26 Mar 2012

CR IP TI ON BS SU

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

www.kuwaittimes.net

JAMADI ALAWAAL 3, 1433 AH

Young protege named chief of Central Bank

40 PAGES

NO: 15399

150 FILS

Kuwait National & Liberation Days

Hashel had been deputy governor since 2009 conspiracy theories

Are you also in the wrong job?

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

O

K guys, the story about the beggar who was caught in Salmiya for begging and who allegedly made around KD 1,356 every two days makes people wonder: Am I in the wrong job? I was curious so I asked everyone around: “Do you feel you are in the right job?” I tried to survey the people around me in the editorial office. I tried with our editor Mustafa who shocked me by saying: “No, I am in the wrong job. All my life I wanted to make my own guitar band because I like playing the guitar. I would mint money.” What shocked me about this is that Mustafa is known to be on the religious side.

Sherif, who is one of our designers, said: “I am jealous.” Good old Islam is known for his integrity. He shook his head and said: “No.” As for Velina, our Bulgarian editor, she said: “I feel sorry for him.” I did not believe her because he first joked: “Guys, we are in the wrong job.” But applying the ethical code of journalism, I have to give the benefit of the doubt here and quote her.

Mullah Shakir, one of our editors, shocked me more than Mustafa by saying: “He is a privileged guy. I feel frustrated.” As for our liberal Lebanese editor, Sahar, she immediately agreed: “Of course, I am in the wrong job.” Our young beautiful Indian editor Priyanka responded by saying: “Don’t we all feel we are in the wrong job?” Our young attractive Canadian reporter Sawsan asked, “Is he single?”

I don’t know whether she was joking or said it seriously.

Enough examples of Kuwait Times editors’ feelings. Let’s discuss nowadays begging as a job. I have noticed that begging has advanced with the advancement of technologies. It even varies from culture to culture. For instance in London, if a man wants to beg, he will sit on the street with a dog because he knows that people are sensitive to animals. In the Third World, however, be it India, Pakistan, the Arab World or Africa, a woman would use a “rented” baby to beg with. As for the culture in the Third World, the sympathies are for children.

I like the fashionable way of earning money which is used by many buskers in London. They perform on the streets and are paid for their craft. In some other countries people approach begging in a different way, by selling trivial stuff, such as tissue boxes, toilet paper or chewing gum. Children usually sell this merchandise in the hope that you will pay more for the goods. What I really hate is that these children are mastered by an elder person. The begging I resent the most are people who pretend to be handicapped or fake a disability like the beggar in Kuwait. This is a bit gross.

At the end of the day, begging is begging even if you use a stylish way or choose to go basic.

US paid Afghans $50,000 per shooting spree death

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MANILA: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah kisses a child at a dinner banquet held in his honour by the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the Philippines Waleed Al-Kandari yesterday. Sheikh Sabah will return to Kuwait today after official visits to Japan and the Philippines. — KUNA

Max 30º Min 15º High Tide 02:14 & 13:45 Low Tide 07:38 & 20:13

KUWAIT: The Cabinet yesterday approved Mohammad Yusuf Al-Hashel as the new governor of the country’s Central Bank, promoting him from his position as deputy and marking the first change at the helm in over two decades. The 37-year-old replaces his former mentor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family who resigned last month after 25 years in the job, protesting at a rapid rise in government spending.

Hashel, who has a postgraduate degree in finance from Old Dominion University in Virginia, had been serving as Sheikh Salem’s deputy since Jan 2009.

“I think there will be continuation of policy because he is trained under Sheikh Salem and he is one of his students,” economic analyst Abdul-Rahman Al-Humoud said. “Of course the differ- Mohammad Al-Hashel ence will be in the experience. Sheikh Salem started as a junior employee in the Central Bank and he knew every detail, while Mohammad came just at the top ... but he is a very intelligent guy,” Humoud, former vice president of Kuwait’s Economic Society, said.

Hashel will be faced with the difficult task of trying to help manage the state’s economy in the face of rising wage demands from labour unions. Kuwait airline workers and customs employees held strikes earlier this month over pay, grounding planes and delaying port traffic.

Continued on Page 13

Dubai top cop sees Gulf Islamist plot No ‘microbes’ at Farwaniya Hospital: MoH KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health yesterday denied reports by a local paper as “untrue and irresponsible” of the spread of “a dangerous microbe” in the orthopaedic ward of Farwaniya Hospital. “Patients at the hospital are receiving treatment according to their various cases, and there is no presence of this ‘microbe’ among them”, head of Farwaniya governorate’s health services Dr Saud Al-Daraa told KUNA. The health official called on the media to practice accuracy and not to publish news that might arouse fears amongst the people, which could cast doubts over the excellent medical services provided by the state. — KUNA

PM grill looms, Juwaihel to quiz interior minister

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The grilling of Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah will be debated in an open session on Wednesday and may go to the point of filing a non-cooperation motion, MP Saleh Ashour said yesterday. Ashour, who filed the grilling earlier this month over a variety of allegations, said that based on the National Assembly agenda, the debate of the grilling will take place on Wednesday and denied reports that he had said he will not file a non-cooperation motion.

The grilling was filed on allegations that the government failed to take appropriate actions regarding the bank deposits corruption scandal involving 12 former MPs and Ashour himself and the alleged transfer of millions of public funds into the private foreign accounts of former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Ashour’s grilling is also based on the government’s failure to resolve the decades-old problem of over 100,000 stateless people known as bedoons and a host of other issues.

Continued on Page 13

Alonso wins rainy, crazy Malaysian Grand Prix

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KUWAIT: The Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamist force that emerged after the Arab Spring, is plotting to take over Gulf states, Dubai’s police chief said in remarks reported yesterday. Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said he had his reasons to claim that the “Brotherhood was plotting to change the regimes in the Gulf”, in an interview published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas. “My sources say the next step is to make Gulf governments (their ruling families) figurehead bodies only without actual ruling. The start will be in Kuwait in 2013 and in other Gulf states in 2016,” he said.

Khalfan has been involved in a titfor-tat controversy with the Brotherhood after he threatened earlier this month to arrest cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a leading

Brotherhood figure, for criticising the United Arab Emirates for deporting Syrian protesters. The police chief said he based his information on “leaks” from Western intelligence agencies and said this “had been known to us”. “If these leaks from Western intelligence were to be correct, by 2016 all Gulf rulers” will be just figureheads with no actual power, Khalfan said. “I am warning Gulf states about these groups.”

All of the six oil-rich Arab states in the Gulf have been governed for centuries by ruling families that dominate almost every aspect of life and who have the final say on almost everything. These states Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - together sit on more than 40 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and around a

Dahi Khalfan fifth of its natural gas. Khalfan said the alleged plot will begin in Kuwait because “it is ready more than any other Gulf state... this is a strategy”. Sunni Islamists made an impressive show in a Feb 2 snap election in Kuwait, securing more than 20 seats in the 50-member parliament. — AFP

Saudis may send woman to Olympics DUBAI: Saudi Arabia, where sports events for women are banned, is considering sending a female athlete for the first time ever to the Olympics this year, following criticism from abroad. The issue of women in sport remains extremely sensitive in the ultraconservative Muslim state, where women are not even allowed to drive cars and the authorities shut down private gyms for females in 2009 and 2010. On Saturday, Al-Sharq newspaper said that equestrian jumping contestant Dalma Malhas, 18, is likely to be Saudi Arabia’s only female athlete at this summer’s Olympics in London. Malhas won a bronze medal at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics without having been nominated by her Continued on Page 13

JEDDAH: Members of the first female Saudi basketball team ‘Jeddah United’ pose for a team picture in this Red Sea port city yesterday. — AFP

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MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

LOCAL

KSF ‘motivating factor’ for young scientists Top 10 students honored

KUWAIT: The grand prizewinner receiving the rewards from the organizers.

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The awards ceremony for the fourth annual Kuwait Science Fair (KSF) competition was held on Saturday evening at the Regency Palace Hotel under the patronage of Hani Abdulaziz Hussein, Minister of Oil and Chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Ziad Abass won the first prize of a full scholarship in the discipline of choice from Northwestern University, an international internship at Schlumberger, a cash prize of KD750, gift vouchers worth over KD100 in value, a certificate honoring his participation and rank and a first place trophy.

Yasmeen Hayat and Zaina Al-Dukair were the second prizewinners and received a scholarship in the discipline of their choice from the American University of Kuwait (AUK), an internship at Schlumberger, KD500 in cash, two certificates honoring their participation and rank, over KD100 in vouchers and a second place trophy.

Shivani Sharma and Eman Nadoum were third prize winners and received KD350 in cash, two certificates honoring their ranking and participation, over KD100 in vouchers and the third place trophy.

Kuwait Science Fair competition involved over 200 public and private schools from across Kuwait. KSF was founded in 2008 by Exxon Mobil Exploration and Production Kuwait Limited and Kuwait Energy Company to generate student interest and excitement in mathematics and science and to help inspire Kuwait’s future scientists and innovators.

Faycel Bensaid, ExxonMobil Kuwait President, said KSF has been focusing on

KUWAIT: Other winners receiving their awards, certificates and medals from the organizers.

science, technology, engineering and mathematics since they are the universal language in today’s global workplace.

“Mastery in these subjects has never been in higher demand than it is now in our technology-driven world,” he said. “In virtually every sector, innovations powered by science and engineering have become key to success. It is certainly of critical importance to the energy industr y,” Bensaid said.

Mohammad Al-Howqal, Kuwait Energy Company Chief Operating Officer, said its goal is to attract high school students to the fields of science and math, which are significant fields for the development of Kuwait.

“We were equally keen on providing them with a fun, exciting and competitive environment that enables them to innovate and think freely. The competition has progressed in reach and significance, and more importantly how it engaged students of different academic backgrounds to share their passion for the sciences. We look forward to continue inspiring students and enable them to become one of the leading scientists in Kuwait and the world.”

The fourth chapter of the Kuwait Science Fair was launched in October 2011 with over 170 students registering individually or in groups. The “Best 100” students qualified in December 2011 to continue developing their ideas in the second phase of the competition, the experimental phase. The top ten winners were revealed during the awards ceremony.

The Environment Preservation Industrial Company (EPIC) joined this year in an ongoing commitment to supporting innovative ideas in waste management and sus-

tained environmental protection. EPIC awarded cash prizes of more than KD 6,000 to the top three winners and the category winners.

Other top ten winners include Muhannad Mutasem Al Shihabi (4th place), Ranya Mishal Buhamad and Sara Bassam Al-Azmi (5th place), Abdul Ghafoor Al Awadhi, Ossama Al Jassar, Mohammad Al Kazemi (6th place), Mohammed Hani Saharf El Deen (7th place) Jamal Hassan Khudr, (8th place), Jassim Al-Bahar, Feras Abu Shaar, Rashed Al-Rushaid, (9th place) and Omar Ali Abdullah (10th place).

Farouk Al-Zanki, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said that Kuwait Science Fair is an inspiring initiative that continues to motivate Kuwait’s young scientists.

“Math and science are two essential fields facing a decrease in professionals and we thank Exxon Mobil and Kuwait Energy for establishing this educational and gratifying competition that helped inspire hundreds of young scientists to gain creative and innovative experiences in those fields.”

Kuwait Science Fair is a five-month-long competition held annually extending over two cycles.

The first phase is the pledging phase, in which students from across Kuwait are asked to submit their ideas to the Kuwait Science Fair Selection Committee. The Committee then selects the ‘Best 100’ ideas based on a pre-defined check-list of criteria.

During the second three-month phase, students behind the ‘Best 100’ ideas are asked to build their projects with the support of mentors and the Kuwait Science Fair team.

‘Banned’ forum gathers increasing public support KUWAIT: Two leading oppositionist groups have announced their support for people’s freedom of expression, voicing out against the government’s decision to ban a forum on civil society expression.

“The freedom to assemble and of expression in Kuwait is a constitutional right that must be respected,” asserted Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun who leads the Popular Action Bloc (PAB). The veteran parliamentarian stated through his Twitter account on Saturday that “a governmental violation is regarded an unjustifiable breach of Constitution.”

Al-Saadoun was referring to an announcement made by the Ministry of Interior(MoI) to ban Al-Nahdhah Youth Forum which began on Friday after the Graduates’ Society offered to host it. The ban was issued following MP Mohammad Hayef’s belief that the forum aims to propagate a ‘suspicious agenda’ targeting con-

servative Kuwaiti society.

Another Islamist political activist argued that disagreements with speakers’ ideologies do not warrant its ban, “We do not tolerate blasphemy, but expressing ideological, cultural and political point of view remains a public right,” said Mubarak Al-Duwailah, leading Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) member.

Former MP Dr Al-Duwailah, who remains active on the political scene despite retiring from parliamentar y work, argued that Saudi guest speakers harbor anti-government ideologies, indicating that “they come from Riyadh where they exercise rights,” reported Al-Jarida.

The forum was held on Saturday, focusing on civil society principles as well as methods to increase women’s contributions to Gulf countries. It also featured a lecture delivered by prominent Kuwaiti Islamic activist Dr Tariq Al-Suwaidan, who cate-

gorically criticized demands made to ban the forum.

“The principle which Islam promotes is that a human being is free to adopt any practice that is not prohibited by regulations,” Al-Suwaidan insisted, adding that “people are convinced by persuasion, not force.” The cleric was opposed to reports that the construction of churches in Kuwait will be limited, arguing that “... (church construction) should not be feared in Muslim communities where people are confident about their religious beliefs,” reported Al-Qabas.

Speak ing to Al-Shahed newspaper on condition of anonymity, sources pointed out that the Al-Adalah ( justice) bloc members plan to file an interpellation motion against Ahmad Al-Rujaib, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor for failing to take action on what is perceived as a violation committed by a nongovernmental organization.

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

local Wataniya Telecom celebrates Bangladesh Independence Day KUWAIT: Continuing on its path to cele- tions and hope they enjoy our promotion brate joyous occasions with different cul- on their special day.”

The 50% discount on tures and nationalities in SMS will be valid for 24 Kuwait, Wataniya Telecom hours starting today is glad to announce a spe(Monday 12:00am). Wataniya cial promotion on the has offered similar promooccasion of Bangladesh’s tions to citizens of other 41st Independence Day. countriesliving in Kuwait The exclusive promotion such as the USA, Egypt, includes 50% off on SMS Jordan, India, and the sent to the People’s Philippines. This helps the Republic of Bangladesh expatriate community feel today allowing Bangladesh close to their home country people residing in Kuwait even when they are far to greet and congratulate away. family and friends on this Wataniya hopes that the happy day. offers tailored especially for Abdolaziz Al-Balool, Public Relation Director at Abdolaziz Al-Balool them will add value to their communication and bring Wataniya Telecom said: “As a local telecom operator, we feel honored them closer to their friends and families. to celebrate and appreciate people with Wataniya aims to continue exploring differdifferent backgrounds and nationalities ent ways of staying closer to the different and thus we take any opportunity that cultures and communities in Kuwait by procomes up to reflect on what we believe in. I viding them with the best and most innowish all Bangladeshi people happy celebra- vative services and products.

Pay raises create dependent citizens, says minister KUWAIT: Pay increases in the public sector leave negative impacts, not only on the state’s economy but also socially by creating a generation that doesn’t appreciate the value of working and is raised by being dependent on the government.

Acting Minister of Finance, Dr. Naif Al-Hajraf, insisted that the Government needs to find methods to achieve a balance between meeting labor demands, addressing future challenges regarding employment, and diversifying sources of income.

“Studies indicate that 73,000 young Kuwaiti men and women will enter the labor market in less than sixteen years”, said Al-Hajraf who is also Minister of Education.

“In the meantime, Kuwait is facing unprecedented inflation levels in the budget allocated for public sector salaries”.

In order for Kuwait to be able to secure job opportunities for the potential job hopefuls in the future, it must start looking for more sources of income other than oil, the revenues from which make up 91.6 percent of the national income, Al-Hajraf said quoting official statistics. “Depending on oil as the sole source of income puts Kuwait in a predicament which requires the country to boost the private sector’s activity”, the minister said. Such efforts are doomed to fail “as long as financial incentives in the public sector drive citizens away from the private sector,” he commented.

Al-Hajraf said the Government takes into account all parliamentary recommendations on salary increases, but priority is given to proposals “which not only address the imbalance in the public sector’s payroll, but also contain a more comprehensive program to improve quality of work”. During a session last Thursday, Parliament approved a proposal to form a joint committee from the financial and legislative panels to look into different pay raise scenarios proposed for the public sector. The committee was given three months to come up with recommendations, to be discussed during Parliament sessions.

MPs are widely expected to submit a bill to increase pay by 30 percent, despite a raise of 25 percent that the Cabinet approved a couple of weeks ago.

These developments follow labor strikes carrie by customs personnel and Kuwait Airways employees, which affected cargo mobility at the state’s seaports, land border checkpoints and Kuwait International Airport.

Ahmad Al-Enizi, Head of the Customs General Department labor union, said on Saturday that resuming the strike remains an option “if the Cabinet fails to approve our demands within two weeks”. Al-Enizi was referring to a timeline outlined during Thursday’s session, by which the Cabinet is required to come up with a compromise which meets the protestors’ demands. —Al-Rai

Price hikes anticipated following pay increases ‘Inflated costs may deter valuable, qualified expats’

By Lisa Conrad KUWAIT: The recent strikes and ensuing announcement by MP Dr Waleed Al- Tabtabae that lawmakers are planning to propose a 30 percent increase to the basic salaries of public sector employees, have left Kuwaitis and expats asking how the additional expenditure will affect prices in the country. According to economist Hajjaj Bukhadour, even the strikers themselves do not stand to benefit much from their increased salaries as prices will rise accordingly. “Striking employees looking for increases in their salary, will not feel much of a difference because the cost of imports will go up anyway. The changes will affect the prices of goods as they inflate and increase,” he said.

He added, “We are not properly considering why there is a high cost of living. Striking is one issue, but first, the country must ask why they want or need a higher salary, isn’t it because of the higher costs of living?”

According to Bukhadour, the increasing cost of living is the real issue at hand, not salary packages. “Increasing salaries will not resolve the problem of the increasing costs of living. Increasing salaries like this only works to hamper efficiency, productivity and accountability, which will make Kuwait even more dependent on expatriates.”

However, Bukhadour warned that the increasing cost of living in Kuwait will make it less desirable for expatriates, which may result in less qualified expatriates taking the place of those who chose to leave. “Many valuable expatriates may leave, and they will be replaced by less qualified expats who are willing to settle for less. This means that the future expatriates will be of a lower standard, or else why would they accept the high cost of living standards?”

Bukhadour added that the expats will find it more difficult to survive the rising prices.

“The inflation will affect the expatriates much worse because they are not getting this 30 percent increase.” As of yet, some are already feeling the difference. “The cost of living is rising and our salaries are not. I came to Kuwait over Dubai because of the lower living costs, but it is becoming less worth it,” said one American expatriate.

French expatriate, Marie, added, “I was headhunted to come here, and my company pursued me aggressively. There is a need for expatriates but the government is not accommodating their needs accordingly.” She con-

tinued, “There is such a strong desire for development and many private companies are really pushing forward, but these issues are adding strain. Soon the expats will demand more money, and then what?”

According to Bukhadour, increasing inflation will not only deter competent expatriates, but it will also hinder Kuwait’s development and business relationships. “The customs strike will worsen Kuwait’s position in the eyes of exporters, and inefficiency and unreliability worsen this even further.” He added, “What’s more, it will become more costly. The Parliament should realize this and understand this carefully: The only way to

recalled Bukhadour. He added, “Businessmen were so efficient, reliable and committed to their work, which added to Kuwait’s value as a hub. The cost of shipping cargo through Kuwait was lower than if it was shipped directly to their Gulf neighbors.”

However, policies changed and there were increases in the cost of handling cargo and customs fees, which made Kuwait’s port considerably less attractive, “They wanted to show that money was being made but, instead, Kuwait lost hundreds of millions of dinar,” said Bukhadour. He added, “During this time, other ports became more organized and efficient and, meanwhile, Kuwait

KUWAIT: The cost of living is rising fast in the country. — Photo by Joseph Shagra reduce the high cost of living is to make Kuwait more accessible for imports and more efficient. It must become more attractive to investors.” Bukhadour noted that Kuwait must decide the direction it is going to take. “You must decide whether you want to do right or do wrong: either be a modern and stable state, or drag the country into further instability.”

The changing of policies for the worse has adversely affected Kuwait’s development and business ties in the past, as the State used to be the hub of the region, “In 1979, Kuwait was referred to as the ‘Pearl of the Gulf.’ All of our Gulf neighbors depended on Kuwait for our sea and air ports, as well as our borders for their transit cargo.

The cost of importing cargo to Kuwait and then reshipping it elsewhere was more attractive to exporters: Kuwait was the ideal hub,”

lost its advantage. The same thing is happening now.”

Bukhadour said that Kuwait must return to its former successes. “Kuwait should go back to being a hub, and efficiency and oversight are key in this.” He added that there must be further investment in the food and agriculture industry, if inflation is to be effectively combated. “The population is increasing while available land and water are decreasing.

Investing in food is investing in the future, and if we control the sources of our food, we will be able to better combat inflation.” He added, “Local farming must also be better supported; it would be beneficial to import the most advanced technologies to overcome issues pertaining to Kuwait’s climate so that the country can better support itself in the future.”

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

local Zain offers discounted SMS, call rates to Bangladesh KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, has announced that it is offering a 50 percent discount on all SMS messages sent to Bangladesh and a 20 percent discount on all international calls made to the country as it celebrates Independence Day today.

Zain, expresses its congratulations to the people of Bangladesh, represented in its leadership, the embassy and all Bangladesh expatriates’ residing in Kuwait. It is a global company which is always keen to participate in the celebrations of nations.

The offer is extended to all SMS an international calls made to Bangladesh only on March 26 for both post-paid and pre-paid customers.

Kuwait to host Gulf meeting to discuss media coordination KUWAIT: Kuwait is due to host the 42nd meeting of the board of the Gulf Cooperation Council Joint Program Production Institution tomorrow under the sponsorship of Minister of Information and its chairman, Sheikh Mohammad AlAbdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah.

Abdul Mohsen Al-Bannai, executive director of the GCCJPI, said in a statement that the institution was heavily backed by the minister, Undersecretar y Sheik h Salman Al-Homoud Al-Sabah, member of the board, noting that its establishment was one of the major fruits of inter-GCC cooperation.

Scheduled meetings will include examination of a report, prepared by the executive director, regarding projects, executed in the past year.

Policy of the GCCJPI, which produces common visual, TV and media programs, is aimed at promoting social and living issues of the GCC states’ peoples and communities, guiding the GCC peoples toward adoption of positive conducts and behaviors and adopting a scientific approach for

tackling topics.

The scheduled meetings will involve delegations from Bahrain including Chairman of the Media Affairs Authority, Sheikh Fawaz Bin Mohammad Bin Khalifa, and Director-General of Bahrain Radio and Television Ali Mohammad Al-Rumeihi.

Qatar will be represented by Mubarak Al-Kuwari, the executive chief of the Media Foundation, Chairman of Qatar TV Mohammad Al-Kuwari, Chairman of Qatar Radio Ali Al-Kabisi and others.

The UAE delegation will include Ibrahim Al-Abed, director-general of the National Council for Media.

Saudi Arabia will dispatch a delegation including the assistant undersecretary of the information ministry, Ibrahim Bin Ahmad Al-Sagoub. Oman will be represented by the deputy chairman of the general authority for radio and television, Nasser Al-Shibani, along with other figures.

A delegation from the GCC General Secretariat will also take part in the scheduled meetings. — KUNA

Seven construction workers injured in Shuwaikh mishap Four teenagers in custody KUWAIT: Seven construction workers were injured after the roof of a building they were working under collapsed on Saturday morning. Paramedics and police rushed to the location in Industrial Shuwaikh after receiving a report about workers who were trapped under rubble in a construction site mishap.

Seven Arab workers were admitted to Sabah Hospital after sustaining serious injuries.

Police have launched investigations into the case.

In similar news, a technician succumbed to fatal injuries he sustained while performing maintenance work on a lamp post in Mishref.

The 47-year-old Arab man fell unconscious after an equipment used to prop up the post fell on his head. Paramedics, who arrived minutes after the incident was reported, pronounced the victim dead. The body was removed for an autopsy.

Fatal crash A motorist was killed in an accident that took place recently at Wafra road. Paramedics and police reached the scene in response to a report received about an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) that crashed into a lamp post. The

Kuwait driver at the vehicle’s helm was pronounced dead before his body was removed for an autopsy. An investigation was opened to determine the circumstances that caused the accident.

Officers abused Three women were arrested in connection with insulting police officers on duty after being booked for alcohol consumption and drunk driving. The women reportedly began mouthing abuses at five police officers at a checkpoint in Salmiya when asked to step outside their vehicles. The suspects have been detained at Rumathiya police station. Officers reportedly received numerous calls from influential individuals trying to secure their release.

Juvenile delinquents Police arrested four teenagers from a Fahaheel school after they allegedly destroyed school property. Security officers were present at the scene shortly after the school’s janitor reported the incident. By the time they arrived, police discovered that the perpetrators damaged the furniture, science

Safar signs KD 2.1m border roads deal KUWAIT: Minister of Public Works, Minister of State for Planning and Development Fadhel Safar signed here yesterday a KD 2.1 million contract for maintenance and construction of border roads and external highways. The contract included small construction and maintenance works for roads and facilities in several border areas.

The maintenance of state institutions was also included in the contract on the request from the engineering departments at each government institute.— KUNA

15,000 people take part in NBK Annual Walkathon KUWAIT: More than 15,000 participants hiked the Gulf Road during NBK’s 18th Annual Walkathon on Saturday. Held under the patronage of M inister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obeidi, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Walkathon was led

by NBK Group Deputy Chief Executive O fficer Isam Jasem Al-Sager, NBK Consumer Bank ing Group General Manager Mazen S. Al-Nahedh and many senior NBK officials.

Hundreds of supporters and spectators lined the route on the Arabian Gulf Road to cheer on the participants.

Thousands of men, women and children of all ages and nationalities participated in the annual event. The Walkathon culminated with a prize giving ceremony at the Green Island where NBK awarded the top 10 winners in each category, and gave away two brand new cars, a Mazda and a Peugeot, as grand prizes.

Chief Executive Officer, Al Shaya & Sager Trading, Yousif Al-Shaya presented the lucky winners of the grand draw, Yousif Ziben Aqla Al-Dosari with the Mazda MX5 2012 car, and Hussain Mosa Khanafer with the Peugeot 207 2012 model car.

NBK’s Social Media team broadcast the Walk athon live on NBK’s O fficial Facebook and Twitter Pages, posting regular updates throughout the day.

labs. Four youngsters were arrested. Police are on the hunt for two other teenagers who evaded arrest.

Prostitutes deported Hawally Police have finalized deportation procedures for forty Arab and Asian women who were arrested during a recent crackdown against prostitution in the governorate.

According to a security source, the women were arrested after police was tipped off on their illegal activities. Hawally police plans to eliminate prostitution in the governorate, asserted the police officer.

‘Flasher’ neighbor A female resident withdrew complaints filed against her neighbor at a police station in Salmiya after he apologized for exposing his private parts. The Egyptian man was arrested outside his apartment after his American neighbor placed an emergency call to police to report the incident. Police reached the area and the man was taken into custody. Eventually, the woman accepted his apology and agreed to withdraw charges.

— Al-Watan, Al-Qabas, Al-Anbaa, Al-Rai

Coastguard arrests 7 Iraqi sailors in Kuwaiti waters KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti coastguard arrested yesterday seven Iraqi sailors on a fishing boat, found in the northern territorial waters of Kuwait. In a press statement, the General Administration of Coastguards announced that during an

inspection tour of coastal areas in the north and south waterways - the boat was spotted trespassing Kuwaiti territorial waters. The arrested were referred to the Marine Security Department for investigation, it added. — KUNA

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

local

Drivers fined for traffic violations in Rai area

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Brig Nasser Al-Enizi, Traffic Police follow up and coordination Manager, led traffic police in a recently launched inspection campaign of all illegal vehicles, taxis and buses in Rai area.

This resulted in fining many drivers for various traffic violations, including blocking traffic flow and parking in no parking zones.

Fatal accidents The recent non-criminal death statistics distributed by the Ministry of Interior security media department showed that 10 people, including 6 citizens, were killed in traffic accidents in the period from March 19 to 24. The deaths were mainly caused by not observing traffic rules, like driving through red traffic lights and not observing lane markings.

Three fires A fire broke out in a Hawalli apartment behind south Nugra Complex, security sources said. Firemen from Hawalli, Salmiya and their technical back up rescue teams took part in fighting the fire. The sources said the fire broke out on the fifth floor apartment of a ten storey building built over an area of 750 square meters. The whole building had to be evacuated immediately to prevent the fire from spreading to other apartments. Seven people who were treated

for smoke inhalation at the scene. There were no other casualties.

Another fire broke out in Bayan polyclinic, said security sources noting that Mishref firemen were dispatched to the scene. They found out that the fire started in an old deserted part of the building. It destroyed medical equipment and loads of paper and old files. No casualties were reported.

Citizens aged 30, 55 and 60, and a 50year-old Filipina were all treated for smoke inhalation when a fire broke in their house in Qortuba. They were treated on site while a 64 year old citizen had very high blood pressure and had to be taken to the Amiri Hospital for treatment.

Fight A 42-year-old Iranian sustained a head injury in a fight with others at the Friday market, said security sources noting that the man was taken to Sabah Hospital for treatment.

Car accidents A 54-year-old Pakistani broke his left leg in a traffic accident in Rabiya.

Seven Egyptians and a citizen were injured in Kabad when the citizenís vehicle collided with a bus carrying a group of Egyptian workers. Security sources said the injuries varied between bruises and minor injuries. The injured persons were all taken to Farwaniya Hospital for treatment.

DUBAI: Members of the Kuwaiti jet ski team.

Apologetic UAE vows to probe jet skiers attack Officials in Dubai to secure team’s safe return DUBAI: A senior Kuwaiti sea sports team arrived in Dubai yesterday to investigate the case where twelve Kuwaiti jet skiers were attacked the day before the fourth round of UAE Jet Ski Tournament.

A mob of 50 brutally assaulted members of the Kuwaiti team who were rushed to the hospital with injuries sustained as a result of the attacks in which sharp objects were used.

Two team members were hospitalized, according to a statement released by the Kuwait Sea Sports Club (KSSC) on Saturday.

According to reports, the quarrel took place at the Umm Suqaim Beach when Kuwaiti team members were confronted by a UAE contestant who was previously disqualified. A row had developed between him and Kuwaiti contestants during the tournament’s third round. He was soon joined by a group of unidentified men to attack jet skiers who were resting during an intermission.

Yesterday, Khalid Al-Foudari KSSC Secretary General and Abdulqader Al-Najjar, Sea Sports Committee Director reached the United Arab Emirates to meet with officials in Dubai to ensure their safe return to Kuwait.

Major role for Kuwait in protecting human rights

KUWAIT: Firemen in action after a fire broke out in a Hawalli apartment yesterday. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

GENEVA: Kuwait’s membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council has boosted the Gulf state’s srelentless action for service of major issues related to human rights in the Middle East and other parts of the globe, affirmed Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Ambassador Dharar Abdul-Razzak Razzouqi, in a statement marking conclusion of the 19th session of the UNHRC, said the Kuwaiti delegation played a major role in making and issuing resolutions for sake of maintaining and boosting human rights globally.

Keenly, Kuwait maintained close cooperation with other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Arab and Muslim nations, for unifying views and stances on issues that concerned the Arab world, throughout the sessions, added Razzouqi.

The Kuwaiti delegation, during the first meetings of the session, played a major role in discussions of human rights’ abuses, namely a report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Arab Syrian Republic (UNCASR) that included serious information about wide-spread, systematic and grave human rights’ violations, perpetrated by the Syrian authorities against the brotherly Syrian people, the top Kuwaiti diplomat stated.

Aware of the snowballing human catastrophe in Syria, Kuwait has, hurriedly, called for international aid for the Syrian people and has given urgent support for Syrians who have taken up refuge in neighboring countries.

Razzouqi added that he had briefed the council about the Kuwaiti popular donation campaign, initiated by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah, who had personally donated $5 million. — KUNA

Dubai police reportedly arrested four people shor tly after the attack, after Prime Minister and Vice President of the United

Fahad Al-Fahad

Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum ordered for an immediate investigation.

“The prime suspect in the case along with other perpetrators were arrested and referred directly to the Public Prosecution for investigations,” said Maj Gen Khamees Al-Muzainah, deputy commander of the Dubai Police Force, in a statement released on Saturday.

Meanwhile, UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan formally apologized to Kuwait on his Twitter account. The Dubai International Sea Sports Club also issued an apology on Saturday stating strict action will be taken against a contestant believed to be involved in the attack.

“Kuwait appreciates the prompt response and condemnation of the attack which offends the values of the people of the UAE,” said KSSC President Fahad AlFahad yesterday.

Kuwait is a regular participant at the UAE Jet Ski Tournament. Its international competitors Mohammad BuRabiea and Mohammad Al-Baz have been winning the 1600 cc category during the past five years.

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

LOCAL kuwait digest

kuwait digest

No improvements in education

The unfaithful govt employee

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah

By Faisal Al-Zamal

H

istory has taught us that dictators used educational systems to control all aspects of people’s lives to drill their own ideologies into the minds of the young. Concepts of loyalty to the leader and a totalitarian political system was made mandatory in school curriculums by the former Soviet Union, and Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule for example. Dictatorships recognized the fact that education helps shape people’s ideologies, and used this to their advantage by using it to create loyal generations.

T

Kuwait has an educational system that fails to live up to people’s ambitions, despite the fact that all requirements for educational reform are present.

Huge budgets are often spent without any achievements garnered in improving education, or efforts to investigate the reason behind these failures.

An educational system is an active force that shapes the ideologies of people for good or worse, depending on the ideology of the power that controls it. A country’s strength and economic success is largely attributed to the quality of its education. In turn, poor educational systems are mostly found in societies suffering from immorality.

Civilized countries adopt education as a democratic system that runs in parallel with the society’s philosophy and ambition for a better future.

Education systems in said countries focus on utilizing human and materialistic resources to achieve certain goals that meet the society’s general interest. This would only happen in democratic societies which give people the power to shape the quality of their education.

Kuwait has an educational system that fails to live up to people’s ambitions , despite the fact that all requirements for educational reform are present.

Huge budgets are often spent without any achievements garnered in improving education, or efforts to investigate the reason behind these failures. In the meantime, the very basis and goals of the educational system are still vulnerable to attacks of political forces which shape it in line with their own policies.

Education is often a hot topic of discussion among political groups which are subject to controls that better serve their personal points of view. This condition also spread among society to the point where you find it hard to speak about the philosophy of the educational system without being criticized.

What are the true goals of education in Kuwait? In order to achieve goals that serve the public, an educational system must be protected from individual attempts to place it under control of vested interest groups.

We hope that Kuwait’s educational system is improved to become a more comprehensive system where a minister cannot simply make a decision to overhaul all work done by his/ her predecessor. This problem has been a main reason why many achievements could not be garnered as a result of administrative paralysis. — Al-Rai —

kuwait digest

People do not want more freedoms!

By Najla Abdul Aziz Khalifa

‘R

espect us so that we can respect you’..... ‘I’m not working for you’.... ‘It’s not up to you to decide’ and ‘shut up’ are all phrases that have been used by lawmakers in Parliament of late.

From these phrases, I infer that they have never read the Constitution, disregard others’ opinions and encourage tyranny and dictatorship.

However, such phrases had an effect on the Kuwaiti people who began using them in dealing with the government. It has been ignoring such a dangerous development. MPs have spread a new concept of individual freedom among people. They began turning the weaknesses of the Constitution into strengths. On its part, it started practicing its own version of individual freedom. It appears that everybody has agreed to adapt one-sided liberties regardless of what others think or feel. This has turned into a monster that devours others’ liberties, turning dialogues into strikes, disputes and mudslinging.

By reviewing recent incidents, one can easily notice that people have opted to striking, forcing it to yield to its demands, faced by direct interference in individuals’ rights to hold rallies and meetings.

Lawmakers utilized their parliamentary immunity to play on all threads - governmental or public. They threatened the government by provoking the people to weaken and control it. Painfully, each side accuses the other of abusing its freedom. Therefore, freedom has became a great sin that is being shamelessly committed by the people, the government and the Parliament. Therefore, it is a must that some alarms be set to warn everybody about how citizens of this country have turned its Constitution into a curse. This is so much so that every wise person wishes that it be disposed of as soon as possible. It appeared that citizens would rather give in to dictatorship rather than let limitless liberties manipulate with the fate of this nation. In fact, so many people are now calling for ‘No Freedoms.’ They do not want freedom that destroys this country’s economy, halts its development, hampers its security and changes free people into greedy mobs that want to loot its wealth. So, is it actually time to give up freedom to maintain safety and security of this nation? — Al-Watan

kuwait digest

Guardianship on society

By Thaar Al-Rashidi

P

reventing a cultural gathering, regardless who the organizers are, so long as they have permission from the state to hold that gathering, is similar to imposing guardianship on society. To impose guardianship on society members during the era of the internet is very stupid, and I repeat ‘very stupid’.

I don’t know the backgrounds and I don’t know the aims of AlNahda conference members, but what I know that speakers are supposed to give lectures expressing their personal views in life or work.

It is very naive of the Public Prosecution Department to ban the conference, because teenagers can easily penetrate your siege by entering YouTube. With the press of a button they can recapture all lectures and videos and sit comfortably to listen to them.

Whether they are convinced

with their side of story or not is a different story.

To impose an isolated embargo on society during the era of the internet is like attempting to fill the waters of Kuwait into 0.5 liter bottles.

It is impossible to impose guardianship over society and decide what society members should listen to or see or read.

Censorship is over for good, yet some of the Islamists MPs insist that they are capable to pour the ocean into a small tea-cup.

In my opinion, the attempts of such a ban is part of the political war on Liberals. As if the Liberals didn’t lose enough in losing the election, to also lose the right of organizing a simple conference is too much.

Under any circumstances I do not expect attendance to exceed 200 persons, including organizers

kuwait digest

Advice to Dubai police chief

By Mubarak Al-Duwailah

D

ubai Police Chief Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan and I have been friends for 20 years.

During that time I have known him as a humble and generous man whose diwan in Jumairah is always open for guests from all around the UAE. Lt. Gen. Khalfan is also noted for using his Twitter account to express his opinion about matters of public concern, but in some cases he uses it to announce the state’s official stance regarding a certain subject.

With all due respect to Mr. Khalfan and his right to express his opinion, I believe it is my duty as a longtime friend of his to give him some advice and I hope his approach remains as open-minded and balanced as it has always been.

First of all, I would like to reiterate that Islamist political parties are present everywhere around the world. The Muslim Brotherhood is considered to be the most organized and widespread. The Muslim Brotherhood movement represents an ideology that is also shared by other Islamist parties which have no affiliations to it.

The general Islamist political movement in the Gulf is mistakenly associated with the Muslim Brotherhood because both movements share similar ideologies, despite the fact that they are not affiliated to each other in any shape or form.

