John Kennedy will be on display for a pop-up event on the heels of Art Basel. “Before They Were Famous: Behind the Lens of William John Kennedy” will be part of the special programming at SCOPE Miami in the Wynwood Arts District.

“I photographed Andy and other Pop Artists because I believed they were creating something different,” Kennedy said.

“Andy was completely devoted to his art.

I’m sure at the time I photographed him, he believed the photos would become an important record of what he was trying to accomplish.”

The exhibit will include images of Warhol creating his Marilyn Monroe paint-

This image from 1964 and courtesy of William John Kennedy, KIWI Arts Group shows ‘Warhol Holding Marilyn Acetate’.

This undated photo courtesy of Will Ryman and Paul Kasmin Gallery shows Will Ryman’s ‘65th Street’ installation of colossal roses in New York, where the installation was last seen.

Glenn Kaino at Art Public. Will Ryman’s “65th Street” installation of four colossal rose buds will bloom 20 feet over the Sagamore Hotel in Miami Beach. The pink and red buds, 5 to 10 feet in diameter, with a brass aphid and beetle nesting in the tallest bud, were recently in New York City.

Ryman said Art Basel is “the perfect platform to introduce them to another extraordinary city of the arts, one that offers a completely different backdrop.” Another side event, Design Miami, includes 28 galleries and explores the relationship between design and architecture, including furniture and lighting.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Lifestyle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Christian Louboutin’s shoes inspire a certain passion T

Tokyo

Sweets Collection

Christian Louboutin, right, and Andrea Liberman compare shoes.

hey came on 6-inch platforms and sky-high booties, flaunting spikes and leopard spots.

Stiletto-clad fans lined up at Barneys New York in Beverly Hills on a recent Thursday night to meet their footwear idol, French designer Christian Louboutin, who was in town to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his red-soled brand and his new book.

He signed copies of the self-titled book-a sumptuous $150 monograph with still-life photos by David Lynch and Philippe Garcia of his fanciful designs-for nearly two hours. He also signed a leg cast for Melissa Dishell, longtime manager of burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese.

Dishell, who wore a Louboutin high-top sneaker on her other foot, was happy to report that her injury was not the fault of one of the designer’s vertiginous heels but, rather, uneven sand on a beach in Ibiza. (The cast looked pretty great after Louboutin doodled bows on it. Designer casts-maybe he’s on to something there.)

After the book signing, the evening’s hosts-Von Teese, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Cameron Silver, Lucy Liu and Monet Mazur-decamped to Mr Chow for dinner, joining Eva Chow, Rachel Zoe, Molly Sims and others. It was fun catching up with Gelila Puck, a longtime Louboutin friend, who recalled fondly the white mesh shoes the designer made for her 2007 wedding in Capri. “He even flew to New York for a fitting,” she said. Lucky girl. Puck still has special designs made just for her, including the strappy gray snakeskin booties she was wearing with her metallic Geoffrey Beene shift dress. Von Teese, another longtime pal of the shoe designer, chose a pair of spiky heels to accent the gash on her leg. That injury wasn’t caused by a shoe either but by the cup holder in her car. “Were you in the back seat or the front?” I asked her. “And what were you

A guest wears a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes at a 20th anniversary party for the designer in Beverly Hills.

(Left) A pair of Christian Louboutin shoes is displayed.

doing?” Alas, she swore it wasn’t anything so kinky as those shoes. “I don’t know how I did it,” she said.

Louboutin himself was sandwiched between Von Teese and Huntington-Whiteley all night. Probably not too bad a place to be. I reminded him of the last time we met, nine years ago when he opened his first Los Angeles boutique. I bought my first pair of Louboutins there, a pair of “trash mules,” with bits of feathers, glitter and newsprint trapped in plastic. They reminded me of what must be on the floor at the end of the night at a Paris cabaret.

Speaking of glitter, Louboutin was the guy who really started that shoe trend in a big way. Now, you can buy glitter shoes at Target. But Louboutin is the one who made them so popular, and took them

beyond the stuff of little girls’ fairy tales.

A recent story in the New York Times proclaimed the end of the extreme shoe trend, suggesting women are ready to kick aside their red-soled, Kardashian-high platforms in favor of simpler, less-ostentatious shoes

by Manolo Blahnik. Maybe so. But red sole or not, let’s not forget that Louboutin makes a very chic simple pump too. With a perfectly round toe and a narrow, but not too narrow, heel, it is a forever classic. And as much as Louboutin might not want to hear it, it’s comfortable. And speaking of those red soles, despite the recent ruling by a New York judge denying Louboutin’s trademark on them, the designer isn’t giving up. He’s appealing the case. “I have to stand up for myself, and for others,” he said. — MCT

Models display headpieces made of confectionery by Japanese patissiers during the Tokyo Sweets Collection in Tokyo. Japan’s 12 leading pastry chefs teamed up with dress designer Eri Matsui to demonstrate their sweet creations for Matsui’s dresses. —AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

The incredibly

growing pet I

In this undated photo provided by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, a Lego man stands in the water at Siesta Key Public Beach in Sarasota, Fla. Lego man is going to stay in police custody for three months. Lego man, a 100-pound, 8-foot-tall sculpture, didn’t do anything wrong except wash up on the beach. Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight says his office will hold the fiberglass sculpture for 90 days just like all other lost and found property. During that time, authorities will try to determine who the owner is. —AP

f your dog or cat looks more like a footstool than an animal, four times a week is about right, but work up to it gradually. it’s time to do something about that excess weight. There is “You don’t want to take a couch potato out there with a an epidemic of fat pets in the United States, one that’s Frisbee; it could injure them.” If you’re not interested in exeroften unrecognized. “It comes from the fact that they are cising, a little fetch goes a long way. You throw the ball, Fido beloved,” says veterinarian Louise Murray, vice president of retrieves it. Over and over and over. The point is to get the the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ dog moving.

If something more strenuous is your goal, look into activiBergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York. “We see them as part of the family, and we feed them. (The obesity) comes ties such as those outlined in “Canine Sports & Games” from a good place because we love them. But we need to get (Storey) by Kristin Mehus-Roe. She presents different activities tailored to the personality of a dog (an intelligent and enerit under control because it can cause health problems.”

A survey earlier this year, conducted by the Association for getic canine would benefit from agility training, for example).

Pet Obesity Prevention, which works within the veterinary The idea is to provide mental as well as physical activity.

“Any kind of exercise for them is good,” Graves explains. community to combat pet obesity, found that more than half of the dogs and cats in the U.S. are overweight or obese. “And it’s really important that they get mental stimulation too.

(Obesity is defined as being 30 percent above normal weight, One way to keep dogs’ brains in better shape as they age is to and one-fifth of our pets qualify.) The trouble is, many pet expose them to new things. Don’t take them on the same route on the walk every day. Vary it. Go a different way. Let owners don’t see it.

Thomas Graves, a professor of veterinary clinical medicine them use their brains more.” at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois, and director of the Chicago Center for Veterinary Medicine, compares it to the childhood obesity epidemic. “Some of these studies, they get parents to try to identify their child’s body type,” he says. “Most parents can’t do that. We’re seeing the same thing in dogs and cats.

Probably 40 percent of them are overweight, 20 percent of them obese. And the vast majority of pet owners fail to recognize that their pets have a weight problem.”

The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention has a chart (petobesityprevention.com/pet-weight-check) that will give a dog or cat owner an idea. It’s a good starting point, but a visit to the vet is still recommended.

“There are medical conditions that can cause obesity and weight gain,” Graves says.

“So any animal with a weight problem needs to be evaluated by a veterinarian. That way, a proper weight loss program can be designed by the veterinarian.” The program generally involves diet and exercise. “The People aren’t the only animals in America having to worry about proper truth about pet food is that most pet foods exercise and being overweight, our pets too. —MCT photos are really good,” Graves says. “The pet food companies spend lots of money researching proper nutrition. They want pets fed healthy (Exercising a cat can be as simple as tying a toy to a fishing food that keeps them alive a long time-and buying more pole and waving it around, or flicking a laser pointer around food.”

He doesn’t pick one pet food over any other but says to the room and have the cat chase it. Or ...

“One of the best ways to get a cat to exercise is to get a kitbuy a premium brand, one appropriate for the life stage the pet is in. And check with your vet about how much to feed ten,” Graves says. “Kittens are a pain in the neck. I can’t tell you your animal. A spayed or neutered pet is less active and needs how many times an owner has a cat losing weight, and they less, and some pet foods recommend more than is needed. come in, and we can’t figure out why. Then I find out they got Murray says that most dogs’ weight problems can be blamed a kitten four months ago and, well, that’s the reason. Cats do well in groups. They play more; they tend to eat better.” on leftovers, snacks and treats, not their regular food.

Signs your pet needs a diet “Those things are very caloric, and that adds up,” she says.

“For dogs, the best advice is to cut back on the non-dog foods, the unofficial stuff.” Cats are different, she says. They become These tips are from the Association for Pet Obesity overweight not from treats, but because their diet is too high Prevention website: How to tell if your pet is a healthy weight: in carbohydrates. “Cats are nature’s pure carnivores,” she says.

Ribs are easily felt “They were never meant to eat carbohydrates. Their bodies Tucked abdomen-no sagging stomach are not designed to handle them at all. Unfortunately, a lot of Waist when viewed from above the cat foods on the market are high in carbs, especially dry Your pet is overweight if ... foods. It’s easy for us to leave a bowl out all day, but then It’s difficult to feel ribs under fat they’re snacking on carbohydrates all day.” Canned or moist Sagging stomach: You can grab a handful of fat! foods from pouches are a better choice, she says.

Broad, flat back Exercise is the other key. You might even want to particiNo waist —MCT pate _ nice, long, moderate walks, Murray suggests. Three or

Stars

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Aries (March 21-April 19) You are surrounded by some of your favorite people today.

Plan something special to show them how much you care.

You could be most persuasive with others and eloquent in speech and communication. You can demonstrate a great deal of understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others just now and you are in a good position to communicate concerning groups and society in general. You love people, large and small groups and relationships in general. All-in-all, this is a good time to project your image. Perhaps you will consider teaching. Use your instincts to help you make an important decision tonight. When the dinner leftovers are put away and you prop up your feet to relax—you may be greatly pleased at the words of praise from a loved one.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is a very good day for events on the home front. If you are not cooking, you will probably be helping. You seek to improve circumstances that may prove a bit thorny for someone today. You may be asked to help in some games or to organize an outside activity—say yes! You will find ways to bring about smiles and cheers. You have the opportunity to show off a new computer, car or clothing to family members today.

Everyone is interested in being updated on the current events in everyone else’s life. Fun conversations lead to deepening of strongly felt connections between family members. This evening you draw emotional nourishment and a sense of security from others. You may enjoy a long walk before eating another meal.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) A great time—good luck surrounds you. It is easy for you to make good decisions, find the right path and move forward with your plans for this day. Those anticipated difficulties can be put aside— the ball is in your court. Life’s problems seem manageable and easy to solve.

You will prosper by pursuing your ideals and most deep-seated dreams of how life could be. Don’t be afraid to project that image—make those dreams real. Circumstances may enhance and stimulate appreciation and enjoyment of your life situation. Your system of values may deepen, providing you with a better sense of discrimination and good taste. You exercise wise choices when it comes to planning the next family event—others may want to help.

A shopping trip is planned.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) If you are working today, you will find yourself in demand. If you are at home, you may find yourself in a working mood. You don’t seem to get away from the chores that need to be done at this time. You might consider allocating some of the jobs to make the day a little easier to maneuver. Being with friends and family this evening is the priority for today and a fulfilling one in many ways. If you are working, there will still be time during the next 24 hours to have some family time. You have a yearning for security and stability and may be willing to make compromises in order to accomplish your objectives. Exchanging information takes on more emotional significance for you this evening. Communicating with loved ones is important.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may feel left out of the plans for today. Wait awhile—you may wish you were passed over as life may become more hectic. When a focus is achieved, you may be nominated for several different errands. You are the healer and today, if disruptive actions occur, you will be the rescuer. This may include some inventiveness on your part to keep the kids busy, so the cook can cook, or some other similar scenario. You are appreciated for your ability to act and get things done. You can expect some sort of extra support or recognition. You are in touch and in harmony with others. Any support you may need is available. This is a time when support and recognition come from all around—public, family and friends.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) An easy, calm day should find everything running in a smooth manner. Ideas and interaction with older people may be in the future. Working with—rather than against—the flow should be easy to do.

Your life takes on a kind of mystical quality at the emotional and instinctive levels. Understanding human frailties arouses deep feelings. The past and the future blend together and the barriers between people dissolve—there is the key to the greater spiritual sensitivity you may be feeling now. You will be able to enjoy and value your own life situation today or feel especially kind toward a friend or loved one this evening. You may find yourself involved in a romantic book or enjoying a movie. Light exercise may help you to rest better this evening.

Libra (September 23-October 22) In the area of possessions or material goods you will go through a lot of changes and learn much. You may be in the planning stages to set up a garage sale this weekend. Let others help you— this will benefit you a great deal and you will be able to return the favor by helping them make a sale. Your timing is perfect for whatever you want to do just now. Circumstances may urge you to great effort and hard work. The preparations for the seasonal events are exactly as they should be—quit worrying. Things are working with you, rather than against you, so do not hold back. However, do not overdo and try to go too far, too fast. Let things take their natural course, which should be an easy one now. This evening is a great time to be with family and friends.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Real insight into your own inner workings may surface today.

You may be in the mood for deep and penetrating conversations. You certainly enjoy being around the people that love and care about you. Friends including co-workers may visit today. Everyone has something to say, bring, take or relay to you and you enjoy the attention. With three or four projects going on at one time, you still seem to magically create the perfect dinner. You have a full day ahead and plans to be made when this day has ended. You may find yourself involved in preparations for a group meeting this evening. This meeting could involve a club or group to which you belong. There are energies surrounding some community involvement now—perhaps some volunteer service.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Being in touch with people on a grand scale keeps your mind busy. This could mean travel or a reunion where there is a large gathering of people. It could be you work for someone that has decided to serve all the employees a special meal. You could be most persuasive with others and persuasive in speech and communication. The situation is a natural for selfexpression. Your love of truth makes philosophy and religious ideas a lifelong habit. You appreciate things of a global level and could be encouraged to travel for business during the fall and winter season. If you are at home today, you may find yourself running errands. You are helpful and loving with the young people around you and can get them organized as if you were their guide.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) An important relationship, perhaps with a young person or someone in your near environment, may come into focus today. There could be an emotional overtone to all of this that may require understanding and flexibility on your part. You have insight into your emotions and drive and you can talk about your feelings with great insight. You are direct and may brush past appearances to settle on what you know is the truth. Ideas—philosophy and religion—are what you enjoy in life. There will soon be an opportunity to travel and be a teacher to others. You find that you can really use your mind to make clear choices. You make your way through ideas concepts, and can express them to others. Family members compliment you.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) This is a good time to take risks and dare to be a little unconventional. You will prosper through new insights, inventions and an independent point of view. Responsibilities are easy for you and you tend to pile on tasks, one-after-another; easy does it! You work very hard, with a gritty resolve, and can accomplish much today. It takes a lot to overload your willingness to take charge and help, but you must also realize there are just so many hours in a day. Your presence is good and you like to get down to essentials right away. Careful—this intensity tends to put others through a lot of changes which they may not be ready to accept. It is, however, a wonderful time to enjoy your loved ones—there are fun stories to share

Pisces (February 19-March 20) This is an exciting time—you are unusually motivated. This winter, you may be traveling to visit friends or family who live a long distance away from you. An older relative may need your help around their house—in the yard or with advice. You are respected and others appreciate your efforts to lend a helping hand. Family and security are things that rattle your chain more than ever. You may discover insights into day-to-day problems that will be of great value later. A child or lover may come to mean everything. If you feel overwhelmed with chores today, shift your focus from the present to the future moment. This is a creative period for you, a time to take an opportunity and a time to be appreciated. The young people around you follow your lead.

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

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

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

W h a t ’s O n

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

K’S PATH annual charity ball and art auction a grand success KUWAIT: K’S PATH (Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat) - a non-profit organization committed to animal welfare and habitat conservation - successfully held its annual ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ Charity Ball and Art Auction under the patronage of Sheikha Lulu Mubarak Al-Sabah on Friday, 18th November 2011 at the British Embassy gardens. The fundraiser event was attended by 250 patrons, well-wishers, animal lovers and members of K’S PATH’s growing community who came out to pledge their support of K’S PATH’s many programs in animal welfare, habitat protection and the environment.

The fundraiser was facilitated by main ‘treetop’ sponsors Essa Hussain Al-Yousifi and Sons, and Pet Providers. 10.oh.8

Restaurant and Petzone supported the event as the ‘waterhole’ sponsors while several in-kind contributions were extended by brands such as Ethan Allen, Al-Othman Fashion, Westwood Heritage, Basic Organic Pet and Feed; Organica Fish and Chips, and Kayan.

While thanking the event’s sponsors, artists, guests and the British Embassy for generously contributing towards a worthy cause, K’S PATH Chairman Ayeshah Al-Humaidhi highlighted the progress made over the year in wildlife and habitat protection and K’S PATH’s future plans. These include a humane animal control program in partnership with KOC which successfully proved to the government that inhumane use of poison is not the most effective way to control stray animals; implementing Kuwait’s first nationwide marine conservation program; the launch of a comprehensive humane animal education program in private and public schools following Ministry of Education approval; and several measures

to track, protect and rehabilitate wildlife, migratory birds and endangered species.

The hugely successful fundraiser titled ‘’Welcome to the Jungle’ invited guests to don attire inspired by wild animals except fur, as a symbolic pledge of support of Kuwait’s many indigenous and endangered wildlife species. “Wildlife in Kuwait is truly in a state of crisis. Pollution, development, and rampant poaching have left few places where animals are safe to live as nature intends. Our precious wildlife stands little chance of survival without our combined and consistent efforts to stave off their absolute destruction. The obstacles are vast, but at K’S PATH, we don’t see a problem without seeing a solution. We consider it our job to find

solutions”, Al-Humaidhi explained. “Your generous contribution tonight will go a long way toward stopping the pointless exploitation of our wildlife in Kuwait, and support expansion of the scope, scale, and effectiveness of our wild animal programs.”

The highlight of the ball was a special art auction hosted by the patron of the charity fundraiser Sheikha Lulu Mubarak Al-Sabah featuring exquisite artworks, paintings, couture and photography by both upcoming and renowned local and international artists including Alison Zapata, Ghada Al-Kandiri, Philip Kamble, Abdullah Al-Awadhi, Amira Behbehani, Shurooq Amin, Christian Ghammachi, Lulu Rocka, BTZ Group, Grit Skillandat, and Taher Sultan.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

W h a t ’s O n

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

The Centre for Gulf Studies at the AUK hosts lecture on the Arab Spring

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form/ Fale Conosco) in order to register or update their contact information. The embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the embassy.

The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency.

Professor Gilles Kepel KUWAIT: As part of his visit to Kuwait, Dr. Gilles Kepel , a worldrenown expert in Middle Eastern studies, gave a talk at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) on Monday, November 21. The talk titled “A New Arab World: Implications and Challenges Facing the Gulf Countries” was hosted by the Center for Gulf Studies at AUK and took place at the AUK Salmiya Campus.

Dr. Kepel, who is the author of more than ten books on the Middle East, talked about the present situation in the Arab world in light of the wave of protests and revolutions that started in late 2010, now commonly referred to as the “Arab Spring”. In his lecture, Dr. Kepel analyzed the political, social, and strategic dimensions of each revolution taking place in the Arab World, as well as the domestic and international dynamics that are shaping these movements. Dr. Kepel also discussed what he believed to be the major causes for the Arab Spring, and offered insights on likely scenarios for the future. In his lecture, Dr. Kepel classified the Arab countries being impacted by the Arab Spring based on those whose influence on the world system outweighs domestic considerations, and those with less global significance. The speaker concluded his lecture with some thoughts on the challenges and prospects facing the Arab World in the near future.

After the lecture Dr. Kepel took several questions from the audience.

The lecture, which lasted for approximately two hours, attracted many students, scholars and public audience, who were keen to share their different experiences and expectations about the political statuses of their countries.

Dr. Kepel is the Academic Director of the Kuwait Program at Sciences Po, a Gulf-focused research and training program established in 2007 and funded by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS). Dr. Kepel is also a Professor of Middle East Studies at Sciences Po University, a Senior Fellow at the Institut Universitaire de France, and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics. In addition, Dr. Kepel is the General

Happy Birthday Mohamed Sultan Maricar!

General public, AUK professors, students, and scholars.

EMBASSY OF GERMANY

A Question by One of the Audience Editor of the Near East Series at Presses Universitaires de France PUF - Publishing House.

The Center for Gulf Studies (CGS) at the American University of Kuwait aims to promote greater cultural understanding of and increased intellectual interest in the Gulf, by facilitating free and open academic discourse on a range of issues that both shape and challenge this critical region of the world. The goal of CGS is to enable scholars as well as political and civil society actors both within and outside the region to contribute and add value to the burgeoning field of Gulf Studies, while at the same time informing and engaging the general public. To this end, the CGS encourages, supports, and cultivates interesting and original research on the Gulf, while regularly organizing a variety of public academic events such as lectures, roundtable discussions, and conferences.

Sculptures and drawings on view at Dar Al-Funoon till December 3 Jamal Abdul Rahim’s exhibition “The Sounds of Love and Freedom”

D

W

uring the event the artist will be present, and he will also launch his book Om Kalthoum.

Jamal Abdul Rahim is one of Bahrain’s most established and highly regarded contemporary artists, exhibiting his work in Europe and the Middle East. The award-winning artist builds his art from the movement of society deeply rooted in rich Arab civilization, its mythology, religion and language. He feels that artists can draw their inspiration from their surroundings and from the people around them.

Although he is best known as a printmaker and painter, he has become an avid sculptor who states that “stone is already beautiful and by sculpting it, I am inspired, transforming that beauty into a form.”

He feels that working in stone fills the soul with a special kind of pleasure that cannot be explained, and that art is a spiritual exercise which cannot be ignored.

Best wishes from M. Asiya Mariyam, M.Naina Mohamed, S.M. Arif Maricar, S.M. Amirudeen Maricar, A.Mohamed AlFahad Maricar, M.M. Fathima Kani Arif, A. Sethima Amerudeen, M.A.M. Mohamed Shahira Banu, M.A.M. Yousuf Zulaikha, relatives and friends

Dar Al-Funoon is open Saturday to Thursday (10am -1pm & 4pm - 8pm), Fridays & Saturdays by appointment. (Address: Al-Watiah, Behbehani Compound, House 28, Kuwait City. For more info: call 2243-3138)

ishing you a very happy Birthday today. Many happy returns of the day. May the Almighty Allah bless you and keep you in good health.

nnnnnnn

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application. Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (AlBabtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, AlMutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form.