The Islamist movement in the Gulf is characterized by being moderate and having goals that are in line with the national interests of each party’s respective country.

There haven’t been any documented attempts in which Islamist politicians planned a coup against GCC rulers. On the other hand, the unity of Islamist movements in the GCC countries and loyalty to their leaders was evident many times, especially during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait crisis over 20 years ago.

Therefore I was hoping that my friend, Lt Gen Khalfan, would not have made a rash judgment about Islamist politicians in the Gulf in reaction to statements made by one religious figure.

There is no doubt that the Gulf states will remain an oasis for the call of Islam to flourish under both public and governmental support.

Some leaders in the Arab World tried to restrict people’s right of religious practice, including unlawful perpetration to religious figures. Eventually these people find a way to free themselves from the restrictions imposed by tyrannical leaders.

These kind of restrictions were never a feature of the Gulf states. It is therefore unfair to compare the situation in the GCC, where Muslims can freely practice their rights including the right of political practice, to that of Arab countries where these rights are fought by oppressive regimes. —Al-Qabas

and tea boys.

Note: Cancelling the exhibition of artist Shorooq Amin and raiding it was a disaster. With all respect to the leader of the Ministry of Interior, I don’t think that any of them understand the difference in those arts.

Once again, the Ministry of Interior has cancelled Al-Nahda Forum. I am sure if you ask any of the leaders about the names of the lecturers, he will answer ‘I don’t know.’

What does the Ministry of Interior have to do with all this?

And who gave the right to the Minister of Interior to be responsible for us? Tomorrow the Ministry of Interior will close down a play, and the day after they will raid a cinema theatre and the day after...they will implement martial law on the public. Isn’t this their logic?! — Al-Anbaa

here are two personalities in Kuwait who have great influence. To start with is the first personality: the government employee who has contact with the public. This person deals with the public unfaithfully. Let me give you an example. A female employee told a man “your file is not with us, go to ‘x’ administration and you will find your file there.” The man went to that administration, but did not find the file. So he returned to her. She insisted that the file was not with her. She said check with so and so department. The man went and again returned to her. The season was summer and it was very hot. He told her “sister I am tired, everyone says that the file is with you. Now it is 1 pm, and I have heart trouble.

Goodbye.”

“Oh,” she said “what was your name?” He told her his name once again. She looked at some files dumped on the ground next to her and she saw the file. She said “here it is. Take it.” He said it was hard to say one word to criticize her, because she would turn the subject into one of harassing an employee while doing her job, and he would have got into trouble. Here in Kuwait the employee is right, in contradiction to the rest of the world that says the customer is always right. Another employee started to aggravate a member of the public. That man backed up for the same reasons. The employee was abusing him with filthy words in order to make him fight back, so that he could accuse him of harassing an employee while on duty. It is true that these kind of employees are few, but there are people who harass employees while doing their job and they need to be punished by the state. Look at what happened to the Director of Immigration, Kamal Al-Awadhi, who deserves respect and appreciation for his stand on insisting to implement the law. This good example of an employees is distorted by the first kind, who tries to cover up his or her short falls with their rank or title. Unfortunately they possess more influence than the poor minister. Insulting him is a joke and an amusement on a daily basis for some MPs. Yes, this kind of employee is stronger than the minister, as they are authorized to enter the system. They can decide when to be soft and where to be strict in implementing the law.

When their conscience is ‘dead’, an employee of this kind can change the grade of an applicant who took an employment exam and raise the grade of a loser so that he can get the job. Then he tells the one who passed the exam, and got the highest grade “check with us later.” Yes this employee, male or female, is the strongest of the two personalities in Kuwait. The second personality is an MP who can incur losses to the state that exceed two billion dollars and no one dares to hint that this MP has caused that loss. While other leaders are being kept under control, by themselves being accused, it leads them to prefer relaxation over good work to improve state resources and income. We do not expect that the defect in Parliament can be corrected, especially after seeing the change to the storming of the National Assembly report. Their confession has become legal under the statement “the National Assembly is the master of its decisions.”

We shall limit the call for reform to the Government, to protect the public from employees with no conscience, and shall leave the National Assembly. — Al-Anbaa

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Santorum wins Louisiana

Iraq locks down Baghdad before Arab summit Page 8

Page 10

PANMUNJOM: US President Barack Obama looks through binoculars towards North Korea from Observation Post Ouellette during a visit to the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) yesterday. — AFP

Help rein in N Korea: Obama N Korean rocket test will ‘isolate’ regime SEOUL: US President Barack Obama urged China yesterday to use its influence to rein in North Korea instead of “turning a blind eye” to its nuclear defiance, and warned of tighter sanctions if the reclusive state goes ahead with a rocket launch next month.

“North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations,” a stern-faced Obama said after a tour of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas resonant with echoes of the Cold War. Such a launch would only lead to further isolation of the impoverished North, which much show its sincerity if on-again-off-again six-party aid-for-disarmament talks are to restart, Obama told a news conference in the South Korean capital.

Seoul and Washington say the launch will be a disguised test of a ballistic missile that violates Pyongyang’s latest international commitments. North Korea says it merely wants to put a satellite into orbit.

Even as Obama warned North Korea of the consequences of its actions, he spoke bluntly to China, the closest thing Pyongyang has to an ally, of its international obligations. Obama said Beijing’s actions of “rewarding bad behavior (and) turning a blind eye to deliberate provocations” were obviously not working, and he promised to raise the matter at a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Seoul today. “I believe that China is very sincere that it does not want to see North Korea with a nuclear weapon,”

he told a news conference in Seoul before a global summit on nuclear security. “But it is going to have to act on that interest in a sustained way.” It was Obama’s sharpest message yet to China to use its clout with North Korea in a nuclear standoff with the West, and dovetails with recent calls for Beijing to meet its responsibilities as a rising world power. In an election year when Republicans have accused Obama of not being strong enough with Beijing, talking tough on China is seen as a potential vote-winner after three years of troubled diplomacy in dealings with Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. China is host to the six-party talks, which involve Japan and Russia as well as the two Koreas and the United States.

DMZ tour Obama earlier visited a U.S. base on the edge of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as a solemn North Korea came to a halt to mark the 100th day after “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il’s death. “You guys are at freedom’s frontier,” Obama, wearing an Air Force One bomber jacket, told about 50 troops crammed into the Camp Bonifas mess hall at one of the world’s most heavily fortified frontiers. He spent about 10 minutes on a camouflaged viewing platform at the DMZ, talking with some of the soldiers on guard and peering with binoculars across the border into

North Korea as flags flapped loudly in the brisk, cold wind.

The White House cast Obama’s first visit to the DMZ, which has bisected the peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953, as a way to showcase the strength of the USSouth Korean alliance and thank some of the nearly 30,000 American troops still deployed in South Korea.

The 4-km (2.5-mile) wide DMZ was drawn up at the end of the 1950-53 civil conflict, which ended in a truce that has yet to be finalized with a permanent peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas in effect still at war.

Rocket launch condemned Washington has condemned next month’s planned rocket launch as a violation of North Korea’s promise to halt long-range missile firings, nuclear tests and uranium enrichment in return for a resumption of food aid. Obama said that if the North goes ahead with the rocket launch, a February food aid deal could fall apart and Pyonygang could face a tightening of international sanctions.

Obama said he was sympathetic to China’s concerns that too much pressure on North Korea could create a refugee crisis on its borders, but insisted Beijing’s approach over the decades had failed to achieve a “fundamental shift” in Pyongyang’s behaviour. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a military offi-

cial yesterday as saying the main body of the rocket had been moved to the launch site on North Korea’s west coast. The launch will coincide with big celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the state’s founder, Kim Il-sung.

North Korea’s defiance is clouding Obama’s much-touted nuclear disarmament agenda, which is also being challenged by Iran’s persistence with nuclear research in the face of sanctions and international criticism.

Obama will join more than 50 other world leaders today for a follow-up to the inaugural nuclear security summit he organized in Washington in 2010 to help combat the threat of nuclear terrorism. While North Korea and Iran are not on the guest list or the official agenda, they are expected to be the main focus of Obama’s array of bilateral meetings on the sidelines.

North Korea mourns Obama’s visit coincided with the end of the 100-day mourning period for Kim Jong-il, who died in December. Tens of thousands of people crammed into Kim Il-sung Square in central Pyongyang to mark the occasion. The state’s new young leader, Kim Jong-un, the third member of the Kim family to rule the state, bowed before a portrait of his father at the palace where he lies in state.

He was joined by his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, and military chief Ri Yong-ho.—Reuters

Blasts shake up Homs, Syria rebels hit back BEIRUT/MOSCOW: Russia offered “full support” for international efforts to end a year of fighting in Syria yesterday but gave no details of how that would play out on the ground as forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad attacked Homs and other rebel strongholds. Moscow reiterated its stance that foreign support for the Syrian opposition was the main obstacle to peace, even as U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan discussed how to get non-lethal aid to the opposition. Western and Arab states have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside to end violence which the UN says has cost 8,000 lives. Russia, a close ally of Assad, said if he is to end his assault, the rebels must also cease fire.

With the Syrian army on the offensive around the country and the opposition fearing Assad would use any talks to strengthen his position and crack down harder, the prospect of a negotiated peace seemed more remote than ever. A US-based human rights group accused Assad’s forces of yesterday of using human shields in their efforts to crush the rebellion, which began more than a year ago. “Syrian government forces have endangered local residents by forcing them to march in front of the army during recent arrest operations, troop movements, and attacks on towns and villages in northern Syria,” it said, quoting residents from Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who will

join Obama for a nuclear security summit in South Korea today, told UN-Arab League Syria envoy Kofi Annan in Moscow he appreciated his efforts to end the violence. “This may be the last chance for Syria to avoid a long-lasting and bloody civil war.

Therefore we will offer you our full support at any level and in various ways in those areas, of course, in which Russia is capable of providing support.”

It was not clear whether Moscow would use its influence with Assad to press him to end his assault on his opponents and allow access to humanitarian aid. Annan has drawn up a six-point peace plan, including demands for a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of heavy armour from residential areas and access for humanitarian assistance.—Reuters

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

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

Islamists are majority on Egypt constitution panel CAIRO: Egypt’s Islamists looked poised to dominate a key lever of power that will help determine the country’s political future as parliament selected a panel to draw up the country’s new constitution. Liberal lawmakers denounced the process as a “farce” and walked out in protest. The constitution, which will be written by the 100-member committee, will determine the balance of power between Egypt’s previously all-powerful president and parliament, and define the country’s future identity, including the role of religion and minority rights. With so much at stake, the question of who should sit on the panel has sparked fierce debate in Egypt.

Many secular and liberal Egyptians fear that the Islamist parties that dominate parliament will pack the panel with their supporters and ignore minority concerns. Those fears have spiked over the past week after parliament decided to allocate half of the panel’s seats to its own members, and a leading Islamist deputy said the country’s most prominent democracy advocate, Mohamed ElBaradei, would likely not be included.

With vote-counting for the panel’s membership still going on late Saturday night, Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency posted a list of names of those it said were gaining support among law-

makers. The list included more than 50 Islamists, as well as six women and six Christians in addition to some 30 nonIslamists, including professionals, judges, political scientists, poets, and others.

Some of the names were not widely known to the public and their ideological affiliation was not immediately clear.

During the heated joint session of parliament to pick the panel, lawmakers from the liberal Egyptian Bloc, which holds 9 percent of the lower house’s seats, walked out of the proceedings en masse, accusing the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood - Egypt’s most powerful political group - of trying to dominate the selection.

Egyptian Bloc lawmaker Emad Gad called the session a “farce” and said the Islamist parties “have already decided on the names and voting is only meant to lend legitimacy to the process.” “Islamists will write the constitution as they wish but I believe this will lead to many crises,” he said. Saad Emara, a Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker, accused liberals of “making a fuss,” and said millions of Egyptian voters elected Islamist lawmakers so that their views would be represented on the constitutional committee.

Egypt’s ruling military council last year issued an interim constitution that gives elected members of the parlia-

ment’s two houses the right to select those who will draft the new constitution. The old 1971 constitution was suspended after the uprising that ousted longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. The new constitution will be put to a vote in a national referendum. However, the ruling military council left the guidelines for the process vague enough to spark a sharp debate over who should be on the panel.

Egypt’s Islamist groups, including both the Brotherhood and the ultraconservative Salafis, make up nearly threequarters of parliament after sweeping the vote in the first post-revolution elections that began in November. They passed a vote last week to appoint 50 of the panel members from among lawmakers in parliament, while the rest will be drawn from broader society.

Liberals, among whom are youth groups and secular parties that led the uprising but performed poorly in elections, say that a permanent constitution should not be written solely by the victors of a single election. They argue that the constitutional process should include a wide range of members from the country’s different ideological currents, professional syndicates and unions, women, and members of the Christian minority. They say that parlia-

ment’s decision to have its members dominate the process violates earlier Brotherhood pledges to draft the charter by “consensus” and fear it represents a capitulation to the hardline Salafis.

As the Brotherhood squares off with the liberals and secularists in parliament, it’s also engaged in a standoff with the ruling military council. The 83-year-old Brotherhood, which was officially banned under Mubarak, said in a statement Saturday that it has received threats from the military-backed government that it could move to have parliament dissolved in response to the Brotherhood’s pressing the army to sack the current Cabinet.

Brotherhood deputy leader Rashad Bayoumi said Prime Minister Kamal elGanzouri threatened to use a court ruling to dissolve parliament. Bayoumi declined to say when the threat was made. The new constitution is expected to curb presidential powers and give parliament more authority, a drastic change to Egypt’s political system.

Another key concern is the role of Islamic Shariah law, which is subject to a wide variety of interpretation. The old constitution says Shariah is the “main source of legislation,” but many in the hardline Salafi bloc that makes up nearly a quarter of parliament’s members take

a literalist and uncompromising stance on Shariah and want it strictly enforced.

Another divisive issue is the role of the military and the future of the country’s military rulers. The ruling generals want assurances they won’t lose their political clout and that parliament will have no say over the military’s budget.

Parliamentary speaker Saad el-Katatni, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, promised this month that the new constitution should not be written by “the majority,” but instead by “consensus and partnership.”

That pledge however has been called into question by the exclusion of ElBaradei, whom Brotherhood parliamentarian Mohammed el-Beltagi said on his Facebook page Friday would normally be included “only if he didn’t oppose the current road map” for drafting the document.

ElBaradei had criticized the parliament - the product of the first open elections after decades of dictatorship - as not fully representative, and the process of drafting the constitution as rushed.

With drums and chants, youth activists rallied outside parliament against Islamists and the military for what they see as sabotaging the revolution. “No Salafis, no Brotherhood. The constitution is for all Egyptians,” they chanted. —AP

Senegal goes to polls in presidential run-off Former ally Sall seeks to unseat incumbent Wade

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (left) greets and shakes hands with Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby (right) yesterday. —AP

Iraq locks down Baghdad before Arab league summit BAGHDAD: Iraq’s government has locked down Baghdad ahead of this week’s Arab League Summit, throwing up a maze of security checkpoints and roadblocks as it seeks to protect the capital from insurgent attacks.

The three-day summit is the first of its kind to be held in Iraq in more than two decades, and a successful meeting would allow Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to show the country is pulling back from years of violence and upheaval months after the last US troops left.

“Our lack of intelligence capabilities means we can’t find explosives as we don’t have the apparatus,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a member of the parliamentary security committee. “We have to rely on these old-fashioned methods like blocking the streets. So far it’s been a success despite the impact on the citizens.” Despite the security clampdown, Baghdad and other cities were targeted with more than 30 bombs last Tuesday, however, killing at least 52 people.

It was Iraq’s bloodiest day in almost a month and the scale of the coordinated blasts underscored the country’s fragile security and the insurgents’ apparent resolve to prove Maliki’s government cannot keep the country safe for the summit. Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate claimed responsibility for the attacks.

It still controls the streets elsewhere in the country.

Entire streets in Baghdad have been closed down, SWAT teams have been combing the city, the government has declared a five-day public holiday, and around 100,000

extra security forces have been drafted in to man hundreds of checkpoints. The extra security has caused big traffic jams, forcing some people to abandon their cars and walk to work. The delays have been so bad that lawmakers have called for emergency lanes to be opened up to allow doctors and ambulances to reach hospitals in a timely fashion.

Baghdad residents have long suffered due to disruption caused by the capital’s blast walls, checkpoints and security roadblocks.

Getting into the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to ministries and many embassies, can often mean long waits. But the security clampdown has irked even war-weary Baghdadis.

“I left home at 7a.m and got stuck in a horrible traffic jam. Cars could not move... I had to get out of the car and walk to work. I arrived at 11 a.m” said 30-year-old Baghdad resident Farouq Abdullah. On a trip to Baghdad’s airport last week, passengers jumped out of taxis and cars caught at security checkpoints and walked to the terminal with their luggage instead. Iraq’s stock exchange also had to close as workers and traders were unable to reach its central Baghdad office. Stock market chief executive Taha Abdulsalam said he hoped to resume trading from April 1.

Transport difficulties have also pushed up food prices. Twenty-three percent of Iraq’s population live below the poverty line, according to the planning ministry, and many Iraqis are dependent on a national food ration programme. Food ration shortages led to mass protests last summer. — Reuters

UAE holds activist for criticizing Gulf rulers DUBAI: United Arab Emirates authorities yesterday briefly detained a political activist who criticized one of the Gulf country’s rulers on his Twitter account, a prominent Emirati blogger said. Ahmed Mansour told The Associated Press on the phone that security agents detained the activist, Mohammed Abdel-Razzaq Al-Siddiq, before dawn yesterday. He was taken from his home in the emirate of Sharjah and released on bail later yesterday, Mansour said. The arrest was the latest move by the UAE to crack down on political dissent in the oil-rich union of seven city-states. Each emirate is ruled by a hereditary sheikh. The US-allied UAE has not been hit by Arab Spring unrest that has spread across the Middle East during the past year, including in neighbouring Bahrain. UAE authorities have moved aggressively against any signs of dissent that could pose a challenge to the tight political controls in country.

Political activity is severely restricted in the Gulf federation. There are no official opposition groups in the country, and political parties are banned. UAE officials could not be reached for comment about Al-Siddiq’s arrest and release yesterday. In the past few weeks, three other people have been detained for postings on social

media websites. All are free on bail, including an online activist who faces charges in the state security court after commenting on uprisings against autocratic Arab rulers in his Twitter posts.

Al-Siddiq is an Islamic scholar who was stripped of his citizenship along with six others last year after authorities accused them of links to an Islamic group. After the unprecedented step, Al-Siddiq told the AP that he and the other men were part of an Islamist organization known as the Reform and Social Guidance Association. He said they were targeted because they have been campaigning for political reform.

Last year, five political activists, including blogger Mansour, were convicted on anti-state charges that included insulting the UAE’s leadership, endangering national security and inciting people to protest.

They were freed on order of the federation’s president a day after their sentences of two to three years in jail were handed down.

Despite the order, charges against were never officially dropped. All the convicted activists had signed an online petition calling on UAE rulers to allow free elections and changes to the constitution that would give more powers to the parliament, which now serves as an advisory body.— AP

DAKAR: Senegal’s aging president pumped his fists triumphantly in the air yesterday as he passed supporters at his polling station in the capital, while voters cast their ballots in a runoff election that could oust the 85-year-old leader after 12 years in power. It’s a rare occasion in sub-Saharan Africa where a longtime incumbent could be pushed out of office through a transparent vote, though some already question whether President Abdoulaye Wade would in fact go if he loses yesterday’s election. Wade became president in 2000 after the man in power conceded defeat in a historic move, but already Wade has insisted on running for a third term, even though he had originally revised the constitution to impose a two-term maximum.

His decision to seek re-election has infuriated many voters in this country on Africa’s western coast.

When Wade cast his ballot last month in the first round of balloting, some voters even booed him at the poll shouting: “Old man, get lost.” Wade fell short of the 50 percent needed last month to avoid a runoff, receiving only 34.82 percent - a poor showing after easily winning outright in 2007. He faced off yesterday against the very man who ran his last campaign five years ago - former Prime Minister Macky Sall, who received 26.58 percent in the first round and now has the support of the dozen other opposition candidates.

This time around, thousands turned up outside Wade’s polling station in a show of force. Dozens of young men stood on their cars, holding their voting cards in the air, alongside pictures of an influential religious figure who has lent his support to Wade. “Wade isn’t leaving, he is staying,” the crowds chanted in the Wolof language.

After casting his ballot, Wade rode in an open-air vehicle, as supporters ran alongside his vehicle.

While police fired tear gas at some Wade supporters who were chanting too close to the polling

DAKAR: Supporters of marabou Serigne Bethio Thioune, who supports the incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, called “Thiantacounes”, cheer in front of a polling station where Wade has voted yesterday. — AFP station, voting inside the station was orderly. Voters held prayer beads and queued in the shade of a mango tree waiting to cast a ballot and have their finger marked in indelible red ink. Jean Diouf, a young accountant waiting in line to vote at another school in the capital, said he believes the country needs a change in direction.

The 2007 election was his first chance to vote, and at the time he backed Wade. Since then, the 23year-old says the cost of living has skyrocketed. “ Things have to change,” he said. “If the vote is transparent, Wade has no chance.” Even older voters who had backed Wade in previous years said they thought it was time for new political leadership. Mamadou Gueye, 67, credited Wade with many accomplishments but the retired public employee said life remained difficult for him, his two wives and his 20 children.

“We need to replace the political

leadership,” Gueye said yesterday after casting his ballot for Sall. “My children are unemployed. On the national health plan, nothing works.”

Wade has overseen unprecedented economic growth in this country of more than 12 million, with new buildings sprouting up everywhere across the seaside capital of Dakar. However, those gains have not trickled down to most voters, who have battled against rising costs of living, unemployment and frequent power cuts.

Violent protests leading up to the election have left at least six people dead, and analysts have warned of further unrest if Wade wins. On the streets of Senegal’s capital, images of Wade on campaign posters have their eyes scratched out. His convoy was hit by rocks in the final days of the runoff campaign. Jennifer Cooke, the director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and

International Studies in Washington, said in the short term a Wade victory “won fairly or foully” would be tremendously controversial. “I think he’s kind of pushed Senegalese patience to the limit.

And I think it would be understood as a fraudulent election by many Senegalese,” she said. “His victory would be a bridge too far ... Even if he wins legally, it will be assumed that he won fraudulently.” In an inter view at his Dakar home Saturday, Sall told reporters he hoped Wade would respect the ballot’s outcome. “With him, one never knows. In any case, Wade was 25 years in the opposition and he became president afterward,” Sall said. “If he is beaten, he must accept it,” he said. “Now, if he doesn’t accept it, he will be exposing himself to the anger of the people who have shown that they want change and to turn the page, but I think and I hope that this will not happen.” — AP

Uncertainty in Mali as junta struggles to restore order BAMAKO: Mali was gripped by uncertainty yesterday after a coup by mutinous soldiers who ousted the president, leaving a power vacuum exploited by separatist Tuareg rebels waging an offensive in the north. The capital Bamako was tense, with few people venturing out as security forces patrolled the

streets four days after the coup in the deeply impoverished west African state. Banks and most shops were shut in the usually bustling city, although some petrol stations have reopened after being asked to do so by the junta as it struggles to restore order.

President Amadou Toumani

BAMAKO: People sit on a truck yesterday. — AFP

Toure’s whereabouts are unknown, but he is believed to be safe under the protection of his loyalist paratrooper guard, while 14 members of his government detained by the putschists have threatened a hunger strike. “There are 14 of us in a room of 12 square metres, sleeping three to a mattress. Our basic rights are being violated,” said a message from one of the officials sent to AFP. They are being held at the Kati military barracks outside Bamako where coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo is seeking to reinforce the impression of control, holding meetings and making several public declarations. He met French ambassador Christian Rouyer and other dignitaries on Saturday, state television reported, but the junta has been largely frozen out by the international community in a chorus of rebukes and suspension of aid.

Yesterday, Nairobi announced that the Kenyan and Zimbabwean foreign ministers were evacuated

by a chartered flight after being stranded in Mali after Thursday’s coup. After widespread looting by soldiers after the coup, the junta tried to restore order, urging “all those in uniform to report to their barracks for an inspection” and reminding unit commanders they were responsible for their men.

On Saturday Sanogo took to the television to show he was still alive after swirling rumours of a counterattack by loyalist troops. But as the junta struggled to restore order in Bamako, Tuareg rebels in the country’s north continued an offensive which sparked the mutiny and subsequent coup, closing in on the key town of Kidal. The low-ranking soldiers who seized power claim they are fed up with the government’s failure to equip them properly to fight the Tuareg insurrection.

The Tuareg, desert tribes that populate the north of Mali, are a minority in the vast country. They have staged several uprisings in recent decades over what they say is neglect by Bamako.—AFP

9

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Top Tory accused of selling access to British PM quits ‘Idea that policy is for sale is grotesque’ LONDON: A senior member of David Cameron’s Conservatives resigned yesterday after he apparently offered access to the British premier in return for party donations of ÂŁ250,000 ($396,000, 299,000 euros). Tory treasurer Peter Cruddas was secretly filmed by the Sunday Times offering reporters posing as wealthy donors private dinners with Cameron, and suggesting their views would be fed into a government policy committee.

In a statement, Cruddas said his comments were merely “bluster� and insisted there was “no question� of selling access to politicians, but offered his resignation from the job he only took up one month ago.

Cameron, the Tory leader, condemned the remarks as “completely unacceptable�, telling the BBC: “This is not the way that we raise money in the Conservative party, it shouldn’t have happened. “It’s quite right that Peter Cruddas has resigned. I will make sure there is a proper party inquiry to make sure this can’t happen again.� Senior opposition Labour lawmaker David Miliband said the revelations would be deeply embarrassing for the prime minister, adding: “The idea that policy is for sale is grotesque.�

The Conservatives openly list the benefits of donating to the party on their website, offering wealthy backers the chance to join

“The Leader’s Groupâ€?, which gives access to dinners and events with Cameron, for ÂŁ50,000 a year. But Cruddas appeared to go further, discussing different sized donations and saying that ÂŁ200,000 to ÂŁ250,000 a year is “premier leagueâ€?, granting access to Cameron and his finance minister George Osborne.

He also appeared unconcerned by the fact that the undercover reporters claimed to be representing a fund in Liechtenstein that would have been ineligible to make donations under British law, the Sunday Times said. “I deeply regret any impression of impropriety arising from my bluster in that conversation.

Clearly there is no question of donors being able to influence policy or gain undue access to politicians,� Cruddas said.

He said it was “categorically not the case� that he could offer access as a result of a donation or that Cameron would consider it, and said he also had no dealings with the Downing Street unit which decides the premier’s policies. “But in order to make that clear beyond doubt, I have regrettably decided to resign with immediate effect,� Cruddas said. A Conservative Party spokesman said that “no donation was ever accepted or even formally considered by the Conservative party� as a result of the conversation, and insisted it always complied with the law.

“Donations to the Conservative party do not buy party or government policy. We will urgently investigate any evidence to the contrary,� he added. The issue of whether money can buy influence has long been a concern in Britain, where political parties rely on donations to fund their activities. A major scandal erupted under former prime minister Tony Blair when his Labour party was accused of giving seats in the unelected House of Lords to wealthy backers in return for donations and secret loans.

Cameron himself warned before his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government took office in May 2010 that lobbying was the “next big political scandal waiting to happen�. Christopher Kelly, who heads a watchdog which monitors ethics in public life, said the Cruddas row showed it was time for politicians to put aside their differences and reach agreement on reforming party funding. “Events like (this) are inevitable as long as the main political parties are dependent for their existence on large donations from rich individuals or, in the case of the Labour party, a small number of trade unions,� he said. Danny Alexander, a senior Liberal Democrat minister, said all three main parties would be discussing reform in the next few weeks. —AFP

Jail those who browse terror sites: Sarkozy tion of a global Internet surveillance system in France?� Media lawyer Christophe Bigot seconded her concerns, saying that any such law if passed - would be a serious blow to the democratic credentials of a country that considers itself the home of human rights. “I don’t see how you can assume that a person who connects (to an extremist website) not only shares the ideas that are being expressed there but is ready to act on them,� Bigot said. “That seems to be a very dangerous shortcut - a real step back in terms of individual liberty.�

Bigot said it wasn’t clear to him to what degree Sarkozy’s proposals were serious. In any case, France’s Parliament isn’t in session, but could be called back for urgent legislation. Otherwise, an eventual law would be contingent on Sarkozy’s re-election.

The tightening presidential race has been upended by the shooting rampage blamed on Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent who allegedly killed three French paratroopers, three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi before dying in a violent confrontation with police in the southern French city of Toulouse earlier Thursday. Sarkozy has France’s far-right nipping at his heels, so he’s been under pressure to appear tough. A poll released Thursday by the CSA firm suggested that Sarkozy may benefit politically from a hardening of attitudes toward extremist violence.

Morillon said she understood the emotional appeal of a crackdown on online radicalization in the wake of such atrocities. Still, she said, “you have to be careful not to attack the wrong target.� “Once more it’s the Internet that’s being blamed, as if the Internet was the source of all evil.� —AP

PARIS: France’s president proposed a sweeping new law Thursday that would see repeat visitors to extremist web sites put behind bars - one of several tough measures floated in the wake of a murderous shooting spree. The proposed rules, unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy after the death of an Islamist fanatic wanted for a horrifying series of execution-style murders, have alarmed journalists and legal experts, who say they risk pulling the plug on free expression. Sarkozy, who is only a month away from an election, argued that it was time to treat those who browse extremist websites the same way as those who consume child pornography. “Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison,� he told a campaign rally in Strasbourg, in eastern France. “Don’t tell me it’s not possible. What is possible for pedophiles should be possible for trainee terrorists and their supporters, too.� French law calls for up to two years in prison and 30,000 (roughly $40,000) in fines for repeat visitors to child porn sites, although whether the proposed anti-terror rules would carry similar penalities isn’t clear.

When asked, Sarkozy’s office directed a query seeking details to the Ministry of Justice, which didn’t immediately offer clarification.

Journalists and lawyers are concerned. “Trying to criminalize a visit - a simple visit - to a website, that’s something that seems disproportionate,� said Lucie Morillon, who runs the new media bureau of journalists’ watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. “What’s especially worrying for us is how you are going to know who’s looking at what site.

Does this announcement mean the installa-

I love to see a photo that speaks: Sayegh KUWAIT: Awards night for the Kuwait Times photography competition is due next month, and judges comprise academics, professional photographers and well-known personalities from different fields. They have all been invited to evaluate the photograph entries. One of the judges is Sarah AlSayegh, a revenue and fraud analyst for Wataniya Telecom and revered cityscape/landscape photographer in Kuwait.

Al-Sayegh started photography in 2005.

After some training and experience, she took photography seriously from 2007, when she acquired a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera. She underwent a series of photography workshops in Britain under the mentorship of Jeremy Walker, a professional photographer whose work has been used by advertising agencies and corporate clients around the world.

Al-Sayegh worked and surrounded herself with professional photographers in both England and the United States. After winning some important photography titles, winning awards and recognition from various private and government institutions, AlSayegh is now known as a brilliant professional photographer. In Kuwait, Al-Sayegh displays her photographs on her website and organized some photo exhibits. She hates to stay in one place and shuns the idea of establishing her own studio to display her work. “The problem in Kuwait is the mentality that we don’t adore landscape or city photography. We are still worshiping portrait photography. We are not open to change,� Al-Sayegh told Kuwait Times.

According to Al-Sayegh, Kuwait lacks artistic appreciation of photographs. Besides poor appreciation of the art of photography, Al-Sayegh said Kuwait is blindly and silently under numerous restrictions, which hampers artistic capabilities. One of the greatest challenges of photographers in Kuwait is the fact that taking pictures is unwelcome.

Sarah Al-Sayegh People in Kuwait are not as welcoming compared to other nationalities.

Al-Sayegh wants her photographs to have style and clicking her lenses means capturing a piece of art. Al-Sayegh hates people using Photoshop. “Photoshop is there to enhance and brighten up some dark spots, but to move anything or manip-

ulate your photos will not help. So if you are a photographer, do not use Photoshop to manipulate images,� she advised. Al-Sayegh loves city photography more than anything else. “I see beauty in the structures, I see beauty in the streets, I see beauty in the surroundings. I love to catch them in my lenses,� she stated. Al-Sayegh does not mind taking photographs and coming back to the same place again and again, as long as she loves the place.

Kuwait’s skyline is unique and more beautiful and attractive compared to some countries in the Middle East. “Our country is unique, we have the best skyline that no other country has. We have the city that is rich, not just in culture and traditions but rich in many things to be proud of. I took many photos of the same skylines almost every day and I am not ready to give up soon as every day is a new day and a new day is an opportunity for different images,� she noted. Al-Sayegh likes taking photos in what she called ‘blue hour’. Blue hour is the period 10 to 15 minutes after sunset. “Blue hour adds beautiful colors to your photographs, especially if you want a dramatic skyline combined with perfect skies.�

Asked what elements she would love to see in photographs as a judge in this year’s photo-competition, she said: “I want to see a photo that speaks to me and to people who look at it.� Kuwait Times will receive photo entries with the theme inspired by Kuwait’s National and Liberation Days. The submission deadline is 30 March. Kuwait Times photography contest is sponsored by Canon (Kuwait) Middle East, Al-Sayer Group, SwissBel Hotel Plaza, Caesars Travel Company and Response Media (Events and Exhibition).

KT photography contest hots up

By Lisa Conrad KUWAIT: The judges of Kuwait Times’ photography competition are reminding competitors to stick to the guidelines and be creative when taking photos. “There are two key elements when taking a great photo: technical skill and creativity. A winning photo will have both,� said Ahmed Dashti, teacher of Photojournalism at Kuwait University’s College of Arts. There are certain criteria that competitors must follow in order to stay in the running, and the judges are strict when it comes to abiding by the rules. “We don’t want photos with excessive effects or Photoshop.

Out of focus photos, unless the blurred focus is intentional and part of the depth of field in the photo, aren’t acceptable either,� said Abdul Karim Al-Enzi, Artist and Information consultant at Kuwait Arts Association, Managing Director at Petra Advertising and Chairman of Kuwait Advertising Union. He added, “There are rules in every field, and photography is no different: the rules must be followed.�

Those who successfully follow the rules and provide outstanding photos could win one of six DSLR Canon cameras, airline tickets provided by Caesar’s travel and hotel accommodation from Swiss-Bel Hotel Kuwait in one of their sister hotels in the GCC. The process of judging the photos is both timeconsuming and energy-draining as the judges try and pick the best of

the bunch. “It takes three days just to pick out the photos to be disqualified, for example those that didn’t stick to the guidelines or photos that are severely out of focus,� said Al-Enzi.

Dashti added, “We often have disagreements over which photos

expanding the list of winners if the photos are good enough.�

In order to impress the judges, photos have to have the ‘wow’ factor. “In general, pictures that make you say ‘wow’ when you first see them tend to be winners. If, after analysis, you find that they’ve also

KUWAIT: Abdul Karim Al-Enzi and Ahmed Dashti are pictured at the Kuwait Times office. should stay and which should go, let alone choosing which position to place each photo in. The rule is that the person defending a photo must convince the others that it’s worthy by pointing out the elements that make it special. If they can do that successfully, then the photo can stay.� However, Al-Enzi added that the judges will be flexible if there is an excess of winning photos, noting “We will consider

displayed technical ability and strong creativity, then you’re onto a winner,� said Dashti. He added, “There are so many ways to capture various emotions through photography, and doing that effectively takes a keen eye and considerable skill.� However, despite winning photos often stand out from the start, the judges insist that the evaluating process must be completed in

order to ensure fairness, “It’s important to complete the judging process from start to finish, even if you’re sure of something.

Sometimes what we thought were top-spot photos get moved down in position, or excluded all together,� said Al-Enzi. Dashti added, “It’s time consuming because you have to refresh sometimes and leave everything for the day so that you can come back later and view the photos with fresh eyes.�

Fair and even judging is a priority, which is why the names of all competitors will be withheld and replaced with numbers instead.

Each competitor’s photos will be grouped together and given a number, and from that group, just one photo will be picked to go forward in the final judging. “Many people send in multiple photos, but in order to remain fair we pick just one of their photos to compete with the rest. Picking through photos by the same photographer takes additional time but it ensures fairness,� said Al-Enzi.

The judges thanked Kuwait Times for pioneering photo competitions in Kuwait, “Kuwait Times has been holding this competition for eight years. It encourages people to be creative and take part, especially given the prizes up for grabs,� added Al-Enzi. The competition is running until the 30th of March, and submissions must be handed in at the reception of the Kuwait Times office in Shuwaikh along with a fully completed coupon attached.

Photography Competition

Shoot & Win from 19th Feb. till 30th March

2012

conducted as part of

Kuwait National & Liberation Days 1st

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s Competition is open s Competition open to to all. taken by by the entrants entrants only ss Participating Participating phot photos os should be be taken only.. allowed per per participant. participant. ss A A maximum of ďŹ v ďŹ vee entries entries will be be allowed white or color, colorr, size size 30x40cm. ss Photos Photos can can be be in black & white hard copy copy and CD in high ss Entries Entries should be be provided provided in hard ticipant should b e on the rresolution. esolution. TThe he phot photo o of the par participant be CD as w well. ell. ss Original Original coupon coupon should be be stuck on the back of each photo photo omplete inf fo ormation of the par ticipant. with ccomplete information participant. s All en tries ar eturnable and will be be the property property of s All entries aree non-r non-returnable K uwait TTimes. imes. TThe he en tries ccan an be be used by by the organizer. organizer.

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Kuwait Kuwait National National & Liberation Liberation Days D ays

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By Ben Garcia

Sponsored by

Photography Photography C Competition ompetition

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Offer valid only at Nasser Al-Sayer Showroom in Kuwait City.

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

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

Canada’s NDP elects new leader TORONTO: Canada’s main opposition party chose heavily favored candidate Thomas Mulcair to replace the late Jack Layton, who died of cancer just three months after leading the leftist party to its strongest ever performance in a federal election. Mulcair, a former Quebec cabinet minister who is a relative newcomer to the New Democratic Party (NDP), took over the reins after four rounds of voting at the leadership convention, held in downtown Toronto on Friday and Saturday. The Montreal lawmaker, who advocated the party reach beyond its traditional base to appeal to centrist voters, led all four votes of the day, eventually trouncing runner-up Brian Topp, who campaigned to keep the party squarely left-of-centre.

“Today we have the greatest human capacity, and the greatest potential to put that capacity to work than at any time in our history,” said Mulcair to the crowd of cheering delegates. “Our future is limitless, if we get our priorities right.” “The challenge that con-

fronts us is not a failure of ability or talent, it is a failure of leadership and that is failure that we intend to reverse.”

Mulcair will now take on the tough job of building on gains made by Layton and proving to Canadians that the traditionally third-place party can defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s rightof-center Conservatives in the 2015 election.

That’s a tall order, partly because the unprecedented surge in NDP votes in the 2011 election was based largely on the drawing power of Layton, sometimes dubbed Smiling Jack. With rifts caused by the sometimes divisive leadership race threatening to destabilize the party, the official message at the weekend convention was one of unity and driving for ward to form the Canada’s next government.