All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed.

To ensure that the most recent version of the Temporary Resident Visa application form is being utilized, applicants should refer to the CIC website. As of January 15, 2011, forms are to be filled in electronically.

The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday.

The forms are available on the internet at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5257E. PDF. A guide explaining the process can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5256E.PDF.

TV Listings FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

12:20 Junior 13:15 14:10 15:05 15:30 16:00 16:25 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:10 19:40 20:05 21:00 21:30 Junior 22:25 22:50 23:20

00:50 I Was Bitten 01:45 Animal Cops Miami 02:40 Life Of Mammals 03:35 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 04:30 I Was Bitten 05:25 Dogs 101 06:20 Animal Cops Miami 07:10 SSPCA: On The Wildside 08:00 Monkey Life 08:25 The Really Wild Show 08:50 Baby Planet 09:40 Breed All About It 10:10 World’s Ugliest Dog Competition 11:05 Dogs 101 12:00 Animal Cops Houston 12:55 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 13:50 World Wild Vet 14:45 Animal Cops Miami 15:40 Life Of Mammals 16:30 Monkey Life 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Panda Adventures With Nigel Marven 18:25 Dogs 101 19:20 America’s Cutest Pet 20:15 Monkey Life 20:40 Breed All About It 21:10 Cats 101 22:05 Life Of Mammals 23:00 Whale Wars 23:55 Untamed & Uncut

00:40 01:30 02:30 03:15 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 13:25 13:55 14:25 15:20 16:20 17:20 18:05 18:35 19:05 20:00 21:00 21:45 22:20 23:05

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:30 02:45 03:00 03:30 03:45 04:00 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:30

Afterlife One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Big Cat Diary 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 Coast Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Big Cat Diary One Foot In The Grave Coast The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Big Cat Diary Coast The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Doctors: Set 2 Doctor Who Married, Single, Other

BBC World News America Hardtalk BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News America Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report

American Chopper: Senior vs Ultimate Survival Dual Survival Swamp Brothers Cash Cab Us Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Overhaulin’ Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings How It’s Made Cash Cab Us American Chopper: Senior vs Carfellas South Beach Classics Desert Car Kings

00:40 The Gadget Show 01:05 The Tech Show 01:35 Mega World 02:25 Green Wheels 02:50 Bang Goes The Theory 03:40 Brainiac 04:35 The Gadget Show 05:25 How Stuff’s Made 05:50 Mega World 06:40 Stuntdawgs 07:10 Invisible Worlds 08:00 Thunder Races 08:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 09:40 The Tech Show 10:10 Weird Connections 10:35 The Gadget Show 11:25 Invisible Worlds 12:20 Sci-Fi Science 12:45 How Stuff’s Made 13:15 Bang Goes The Theory 14:05 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 14:55 Stuntdawgs 15:20 Green Wheels 15:50 Mega World 16:40 Weird Connections 17:05 Junkyard Mega-Wars 18:00 Brainiac 18:50 Sci-Fi Science 19:15 The Tech Show 19:40 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg

Inglourious Basterds ON OSN ACTION HD 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 Newsday 06:30 Asia Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 Newsday 07:30 BBC World News 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:00 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 BBC World News 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 15:30 GMT With George Alagiah 16:00 Impact 16:30 Talking Books 17:00 Impact 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World Have Your Say 19:00 BBC World News 19:40 Weekend World 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 21:30 Middle East Business Report 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Have Your Say Extra 22:40 Weekend World 23:00 BBC World News 23:30 Talking Books

00:20 00:50 01:15 01:40 02:10 02:30 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:20 04:40 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:30 06:50 07:15 07:45 08:00 08:15 08:45 09:10 09:20 09:35 10:15 Pooh 10:30 10:45 11:45 12:10 12:30 12:45 13:10 13:25 13:40 14:05 14:15 14:25 14:50 15:15 16:55

Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Jungle Junction Higglytown Heroes Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Hive Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Handy Manny Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Imagination Movers Jake & The Neverland Pirates Lazytown Handy Manny Jungle Junction Imagination Movers The Hive Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Lazytown Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Imagination Movers

17:20 17:45 18:00 18:20 18:30 18:55 19:25 19:50 20:04 20:10 20:20 Pooh 20:40 20:50 21:20 21:30 21:55 22:20 22:35 22:50 23:15 23:25 23:40

Lazytown Jungle Junction The Hive Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Little Mermaid Special Agent Oso Animated Stories The Hive Mini Adventures Of Winnie The

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 10:55 11:25 11:50

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 Auction Kings Ultimate Biker Challenge South Beach Classics

The Hive Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Imagination Movers Little Einsteins Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Timmy Time Handy Manny Jungle Junction

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:20 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 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:55 15:20 15:33 15:45 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:25 18:15 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15

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 Cody 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 Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Hannah Montana Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Shake It Up The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Belle’s Magical World Emperor’s New School Fish Hooks Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place

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 08:04 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 Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 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

00:25 00:55 01:25 02:20 03:15 04:10 05:05 06:00 07:50 08:20 09:15 10:15 12:05 13:05 14:05 14:35 15:30 16:25 16:55 17:55 18:55 19:55 20:55 21:25 22:25 23:25

Kendra Style Star E!es E! Investigates 25 Most Stylish Sexiest Extreme Hollywood THS Behind The Scenes E! News Dirty Soap THS E! News Bridalplasty Keeping Up With The Kardashians Giuliana & Bill THS Behind The Scenes Keeping Up With The Kardashians E! News THS Style Star Chelsea Lately Giuliana & Bill E! News Chelsea Lately

00:00 00:50 01:40 02:30 03:20 04:10 05:00 05:50 06:40 07:30 09:00 09:25 11:05 11:55 12:45 14:25 15:15 16:05 16:55 17:45 18:10 19:00

Enfusion Untracked Mantracker World Combat League Untracked Enfusion FIM World Motocross MX3 2011 Mantracker World Combat League Ride Guide Mountainbike 2008 Kenny Belaey’s Big Time Alli Presents X Games Heroes X Games 17 2011 I’ll Do Anything Carpocalypse World Combat League Dr Danger Tread BMX Kenny Belaey’s Big Time Alli Presents Alli Presents

TV Listings FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

19:50 20:40 21:30 22:20 23:10

00:40 01:30 02:15 03:05 03:50 04:40 05:25 06:15 07:10 08:00 08:50 09:40 10:25 11:10 11:35 11:55 12:40 13:25 14:15 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:35 17:20 18:10 19:00 19:45 20:10 20:55 21:20 22:10 23:00

00:15 00:40 01:05 01:30 01:55 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:40 06:05 06:30 06:50 07:35 08:00 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:45 12:10 12:35 13:25 13:50 14:15 14:40 15:05 15:55 16:20 16:45 17:35 18:00 18:25

X Games Heroes I’ll Do Anything I’ll Do Anything X Games 17 2011 World Combat League

Autopsy: Most Shocking Cases Ghost Lab Psychic Witness Cuff Me If You Can Forensic Justice Autopsy: Most Shocking Cases Psychic Witness Ghost Lab Mystery Diagnosis FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Jones Disappeared Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Jones Disappeared FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Jones Disappeared True CSI

Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Grill It! With Bobby Flay World Cafe Asia Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Paula’s Home Cooking Special Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics Unwrapped Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Unwrapped Chef vs Britain Paula’s Best Dishes Paula’s Party Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics Chopped Guy’s Big Bite Extra Virgin Chef vs Britain Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Paula’s Best Dishes Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics Aarti Party Guy’s Big Bite Unwrapped Paula’s Party Extra Virgin Paula’s Best Dishes Mexican Made Easy World Cafe Asia Food Network Challenge Unwrapped Good Eats - Special Chopped Guy’s Big Bite Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:15 15:45 17:15 19:30 22:00

Bad Guys-18 Deadline-PG15 The Spirit-PG15 The Bannen Way-PG15 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 Deceit-PG15 Spiderman 2-PG15 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 Triassic Attack-PG15 Spiderman 2-PG15 Inglourious Basterds-18 Tupac: Resurrection-18

01:00 03:00 05:00 PG 07:00 09:00 10:45 12:45 14:45 17:15 19:00 21:00 23:00

A Way With Murder-18 Citizen Jane-PG Winx: Secret Of The Lost KingdomParlez-Moi De LA Pluie-PG15 Citizen Jane-PG Hurricane Season-PG15 Just Wright-PG15 The Karate Kid-PG Easy A-PG15 Alabama Moon-PG15 Shrink-18 Sinners & Saints-PG15

00:30 01:00 01:30 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:30 23:00 23:30

00:30 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Eastbound & Down Entourage Friends Friends According To Jim The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Yes Dear Just Shoot Me Late Night With Jimmy Fallon According To Jim Friends Wilfred Community Just Shoot Me The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Yes Dear According To Jim Friends Just Shoot Me Wilfred Community The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Yes Dear Late Night With Jimmy Fallon The Office Community Hot In Cleveland The Tonight Show With Jay Leno The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Weeds Eastbound & Down Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

The X Factor (US) Look-A-Like Eureka Alias Good Morning America Law & Order Emmerdale Look-A-Like

09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View The X Factor (US) Alias Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tower Prep Glee The X Factor (US) Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights Law & Order

00:30 01:30 03:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Glades Treme The X Factor (US) Eureka The Glades The Simpsons Bones Eureka The X Factor (US) The Simpsons The Ellen DeGeneres Show Bones The Glades The Simpsons White Collar The X Factor (US) Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights Century City

01:00 Maximum Risk-18 03:00 Ninja Assassin-18 05:00 Menace II Society-18 07:00 Double Impact-18 09:00 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course-PG15 11:00 Altitude-PG15 13:00 Superman/ Batman: Apocalypse15:00 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course-PG15 17:00 Ong Bak 2-PG15

19:00 Rocky v-PG15 21:00 Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball-18 23:00 Survival Of The Dead-PG15

17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Glorious 39-PG15 Crazy Heart-PG15 The Town-18 Nowhere Boy-PG15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

00:00 PG 02:00 PG15 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Pocahontas & The Spider Woman-

Bubble Boy-PG15 All Night Long-PG15 A Film With Me In It-PG15 The Lizzie McGuire Movie-PG Captain Ron-PG15 Like Mike-PG A Simple Wish-FAM The Ramen Girl-PG15 Bubble Boy-PG15 The Shape Of Things-PG15 She’s Out Of My League-18 Serial Mom-18

01:00 The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974)-PG15 03:00 The Third Wave-PG15 04:45 Leaving Normal-PG15 06:45 Dance With Me-PG 09:00 Searching For Bobby Fischer-FAM 11:00 Leaving Normal-PG15 13:00 The Blind Side-PG15 15:15 Fantastic Mr. Fox-FAM 17:00 Greener Mountains-PG15 19:00 Who Is Clark Rockefeller-PG 21:00 Wild At Heart-18 23:15 The Waterdance-18

01:00 Mother And Child-18 03:30 Cats & Dogs-PG 05:00 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore-PG 07:00 Lottery Ticket-PG15 09:00 Glorious 39-PG15 11:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel-FAM 13:00 Sleepover-PG15 15:00 When In Rome-PG15

Menace II Society ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

Winner & The Gold Child: Part II’ll Be Home For Christmas-PG15 Astro Boy-FAM Winner & The Gold Child: Part II Babe-FAM Babe: Pig In The City-FAM Pocahontas & The Spider Woman The Spy Next Door-PG Babe-FAM Babe: Pig In The City-FAM Winner & The Gold Child: Part II

00:00 01:45 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 13:45 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:15

Calvin Marshall-PG15 Made In Dagenham-PG15 Gasland-PG15 How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days-PG Phoebe In Wonderland-PG Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG The Perfect Score-PG15 Another Year-PG15 Phoebe In Wonderland-PG Cinema Verite-PG15 The Town-18 City Of Life-PG15

00:00 01:00 01:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 12:30 14:30 18:30 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

WWE NXT Futbol Mundial PGA European Tour UFC The Ultimate WWE NXT PGA European Tour Rugby League Four Nations Live PGA European Tour Aquabikes WWE NXT WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC The Ultimate Fighter

01:30 06:00 07:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 15:00

European PGA Tour Trans World Sport Premier League Snooker ICC Cricket World Golfing World Total Rugby World Hockey Darts Scottish Premier League

00:30 01:00 03:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 12:30 14:30 18:30 19:30 20:00

Total Rugby Rugby League 4 Nations Premier League Snooker Total Rugby Golfing World European PGA Tour Rugby League 4 Nations Live European PGA Tour Golfing World European Tour Weekly European PGA Tour

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 15:30 17:30 18:30 19:00 20:00

WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE NXT Intercontinental Le Mans Cup UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE NXT WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars V8 Supercars Speedway WWE NXT Super League Formula V8 Supercars UFC The Ultimate Fighter V8 Supercars Extra Intercontinental Le Mans Cup WWE SmackDown

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00

Departures Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Travel Madness Deadliest Journeys Dive Detectives On Surfari

05:30 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

On Surfari Departures Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Travel Madness Deadliest Journeys Dive Detectives On Surfari Departures The Music Nomad Geo Sessions Treks In A Wild World Travel Madness Amazing Adventures of A Nobody Around The World For Free A World Apart The Frankincense Trail The Music Nomad Geo Sessions Treks In A Wild World Travel Madness Amazing Adventures of A Nobody Around The World For Free A World Apart

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00

Globe Trekker Glutton For Punishment Indian Times Wild Camping Luxury Train Journeys Of India Globe Trekker Glutton For Punishment Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma Globe Trekker Intrepid Journeys A Week In Poland Glutton For Punishment Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma Globe Trekker Sophie Grigson In The Souk Feast India Indian Times Luxury Train Journeys Of India Globe Trekker Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma Sophie Grigson In The Souk Feast India Globe Trekker Intrepid Journeys

00:05 Jerseylicious 02:00 Videofashion Daily 02:55 Videofashion News 03:25 How Do I Look?

04:20 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

06:10 Homes With Style 06:35 Area 07:05 Clean House 08:00 Videofashion News 09:00 Videofashion Daily 10:00 Open House 10:55 How Do I Look?

11:50 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

12:50 Clean House: Search For The Messiest...

13:50 Clean House 14:45 Videofashion Daily 15:45 How Do I Look?

16:40 Ruby 17:35 Jerseylicious 18:30 Wicked Fit 19:25 Big Rich Texas 20:25 Open House 20:50 Open House 21:20 Clean House 22:15 Elements Of Style 22:40 Elements Of Style 23:10 Tia And Tamera

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Deep Wreck Mysteries Man Moment Machine Lost Worlds Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Wreck Mysteries Man Moment Machine Lost Worlds Ax Men Swamp People Deep Wreck Mysteries Man Moment Machine Lost Worlds Ax Men Swamp People Deep Wreck Mysteries Man Moment Machine Lost Worlds Chasing Mummies Ancients Behaving Badly Clash Of The Gods

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Information

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines LMU JZR PIA JZR JZR ETH THY UAE QTR DHX MSR FDB ETD RJA GFA KAC THY JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD IRA GFA RBG TAR JZR RKM MEA IYE MSR MSR JZR KAC GFA KAC FDB UAL OMA QTR RJA KAC JZR KAC QTR JZR JZR ETD UAE GFA SVA RBG ABY JZR

Flt 1109 185 205 267 539 620 772 853 138 370 612 67 305 642 211 544 770 555 529 416 157 206 53 352 302 332 676 284 344 855 125 132 55 301 619 213 3555 327 165 310 404 825 623 610 201 672 219 618 57 982 645 140 640 788 257 546 134 561 213 303 857 215 510 3557 127 125

Arrival Flights on Friday 25/11/2011 Route ALEXANDRIA DUBAI LAHORE BEIRUT CAIRO ADDIS ABABA ISTANBUL DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN CAIRO DUBAI ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN CAIRO ISTANBUL ALEXANDRIA ASSIUT JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR LONDON ISLAMABAD DUBAI COCHIN MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI DHAKA CHENNAI DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA DUBAI ABU DHABI LAR BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA TUNIS/DUBAI DUBAI RAS ALKHAIMAH BEIRUT SANAA SOHAG CAIRO DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI WASHINGTON DC DULLES MUSCAT DOHA AMMAN JEDDAH BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA DOHA SOHAG DEIREZZOR ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH SOHAG SHARJAH BAHRAIN

Time 0:01 0:20 0:25 0:45 0:50 1:45 2:15 2:35 2:40 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:10 3:15 4:40 4:50 6:00 6:20 6:25 6:40 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:15 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:50 9:55 11:05 11:15 11:20 11:45 11:55 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:00 13:20 13:25 13:40 13:50 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:40 14:50 15:00 15:20 15:25 16:10 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:35 17:40 17:45

MLR JZR FDB KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC AIC KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB JAI KAC SVA MSR DHX VOS FCX MEA GFA QTR ALK JZR UAE SAI JZR UAL PIA DLH

403 177 63 502 542 744 787 614 674 975 166 102 774 562 61 572 786 506 618 372 81 304 402 217 136 227 135 859 441 239 981 215 636

Airlines UAL LMU AXB AIC DLH PIA ETH THY VOS FDB UAE DHX MSR ETD QTR THY JZR GFA RJA JZR FDB KAC BAW KAC JZR KAC JZR UAE ABY KAC FDB QTR

Flt 981 1110 390 982 637 206 621 773 94 68 854 371 613 306 139 771 164 212 643 200 54 545 156 671 256 787 560 856 126 117 56 133

COLOMBO/DUBAI DUBAI DUBAI BEIRUT CAIRO DAMMAM RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI CHENNAI/GOA PARIS/ROME NEW YORK/LONDON RIYADH AMMAN DUBAI MUMBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAGHDAD RIYADH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA COLOMBO/DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI LAHORE AMMAN BAHRAIN KARACHI FRANKFURT Departure Flights on Friday 25/11/2011 Route WASHINGTON DC DULLES ALEXANDRIA MANGALORE/KOZHIKODE “AHMEDABAD/HYDERABAD/CHENNAI FRANKFURT LAHORE ADDIS ABABA ISTANBUL DUBAI/KANDAHAR DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN CAIRO ABU DHABI DOHA ISTANBUL DUBAI BAHRAIN AMMAN DAMASCUS DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LONDON DUBAI BEIRUT JEDDAH SOHAG DUBAI SHARJAH NEW YORK DUBAI DOHA

17:55 18:15 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:05 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:30 19:35 19:40 19:50 20:00 20:10 20:20 20:35 20:45 21:00 21:15 21:20 21:20 21:25 21:35 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:30 23:50

Time 0:45 0:45 0:50 1:05 1:20 1:25 2:45 3:15 3:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:00 4:55 5:50 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:30 8:25 8:30 8:40 9:00 9:00 9:25 9:30 9:40 9:45 10:00 10:05 10:10

ETD KAC KAC GFA IRA JZR RBG KAC TAR KAC RKM MEA KAC IYE MSR JZR MSR GFA JZR FDB KAC KAC KAC OMA UAL RJA JZR KAC KAC KAC QTR JZR ETD JZR QTR UAE GFA RBG ABY SVA MLR JZR FDB JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC JAI MSR SVA DHX MEA GFA KAC QTR ALK KAC JZR KAC FCX UAE JZR SAI KAC

302 617 177 214 618 212 3558 541 328 103 311 405 501 825 624 176 611 220 124 58 561 673 785 646 982 641 786 743 613 773 141 238 304 538 135 858 216 3556 128 511 404 134 64 184 283 361 62 343 351 571 619 507 373 403 218 381 137 228 301 554 205 102 860 502 442 411

ABU DHABI DOHA FRANKFURT/GENEVA BAHRAIN LAR DEIREZZOR SOHAG CAIRO TUNIS LONDON RAS ALKHAIMAH BEIRUT BEIRUT DOHA/SANAA SOHAG DUBAI CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH MUSCAT BAHRAIN AMMAN RIYADH DAMMAM BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA AMMAN ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA SHARJAH RIYADH DUBAI/COLOMBO BAHRAIN DUBAI DUBAI DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI CHENNAI COCHIN MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH BAHRAIN BEIRUT BAHRAIN DELHI DOHA DUBAI/COLOMBO MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA ISLAMABAD DUBAI DUBAI LUXOR LAHORE BANGKOK/MANILA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:20 10:25 10:35 10:40 10:50 10:50 11:45 12:00 12:05 12:30 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:05 13:30 13:50 13:55 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:20 15:35 15:50 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:10 18:15 18:20 18:25 18:35 18:55 19:05 19:20 19:55 20:15 20:20 20:40 20:55 21:05 21:10 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:45 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:10 23:35 23:50 23:55

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

ACCOMMODATION

I Dec. 7 marks the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing.

I The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels in the surprise attack.

I More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the bombing.

“If you ever catch me in sweatpants in class, that's not good.

I’ve tried not to dress like that.”

— Actress Dakota Fanning, on starting her first year at NYU, in People magazine.

— history.com

Arthur is coming to town

Whether you’re looking for great family games, super-speedy cars or creative playsets, these family-tested toys are all winners.

— Disney FamilyFun magazine

Hot Wheels Video Racer Mattel, $60, ages 5 and up

Beneath the hood of this unassuming vehicle lies a super-cool secret: a driver’seye-view video camera. Aspiring action directors can capture what their car sees as it hurtles down a track. They also can use the car as a camera to film hand-propelled drives or even the view from atop a helmet (thanks to the included strap). The free editing software lets you add graphics, tunes and sound to their movies. Video playback, PC or Mac. Software, PC only.

Erector Space Chaos Schylling, $23, ages 7 and up

According to the backstory in the accompanying booklet, these new Erector sets are designed for the year 10111 — talk about thinking ahead! Each kit includes tools, building instructions and more than 75 parts that can be made into a fantastic fighter vessel. Two sets available.

Glow Book Crayola, $20, ages 6 and up

Draw a series of pictures on the four clear plastic pages, then bring down the house lights and watch your art shine. A lighting system housed in the book binding illuminates each layer in sequence, making the pages look like animation.

When you are done, you can

wipe the pages with a damp cloth and begin again. Includes six glow markers.

Snap Fashion Jewelry SmartLab Toys, $25, ages 6 and up

With the snap maker, turn fabric swatches and jewels into fashionable buttons, then take those buttons and make rings, bracelets, necklaces, belts, headbands and more. When you use up the 16 included swatches, the kit’s book provides inspiration for making more designs from found objects — a new kind of junk jewelry!

Pom-Pom Monster Salon Klutz, $17, ages 7 and up

3DTwister Silverlit, $50, ages 5 to 12

Watch your toes when you send this incredibly speedy, 5-inch car flying through the house. With just a little practice, our testers were able to perform a plethora of tricks and jumps from the included ramp. Plus, the Twister can flip over and keep driving, no pit crew needed.

With their wacky styles and neon hair, these fuzzy yarn monsters would fit in at most high schools. Thankfully, the step-by-step guidebook for creating them is easier to follow than an algebra textbook.