“They told us, before the last election, that it couldn’t be done, but we rolled up our sleeves and proved them wrong,” said Nycole Turmel in her final speech as the party’s interim leader. “At

ever y step we have proven them wrong. And today we are just as united and determined as ever.” Dislodging the Conservatives may not require actually winning more seats in the House of Commons, but rather holding them to less than half and then trying to form a coalition with the other minority parties. Currently the Conservatives have 165 of 308 seats, or 11 more than half, and the NDP has 102.

Holding on in Quebec But with just over 62,000 members casting ballots in the third round from nearly 130,000 eligible voters across the countr y, the low turnout had Canadian media speculating that the NDP could be losing support. This is a particular risk in the French-speaking province of Quebec, where voters are notoriously fickle and have already started deserting the party and returning to the separatist Bloc Quebecois in public opinion polls.

“What the leadership absolutely

needs is someone who can keep the momentum that the NDP gained in Quebec, someone that Quebecois voters can connect to on a personal and political level,” said Kris Nelson, a new party member from Quebec. Mulcair, one of 10 children born to an IrishCanadian father and French-Canadian mother, was a provincial environment minister for the Liberal party and in 2007 became the NDP’s second-ever member of Parliament from Quebec.

The party also faces a tough challenge competing with others on the left, including the Liberal Party, the Green Party and, in Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois. This has led to calls by some in the NDP and Liberals to merge, or at least cooperate in the next election, an idea Mulcair has rejected.

Voting was delayed on Saturday afternoon, as suspected hackers attacked the computer system that allowed party members to cast their ballots online.

“It was a question of overwhelming our system to make it harder for people to

access the site to vote,” party president Rebecca Blaikie told reporters, adding: “The auditors have no concern about the security of the vote.”

Blaikie said all members had the opportunity to cast their ballots and an investigation over the attack was under way. The voting period was repeatedly extended throughout the day as the online ballot system struggled to keep up with users. All counted, in the final ballot Mulcair walked away with 33,881 votes, or 57.2 percent, compared with Topp’s 42.8 percent of the vote. In Canada’s 2011 federal elections, the New Democrats smashed all expectations, almost trebling its seats in the House of Commons and becoming the main opposition party for the first time ever.

The governing Conservatives - who favor low taxes and a tough-on-crime approach - won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the May 2 election and will not face reelection until October 2015. — Reuters

Santorum wins Louisiana Santorum strong across board in LA GOP primary

NUKU’ALOFA: A Tongan man, dressed in black for mourning and wearing the traditional ta’ovala waistmat, passes black and purple bunting symbolising the death of King George yesterday. — AFP

NEW ORLEANS: Underdog Rick Santorum celebrated victory yesterday after capturing the southern US state of Louisiana in a largely symbolic win that won’t dent rival Mitt Romney’s commanding lead in the race for the Republican presidential nod. “Our campaign is making history,” Santorum said in an e-mail to supporters moments after he was projected the winner of this southern US state by US media.

The race was called after the former Pennsylvania senator established a strong 49.1-percent lead, with Romney trailing far behind with 26.6 percent of the vote. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich was third with 15.9 percent of the ballot and Texas Representative Ron Paul had 6.1 percent. Exit polls showed Santorum had won among just about every voter category. Among the few groups that Romney carried were voters earning more than $200,000 a year and those who were not white evangelical Christians.

Written off early on in the campaign, Santorum has steadily notched up wins now 11 out of 34 contests-largely with the help of evangelical Christians and the party’s most conservative members. “Not since Ronald Reagan in 1976 has a conservative candidate won as many states as we have,” Santorum said. “The reason why our campaign is winning in state after state is because people want an authentic, strong conservative leader to take on Barack Obama and not someone who just talks a good conservative game.”

But Santorum’s failure to win over more moderate voters-and his focus on divisive culture war issues like abortion and birth control-has called into question his ability to beat President Obama in the November 6 election. “We liked Santorum for a while, but lately he has gotten too radical,” Betty Harper, 76, told

AFP after casting a ballot for Romney at a New Orleans polling station.

“Obama is out of control... I really think he is a closet Muslim,” she added, echoing conspiracy theories that have dogged Obama ever since his 2008 White House run. Her husband, Dick Harper, said Romney is the “best man for the job” because he’s a “good businessman and he won’t embarrass us.” Pressure is mounting from the Republican establishment to rally behind Romney, whose 21 wins include Florida, Ohio and Michigan-all

GREEN BAY: Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (right) is joined by his daughter Sarah Maria during a news conference, Saturday, March 24, 2012. — AP key battlegrounds in the general election. going to caucuses,” Schmidt told AFP. “Romney is a nice man, but I prefer Obama had an eight-point lead over Santorum in a hypothethical matchup Santorum because I felt he is better than that had him in a statistical tie with the rest, morally for one thing,” Dianne Romney, according to Rasmussen nation- Cannelle, 79, said after casting a ballot in al survey. But Santorum insists the only New Orleans. “You don’t just have to have way to beat Obama is to pick a conserva- brains to be president; you have to have

Tongans mourn king’s death NUKU’ALOFA: Thousands of Tongans gathered yesterday to pray at services which remembered their late King George Tupou V, a monarch seen as a reformer who brought democracy to the South Pacific nation.

The king died in Hong Kong on March 18 and his body will return to Tonga today ahead of an elaborate funeral ceremony in which some 150 pallbearers will carry his casket to the royal tomb. As church bells and the singing of choirs rang out across the capital Nuku’alofa yesterday, families dressed almost entirely in black and most wearing traditional woven mats attended Christian services across the island.

Tongans traditionally attend church yesterday, but this was the first since the king’s death and the nation entered a three-month mourning period. “They feel sad, they feel sorry,” said churchgoer Talavao Pepa of the nation’s loss of its king. “That’s why they are wearing black, to pay respect.” The streets of Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu are swathed in black and purple cloth which hangs not only on government buildings, but major businesses, the airport terminal, homes and even palm trees.

The death at age 63 of the king, who took over after his father passed away in 2006, did not come as a complete shock to Tongans after his treatment for cancer last year. But many have remembered the Oxford-educated monarch, who saw the need for reform, for his moves to decisively end 165 years of feudal rule.

“People, they are very sad because this king leaves power for the people,” said Sione Kolo, ahead of a reception at the home of the late king’s mother, Queen Halaevalu Mata’aho who was yesterday receiving groups of mourners. Hundreds of men and women gathered on grass outside the queen’s residence to calmly wait to sing and pray, some of them wiping away tears as they waited in the shade of frangipani trees.

Tonga has declared an official period of mourning until June 19 for the dead monarch whose body will lie in state at the Throne Room at the Palace before his funeral tomorrow. He will be laid to rest at the Royal Tombs, the burial place for Tongan kings for more than a century. George Tupou V will be succeeded by his younger brother Crown Prince Tupouto’a Lavaka, 52, seen as far more conservative than his flamboyant sibling. — AFP

tive candidate who can energize the party’s base rather than tapping an “ObamaLite” in the hopes of winning over moderates and independents.

And the party’s conservative base isn’t listening to the establishment anymore, said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University. “Since 2010 GOP incumbents and ‘establishment’ have been declared to be RINO’s (Republican In Name Only) challenged in primaries, and generally excoriated by almost 2/3 of the Republicans voting or

moral values as well.” Turnout has been low in the hotly contested, topsy-turvy Republican nominating race, but Romney has dismissed any concerns about an enthusiasm gap as he amasses an increasingly insurmountable lead.

Santorum has vowed to take the fight all the way to the Republican convention in August if Romney fails to win the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Romney currently has an estimated 560 delegates, while Santorum has won 246, according to the website Real Clear Politics. Gingrich, who has won two states, has 141 delegates, while Paul, who has not won a single contest, has 66 thanks to the proportional distribution of delegates in some states.

While Santorum’s expected win in Louisiana ought to provide him with some momentum, the race next shifts to states where Romney has the advantage.

The former Massachusetts governor was ahead by 13 points in a Rasmussen survey of voters in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin, which heads to the polls on April 3 along with Maryland and the US capital Washington.

Santorum is expected to carry his home state of Pennsylvania in the following contest on April 24, but the victory will be overshadowed if Romney is able to sweep New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, which also vote that day. Santorum’s campaign says it is looking ahead to May, when the southern states of North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas will vote. But if enough of the party’s “super-delegates” throw their weight behind Romney, the race could be essentially over long before then. Since many states award delegates at state conventions, the results of nominating events do not translate easily into an exact delegate count. — AFP

Dick Cheney gets heart transplant

MAIQUETIA: In this photo, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez (right) and his daughter Rosa Virginia listen to the playing of the national anthem prior to their departure to Havana. — AP

Chavez travels to Cuba for radiation treatment CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez flew to Cuba late Saturday to begin radiation therapy one month after undergoing surgery that removed a cancerous tumour. Chavez will be in Cuba at the same time as Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives on the communist-governed island today after a visit to Mexico. But Chavez didn’t refer to the pope’s upcoming visit to Havana.

The 57-year-old president describes himself as a Christian. He has regularly clashed with Roman Catholic leaders in Venezuela, but during his illness has often publicly expressed faith in God that he will overcome cancer. Chavez said the radiation treatments began yesterday. He has been recovering from a Feb. 26 surgery in Havana that he said removed a tumour from the same spot in his pelvic region where another tumour was extracted eight months earlier. “I’ve decided, on the recommendation of my

medical team and also my government political team, to begin ... radiation therapy treatment,” Chavez said in a televised meeting with aides Saturday. He described it as a “complement to the surgery that I underwent.”

“Yesterday, they took out the last stitches that were left from the operation. Everything’s very good. I’ve been walking much better. ... Without any sort of complication, thanks to God,” he said.

“And now, a month after the operation, we’re ready for radiation therapy, which will last about four, five weeks.” At Caracas’ international airport Saturday night, Chavez held the hand of one of his daughters as he walked past soldiers standing at attention.

“I’ll be back in a few days,” he said.

“You should know that radiation therapy is for various days, and after that a break, and after that other days and another break. — AP

WASHINGTON: Former US vice president Dick Cheney was in hospital Sunday, recovering after a long-awaited and “lifesaving” heart transplant from an unknown donor to whom he will “be forever grateful.” Cheney, 71, a central figure in the “war on terror” launched by the United States in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks and who remains a prominent figure in the Republican Party, has a long history of heart trouble. He had been on a list for the transplant for more than 20 months, said a statement from his spokeswoman Kara Ahern.

Cheney, who served under president George W. Bush, “is recovering in the intensive care unit of Inova Fair fax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, after undergoing heart transplant surgery on Saturday,” the statement said. “Although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift,” it added, without giving further details on his condition. Cheney has suffered several major health scares.

He suffered his first heart attack in 1978 at the age of 37 and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988. He has since had two artery-clearing angioplasties and in 2001 was fitted with a pacemaker. In a 2011 interview with NBC News, he said a special pump implanted in his heart the previous year was “a miracle of modern technology” that had kept him alive but was a “temporary measure.”

In a statement, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wished Cheney and his family all the best. “He has been a colleague and friend for many years, and we are glad that the surgery went well,” Gingrich said. In a long political career Cheney served in Congress, the White House and as defence secre-

tary, but gained real prominence while vice president. He was a driving force behind Bush’s foreign policy after September 11 when three civilian jetliners were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, and of a fourth that plummeted into a field in Pennsylvania.

Almost 3,000 people were killed in the attacks and Cheney was heavily involved in the subsequent decisions to invade Afghanistan, in autumn 2001, and Iraq in March 2003. The White House response after September 11 also included controversial measures such as the wiretapping of US citizens without a warrant and the use of harsh interrogation methods that met global definitions of torture. Despite his persistent health problems, Cheney has remained a key Republican figure since leaving office, often criticizing President Barack Obama. — AFP

NEW YORK: In this file photo, former Vice President Dick Cheney is interviewed. — AP

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

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

US paid $50,000 per shooting death 10 killed in Afghan bombing

BHUBANESWAR: Italian tourist Claudio Colangelo walks with the media people after he was handed over to the crew of a television channel, at Sorada village in Ganjam district yesterday. — AP

Indian Maoists free 1 Italian tourist, another still held BHUBANESWAR: Indian Maoist rebels have freed an Italian tourist they kidnapped along with his friend almost two weeks ago in a remote area of eastern state Orissa, releasing him to a group of reporters yesterday. Claudio Colangelo was taken hostage with tour guide Paolo Bosusco while swimming in a river on March 14, in what is believed to be the first time the rebels have targeted foreigners.

Italy’s foreign minister said Colangelo had spoken to local Italian diplomatic staff by telephone and was in good health.

“It was a frightening experience,” Colangelo told Indian NDTV network after a rebel commander released him at a jungle camp 16 hours hike from main roads. “They stole 10 days of my life,” he said as he travelled by car toward state capital Bhubaneswar. He said he hoped his friend Bosusco would be freed soon, that he had missed his family, and wanted to return to India.

“I hope they understand we are Italian, Paolo has nothing to do with this war,” Colangelo said on NDT V. T V images showed him wearing shorts and a black Tshirt. He told Sky Italia he would meet the Italian consul in Bhubaneswar, where he was expected to arrive late yesterday. “Now we have to bring Paolo Bosusco home,” Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said in a statement. NDTV journalists who received Colangelo at the camp said he told them he had been treated well while held captive.

Colangelo’s release came the day after talks between the government and rebelnominated negotiators collapsed. On

Saturday, suspected Maoists kidnapped an Orissa state politician, adding to the tension. Also known as Naxals, the Maoists have fought a decades-long war against the government in a wide swathe of central India. They say they are fighting for the poor and landless, and they often back farmers in land disputes with big business.

The government calls them India’s main internal security threat, and an obstacle to higher growth and more jobs in Asia’s third-largest economy. Hundreds die annually in the conflict, although levels of violence have fallen in recent years. Analysts said they believed the kidnappings were designed to draw attention to the plight of tribal people in one of India’s poorest regions.

Orissa state’s home department secretary UN Behera said the government will do all it can to secure the release of the other hostages. The fighters said they took the Italians because they were taking photographs of indigenous tribeswomen bathing in a river. Among their demands is an end to tourism in sensitive areas of the state, and that the government ends operations against them.

Colangelo told Sky Italia he and his friend, who runs a tour company in Orissa’s beach resort and temple town Puri, were seized while they were swimming. A few weeks ago, a scandal erupted over what the insurgents regard as “human safaris” and the practice of taking tourists to see naked people on the Andaman Islands and in Orissa. Authorities in the state have vowed to stop the practice, but the Maoists say not enough has been done. — Reuters

KANDAHAR: The United States has paid $50,000 in compensation for each Afghan killed and $11,000 for each person wounded in the shooting spree allegedly committed by a US soldier in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official and a community elder said yesterday. The sums, much larger than typical payments made by the US to families of civilians killed in military operations in Afghanistan, come as the US tries to mend relations following the killing rampage that has threatened to undermine the international effort here.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of sneaking off his base on March 11, then creeping into houses in two nearby villages and opening fire on families as they slept. US investigators believe the gunman returned to his base after the first attack and later slipped away to kill again, American officials have said. Bales has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and other crimes and could face the death penalty if convicted.

That would seem to support the US government’s assertion contested by some Afghans - that the shooter acted alone, since the killings would have been perpetrated over a longer period of time than assumed when Bales was detained outside his base in Kandahar province’s Panjwai district. But it also raises new questions about how the suspect could have carried out the predawn attacks without drawing attention from any Americans on the base.

The families of the dead, who received the money Saturday at the governor’s office, were told that the money came from US President Barack Obama, said Kandahar provincial council member Agha Lalai. He and community elder Jan Agha confirmed the payout amounts. Survivors previously had received smaller compensation payments from Afghan officials - $2,000 for each death and $1,000 for each person wounded.

Two US officials confirmed that compensation had been paid but declined to discuss exact amounts, saying only that it reflected the devastating nature of the incident. The officials spoke anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the subject. A spokesman for NATO and U.S.

KABUL: Afghan villagers pray over the grave of one of the 16 victims killed in a shooting rampage. — AP forces, Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, said only that coalition members often make compensation payments, but they are usually kept private.

“As the settlement of claims is in most cases a sensitive topic for those who have suffered loss, it is usually a matter of agreement that the terms of the settlement remain confidential,” Cummings said. However, civilian death compensations are occasionally made public. In 2010, US troops in Helmand province said they paid $1,500-$2,000 for a death and $600-$1,500 for a serious injury.

The provided compensation figures would mean that at least $866,000 was paid out in all.

Afghan officials and villagers have counted 16 dead - 12 in the village of Balandi and four in neighboring Alkozai - and six wounded. The US military has charged Bales with 17 murders without explaining the discrepancy. The 38-year-old soldier, who is from Lake Tapps, Washington, is accused of using his 9mm pistol and M-4 rifle, which was outfitted with a grenade launcher, to kill four men, four women, two boys and seven girls, then burning some of the bodies. The ages of the children were not disclosed in the charge sheet. Bales is being held in a military prison at Fort

Leavenworth, Kansas. The mandatory minimum sentence if he is convicted is life imprisonment with the chance of parole.

He could also receive the death penalty. Families of the dead declined to comment on any payments by US officials yesterday, but some said previously that they were more concerned about seeing the perpetrator punished than money.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taleban and remains a dangerous area despite several offensives. In the latest violence, a bomb struck a joint NATO-Afghan foot patrol in Kandahar ’s Arghandab district late Saturday, killing nine Afghans and one international service member, according to Shah Mohammad, the district administrator.

Arghandab is a farming region just outside Kandahar city that has long provided refuge for Taleban insurgents. It was one of a number of communities around Kandahar city that were targeted in a 2010 sweep to oust the insurgency from the area. The Afghan dead included one soldier, three police officers, four members of the Afghan “local police” - a government-sponsored militia force and one translator, Mohammad said.

In another development, eight

Afghan security personnel and a foreign soldier were among 10 people killed in a Taleban-style roadside bombing in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said yesterday. “Last night there was an IED attack,” Shah Mohammad, the local administration chief of Arghandab district, told AFP. Provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayoubi said an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier, six Afghan policemen, two Afghan army soldiers and a translator working for the foreign forces were killed in the bombing.

An ISAF serviceman and another Afghan policeman were injured, Ayoubi added. Separately, the NATO-led foreign forces said one service member had died “following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan yesterday”. A spokesman declined to give further details or confirm Afghan casualties. But a Western security source confirmed to AFP that the Afghan and ISAF reports were referring to the same incident. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taleban and remains a stronghold of the militants who have been fighting the government of President Hamid Karzai and its Western allies since being ousted from power a decade ago. —Agencies

PTSD treatable; diagnosed return to war

AHMEDABAD: In this photograph, Indian brides wait for the start of a mass wedding ceremony. — AFP

Denying spouse is cruelty: Indian court NEW DELHI: A spouse who refuses to have sex with their partner is guilty of cruelty, the Delhi High Court has ruled in a case over a contested divorce. The court judge declared that denial of sex was justifiable grounds for divorce after a man said that his wife had refused to sleep with him on their wedding night and had only consented 10 to 15 times over a five-month period. “The testimony of the husband that the wife was never responsive and was like a dead wood when he had sexual intercourse with her remained unrebutted,” Justice Kailash Gambhir said in his verdict, the Press Trust of India reported on Saturday.

“It is evident that wilful denial of sexual intercourse without reasonable cause would amount to cruelty,” Gambhir said.

The high court rejected an appeal by the woman against the divorce, which was granted by a lower court in 2001 after the couple had married in 1991. “Sex is the foundation of marriage and marriage without sex is an anathema,” Gambhir said. “Marriage without sex will be an insipid relation.” “There may be cases where one partner to the marriage may be over sexual and the other may not have the desire to the same level, but otherwise is fully potent,” he added. The verdict came after Indian lawmakers last week cleared a draft bill to make divorces easier. Most marriages in India are still arranged by family members and divorce is rare, but rates are reported to have risen rapidly in recent years in the country’s larger cities. — AFP

SAN DIEGO: It is still not known if the soldier accused of killing 17 Afghans was ever diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder - but even if he had been, that alone would not have prevented him from being sent back to war. The Army diagnosed 76,176 soldiers with PTSD between 2000 and 2011.

Of those, 65,236 soldiers were diagnosed at some stage of their deployment. Many returned to the battlefield after mental health providers determined their treatment worked and their symptoms had gone into remission, Army officials and mental health professionals who treat troops say. The Army does not track the exact number in combat diagnosed with PTSD nor those who are in combat and taking medicine for PTSD. The case of Sgt. Robert Bales has sparked debate about whether the Army failed in detecting a soldier’s mental instability or pushed him too far. The Army is reviewing all its mental health programs and its screening process in light of the March 11 shooting spree in two slumbering Afghan villages that killed families, including nine children. For some Americans, Bales is the epitome of a soldier afflicted by war ’s psychological wounds, pushed by the Army beyond his limits.

Bales’ attorney says he does not know if his client suffered from PTSD but his initial statements appear to be building a possible defense around the argument that the horrific crime was the result of a 10-year military veteran sent back to a war zone for a fourth time after being traumatized. Mental health professionals say it’s reasonable to consider PTSD but it was likely not the sole factor that sent the 38year-old father from Washington state over the edge. Still, there is much that is not known about the psychological wounds of war and how they can manifest themselves, and even less is known about the impact of multiple deployments.

Military officials say they have to rely on their mental health experts to decide whether someone is mentally fit to go back into war, and they cannot make a blanket policy of not redeploying troops diagnosed with PTSD. The provider makes a recommendation, but the ultimate decision to deploy a soldier rests with the unit commander.

Army Secretary John McHugh

better or more resilient. There is the misconception out there that if you have this diagnosis, you will always be disabled, and that’s just not true.” It also depends on the severity of the PTSD, which can last anywhere from months to years. Some troops treated for PTSD yearn to return to the battlefield where they feel more comfortable surrounded by their fellow troops and on a mis-

FORT IRVIN: In this file photo, Sgt. Robert Bales takes part in exercises at the National Training Centre in California.— AP told Congress this week that “we have in the military writ large over 50,000 folks in uniform who have had at least four deployments.”

Some have served double-digit deployments, where they witnessed traumatic events. “People do not understand that you can be treated for PTSD,” said Dr. Heidi Kraft, who cared for Marines in Iraq in 2004 as a Navy combat psychologist. “It’s a matter of turning a traumatic memory into just that - a memory rather than something that haunts you.

“You can’t say the person hasn’t live through trauma, but symptoms can go completely into remission, where a person is very functional and in fact emerges from treatment

sion than in the unsettling quiet of their home life, mental health professionals say. But Bales’ attorney said that was not the case with his client.

John Henry Browne of Seattle said Bales had suffered injuries during his deployments, including a serious foot injury and head trauma and did not want to go on a fourth tour.

Military officials insist that Bales had been properly screened and declared fit for combat. Army officials say soldiers sent to war may be checked up to five times, including before being deployed, during combat, once they return home, and six months and a year later. The Army screens soldiers for depres-

sion and PTSD, asking questions to find out about any social stressors, sleep disruption and other problems. Those who are detected as having problems go on to a second phase of screening.

Officials say, however, that no test is considered diagnostically definitive for mental illness in general or PTSD in particular. Critics say the Army has a history of bandaging the problem and rushing troops back into combat by loading them up on prescription drugs. Military courts also do not recognize PTSD as a legitimate defence, said attorney Geoffrey Nathan, who has represented a number of court-martialed troops. “They’re still in a state of denial as to what combat soldiers go through in the field of battle,” Nathan said.

The Army says it’s committed to the health of the force, pointing out it has invested $710 million in behavioural health care and doubled the number of mental health workers since 2007. “The Army has a robust policy to return soldiers who are fit for duty to combat units as soon as possible,” said Army spokesman George Wright. “If a soldier has a broken leg, and he is healed, and fully capable of conducting the mission, he’s eligible to return to duty. It’s the same when qualified medical doctors, psychologists or psychiatrists determine a soldier suffering from a behavioural health disorder is healed. If he displays the signs that he’s fully capable of accomplishing the mission as a solider, he’ll be returned to duty.”

Treatment can result in cure for some patients with PTSD, but more often results in improvement in symptoms and functioning, not a complete cure, according to the Army. PTSD can recur after treatment on exposure to other traumatic events or stressors. According to some studies, up to 80 percent of people with PTSD also suffer from another psychiatric disorder, making it challenging to make an accurate diagnosis. — AP

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

i n t e r n at i o n a l

New reforms plant seeds of hope for Myanmar farmers BAGO: Recent reforms in Myanmar have planted a seed of hope that the country can turn back the clock on five decades of military rule and isolationism to once more become the rice bowl of Asia.

With rich natural resources and a strategic position between China and India, Myanmar was seen as one of Southeast Asia’s star prospects in the years after independence from Britain in 1948. But international economists left the army out of their reckoning and following a military coup in 1962, the junta’s economic mismanagement resulted in the once-thriving agricultural sector tumbling into ruin.

Storage problems and ill-maintained rural roads mean that much produce rots before it can ever reach market. However, experts point out that Myanmar still has the vital water and land resources to rebuild its agricultural sector. “This represents an incredible opportunity for Myanmar because almost uniquely amongst the countries of Southeast Asia and beyond, it has an incredible, vast supply of water, and water is fast becoming the critical element that countries need for agriculture,” Myanmar expert Sean Turnell said.

“We’ve got this country with a vast amount of water resources, with the most fertile soil imaginable, this country was the rice bowl of not only Asia but the British Empire as well,” said Turnell, of Australia’s Macquarie University. “And here it is with agriculture neglected for 50 years, extraordinarily unproductive, but of course from that low base you can get extraordinary growth.”

However, change comes slowly to Myanmar’s sprawling fields, where farmers till the land from dawn to dusk as they have done for generations, with little reward for their back-breaking labour. “I am old, but I have to farm the land for 16 hours a day to pay off my debts,” lamented Ohn Thaung, as he worked in a rice paddy in Bago district, northeast of Yangon. The 75-year-old farmer shares a tiny hut with his five children, 15 grandchildren and two prized water buffalo.

To plant his 28 hectares (70 acres) this season, he borrowed about 200,000 kyats ($300) from a cooperative controlled by the regime, a large sum in a country where about one-third of the population lives in poverty. He also had to pay for “permits”, or local taxes, for every hectare tilled. “My

family is surrounded by rice we cannot eat, because we have to harvest and sell it,” he said, his leathery face creased by years under the tropical sun.

Ohn Thaung has no granary of his own, so his harvest gets sold at a break-even price to a local trader, and the little money he earns goes to his creditors and to buy seed-a vicious cycle that has also trapped his sons and grandchildren.

Myanmar’s nominally civilian government has pinned its hopes on a lifting of international sanctions to bring back Western investment. But experts say the authorities must do a lot more themselves on the economic front.

The International Monetary Fund last month said Myanmar had the potential for 6.0 percent economic growth in 2012-2013, if it pressed ahead with modernisation, free-market reform and measures to stabilise the economy. It welcomed land reform proposals, currently being debated in parliament, that would give farmers plantation title deeds for the first time in a country where the government has historically claimed ownership of all land. But the IMF also said that Myanmar’s farm-

ers needed easier access to credit, through both state lenders and microfinance. Like Ohn Thaung, 34-year-old Zaw Moe was born into a hard farmer’s life.

“I had no chance to get out, that is the simple truth,” he said. With two toddlers and another baby on the way, Zaw Moe said he was pinning his hopes of a better life on reforms promised by the government which took power last year. “Each day in the fields is a struggle to live,” he said, hunched on the ground picking beans. Indeed, Myanmar has a long way to go to catch up on its past production of rice. “They used to export around five million tonnes of rice every year (six decades ago), now it has declined. Last year it was around 700,000 metric tonnes,” Hiroyuki Konuma, regional assistant director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, told AFP. “So as things change in Myanmar itself, we have a lot of expectations that Myanmar will have more access to fertiliser and other agricultural inputs... that will help Myanmar to get more inputs that it needs for it to facilitate further rice export growth,” he said. — AFP

HK’s elite heed Beijing, pick Chun-ying as leader Thousands protest ‘undemocratic’ vote

MANILA: A boy jumps towards a huge bubble created by Andrew Ang (not in the frame) at the Luneta Park yesterday. Ang created a secret formula, a liquid solution which he sells to passers-by at the park. — AFP

Ailing Suu Kyi curbs campaign in Myanmar YANGON: Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has fallen ill while campaigning for Myanmar’s upcoming by-elections and has suspended her extensive tour of the country a week ahead of the polls, her party said yesterday. Kyi Toe, deputy information officer for her National League for Democracy party, said that Suu Kyi’s personal physician had advised taking the break after she fell ill with vomiting while campaigning in the Mergui archipelago in southernmost Myanmar. The doctor, Tin Myi Win, who was accompanying her, said her ill health was due to exhaustion and the hot weather, according to Kyi Toe. Party members traveling with the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate said she had been put on an intravenous drip. Released from house arrest in 2010, Suu Kyi has traveled thousands of miles (kilometers) by car, plane and boat to campaign around the country for her party. She herself is running in a constituency south of Yangon.

The polls are the first in which the Suu Kyi’s party is taking part since it won a 1990 general election - only to have the army refuse to let it take power, kicking off two decades of military repression.

They are seen as an indicator of political reforms by Myanmar’s current, militaryaligned government since a 2010 election that the opposition boycotted. Suu Kyi fell ill Saturday during a grueling day of boat travel that saw her vessel go temporarily aground. NLD members, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the press, said the authorities denied her party the use of a larger ferry-type vessel which would have allowed her to travel faster, so her group was forced to use three smaller boats which made the journey’s duration three times as long.

Despite her illness, she briefly addressed a crowd of 10,000 people yesterday in Mergui, mentioning the problem in obtaining a fast boat and promising to return when she is well. She has generally drawn large and enthusiastic crowds on the campaign trail, aside from

appearances near the custom-built capital Naypyitaw, whose large population of civil servants and soldiers owe their living to the government. She and her party have charged the government with taking measures to handicap her party, such as selective bans on using large public venues including football stadiums. They also have said that the voting registries contain the names of dead people, opening up the potential for electoral fraud.

Kyi Toe said Suu Kyi’s campaigning had been suspended at least through Wednesday, when she was scheduled to be in central Myanmar, where one of her intended destinations was Natmauk, the hometown of her father, martyred independence hero Gen. Aung San. It is unclear if she will be able to make a scheduled stay the night before the polls in Kawhmu, the constituency where she is running.

There were 48 seats at stake in the byelections, but the state Election Committee announced Friday that voting would be postponed in there constituencies of Kachin state, where there has been sporadic but sometimes fierce fighting between government troops and ethnic Kachin rebels, who have long sought more autonomy and faced increased crackdowns this past year. The NLD intended to contest all 48 seats, though one of its candidates was disqualified.

The NLD’s participation in the April vote is seen as an endorsement of President Thein Sein’s reforms, though Suu Kyi has declared that much more needs to be changed until the country can claim to be democratic.

The opposition boycotted the 2010 general election, claiming it was neither free nor fair, leaving the field open for a landslide victory by the army-backed Union Solidarity And Development Party and the installation of Thein Sein - the former junta’s prime minister - as president. Thein Sein initiated reforms, including the release of political prisoners, and the NLD agreed to rejoin electoral politics after election laws were changed to meet its objections. — AP

MYEIK: Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to her supporters during her election campaign for the April 1 by-election yesterday. — AP

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s elite chose a former Cabinet chief as the southern Chinese financial hub’s next leader yesterday, heeding Beijing’s wishes and public opinion following a tumultuous, bitter race that highlighted public discontent. Leung Chun-ying, 57, was declared the semiautonomous territory’s next chief executive after securing 689 votes from a 1,200-seat committee of business leaders and other elites, most of them loyal to Beijing. Initially considered the underdog, Leung gained the support of China’s Communist leaders, who backed off their deeply unpopular first choice, Henry Tang.

Hong Kong’s 7.1 million ordinary residents, who had no say, used a mock poll to show their unhappiness over an undemocratic vote in which the two main candidates were establishment figures acceptable to Beijing. About 55 percent of the 222,990 votes cast were blank in the poll conducted by Hong Kong University researchers, local media reports said.

Leung, a real estate surveyor who’s known as C.Y., bowed deeply three times to election committee members after his victory was declared.

Tang received 285 votes. Pro-democracy candidate Albert Ho, who had no chance of winning, got 76 votes. Another 82 of the 1,132 total votes cast were deemed invalid - most were blank.

Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters gathered at the large waterfront convention centre where the vote was held, waving banners and chanting slogans calling for “One person, one vote to choose the chief executive.” Some tried to push past barricades but were stopped by dozens of police, who used pepper spray.

Tang, whose backers include Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, was seen early on as Beijing’s preferred candidate. But Tang, the heir to a textile fortune, was hit by a string of gaffes and scandals that torpedoed his approval rating. The scandals also added to wider public discontent, driven by a yawning rich-poor gap and sky-high housing prices that have stirred popular resentment of the city’s billionaires, who control Hong Kong’s economy and vast real estate empires, and their perceived close ties with the government. Beijing’s decision to switch to Leung, the son of a police officer, in the days leading up to the vote indicated China’s leaders think public opinion was still important as they sought a credible leader to help defuse growing anger and prevent largescale protests, even if it means upsetting the billionaires. Leung’s pledges to beef up social reforms and expand public housing have irked

HONG KONG: Former convener of Hong Kong’s Executive Council Leung Chun-ying, (left) and his wife Regina, celebrate his victory in the chief executive election yesterday. — AP the city’s tycoons but pleased ordinary Hong Kongers.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, is an unrestrained global capital of commerce with Western-style rights and freedoms not seen on the mainland. But it has never had full democracy and the tumultuous race has heightened many Hong Kongers’ desire to directly elect their leader. Beijing has promised universal suffrage for 2017, when Leung’s five-year term ends, but no roadmap has been laid out. “To the people who are shouting and protesting outside - yes they do have a vote, they do have a voice, yes they are part of Hong Kong,” said Leung, who stepped down from the Cabinet and as chairman of a property firm to run. “I shall work with the whole of Hong Kong in the next five years to make sure the 2017 universal suffrage chief executive election will work well.”

Leung pledged to maintain Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms in his victory speech. His popularity rating benefited from Tang’s scandals, which included an extramarital affair, rumors of an out-of-wedlock child and a huge, illegally built addition to his home. At one point, polls showed more than 50 percent of people

President Aquino in command of Philippines MANILA: Benigno Aquino admits he needed weekend escapes from the job’s pressures when he started as the Philippines’ president, but nearly two years on he exudes passion and says he is firmly in control. During an indepth interview with AFP at the presidential palace, Aquino pointed to a host of economic indicators to justify his enthusiasm, while displaying a relish for bare-knuckled political fights against his opponents.

“There are so many things that have transpired that none of us could even have imagined when we were campaigning,” Aquino said reflecting on his first 21 months in office that followed a landslide election win.

He referred mostly to the state of the nation’s economy, which after decades of under-performing has showed signs of steady, if incremental, improvement under his leadership and mantra of clean-governance.

Aquino, 52, insists the economy is on the right track, citing a series of international credit ratings upgrades and the rise of the Philippine stock market to record highs in recent weeks as evidence. Among his proudest achievements are luring foreign manufacturers and other investors to the Philippines, extending health cover, cutting government waste and expanding an incentive scheme to keep millions of poor children at school.

Critics accuse him of lacking urgency on the economic front, pointing out GDP growth was just 3.7 percent last year partly because he cut government spending when they say pump-priming was needed. But Aquino’s policies, which have an overarching theme of tackling the corruption infecting all sectors of the nation’s economy, have won endorsement from a wide range of sources.

World Bank country director Motoo Konishi said last week the economy was in good shape with inflation stable at around 2.7 percent, manageable government finances and a well-focused social protection system.

“Besides having strong macroeconomic fundamentals, the country is benefiting from political stability and a popular government seen by many as strongly committed to improving governance and reducing poverty,” he said. —AP

supported Leung versus about 17 percent for Tang. But Leung’s rating also slid after he was hit by multiple controversies, including a conflict of interest scandal and accusations by Tang that he was overly willing to deploy riot police and tear gas in 2003 to confront protesters opposed to controversial anti-subversion legislation. Many also believe he is a longtime secret member of China’s Communist Party, which they say explains how he was named to a key post on a committee helping draft the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution that took effect after China regained control in 1997.

Leung denied yesterday that he was a member of the party, which officially doesn’t exist in Hong Kong. “I’m not a member of the Communist Party, I’m not a so-called underground member of the Communist Party,” he said. Political science professor Joseph Cheng of City University of Hong Kong said there is a high chance of further anti-government protests.

“Hong Kong people don’t have high expectations of this administration. They believe that collusion with major business will continue and they are not happy,” Cheng said. Leung will take office on July 1, succeeding Donald Tsang, who is barred from another term. — AP

Japan faces power shortage risks TOKYO: The possibility of a nuclear powerfree summer in Japan draws closer when one of two remaining reactors shuts down for today for maintenance, raising concerns about a power crunch if none of those taken off-line after the Fukushima crisis is restarted.

Anti-nuclear activists may applaud the prospect that the reactors that supplied nearly 30 percent of Japan’s electricity before the March 2011 disaster will be shut down.

But experts say firms will have to bear a costly burden and that mandatory limits on power use may be necessary to avoid blackouts.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the Fukushima plant, will shut down its last running reactor, the No. 6 unit at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, leaving online just one of Japan’s 54 reactors. The one remaining reactor, Hokkaido Electric’s Tomari No.3, is scheduled to go off line on May 5 for maintenance, the Yomiuri newspaper reported yesterday. Safety worries have kept reactors that underwent regular maintenance from going back on stream after the Fukushima disaster, triggered by a huge tsunami last March. Tens of thousands evacuated their homes.

The government is keen to get some running again, but must first persuade wary locals that the plants are safe. Most mayors and governors whose communities host nuclear plants want fresh safety assurances beyond the government-imposed stress tests conducted in recent months before agreeing to the restart of reactors, a Reuters poll showed. Utilities have pressed into service old fossil fuel plants to boost power supply.

But analysts said these ageing facilities could suffer breakdowns, while companies and vulnerable consumer groups would also have to bear the pain of adjustments.

“It’s tough...We may see a big impact on

industrial activities this year,” said Osamu Fujisawa, an independent energy economist.

“It’s likely for two or three reactors to come back online, but that is a drop in the bucket.”

The government has estimated that Japan could face a power shortage of 9.2 percent this summer, or 16.6 million kilowatts, if all nuclear reactors are down and no measures are taken. But it also said most of that gap could be filled if steps such as increasing power supply from fossil fuel plants and solar power as well as conserving energy are taken.

Risks, costly steps Last summer, the government imposed power restrictions on some large corporate users, ordering them to cut usage by 15 percent. To deal with the shortage, manufacturers operated plants at night and on the weekends to avoid peak hour power consumption. Companies used in-house generators while cutting down on the use of air conditioners and lights. Such steps, while effective, came with costs. A poll by business lobby Keidanren in October showed most of 53 manufacturers surveyed said it was hard to operate plants at non-peak hours due to high costs and the burden on employees.

Only one manufacturer was willing to take such steps again.