Simply wrap yarn around the pom-pom maker, make a few snips, then add accessories, such as googly eyes and punch-out shoes and horns.

How does Santa deliver so many presents in just one night? All of jolly old Saint Nick’s secrets are revealed in the Aardman and Sony Pictures Animation film “Arthur Christmas,” which premiered Nov. 23. These days, Santa has traded in his reindeer and sleigh for a more modern, high-tech aircraft. Supporting Santa on his Christmas Eve mission is his eldest son, Steve, and a team of quick-footed elves. But when one gift is accidentally left behind, Santa’s youngest son, Arthur — who works in the “Letters to Santa” department — must save the day the old-fashioned way.

Time for Kids spoke to British director Sarah Smith about the movie, which also is playing in 3-D. TFK: Where did the idea for Arthur Christmas come from?

SMITH: I had rung up my friend Pete Baynham, and he said to me, “I just had one of the best ideas I’ve ever had.” He started to think about what it would take for Santa to do Christmas in one night, and came up with this idea that Santa had this huge, military-style operation. He also had the idea that there was a younger son of Santa, and that something went wrong and he had to make it right. It started as a basic idea, but I knew when I heard it that it was fantastic. It was one of those ideas where you think, “Why has no one done this before?”

TFK: We hear a lot of math went into writing this screenplay. Can you explain?

SMITH: I’m a big stickler. I feel like you really need to do your homework to make a film properly believable. We read a bunch of books and did research about the math and physics that would relate to Santa’s operation. We started by asking: How many people are there in the world? How many people celebrate Christmas?

What’s the average number of children per household? So I worked out the math for how many children Santa is trying to deliver to and how far he (has) to travel around the world to do it. Obviously, you have to make some creative leaps along the way. But we based it all on real numbers. We ended up with this figure that Santa would need the help of one million elves.

The one million elves would be split in 333,000 teams of three. Each team would have 18.5 seconds per household on average in order for Santa to deliver all of the presents around the world!

— Vickie An © 2011 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TIME FOR KIDS and Timeforkids.com are registered trademarks of Time Inc

Arthur Christmas

Speed Slider Wild Planet, $25, ages 6 and up

Soccer coaches and math teachers, rejoice! This fastmoving game works foot and brain skills. Players follow the voice directions of the game

unit, kicking one of four buttons marked with a color and a number. Commands for each of the five games get more difficult as you play, and even include simple math challenges. 1 to 6 players.

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) Sharing accommodation available for Indian/ Sri Lankan couple or ladies, in Salmiya near Indian Public School. Contact: 99467432.

(C 3741) 22-11-2011

MATRIMONIAL RC boy, MBA, 30 years, 166 cm, Changanacherry, proposals invited from BSc nursesMOH. 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) 24-11-2011

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

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Bowditch, Choi share round lead in Coolum SEOUL: Steven Bowditch holed a long putt off the 18th green to snatch a share of the lead with South Korea’s Choi Joon-woo after the first round of the Australian PGA Championship in Coolum yesterday, as Greg Chalmers celebrated an ace on the second.

Australian Bowditch’s final hole birdie capped a six-under 66 and left him and Choi a stroke above a group of four including American Bubba Watson on a gusty day at the Hyatt Regency Coolum course on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. “My putting (and) my short game was

pretty scrappy around the greens (but) I hit the ball probably as good as I have hit it for a good six or seven months today, so it could have been better or it could have been worse,” the 28-year-old, a resident of the area, told reporters.

British Open champion Darren Clarke made a solid start in the A$1.5 million ($1.45 million) tournament, posting a three-under 69 to lie three off the pace in a clutch of players including South Korea’s YE Yang, Australia’s Jason Day and American young gun Rickie Fowler. “I made a

Perpignan seek new beginning after Delmas exit PARIS: French rugby giants Perpignan will be looking to start life after the sacking of head coach Jacques Delmas earlier this week by ending a run of six successive Top 14 defeats with victory at home to Stade Francais. The 2009 French champions are in the hands of forwards coach Bernard Goutta and his backs counterpart Christophe Manas after it was decided that Delmas had to pay the price for the desperate run with the final straw last Thursday’s 23-13 European Challenge defeat by Newport Gwent-Dragons.

Goutta swears that the squad have been far from disheartened by the removal of Delmas and in fact were mustard keen to turn over a new leaf and ensure they ended up in the top six which is good enough for the end of season play-offs. Perpignan are presently ninth, five points adrift of sixth-placed Agen. “The squad have rediscovered their motivation, they have the desire to improve,” said Goutta, considered an iconic figure at the club.

“It would be pointless to put extra pressure on the players after what happened at the beginning of the week (the removal of Delmas). “We will stick with what we were doing.” Perpignan president Paul Goze said that he was looking for the players to display three characteristics. “I am not asking for an expansive game.

If there is so much the better,” he said. “What is important is the physical commitment, combativity and determination. It is this trio of characteristics that have been Perpignan’s virtues historically.”

While Perpignan will have to do without France centre David Marty, who is suspended, Stade - who are seventh in the table - will welcome back wing Julien Arias from injury. Racing-Metro may unlike Perpignan occupy one of the top six places - they are fifth - but desperately need a win at home to another ailing giant Biarritz on Friday if they are not to slide down the table like them. Their confidence has been shaken with two defeats in their opening two European Cup matches with last Friday’s defeat by Edinburgh especially haunting as they led 40-20 with 20 minutes remaining and ended up losing 48-47 leading to stinging criticism from director of rugby Pierre Berbizier.

“When I speak of arrogance, it is that we don’t always have the same spirit as the teams we are facing... We believe that it is sufficient that our name is Racing for it to open the gates for us,” said the former France and Italy coach. Racing should logically prevail against a Biarritz side that will be missing French internationals Imanol Harinordoquy, who is rested, and Dimitri Yachvili, who is injured, as well as former England international and 2003 World Cup winner Iain Balshaw. The top two in the table, champions Toulouse and 2010 winners Clermont are both away tomorrow against Brive and 2011 finalists Montpellier respectively. — AFP

couple of silly plays because I don’t know the course and that is where it cost me, especially around that top nine, but it was a good start,” said jetlagged Ulsterman Clarke. “It is a long way from home in Britain and I’m a little bit tired but I’ll have a good rest and get ready for tomorrow.” Local favorite Adam Scott provided one of the day’s talking points after posting a topsy-turvy 70, recovering from a horror start with six birdies in his last nine holes.

After a birdie on the first, the world number seven found water three

times as he racked up a triple-bogey, a double-bogey and two bogeys in his next six holes before recovering to finish only four off the pace.

Chalmers, who saw off a challenge from Tiger Woods to win the Australian Open in Sydney earlier this month, recovered from a doublebogey on the first with his hole-in-one on the 158-metre par-three second.

Chalmers’s tee-shot landed a few meters from the flag, bounced twice before curling into the hole as the Australian went on to post a oneunder 71.—Reuters

Australia forge two clear at World Cup HAIKOU: Brendan Jones and Richard Green put Australia on top after the first day of golf’s World Cup and hoped their performance would stir up interest in the event back home. The duo combined to record two eagles and seven birdies in an 11-under par 61 in the fourball format on the Blackstone course on China’s Hainan Island, with Irish pair Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell two back after a 63.

Also on nine-under was Scotland’s Martin Laird and Stephen Gallacher. “Golf in Australia at the moment is all about the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum and do they even know the World Cup is on here in China?” Jones said. “It would be nice to get a line in the newspapers to say we are leading the World Cup and hopefully go two places better than finishing third three year back. “We just got blown away that last day in 2008 with Sweden shooting nine under so if we get that opportunity again this week then we will learn from our mistakes.” Both Jones and Green had also been keen to compete at last week’s Presidents Cup but fell short of automatically qualifying for Greg Norman’s Internationals.

“Brendan and I were both in the Internationals squad and as circumstances turned out we didn’t qualify automatically for the team because we didn’t play well enough at the right times,” Green said.

“So when the opportunity came up to come here to China and represent Australia we snapped at it. It’s a great feeling playing for your country and besides it’s been a long time since Grades (Wayne Grady) and Chook (Peter Fowler) last won the World Cup for Australia. “So hopefully as Brendan said we’re out to make amends for not winning three years ago and also to boost our own individual pride in not making the Presidents Cup side.”

Ireland’s duo eagled the par five sixth and managed seven birdies, and McDowell breathed a sigh of relief when his partner parred the last after he had missed an eight-footer. “It would have been really disappointing not to have parred the last so it was good to see my partner knock that one in for a four,” said McDowell. “We gelled really well today and Rory’s a pretty decent little partner, as well.” The US team of Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland birdied five of their closing seven holes to finish the day tied with Netherlands in fourth at eight under par.— Reuters

HAIKOU: Britain’s Justin Rose (top) chats with his teammate Ian Poulter during the first day of the Mission Hills World Cup golf tournament in Haikou, China’s Hainan province yesterday. — AP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Sports

Years

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Skirts proposal irks women boxers Shorts not skirts, say women boxers LONDON: Competitors in the first Olympic women’s boxing tournament next year should not be forced to wear skirts, a member of the British team said yesterday. The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) is discussing proposals for women to be kitted out in skirts rather than shorts at the London Games-an idea which has not gone down well with those likely to be involved.

“My personal opinion is if you want to wear a skirt it should be a choice, it shouldn’t be forced upon anyone,” lightweight Natasha Jones, who won a silver medal at the

European Championships, told Reuters at the ExCel Centre which is hosting the Olympic test event this week. “But I don’t make the rules and if it’s a rule, the same as with the gum shield, the same as with the head guard, then that’s a rule, you’ve got to abide by it but I’d prefer to wear shorts. “People will debate whether it’s practical or not. I just don’t feel comfortable and I think that’s important to let you feel comfortable and relaxed when you get in the ring.”

The AIBA is expected to announce in January whether it will be mandatory for the competitors to

wear skirts when women’s boxing makes its debut at the Olympics where three gold medals will be on offer.

Jones found support from her compatriot Callum Smith, a middleweight hoping to make the British men’s team. “I think they should get to choose really. If they want to wear them they can but if they prefer shorts, they should be given the choice,” he said.

An AIBA spokesman said: “It has never been AIBA’s intention to make skirts compulsory for women’s boxers. “We are gathering opinions from the boxing world but without antici-

pating too much on next January’s ... meeting, skirts will remain optional.

“We want women’s boxers to be as much comfortable as they can, no matter if it’s with a short or a skirt.”

Competitors from 21 nations are involved in this week’s test event at ExCel. The exhibition centre, built in 2000 and revamped three years ago, will be home to seven sports during the July 27-Aug 12 Games. As well as boxing it will host table tennis, weightlifting, taekwondo, fencing, judo and wrestling-all of which will hold test events there over the next two weeks. — Reuters

F1: Hamilton eyes new win as GP season ends

LONDON: David Ferrer of Spain celebrates beating Novak Djokovic (inset) of Serbia during their group A singles match on day four of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London. — AFP

Ferrer stuns tired Djokovic LONDON: His body already aching after a season of almost unceasing success, Novak Djokovic ran into a brick wall in David Ferrer. Ferrer’s relentless hitting proved too much for Djokovic on Wednesday, giving the fifth-seeded Spaniard a 6-3, 6-1 win and a spot in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals. “I think today maybe was my best match of the season,” Ferrer said. The exact opposite was true for Djokovic. The winner of three Grand Slams and 10 titles overall this season looked far from the player who dominated most of 2011, and lost for only the fifth time this year.