“Many companies, especially manufacturers, are saying that if such a situation continues for two or three more years, then they would have to go abroad,” Keidanren official Masami Hasegawa told Reuters. Installing inhouse generators is expensive. “The worst scenario for companies would be to install inhouse generators at a high cost and taking a very long time for investment payback,” said Hirofumi Kawachi, a senior analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities. —Reuters

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

NEWS

AMMAN: A Jordanian woman and her daughter walk past Jordanian riot police standing guard at Jamal Abdual Nasser square during demonstrations calling for political reforms on Saturday.

Hundreds of Jordanians demonstrated on March 23, 2012 against what they charged was ìprocrastinationî on reform in the country, as opposition Islamists vowed to continue their protests. — AFP

Saudis may send woman to Olympics Continued from Page 1 country, following an invitation from the International Olympic Committee (OIC).

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, also the powerful interior minister known for his opposition to women being given the right to drive, has given the nod to sending her to the Games, according to local media. But the decision has yet to be officially declared. The Saudi Olympic body has so far said that only men will take part in the London Olympics.

In July last year, the president of the IOC’s Women and Sport Committee, Anita DeFrantz, criticised Saudi Arabia, as well as Qatar and Brunei for being the last three countries to have never sent female athletes to the Olympics. Last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch published a report that damned the systematic exclusion of women from sporting activities in Saudi Arabia. Qatar, which is bidding for the right to host the 2020 Olympics, has already announced its firm intention to send female competitors to London. On Friday, HRW welcomed reports that Saudi Arabia might be represented by women at the Olympics, but said the “positive step” was not enough. It said Saudi Arabia was still in violation of the Olympic Charter “due to its systemic violations of the right for women to participate meaningfully in sport in the kingdom”, calling on the IOC to use its leverage to “help affect lasting change for Saudi women”.

“Sending women to the London Olympics does not change the fact on the ground in Saudi Arabia that girls and women are effectively excluded from taking part in sport,” said Sarah

Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director. “This is no moment for the IOC to celebrate, when girls remain barred from physical education in Saudi government schools as a matter of policy,” she said.

If Malhas is chosen for the Saudi team for the Olympics, the move could provoke resistance in her homeland. It could also be deemed in violation of the country’s strict Islamic code under which women are forced to cover themselves from head to toe. Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, the head of the Saudi Olympic Committee, said at the end of 2011 that Saudi Arabia would field only male athletes in London, while women can take part if they receive direct invitations. “Talks about Saudi Arabia sending a women’s team to the London Olympics have been repeated many times over the past 20 years. Saudi Arabia will participate with a male team, and there is no intention to send a female team because there are no women sports in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

The prince pointed out that there were many Saudi female students abroad who play sports and contacted the committee expressing their wish to participate, but there is no female delegation to accommodate them. “If they receive invitations, we will discuss that, especially (to ensure) they wear right outfits and that the competitions are suitable for women.” But it is still unclear if the Saudi Olympic Committee will select Malhas. Meanwhile, women wanting to take part in sports in the Gulf kingdom face an uphill struggle as they have to do so behind closed doors, like a group of 300 women who played basketball at an enclosed court in the city of Jeddah on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8. —AFP

Young protege named chief of Central Bank Continued from Page 1 His predecessor was concerned about Kuwait’s dependency on oil for revenues and the global fallout of the euro zone crisis. Hashel is a member of the technical committee of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), according to his biography posted on the Central Bank’s website. The Malaysia-based IFSB issues guidance for the Islamic financial services industry.

Kuwait pegs its dinar to an undisclosed basket of currencies of major trading partners, which is believed to be heavily US dollar-dominated. That makes the OPEC member’s Central Bank keep its policy broadly aligned with US benchmarks although it is less exposed to the greenback’s fluctuations than in the case of a direct peg. Unlike fellow Gulf oil

exporters, Kuwait dropped the direct dollar link in 2007 to rein in rising inflation, which climbed as high as 11.6 percent in Aug 2008.

Sheikh Salem warned last month the government’s failure to push through economic reforms had created imbalances that could become serious if high global oil prices fell back again, reiterating concerns about excessive budget spending. In 2009, a plunge in oil prices that followed the global credit crunch pushed Kuwait’s economy into a 5.2 percent contraction in real terms, its worst since the Gulf War ended in 1991. A Reuters poll of analysts in December forecast economic growth to slow to 3.5 percent this year from an estimated 4.5 percent in 2011 due to a weaker global environment. — Reuters

PM grill looms, Juwaihel to quiz interior...

Continued from Page 1 The lawmaker told reporters yesterday that since its inception following the resignation of the previous government in November and its new formation after the Feb 2 polls, the government has miserably failed to tackle the main issues and called for its resignation.

Ashour also blasted what he called the “continued brutal oppression by the police” against peaceful bedoon protesters, adding that such maltreatment was unprecedented. The Shiite lawmaker also criticized what he described as government contradictions in dealing with various issues, citing allowing a controversial conference on Gulf youth and then cancelling it under threats by some MPs. Ashour said that the government’s double-standards and lack of vision in handling key issues call for its immediate resignation.

In a related development, MP Mohammad AlJuwaihel yesterday announced that he has decided to grill Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud AlSabah for the torture to death of Mohammad AlMaimouni Al-Mutairi at a police station and other “surprising issues”. Juwaihel, who like Ashour is a staunch supporter of the former prime minister, said other issues include financial irregularities, the citizenship file, the black van used in the Mutairi torture case and a number of surprising and unprecedented issues. He gave no exact date for filing the grilling but hinted that it will be immediately after the grilling of the prime minister.

Juwaihel, a highly controversial figure before getting elected to the Assembly in February, said he will file the grilling on his own but was open to other participants.

Mutairi died in a police station more than a year ago under the previous government and the issue had forced former interior minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah to step down. A parliamentary panel is still investigating the case.

Meanwhile, four MPs submitted a draft law they said would provide an easy solution for those who have dual citizenship in violation of the Kuwaiti nationality law.

The bill, submitted by Adnan Al-Mutawwa, Faisal AlDuwaisan and Abdulhameed Dashti - all Shiites - and Nabeel Al-Fadl, calls for setting up a special government panel to looks into cases of dual citizenship. It calls on those who have nationalities other than Kuwaiti citizen-

ship to inform the panel and have the choice whether to keep the other nationalities or concede the right to Kuwaiti citizenship for KD 50,000.

Those who wish to keep the other citizenships will lose the right to contesting any form of elections, being appointed in leading positions or joining the military or police services, according to the bill. Those who decline to disclose other citizenships will have their Kuwaiti nationality withdrawn, the bill states. It is unlikely that the draft law will be accepted by the Assembly because the dual citizenship issue has been widely politicized and used against bedouin tribes in the country.

Head of the Assembly panel investigating the illegal bank deposits MP Musallam Al-Barrak said yesterday that the committee will hold a meeting on Saturday to hear the testimonies of a number of personalities.

Barrak said that Al-Qabas newspaper, which was the first to expose the scandal, the head of the Central Bank financial unit and a representative of the interior ministry have been summoned by the committee to testify in the case.

The committee was formed about two weeks ago to investigate allegations that the accounts of 12 former MPs and current MP Ashour received millions of dinars of illegal deposits. The scandal was among the key issues that forced the former prime minister to step down and led to dissolving the Assembly and holding fresh elections. Barrak, who also heads the public funds protection committee, said the panel will meet today to discuss allegations of irregularities by the Kuwait Investment Authority and Kuwait Investment Company.

The Assembly’s legal and legislative committee meanwhile agreed to reduce preventive detention at police stations from four days to two and by the public prosecution to just seven days from the current 21. The amendments also restrict the prosecution’s right to extend the detention to a maximum of 35 days from the current several months. But Barrak protested at the committee’s decision, saying that the original proposal was to cut the detention at police stations to just 24 hours to prevent police from beating or torturing detainees. He also said the original proposal called for cutting the maximum detention by the prosecution to just 28 days. In addition, the committee approved other proposals to move the forensic department from the interior ministry to the ministry of justice to ensure fair trials.

Syria intervention talk as diplomacy withers ISTANBUL: A year of sanctions, diplomacy and harsh rhetoric failed to stop Syria’s bloody crackdown and oust President Bashar Assad. With frustration running high, Turkey and other countries that have staked moral credibility on ending the violence are increasingly looking at intervention on Syrian soil, a strategy they have so far avoided for lack of international consensus and fears it could widen the conflict. Diplomacy has not yet run its course, but more treacherous options, including aid to Syrian rebels, are likely to come up at a meeting of dozens of countries that oppose Assad, including the United States and its European and Arab partners, in Istanbul on April 1.

One prominent option floated by Turkey is a “buffer zone” on the Turkish-Syrian border, which could amount to a foreign military occupation, intent on regime change even if the aim is humanitarian in name. The risks of such an endeavor in a combustible region are evident in the US-led invasion of Iraq, Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon decades ago and Syria’s own military presence in Lebanon until 2005.

Yet, comparisons with international hesitation over the Balkans bloodshed in the 1990s make it ever harder to engage in seemingly endless, and fruitless, diplomacy. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Syria with US President Barack Obama yesterday at a nuclear security conference in South Korea, and said it was not possible to tolerate events there. Earlier, Erdogan was asked

by reporters on his plane whether a safe zone inside Syria was on the agenda.

“Studies are under way,” Erdogan said. “It would depend on developments. The ‘right to protection’ may be put into use, according to international rules. We are trying to find a solution by engaging Russia, China and Iran.” Erdogan predicted that “everything could change” if those countries withdraw their support for Syria, and he accused Assad of reviving ties with and “protecting” rebels of the PKK, a Turkish Kurd group at war with the Turkish state. Turkey already hosts some 17,000 Syrian refugees, and casting the Syrian crisis in terms of Turkey’s national security strengthens the case for intervention.

UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was discussing Syria yesterday in Russia, which vetoed a UN Security Council resolution aimed at pressuring Assad but has shown increasing impatience with him. His next stop is Beijing, which also blocked UN action. Annan’s plan, endorsed by the UN Security Council, includes a cease-fire by Syrian forces, a daily two-hour halt to fighting to evacuate the injured and provide aid, and inclusive talks about a political solution.

But, there are still questions about how such an agreement would be overseen and enforced. An Arab League monitoring effort in Syria failed, labeled a farce by some who participated. The likelihood that a Syrian regime that has shelled cities would talk in good faith to the people it targeted is

remote, and outgunned Syrian rebels say the time is long past for any negotiation. The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have died. Many were civilian protesters.

Assad bucked the trend of relatively quick transitions to new governments in regional uprisings.

Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, where a NATO bombing campaign helped oust Muammar Gaddafi, did not bear the same geopolitical tensions as the Syrian case. The conflict there comes as Israel considers a plan to bomb the nuclear facilities of Iran, a regional power and close ally of Assad, and further destabilization in Syria could set off lasting unrest.

Turkey and the United States, in an election year, “are reluctant to make more forceful moves because of the long-term costs of policing the sectarian violence that will surely happen following the collapse of the Assad regime,” said Arda Batu, professor of international relations at Yeditepe University in Istanbul and editor-in-chief of the Kalem Journal, a website about regional affairs. The countries meeting in Istanbul hope to help the Syrian opposition coalesce into a more coherent movement that can show all Syrians, not only the majority Sunni Muslims, that they would have a place in a post-Assad future.

The “Friends of Syria” group of more than 60 countries made little headway at its maiden meeting in Tunisia in February, and countries are already talking about creating a subgroup to discuss military options more urgently. Saudi Arabia and Qatar

are some of the strongest advocates of this approach. One idea sees Arab countries and Turkey - with the US, ideally, but possibly without - establishing a buffer zone along the Syrian-Turkish border that would serve as a humanitarian corridor and staging ground for the rebel Free Syrian Army.

On the Syrian side of the border, it would entail army defectors and other guerrillas wresting control of land and holding it, which they have been unable to do.

Earlier this month, CIA chief David Petraeus met Erdogan in Ankara. Turkish media said the prime minister warned that deepening instability in Syria would provide a “living space” for militant organizations active in the region, including the PKK. On Saturday, Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper, which is considered close to the government, said 500 military personnel have inspected areas close to the border for a safe zone that could stretch 20 km inside Syria, and would end their “studies” before the meeting in Istanbul.

The newspaper did not provide sources, but the report contributed to a sense that the safe zone idea is slowly gaining traction despite the pitfalls.

“If the US is not involved, there is no way Turkey would get involved in it,” said Osman Bahadir Dincer, a Syria expert at the International Strategic Research Organisation, a center in Ankara, the Turkish capital. However, he predicted “some kind of an intervention in the form of a buffer zone or a safe zone” within one or two months. — AP

14

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

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Issues

After shunning Hollande, Berlin hedges bets

By Noah Barkin and Andreas Rinke fter publicly throwing her weight behind Nicolas Sarkozy’s re-election campaign at the start of the year, Germany’s Angela Merkel and her advisers are quietly preparing for the possibility that they may have to do business with his Socialist challenger. The tone in Berlin has shifted in recent weeks from one of unwavering support for Sarkozy to annoyance with his shift to a more populist campaign and his abrupt reversal on the role Merkel herself will play in his drive for a second term.

The French president’s UMP party won her agreement at the start of 2012 to campaign with him in France, only to drop that idea weeks later, prompting an incensed Merkel to complain about Sarkozy’s “erratic behaviour”, aides say.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle broke the silence in Berlin last week, denouncing Sarkozy’s threat to pull France out of the European Union’s openborders Schengen zone. Despite the irritations, Sarkozy remains Merkel’s preferred choice, in part because he has backed Germany’s push for tighter fiscal discipline in Europe. But at the same time, concerns about Sarkozy’s front-running rival for the presidency, Francois Hollande, seem to have dissipated.

Now, the talk in Berlin is of a “charm offensive” if Hollande wins to minimise any hard feelings about Merkel’s strong public backing for Sarkozy and her refusal to meet the Socialist before the two-round French vote in April and May. Initial anger over Hollande’s vows to renegotiate the euro zone’s “fiscal compact” - a new set of rules on budget discipline that Merkel pushed on her partners - has eased somewhat. Now some German officials are dismissing it as nothing more than “campaign talk”.

One senior official even suggested that new language on growth-supporting measures could be added to the fiscal compact to appease Hollande if he beats Sarkozy, though others close to Merkel have ruled out any tampering and said post-facto tweaks to accommodate a new leader would set a dangerous precedent. “We’re really not worried about Hollande,” the senior official said.

“This is an election campaign. He has to come up with something to distinguish himself from Sarkozy.” As for Hollande’s insistence on growth-boosting measures to complement the German push for stricter budget discipline, the official said he could envision “principles being agreed with the French” if the Socialist comes out on top.

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert noted that alongside budget discipline, boosting growth and employment in Europe was one of the chancellor’s top priorities and an idea she had pushed together with Sarkozy. Euro zone officials who have met with Hollande and his economic team in recent months have been told that he would not seek a wholesale overhaul of the fiscal pact, but instead be content with a more nuanced set of adjustments. “ There is a long history in Europe of Germany getting what it wants but giving something to France in return,” said Daniela Schwarzer, an expert on France at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, citing the late addition of the word “growth” to the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact.

Despite glaring differences in personality, the cautious Merkel and impulsive Sarkozy have learned to work well together in over three years of relentless crisis-fighting and high-pressure diplomacy. Conservatives who were born just half a year apart, the two leaders have led the euro zone’s response to its sovereign debt crisis, earning the moniker ‘Merkozy’. Images of them hammering out new rules for the bloc during a walk on the beaches of Deauville in 2010 have become iconic. That familiarity, borne from dozens of historic summits, is perhaps the main reason Merkel agreed to back Sarkozy’s re-election campaign so publicly in the first place. Hollande is a relative unknown outside of France and represents uncertainty for Berlin at a time when seamless Franco-German cooperation is absolutely crucial for the single currency bloc. His calls for joint euro bonds to combat the crisis, insistence on a more growth-oriented approach from the European Central Bank, and his refusal to back Sarkozy’s push to introduce a debt brake in France all went down poorly in Berlin. “When the French opposition talks about renegotiating the fiscal compact and questions the debt brake, then it is undermining important Franco-German ideas that have become core European projects,” said Michael Link, a German foreign ministry official with special responsibility for coordinating relations between Berlin and Paris. — Reuters

A

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Events show power of individuals

By Karl Ritter n France a motorcycle gunman throws a presidential campaign into turmoil. In Afghanistan, one US soldier’s slaughter of civilians shifts the narrative of the Afghan war more than any policy conceived by the Obama administration. The past month exposes the limits of leaders who try to shape the world - and how unexpected actions by individuals can influence the course of history.

“The drama of a singular event can supersede years of policymaking,” says Philip Seib, director of the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy. And in the information age, there is more space for individuals who are not in positions of power to make a footprint in history, by design or by accident.

Consider how the Arab awakening started: a Tunisian fruit seller’s self-immolation following a public humiliation by police triggered protests that spread across the Arab World, fueled in part by social media. And how many people knew of African warlord Joseph Kony before an online video about him went viral this month? Or Pastor Terry Jones of a tiny church in Florida, who stole the global spotlight in 2010 by threatening to burn Muslim holy books? “If you talk about burning a Quran, and you have access to the Internet, all of a sudden you can inflate your importance in a way that would have been much harder in the age of broadcast and print media,” says Harvard Professor Joseph Nye, a former head of the National Intelligence Council.

The biggest of all such wild card events, however, happened long before Facebook or

I

YouTube. Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Serb nationalist, was a nobody until June 28, 1914, when he shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, triggering the clash of alliances that became World War I. Historians still argue over whether history would have been different had the archduke’s car turned a different corner. Some say there’s a tendency to exaggerate the importance of individuals.

Who lit the match, the argument goes, may be less important than who placed the firewood.

The underlying pressures that can foment major changes in society are typically building up long before an unpredictable event provides the trigger, says Professor Michael Oppenheimer of New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. “It’s a surprise because people haven’t really been paying attention. Then suddenly a spark sets off these forces that have been gathering below the surface of reality, and there’s a sea change,” he says.

Sometimes that sea change is catastrophic, like in World War I, and other times it spins the world in a more positive direction. Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Alabama, and set in motion a chain of events that ended racial segregation in the American South. Individuals who stood up to oppression have a special place in history: The unknown Chinese man who stood before a tank at Tiananmen Square in 1989 or Nobel Peace Prize winners like Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar or Lech Walesa in Cold War-era Poland.

Geir Lundestad, a Norwegian historian and the nonvoting secretary of the peace prize committee, says that when individuals

tap into “deeper forces” in society they can have major impact on the world. Major changes are almost always driven by local events, he says, and people tend to “overestimate” the ability of policymakers - especially in Washington - to chart the world’s direction. “There is an assumption, particularly in America but also other countries, that because the US is clearly the most powerful country in the world it can in a major way influence developments everywhere,” Lundestad says.

No doubt, political leaders of major countries still play a huge role in world affairs; wars were started in Afghanistan and Iraq because of policy decisions in Washington, reacting to the terror attacks of 9/11. But the 19th century “Great Man” theory, stipulating that history is written by kings and generals, no longer holds true in today’s interconnected world. Since 9/11, the relationship between the West and the Muslim world has been fraught by wild cards that forced policymakers on both sides to react to random acts by individuals.

Before Muslim holy books were burned in a trash pit at a US base in Afghanistan this year, and before Pastor Jones threatened to light his own Quran bonfire, there was Europe’s cartoon crisis. Twelve Danish newspaper caricatures Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) went largely unnoticed for nearly half a year. Then in early 2006, after the drawings filtered to Muslim countries, Danish and other Western embassies and consulates were torched and scores of people were killed in riots from Libya to Indonesia. Denmark - the

country that gave the world fairy tales about mermaids and ugly ducklings - was thrust into the cross-hairs of Al-Qaeda. It took months of diplomacy to soothe the crisis, but Denmark’s relations with the Muslim world have not fully recovered.

This month, Army Staff Sgt Robert Bales allegedly slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, in a nighttime shooting rampage outside Kandahar. Military officials say he crept from his base to two villages, shooting his victims and setting some of them on fire. The killings sparked outrage in Afghanistan, and could ultimately do more to hasten the return of other US troops than any negotiation. In France, the fallout of the attacks on French soldiers and a Jewish school by a suspected Islamist extremist is still unclear. But they have given an unexpected bounce to tough-talking President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had been trailing badly in polls and widely expected to be heading into defeat.

A Norwegian’s rampage last July, massacring 77 people - mostly teenagers - in the name of an anti-Muslim revolution, underscored that the threat of solo raids by individuals can come from any direction. Many say Norway’s response to that event deserves recognition. Instead of a knee-jerk response tightening laws or clamping down on civil liberties - Norwegian policymakers decided that the best way to defy individuals bent on changing society by deadly force is to change as little as possible. Says Lundestad of the peace prize panel: “I do think there’s something the world can learn.” — AP

Amid war fears, some Israelis reach out to Iran

By Daniella Cheslow uthie Pliskin didn’t want Israel’s threats of a possible military strike to be the only message her country had for Iran.

So the doctoral student from Tel Aviv posted a photo of herself and her cat on Facebook, with a sign in Farsi reading: “We love you, people of Iran.” She says she received enthusiastic responses from Iranians when she posted on an “Israel-Loves-Iran” Facebook page who corrected the sign’s spelling and returned warm wishes.

Pliskin is among a small but growing number of Israelis trying to reach out to Iranians, even as Israeli politicians warn with growing frequency and intensity that Israel might strike to halt Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. Israelis mounted an art exhibit in Tel Aviv centered on Iran, built a website in Farsi with news of Israeli daily life, and protested Saturday against a potential strike on Iranian nuclear installations. They have also posted images endlessly shared on Facebook against a war with Iran.

Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli expert on Iran, said that this marks the first time Israelis have reached out in such a way to another nation in the Middle East. Has it had impact in Iran so far? That’s not clear yet, though Israelis say Iranians are responding positively to the Internet outreach. But it appears unlikely that any good will being generated by civilians will sway governments.

Israel’s leaders say a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat. Iranian leaders often demonize Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said he’s willing to give sanctions and negotiations a few more months to deter Iran from trying to obtain nuclear weapons, but suggests that, if efforts fail, Israel could strike this year. Iran insists it is pursuing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but warns it will strike back if attacked.

In Israel, surveys show that a majority oppose a solo Israeli attack on Iran without American military cooperation. Retired Israeli military and intelligence leaders have advised against striking Iran, arguing that Israel does-

R

n’t have enough bomb shelters or gas masks to absorb a possible Iranian counterattack.

“Despite all this, our prime minister wants to take us to war,” said Tzvika Besor, a Tel Aviv marketing agent who organized Saturday’s protest. “And we say no.” A few hundred Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday night, holding signs reading “No to war,” and, addressing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Bibi,

world 2012” and short films. Hundreds attended its opening night. At Haifa University, the head of the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies started a Persian-language news portal from Israel, called TeHTel, to show a Tehran-Tel Aviv bond. Launched March 4, the site drew 22,000 visitors in its first two weeks, including several thousand directly from Iran.

TeHTel offers personal essays from Israelis,

In this image made on March 22, 2012, a model of a rocket is displayed on a roof next to the US embassy as part of an art exhibition called “Iran” at a gallery in Tel Aviv. — AP don’t bomb Iran,” And another prominent Israeli added his voice in opposition on Saturday. Former Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel shouldn’t be the one taking on the entire Arab and Muslim world when it was clear Israel would be blamed the day after. Other protests have taken a more artistic approach. In early March, three Tel Aviv artists mounted an exhibition called “Iran,” featuring a fake missile pointed at the nearby US Embassy, a statue of Barak titled “the most dangerous man in the

musings on hamburgers and holidays, and translated news from Hebrew news sites and blogs on the country’s social and economic reality. An anonymous donor underwrote the project, and paid staff to maintain it, including Iranian-Israeli translators. “There’s interest, people are reading it, there are talkbacks, people write and reply to each other,” said Soli Shahvar, the site’s creator. “We want to come and stop this twisting of reality that (the Iranian) government does to Israel as a people that wants to rule the world, as Zionists who

are killing Palestinians.” The hunger to connect has reached the government as well. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that the office staff will learn about Iran next week, with a slide show, tastes of Persian food and lectures on Iranian religion and culture.

Palmor said it will be a day off from politics, and more like other enrichment lectures on American literature and French wine. Despite the current animosity, Iran is “still an important country in the region with which we have had good relations in the past and with which we aspire to have good relations in the future,” Palmor said.

Prior to its 1979 Islamic revolution - when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel and began referring to its government as the “Zionist regime” - Iran was an ally of Israel with the Shah maintaining warm relations with Israeli leaders. This is not the first time the Internet has bridged a gap between hostile countries in the region. Israelis and Lebanese commented on each other’s blogs throughout the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. A Gazan from a refugee camp and an Israeli from a border town co-hosted a blog during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in 2008.

But Iran is different. Javedanfar, an IranianIsraeli, said this movement may be fueled in part by a large successful community of Israelis with Iranian roots that is “out and proud with its Persian identity”. Some 250,000 Israelis, out of a population of 7.8 million, are of Iranian descent. They include former army chief Shaul Mofaz and singer Rita, who has put out a Farsi album. The success of the Oscar-winning film “A Separation” has helped humanize Iranians, in contrast to “the petrifying picture of Iran which Iranian politicians have managed to produce,” Javedanfar said.

Pliskin, 29, is among the Israelis who wanted to reach out with anti-war posters for Iran.

The Israel-Loves-Iran page garnered 34,000 “likes” within a week. One shows a couple kissing. The young man holds up his Israeli passport, right beside his purported girlfriend’s Iranian passport. “I love my Persian girlfriend,” the caption reads. —AP

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

sp orts Bangladesh are too late to appeal result — Pakistan KARACHI: Bangladesh have reacted too late in trying to have the result of the Asia Cup final overturned, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief operating officer said yesterday. A senior official from the Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Saturday that it will ask the Asian Cricket Council to review an incident in the last over of Thursday’s final against Pakistan which they believe cost them the game.

Pakistan won the final by two runs but Bangladesh say Pakistani bowler Aizaz Cheema, who bowled the final over, deliberately tried to block batsman Mahmudullah and five penalty runs should be incurred. “We are a bit surprised by this late reaction from the Bangladesh board because we believe if something was wrong the match officials would have taken action on the spot,” the PCB’s Subhan Ahmed told Reuters. “What we fail to understand is why there is this late reaction from the Bangladesh board. But even if they appeal I don’t think it will affect relations between the two boards.” — Reuters

NHL results/standings Dallas 4, Calgary 1; Buffalo 3, Minnesota 1; NY Rangers 4, Toronto 3 (OT); Ottawa 8, Pittsburgh 4; Philadelphia 4, Montreal 1; Tampa Bay 4, NY Islanders 3; Detroit 5, Carolina 4; Nashville 3, Winnipeg 1; Boston 4, Los Angeles 2. (OT dentoes overtime win) Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF 47 21 7 101 NY Rangers Pittsburgh 46 22 6 98 Philadelphia 44 22 8 96 New Jersey 42 27 6 90 NY Islanders 30 33 11 71

GA 206 248 234 204 177

PTS 168 193 202 195 222

Boston Ottawa Buffalo Toronto Montreal

Northeast Division 43 28 3 89 37 28 10 84 37 29 10 84 33 34 9 75 29 34 13 71

241 224 197 217 197

182 219 209 239 211

Florida Washington Winnipeg Tampa Bay Carolina

Southeast Division 36 24 14 86 37 30 8 82 35 32 8 78 34 33 7 75 30 31 15 75

184 202 201 209 202

203 214 217 252 228

St. Louis Nashville Detroit Chicago Columbus

Western Conference Central Division 46 20 9 101 43 24 8 94 44 25 5 93 42 25 7 91 24 42 7 55

192 213 227 227 168

147 198 183 211 230

Vancouver Colorado Calgary Minnesota Edmonton

Northwest Division 45 21 9 99 40 31 6 86 34 27 15 83 31 33 10 72 30 36 9 69

229 200 186 159 200

187 202 208 204 220

Pacific Division 41 29 5 87 37 26 13 87 38 27 10 86 37 26 12 86 31 32 11 73

198 200 205 175 182

198 198 195 164 205

Dallas Phoenix San Jose Los Angeles Anaheim

AUCKLAND: Team Camper sail their yacht the final minutes of leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race in the Auckland Harbor in this file photo. —AP

Camper out of Volvo Ocean Race AUCKLAND: Some of the most treacherous sailing conditions in the world claimed a third victim in the Volvo Ocean Race when title challenger Camper was forced to head to Chile yesterday to make repairs on a broken bow. Camper was in third place overall and had led for long periods in the fifth leg to Itajai, Brazil, before a massive wave hit the boat.

Australian skipper Chris Nicholson tried slowing the boat down to carry out repairs mid-ocean, but he ended their hopes of winning the leg by setting a course change to Puerto Montt on the west coast of Chile.

“We’re 2,500 nautical miles away from where we have to go in Chile but after the repairs are done we’re going to continue racing and finish the leg,” Nicholson said. “The Southern Ocean gives you the best and worst days of your life, and it’s fair to say these last few have not been the best.”

In little more than a week since the fleet set sail from Auckland to Itajai, three boats have received major structural damage due to high winds and waves the size of two-story buildings.

Abu Dhabi was forced to suspend racing for about 12 hours to fix a sail mounting that had been ripped off, and China’s Team Sanya pulled out the current leg to return to New Zealand for long-term repairs on a broken rudder.

French boat Groupama, in second place overall, led the leg by 45 nautical miles from U.S. team Puma with overall race leader Telefonica 100 miles adrift in third place. The boats have more than 4,000 nautical miles before reaching the next stopover destination. The 39,000-nautical mile, nine-month race is scheduled to finish in July in Galway, Ireland. —AP

Volleyball player dies on court

Ibrahimovic slams injuries

ITALY: Former Italy Olympic silver medallist Vigor Bovolenta has died after suffering a heart attack during a fourth-tier match, the Italian volleyball federation said yesterday.

Bovolenta, who was about to turn 38 in May, collapsed on the court during Volley Forli’s visit to Lube Macerata on Saturday. Attempts by medics to resuscitate Bovolenta failed and he was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.

Bovolenta, father of four children, was part of the Italy team that won silver at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta after a dramatic 3-2 loss to Netherlands in the final.

Towering at 2.02 metres high, Bovolenta was instrumental in helping Italy win the 1995 European championship in Greece and the silver at Euro 2001.

Heart problems in sport have come into focus of late after Bolton Wanderers soccer player Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during an English FA Cup match last weekend.

He has made a remarkable recovery and is now in intensive care.

Kilmarnock’s Scottish League Cup final triumph last weekend was also marred by the father of midfielder Liam Kelly suffering a suspected heart attack in the stand and dying. —Reuters

ITALY: AC Milan are all but certain to be without centre back Thiago Silva for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at home to Barcelona after he suffered a thigh injury.

The influential Brazilian’s problem is the latest in a long line at Serie A leaders Milan and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic told reporters that “something has to change” within the club to stop the injuries.

Thiago Silva was not fully fit for Saturday’s 2-1 win at home to AS Roma and came off after just 11 minutes as coach Massimiliano Allegri’s decision to play him backfired.

He left the San Siro on crutches. “I decided to risk him today and this is how it went,” Allegri told reporters.

“I willingly took the risk because today’s match was fundamental for the Serie A championship.

And we will now pay dearly for it. He has a problem to his right thigh flexor muscle, I think it is virtually impossible for him to play on Wednesday.”

Daniele Bonera could deputise again at centre half against holders Barca with Alessandro Nesta not 100 percent fit. — Reuters

Senators pound Penguins OTTAWA: Daniel Alfredsson had two goals and two assists as the Ottawa Senators dealt Pittsburgh its f i r s t re g u l a t i o n l o s s i n 1 5 g a m e s, b e a t i n g t h e Penguins 8-4 on Saturday.

Sidney Crosby scored his first goal in six games since making his second comeback of the season, but it wasn’t enough.

Crosby, who made a spectacular pass to set up one of Matt Cooke’s two goals, beat Craig Anderson with a shot into the top right corner 11:43 into the third to draw Pittsburgh within 5-4. He has 11 points since his latest return from concussion-like symptoms. Jason Spezza increased Ottawa’s lead to 6-4 with his 31st goal on a breakaway at 13:16.

Alfredsson, who scored a short-handed goal late in the second, added his second of the game at 17:05.

Steven Kampfer scored the lone goal for the Wild (31-33-10).

Red Wings 5, Hurricanes 4 At Detroit, Drew Miller scored with 8:25 left as D e t ro i t r a l l i e d f ro m t h re e g o a l s d ow n to b e a t Carolina. Carolina led 4-1 until Henrik Zetterberg cut the Red Wings’ deficit to two goals with 3:02 left in the second period. Detroit avoided its first sevengame losing streak since 1991. Zetterberg scored twice, and Jiri Hudler netted the tying goal midway through the third period. Third-string goaltender Ty Conklin made 20 saves for the Red Wings. Carolina’s Cam Ward stopped 45 shots.

Predators 3, Jets 1 At Nashville, Tennessee, Pekka Rinne made 24 saves

Sharks 4, Coyotes 3 At San Jose, California, Michal Handzus and Ryane Clowe scored in the shootout, and Antti Niemi stopped both Phoenix attempts to lead San Jose to a crucial victory. Patrick Marleau, Brent Burns and Daniel Winnik scored in regulation for the Sharks, who have won back-to-back games after two crushing losses to Anaheim and Los Angeles to open the week. Niemi made 24 saves through overtime.

Daymond Langkow, Derek Morris and Lauri Korpikoski scored in regulation for the Coyotes. Mike Smith made 29 saves.

Bruins 4, Kings 2 At Los Angeles, Milan Lucic and Chris Kelly scored less than 1 1/2 minutes apart early in the third period to break open a tied game, and Patrice Bergeron scored

Flyers 4, Canadiens 1 At Philadelphia, Danny Briere scored a pair of g o a l s a n d I l y a B r y z g a l o v m a d e 2 3 s a ve s a s Philadelphia clinched a playoff berth with a win over Montreal. Three of Philadelphia’s four goals came on the power play, upping the Flyers’ leagueleading total to 61. Briere’s second goal put the Flyers up 3-1 with 2:20 left in the second period.

Jaromir Jagr took a long outlet pass from Bryzgalov at the Flyers’ blue line and flicked it on to Briere, who got one-on-one with Canadiens goalie Peter Budaj and roofed a forehand shot from in close.

Stars 4, Flames 1 At Dallas, Jamie Benn scored t wice and K ari Lehtonen made 35 saves as Dallas beat Calgary in a matchup of Western Conference playoff contenders.

Michael Ryder also scored for the Stars, who improved to 87 points and are in the middle of a s i x - t e a m s c r a m b l e a l o n g w i t h t h e Fl a m e s ( 8 3 points) for one of the final two playoff spots.

Brenden Morrow tapped in an empty-netter at 18:32 of the third period to clinch the win for D a l l a s. M i k e C a m m a l l e r i s c o r e d a n d M i i k k a Kiprusoff stopped 16 shots for the Flames, who had lost their previous three games in over time or shootouts.

Rangers 4, Maple Leafs 3 At Toronto, Ryan Callahan’s shootout goal gave New York a vic tor y over Toronto and lifted the Rangers into a tie atop the NHL standings.

The Rangers captain moved in on goalie Jonas Gustavsson and wired a shot top corner in the third round to clinch it. Brad Richards also scored for N e w Yo r k i n t h e s h o o t o u t . Ti m Co n n o l l y h a d Toronto’s lone goal in the tiebreaker.

Marian Gaborik, with two goals, and Brandon Dubinsky scored in regulation for New York (47-217). Henrik Lundqvist made 22 stops for the Rangers, and Richards added two assists.

Sabres 3, Wild 1 At Buffalo, New York , rook ie Marcus Foligno scored a power-play goal 1:45 into the third period as Buffalo continued its late-season surge into playoff contention with a win over Minnesota.

Co d y H o d g s o n h a d a g o a l a n d a s s i s t , w h i l e Thomas Vanek scored his first goal in eight games for Buffalo which overcame a slow start to improve to 6-0-2 in its past eight and 18-5-5 in its past 28.

DALLAS: Eric Nystrom No. 24 of the Dallas Stars skates the puck against Mark Giordano No. 5 of the Calgary Flames at American Airlines Center. —AFP to lead Nashville over Winnipeg. Matt Halischuk, Gabriel Bourque and Shea Weber scored for Nashville, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Tim Stapleton had the lone goal for the Jets, who have lost three of their last four.

Lightning 4, Islanders 3 At Tampa, Florida, Steven Stamkos scored twice to tie the Lightning record with 52 goals this season as Tampa Bay beat the New York Islanders.

Stamkos gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead with his second of the night and tied Vincent Lecavalier’s club record 1:46 into the second. Stamkos also assisted on Tim Wallace’s goal that gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 edge at 12:10 of the third.

Matt Moulson netted his 33rd goal to put the Islanders ahead 3-2 just 43 seconds into the third, but Tampa Bay tied it on Tom Pyatt’s goal at 9:08.

Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo also scored for the Islanders.

a short-handed goal and Tim Thomas made 40 saves to lead Boston over Los Angeles.

The defending Stanley Cup champions ended a four-game road losing streak and also snapped a sixgame winning streak to the Kings, who fell out of first place in the Pacific Division with Dallas’ victory over Calgary. Colin Fraser and rookie Slava Voynov scored for Los Angeles and Jonathan Quick stopped 22 shots.

Canucks 3, Avalanche 2 At Denver, Chris Higgins had two goals, including the winner at 1:40 of overtime, as Vancouver rallied to beat Colorado as they wona fourth straight Northwest Division crown. Mason Raymond also scored and Roberto Luongo stopped 38 shots. Before the game, the Canucks clinched the division title courtesy of Calgary’s loss to Dallas. Gabriel Landeskog and Jamie McGinn scored for the Avalanche, who have earned at least a point in nine of their last 11 games to remain in the thick of the playoff chase. —AP

Fiji win Hong Kong Sevens HONG KONG: Fiji won the Hong Kong Sevens yesterday in a tight match against New Zealand 35-28 that takes them just two points off top spot in the overall standings for the HSBC World Series title.

“I’m very happy, especially for the boys, for the way they won the game,” Fiji’s coach Alifereti Dere said after the match.

“Everyone in Fiji will be in a happy mood, especially after the last months and the floods,” he said, referring to the deluge that lashed the Pacific nation in January and killed at least six people and displaced some 3,500.

“This win will encourage the people back home.” Fiji got off to a blistering start in the final, going 14-0 ahead, but New Zealand’s Mark Jackman kept his team in the contest with two tries to go into the break equal 1414.

In the second half Fiji quickly scored their third try of the night and the Kiwis struggled to respond to their opponent’s precise passing and pace, until a breakaway try from Bryce Heem gave Gordon Tietjens’ men some hope.

It was dashed when Fiji scored again in the last minute of the match, and as the final whistle went the players fell to their knees to celebrate what was their record 13th title victory in Hong Kong, including two world cup wins.

“They (New Zealand) just wanted to play, we wanted to win,” Dere said. The result puts

Fiji on 109 points in the overall standings, just two behind New Zealand with three legs left to play-the next coming at the end of this month in Tokyo.