“I just wasn’t there,” said Djokovic, who has won 70 matches this year. “It was the worst match I’ve played this season so far definitely.” Starting when he was ahead 3-2 in the first set, the slumping Serb lost seven straight games. He made 33 unforced errors, exactly three times as many as Ferrer. Djokovic can still advance to the

semifinals if he beats fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic on Friday, but he isn’t hopeful. “If I don’t play at least 50 percent better than I did tonight, I don’t think I’ll have any chance,” he said. “You always hope that tomorrow will bring something better.

That’s the way I’m thinking now.”

Tipsarevic, who stepped in for injured Scotsman Andy Murray, has no chance of reaching the last four after he was beaten in three sets by Tomas Berdych in Wednesday’s earlier match. Berdych saved a match point en route to a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win to maintain his hopes of progressing from Group A. Djokovic was dressed all in black for the evening match save for the flashes of gold on his shoes, while Ferrer wore a more traditional white outfit, but it was the Spaniard’s tennis that dazzled the crowd at the O2 Arena.

Ferrer’s energetic retrieving around the baseline appeared to sap the belief from

Djokovic, who spent much of the second set shooting pained looks at his support camp or shrugging his shoulders in despair.

When Djokovic blazed a forehand wide and long to give Ferrer the match in 1 hour and 15 minutes, it was the Spaniard’s turn to shrug his shoulders, as if in disbelief.

“It was a surprise, no?” said Ferrer, who also beat Murray in straight sets in his opening match and joined Roger Federer in qualifying for the semifinals with a match to spare.

Ferrer’s win followed another surprisingly one-sided match between Federer and Rafael Nadal on Tuesday evening. Federer won 6-3, 6-0 and both Djokovic and Nadal lost 10 of the last 11 games in listless performances. Nadal said he thought on Monday that he might have to withdraw from the tournament with a shoulder problem. Murray did pull out on Tuesday with a groin injury. — AP

SAO PAULO: Lewis Hamilton will be seeking to sign off from a troubled rollercoaster 2011 with a second consecutive victory in Sunday’s season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. Having won in dazzling fashion in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, the 26-year-old Briton believes he and his McLaren team have the pace to succeed again and he is aiming for his fourth victory of the year and the 18th of his career.

Looking ahead to what promises to be a thrilling and open finale at Interlagos, Hamilton said: “Winning in Abu Dhabi last week was a fantastic feeling and it’s made me even more determined to finish the 2011 season with a victory.

“It would be great to go into the winter off the back of another win, so that’ll be my aim.

Of course, for Jenson and myself, Interlagos is the circuit where we won our world championship titles - so it will always hold some happy memories for us. “In fact, I’ve only been here once before-in 2009 - when I wasn’t in contention for the championship. This year, with both titles already wrapped up, I want to enjoy myself - and I think we have the car to make a difference.” “My feeling is that we’ll just go into it and pick up where we left off in Abu Dhabi-I hope! I think we’re all set for a great end to the 2011 championship.

“Everyone knows that Interlagos is a fantastic circuit, one of the best on the calendar, and I think the combination of KERS (Kinetic Energy Regeneration System) and DRS (Drag Reduction System), plus the possibility of wet weather, means we’re all set for a fascinating race.” Team-mate and compatriot Jenson Button believes McLaren’s performance in Abu Dhabi showed they are pushing as hard as possible despite the championships having been settled by the triumphs of German Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team.

He said: “I think we proved that McLaren still wants to win races even though both titles are done and dusted. For myself, I’m determined to win my fourth race of the yeareven if it means fighting all the way to the last lap of the last race.” The McLaren duel for glory may be the highlight of Sunday’s 71laps contest which, for the fans, may be seen as a chance to bid a fond farewell to veteran local hero Rubens Barrichello even if he insists he has no plans to retire after his 322nd race at the end of his 19th season in Formula One. — AFP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Preview

Atletico ready to get ugly in Madrid derby MADRID: Atletico Madrid are ready to throw off the gloves and get ugly if that is what it takes to grind out a result against bitter city rivals Real for the first time in more than a decade, according to coach Gregorio Manzano.

Claudio Ranieri was the last man in charge at the Spanish capital’s second club to savour victory over Real, when former Netherlands striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored twice in a 3-1 away triumph in 1999.

Although their chances of causing an upset at the Bernabeu tomorrow (1900 GMT) appear remote, with Jose Mourinho’s Real flying high at the top of La Liga and on a run of 12 straight wins in all competitions, Manzano was in combative mood in an interview published in As sports daily on

Wednesday. “Playing attractive, open and joyous football does not help you in the slightest if in the end you don’t achieve your objective, which is to win,” Manzano said. “That’s what we have to do. No joyous, open or attractive play,” the 55-year-old added. “We have to play a closed, ugly, harsh game, not devoid of quality but not being little sisters of pity either.”

Known in Spain as ‘the professor’, Manzano has had a troubled start to his latest stint in charge at Atletico, with the club down in ninth place in La Liga and their notoriously impatient fans growing increasingly restive. The 2010 Europa League winners offloaded Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan in the close season and brought in players including Colombia striker Radamel

Falcao, who may miss tomorrow’s game due to injury, midfielders Diego of Brazil and Arda Turan of Turkey and Spain Under-21 forward Adrian. The team has sparked into life on occasion but has yet to find the consistency that could see them challenging for a qualification spot in the Champions League for next season.

ONE MACHINE Manzano said tomorrow’s opponents Real were starting to gel more as a team in Mourinho’s second season in charge and were relying less on swift counter-attacks. “This season Real Madrid have improved in the way they apply pressure in their opponent’s half,” he said. “To build a team you need sufficient time, to adjust the

pieces so that everyone becomes part of one machine. “What we want at Atletico is to have this time to fit all the pieces together.” The top three are all playing in Madrid tomorrow, with second-placed Barcelona, who are three points behind Real, at Getafe (2100) and Valencia, four points further back in third, at Rayo Vallecano (1700). Barca secured top spot in Champions League Group H with a 3-2 success at AC Milan on Wednesday and coach Pep Guardiola said they were relieved to have done so with a game to spare given the packed nature of the fixtures calendar in December. Barca take on Real at the Bernabeu in the opening ‘Clasico’ of the season on Dec. 10 before heading off to compete in the Club World Cup in Japan.— Reuters

Preview

Udinese aim to reclaim top spot ROME: Udinese will be looking to reclaim top spot in Serie A when they host Roma today night in a match brought forward from the weekend.

The northerners lost the scudetto lead last weekend when they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Parma.

Coach Francesco Guidolin accused his team of lacking humility in that game but they will have the chance to banish those memories straight away if they can overcome Roma. Their visitors have been quite inconsistent this season and have struggled to convert chances into goals.

Roma moved up to fifth with their 2-1 win over Lecce last weekend and are only five points behind leaders Juventus. But Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Taddei has dismissed any talk of a title push from the side, who are developing under the tutelage of Luis Enrique. “It would be hypocritical on our part to talk about the title,” he said.

“It’s early, there are a lot of games left and it’s better to just think about the next match against Udinese, which will be very difficult. “They play good football, they play from memory, they have great players and to take something away from the game we’ll have to be at the top of our concentration.

“Every year it’s the same thing and we hope to avoid the same mistakes as the past when we just needed a couple of wins for the title talk to start.

“We still have to improve a lot of things, we know what our weaknesses are and we’re working hard to eliminate them. “We hope to continue on the same path as these last two wins (against Lecce and Novara) which have given us a lot of tranquility and security to try to make fewer mistakes.

“That’s the only way we can reach our goals.”

Udinese don’t suffer from the same vice as Roma, whose fans need little encouragement to allow unrealistic expectations to foster. For the northerners it’s all about the here and now and just trying to pick up points. Udinese striker Gabriel Torje said it’s important to put their defeat to Parma behind them. “We have to forget about Parma and kick on against a great team like Roma,” he said. Udinese have been excellent at home this season while their struggles have come on their travels. Roma, though, have been equally inconsistent at home and away.— AFP

VALENCIA: Valencia’s Jonas Goncalves from Brazil (right) reacts with fellow team member Alberto ‘Tino’ Costa from Argentina (left) after scoring a goal against Genk during their group E Champions League soccer match at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia on Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011. —AP

Valencia realistic about Chelsea challenge MADRID: Valencia found it all too easy against Racing Genk on Wednesday in recording their biggest Champions League win but coach Unai Emery knows securing the score draw they need to qualify at Chelsea next month will present a much tougher challenge.

A quickfire first-half hat-trick from striker and captain Roberto Soldado, and goals from Jonas, Pablo Hernandez, Aritz Aduriz and Tino Costa, gave Emery’s side a crushing 7-0 win over the Belgians at the Mestalla.

That result is one goal short of Liverpool’s record 8-0 destruction of Besiktas in 2007. A score draw at Stamford Bridge on Dec. 6 would be enough to secure a berth in the last 16

after Chelsea were upset 2-1 in Germany

by Bayer Leverkusen, who went top of Group E and sealed their place in the knockout round. “We have a chance in London to see what we are capable of in this competition and against a powerful opponent,” Emery, whose side drew 1-1 with Chelsea in Valencia in September, said at a post-match news conference.

“We’ll have to prepare with a lot of strength and intelligence, but we should try to enjoy it as well. We have our fate in our own hands and for that we should be satisfied.

“We’ll go to London to win.”

Valencia’s solid start to the season has been built around the splendid form of Soldado, the former Real Madrid,

Osasuna and Getafe forward, who has netted five in Europe’s elite club competition and eight in La Liga, where Valencia are third behind leaders Real and second-placed Barcelona.

Soldado’s latest performance, coming after his double against Real in La Liga at the weekend, will boost his chances of a recall to the Spain squad for next year’s European Championship in Ukraine and Poland. The 26-year-old, who was born in Valencia, has represented the world and European champions only twice, back in June 2007, when he failed to score. “He is improving every day and he will get a chance to play for the national team if he carries on like this,” Emery said.— Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Preview

Pastore ready to sparkle again; PSG face Marseille PARIS: Javier Pastore’s scintillating start to the season already seems a distant memory, but the Argentine playmaker is ready to sparkle again when his Paris St Germain team travel to arch-rivals Olympique Marseille on Sunday. Pastore, who joined leaders PSG from Palermo for a French record 42 million euro ($56.08 million) fee, started off with six league goals as his delicate touch and fine tricks helped him grab the limelight.

He has though suffered a dip in form, scoring only once in a month

and losing his joie de vivre. “Against Nancy (last Sunday), I was not feeling well, physically and mentally,” Pastore told French daily Le Parisien on Wednesday, citing fatigue after being called up for international duty with Argentina. “For evey call-up, it’s 13 hours on a plane to get there, and the same amount of time to come back,” he said.

PSG fans need not worry, however, as one of the highlights of their season is coming up. “If last Sunday we had played against Marseille, I don’t think I

would have been that bad,” Pastore explained. “Generally, I want to give a bit more during these big games.” Bigspending PSG lead surprise secondplaced side Montpellier, who travel to Sochaux tomorrow, on goal difference while Marseille, beaten 1-0 at home by Olympiakos Piraeus in Wednesday’s Champions League match, are 10th after a bad start.

“We don’t know our limits,” Montpellier defender Benjamin Stambouli told the club’s website (www.mhscfoot.com). “We are able to

beat anyone but we can also completely screw up any game.” Should that happen, champions Lille will be looking to narrow the gap as they lie third, five points off the pace before hosting Stade Brest tomorrow. Fifthplaced Olympique Lyon will hope to bounce back from a 0-0 draw against Ajax Amsterdam that left them on the brink of elimination from the Champions League when they travel to struggling AJ Auxerre on Sunday.