Fiji’s solo World Series win came in 200506 while New Zealand have taken the title nine times. “No team in the world would beat a Fiji like that,” said Kiwis coach Tietjens. “Great final, they were explosive, I’ve never seen Fiji like that.”

The Fijians looked in top form from the start of the three-day event in Hong Kong, breezing through their group matches, making light work of Argentina 26-7 in the quarters and edging out England 14-7 in the semis.

England had been buoyed by a wonder try from winger Dan Norton in their quarter final win against Australia, but that proved the high point of the competition for Ben Ryan’s men.

New Zealand had also marched their way to the final with a trio of strong group performances and then whipping Wales 31-7 in the quarters and powering out a plucky South Africa 19-12 in a keenly contested semi final.

In the day’s other action, South Africa secured third place with a 28-0 win over England, while Samoa won the Plate against Argentina and Kenya beat the USA to take the Bowl. Canada, Spain and Portugal won the qualifiers to join the expanded World Series next year. —AFP

HONG KONG: Fijian players celebrate with the trophy after beating New Zealand in the final of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament. Fiji defeated New Zealand 35-28 to win the Hong Kong Sevens. —AFP

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

sp orts

Tiger leads at Bay Hill

CARLSBAD: Karrie Webb of Australia hits out of the bunker on the 18th hole during the third round of the Kia Classic. —AFP

Tseng leaves pack behind CARLSBAD: Top-ranked Yani Tseng remained in position for her second straight LPGA Tour title and third in five events this year, shooting a bogey-free 3under 69 on Saturday to take a threestroke lead into the final round of the Kia Classic.

Tseng missed a 5-foot birdie try on the par-5 17th, then saved par with an 8-foot putt on the par-4 18th to finish at 12under 204 on La Costa’s Legends Course.

The 23-year-old Taiwanese star won the LPGA Founders Cup last week in Phoenix for her 14th LPGA Tour title, and also won the LPGA Thailand in February.

She led the tour last season with seven victories - including major victories in the LPGA Championship and Women’s British Open - and finished the year with 12 worldwide titles. South Korea’s Jiyai Shin was second after a 68.

South Korea’s Sun Young Yoo and Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall were 7 under.

Yoo had a 67 - the best round of the day -

and Hedwall missed a short par putt on the 18th to settle for a 70.

Tseng opened with a 67 for a share of the first-round lead, and had a 68 on Friday to pull two strokes ahead. In her last six events with the 54-hole lead, she has won five times, the only loss coming last year in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She’s 6-5 overall with the 54-hole lead. Tseng birdied the par-4 first hole and also birdied the par-5 seventh and 12th.

She got a break on the 18th when her drive went right, but stayed on the cart path and crossed over a bridge, leaving her just 71 yards on the 399-yard hole. Her second shot, however, went past the flag and she was fortunate to two-putt for par from 45 feet. Shin had seven birdies and three bogeys. She birdied the first three holes, and got within a stroke of Tseng with another birdie on No. 6. Shin bogeyed Nos. 9, 10 and 12, and rallied with birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 17. —AP

Couples, Sluman tied for lead at Fallen Oak SAUCIER: Jeff Sluman shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday to climb into a tie with Fred Couples for the second-round lead in the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic.

Sluman birdied five of his final seven holes in his bogey-free round to reach 11 under at Fallen Oak. Couples followed his course-record 63 in the opening round with a 70 in the second.

Couples made six birdies in a row to finish his course-record round early Saturday morning. Jim Thorpe will join Sluman and Couples be in the final group late yesterday. The 63-year-old Thorpe, two strokes back after a 65, is winless on the Champions Tour since 2007.

Most of the players had to finish their first rounds early Saturday morning before the second round began. Couples wasn’t quite as sharp in the afternoon after his early-morning birdie spree, but remains in good position to win his first Champions Tour title this year and the seventh of his career.

Couples is coming off an eighth-place tie Sunday in Newport Beach. He’s scheduled to play the PGA Tour ’s Houston Open and the Masters the next two weeks.

Maybe the most intriguing story was the 65 shot by Thorpe, who is playing his best golf since serving a year in prison on tax evasion charges. He was released in April of last year and has been steadily

improving since.

Couples was 3 under through 12 holes on Friday before the round was suspended because of darkness. He birdied his final six holes early Saturday morning for a one-stroke lead heading into the second round. Couples’ run of birdies was even more remarkable considering the 52-year-old had never even seen Fallen Oak before the first round.

He had planned to play in Thursday’s pro-am, but the event was canceled after the course was soaked by several inches of rain. There was so much water, he couldn’t even practice.

Course conditions were nearly perfect for low scores in the morning after soaking rains at Fallen Oak earlier in the week pushed the opening round tee times back more than four hours.

Couples had 10 birdies and one bogey in his first round. The second round proved more of a challenge for just about everyone. The drier course proved less forgiving and occasional wind gusts of up to 15 miles per hour made shots less predictable.

But Sluman maneuvered through the course without many problems. He also got a few big breaks - such as a 50-foot putt that dropped for birdie on No. 8.

Sluman is in the final group at Fallen Oak for the second straight year. The 54year-old tied for second last year behind Tom Lehman. — AP

BILOXI: Fred Couples hits his drive on the 11th hole during the second round of the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic held at Fallen Oak Golf Club.— AFP

ORLANDO: Tiger Woods, looking to end his long victory drought, will take a one-stroke lead over Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell into late yesterday’s final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after shooting a one-under-par 71 on Saturday.

“As a whole I played well,” Woods told reporters. “I hit a lot of good shots and was just very consistent.” The former world number one, searching for his first win on the PGA Tour since September 2009, had a four-stroke lead before a bogey on the 14th and a double-bogey on the next where he drove out of bounds into a neighbouring garden.

Woods revealed that shot had been the result of a scream from a woman in the crowd after a teenager fainted and that the noise came as he was already committed to his shot.

“It happened midway on my downswing and I tried to stop it but I had passed the point of no return. I stopped it and flipped it out of bounds,” he told reporters. “It was a solid day. Just happened to have one little fluke thing where a kid passed out.”

A birdie on the par-five 16th restored some calm to Woods’s round but McDowell kept up the pressure with a birdie on the par-three 17th, where he hit his tee shot to six feet from the hole on his way to posting 71.

Woods stood on 11-under-par 205 through 54 holes at a course where he has won six times.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing what happens,” he said with confidence.

The 14-times major winner has a 37-2 record in tour events when leading into the final round.

At Bay Hill, five of Woods’s six victories have come after he held the 54-hole lead leaving him ideally placed to finally get his 72nd tour win.

“He’s looking to complete the comeback because there is no doubt that he is playing great,” said former US Open champion McDowell, who beat Woods in a playoff when

ORLANDO: Tiger Woods plays a shot during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge. — AFP they went head-to-head on the final day of the non-tour Chevron Challenge in 2010.

“He’s got the ball under control, but he’s got to go out and try to win, the same way I do...there is certainly going to be a lot of pressure on him late yesterday, as there is on me,” he added. South African Ernie Els, who needs a win here or next week in Houston to gain a berth at the Masters, was well-placed for a push after a fine 67 that left him just three strokes behind Woods, alongside Briton Ian Poulter.

But there was deep disappointment for Korean Charlie Wi and American Jason Dufner.

Wi, who started the day tied for the lead with Woods, soared to a 76 that put him five shots behind. After opening with a 66 and 69, Dufner shot five-over 77 on his 35th birthday, with a front nine comprising four bogeys and a double bogey.

Another player who looked poised for a weekend push, Spain’s Sergio Garcia, also fell victim to inconsistency, shooting 75 to fall down the leaderboard and out of contention.

England’s Justin Rose also slipped back after a two-over 74 that included five bogeys left him seven shots off the lead. — Reuters

Wach KO’s Fields in WBC title fight ATLANTIC CITY: Mariusz Wach of Poland stopped America’s Tye Fields in the sixth round to retain his WBC international heavyweight title. Wach (27-0, 15 KOs) won by knockout on Saturday and was never seriously hurt by Fields.

Wach unloaded a series of lefts and rights at the head and sent Fields into the ropes and face first onto the canvas. Fields (49-5) made it to his knees but could not get up at 1:44 of the round.

“As soon as I came out of the door of the arena, I see all the people,” Wach said.

“Everybody wants to touch me, everybody was cheering me. I was trying to stay focused.

Stay focused on my opponent, stay focused on my game plan. It is really very hard with the people singing so loud. Everybody wants to grab you and touch you.”

About 900 of the roughly 1,000 fans inside Resorts Hotel and Casino cheered on Wach, making for a lively atmosphere for the lateafternoon card. They chanted, sang songs, and appeared to be yelling encouragement at Wach in their native tongue. Wach, who now lives in New Jersey, had them all come along for a party in the back.

Mariusz Wach stood tall in a casino ballroom, clutching his WBC title high over his head, and enjoying the moment with dozens of Polish countrymen who crashed the party.

“Polska! Polska! Polska!”

The post-fight chant was the same raucous one that greeted Wach as he made his entrance for his international heavyweight bout. “I felt there was no way in hell you can beat me over here with my crowd and my people,” Wach said. After a methodical first four rounds, Fields took a beating in the fifth.

Wach targeted Fields’ face for most of the fight, bloodied his nose and left him staggering in the fifth. Wach won his seventh straight bout by knockout or TKO in a streak that dates to 2009. “I got away from my game plan,” Fields said. “I thought I could tie him up, but

MARIBOR: Slovenia’s Dejan Zavec celebrates with his belt and his trophy after winning the Intercontinental welterweight champion WBO version match against Namibia’s Bethuel Uushona in Maribor. — AFP

he caught me with a right hand and put me on the ground. When I tried to get up, I was pretty wobbly. I knew coming in he was a great boxer. I wish him the best.” Wach said through a translator he knew he was going to get stronger as the fight went on.

Fields and Wach were once roommates when they served as sparring partners for heavyweight Samuel Peter. The win moves Wach closer to a potential heavyweight title fight against Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko.

Wach said he would take a week off before he starts training for his next fight. Andrew Golota, who lost four heavyweight title fights, sat ringside for most of the slate.

France picks swimmers for London Olympics DUNKIRK: France wound up its national swimming championships yesterday, choosing 29 swimmers to represent the country at the London Olympics.

Anthony Pannier and Damien Joly were the final qualifers for the Games, after taking first and second place in the final of the 1,500m freestyle.

Twenty-three-year-old Pannier touched first in 15:01.43 — the fourthquickest time of the year, ahead of Joly, who swam the fifth-quickest in 15:02.43.

European champion Sebastien Rouault was third and misses out on an Olympics berth. Rouault had previously failed to qualify in the 400m freestyle.

France’s team includes 2004 Olympic champion Laure Manaudou, who goes in the 100m and 200m backstroke.

Beijing 100m freestyle champion Alain Bernard, who missed out on the individual events, was named as a replacement in the relays. Manaudou had wanted to cede her place for the 200m to her friend Cloe Credeville, who came third in the trials but the head of French swimming on Sunday ruled out the possibility.

“I’m not changing my opinion,” said French national technical director Christian Donze. “The rules say that the first two in the final qualify. There’s no question of the third being asked to join the squad.”

Bernard, 2011 joint world world champion Jeremy Stravius and world bronze medallist William Meynard all missed out on qualifying for their specialist events, but will be on stand-by for the relays, Donze added.

Bernard and Meynard will provide back-up for the 4x100m freestyle relay

team, while backstroke specialist Stravius will support the 4x200m freestyle relay team.

France squad: 50m freestyle: Amaury Leveaux, Florent Manaudou 100m freestyle: Yannick Agnel, Fabien Gilot 200m freestyle: Yannick Agnel, Amaury Leveaux 1,500m freestyle: Damien Joly, Anthony Pannier 100m backstroke: Camille Lacourt, Benjamin Stasiulis 200m backstroke: Benjamin Stasiulis 4x100m freestyle: Yannick Agnel, Fabien Gilot, Amaury Leveaux, Alain Bernard, Clement Lefert, William Meynard 4x200m freestyle: Yannick Agnel, Amaury Leveaux, Lorys Bourelly, Clement Lefert, Gregory Mallet, Jeremy Stravius 4x100m medley relay: Camille Lacourt, Benjamin Stasiulis, Clement Lefert, Giacomo Perez Dortona, Romain Sassot, Hugues Duboscq Women 50m freestyle: Anna Santamans 200m freestyle: Camille Muffat 400m freestyle: Coralie Balmy, Camille Muffat 800m freestyle: Coralie Balmy 100m backstroke: Alexianne Castel, Laure Manaudou 200m backstroke: Alexianne Castel, Laure Manaudou 4x200m freestyle: Coralie Balmy, Camille Muffat, Charlotte Bonnet, OphÈlieCyrielle Etienne, Margaux Farrell, MylËne Lazare 4x100m medley relay: Charlotte Bonnet, Laure Manaudou, Justine Bruno, Fanny Babou. — AFP

On the undercard, Artur Szpilka (10-0, eight KOs) defeated Terrance Marbra (6-2, five KOs) in the first round. Also from Poland, Szpilka spoke Polish to the crowd after the fight, sending the fans into a frenzy.

Kamil Laszczyk (8-0, five KOs) won a unanimous decision over Philadelphia fighter Tevin Farmer (4-3-1, one KO) to win the vacant WBO youth super featherweight title.

Jerson Ravelo, who fought for the Dominican Republic in the Sydney Olympics, defeated Joey Spina in an eight-round split decision. Stivens Bujaj (7-0, five KOs) earned a second-round TKO over Joshua Harris (8-6-2, six KOs).— AP

Judah stops Paris NEW YORK: Zab Judah stopped Vernon Paris at 2:27 of the ninth round on Saturday in an IBF Junior Welterweight elimination fight.

Judah dominated the fight with a methodical punching style.

He finally finished off Paris (26-1) by getting him into a corner and unleashing about 15 unanswered punches.

“My team put in a great game plan for me,” Judah said. “I just executed.” When the fight was stopped, Judah was winning on the judges’ scorecards by scores of 80-72 and 79-73.

After finishing Paris off, Judah ran to each corner and climbed the ropes in triumph to face his adoring Brooklyn fans. “I feel like I was fighting for my home turf again,” Judah said. “My thing was to not go in there and get wild. I wanted to dictate the pace. He was looking to slip and throw some overhand wild shots to just try and catch me and that wasn’t going to work.”

Fighting in his native Brooklyn for the first time as a professional, Judah improved to 42-7 and recorded his 29th career knockout. Among those defeats is last July’s disappointing fifth-round knockout against Amir Khan, with whom he may get a rematch against.

Khan will fight Lamont Peterson on May 19 and the winner of that light welterweight championship fight would likely battle Judah, who is a former five-time champion. One of those belts was a light welterweight, which was earned by beating Micky Ward in 1998.

Judah walked into the ring with a determined stare and paced from one corner to the other corner while waiting for the fight to begin. He then turned that determined look into an excellent performance, and showed he wasn’t flustered by Paris’ expletivefilled trash talking.

Paris’ banter in the ring was a continuation from a news conference on Thursday when he said that Judah was washed up and merely fighting for paydays.

“He tried to talk me out of my game,” Judah said. “That wasn’t going to faze me. I didn’t let none of that bother me.”

He had Paris near the ropes several times, including one instance in the opening round that prompted the 24-year-old to briefly lose his mouthpiece. In the second round, Paris was rocked by a left hook.

After ending the fourth with a flurry, Judah dominated with his uppercut and hook in the next four rounds before ultimately finishing it. —AP

17

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

SPORTS

Logano wins Fontana race

WELLINGTON: Jacques Rudolph of South Africa dives to safety as Kruger van Wyk of New Zealand takes off the bails on day three of the third and final five-day international cricket Test match. —AFP

NZ handle hostile period as S Africa post huge total WELLINGTON: Martin Guptill and Daniel Flynn battled hostile pace bowling to guide New Zealand to 65 for no loss at the close of play on the third day of the final test against South Africa at the Basin Reserve yesterday.

The pair’s opening stand was the highest of the series against South Africa and only the second time New Zealand’s openers have passed 50 in the southern hemisphere summer.

Guptill and Brendon McCullum posted 124 against Zimbabwe in Napier in January.

Guptill was on 28, while Flynn, who was struck at least twice on the body as he tried to duck, weave and bob his way past the short-pitched bowling, was on 35 after the first full day’s play in the weather-hit third test.

The first two days of the match had been badly affected by rain with more than seven hours play lost, while both days also ended early due to bad light.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith had declared the visitors’ first innings closed at 474 for nine shortly after tea, with Mark Gillespie taking six for 113.

Vernon Philander (29) was the final wicket to fall when he was caught on the boundary by Flynn to give Gillespie his sixth victim, following up his five for 59 in the second test in Hamilton.

“To get six wickets was a pretty

good feeling,” Gillespie said. “It’s a pretty flat wicket and ... they have got quality batters.

“On the really flat Basin pitch you just have to keep running in and bending your back and you can get rewards out of it, but it’s such a flat wicket it’s pretty tough.

“Today I had my wife, my parents, my brothers and their families were here. To do it on my home ground in front of them was pretty special.”

Alviro Petersen top scored with 156, while JP Duminy scored 103 for the visitors, who look to have batted New Zealand out of the test and series.

South Africa have a 1-0 lead in the three-match series following their ninewicket victory in the second test at Seddon Park in Hamilton, where they bowled New Zealand out for under 200 in both innings.

“The wicket played really nicely and it looks like a good wicket now,” Petersen said. “Don’t know if anything can change in the morning. What we can do is try and build a lot of pressure on them.

“We did that but then towards the end we just released a little. We’ve seen in the whole series, once they are two or three down, things could happen for us. “So we are probably just three or four wickets away.” —Reuters

FONTANA: Joey Logano kept Joe Gibbs firmly entrenched in Victory Lane at Auto Club Speedway. Logano won the Nationwide Series race Saturday, holding off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski in an entertaining finish to Joe Gibbs Racing’s eighth consecutive Nationwide win at the track.

The youngest winner in Nationwide history three years ago now has 10 victories at the ripe old age of 21. Logano is the first Sprint Cup Series driver to win a Nationwide race this season, claiming his second career win at Fontana.

After starting from the pole, Logano reclaimed the lead after a restart with 12 laps to go before staying in front of a tight pack that left all of the leaders talking about the thrill of racing.

“They had plenty of shots at me,” Logano said. “The restarts were hairy. I was good for a few laps, then I would fall off, and then my car would come back.

And then it was awesome. ... It’s good to finally be back in victory lane, man. It means a lot to win these things.”

Logano was determined to get the win for Gibbs, who has run only winners here since Feb. 2008. Toyota’s headquarters also are nearby in Long Beach and Costa Mesa.

“It’s important to keep a streak going,” Logano said. “You don’t want to be the guy that didn’t win it and broke the streak. To keep a streak going like that, that’s important for our whole company.”

Gibbs is particularly proud of the streak at a track with personal significance. Although he’s best known for his accomplishments in NASCAR and with the

Washington Redskins, the coach has spent much of his life in Southern California, graduating from high school in nearby Santa Fe Springs, attending San Diego State and working as an assistant to Don Coryell with the Chargers.

“It means a lot,” Gibbs said. “I don’t know how that (streak) happened. These things are so

was third. Brian Scott was followed by rookie Austin Dillon, Brad Sweet, Kenny Wallace and Kyle Busch. “It was a fun day,” Stenhouse said. “The race track was really racy. I hope we put on a good show.” Elliott Sadler finished ninth, and he still leads Stenhouse by 18 points atop the Nationwide standings.

FONTANA: Joey Logano, driver of the No. 18 Trans-Lux Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway. —AFP hard to win. We spent years and years just trying to win a race. It’s a credit to all the guys. We got a hardworking bunch of guys that we put together, and we also do a lot of it in our (Sprint) Cup operation. It’s really a credit to the Nationwide shop. I really appreciate those guys.” Stenhouse finished second, and Keselowski

After leading 119 laps before his fourth-place Nationwide finish at Bristol last week, Logano led eight times for 92 laps at Fontana, never running lower than third. The leaders sometimes ran three across on the wide track, thrilling fans and entertaining the drivers - including Logano, who felt like he was “chopping wood” behind the wheel.

WELLINGTON: Scoreboard at the close of play on the third day of the third and final test between New Zealand and South Africa at the Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday: 1 (w-1); Gillespie 33.4-7-113-6 (w-2, nb-2); Vettori 42-11-98-0; Brownlie 2-0-20-0; Williamson 13-1-35-0.

New Zealand first innings D.Flynn not out 35 M.Guptill not out 28 Extras (lb-1, nb-1) 2 Total (for no wickets, 25 overs) 65 Still to bat: Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Dean Brownlie, Daniel Vettori, Kruger van Wyk, Doug Bracewell, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin.

Bowling: Steyn 7-3-11-0; Philander 6-0-30-0 (nb-1); Morkel 6-3-6-0; de Lange 4-0-14-0; Duminy 2-0-3-0.

South Africa lead the three match series 1-0.

SA won’t play for a draw, says Petersen WELLINGTON: South Africa will continue to attack New Zealand when the fourth day of the final Test begins today rather than sit back and play for a draw despite holding a 1-0 lead in the threematch series, batsman Alviro Petersen said yesterday.

New Zealand reached 65 without loss at the close of the third day in response to South Africa’s 474 for nine declared, and while fine weather is expected for the final two days the hosts’ chances of forcing a result in the match appear slim.

Petersen, who top-scored with 156 in South Africa’s first innings, said the Proteas were keen to keep pushing for a result despite only needing a draw after winning the second test at Seddon Park in Hamilton by nine wickets.

“We would have liked to have picked up some wickets here tonight,” Petersen said. “We’ve got to find a way tomorrow. Come here fully focused with the attitude of trying to win a Test match. “We want to win a test match here, that’s the important thing.”

Petersen had been under pressure entering the match, having scored just 66 runs at 16.25 in his four previous test

innings on the tour of New Zealand.

However, he produced when his team needed it, taking advantage of an easy-paced pitch to graft his way to his third test century.

“I was under pressure coming into this game because of the standards I set for myself,” Petersen said. “The Proteas are a high performance team, we set high standards for ourselves and we want to live up to those standards.

“I haven’t really scored a lot of runs in this series so it was important that I once I got in that I try and score big.”

Mark Gillespie, who took six for 113 in South Africa’s innings, said New Zealand’s batsmen should benefit from the wicket flattening out.

“It just sort of flirts and offers, you think it’s going to offer you something at the start and it doesn’t really,” Gillespie said. “It gets flat pretty quick.

But I mean, if you bowl, on any deck really, in the right areas for long enough then things will happen.

“Obviously day one was a disappointing day for all us bowlers, but I don’t think it was so much exploiting the conditions, we didn’t really hit consistent areas.” —Reuters

ments that these drivers can make and change the lap times on their cars.”

Danica Patrick dropped out with engine trouble and finished 35th, the latest disappointing result for the high-profile driver in her first full season on the Nationwide circuit. Her radiator was punctured by debris. —AP

Japan and Germany start with wins at team worlds

Scoreboard New Zealand won the toss and chose to field South Africa first innings (overnight 246-2) G.Smith c van Wyk b Bracewell 5 A.Petersen lbw b Martin 156 H.Amla c van Wyk b Gillespie 63 JP Duminy c Taylor b Gillespie 103 AB de Villiers b Martin 38 J.Rudolph c van Wyk b Gillespie 11 M.Boucher c Williamson b Gillespie 46 D.Steyn c Guptill b Gillespie 0 V.Philander c Flynn b Gillespie 29 M.Morkel not out 10 Extras (w-3, nb-3, b-6, lb-1) 13 Total (for nine wickets dec, 148.4 overs) 474 Fall of wickets: 1-13 2-106 3-306 4-362 5-381 6388 7-404 8-459 Did not bat: Marchant de Lange Bowling: Martin 28-5-95-2; Bracewell 30-3-106-

“I don’t know who wouldn’t like watching that race. It was amazing,” said Adam Stevens, Logano’s crew chief. “So many lead changes. It really put it in the drivers’ hands where you could move around and change the lap time. Joey, he’s a master of that.

That’s what impressed me the most, is just the little tiny adjust-

GALLE: England’s cricket captain Andrew Strauss (right) and team coach Andy Flower chat during a practice session ahead of their first Test cricket match against Sri Lanka in Galle. —AP

England and Sri Lanka seek Test redemption GALLE: Top-ranked England play Sri Lanka in a two-Test series from today with both teams looking to prove a point after recent setbacks in the traditional five-day game.

England’s status as the world’s number one Test side took a big hit when they crashed to an embarrassing 3-0 series whitewash to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in January-February.

Sri Lanka, currently ranked sixth after being number two just a few years ago, are still searching for ways to win Test matches without their retired world record holder Muttiah Muralitharan.

The failure of Andrew Strauss-led England to adjust to spin-friendly wickets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi raised questions about their ability to win away from the seaming conditions at home. Sri Lanka will offer little respite for the tourists, whose challenge to master the slow, turning wickets will be compounded by the oppressive heat and humidity prevailing on the island.

“It’s unbelievable, make no bones about that,” batting star Kevin Pietersen said of the stifling weather. “It’s not the spinners we have to worry about, it’s the heat.

“The heat is the biggest threat to us. I am trying to conserve a lot of energy, not run around like a crazy fool.” England have not won a series in Sri Lanka since 2001, when Nasser Hussain’s men fought back after losing the first Test to win the remaining two matches for a creditable 2-1 scoreline.

The tourists drew a blank on their last two visits to Sri Lanka, in 2003 and 2007, as the hosts won both three-Test series by 1-0 margins.

Strauss’ men have begun the current tour well by winning both practice matches in the capital Colombo, the first by an innings and 15 runs and the second after chasing down a target of 359 in 60.4 overs.

All the top-order batsmen, barring Ian Bell,

have got among the runs with Strauss, opening partner Alastair Cook and number three Jonathan Trott hitting centuries.

The badly out-of-form Bell has managed just 25 runs in three innings on the tour so far, while Ravi Bopara will be considered only as a specialist batsman after a side strain prevented him from bowling.

Sri Lanka’s recent poor form will encourage England as they attempt to stamp their authority in the short series.

Since Muralitharan’s retirement in 2010 with a record 800 Test and 534 one-day wickets, Sri Lanka have won just one of their 17 Tests and lost six.

The lone win came in December, when Tillakaratne Dilshan’s men thumped South Africa by 208 runs in Durban, but went on to lose the series 2-1.

The remarkable win was fashioned by a match haul of nine wickets by seasoned leftarm spinner Rangana Herath, who remains the kingpin of Sri Lanka’s attack.

Sri Lanka, now captained by the veteran Mahela Jayawardene after Dilshan stepped down following the defeat in South Africa, go into the series after morale-sapping losses in one-day cricket.

The first Test, in coastal Galle, begins less than a week after Sri Lanka were dumped out of the Asia Cup in Bangladesh after three straight losses against India, Pakistan and the hosts.

The overworked Sri Lankans, who have been playing abroad since October, must adjust quickly to the demands of the five-day game after a surfeit of one-day cricket over the last two months.

Chamara Silva, who hit 163 against the tourists in a practice match, was drafted into the squad after all-rounder Angelo Mathews failed a fitness test on his calf muscle. The second and final Test will be played at the P Sara Oval in Colombo from April 3. —AFP

DORTMUND: Japan and hosts Germany both began their assaults on the men’s title at the world team table tennis championships with straightforward victories yesterday in their group matches. With defending champions China starting off against Greece late yesterday in Group A, Germany swept aside the Czech Republic in Group B, with Timo Boll opening with a 3-0 win over Dmitrij Prokopcov.

Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov also beat Antonin Gavlas in consecutive games by the same margin before Patrick Baum was taken to five games by Petr Korbel before earning a 3-2 win.

Germany took the silver medal at the world team championships two years ago in Moscow, when they lost to China in the final.

Japan, who shared the bronze medal with South Korea in 2010, started Group D with a 3-0 win over Belarus, as Seiya Kishikawa and Jun Mizutani enjoyed 3-0 victories and only Kenji Matsudaira was taken to five games for a 3-2 win in his match.

The Koreans start in Group C against Chinese Taipei on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, China opened their bid to claim the women’s title at the world team table tennis championships with a 3-0 win over Belarus yesterday.

Women’s singles world champion Ding Ning posted a three straight games win over Belarus’ Veronika Pavlovich in a ruthless display in the Group A match.

Following Ding Ning’s win, Li Xiaoxia overcame Viktoria Pavlovich and Guo Yue completed the Chinese cleansweep by accounting for Alena Dubkova.

China are looking to avenge their defeat to defending champions Singapore from the previous world team championships two years ago in Moscow, which Ding Ning says forced her to grow up.

“As a result of that loss, I grew up; I really do not think I would have won the women’s singles title at the World Championships last year had it not been for that defeat,” said the 21year-old. “Losing in Moscow made me stronger. Now two years later I’m really pleased that I’m in the team again.” World champions Singapore open the defence of the 2010 title against Turkey in Group B late yesterday. —AFP

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

S P ORT S

Al-Ghurba, Sheikh Salman and ambassador Reem Al-Khalid with the individual skeet winners.

Kuwait shooting club officials with Oman team

Al-Saad wins skeet event at HH The Amir GP

By Abdellatif Sharaa KUWAIT: Kuwait’s rising shooter Abdelaziz Al-Saad won the skeet event of HH The Amir Grand Prix, just one day before the championship comes to a close. Meanwhile the 10th Arab Shooting Championship witnessed heated competition between Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, which remains on top of the medals list.

Al-Saad grabbed the gold medal by scoring 123 hits out of 125, while Qatar’s Rashid Hamad took the silver medal and UAE’s Said bin Fatais third after a shoot off with the Qatari shooter.

Hungary’s Peter Sidi excelled with outstanding performance and won a second gold medal in 50m rifle 3 positions men individual event, ahead of India’s Gayang Narang who was world cup champion in 2006 and 2009, and record holder of the 10m rifle. Serbia’s Nemanja Mirosavljev was third.

In the 10m Air Pistol men event, Serbia’s Andrija Zlatic won the gold medal, followed by his countryman Damir Mikec and Qatar’s Oleg Engachev. Zlatic has a distinguished record, as he was the juniors champion in 1998, and was in second place in 2002 and 2010.

He was world champion twice during two rounds in 2011, Europe’s juniors champion in 1998. As for the Arab championship, Kuwait added to its medal tally two gold, one silver and one bronze making a total of eleven gold, nine silver and four bronze. Qatar is in second place with seven gold, eleven silver and eight bronze, Saudi Arabia third with four gold, five silver and two bronze, Oman four gold, one silver and two bronze, Oman four gold, one silver and three bronze, Tunis three gold and one bronze, Morocco two gold, three silver and two bronze, Bahrain two gold, two silver and five bronze, Iraq one gold, two silver and one bronze, Algeria one gold, one silver and one bronze, Lebanon one gold

and two bronze, UAE two silver and four bronze and Syria with one bronze. Kuwait’s Abdelaziz Al-Saad continued his dominance and won the skeet event in the Arab championship for juniors, followed by Qatar’s Mohammad Al-Kawari who took silver after a shoot out with his compatriot Ali Ishaq who took the bronze.

Meanwhile, in the teams event Kuwait won gold followed by Qatar.

Saudi Arabia’s Saeed Al-Mutairi took the skeet gold after a shoot out with UAE’s Saif bin Futais while Lebanon’s Michael Al-Haj took the bronze.

Qatar won the teams event followed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

A shooter in action at the HH The Amir Grand Prix

Tunisia’s Ali Shukri won the 10m air pistol gold medal followed by Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Al-Saed and Algeria’s Adjabi Amine. In the teams event Algeria won gold, followed by Saudi Arabia with silver and Bahrain with bronze.

Oman’s Hamed Al-Khatri won the gold medal in the 50m rifle followed by his compatriot Mohammad Al-Hatali and Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Al-Enezi. Oman won the teams gold in the same event followed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Qatar’s Osama Al-Saadi won the 10m pistol event ahead of Iraq’s Zaid Tareq and Qatar’s Mohammad Mathar. The teams event was won by Iraq followed by Qatar and Kuwait.

Hungary’s Peter Sidi said HH The Amir Grand Prix gives him a great opportunity to prepare for upcoming events, most notably a European championship next month, and the London Olympics this summer. Sidi said, he is proud of the two gold medals he won and he will make sure to participate every year, as he felt very comfortable in Kuwait. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s Saeed Al-Mutairi who won the skeet gold in the Arab championship said, he was very happy to compete, especially that he won first place despite a lengthy lay off. Al-Mutairi said competition was very strong and results were not known until the very last clay target.

He said current competition remains, as all believe, a very good preparation for the Olympics coming up this summer. Al-Mutairi thanked officials of the organizing committee, headed by Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah for the good organization. Meanwhile, Oman’s Hamad Al-Khatri said his country’s winning was expected following the good preparations by Omani shooters in Kuwait prior to the official competition.

He said the great challenge for the Omani shooters is to maintain the same level in addition to seeking qualification to the Olympic events.

Deng saves Bulls at buzzer CHICAGO: Luol Deng hit a follow-up shot at the buzzer in overtime and the Chicago Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors 102-101 on Saturday night to clinch a playoff spot with their NBA-leading 40th victory.

Chicago’s C.J. Watson drove for the basket and Toronto’s James Johnson blocked the attempt, but Deng got the ball and put it in the basket - a play officials reviewed to make sure it was in before the buzzer.

Carlos Boozer had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, Deng added 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Watson had 23 points.

Johnson, a former Chicgao player, scored 20 points for Toronto. Jose Calderon also had 20 points and 10 assists, and Gary Forbes had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors, but missed two free throws with 6.4 seconds left in overtime.

SEPANG: Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain waves his national flag as he celebrates with his team after winning the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix.—AP

Alonso clinches rainy Malaysia GP SEPANG: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso scored a dramatic victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday when the Spaniard denied Sauber’s Sergio Perez a first Formula One triumph in a race turned on its head by the weather.

The race started in torrential rain and was stopped for 51 minutes after eight laps but Alonso took charge on its resumption to register a shock 28th career victory in a car that had been outpaced in qualifying in the opening two rounds.

“A big surprise today the win,” Alonso told reporters. “Our goal was to score as many points as possible. An unbelievable result, a great job from the team.”

The victory took the double world champion past Jackie Stewart into fifth in the all-time win standings but Alonso will enjoy the moment while he can, aware that his Ferrari remains well off the pace in dry conditions.

“We maximised the potential in our hands,” added Alonso, who climbed to the top of the drivers’ standings on 35 points. “The team deserve this win. It’s a tough time for us at the moment but this is a Sunday we will remember.”

Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton repeated his third place finish from the opening race of the season in Melbourne last weekend, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber in fourth and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen fifth in his Lotus.

Australia race winner Jenson Button and current world champion Sebastian Vettel, who was running fourth at the time, both suffered mid-race collisions with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan and finished outside the points.

Alonso started the race in eighth place but worked his way up to fifth by the red flag, passed Webber soon after the resumption and capitalised on a well-timed pit stop to get past Hamilton.

He overtook Mexico’s Perez on the 17th of the 56-lap race and after initially dropping back, the Sauber closed to within a second of the Ferrari in the late stages and was on course to secure an unlikely victory.

His dreams of becoming the first Mexican to record a Formula One win since 1970 were shattered with five laps remaining, however, when he ran wide on turn 13 and slipped too far behind Alonso to catch him before the chequered flag.

“I knew I had to get him soon because in all the high speed corners I was losing my front tyres running behind him,” said the 22-year-old Perez, who was ordered by Ferrari-powered Sauber to “be careful” just before the error.

“Then I ran wide in the quick left hander. I touched the kerb and I went onto the dirty side of the track. It was completely wet and I lost the win.”

Nevertheless it was Sauber’s best result as an independent team as Perez scored more points in one race than he did all of last season, adding fuel to paddock rumours that he could replace Felipe Massa (15th) at Ferrari before the end of the season.

Hamilton had looked dejected after he slipped from pole to third in Australia but after repeating the trick for a second Sunday in a row, the 2008 world champion was delighted to just finish in the points. “I can’t complain as I’m on the podium for the second weekend in a row. I was able to stay out of trouble with the conditions. We did a great job,” he said.

“We were a little unfortunate losing a lot of time at a couple of pit stops. Otherwise, I was just trying to hunt the leaders down but they were both massively quick.”

The Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg flattered to deceive for a second race in a row, struggling all day in the conditions to finish 10th and 13th respectively after looking quick in qualification.

The unpredictable nature of the race gave the rest of the top 10 an unfamiliar look with the Williams of Bruno Senna crossing the line in sixth, while Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne finished eighth between the Force Indias of Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg. The third grand prix of the 20-race season takes place in China on April 15.—Reuters

Pacers 125, Bucks 104 At Milwaukee, George Hill scored a season-high 24 points in Indiana’s victory over Milwaukee. Roy Hibbert added 16 points and nine rebounds to help the Pacers rebound from a home loss to Phoenix.

Ersan Ilyasova had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks. Monta Ellis, Milwaukee’s recent trade acquisition, scored 11 points, struggling after scoring nine in the first quarter.

The game included a minor confrontation in the fourth quarter between Milwaukee’s Mike Dunleavy, a former Pacers player, and Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough.

Warriors 111, Kings 108 At Oakland, California, David Lee had 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, and rookie Klay Thompson

scored a career-best 31 points to lead Golden State past Sacramento. DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points and 18 rebounds for the Kings.

Nets 102, Bobcats 89 At Newark, New Jersey, Deron Williams had 19 points and matched his season high with 14 assists as New Jersey beat Charlotte to snap a five-game losing streak. Kris Humphries added 20 points and 16 rebounds, and former Bobcat Gerald Wallace had 15 points to help the Nets sweep the four-game season series with the woeful Bobcats. Backup center Byron Mullens had 17 points to lead the Bobcats, who were coached by assistant coach Stephen Silas. Head coach Paul Silas has handed the team over to his son for three full games this season.—AP

Knicks 101, Pistons 79 At New York, Tyson Chandler had 15 points and equaled a season high with 17 rebounds as New York rebounded from its first loss under Mike Woodson to rout Detroit for the third time this season.

Amare Stoudemire scored 17 points for the Knicks, who are 6-1 since Mike D’Antoni resigned. They lost 96-79 on Friday night in Toronto, but had no trouble with Detroit for the third time in three meetings this season. Carmelo Anthony finally got his shot to fall in the third quarter and finished with 15 points, while Jeremy Lin had 13. Ben Gordon scored 20 points for Detroit, which lost its fifth straight.

Clippers 101, Grizzlies 85 At Los Angeles, Blake Griffin had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Chris Paul added 19 points and 13 assists as Los Angeles beat Memphis.

Randy Foye had 18 points to help the Clippers, playing the first of five home games in eight days, move within three games of the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead.

Zach Randolph had 14 points and eight rebounds for Memphis. The Grizzlies have lost six of eight after an 11-2 stretch.

Spurs 89, Hornets 86 At New Orleans, DeJuan Blair scored 23 points and Tim Duncan had four key points down the stretch in the San Antonio’s victory over New Orleans., Jarrett Jack had 27 points for the Hornets, 25 in the first three quarters. He also committed a turnover and missed a driving layup in the final 32.7 seconds.

Duncan finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Hawks 95, Wizards 92 At Washington, Joe Johnson scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead 3pointer in the final minute, as Atlanta erased a 16point deficit to beat Washington. Josh Smith added 20 points and nine rebounds to help the Hawks win their third consecutive game.

Nene led the Wizards with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his 80th career double-double, and Jordan Crawford scored 20 points. Washington’s John Wall missed a potential tying 3-pointer right before the buzzer.

Mavericks 101, Rockets 99 At Houston, Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points, Jason Terry added 24 and Brandan Wright had a career-high seven blocks in Dallas’ overtime victory over Houston.

Shawn Marion had 12 points and a season-high 15 rebounds to help the Mavericks beat Houston for the fifth straight time. Goran Dragic scored 24 points, and Luis Scola added 19 for the Rockets. The game had 17 lead changes, 15 ties and a louder-than-usual crowd with the in-state rival in town.

OAKLAND: Sacramento Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins (15) drives the ball past Golden State Warriors’ Jeremy Tyler (right) during an NBA basketball game.—AP

Red hot Federer rolls on as Clijsters falls in Miami MIAMI: Roger Federer held off local wildcard Ryan Harrison to set up a third-round clash against twice former Sony Ericsson Open champion Andy Roddick and Serena Williams served her way into the fourth round in Miami action on Saturday.

While men’s number one Novak Djokovic and women’s second-ranked Maria Sharapova progressed easily, former number one and twice Miami winner Kim Clijsters was eliminated at the Premierlevel event.

Clijsters fought hard and survived six match points before falling to fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-4 7-6 in their third round clash.

“It was a special win for me today because she was one of my idols growing up,” the 22-year-old Wickmayer said. Australia’s US Open champion Samantha Stosur avoided an early exit by storming back after falling a set and 4-2 down to beat South African Chanelle Scheepers 2-6 7-5 6-2.

Federer, who has won 40 of 42 matches and six tournament titles since the 2011 US Open semifinals, led his 19-year-old opponent 5-2 in the second set before Harrison extended him to a tiebreaker taken 7-3 by the Swiss for a hard-earned 6-2 7-6 win. “I felt like I had to win the match like three times at the end, so I was relieved to come through,”

Federer told reporters after his second round tie.

“Beating an American in America is always a big deal, because this is where they usually play their very best.” Federer must next hurdle another homegrown foe in Roddick and although the Swiss world number three has mastered the American former world number one in 21 out of 23 matches, he does not expect it to be easy going.

“The head-to-head doesn’t play a massive factor for me against Andy, because I know there’s always a lot in Andy’s racket depending on how he serves,” said Federer.

“And if I don’t play well, I know I won’t win. So the pressure is there.” Roddick lost only nine points on serve and thundered down 10 aces to beat Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-3 6-2.

Djokovic prevailed over Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 64, subduing the Cypriot without the loss of a set for the first time in their last six meetings.

American Williams, the 10th seed, belted eight aces in an overpowering 6-2 6-1 rout of 21st seed Roberta Vinci of Italy. “I played okay” said Williams. “I can definitely do better but I haven’t played a lot.”

Williams, whose five Miami triumphs tie her with Steffi Graf for the record, said she was still hungry for more. —Reuters

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

S P ORT S

Malaga down Espanyol

ITALY: Genoa’s Rodrigo Palacio of Argentina (center) scores past Fiorentina goalkeeper Artur Boruc of Poland (left) and defender Cesare Natali during a Serie A soccer match.—AP

Lazio see off rivals Cagliari TURIN: Lazio yesterday put daylight between themselves and their Champions League rivals as a Mobido Diakite goal two minutes from time gave them a 1-0 win over Cagliari.

The crucial strike cemented the Romans in third place, three points ahead of Napoli and Udinese in the race for the final Champions League qualification position.

It was a dramatic turnaround as Napoli had looked to be about to leapfrog Lazio when they led Catania 2-0 with the biancoceleste being held 0-0.

But Napoli conceded two quick goals from corners and Frenchman Diakite’s late strike turned things on their head.

The centre-back headed home a Cristian Ledesma free-kick at the back post. “It’s a vital win which improves our Champions League hopes,” said Giovanni Lopez, the assistant to coach Edy Reja, who spent the game in the stands serving a one-game ban.

“Diakite’s goal is an important one which allows us to forget about the last two defeats. Winning this way is good for morale and now we can keep dreaming about the Champions League, also thanks to the other teams’ results.”

As well as Napoli dropping points, Udinese drew 1-1 at Palermo on Saturday.

Napoli’s home draw was a blot on an otherwise positive week in which they had reached the Italian Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Siena.

Blerim Dzemaili and Edinson Cavani looked to have given them victory before Nicolas Spolli and Davide Lanzafame pegged them back.

The result left Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri furious. “I’m very angry, very,” he said. “We thought the game was over. We were feeble at 2-0. “They could have finished off the game but we didn’t.

Sometimes we’re naive, we’re children.

“They’re throwing away points that are already ours. Next up against Juve we’ve got to go and do what we know how to do but we have to improve from certain points of view.”

It took Napoli’s unbeaten league run to nine games but they have drawn their last

two. The hosts struggled to break down their stubborn Sicilian opponents in the first half in Naples.

Walter Gargano and Marek Hamsik had both tried their luck from distance but goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo was equal to those efforts.

They broke the deadlock just past the hour mark as the ball broke free 25 yards out and Dzemaili had time and space to crash an unstoppable shot into the top corner.

And just a few minutes later Napoli hit Catania on the counter-attack as Goran Pandev slipped in Cavani behind the defence.

He beat Carrizo with his first shot but it came back off the post, was missed by the back-tracking Spolli and came back to Cavani who this time fired home in off the same post he’d just hit.

The game seemed over but 15 minutes from time Spolli headed home a Cristian Llama corner to blow the game wide open.

And then five minutes from time Lanzafame reacted quickest after another Llama corner caused panic in Napoli’s defence.

In other games Cesena stayed bottom after an entertaining 2-2 draw at home to Parma.

Adrian Mutu hit the bar for the hosts before Sebastian Giovinco teed up Sergio Floccari to give Parma the lead. Goals from Mario Santana and Simone Del Nero put Cesena in charge but Gabriel Paletta snatched a point for the visitors, who remain one place and five points above the relegation zone.

Lecce failed to close that gap to Parma as they drew 0-0 at Novara, who remain second bottom and three points behind Lecce.

Rodrigo Palacio scored a minute from time to snatch a 2-2 draw for Genoa at home to Fiorentina.

On Saturday, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice in AC Milan’s 2-1 win over Roma as the champions moved seven points clear at the top. Juventus have the chance to reduce that gap as they host Inter Milan in yesterday’s late match.—AFP

Italian League results/standings Atalanta 2 (Gabbiadini 50, Tiribocchi 90) Bologna 0; Cesena 2 (Santana 46, Del Nero 53) Parma 2 (Floccari 40, Paletta 61); Chievo 1 (Acerbi 9) Siena 1 (Destro 51); Genoa 2 (Belluschi 20, Palacio 89) Fiorentina 2 (Montolivo 31, Natali 65); Lazio 1 (Diakite 88) Cagliari 0; Napoli 2 (Dzemaili 61, Cavani 67) Catania 2 (Spolli 75, Lanzafame 85); Novara 0 Lecce 0.

Playing later: Juventus v Inter Milan Italian Serie A table ahead of yesterday’s late match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): AC Milan Juventus Lazio Napoli Udinese Roma Catania Inter Milan Atalanta Bologna Palermo

29 28 29 29 29 29 29 28 29 29 29

19 14 15 12 13 13 10 12 10 9 10

6 14 6 12 9 5 12 5 13 9 6

4 0 8 5 7 11 7 11 6 11 13

59 44 43 54 40 42 38 38 33 31 41

23 17 34 32 27 35 37 36 29 35 46

63 56 51 48 48 44 42 41 37 36 36

Chievo 29 9 9 Cagliari 29 8 10 Genoa 29 9 7 Siena 29 8 9 Fiorentina 29 8 9 Parma 29 7 11 Lecce 29 6 9 Novara 29 5 9 Cesena 29 4 6 Note: Atalanta deducted six season for match-fixing.

11 25 36 36 11 29 36 34 13 37 51 34 12 33 31 33 12 29 35 33 11 35 46 32 14 31 45 27 15 24 46 24 19 18 47 18 points at start of

Syria survive Oman scare HANOI: Syria narrowly escaped defeat a g a i n s t O m a n ye s te rd ay d u r i n g t h e opening game of a three-team Olympic qualifying tournament, scoring an equaliser in injury time to draw 1-1.

Syria’s Ahmad Aldouni saved Syria from an embarrassing defeat with a looping header in the 95th minute after the Gulf Sultanate had taken a shock lead.

Oman’s captain Al Hadhri Hussain Ali Fa r a h s c o re d i n t h e 4 4 t h m i n u t e o f play, and the Sultanate kept up the pressure throughout the second half, although were unable to capitalise on a number of golden opportunities to score. The equaliser came as a relief to Syria, coached by Rui Almeida, ahead of a crucial game with Uzbekistan Tu e s d ay a t t h e M y D i n h S t a d i u m i n Hanoi.

They went a man down after Hussein Aljwayed was shown a red card but Oman were unable to make the most of the opportunity presented to t h e m . Sy r i a we n t i n to t h e m a tc h a s favourites, with Oman’s presence in the Olympic playoffs described as “a miracle” by head coach Paul Le Guen at the pre-match press conference.

MADRID: Malaga boosted their chances of securing a lucrative place in next season’s Champions League when they came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Espanyol and draw level on points with third-placed Valencia yesterday.

The Qatar-owned club fell behind in the 24th minute to a Philippe Coutinho strike before former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward Ruud van Nistelrooy netted a 75th-minute equaliser moments after coming off the bench.

Malaga snatched the winner two minutes later when Espanyol goalkeeper Francisco Casilla saved Salomon Rondon’s header only for Martin Demichelis to smash the loose ball into the net.

“We are on a good run of form and losing a few matches earlier in the season has helped inspire us to go for victory in every game,” Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini told a news conference after his side’s fifth win in six outings.

“Every point is very valuable because the standings are very congested,” the Chilean added.

The victory lifted the Andalusians, one of Europe’s biggest spenders in recent seasons, into Spain’s fourth Champions League qualification place above Levante, who were beaten 2-0 at home to Osasuna who are also in the running.

With nine games remaining, Valencia-who lost 3-1 at Getafe on Saturday-hold on to third on 47 points thanks to a superior goal difference over Malaga, while Levante stay three points behind and drop to fifth.

Leaders Real Madrid preserved their six-point advantage over second-placed Barcelona with a 5-1 drubbing of Real Sociedad on Saturday after Barca had shrugged off the dismissal of Thiago Alcantara early in the second half to win 2-0 at Real Mallorca.

Real have 75 points and Barca, chasing a fourth straight La Liga title, have 69, 22 ahead of Valencia and Malaga.

Osasuna are a point behind Levante in sixth, three ahead of seventh-placed Espanyol, and Atletico Madrid are eighth, level on 39 points with Getafe, after they conceded a penalty in added time and lost 1-0 at a resurgent Real Zaragoza. Zaragoza, whose season has been overshadowed by financial problems and institutional strife, climbed off the bottom, moving level with Sporting Gijon and a point above Racing Santander, who play at Real Betis later on Sunday.

“The only thing we can do is remain humble and maybe we have a chance of saving ourselves from relegation,” Zaragoza coach Manolo Jimenez told a news conference.

“At the end of the game with the heat and the very dry pitch it was a toss-up whether we won or lost and it was clear that whoever scored would take the three points,” he added.

Athletic Bilbao are 10th on 38 points after they conceded a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at home to Gijon. Marcelo Bielsa’s side are without a win in three matches since they knocked Premier League side Manchester United out of the Europa League on March 15.—Reuters

SPAIN: Malaga’s Dutch forward Rutgerus Johannes Martinius van Nistelrooy (left) vies with Espanyol’s defender Didac Vila (right) during the Spanish league football match.—AFP

Spanish League results/standings Real Zaragoza 1 (Apono 90pen) Atletico Madrid 0; Levante 0 Osasuna 2 (Raul Garcia 15, Nino 78); Espanyol 1 (Coutinho Correia 24) Malaga 2 (van Nistelrooy 75, Demichelis 77); Athletic Bilbao 1 (De Marcos 77) Sporting Gijon 1 (Lora 90).

Playing later Real Betis v Racing Santander, Rayo Vallecano v Villarreal Playing today Granada v Sevilla Spanish League table after the yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Real Madrid Barcelona Valencia Malaga Levante Osasuna Espanyol Atletico Getafe Bilbao

29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29

24 21 13 14 13 10 11 10 10 9

3 6 8 5 5 13 7 9 9 11

2 2 8 10 11 6 11 10 10 9

95 84 45 44 41 34 37 39 31 44

26 22 36 41 40 41 39 35 36 40

75 69 47 47 44 43 40 39 39 38

Vallecano Sevilla Mallorca Sociedad Betis Granada Villarreal Gijon Zaragoza Racing

28 28 29 29 28 28 28 29 29 28

11 9 9 9 9 9 6 6 6 4

4 9 9 6 4 4 10 7 7 12

13 10 11 14 15 15 12 16 16 12

42 30 31 32 32 27 28 28 25 22

47 31 37 45 42 43 42 54 51 43

37 36 36 33 31 31 28 25 25 24

Kagawa stars as leaders Dortmund floor Cologne BERLIN: Japan’s Shinji Kagawa led Borussia Dortmund’s fight back to floor Cologne 6-1 yesterday and restore the defending champions’ fivepoint lead at the top of the German league with seven games left.

After second-placed Bayern Munich’s 2-1 home win over Hanover on Saturday had trimmed Borussia’s lead to just two points, Dortmund replied in style to score five secondhalf goals without reply at Cologne.

Dortmund are on course for the domestic double and play Bayern in the German Cup final on May 12 in Berlin. “We didn’t play so well in the first-half, but it was important we got back to 1-1,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp. “After that our opponents had no answer.”

Klopp has made a habit of playing down any talk of the title, but he admitted he has big ambitions. “Rest assured, we want to win anything going, anything,” he said. “We’ve created a good position for the final sprint and that is yet to come.”

Kagawa produced a dazzling second-half performance with two goals to take him to 11 for the season. He also set up Poland striker Robert Lewandowski for the third, then midfielder Ilkay Gundogan for the fourth.

The start was delayed for 10 minutes because of heavy traffic around the stadium but Cologne began with their foot on the gas, as Slovenia striker Milivoje Novakovic headed his side ahead on 13 minutes.

Dortmund got back on level terms 13 minutes later when Poland defender Lukasz Piszczek headed home from a corner past Cologne’s exBayern Munich goalkeeper Michael Rensing.

Borussia began their second-half blitz with two goals in five minutes at the start of the second half as Piszczek headed back across the Cologne goal and Kagawa was on hand to blast home on 47 minutes.

The Japanese star then combined with Poland captain Jakub Blaszczykowski- Kuba for short-to set up Lewandowski for a simple tap in on 52 minutes. With 11 minutes left, Kagawa’s run split the Cologne defence and his return pass allowed Gundogan a simple tap in before the Japan wing fired home from close range with 80 minutes gone. Ivan Perisic netted the sixth with six minutes left to complete the rout. Victory leaves

GERMANY: Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski of Poland (right) scores against Cologne’s goalkeeper Michael Rensing during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match. —AP Dortmund on 62 points with Bayern on 57, while Cologne drop to 14th, just one point from the relegation places.

“After a game like that, there are few arguments why we should stay in the league,” said Cologne’s international striker Lukas Podolski.

Germany striker Cacau hit a late winner to seal VfB Stuttgart’s 1-0 victory at home to Nuremberg and leave his side just a point from a European berth. Cacau, set to be part of the Germany squad for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine this June, struck in the 78th minute when he rolled his shot under Nuremberg goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer from 12 metres out.

Bruno Labbadia-coached Stuttgart have now won four of their last five league games and victory sees them rise to seventh in the table, just one point from a Europa League berth.

Schalke 04 moved up to third with a 2-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday as Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored with headers

either side of half-time.

Borussia Moechengladbach slipped back to fourth when they threw away the lead to lose 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim, which leaves them six points behind Bayern and eight behind Dortmund.

Kaiserslautern coach Krassimir Balakov, who took over after Marco Kurz was sacked in midweek, had an unhappy start as his team were beaten 2-0 at Freiburg to remain bottom of the league.

It was Kaiserslautern’s 17th league game without a win and means they are now six points adrift at the bottom. The win lifts Freiburg to 13th and drops Hamburg to 16th and into the relegation places after they lost 2-1 to Wolfsburg on Friday night.

Hertha Berlin remain second from bottom despite their 3-1 win at Mainz but things are tight at the bottom as only two points separate Hertha in 17th and 13th-placed Freiburg.—AFP

German League results/standings Matches on TV (Local Timings) HANOI: Oman’s Al Jabri Ali Hilal Saud (right) vies for the ball with Syria’s Ahmad Aldouni (center) during the London Olympic Asian Qualifiers football play-off match between Syria and Oman.—AFP Oman’s qualification to the playoffs came after FIFA awarded them a 3-0 victory in their fixture with Qatar. The November 27 match originally ended in a 1-1 draw but Qatar were found guilty of fielding an ineligible player.—AFP

English Premier League Man United v Fulham Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5

22:00

Spanish League Granada v Sevilla Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

22:00

VfB Stuttgart 1 (Cacau 78) Nuremberg 0; Cologne 1 (Novakovic 13) Borussia Dortmund 6 (Piszczek 26, Kagawa 47, 80 Lewandowski 52, Gundogan 79, Perisic 84).

German league table after the yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Borussia Dortmund Bayern Munich Schalke Borussia Leverkusen Werder Bremen Stuttgart Hanover Wolfsburg

27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27

19 5 18 3 17 2 15 6 11 7 11 7 11 6 9 11 11 4

3 6 8 6 9 9 10 7 12

59 66 60 40 39 41 44 35 36

17 18 34 18 36 40 34 38 48

62 57 53 51 40 40 39 38 37

Hoffenheim Nuremberg Mainz Freiburg Cologne Augsburg Hamburg Hertha Berlin Kaiserslautern

27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27

8 9 9 4 7 9 7 7 8 4 5 12 6 9 6 8 3 11

10 14 11 13 15 10 12 13 13

31 25 39 35 34 28 31 29 17

38 38 44 53 56 41 50 48 38

33 31 30 28 28 27 27 26 20

Malaga down Espanyol

Logano wins Fontana race

19

17

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

NZ handle hostile period as S Africa post huge total

Page 17

LONDON: West Bromwich Albion’s Jonas Olsson (left) and Liam Ridgewell (right) challenge Newcastle United’s English defender Danny Simpson during the English Premier League football match.—AP

Newcastle continue European push West Brom 1

Newcastle 3

LONDON: Newcastle United moved to within five points of a place in next season’s Champions League after a 3-1 win away to West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns yesterday.

The match was all but over as a contest at halftime as the Magpies established a 3-0 interval lead, with Papiss Cisse scoring twice either side of Hatem Ben Arfa’s strike.

West Brom substitute Shane Long capitalised on a defensive mix-up to pull a goal back in the 52nd minute but that was as good as it got for the Baggies as they suffered a ninth home league defeat this term.

Victory left Newcastle in sixth place in the Premier League and level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, who have a superior goal difference.

Both clubs are now just five points behind Tottenham Hotspur, currently occupying the fourth

and final Champions League place on offer to English clubs, with eight games of the domestic league season remaining.

“First half we played some really fantastic stuff,” Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, told the BBC after his side went eight points clear of seventhplaced Liverpool, their next opponents.

“I said before the game that at the training ground there was a new buoyancy after the win against Norwich and today it was champagne stuff.

“We’ve been phenomenal all year, the players have worked so hard and deserve all the plaudits they get...You don’t amass those points without quality.”

West Brom manager Roy Hodgson added: “We were 3-0 down at half-time from their counter-attacks. I don’t think we dealt with that very well.

“We made a fight of it but at 3-0 against a side of Newcastle’s quality it was going to be hard.” Yesterday, both sets of players at the Hawthorns and the match officials walked out wearing T-shirts in support of Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton midfielder who remains in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest in an FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham.

And there was a minute’s applause before kick-off for former Albion midfielder Ray Barlow, a member of the Baggies’ 1954 FA Cup winning team, who died recently.

It took Newcastle just six minutes to open the

scoring against a West Brom side all but assured of Premier League football next season.

France midfielder Ben Arfa’s excellent cross from out wide sped along the edge of the six-yard box and allowed striker Cisse, who was just onside, to prod the ball into the back of the net.

Six minutes later it was Ben Arfa’s turn to score, with Senegal striker Cisse involved in the build-up.

Ben Arfa played a one-two with Yohan Cabaye and then exchanged passes with Cisse before shooting past Ben Foster.

And in the 34th minute, Newcastle were 3-0 in front. Senegal international Demba Ba’s back-heel found Ben Arfa and his pull-back was powered into the net by Cisse, for his second goal of the match and fifth for Newcastle.

Hodgson made a double substitution at half-time, with Chris Brunt and Long replacing Jerome Thomas and Keith Andrews respectively.

The injection of pace up front yielded a reward for Albion when a ball over the top of Newcastle’s defence was nodded away from visiting goalkeeper Tim Krul by the Magpies’s Mike Williamson and into the path of Long, who shot into an empty net.

Newcastle, however, weathered the storm and Albion had to play the closing stages a man down when James Morrison went off injured after Hodgson had used all his substitutes.—AFP

Rangers deny Celtic title party GLASGOW: Ten-man Rangers put their financial worries to one side as they defeated Celtic 3-2 to deny their rivals-who had two players and manager Neil Lennon sent to the stands-a title party at Ibrox yesterday.

Celtic could have clinched the championship with a win but it was Rangers, boosted by the return of several players, who showed more desire to delay any celebrations.

After a period of sustained pressure, Sone Aluko put Rangers ahead in the 11th minute with a superb solo goal before Cha Du-Ri saw red in the 29th minute for hauling down Lee Wallace on the edge of the box.

Lennon was sent to the stands during the break for a tirade against the officials and Victor Wanyama soon followed, receiving a straight red card for a two-footed challenge on Steven Whittaker in the 57th minute.

Substitute Andrew Little scored within seconds of coming on in the 72nd minute before Wallace added a third for the hosts in the 77th minute.

Scott Brown pulled one back from the spot in the 88th minute after Carlos

Bocanegra was sent off for bringing down Georgios Samaras and Thomas Rogne headed in another two minutes into stoppage time.

Celtic remain 18 points clear of their rivals and could still clinch the title at Parkhead next Sunday.

But for cash-strapped reigning champions Rangers, whose 10-point deduction for entering administration gave Celtic’s title bid a huge boost, victory was all that mattered.

“I didn’t want to win the game today to stop Celtic winning the title. I wanted to win the game because we were playing our biggest rivals in one of the biggest fixtures of the season,” said Rangers manager Ally McCoist, whose side won the corresponding fixture at Ibrox 4-2 in September.

“It has been a bit of a strange season but certainly today’s performance and our performance against Celtic in the first Old Firm game here have been really high points of a difficult season.”

Lennon was furious at the match officials’ display. “The first one was not a sending off, the second one is borderline probably and my sending off was a

GLASGOW: Celtic’s Georgios Samaras (center) vies for the ball with Rangers’ Carlos Bocanegra (left) and Steven Whittaker during their Scottish Premier League soccer match.—AP joke,” he said. “We scored two fine goals and it sums up our players — they keep going to the final whistle even with nine men. I’m very proud of them and the character they showed in the second half tells me they will be champions sooner rather than later.”

The Rangers players, spurred on by a vociferous home support, penned Celtic in their own half in the opening stages and their pressure paid off in the 11th minute when a fine individual effort from Aluko gave Rangers the

lead. A quickly taken free-kick was played to the Nigerian international just inside the Celtic half and he put the ball through Rogne’s legs before making a darting run at the retreating defence and slotting low past Fraser Forster.

Almost immediately Celtic had a chance of their own when Georgios Samaras burst into the box at pace but Allan McGregor was equal to his shot before tipping Anthony Stokes’ followup effort over the bar.—AFP

EPL results/standings West Brom 1 (Long 52) Newcastle 3 (Cisse 6, 34, Ben Arfa 12) Playing today Man Utd v Fulham English Premier League table after yesterday’s match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Man City Man Utd Arsenal Tottenham Chelsea Newcastle Liverpool Sunderland Everton Swansea

30 29 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

22 22 18 16 14 14 11 11 11 10

4 4 4 7 8 8 9 7 7 9

4 3 8 7 8 8 10 12 12 11

72 73 61 53 49 44 36 39 30 34

22 27 39 35 34 42 31 34 32 36

70 70 58 55 50 50 42 40 40 39

Norwich Stoke Fulham West Brom Aston Villa Blackburn Bolton QPR Wigan Wolves

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Preview

Time to turn the screw, Ferguson tells United MANCHESTER: Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United should be applauded for still being in the title race but has told his players to ram home their advantage against Fulham yesterday.

For the first time since the start of the campaign, Ferguson’s squad is almost at full strength as United enter the final run of matches. His defence has been hit particularly hard, with Nemanja Vidic missing the majority of the campaign through injury.

Phil Jones could return from illness against the Cottagers on Monday but Ferguson could still be without as many as six of his first-team squad.

Even so, a victory over Martin Jol’s side would see United open up a crucial threepoint lead over Manchester City, held 1-1 at Stoke on Saturday.

Ferguson must also be comforted by the fact that, after the Fulham game, United face Blackburn, QPR, Wigan, Aston Villa and Everton before heading to City for the third last game of the season on April 30.

Despite having taken United to a record of 19 titles, Ferguson feels that if his squad were to hold off City, this one would represent one of the most impressive achievements and he hopes that his group’s experience will count. “I have to congratulate the players on achieving the position we are in because of the injuries we have had,” he said.

“It’s not been a great season for us in terms of injuries. The players have shown resilience and we are in the position we are now because of that. “Now we are starting to get players back and we hope they stay back

because it does strengthen our chances.

“I think you are better having had the experience of winning the league than not.

But we’ve still got to win our games. We’ve got nine games over the next few weeks — five at home and four away — and that’s the challenge. “You get that when it comes to the crucial part of the season, everyone tends to get fit again. I’m delighted of course, having a full squad like that gives me variety.

“We’ve got to win these games if we can, that’s what we have to aim for. Each game is a challenge as you go along. “After this, it’s Blackburn and so on and so on, that’s the best way to handle it.”

Other than Jones, Nani is still struggling with an ankle problem and Michael Owen, Vidic, Darren Fletcher, Anderson and Anders Lindegaard are also absent.

While midfielder Michael Carrick regrets the fact that United do not have other competitions to go at, he believes Ferguson’s side will benefit from the extra rest.

United have reached the Champions League final in three of the last four seasons and regularly have other competitions to soak up their resources.

“Ideally we’d still be in the Champions League and we’d be playing twice a week,” Carrick said. “But the way things have gone it means we’ve pretty much only got one game a week now. “You’d have to say the situation we’re in now should give us an advantage in that area compared to previous seasons. It will help us be at 100 per cent for each game.”—AFP

Shell scrambles to pay huge bill for Iran oil Page 22

Japan, Canada to start free trade talks soon Page 23

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Nissan looks to profit on retro Datsun brand

Kuwait index slides as investors book profit Page 24

Page 25

ATHENS: Demonstrators scuffle with riot police during the Greek Independence Day in Athens yesterday. Fears of anti-austerity protests have prompted an unprecedented security mobilization ahead of national parade to mark Greece’s Independence Day. — AFP

Iran boosts cash payments to citizens Inflation bites, rial plunges as sanctions effect sinks in DUBAI: Iran is boosting the monthly cash payments it gives to its citizens by more than fif t y percent, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported, as soaring inflation and the depreciating rial continue to bite deep into the national economy.

The Iranian government implemented the first-stage of its Targeted Subsidies Plan towards the end of 2010 in an attempt wean the country off more generous food and fuel subsidies and so cut government spending. At the time, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called it the “biggest economic plan of the past 50 years”.

After the additional payment, the vast majority of Iranians will receive 730,000 rials (around $60) in direct monthly cash payments. The increase will soon be deposited in recipients’ accounts, the head of the organization for targeted subsidies, Behrouz Moradi, was quoted as saying, but cannot be used until the second phase of the government’s subsidies plans is launched.

The next stage is expected to be introduced in April with the goal of reducing payments from 90 percent to 80 percent of the population. It is unclear from the report if the additional amount will be paid on a

Spain vows to stick to budget deficit targets SAARISELKAE, Finland: Spain vowed yesterday to deliver on its promise to reduce its budget deficit, as the country’s economic situation sparks concern in the euro-zone and financial markets.

“We’re going to do it,” Spain’s secretary of state for EU affairs, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, told reporters on the sidelines of an informal meeting of senior European officials in Finland. He rejected fears expressed by many economists about whether Spain, given the recession it is experiencing this year, will be able to meet its EU obligation to slash its budget deficit to 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year.

“We are serious. Spain is back to seriousness,” he insisted. EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn, attending the same talks in Finland, on Saturday urged Spain to meet its budget obligations or face sanctions on the financial markets.

He noted that the markets had already called for higher borrowing rates for Spain after Madrid relaxed its public deficit target for this year. “Because there was a perception that Spain is relaxing its fiscal targets for this year, there has already been a market reaction of several dozens of basis points on Spanish bonds rates, which for the first time in a long time (surpassed) the Italian interest rates,” Rehn said. “That illustrates how fragile the situation still is,” he said. A team of experts from the European Commission is due to hold budget talks with the Spanish government in Madrid soon. Rehn described that as “normal” given the heightened EU monitoring of member states. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti meanwhile expressed “concerns of the European Union about Spain” on Saturday. Madrid sparked worries in the EU when it announced that its 2011 budget deficit was wider than expected, reaching 8.51 percent of GDP instead of the 6.0 percent initially announced. It also warned that it would not be able to meet the 2012 target agreed with the EU of 4.4 percent. Brussels allowed Madrid to relax the level to 5.3 percent. — AFP

monthly or fortnightly basis. Critics of the plan have accused Ahmadinejad of embark ing on a program of wasteful public spending that has resulted in soaring inflation. Food and fuel prices have spiralled since the reforms were introduced, causing deep financial problems for millions of people across the country. The price of gasoline has risen three-fold and the cost of gas has soared by 500 percent.

Last week Iran’s most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave his full backing to the Targeted Subsidies Plan which he say was an impor tant means of distributing

subsidies in a more balanced way.

Last year, the I nternational Monetar y Fund commended the Iranian government for the policy which it said had led to a reduction in fuel consumption and inflationary pressure.

According to official figures, inflation has decreased to around 20 percent but critical MPs say the real figure is closer to 50 percent.

New measures imposed by the United States and its allies targeting Iran’s financial and energy sectors have resulted in a dramatic devaluation of the rial since the beginning of the year. —Reuters

US World Bank pick to win broad support: Geithner WASHINGTON: Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to lead the World Bank, will win broad international support despite an unprecedented challenge by candidates from emerging economies, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview. Washington’s hold on the World Bank presidency is being contested for the first time by candidates from emerging economies. Two respected economists and diplomats, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo, have been nominated.

Kim, a Korean-American health expert, is well known among development experts for his work in fighting HIV/AIDS and bringing healthcare to the poor. President Barack Obama nominated him for World Bank president on Friday.

“The president was looking for a candidate who could command broad support across the world,” Geithner told Reuters in an interview released on Saturday. “That’s very important, because we don’t make this decision alone.”

“Dr Kim’s mix of skills will be particularly compelling to the bank at this time and I think the world will be very impressed with him,” he said.

Emerging economies such as China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia have sought to use their growing economic clout to pry open the selection process for the heads of the World Bank and its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund. The World Bank has always been headed by an American and the IMF by a European since their inception after World War Two. Geithner said it was not a surprise that candidates from other countries had been nominated after a 2009 agreement by leaders of the Group of 20 nations for an open and transparent process to select leaders of the two institutions.

“We expected that to happen and think it is healthy for the institution as a whole,” Geithner said. “But I can tell you from my conversations with developing and developed countries, I am

confident he (Kim) will win broad support.”

US officials have acknowledged that giving up the World Bank presidency would make it difficult for the White House to obtain funding from Congress for the global lender, especially with lawmakers worried about mounting budget deficits. The United States has also argued that it does not head any other global organization.

After a broad search that looked at US bankers, economists and politicians, Obama settled on Kim because the Dartmouth College president has a deep commitment to development issues, Geithner said. In particular, he cited Kim’s experience in programs to fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in impoverished nations, which he said demonstrated that the nominee could get things done in tough environments. In coming weeks, Kim will visit nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America to try to convince them he is the best candidate to lead the poverty-fighting institution, US officials said.

Kim was recommended to Obama by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, officials said.

Kim and his long-time collaborator Paul Farmer worked with former President Clinton on reconstruction efforts in Haiti following a devastating earthquake in 2010.

The White House has acknowledged it considered candidates tied more closely to Washington political circles, including US Senator John Kerry, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and former White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers.

“The president wanted somebody who had defined their life through a commitment to the cause of development but had also demonstrated an ability to solve complex problems in a creative way,” said Geithner, a Dartmouth alumnus who played a lead role in the search for a successor for outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick. —Reuters

Egypt tumbles on energy woes; most bourses rise MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS CAIRO/DUBAI: Egypt’s bourse made its largest single-day loss in four months as fresh political tensions, gasoline shortages and a transport strike hurt investor sentiment, while most other Gulf indices rose thanks to upbeat global markets. Cairo’s benchmark index slumped 3.6 percent, the most it has fallen since November 22, 2011, with all major stocks in the index declining.

Long queues began snaking outside of petrol stations late last week and continued over the weekend, drivers say. Energy analysts said the government is finding it increasingly hard to come up with the foreign currency it needs to import gasoline. “The gasoline crisis, the transport crisis. They’re all making the market go down,” said Hisham Metwalli of Arab Finance Brokerage.

A dispute between Egypt’s militar y council and the Muslim Brotherhood has also heightened market jitters, said Ashraf Akhnoukh of CICB Brokerage.

Ezz Steel plunged 9.9 percent and Palm Hills 9.5 percent, while Orascom Telecom dropped 4.9 percent and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology fell 5.6 percent.

In Saudi Arabia, banks helped the index up 1.1 percent to close at 7,759 points, a fresh three-andhalf-year high. Analysts expect the kingdom’s financial sector to lift the market further, backed by strong fundamentals. “The index is approaching a resistance between the 7,800 and 8,000 points range,” said Mateb Al-Ghanim, portfolio manager at Amlakuna Investment Group. Strong support is seen between 6,900 and 7,200 points, with buying opportunities in banking stocks supporting gains, he added.

Heavyweight Al Rajhi Bank gained 2.2 percent, Samba Financial Group climbed 3.4 percent and Banque Saudi Fransi rose 2.2 percent.

“Banks have strong fundamen-

tals and when the numbers are released for the first quarter, they will reiterate recent gains,” said Ahmed Raza Khan, head of research, asset management at Mefic Capital. Saudi Arabia’s Etihad Atheeb Telecom jumped 9.9 percent, extending gains from a day earlier when it resumed trade following a 10-month suspension.

The company received approval to resume trading after it announced plans for a capital increase. The company will raise its capital from 400 million riyals ($106.66 million) to 1.56 billion riyals.

Dubai’s bourse rose for a third session, up 0.5 percent. Developer Deyaar jumped 12.3 percent, Dubai Islamic Bank rose 0.9 percent and telecoms operator du climbed 1.3 percent.

“Retail-focused stocks are highly traded currently and the rest of the market is stable and consolidating,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark gained 0.8 percent, up from Thursday’s two-week closing low. “ We’re taking the lead from international markets and the focus is on the trend for 2012 whether this will be the year of recovery or whether financial markets will struggle to recover the losses of the last two years,” Shurrab said.

Investors are likely to cut their risk exposure in the coming sessions following the UAE’s early-year rally, he added. Dubai’s index is up 23.3 percent so far in 2012.

Elsewhere, Doha’s benchmark rose 0.7 percent to its highest close since March 5. Gainers outnumbered losers 14 to one. Industries Qatar and Qatar Electricity and Water led gains, up 1.8 ad 2.5 percent respectively.

Qatar Navigation, renamed to Milaha, climbed 1.6 percent after proposing a cash dividend of 3.5 riyals ($0.96) per share, according to a bourse statement. —Reuters

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

BUSINESS

Shell scrambles to pay huge bill for Iran oil

weekly commodities

Weak economic data triggers mini correction

By Ole Hansen

T

he commodity sector was heading for its worst weekly performance since December as corrections hit most markets on the back of lower manufacturing data in China and Europe together with efforts to stop oil prices from rising any further. The DJ-UBS commodity index lost nearly 2 percent as most commodities apart from a few belonging to the softs sector fell. The base metal sector was the hardest hit on continued signs of a Chinese slowdown followed by the agriculture sector where some profit taking was seen ahead of the release of two important reports next week.

Saudi comments Crude oil markets succumbed to some selling this week as concerted efforts, especially by Saudi Arabia, were made to calm down the nervousness in the market.

During the week the powerful Oil Minister Naimi of Saudi Arabia tried to soothe the market in saying that the current high price of oil was not justified as the global market was currently well supplied and if needed SA could add another 25 percent on top the 10 million barrels per day it currently produces.

The reason behind the muted response from oil markets was probably the realization that should Saudi Arabia be asked to produce more oil than the level of spare capacity, which is already at a worryingly low level, would dwindle even more, thereby leaving the market much less positioned to react to any additional supply shocks. The comments also highlight concerns about how continued high prices could impact global economic growth in the month ahead.

As of this week Brent crude has spent a longer time above $120 per barrel than during the Libyan war last year, averaging $124 during the last month. This prolonged period of high prices is a concern to both consuming and producing nations, not least Saudi Arabia which fears that a 2008 style spike to $150 per barrel could trigger a new recession. Back then the spike in prices was followed by a collapse in demand and a dramatic fall in prices, something Saudi Arabia can now ill afford as it needs a price of at least $80 to balance its ever increasing budget.

Weak data Markets quickly sold off a couple of dollars on the comments but the continued focus on Iran and its dwindling exports soon had the price of Brent crude back up to 125 dollars. The next move lower was triggered byeconomic data which showed that manufacturing contracted both in Europe, which now risks a double dip recession, and China where the HSBC’s Chinese manufacturing PMI for March declined for a fifth consecutive month.

These numbers once again show that China is slowing and considering it represented 65 percent of global commodity consumption growth in 2011 and consumed 32 percent of all the major commodities, the impact on commodity demand and prices now very much depends on whether it will be a mild or a sharp slowdown.

The worse than expected economic data has at least for now left oil traders with some tough decisions to make as the potential slowdown in demand could now be happening and this would help shift some of the focus away from the dwindling supply side and fear of spiking prices

to the lowering of prices over the coming weeks. As long Brent crude holds above the important $120 mark I only see this as a mini correction as we have still not seen solid proof of demand destruction.

Should the price break below 120 on Brent and 104 on WTI speculative investors holding a record combined long position of almost 500 million barrels would begin to worry.