The seven-times French champions trail PSG by seven points.— Reuters

Beckham eyes PSG PARIS: Former England captain David Beckham has kickstarted talks to join French league leaders Paris St Germain, according to the club’s sporting director Leonardo. Beckham’s Los Angeles Galaxy contract runs out at the end of December and PSG - top of Ligue 1 after the arrival of new Qatari owners in the summer - have become the favorites to sign the former Manchester United player. The 36-year-old revealed that he has been courted by “two big European clubs” after helping the Galaxy to the MLS title last weekend.

Former AC Milan manager Leonardo, who coached Beckham during his loan move at the San Siro last year, confirmed PSG were one of those clubs as they look to bring one of football’s most high-profile names to the French capital.

“Yes, we’ve spoken. These situations take time. We’ll see if something suits him and suits us,” Leonardo was quoted as saying in The Sun. “I know his history and he doesn’t need to tell me his past. He went to Milan and it was the same thing.

There is a rapport with him. “When you talk about Beckham, you’re talking about something big. Now his contract is finished, he will decide his future.” PSG’s interest in Beckham has been derided in some parts as a publicity stunt as the club’s new owners look to cash in on his worldwide appeal.

Leonardo, however, claimed Beckham could provide a key part in their push for a first French title since 1994. “If Beckham thinks about coming, that’s something we should be happy about,” Leonardo said. “I think he can still bring something on the pitch with the person he is and the experience he has. “If a player like him is thinking about Paris St Germain that’s good, and we’ve opened the door for discussions. “Everybody’s talking about PSG and that pleases me.

PSG are on the up, there are 45,000 people in the stadium and everyone’s happy.”— AFP

Goal-line technology possible by 2012: FA LONDON: Goal-line technology could be used in the English Premier League as early as next season, Football Association (FA) general secretary Alex Horne said yesterday. Horne said that tests into various goal-line systems could be completed, and handed in for approval by world football governing body FIFA, in time for the start of the 2012-13 campaign. “It’s possible we could see (goal-line technology) in the Premier League as early as 2012-13,” Horne told the BBC. “It’s easy to make mistakes and we’ve all seen examples where the referee and assistant referee can’t see if a ball has crossed the line or not. “We need to support them in decision-making.” Nine systems are being tested by a FIFAemployed authority with a final decision on which system might be used due to be made on the eve of next season in July. Horne added: “Whether there is enough time for the technology to be bought, paid for and put into any league or competition for next season, I’m not sure. “It would be really tight - but it might be possible for next season.”

One of the systems on trial, ‘Goalminder’, is due to be analyzed in front of FIFA’s testers at League One club Rochdale’s Spotland home ground. FIFA have previously rebuffed all demands to use video technology to resolve contentious refereeing decisions, despite it being successfully implemented in other sports, claiming it would disrupt the free-flowing movement of the game. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA President Sepp Blatter (right) shares a light moment with Uzbekistan’s Server Djeparov (second from right) the winner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Player of the Year, as Japan’s Aya Miyama (second left) the winner of the AFC Womenís Player of the Year, and acting president of AFC Zhang Jilong stand beside them during its awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011. —AP

Fiery Blatter steals show in Asia KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA president Sepp Blatter took a barely concealed swipe at banned Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam in a fiery performance at the region’s glitzy awards night. The controversial Swiss seized the spotlight in Kuala Lumpur-bin Hammam’s former stronghold-as he delivered a forceful endorsement of Asia’s new leaders.

Fresh from publicly rebuking Middle Eastern royalty, the short but feisty Blatter strode to the microphone and harangued the massed ranks of delegates about the need to support acting boss Zhang Jilong.

“We have overcome a situation that wasn’t so easy to understand, but we did it,” Blatter said in the Malaysian capital late on Wednesday, referring to Hammam’s ban from football over allegations of bribery. “Because finally everything in our life is like what happens on the field of play. “It’s discipline, respect, fair play and if you put it into an organization like the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) then you come to unity, solidarity, democracy, and finally it’s a

question of trust and confidence. “FIFA trusts you, we trust the new leadership of the Asian Football Confederation.

And a special mention to the acting president, Zhang Jilong and his teamthey do a great job.”

It was a feisty performance at the televised AFC ceremony, and came just months after bin Hammam’s fall from grace following his ill-fated challenge for Blatter’s FIFA presidency. The Qatari is now banned from football after being found guilty by FIFA of handing out cash-stuffed envelopes to bribe delegates. He is appealing the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The unsavoury episode has left Asian football in transition as Hammam cannot be replaced until the middle of next year, under AFC rules, and with a long-term successor yet to come forward.

And one possible candidate, FIFA vice-president Prince Ali bin al Hussein, received short shrift at a press conference earlier on Wednesday when he tried to answer a question on Blatter’s behalf. “Mr President, may I answer that

on your behalf?” Prince Ali politely asked. “No, I can just answer. I was asked so I will answer. You can add, but I answer,” an irritated Blatter told the cowed Jordanian royal. Blatter’s visit was overshadowed by outrage over his comments that racially taunted players should simply shake hands with their abusers, but he shrugged off the furore to deliver a clear message about Asia’s importance.

“With two-thirds of the world population it’s not only a new market for football... we want football to bring emotions and passions into society,” he told the awards show, in a luxury hotel in fast-evolving Kuala Lumpur. “In Asia you are participating in this wonderful adventure we are going on together...

The whole of FIFA has confidence in your organization. I thank you so much for the trust you have in the leadership.”

And he borrowed the AFC’s slogan when he said: “The future is Asia, but the present is already Asia. You have demonstrated how strong is the AFC, how strong is the Asian family.”— AFP

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Sports

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

Bruins extend winning streak to 10 BUFFALO: Benoit Pouliot scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of as shootout as the Boston Bruins rallied from two different twogoal deficits for their 10th straight win, a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

Tyler Seguin had a goal and assist, Brad Marchand and Zdeno Chara also scored, and Tim Thomas finished with 31 saves for Boston in the first meeting between the teams since Milan Lucic bowled over Sabres goalie Ryan Miller 11 days ago.

Miller sustained a concussion on the play, and is still sidelined. The Sabres didn’t go after Lucic at the time, but Paul Gaustad and Lucic squared off just 83 seconds into this one, with Lucic landing several rights to Gaustad’s head and body. It is the Bruins’ first 10-game winning streak since Dec 12 to Jan 1, 2009. TJ Brennan scored his first NHL goal in his first game, and Christian Ehrhoff and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres, who lost their second straight.

RED WINGS 5, FLAMES 3 At Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula scored 1:14 apart late in the third period to break a tie and give Detroit the win.

Tomas Holmstrom had two power-play goals, Datsyuk added two assists and Ian White had a goal and two assists for Detroit. Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler had two assists apiece and Jimmy Howard made 19 saves. Jarome Iginla, Brendan Morrison, Olli Jokinen scored for Calgary. Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 25 shots.

PANTHERS 2, RANGERS 1 At Sunrise, Florida, Jason Garrison and Kris Versteeg scored and Jose Theodore stopped 19 shots to lead Florida to its third straight win.

Derek Stepan scored his fourth goal for New York, which lost a second straight game following a seven-game winning streak. Henrik

period. Tough-guy Jared Boll had tied the game in the third period for Columbus with his first of the season.

FLYERS 4, ISLANDERS 3, OT At Uniondale, New Jersey, Danny Briere scored his second goal of the game with 2:26 remaining in overtime to give Philadelphia a come-from-behind victory over New York.

Andrej Meszaros and Scott Hartnell also scored for Philadelphia, which snapped a two-game skid and handed the Islanders their eighth loss in 10 games. Kyle Okposo scored his first two goals of the season and Michael Grabner scored for New York.

CAPITALS 4, JETS 3, OT At Washington, Jason Chimera scored his second goal of the game at 1:52 of overtime as

BLUES 3, PENGUINS 2, OT At Pittsburgh, Alex Pietrangelo beat MarcAndre Fleury with less than a minute to go in overtime to lift St. Louis past Pittsburgh in Sidney Crosby’s second game back from concussion-related symptoms.

Crosby went scoreless and the Blues won despite blowing a pair of one-goal leads. Scott Nichol and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored for the Blues. Brian Elliott stopped 31 shots.

James Neal scored his 13th goal of the season for Pittsburgh and Steve Sullivan collected his third. Fleury made 40 saves for the Penguins.

WILD 3, PREDATORS 2 At St. Paul, Minnesota, Dany Heatley, Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck scored third-period goals, and Josh Harding made 23 saves as the Minnesota won its fifth straight. Heatley scored at 1:05 of the period for his sixth goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. Brodziak got his fifth of the season on a power play at 9:39.

And Clutterbuck capped the run with his fifth of the season, a short-handed goal at 13:19 of the period. Nashville’s Jordin Tootoo opened the scoring with his second goal at 5:21 of the season. Ryan Suter added a power-play goal to cut it to 3-2 at 13:57.

CANADIENS 4, HURRICANES 3, SO At Raleigh, North Carolina, Brian Gionta scored the lone goal in the shootout as Montreal snapped Carolina’s two-game winning streak. Montreal rallied from a two-goal deficit after Carolina’s Jiri Tlusty and Anthony Stewart scored first-period goals. Montreal tied the game by getting a short-handed goal from Lars Eller at 9:06 of the second period and then the Canadiens tied it at 2-2 when Michael Cammalleri tipped in a pass from Josh Gorges 27 seconds into the third period. Brandon Sutter’s goal at 3:18 of the third gave Carolina a brief 3-2 lead, but Travis Moen evened the score again when picked up his 100th career point.

BUFFALO: Benoit Pouliot #67 and Chris Kelly #23 of the Boston Bruins skate against Derek Roy #9 of the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. — AFP Lundqvist made 36 saves. Tomas Fleischmann had two assists for the Panthers, who have won four of five and are 6-2-3 in their last 11 games.

DEVILS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1, SO At Newark, New Jersey, Martin Brodeur stopped 35 shots and made two more saves in the shootout to lead New Jersey over Columbus. Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise scored in the shootout for the Devils and Brodeur made those shots stand up by making a glove save on Rick Nash and a body save on Mark Letestu to ice the win. Dainius Zubrus, who was honored before the game for becoming the 267th player to appear in 1,000 NHL games, tallied for New Jersey in the second

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Wednesday.

Boston 4, Buffalo 3 (SO); New Jersey 2, Columbus 1 (SO); Philadelphia 4, NY Islanders 3 (OT); St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 2 (OT); Washington 4, Winnipeg 3 (OT); Montreal 4, Carolina 3 (SO); Detroit 5, Calgary 3; Florida 2, NY Rangers 1; Minnesota 3, Nashville 2; Dallas 3, Los Angeles 2 (OT); Phoenix 4, Anaheim 2; Vancouver 3, Colorado 0; San Jose 1, Chicago 0. (OT denotes overtime win, SO is shootout victory) American League Eastern Division W LOTL GF GA PTS Pittsburgh 12 6 4 67 53 28 Philadelphia 12 6 3 77 65 27 NY Rangers 10 5 3 48 40 23 New Jersey 11 8 1 54 55 23 NY Islanders 5 10 4 38 65 14 Northeast Division Boston 13 7 0 69 42 26 Toronto 12 8 2 70 70 26 Buffalo 12 8 1 61 55 25 Montreal 10 9 3 57 53 23 Ottawa 10 9 2 62 70 22 Southeast Division Florida 12 6 3 62 52 27 Washington 12 7 1 66 62 25 Tampa Bay 9 9 2 55 67 20 Winnipeg 8 9 4 61 69 20 Carolina 8 11 4 56 76 20 Western Conference Central Division Chicago 12 7 3 71 68 27 Detroit 12 7 1 58 46 25 St. Louis 11 8 2 53 48 24 Nashville 10 7 4 57 57 24 Columbus 5 13 3 48 72 13 Northwest Division Minnesota 13 5 3 50 42 29 Edmonton 11 8 2 57 51 24 Vancouver 11 9 1 61 57 23 Colorado 9 12 1 56 68 19 Calgary 8 11 1 45 56 17 Pacific Division San Jose 13 5 1 58 43 27 Dallas 13 8 0 56 57 26 Los Angeles 11 7 4 54 53 26 Phoenix 11 6 3 58 51 25 Anaheim 6 11 4 43 65 16 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

Washington ended Winnipeg’s three-game winning streak. Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals, who have won two straight. Andrew Ladd, Kyle Wellwood and Bryan Little scored for the Jets.

straight win and sixth in the past seven games.