Brent crude, global benchmark In other oil news Vitol, the world’s largest oil trading house, said that the steep discount of WTI to Brent crude had seen WTI’s role as a global benchmark for physical oil transactions dwindle even further. Although it was still the most traded oil futures contract, the last three years have seen its share of physical transactions halve to just 10 percent as it had become disconnected from the global market due to logistical problems with its landlocked delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma. Brent crude meanwhile has seen its share rise to 53 percent while Oman-Dubai came second at 31 percent.

Natural gas continues to trade near 10year lows as exceptionally warm March weather triggered the first injection into underground storage. This annual turnaround happened some two weeks earlier than normal and typically signals the end of the winter for the US natural gas market. The current storage level of 2,380 billion cubic feet (Bcf) is 768 Bcf higher than a year ago and due to this exceptionally high year-over-year storage surplus prices need to stay low as we move into the summer as low prices are required to attract demand, some at the expense of coal where prices also have dropped due to increased coal-to-gas switching (where such an option exists).

Gold: Where are the buyers?

The dollar was sent higher by the weaker economic data out of China and Europe and gold suffered again given its relatively high reverse correlation to the greenback during the past couple of weeks. The eurozone debt crisis seems to be re-igniting with Spanish benchmark 10-year bond yields rising back above 5.5 percent for the first time since January. So far this has failed to bring a spark back into gold primarily because the physical market has been weak despite the price having moved back down to January levels. A slowdown in China, the world’s number two buyer, could curb demand while a strike among jewellers in India, the world’s biggest gold importer, has cut demand as half of the nation’s stores are closed in protest of the government’s tax increase on imports last week.

Technically gold looks stuck near-term between 1,625 support (61.8% Fibonacci) and 1,686 (200 day MA). Further weakness would suggest a move to 1,600 being trend-line support drawn from the October 2008 low.

Grain markets Prices for the three main crops dropped back a bit this week following significant gains during March which were triggered by strong Chinese imports of corn and soybeans together with hot and dry weather in South America which has reduced production of soybeans. The price of European winter crops such as wheat, rapeseed and barley have also stayed firm due to threats of winterkill following the extreme cold weather that hit Europe during the first couple of weeks of February.

EU, US sanctions make payments difficult LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and US financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.

“Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC,” said an industry source, who requested anonymity. “It’s very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions.”

A Shell spokesman declined to comment. The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on Jan. 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business. With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran’s

second biggest corporate client - along with France’s Total - behind Turkey’s Tupras.

Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude “within a matter of weeks”.

Rigorous US and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear program have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives. “There are big frustrations with the payment route - the US pressure is really working,” said a senior oil source.

“It’s now nearly impossible to use the banking system.” Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total’s decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran. Industry sources say some of Iran’s big customers may have been using the Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank to channel payments to Iran. It is not known whether Shell was processing payments via

Noor Islamic Bank. Diplomats say the bank bowed to pressure from Washington and cut ties with Iranian banks in the United Arab Emirates at the end of last year. Given the outstanding amount owed in the face of sanctions, senior oil executives say the only way forward is for Shell to ask the British government to help settle the account with Iran.

An approach was made by Shell, sources say, but the company was rebuffed. A small portion of the Shell debt could be written off through an outstanding payment NIOC owes the company for development of the offshore Soroush/Nowrooz oilfields, say industry sources.

Shell and European rivals such as Total and Italy’s Eni have built longstanding relationships with Iran, OPEC’s second largest exporter, through their work at the country’s oilfields and years of crude oil purchases. But while are loath to burn bridges with Tehran, they also cannot afford to put business in the United States and elsewhere in the West at risk. —Reuters

BATS cancels its IPO over technical glitches

BEIJING: Workers stand on a partially-completed building in Beijing yesterday. China’s central bank chief said on March 20 conditions were ripe for Beijing to liberalize interest rates, a move analysts say would boost domestic demand as the nation’s exports are hit by overseas turmoil. — AFP

Emaar’s apartment sales sag 85% in 2011 DUBAI: Dubai’s Emaar Properties, developer of the world’s tallest building, said revenue from villa sales and its rental and hospitality units rose last year but this was not enough to offset an 85-percent drop in apartment sale earnings.

The Gulf’s largest listed developer said apartment sales tumbled to 1.1 billion dirhams ($299.5 million) last year from 7.6 billion dirhams in 2010. Its 2010 earnings had been buoyed by the handover of much of the units in Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. Emaar posted a 27-percent drop in 2011 profits last month but quarterly profits doubled. It published its full results yesterday.

Yesterday, Emaar said villa sales jumped 85 percent to 959 million dirhams in 2011 while sales of commercial units and land plots more than doubled to 2.7 billion dirhams. Leasing revenue rose 12 percent to 2.14 billion dirhams.

Hospitality revenue from its malls and hotel business was up 25 percent at 1.22 billion dirhams over the same period. Total revenue fell by a third to 8.1 billion dirhams in 2011, from 12.15 billion dirhams in 2010.

House prices in Dubai have tumbled about 60 percent from a 2008 peak and no turnaround is expected this year, with supply continuing to outstrip demand.

The property bust has hit developers.

Dubai government-owned Nakheel was forced into a $16 billion restructuring, while shares in Emaar - 31 percent owned by the Dubai government - have plunged 81 percent in just under four years.

Yesterday’s results also showed Emaar is owed 595 million dirhams by troubled mortgage affiliate Amlak, down from 712 million dirhams in 2010.

“The group’s management believes the loan from Amlak is fully recoverable,” Emaar said. Emaar values its 48-percent stake in Amlak at 724 million dirhams. The mortgage firm’s shares have been suspended since November 2008. On Tuesday, the federal government said it had cut Almak’s debt by $1.1 billion. Emaar’s provisions for “doubtful debts” owed to it were 127 million dirhams in 2011, up from 85 million a year earlier .The developer’s shares were down 0.3 percent at 0845 GMT on Dubai’s bourse. —Reuters

NEW YORK: It was hardly the stock market debut BATS Global Markets was hoping for. Since being founded nearly seven years ago, the Kansas-based company has been doing battle with its much larger rivals Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange for a piece of the stock trading business. On Thursday night the initial public offering of its own stock priced at $16, the low end of what the company had originally predicted.

If only the problems stopped there. Shortly after starting to trade, the share price plunged to just pennies before being halted. By late afternoon, BATS withdrew its public offering and said it had no plans to refile its IPO. All trades made that day would be canceled.

There was more bad news. Apple Inc.’s stock was temporarily halted following a faulty trade on BATS’s systems.

BATS also suspended trading of all stocks whose ticker symbols began with A through BF, though it restored that trading by early afternoon. “We have an electronic mess,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading for broker Themis Trading. The botched IPO was a blow not only to the exchange, but to a new business for which it had high hopes. In February, BATS offered free listings to companies whose shares traded a certain amount each day, hoping to draw IPOs away from Nasdaq and the NYSE. BATS, whose motto is “Making Markets Better,” strove to define itself as a tech-savvy exchange and said companies would benefit from its “world-class customer support and technology.” To help the business, BATS picked a new listing that would be sure to garner attention: itself. The irony was hard to miss. “It was the biggest day of the life of the company, and their own stock melts down,” says Larry Tabb, CEO of Tabb Group, a markets research firm. “This doesn’t build confidence.” BATS is one of several dozen relatively new companies that offer high-speed, low-cost electronic stock trading as an alternative to the NYSE and Nasdaq. Making up about 12 percent of all US stock trading, it’s the third-largest stock exchange in the country behind NYSE and Nasdaq. — AP

UAE’s First Gulf lends $350m to Indonesia’s AKT ABU DHABI: First Gulf Bank is providing a $350 million loan to one of Indonesian coking coal producers PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup (AKT) to meet its working capital needs for exports, the United Arab Emirates lender said yesterday.

The deal with AKT, a subsidiary of Borneo Lumbung, is one of the largest bilateral pre-export financing facility deals done by the Abu Dhabi-based bank, it said in a statement.

Trade ties between the oil-rich Gulf states and AsiaPacific countries is growing and the deal boosts FGB’s role in the rapidly-growing markets, George Abraham, head of corporate banking at FGB said in the statement. “We firmly believe in Asia’s fast-paced growth and are optimistic about being a part of this progress,” he said. FGB has had a wholesale banking branch in Singapore since 2009 and is looking to open four new branches in Hong Kong, South Korea, China and Indonesia, the statement said. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2730000 .4380000 .3660000 .30300000 .2780000 .2890000 .0040000 .0020000 .0753770 .7343730 .3830000 .0720000 .7199210 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2769000 GB Pound/KD .4394260 Euro .3667260 Swiss francs .3040850 Canadian dollars .2797680 Danish Kroner .0493170 Swedish Kroner .0411930 Australian dlr .2898590 Hong Kong dlr .0356640 Singapore dlr .2192570 Japanese yen .0032940 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0754190 Bahraini dinars .7347750 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0738600 Omani riyals .7195010 Philippine Peso .0000000

.2820000 .4490000 .3780000 .3170000 .2880000 .3040000 .0070000 .0035000 .0761340 .7417540 .4010000 .0770000 .7271560 .0072000 .0510000 .2805000 .4451390 .3714940 .3080390 .2834050 .0499580 .0417290 .2936270 .0361280 .2221080 .0033570 .0055860 .0021660 .0031040 .0034430 .0763990 .7443280 .3967470 .0748200 .7288550 .0065630

US Dollar Pak Rupees

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

278.500 3.066

Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

5.470 2.145 3.414 6.510 75.930 74.425 740.400 46.104 447.500 3.190 1.550 375.300 284.900 3.510

Rate for Transfer

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

278.150 372.000 444.200 281.100 3.400 5.455 46.100 2.136 3.406 6.468 3.070 740.900 75.750 74.250

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka

5.454 2.147 3.410 3.073 75.79 740.93 46.11 396.29 723.93 76.81 74.38

5.790 2.600 4.150 3.200 76.80 742.00 47.60 396.00 727.00 77.55 74.95

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

Selling Rate

279.050 282.725 443.005 367.850 304.965 738.960 76.950 76.595 74.375 392.800 46.252 2.226 5.556 3.081 3.412 6.502 684.499 4.340 9.165 5.875 3.555 92.335

SELL DRAFT SELL CASH

296.12 283.52 311.65 372.82 445.24 3.46 3.401

299.00 286.00 309.00 372.00 446.00 3.70 3.650

Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Bahrain Exchange Company 10 Tola COUNTRY

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka

SELL CASH

295.500 740.940 3.660

282.800 547.200 45.400 49.400 167.800 47.460 373.700 36.580 5.780 0.032 0.159 0.238 3.470 394.830 0.189 92.870 45.500 4.280 231.800 1.805 49.600 723.670 3.120 6.790 77.070 74.390 222.350 38.700 2.655 446.400 42.400 310.400 3.900 9.420 198.263 75.960 279.000 1.340 GOLD 1,733.610

SELL DRAFT

294.000 740.940 3.401

Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 444.400 278.600

281.300

222.300 46.169 372.200 36.430 5.465 0.031

394.780 0.187 92.870 3.420 230.300 723.490 3.079 6.495 76.640 74.390 222.350 38.700 2.139 444.400 308.900 3.900 9.260 75.860 278.600

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

business

Italy, Spain too big to save with current firewall NBK WEEKLY MONEY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: While systemic risk premium have faded with Greece out of the woods for now, European sovereign yields continue to drop with Portugal remaining the exception with their 10 years yield over 12%. Data in the US have notably dropped expectation for a new round of quantitative easing and the Fed seems to be waiting for further economic numbers to introduce appropriate new policy measures. The latest statement from the Federal Reserve was regarded as marginally more hawkish and the lower global uncertainty was well noted.

Last week however centered over debates about the ramification of the latest Chinese data and its monetary policy. Indeed, commodity markets with the exception of oil, remain under pressure due to the slashing of global growth expectations. However, continued geopolitical tensions in the Middle East pressured oil prices to reach highs not seen since the pre crisis era.

The US Dollar remained well supported this week, as Europe latest Purchasing Managers Indices raised question about the effectiveness of the long term refinancing operation (LTRO) introduced by the European Central Bank. Although liquidity risks has been removed for now after the injection of massive funds from the ECB, the latest data out of Europe haven’t convinced investors that Europe is anywhere ready to grow any time soon.

In the US, jobless claims continue to beat expectation, however, are not strong enough to offset the global uncertain outlook. Equity markets on the other hand continue to sustain their gains since the beginning of the year without a correction over 2% from the top reached lately.

After reaching a low of 84.10 against the USD, the Japanese Yen gained back its losses to close the week at 82.35. The country posted a small trade surplus of JPY 32.9 billion versus an expected deficit of JPY 120bn.

Markets continue to understate the strength of the Yen arguing that export values will continue to climb ‘slowly but surely’ and expect the trade deficit to narrow further.

Federal Reserve During the second of four lectures on the history of the Fed that he plans to deliver at George Washington University, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke said this week that consumer spending remains very weak.

In terms of debt and consumption, the U.S is operating well below level prior to the financial crisis. He also reiterated that household spending needed to improve to sustain the economic recovery.

On the other hand, James Bullard from the Fed reserve of St Louis said the U.S. monetary policy may be at a turning point and the Fed’s first interest-rate increase since the global financial crisis could come sooner than anticipated, i.e. as late 2013.

Last but not least, Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed reserve, reiterated his call for a stronger commitment by the central bank to keep interest rates low until inflation reaches 3% or unemployment drops below 7% in order not to derail the current recovery.

Jobless claims Initial Jobless claims dropped to a four-year low last week, reinforcing hopes that the recent pick-up in job growth will prove sustainable. Initial claims for state jobless benefits fell 5k to 348k, the lowest level

since February 2008. Economists had forecast claims rising to 354K. Additionally, a measure of future US economic activity rose in February for the fifth straight month in February. The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.7%, after a 0.2% increase in January. The measure of leading indicators is designed to anticipate economic conditions three to six months out.

Home sales Existing home sales in the US declined 0.9% month over month from January 2012. However, the number of sales reached a 4.59M annualized units in February 2012. The pace of sales was 8.8% above that seen in February 2011. The decline in existing home sales in

February followed the revised level in January and brought the average for the first quarter of 2012 to an annualized 24.2% above the 4.37 million annualized units posted in the fourth quarter of 2011. This improvement in home sales has yet to convince the Fed reserve Chairman of a continuation of a recovery in the US. Less than two weeks after European policymakers were able to save Greece from a disorderly default, the German Finance Ministry official, Ludger Schuknecht mentioned in an interview this week that Italy and Spain would be “too big to be saved” by the euro-area’s financial backstop and the debate should focus on the firewall’s quality rather than its size. Making the firewall credible to markets “is much more important than talking about big numbers that are afterwards just a show.”

Spain borrowing cost Spain’s borrowing costs rose above 5.5% for the first time since January as investors are raising concerns about another escalation of the euro-zone crisis amid signs of further economic weakening even in Germany.

After being able to avoid a disorderly Greek default, and the ECB cheap loans program for financial institutions, investors are becoming nervous that the impact of the second LTRO is wearing off. Markets are starting to discount that the need of a third LTRO might come up if European growth indicators keep disappointing and deficits are not reduced.

German and the euro-zone PMIs unexpectedly fell this week and cast some doubt on the recent evidence

of economic stabilization. Indeed, Weaker-than-expected purchasing managers’ index readings from France and Germany on Thursday pointed to an accelerated contraction in private-sector activity across the Euro zone. The composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to a three-month low of 48.7 from 49.3 in February.

The services index edged down to 48.7 from 48.78 in February, while manufacturing PMI fell to 47.7 from 49.0. A reading of less than 50 indicates a contraction in activity. Economists had forecast a composite PMI reading of 49.6.

Japan budget surplus The Japanese trade figures showed signs of recovery in February. Merchandise trade exports were -2.7% YoY versus -6.5% expected, while the country posted a small trade surplus of JPY 32.9 billion versus an expected deficit of JPY 120bn. Markets are expecting export values to continue to climb slowly and expect the trade deficit to narrow further.

On another front, lawmakers have been calling for the governor of the bank of Japan to double an inflation goal of 1% set only last month and expand the asset purchases in order to spur the economy.

Chinese HSBC flash PMI came much weaker than expected at 48.1 in March against February’s reading of 49.6. Although the official PMI data is due on April 1, the weak data raised concerns over a hard landing in China again, especially with a slowing inflation. The market however does not seem extremely worried, as China still has ample tools to support its economy in an event of a slowdown. After the much lower than expected number, markets are awaiting to see if the PBOC will continue its easing cycle by cutting again the Required reserve ratio for financial institution in an effort to spur growth.

Gold positive In presenting the 2012 UK budget, Chancellor George Osborne mentioned that the BOE was taking the opportunity to rebuild Britain’s gold reserves, which had fallen to historically low levels. He added that gold holdings have risen in value to 11 billion pounds. After moving the market higher, his statement was corrected later by the UK treasury mentioning that they had no intention to buy any gold.

As a result, the market came off to the lower levels again. Gold ended the week at $1661.70.

Kuwait Kuwaiti Dinar at 0.27790 The USDKWD opened at 0.27790 on Sunday morning.

Japan, Canada to start free trade talks soon Noda, Harper seek to bolster energy cooperation

OBERHAUSEN: Rubbish and boxes laying on the main road in Oberhausen, western Germany. Mayors in debt-mired western towns eye economic success stories from eastern Germany with resentment and in the western federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where nearly one-quarter of the German population lives.—AFP

Indonesian ‘resource nationalism’ irks foreign investors JAKARTA: Foreign investors are bemoaning a new law in Indonesia that strips them of control over mining assets, the latest in a rash of regulations that reflect what they see as growing “resource nationalism”. The law announced this month obliges foreigners to divest at least 51 percent of their shares to Indonesians over a 10-year period. “We would like the benefits of our country’s resources to reach more Indonesians,” energy and minerals ministry resources director Thamrin Shiite said. “Locals living around mines always say they want a share of what the companies are earning.” Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has some of the world’s biggest untapped mineral reserves, including tin, nickel, copper and gold. Talks of benefit-sharing intensified last year in parliament during a three-month strike at a giant gold and copper mine owned by US company FreeportMcMoRan, which ended with a 37 percent pay hike for workers. Political and economic stability over the past decade have empowered Indonesians to demand a greater share of the country’s wealth-and stability has also attracted investors.

Foreigners poured a record $20 billion of investment into Indonesia last year, according to government data, as the economy grew by 6.5 percent. Of that money, $3.6 billion went into mining.

But investors now complain the government is sending mixed messages, passing a mining law in 2009 to improve the investment climate, then shifting to a more protectionist stance.

“Under the 2009 mining law, foreigners could for the first time fully own mining licenses,” Deloitte mining consultant Julian Hill said. “It seemed to be a new dawn in Indonesian mining, so foreigners rushed in. It was a false dawn as it turned out.”

Since the 2009 law was passed, no new licenses have in fact been passed. “The new law requires a tender process, but the terms

for the tender process have never been decided, so no licenses have been issued. Talk about uncertainty,” Hill said. Perth-based mining veteran David Quinlivan is all too aware of that uncertainty. His London-listed company Churchill had its exploration permits revoked.

In partnership with a local company, Churchill had obtained permits on 35,000 hectares of land on Indonesian Borneo, expecting to find 100 million tons of coking coal. Instead, it found a staggering 2.8 billion tons, one of the world’s largest reserves, which it says could bring in up to $1 billion a year for the next 25 years.

After Churchill publicized the finding, its permits were revoked by the East Kutai district head and were returned to the former concession holder, the Nusantara Group, which declined to comment. Nusantara is owned by one of Indonesia’s wealthiest men, Prabowo Subianto, the former head of the notorious Kopassus special forces unit, and a presidential aspirant. He stands accused of orchestrating atrocities, including rape, murder and torture, in East Timor during Indonesia’s brutal 24-year occupation.

Churchill-whose share price plunged 10fold, from above 130 pence ($2) in 2010 to around 13 pence today-is now banking on the Supreme Court to overturn the revocation, or to achieve a commercial settlement with Nusantara. “It’s disappointing where we are. Indonesia’s a great place for natural resources,” Quinlivan said.

“But we never expected the government to reissue licenses, that never entered our heads. If land title isn’t fixed, that’s a real problem for Indonesia. Investors need security.”

The case highlights the difficulty of working in Indonesia’s decentralized context, with the power to issue permits devolved to 399 district governments, who now do the job that one central body had done for more than 30 years. —AFP

TOKYO: Japan and Canada agreed yesterday to formally start talks aimed at forging a free trade agreement between the two countries. If established, the pact would be Japan’s first with a country from the Group of Eight major economies.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper, said they would also seek to boost economic, energy and security relations between the two countries. “This is a truly historic step that will help create jobs and growth in both countries,” Harper told a joint news conference. “The negotiations we are announcing today complement Canada’s ambitious trade agenda.” Japan is Canada’s fourth-largest export market, and a free trade deal could potentially increase that “by as much as two-thirds,” Harper said.

Japan’s main exports to Canada are cars, machinery and other industrial products. Its chief imports from Canada are natural resources and agricultural products including soybeans and pork. Both countries are seeking to join the US-led trans-Pacific multilateral trade pact known as TPP. Japan’s highly protected farm sector is seen as a main obstacle. Noda stressed the importance of accelerating private-sector cooperation on the trade of natural gas and other energy resources.

Japan is struggling to secure a stable supply of energy resources due to concerns about a serious power crunch stemming from the nuclear crisis set off by last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

The March 11, 2011, disasters destroyed power and cooling functions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, sending three reactors into meltdown and forcing 100,000 people to relocate. The crisis also raised public concerns and opposition to restart reactors idled for regular safety checks. Only two of Japan’s 54 reactors

are currently running, with all of them expected to go offline by the end of April if none are resumed by then. During the talks yesterday, Japan and Canada also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense and security in the AsiaPacific region, Noda said. The two leaders are heading to Seoul to attend this week’s Nuclear Security Summit.

“We reaffirmed the importance to tackle out-

standing global issues, particularly the issues surrounding North Korea and others in the AsiaPacific region, as we cooperate as partners,” Noda said. North Korea says it will launch an observation satellite on a long-range rocket next month. Japan shares fear by the US and South Korea that Pyongyang wants to test long-range missiles that could eventually deliver nuclear warheads. — AP

TOKYO: Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird (left) and International Trade Minister Ed Fast (right) are greeted by Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba for their talks at Gemba’s office in Tokyo yesterday. Canada and Japan were to announce their agreement to enter FTA talks. — AFP

MF Global exec says Corzine ordered $200million transfer WASHINGTON: A former MF Global executive is contradicting testimony from Jon Corzine, saying the former senator ordered the transfer of $200 million last fall out of a customer account days before the firm collapsed, according to an email obtained by congressional investigators.

Edith O’Brien, the former assistant treasurer, says Corzine ordered the money shifted to one of the firm’s bank accounts overseas on Oct. 28 to cover an overdraft, according to a memo that cited the e-mail. The email noted that the transfer was made “per JC’s direct instructions.” MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct 31. The firm failed because of a disastrous bet on European debt. About $1.6 billion of customers’ money hasn’t been recovered.

A House Financial Services subcommittee

released the memo Friday in advance of a hearing Wednesday. O’Brien has been subpoenaed to testify. The Associated Press could not reach her for comment. In December, Corzine told the panel: “I did not instruct anyone to lend customer funds to MF Global or any of its affiliates.” Corzine also told the subcommittee he didn’t know about “the use of customer funds on any loan or transfer.”

And Corzine told a Senate panel two days earlier: “I never gave any instruction to anyone at MF Global to misuse customer funds.” A representative for Corzine didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Client money is required by law to be held separately from a brokerage firm’s cash to protect investors in case a firm fails. If MF Global misused client money, it would violate a fundamental investor protection for people who

trade options and futures.

Many lawmakers have heard from farmers, ranchers and small business owners in their states who are missing money that was deposited with the firm. Agricultural businesses use brokerage firms like MF Global to help reduce their risks in an industry vulnerable to swings in oil, corn and other commodity prices. Corzine, a former New Jersey governor and US senator from the state, led MF Global until early November. He testified before three congressional panels in December. He said he didn’t become aware of the shortfall in customer money until hours before MF Global’s bankruptcy filing.

No one has been charged in the MF Global case. In addition to Congress, federal regulators and a federal grand jury in Chicago are investigating.

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

business

Kuwait index slides as investors book profit GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) edged lower in the first session this week as investors rushed to book profits from the recent regional rally. Investor sector, which witnessed huge selling pressure, slumped pushing the index to end in red.

Global General Index (GGI) plunged by 0.28 percent to reach 186.46 points. The KSE Price Index declined by 22 points (0.35 percent) to close at 6,221.5 points.

Volume and value of shares traded on the exchange ended the day on a negative note, as investors exchanged 404.15bn shares (-7.1 percent), at a total value of KD42.07mn (-8.54 percent). The investment sector was the volume leader, accounting for 31.21 percent (126.15mn shares) of total volume.

International Financial Advisors (IFA) and Al-Ahlia Holding Company appeared the volume leaders list, with 21.96mn and 17.20mn shares changing hands, respectively.

The services sector was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD12.45mn or 29.58 percent. Aiding the sector was Mobile Telecommunication Company (Zain), which had a total traded value of KD5.26mn being the value leader for the day. The scrip ended the day unchanged at KD0.880.

In terms of top gainers, Equipment Holding Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 12.09 percent. On the other side, Palms Agro Production was the biggest loser, as its share price fell by 8.47 percent to close at KD0.108.

Sectors Sector wise, Global Indices ended this day on a mixed note.

Global Real Estate Index was the top advancer, up by 0.29 percent, on the back of the heavy weight, Mabanee Company, which surged by 2 percent, to close at KD1,020 being the major gainer among the sector.

Global Non Kuwaiti Sector came the second gainer adding 0.25 percent backed by heavy weight stocks.

Gulf Finance House was the

highest gainer across the sector posting 4.84 percent gains, to close at KD0.065.

Global Insurance Index was the biggest decliner shedding 1.13 percent, as the heavy weight Al-Ahleia Insurance Company lost 3.70 percent of its value.

Global Investment Index followed, dropping 1.07 percent.

Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) lost 1.45 percent to close at KD0.340.

It’s worth noting that, only 5

stocks, within the sector, advanced versus 13 stocks retreated.

Corporate news Boubyan Bank denied media reports and announced that it did not disclose information related to one of its client’s debt.

The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $121.79pb on Thursday, compared with $122.91pb the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Europe hunts for elusive growth in austere Arctic SAARISELKA, Finland: European leaders’ search for growth brought them to the farthest reaches of a continent on the brink of another recession this weekend, meeting in a snowbound log cabin in the Arctic Circle to explore ways to boost the economy at a time of austerity.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen hosted a select group of influential people on the edge of Saariselka, a Lapland winter resort and corporate retreat, to work out how to thaw European economies facing unprecedented spending cuts. In discussions covering trade, jobs, the single market and the world’s shifting power balances, Katainen picked the brains of the head of the World Trade Organization, a European Central Bank board member, the EU’s economy commissioner and others. “ The theme is more or less the future of Europe,” Katainen said without overstatement, underlining just how much self-examination the continent is undergoing after two years of debt crisis that has called into question its economic viability. “ We need to look at how the European Union should be developed and what we have learned from the crisis,” he said. The focus was on finding ways to inject life into a moribund economy, especially the 17 countries that share the euro single currency, while not giving ground on the spending cuts and tax increases that leaders have committed to as part of efforts to quell the sovereign debt debacle.

It was, to use Katainen’s slightly awkward phrase, about ‘growsterity’, a concept that may be tough to grasp for a country such as Greece, where the economy has contracted 17 percent in three years and more spending cuts are demanded.

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia, which has gone through one of Europe’s toughest austerity programs and re-emerged into growth, attended the gathering, as did Spain’s EU minister, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, whose country is perhaps chaffing hardest against EU-demanded budget

constraints. With 24 million people unemployed across the 27 countries of the EU, the highest level of unemployment since 1998, and the euro zone economy expected to contract this year, the region faces its most challenging economic outlook in decades, one made more complex by sharply rising global oil prices. “There’s a risk of losing years,” said Katainen, when asked if some euro zone countries were standing on the brink of a lost decade of growth, like Japan’s experience of the 1990s.

“But if you do change the structures that are not producing growth at the moment, then countries really can change direction,” he said, referring to Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, all of which are in a low-growth, high-deficit spiral. “It’s clear that if you cut expenditures and raise taxes it will hit growth in the short term, but at the same time it will strengthen the credibility of the country, and once you earn back the credibility, the growth will follow.” The problem for European policy makers is that there are no easy, universal recipes for growth - each economy has to build on its own competitive advantages - and even when sound ideas have been identified, they have not always been implemented.

One of the biggest drivers of expansion, particularly in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, has traditionally been exports, with the United States and China major buyers of German-branded goods, from luxury cars to industrial equipment.

But trade disputes between the EU and China are growing and there is a threat of long-term repercussions for many European businesses, particularly from China’s limits on the export of rare earth minerals used in leading high-tech industries.

A long-term refrain in Europe has been the need to make the single market work properly - by ensuring a free -flow of goods, capital and labor throughout the EU and making markets in sectors such as energy and communications fully liberalized. — Reuters

25

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

business

Downturn means payday for UK’s high-cost lenders LONDON: Young British administrator Steve Perry had never heard of payday loans when, three years ago, he wondered how to get the cash to spend a weekend away with friends. Tired of scrimping on his low income, Perry went online to look for a solution, and was delighted to find a source of quick loans with few questions asked. But within eighteen months, he was £22,000 ($34,800, 26,300 euros) in debt and contemplating suicide.

“I couldn’t tell anyone-it swallowed me up whole,” Perry, now 30, from Lancashire in northwest England, told AFP. “I sat in my car and cried my eyes out.” Perry had discovered the expanding world of British “payday lending”short-term, high-interest loans for small amounts designed to tide consumers over until their next paycheck arrives.

The loans are usually for amounts well under £1,000 and are agreed for up to a month, with interest rates that turn out to be gargantuan when expressed in annual terms. Lender

Wonga says its typical annual percentage rate (APR) is 4,214 percent. Its rivals include The Money Shop-owned

by US firm DFC Global and which has an aggressive UK expansion policy-as well as Payday UK, Payday Express, Quicksilver, Cheque Centres and QuickQuid.

Since his debt spiral, Perry has become a vocal campaigner against the industry, which leapt into the space left by the contraction in traditional consumer credit, and grew as the economic downturn bit and living costs rose. Payday loan stores mushroomed on Britain’s more down-atheel high streets, while ads on buses, radio and TV suggest borrowers might use the loans for occasions from university beer binges to taking a taxi to see a dying relative.

Statutor y watchdog Consumer Focus estimated the number taking out payday loans in Britain quadrupled from 2006 to 2009, when 1.2 million people borrowed £1.2 billion.

Analysts Stephens say that figure was

£1.7 billion by 2010. Housing charity Shelter said in January that almost a million people had taken out a payday loan to help pay rent or mortgage costs in the last year.

The sector is lightly regulated in Britain compared with elsewhere, but the Office of Fair Trading, which enforces consumer protection law, launched a major review in February amid concerns lenders were exploiting people in financial trouble.

The firms argue they offer a useful service for customers who know a payday loan is better than alternatives like unauthorized overdraft charges or, at worst, illegal loan sharks.

“We don’t have customers with problems, we’ve just got campaigners and activists who don’t use the product with problems,” said John Lamidey, chief executive of industry body the Consumer Finance Association. “We have got hundreds of thousands of people who use payday loans really successfully. You know up front how much it’s going to cost... It’s so simple,

so easy, and people like it,” he said.

“People do not want long-term debt.”

Lamidey blamed rogue players outside his organization for many of the horror stories highlighted in the press, and predicted these would go out of business or be bought up in an inevitable process of consolidation.

Online lender Wonga, which pitches itself as a technology-based firm, says its credit risk algorithm has cut down non-repayment rates to seven percent.

And Wonga and other firms argue their apparently astronomical APRs, which they are legally obliged to publicise, are meaningless because the loans are designed for the short term.

But this is a sore point for campaigners like Perr y, who believe lenders make a killing from interest on late payments and repeat borrowing.

Consumer Focus research found almost 30 percent of payday loans are not paid back on schedule.

“I borrowed 19 times from Wonga in 18 months. They didn’t even need to know anything about my other

loans-they had enough information there to see a clear history of problems,” said Perry.

“I went to them looking for a solution, and they didn’t want to know.”

Wonga says it has a self-enforced cap on “rollovers”-in which loans are automatically extended, with interest piling up-and does not encourage serial borrowing. Perry says he borrowed from several lenders and admits: “I screwed up. But that doesn’t justify the amount of trouble people can get into.”

He and other campaigners want a limit on rollovers, better credit checks, and loans recorded in a mandatory database. In some states of the United States, caps on rollovers or loans per year have effectively crippled the industry. After he began talking to the media about his story, Perry found that many of the companies that had lent to him became surprisingly helpful, some even cancelling his debts.

But other borrowers are still looking for a way out. — AFP

Clogged, creaking airports hamper SE Asia carriers Airports fail to keep pace with growing airlines

TOKYO: President of Japan’s Nissan Motor Carlos Ghosn posing with Nissan’s first model - “Datsun” made in 1932 - in Tokyo. Three decades after it sidelined Datsun, Japan’s Nissan is dusting off the brand to tap emerging markets, a move sure to stir up nostalgia among those who once owned the zippy, fuel-efficient cars. —AFP

Nissan looks to profit on retro Datsun brand TOKYO: Three decades after sidelining Datsun, Japan’s Nissan is dusting off the brand to tap emerging markets, a move sure to stir up nostalgia among fans of the low-cost, fuel-efficient cars.

Analysts said the plan to sell Datsuns in Indonesia, Russia and India would help the auto giant take on fierce competition in those markets without hurting its existing brands or spending time and money on creating a new one. “Reviving the Datsun brand is better than creating a new brand as the old Datsun cars are still there and recognizable by some people,” said Kota Yuzawa, an auto analyst at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo.

Datsun-the first set of wheels for many adolescents-was a big seller especially in the United States where its sporty, two-door hatchbacks became synonymous with fuel-efficiency during the 1970s oil crisis. But Nissan phased it out from 1981 as the company pushed its own name onto its fleet of cars.

Last week, chief executive Carlos Ghosn said Datsun would be a “global brand” alongside Nissan-branded cars and its luxury line Infiniti, although there are no immediate plans to sell it in Japan or other mature markets. “Datsun is part of our history. It was synonymous with affordable and reliable cars,” Ghosn said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“With the return of Datsun, we want to add modernity to it, with a new level of quality, like a high fuel economy.”

Company spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa said owners of the old Datsun brand were “optimistic about their future, had upward mobility, a strong yearning for possessing cars and yet were somewhat demanding about the quality of cars”.

The updated models will attract “quite similar” customers, he added. Carmakers have released models targeting specific markets before, but Nissan’s revival of a

shelved brand for emerging economies is unprecedented among Japanese automakers, analysts said.

Nissan would not reveal prices or details of the models it will sell from 2014, but the new Datsun may cost as little as 500,000 yen ($6,000), with most parts sourced locally, the Nikkei business daily reported. Nissan, which posted global sales of almost 6.7 trillion yen in the nine months to December, said it was aiming to make Datsun eventually account for about half of its total sales in each market, the company spokesman said.

Russia was among Nissan’s top foreign markets last year, though still far below China and the United States. Asia-excluding Japan-accounted for nearly onequarter of sales, including Indonesia and India. Nissan’s move underscores the growing importance of emerging economies, a key battlefield among global carmakers amid stagnating growth in developed markets.

“It reflects the importance of emerging markets not only for Japanese automakers but for all kinds of industries,” said Yusuke Ichikara, economist at Mizuho Research Institute.

The push is also part of a wider trend among Japanese companies which have taken advantage of the yen’s strength in recent years to diversify their business and expand global operations. “What’s important in doing business successfully in emerging markets is to localise products,” Ichikara said. “Creating a different brand for affordable cars is a wise move to avoid hurting the image of existing brands,” he added. Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex Securities, said Japanese automakers cannot ignore India, Indonesia and Russia, where the size of the middle class is expected to balloon. — AFP

SINGAPORE: It’s a scene repeated endlessly at most of Southeast Asia’s main airports planes forced to circle overhead or idle on the tarmac and travellers stuck in serpentine queues at immigration desks, security checkpoints and baggage carousels. And it’s likely to get worse in capitals like Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila in years to come as overcrowded airports and outdated infrastructure are twinned with a huge spike in the number of aircraft in the region.

Southeast Asian carriers have ordered $47 billion worth of aircraft for the coming decade but the deals could be under threat because of the inability of airports to keep pace. That could be a blow to manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus. “You can buy as many aircraft as you like but if the infrastructure does not keep up then you are going to see a degraded service that may prevent you from executing plans to grow the airline,” Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, told Reuters.

The problem could force low-cost carriers such as Malaysia’s AirAsia Bhd and Indonesia’s privately held Lion Air - the world’s biggest buyers of passenger jets - to delay or even cancel some orders from Airbus and Boeing.

Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport now serves more than 51 million passengers a year, more than twice its design capacity when it was built in the mid-1980s.

Bangkok’s main Suvarnabhumi Airport is often beset by two-hour immigration queues and is running over capacity less than six years after it opened, which led Thailand’s government to encourage low-cost carriers to move to the old Don Muang Airport to help ease congestion.

Passengers can wait for hours at Kuala Lumpur’s overcrowded budget terminal, the hub for AirAsia. After clearing immigration lines that can be at least 50 people long, the walk to the plane at the tarmac can be hundreds of metres with only a strip of corrugated steel overhead as cover against the elements.

With pressure from AirAsia and scenes of chaotic check-ins, government-linked operator Malaysia Airports is rushing to complete another budget terminal that is due to be up and running by April 2013.

Projected construction costs have nearly doubled to 3.9 billion ringgit ($1.27 billion) as the planned capacity of the new airport has been expanded to 45 million passengers a year from an initial plan of 30 million.

Jakarta’s airport is infamous for planes sitting for nearly an hour on the tarmac before take-off or circling overhead as they await their turn to land. One-hour flights between Singapore and the Indonesian capital can easily drag to two hours or more because of the overcrowded runway. The hundreds of bankers and executives who fly regularly from Jakarta to Singapore on Monday mornings need to leave home in the dark to catch a 6 a.m. flight and often they still get caught in

traffic jams on the toll road to the airport.

That has led to tense times for airline executives dealing with what they politely refer to as “influential” passengers who get to the airport late or get stuck in traffic. Airline sources said these passengers do not hesitate to call them or even the chief executive on their mobile phones to ask for the plane to wait for them.

“It is a common problem,” one of the sources said. “We could never entertain these kinds of requests unless they are the president or the vice president of Indonesia. But some customers can be quite impolite and scream at us.”

The number of low-cost carriers (LCC) and their routes have expanded rapidly in Southeast Asia over the last 10 years. Analysts and industry executives see more growth ahead due to a lack of reliable alternatives

eclipsing the record for the world’s biggest commercial aircraft deal set by AirAsia when it signed up to buy 200 Airbus A320neo jets for $18 billion.