SHARKS 1, BLACKHAWKS 0 At San Jose, California, Antti Niemi made 34 saves against his former team for his first shutout of the season and Jason Demers broke a scoreless tie late in the second period with his first goal to lead San Jose over Chicago. Niemi was tested often as San Jose was sluggish at the start and also helped kill off a power play late in the third period with a toe save against Jonathan Toews to give the Sharks their fourth

CANUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 0 At Denver, Cory Schneider stopped 24 shots for his second career shutout, and Manny Malhotra and Alexandre Burrows had early goals as Vancouver Canucks extended a run of dominance against Colorado with a 3-0 win on Wednesday night. Ryan Kesler added an empty-net goal at 19:30 of the third to round out the scoring. The victory was Vancouver’s 10th in the past 12 meetings with Colorado. — AP

Talks resume toward ending NBA lockout NEW YORK: Talks aimed at ending the NBA lockout have resumed, two people with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday, with a quick settlement necessary to start the season

by Christmas. The discussions began quietly Tuesday and are expected to continue through the Thanksgiving holiday, the people said on the condition of anonymity because the talks were supposed to remain confidential.

The talks between representatives of the owners and players are now

centered on settling their lawsuits: The players filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league in Minnesota and the league filed a pre-emptive suit in New York, seeking to prove the lockout was legal. Neither side commented on the talks, first reported by Yahoo Sports, though the league said in a statement it “remains in favor of a negotiated resolution” to the lockout.

The news revived the hopes of saving the Christmas slate, when the league schedules some marquee matchups to kick off its national TV package. The

NBA finals rematch between Dallas and Miami was to headline three games this season. The league had wanted to open a 72-game schedule on Dec. 15, pushing the start of the playoffs and finals back a week, if players had agreed to the last offer.

But players rejected the owners’ most recent proposal on Nov 14, announcing instead they were disbanding the union to pave the way to sue the league. The plan now would be for 66 games if a resolution comes soon. The league played a 50-game schedule in

1998-99 during its last lockout, when a deal didn’t come until January, so there’s still hope of some games this season even if it doesn’t include Christmas.

Commissioner David Stern has said it would take about 30 days from an agreement to the start of the regular season. David Boies, one of the attorneys representing the players, has repeatedly said he hoped the league would be compelled to settle rather than risk a potentially lengthy trial that could end with players being

awarded about $6 billion in damages.

Because the union disbanded, it cannot negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, but the settlement talks could lead to that. The CBA can only be completed once the union has reformed.

When talks broke down, the sides were still divided over the division of revenues and certain changes sought by owners to curb spending by bigmarket teams that players felt would limit or restrict their options in free agency. — AP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

SCOREBOARD MUMBAI: Scoreboard at the close of the third day of the third and final test between India and West Indies at Wankhede Stadium yesterday: West Indies first innings (overnight 575-9) 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 11 D. Bishoo b Ashwin 12 Extras (b-8, lb-16, nb-2) 26 Total (all out; 184.1 overs) 590 Fall of wickets: 1-137 2-150 3-314 4-474 5-518 6-524 7-540 8-563 9-566 Bowling: Sharma 32-9-84-1 (1nb), Aaron 28-4-106-3, Ojha 48-10-126-1, Ashwin 52.1-6-156-5, Sehwag 16-1-61-0 (1nb), Kohli 2-0-9-0, Tendulkar 6-0-24-0.

India first innings G. Gambhir c Baugh b Rampaul 55 V. Sehwag b Sammy 37 R. Dravid b Samuels 82 S. Tendulkar not out 67 VVS Laxman not out 32 Extras (b-1, w-3, nb-4) 8 Total (three wickets; 80 overs) 281 To bat: V. Kohli, MS Dhoni, R. Ashwin, I. Sharma, P. Ojha, V. Aaron Fall of wickets: 1-67 2-138 3-224 Bowling (to date): F. Edwards 15-0-70-0 (4nb), Rampaul 12-1-42-1 (1w), Sammy 22-3-67-1 (2w), Samuels 11-0-48-1, Bishoo 20-4-53-0.

India lead the series 2-0

Cummins hit by heel injury ahead of Test SYDNEY: Australian hot-shot teenage bowler Pat Cummins said yesterday he is confident a heel injury will not prevent him from playing his first Test at home against New Zealand next week. Cummins was man-of-the-match in his debut Test with a haul of 6-79 in the second innings of Australia’s second Test win over South Africa in Johannesburg earlier this week.

The 18-year-old fast bowler is likely to be asked again to lead the Australian attack against the Kiwis, in the first of two Tests at Brisbane’s Gabba ground next Thursday. He is upbeat despite admitting to heel soreness. “I pulled up a little bit sore after the game the other day, but hopefully I should be right to go,” Cummins told reporters. “My heel was a little bit sore, but it’s nothing too dramatic and it’s not going to leave me out. It’s nothing too serious.

“There’s nothing you can do, just keep icing it up and it’s not going to be a big problem.” Cummins is in big demand after injuries to Australia’s other front-line bowlers, Shane Watson (hamstring), Mitchell Johnson (foot) and Ryan Harris (hip). Former players are advising that Cummins be rested from the shorter forms of the game to preserve his growing physique. Australian captain Michael Clarke has spoken of the need to manage the workload of Cummins, who suffered minor back issues in the 2010-2011 Sheffield Shield final.

The pace ace, who played only three first-class games for New South Wales before his fast-tracked Test debut, knows the risks and rigours involved as a fast bowler and said he is ready for a testing summer. “I guess any player has got to be well managed and, being a bit younger, it’s even more important,” Cummins said. “So it’s great they are trying to look after me and all the young guys. “I guess all the guys have been through rough patches so you’ve got to leave it in perspective and know it’s never going to be rosy forever.”— AFP

Tendulkar closing in on 100th century Milestone man Dravid stands firm for India MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar was on course for his 100th international century while Rahul Dravid completed a milestone to lead India’s strong reply in the third and final test against West Indies yesterday. The hosts, chasing an imposing first-innings total of 590 by West Indies, were 281 for three at the close of the third day with Tendulkar (67) and VVS Laxman (32) at the crease. The 38-year-old Tendulkar, with 51 centuries in tests and 48 in one-dayers, needs one more to get to the coveted ton that has eluded him since he last made three figures in the 50-over World Cup in April. Playing in front of a 20,000 crowd at his home Wankhede Stadium ground, the master batsman hit five boundaries and a six as he added 57 for the fourth wicket with Laxman. Tendulkar’s only blemish came when he edged legspinner Devendra Bishoo on 58 but wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh failed to hold on to the tough chance. Dravid (82) became the second player after Tendulkar to reach 13,000 runs in tests, and also brought up 1,000 runs in a year for the third time in his career as he made his 62nd half-century. He added 86 runs for the third wicket with Tendulkar before being clean bowled while attempting to cut part-time spinner Marlon Samuels.

SUBLIME DRIVE The 38-year old Dravid also put on 71 for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir (55) after India lost Virender Sehwag (37) before the lunch break. Dravid went past the 13,000-mark with a sublime cover drive off Darren Sammy, one of his 11 boundaries.

Gambhir hit eight boundaries before he edged to Baugh after trying to hook a high bouncer by paceman Ravi Rampaul.

Sehwag began in typically explosive fashion, striking three fours and a six before he was bowled by West Indies captain Sammy.

Medium-pacer Sammy, who was swatted for a six by Sehwag in his first over, managed to breach the batsman’s defense with a ball that moved back off the pitch after the openers had put on 67. Sehwag and Gambhir took India past 50 in 11 overs but the hosts slowed considerably after the fall of the first wicket, adding seven runs in 4.3 overs up to the break.

MUMBAI: West Indies bowler Marlon Samuels (left) celebrates with captain Darren Sammy after dismissing Indian batsman Rahul Dravid during the third day play of the third Test cricket match between India and West Indies at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai yesterday. — AFP Earlier, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin completed his second five-wicket haul in three tests as West Indies were finally bowled out in the morning. Resuming on 575 for nine, the visitors added 15 runs in 3.1 overs before Bishoo was bowled for 12

by Ashwin. Ashwin, 25, who grabbed a

maiden five-wicket haul on his debut in the first test in Delhi, finished with five for 156 from 52.1 overs. Building on half-centuries from the top six batsmen, including Darren Bravo’s classy 166, West Indies have almost certainly ended any hope India had of inflicting a 3-0 series whitewash.—Reuters

Pakistan hoping to improve its record ABU DHABI: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq hopes his team improve its record in the shortest form of the game with a win over Sri Lanka in a one-off Twenty20 today. Pakistan, the 2009 World Twenty20 champions, have lost 13 of their last 24 matches in the rapid-fire form of the game which plunged them to seventh in the inaugural Twenty20 rankings released last month. But Misbah was confident his team will continue to improve after beating Sri Lanka 1-0 in three Tests and 4-1 in the fivematch one-day series.

Misbah said the one-day series win excited him. “It was an outstanding performance by the team,” said Mishab after his team’s narrow three-wicket win in the fifth ODI at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. “I am confident that we will do our best in

the Twenty20 to improve our ranking.”

Misbah, who has now won nine of the 10 one-day internationals since taking over as limited over captain in June this year, said the team’s goal was to improve with every match. “It is good to beat a top ranked side 4-1 and I am very happy because my team is improving and performing so well.

The goal is to improve day by day and we want to extend the victory sequence,” said Misbah.

The victory lifted Pakistan to fifth in International Cricket Council one-day rankings. Sri Lanka, relegated to four from two in one-day rankings, are placed second in Twenty20 rankings and their captain Tillakaratne Dilshan was hoping his batsmen lift themselves after failing to impress during the whole tour. “It’s disap-

pointing to lose the one-day series and we need to quickly address our batting problems before our tour of South Africa,” said Dilshan of his team’s tour next month where they play three Tests and five oneday internationals.

“It will be a new game today and a change of format, so I hope the players lift themselves,” said Dilshan, whose team will also have the services of mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis for the Twenty20 match.

Dilshan praised Pakistan team as “one of the best in the world”. “Pakistan have more options than us and the way they played on this tour to me they are one of the top teams in the world,” said Dilshan, who has lost three Tests and three oneday series since taking over in May this year.— AFP

A

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Ferrer stuns tired Djokovic Page 59

www.kuwaittimes.net

Tendulkar closing in on 100th century

Page 63

MUMBAI: Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar bats during the third day of the third test cricket match against West Indies in Mumbai yesterday. — AP