Despite the growth and big orders, Southeast Asia remains a market that has been under served by carriers. Con Korfiatis, vice president of Garuda Indonesia’s budget carrier Citilink, said only 300 single-aisle jets serve the country’s population of 230 million, compared with 3,000 in the United States, which has 310 million people.

Boeing sees Asia-Pacific carriers as the biggest buyers of planes over the 20-year period to 2030 as they are expected to acquire 11,450 passenger jets valued at $1.5 trillion - more than a third of global demand.

A number of airports in Southeast Asia are expanding but some industry watchers say the efforts may not be enough to keep up

SINGAPORE: A Singapore Airlines aircraft prepares to take off from the Changi International airport, Singapore. and strong economic growth.

“Ten years ago, the airports in this region would probably not have foreseen that LCC demand could be as strong as it is today,” Chin Yau Seng, chief executive officer of Singaporebased budget carrier Tiger Airways, told Reuters. Airport congestion makes it tougher for carriers to keep their on-time performance and pushes up operating costs as planes waste fuel waiting to take off or land.

“If this problem persists for the long run, airlines in general will have to take into account all the additional costs that they have to incur and pass them on to customers,” Edward Sirait, a director at Lion Air, told Reuters.

“If customers cannot accept those additional costs then airlines, whoever they are, will have to rethink their investment decisions and spending.” Lion recently firmed up an order for 230 Boeing 737s worth $22.4 billion,

with additional capacity and demand.

Standard & Poor’s analyst Shukor Yusof said Indonesia and the Philippines are among the laggards in developing facilities for airlines, while Singapore and Malaysia tend to move ahead.

“Malaysia has done a fairly good job in managing and operating various airports,” he said. “Indonesia certainly lacks the infrastructure to meet the increase in capacity with its domestic carriers expanding and acquiring new aircraft.”

Singapore’s Changi Airport plans to build a fourth terminal that will boost total capacity to 82 million passengers a year from the current 73 million when it is completed in 2017.

Despite Changi’s reputation for planning ahead, the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said the fourth terminal might not be enough to meet the expected surge in air travel. —Reuters

Jobs crumble in Spain brick-making town

MARACAIBO: Spanish former Prime Minister (2004-2011) Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero speaks during a conference on economy in Maracaibo on Saturday.

Deepening regional integration and fighting poverty are the major challenges of Latin America to ensure the growth and development that was achieved in the last decade, said Rodriguez Zapatero. — AFP

BAILEN, Spain: As a centre of brick production, the Andalucian town of Bailen symbolised Spain’s 10-year building boom. Now weeds sprout from the piles of clay where once delivery trucks queued up.

Bailen, in the southern province of Andalucia, has long been Spain’s bricks and ceramics capital. During the property boom, 50 factories churned out nearly 20 percent of the country’s bricks and gave work to 3,000 people. Today, there are only three factories still going, and they have slowed production.

“We haven’t cast any clay since last October,” says Jose Flores, 63, a quarry manager in blue overalls.

“We had to work day and night, there were several shifts. There were six of us working here. Now

we’re down to two-two too many!” “The young people have all had to emigrate. The problem today is that because here there was lots of work, a lot of them did not study. Now what are they?

Cheap labour-but that’s no use abroad. They have it there already.”

Bailen, population 18,700, has suffered worse than most from the economic crisis after the boom went bust in 2008. The bricks and mortar industr y accounted for 90 percent of the local economy, says Martin Olea, a local official of the conservative Popular Party. When it collapsed it dragged down local transporters, traders, hotels and restaurants with it. The unemployment rate has reached more than 35 percent-higher even than

Andalucia’s overall jobless rate of 31 percent.

“This city is becoming-or is almost already-a ghost town where every family, without exception, is affected more or less by this crisis,” said Pedro Cardenas Cabrera, a local official off the CCOO labour union. Manuel Duran, 46, is one of the victims of the brick crisis.

He has been without a job for nearly two years after working non-stop since he was 13 making ceramic objects. “The only work I have ever done in my life is ceramics. There used to be lots of work and they’d call you even if you weren’t old enough to work,” he said.

Previously he earned 1,200 euros a month and never lacked work. Now he fears he may lose

his home, because he still owes half of the loan — 100,000 euros.

He waits desperately for a call from his former employer. “I have got no income at the moment, I don’t get unemployment, my wife does not work and neither does my son,” he says.

“I have my daughter, who is 20 and works as a social assistant taking care of the elderly, who is the only one who brings anything in — 700 euros a month.”

This winter he earned 500 euros for 10 days’ work picking olives-another major industry in Andalucia, where many farm laborers were lured away from the fields to work on the building sites that sprang up from the 1990s. He paid 500 euros to train as a truck driver in the hope of finding work. — AFP

26

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

business

GPCE 2012 to discuss human resource issues KUWAIT: Bader Al-Khashti, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Managing Director for Research & Development & Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), said that KPC is keen on paying attention to human resources as a key to development and increasing production, in addition to attaching great importance to HSE programs in order to preserve and boost this human resource.

This came in a statement by Al-Khashti on the occasion of his participation in the Gulf Petroleum Conference and Exhibition - GPCE 2012 - organized by the Investors Group in April 2012. The conference is being held under the theme ‘Gulf Petroleum Integration .. Prospects and Challenges’.

Al-Khashti said that HSE programs are among the corporation’s strategic objectives and are directly supported by KPC’s senior executives and affiliate companies.

He added that these programs aim at boosting HSE culture and preserving the health of employees and insuring their well-being.

He emphasized that the corporation and its affiliate companies seek a leading role in the region in HSE performance as a strategic step to reach international level, and by following a strategic plan with specific and clear objectives. Al-Khashti said that one of the most important roles of HSE group is placing strategies and comprehensive plans over HSE at the comprehensive level of the corporation and its affiliate companies, as well as following up and monitoring the implementation of HSE policies with sister companies in order to achieve the set objectives.

One of the goals, he said, is supporting and following up affiliate companies’ commitment to implementing the corporation’s system that runs HSE through regularly reviewing performance of these companies by the Implementation Committee and the Guidance Committee, and providing consultations and information about HSE because these bodies play a distinguished role in this domain.

Al-Khashti noted that one of the group’s

tasks is to investigate major HSE-related accidents, implementing HSE system in the oil complex and the affiliate companies, issuing reports on HSE performance of the oil complex and affiliate companies, supervise on the emergency plan and evacuation of the oil complex, carry out a evacuation drills and follow recommendations of the committee on development, upgrading capabilities of oil sector to countering oil leaks.

He said one of the group’s recent major achievements was KPC’s HSE Group’s winning of a number of certificates and awards including the (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OSHAS 18001) regarding the implementation of the integration administration of HSE and Quality, and the DuPont Safety Awards 2011 regarding commitment of the senior management in the implementation of safety principles and criteria. He added that the group established a unit to bolster health in the Health and Safety Department in order to preserve the health of employees in the oil sector and their families, in line with regulations of World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labor Organization (ILO). A committee was also formed to “study the phenomenon of psychological pressure among oil sector employees” because of the job’s nature and the realization of employees of the importance of oil and what it means for Kuwait and its economy, in addition to the tough circumstances that most of the employees work under in this sector.

Al-Khashti unveiled the CEO’s HSE Award that was launched out of KPC’s awareness of the great importance of HSE and to encourage affiliate companies to support and develop relevant programs.

He also noted the creation of a team to administer the implementation of the strategic plans for HSE and security. This team, he added, will also place necessary mechanisms, criteria and tools to implement the strategic plan for HSE and security, and to work on developing it constantly, providing support and back-up for teams assigned to executing initiatives or proj-

New outlet for ‘Mada’ at the Sultan Center Salmiya KUWAIT: Mada prides itself announcing the launch of their fist point of sale in Sultan Center Salmiya branch to introduce their packages and services to the audience throughout the State of Kuwait.

This new point of sale enjoys a strategic location in the heart of Salmiya and inside Sultan Center which is considered one of the top shopping centers in Kuwait with a huge number of daily visitors which best serves Mada’s target of getting exposed to a wide range of their customers.

Mada’s aim behind this step is to allow a large number of visitors to get introduced to their advanced various services in addition to answering all customers’ questions and doubts through a well trained specialized team ready to assist in clarifying all their requirements.

Moreover, this opening is one of many to come in the company’s development plan in order to reach all their customers throughout the country.

The lucky winners for the five daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5000 each, and they are: 1. Duha Abdullah Ibrahim Abdullah 2. Hassan Ezzat Abdulhameed Ahmad 3. Wilma Arellano Enlajosta 4. Maryam Amer Ali Albousaeedi 5. Majdi Kamil Abdulrahman Jibali The newly re-launched Yawmi Account is better, easier and faster than any day before.

With its new and enhanced features, the Yawmi Account has become more convenient, easier, and faster for customers to benefit from. Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48 hours only from opening the account. Customers are also required to deposit KD 100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon

Shahad Ibrahim Mada telecommunications is one of the reputable companies in the domain of communications, specialized in providing wireless internet connectivity and the only one providing unlimited downloads to its customers.

value to enter the draw stands at KD 10.

The newly designed Yawmi account has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone.

Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they receive of winning the draw. Opening a Yawmi account is simple, customers are urged to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch and receive all the details, or simply call the bank’s Call Center at 1804080 where customer service representatives will be delighted to assist with any questions on the Yawmi account or any of the bank’s products and services. Customers can also log on to Burgan Bank’s www.burgan.com for further information.

Citadel Capital Fund signs amended share purchase agreement KUWAIT: Citadel Capital, the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa with $9 billion in investments under control, issued the following statement regarding revised terms of sale for the National Petroleum Company Egypt: Further to Citadel Capital news releases dated 9 January 2012 and 11 March 2012, Golden Crescent Investments Ltd (Golden Crescent), a Citadel Capital OpportunitySpecific Fund, has signed an amended share purchase agreement to sell 100% of its interest in National Petroleum Company Egypt Limited (NPC Egypt), a wholly owned Portfolio Company, to Sea Dragon Energy Inc. (Sea Dragon) (TSX-V: SDX), a Calgarybased exploration and development company.

The value of the closing consideration payable by Sea Dragon to Golden Crescent

which thus require backing young Kuwaiti cadres.

He said there is complete and continuous coordination between the R&D sector in the affiliate companies in order to place executive plans to carry out applied research in cooperation with research authorities in and outside Kuwait.

Outcome of these researches, Al-Khashti said, will help find the most suitable solutions for some problems facing companies working in the oil sector, as well as boost-

Bader Al-Khashti ing production efficiency and expansion in refining and manufacturing operations of petroleum products in the State of Kuwait.

This is in addition to cooperation with the planning sector to guarantee implementation of the corporation’s strategies for scientific research and technology, and HSE. On the feasibility of establishing a research center affiliated to the oil sector in the State of Kuwait, Al-Khashti said the center is one of the major pillars for KPC’s research and technology strategy, which stipulates investments in R&D projects, administration and implementation of suitable modern technology in all of its operations in explorations, production, refining, manufacturing and petrochemical industry.

One of the tasks of the research center

is to focus on implementing applied research in specific strategic domains in order to address technological and technical challenges facing the oil sector of Kuwait in the future in a drive to achieve objectives of the operational plans in the medium and long-term to have the most suitable consumption of hydrocarbon resources in the State of Kuwait Objectives of the research center also include the development of national capabilities in the oil sectors including in the R&D domain through enabling Kuwaiti employees to acquire advanced skills, technical and scientific expertise in oil industry-related research.

Al-Khashti said oil conferences also play an important role to showcasing and discussing the latest developments in fields of oil, gas and petrochemical industry, thus paving the way to exchange views and benefit from the expertise of participating specialists. They are also considered one of the major pillars to fostering cooperation and public relations, as well as the role they play to highlighting the achievements and capabilities of the participants.

Therefore, said Al-Khashti, our active participation in these conferences helps us assess the current strategies and to have better scientific and practical vision to modernize, develop and follow up these strategies in order to accomplish objectives of the oil sector of Kuwait to ultimately realize a pivotal shift in the country with regards to the development of human resources, boosting capabilities and skills, honoring needs of international markets and keeping up with global development in this area.

The GPCE 2012, organized by the Investors Group, will take place on 9 & 10 April 2012 . Under the slogan “Gulf Petroleum Integration .. Prospects and Challenges”, the event will be held under the auspices of Minister of Oil, , and Chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Hani Abdulaziz Hussein. The event will see the participation of large companies operating in the oil and gas sector, as well as a host of global experts.

Sharma to underline strength of India-UAE trade relations Annual Investment Meeting 2012 in Dubai on May 1

Burgan Bank announces winners of daily Yawmi Account draw KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the names of the five lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD 5,000.

ects, as well as removing obstacles facing them then offering suitable solutions to guarantee progress.

Regarding the investments of the Research and Development Sector at KPC, Al-Khashti said the program to invest in new energy technology aims at achieving strategic objectives through the marketing of the development of new and clear energy technologies, which will maintain longterm competitiveness of oil as a major energy source through usage of efficient and environment-friendly methods via active investment policy.

He added that investment opportunities are being assessed in accordance with these objectives, including the investments to develop types of low-carbon fuel, efficient transport means, advanced and permanent units to produce energy, in addition to the development of environment-friendly petrochemical products as well as direct and indirect investments to the development of promising technologies and financing early and medium stages of the new and clean energy technology companies.

Al-Khashti said that investment objectives are focusing on achieving strategic goals concerning the development of new energy technology and achieving financial revenues matching those accomplished by leading investment new energy funds, as well as exploring organized educational methods to develop expertise in the corporation. This is in addition to creating a wide-scale communication network of expertise through relationships with other investors in relevant sectors.

Al-Khashti said that R&D is one of the corporation’s top interests in order to reach the level of the international companies.

We can be leaders in the implementation of modern technologies and development of mechanisms of the corporation to make them suitable for requirements of the oil sector including technologies and research. This is added to the development by using the latest methods and modern technologies in all affiliate companies to cope with capabilities of the oil sector,

under the amended share purchase agreement remains unchanged at $147.5 million.

As indicated in the execution of the amended share purchase agreement, Sea Dragon has until 8 May 2012 to complete the transaction (subject to a 10-day extension), while Golden Crescent has a nonexclusivity period in which to solicit and entertain alternative proposals lasting until 1 May 2012.

Citadel Capital, which has management control of Golden Crescent, notes that volatile local and international conditions could affect the conclusion of the transaction. This announcement does not constitute a promise to conclude the transaction, as Citadel Capital notes that Sea Dragon must obtain approvals and other clearances from its shareholders, lenders, and regulatory authorities.

DUBAI: Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma, a leading speaker at the AIM Conference taking place in Dubai on May 1, will stress the growing trade and economic ties between his country and the UAE that saw the GCC’s bellwether economy become India’s top trading partner in 2009.

The minister will appear as a panelist in the first session of the AIM Conference to tackle the issue of FDI as a strategic economic cooperation enabler between developed and emerging economies.

As trade minister, Sharma has masterminded a shift in India’s business ties to Asia and the Far East, protecting his country from the fall-out from the recessions in Europe and the United States, and improving links with China and ASEAN nations.

Sharma has had a marked impact on India’s international trade since taking office in 2009, re-energizing stalled Doha round talks by convening a Ministerial meeting in Delhi and brokering India-ASEAN ties, the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, and the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in his near three years in office. Assuming additional control of the Textiles Ministry in 2011, Sharma, 59,

Anand Sharma has in recent weeks been grappling with the restructuring of Indian exports, through controls on cotton exports, due to the shortage of raw product for the domestic industry.

Trade has become central to India’s prosperity since economic liberalization in the 1990s and GDP growth of 8% is expected to persist for in next decade. Trade with external partners, led by

software and tourism, has jumped to 53% of GDP today compared to 37% in the 2004-05 financial year.

Dubai-based non-resident Indians have helped plough the benefits of bilateral trading back into the property market at home, which has seen an increase of 20-25% in transaction values in the past 12 months. Indians are thought to be the largest component in Dubai’s massive expatriate community.

Sharma was Chief Spokesman of the Indian National Congress for six years and was promoted to the Union Council of Ministers with responsibility for Foreign Affairs in 2006 and became Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in 2008.

He was conferred The Order of the Companion of Volta, a leading Ghanaian civilian award, by President J A Koufour in 2008 in recognition of his commitment to South-South Cooperation. His involvement in Indian student politics helped him rise to the position of president of the Indian Youth Congress in 1985, which soon led to a close relationship with late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, while he was one of India’s youngest ever politicians, after being first elected to Parliament in 1984 at the age of 31.

ABM, Brother Faxes and MFCs hold seminar KUWAIT: Arabian Business Machines Co, the authorized distributor of Brother Faxes and MFCs in Kuwait and Brother International (Gulf ) FZE held a seminar at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to introduce the latest models of Brother Faxes and MFCs. Kamal Aboul Hosn, General Manager & Partner of Arabian Business Machines Co welcomed the participants in the seminar and gave a brief introduction of Arabian

Business Machines Co and its 29 years of partnership with Brother, followed by Sohail Kidwai, Deputy General Manager of Brother International (Gulf ) FZE who gave an insight to Brother 100 year rich history of innovation and performance.

Brother has over 29,000 employees, 16 manufacturing facilities and 52 sales offices in 44 countries. Brother is a pioneer in Multi Function Centre and introduced in 2008 the

A3 Inkjet MFC. Brother comprehensive line up of Faxes, MFC’s and printers caters to all segments of the market including home use.

Brother Laser Faxes, Printers & MFCs feature three years warranty backed by Arabian Business Machines Co reputable after sales service which give customers confidence, low operating cost and ultimately total satisfaction.

27

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Patent requests in Europe reach record in 2011 PARIS: Patent requests in the Europe reached a record high in 2011, in a telling sign that companies are determined to stay on the cutting edge despite a debt crisis and an uncertain economy.

In total 244,437 requests for patents were filed in 2011 at the Munich-based European Patent Office, the body’s annual report showed. That is 3.7 percent more than 2010.

The office, which centralises requests from 38 European nations, maintains a strict qualitative control and on average approves four requests out of 10. In 2011, the office approved 62,115 patents, 6.9 percent more than 2010.

“Companies have responded very differently (to the crisis) than in 2008-2009 when

we saw a huge drop (in requests),” said EPO president Benoit Battistelli. “The financial crisis is still here, but the vast majority of businesses have decided to not sacrifice research and development investment,” he said.

Companies “have absorbed the idea that to develop advantages in an increasingly globalised world, and where new competitors arrive in force, innovation must be maintained,” Battistelli said. “Patents are the the most effective way to do that,” he said.

For world tech giants, patents have become a key battleground and companies now defend their technology in courtrooms around the world, brandishing patents as their claim to new riches.

Internet giant Yahoo! this month filed a suit against Facebook in a California court, accusing the social networking giant of infringing on 10 patents. Microsoft and Apple last month filed complaints with the European authorities against Google’s Motorola Mobility in an increasingly bitter patent war between technology giants.

Apple is already embroiled in a multicontinent patent fight with South Korea’s Samsung. “These court cases are spectacular in terms of the sums involved, but we can’t say there are more (court cases) today than before,” the EPO chief said.

“But when you are aiming to dominate the world mobile phone or smartphone market, the economic and financial stakes

are so great that all means available are used,” Battistelli said. “Fundamentally, this shows that patents have become a strategic tool for companies,” he noted.

“If we have companies that are willing pay tens of millions of dollars to buy patents, then patents have a greater strategic value.” Based in Munich, the office employs 7,000 people on a budget of 1.7 billion euros ($2.26 billion). But 62 percent of requests come from outside Europe, with a quarter coming from the United States alone and with Asia playing an increasing role. China and Korea together accounted for 32 percent of requests last year.

This is no surprise to Battistelli. With Asia becoming more global, China in particular is

becoming “more and more an economy of innovation”, he said-so much so that China overtook France in patent requests last year, applying for 16,946 patents, up from a mere 160 in 2000. In Europe, Germany leads patent activity with 33,181 requests, ahead of France’s 12,107 requests.

Siemens made the most patent demands with 2,235 requests, ahead of Netherlandsbased Philips and Korea’s Samsung. Patents in 2011 chiefly concerned medical technology, followed by electric machinery, energy and computers. Earlier this month, the World Intellectual Property Organization said global patent filings also set a new record in 2011 with annualised growth of 10.7 percent. —AFP

Hearing and being heard: The mechanics of a podcast ‘Every receiver can become a broadcaster’

WASHINGTON: US Internet service providers said last week that they will do more to alert customers whose computers have been taken over by criminal hackers’ robot networks, or botnets, and help them get rid of the malicious software.

Media player in home network replaces cables MUNICH: There’s good news for people who are tired of looking at all the cables their entertainment system seems to need to send signals between televisions, DVD players, computers and the like.

In today’s increasingly wireless world, it’s no longer necessary to have a DVD player or computer directly connected to a television to transmit a movie. That job can now be done wirelessly or with a network cable via a media player, a small box that saves space and helps people regain control of their living rooms.

I n s o m e c a s e s, t h e y c a n p u l l n e w material straight from the internet onto your television. Even better, you don’t have to buy something terribly exotic or expensive to set up such a system. A LAN box with a maximum data rate of 100 megabits per second (MBit/s) is more than enough to stream high definition films.

“A gigabit LAN with 1,000 MBit/s is not necessary, which is why only a few products support that standard,” says Andreas Frank of the German magazine Video-HomeVision.

That said, if you want to set up a completely wireless network, you’ll need to be sure to buy hardware that supports the 802.11n standard to make sure high definition material is sent without disruptions, or complete interruptions, to your video transmissions.

Regardless of whether you opt for a wi-fi or cable connection, content will either come from a special network hard drive or a PC with a video or music folde r s e t a s i d e fo r t h e h o m e n e t wo r k .

Media players tend to use the DLNA standard. Airplay is also great to make s u re yo u r w i - f i s t re a m i n g w i t h a Macbook, iPad or iPhone isn’t too complicated.

If you don’t want to stream, but prefer to connect an external hard drive to your media player, you’re not bound to using a USB 3.0 connection.

“That only brings advantages if the media player has a built-in hard drive and it’s important for you to have fast transmission of data from the external to the internal hard drive,’ explains Frank.

Plug in an SD card for easy transmission of photos from a digital camera.

The final product is sent to televisions with an HDMI cable, explains Frank. “Just about every device can support full HD, which means 1,920 X 1,080 pixel points, with 24, 50 or 60 full images a second.”

That’s important, especially with bigger televisions.

In a test of 10 media players, German magazine PCWELT plus, was critical of the image sharpness with some devices.

“Only six models offered really breathtaking, sharp, detailed pictures with an HDTV transmission,” says Frank.

If you’re going to plug in an older television you’ll need connections other than HDMI, like a cinch cable or a toslink b ox to m a k e s u re t h e s o u n d f ro m a media player gets through.

Ever more network media players are also allowing clients to access online o f fe r i n g. Th e re a re v i d e o s i te s l i k e YouTube or the libraries of public television channels from which to choose.

Photo galleries like Picasa and Flickr are also accessible.

Social networks are also in on the act, allowing people to check updates from friends before starting a night of viewing. But online connectivity varies from player to player. It’s best to look at this critically before making a purchase.

Despite their range of abilities, the media players remain relatively affordable. PCWelt plus’ top-rated player costs 120 euros (158 dollars). O ther wellreviewed devices start at 100 euros.

A good player will be able to handle multiple video formats, like AVI, MKV, WMV, DivX and MPEG formats like MP4.

Audio purists will want to be on the lookout for the ability to support the FLAC format.

Manufacturers have long recognized the potential of media players. There’s also decent demand. At the same time, the lines are blurring between media players and other devices. “ The trends are showing a great variety of combinations between T V reception and recorder functions,” says Roland Stehle of the of the German Society for Enter tainment and C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Te c h n o l o g y ( g f u ) . “ B l u - ray p l aye r s a n d T V d e v i ce s a re increasingly integrating network player functions.”

NETASQ, Kaspersky Lab conclude security event RIYADH: NETASQ, the security pioneer and innovator of UTM devices and Kaspersky Labs, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, concluded a successful Multi-Layered Network Security event last week in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aiming to explore the latest enterprise IT security challenges and solutions.

NETASQ delegates introduced the concept of multi-layered security through live demonstrations and technical presentations, showcasing that only the multi-layered protection of the next generation’s Unified Threat Management’ (UTM) firewall is the successful solution to combat the massive threat range attacking the network’s perimeter.

Kaspersky Lab’s specialist dedicated his keynote speech to explain the anti-malware gateway security, highlighting the features and advantages of this type of protections, while

describing how Kaspersky Lab’s security has been incorporated into NETASQ UTM solution.

Commenting on the event, Konstantin Matyukhin, Technology Alliances Account Manager, Kaspersky Lab, Emerging Markets said, “Cyber criminals, hackers and virus writers will continuously find new ways to attack networks; which has made it a mandatory practice for big corporations and SMBs to adopt the latest solutions for data protection and security. We have joined forces with NETASQ to come up with an innovative state-of-the-art solution to maintain the security of our customers.”

Hakam Kayed, Regional Sales Director, NETASQ MEA said, “We are very proud of the success this event has achieved, and that we were able to deliver to our delegates exceptional presentations and solutions to help them overcome the security threats imposed on businesses today.”

BERLIN: The hype about podcasts has faded as they’ve become part of everyday life. But the growing eminence of smartphones means it is becoming ever easier to access these homemade audio and video clips.

The word podcast stems from Apple’s iPod. But podcasts are by no means limited to that kind of MP3 player. Computers, laptops, tablets, MP3 players and smartphones can all play podcasts.

“Podcasts usually contain free media content that can be downloaded,” explains Fabio Bacigalupo, who has operated the German website podcast.de for eight years.

About 80 per cent of what’s on offer are audio podcasts. That’s because, unlike video podcasts, these can be produced more cheaply and easily.

It’s fairly easy to make a podcast. The important thing to remember while doing so is to make sure you have something to say.

Distribution is also key.

“It’s important that listeners be able to subscribe to the podcast, because the subscription is really what makes a podcast a podcast,” says Bacigalupo. Those subscriptions can be updated with the software Podcatcher, which check the newsfeeds of podcast websites for new entries to be downloaded.

The podcast boom began in 2004. “That’s when fast internet connections were being built everywhere and the gear for audio recordings was affordable. The technical possibilities were there to create the content and to download it regularly,” says Tobias Arns, who runs the social media and mobile department of Bitkom, a German technology industry association.

“Since every receiver can also become a broadcaster, podcasts quickly became linked to the kind of hope that was seen in the early days of the radio.” Those days have since faded. “A lot of the functions have migrated to social networks.” But it’s a little early to give up on all the early euphoria.

“Now it’s really starting,” says Bacigalupo.

“That’s because of the wide penetration of

mobile devices like smartphones and flat mobile internet rates, which mean you can download podcasts when you’re underway and listen to them right away.”

There is a wide selection. “But there’s still a lot of garbage out there, since anyone can put their podcast online,” says Munich-based podcaster and journalist Larissa Vassilian, who goes by the alias Annik Rubens. “I’m always worried that someone who doesn’t know much about podcasts is just going to root aimlessly around and not find anything interesting.”

But you shouldn’t be scared off by the variety out there, especially since there are a lot of indexes to provide guidance. “Itunes is definitely the most comprehensive podcast index, but you need to download the right software for it,” says Vassilian.

Whichever you choose, there ought to be a topic out there that suits you. “There’s everything from film criticism to recipes to technology and fashion themes. There’s an unbeliev-

Huffington Post to release weekly iPad magazine TORONTO: The Huffington Post will soon be available in a weekly magazine version for the iPad, president and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington confirmed at a media summit in Toronto.

It “will be a weekly magazine version with the best of the original reporting and the best of blogs and the best of video that we produce,” Huffington said Thursday, adding the magazine would launch next month.

Huffington was speaking at the Digital Media Summit, a two - day social media and marketing conference where the rise of the tablet was a theme that popped up again and again. The Huffington Post iPad weekly will feature everything from original reporting to satirical blogs. “It’s just going to be in terms of what is considered the best quality stuff we had that week, not necessarily the most popular stuff we had that week,” Huffington said.

The Huffington Post announcement capped off two days of panels and speeches about digital and social media trends in which the tablet device emerged as a winner, trailed closely by social and interactive television.

“The tablet is more about consumption. I keep saying it’s getting rid of the computer more than it’s encroaching on the smart phone,” Daniel Odio, the chief executive of Socialize, Inc. said during a panel.

“The tablet is the new hub, the new computer.” Mobile Roadie CEO Michael Schneider, whose company will release a music iPad app on Monday, said he hoped to bank on the trend of tablet users buying more products than their desktop counterparts.

“Having that immersive experience really makes a difference in terms of what people are willing to spend on

their tablets,” he said. The larger screen size of a tablet was touted as the biggest reason for the device’s win over smartphones.

“The iPad and tablets in general are a really great medium for creation,” explained Thom Cummings of Soundcloud, a web program that allows users to create and upload sound files for other users to stream, download and share. “ The tablet allows you to create something in a minute and make it valuable and make it something you can share with the rest of the world,” he said. Tablets are also more closely associated with leisure, further boosting their popularity.

“One of the most interesting insights about tablet use is that people use their tablets while they ’re watching television. So now we’re looking across multiple screens,” said Neil Shankman, of Google Canada.

Marketers at the summit were eager to hear about new ways to engage television viewers by having them use devices to interact with their television, the other hot topic at the summit.

“This is blurring the lines between traditional lean-back experience TV and lean-forward kind of things, being able to interact with a show,” Justin Baird, of Aegis Media Pacific, told AFP. Baird described a poll he ran on a breakfast show in Australia using a media platform called iPowow that allowed viewers to vote for which political leader they thought should head the country.

“Lots of times you might see some Twitter feed at the bottom of the show, the host doesn’t even look at it.

Why even put it there?” he said. “That’s not interactive TV. That’s just giving people the ability to put their opinion on the TV show.” —AFP

able number of niches focused upon,” says Arns. And people don’t have to feel that being an audience member is the only role available to them with podcasts. It doesn’t take a lot of work to publish yourself and build up your own channel.

“The most important thing is to have a topic and approach the topic with some enthusiasm,” says Bacigalupo. “Sometimes there are discussions with a group of people, sometimes it’s an individual discussing his topic.”

But podcasts don’t have to have a rigid format. They can be different every day or every week, the experts say. “If it doesn’t work, then it’s usually because a person didn’t have enough tenacity to produce the podcasts regularly.”

At least there are very few technical hurdles. “You don’t really need a big technological outlay,” says Vassilian, who was one of the first podcasters in 2005. “A laptop with an integrated microphone or an iPhone can usually be more than enough.”

Freeware like Audacity can be used for editing audio podcasts. Make sure that the podcasts aren’t so crackly and full of hissing that no-one can understand you.

There are also a lot of people in the media industry who help others with their podcasts.

“A lot of podcasts are being produced by people who also work in the media, or media companies are creating shows that are available as podcasts,” says Arns.

To distribute the podcast, you need a little online space for a website. And you should get yourself registered in an index. Bacigalupo notes that registering is free, but that different services have a variety of pros and cons.

“At iTunes, you absolutely need a logo, you have to have more than one episode, and the podcasts are checked to make sure they meet technical specifications,” he says. Other sites simply check to make sure content doesn’t violate local laws. Once you get past that, nothing should really stand in the way of your podcasting career, providing you have something to say. — dpa

Tech

briefs

Phone 7: Less memory BERLIN: Microsoft has announced that the hardware requirements for Windows Phone 7 will be lowered. The mobile operating system will in the future also work on smartphones with only 256 MB of memory though not without certain limitations.

Some apps requiring a lot of memory will not work on the slimmed down Phone 7 mobiles and users won’t be able to multitask between different apps. Users of a device with 256 MB must also do without the automatic uploading of photos to Microsoft’s online storage Skydrive. Podcast subscriptions cannot be managed on the smartphones and video podcasts cannot be watched. HD videos (1280 x 720 pixels) meanwhile will be scaled down to 800 x 450 pixels to be shown on the devices. One of the first Phone 7 devices with the slimmed down hardware is the Nokia Lumia 610, which will come out in the second half of the year.

Firefox synchronises Mozilla has brought out a new version of Firebox with Version 11 allowing for the browser to synchronise add-ons. This can help make sure that the same add-ons are available at home and at work. Until now, only settings and bookmarks could be synchronized automatically. In order for the synchronization to work, a sync account must be set up. In addition, a number of diverse new developer tools are integrated into Firefox. Among them is Page Inspector 3D, which allows for three-dimensional websites to be displayed.

Sony smartphone Sony’s most recent offshoot in the Xperia smartphone family can be controlled just about without a touch - at least for surfing the internet. Users of Sola control the pointer via a finger floating over the display - the so-called Floating Touch. The 3.7 inch display (854 x 480 pixels) only needs to be touched to open a link. In addition, Sony is offering an application for the integrated NFC chip. Hold the smartphone near one of the two included NFC transponders - called SmartTags - and the device will instantly launch apps or change settings. A SmartTag near the bed for example could automatically switch the smartphone to mute mode and activate the alarm clock. Or a SmartTag in the shoe rack can start up the GPS, jogging apps and music player when the user wants to go running. Sola, which is 9.9 millimetres thick and weighs 107 grams, will be shipped in the second quarter of 2102 with Android 2.3, but Sony promised an update soon to the current 4.0 version of the operating system. In addition to a 1 GHz dual core processor, the smartphone has 8 GB of integrated memory and a 5 megapixel camera, which is ready for snapshots within half of a second. Sola, which will cost 349 euro (460 dollars), accesses the Music and Video Unlimited services via the Sony Entertainment Network. —dpa

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

AIDS orphanage revives Swazi ghost town BULEMBU: Lost in the mountains of Swaziland, Bulembu became a ghost town when the local mine closed, cutting off its lifeblood. Now the town is coming back, centred on an orphanage taking in children whose parents have often died of AIDS. “The babies are abandoned, maybe put in a plastic bag on the side of the road, maybe in the pit latrines,” said Zanele Maseko, head of the nursery for the smallest orphans.

“What the police told us, they found a baby who was buried alive. She is a big girl now.” Swaziland has the world’s highest rate of HIV infection, with at least one in four adults carrying the virus. A crushing financial crisis has left the tiny monarchy struggling to pay for medi-

cines and for orphans’ education.

About 120,000 children have been orphaned in this landlocked nation in southern Africa, comprising more than 10 percent of the total population.

Those startling statistics inspired Canadian entrepreneur Volker Wagner to buy the entire town of Bulembu in 2006, five years after it was abandoned, and entrust it to a Canadian evangelical ministry which actually runs the place.

They have created a private community, a sort of “Christian kolkhoz”, which is developing around the orphanage that now houses 303 children, aged from two weeks to 21 years. “At present financial projections, we believe that Bulembu can be sustainable by 2020

with 1,000 children in our care,” said Andrew Le Roux, executive director Bulembu Ministries Swaziland, which manages the project for Wagner.

“But this is a minimum, and as we strive to grow the businesses, this number will increase. We believe 2,000 is the maximum number of children that the infrastructure can sustain.” The idea is to make Bulembu completely self-sufficient. Its leaders, mainly white South Africans, aim to train Swazis to take over the project. Bulembu currently sells wood, milk, bread, honey, mineral water and souvenirs to outsiders. Those businesses employ several hundred people and the revenues fund 45 percent of the town’s operations. The rest comes from

private donations, mainly collected in Canada, which also fund new investments. A museum is in the works, along with a guesthouse for visitors and benefactors who come from around the world to volunteer. The old mining staff quarters have been fixed up to house the children, their caregivers, and the employees.

Many old buildings have been gutted and will need major work, but there’s still plenty of room for expansion. Bulembu houses about 1,400 people, against 10,000 when its asbestos mine was in full swing.

The mine’s hospital has been turned into a high school, after there were too many students for the original school. A

training centre has opened to prepare the youth for jobs in tourism, and the Swazi government has proposed building a small technical college.

The schools revolve around a merit system, from nursery school up. The orphans have no money, but can “buy” little things with merits they earn for good grades or keeping a tidy desk. “We want every child to excel in what they are doing,” said Dennis Neville, head of education. “Our goal is giving them a future and a hope,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is prepare these children to become good Swazi citizens, to become children who can step into leadership roles. We want the children to be Swazi leaders.” — AFP

Stem cell therapy could repair damaged heart Treatment works best in young patients

PARIS: This file picture taken on February 24, 2010 shows an employee of French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) works at a handling post in the Osiris reactor hall at the CEA center in Saclay, near Paris. Life begins at 40, but not for a small and ageing fleet of nuclear reactors vital for millions of life-saving medical procedures each year and using material that could go in an atomic bomb. — AFP

Nuclear medicine: A vital but troubled industry VIENNA: Life begins at 40, but not for a small and ageing fleet of nuclear reactors vital for millions of life-saving medical procedures each year and using material that could go in an atomic bomb.

Ahead of this week’s Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, there has been scant progress in addressing the concerns surrounding this other major use of atomic technology, despite the problems being known for years, experts say.

For almost all the world’s medical isotopes, used to diagnose cancers and other diseases in 30 million procedures every year, the world relies on eight research reactors, all but one of which is four decades old or more.

These reactors produce “irradiated targets”, which then go to five main producers of the most commonly used isotope, known as Mo99, which decays into a radiopharmaceutical known as Tc-99, used once every second in procedures worldwide.

Of these eight reactors, the “big five” in Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands and South Africa, responsible for as much as 95 percent of global supply, are between 45 and 54 years old. The other three are in Poland, 38 years old, the Czech Republic, 55, and in Australia, the youngster in the family at just five. There are also dozens of smaller plants around the world, including one in Iran, meeting domestic needs.

In its draft Nuclear Safety Review 2012 seen by AFP, the UN atomic agency says that the five main reactors have all reported “agerelated problems”, meaning expensive repairs and production halts that have played havoc with global supply.

This is despite the wake-up call of 2009-10 when Canada’s National Research Universal (NRU), the biggest single producer and the main US supplier, shut for 15 months for repairs. The High Flux Reactor in the Netherlands was also out of action for five months at the same time, creating major supply problems.

“That crisis is over but the broader concerns still remain,” Ed Bradley, a nuclear engineer from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Research Reactors division, told AFP. It is not just supply. Reliance on these facilities also raises bigger worries.

With the exception of OPAL in Australia

and half of the Pelindaba plant’s capacity in South Africa, the remaining production capacity uses highly enriched uranium (HEU), which can be used to form the core of a nuclear bomb.

In 2007, armed men broke into Pelindaba, which at the time housed enough HEU for 30 nuclear weapons. Although they stole no radioactive material, the incident highlighted the potential risks. To tackle these security and supply concerns, recent years have seen a concerted international drive to diversify the number of producers and to switch to much less risky low-enriched uranium (LEU).

This has borne some fruit, said Tilman Ruff, a University of Melbourne professor and a senior member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Pelindaba’s production is half LEU, Canada scrapped plans for two new HEU reactors, and newer plants in Australia, Argentina and Indonesia may export more. Research into alternatives to reactors also looks promising.

But a great deal remains to be done.

“Governments have generally been complacent and lacking in leadership and willingness to provide financial support,” Ruff told AFP. European conversion to LEU has been slow, while Canada’s main Tc-99 maker Nordion has signed a deal with a firm in Russia, home to the world’s biggest HEU stockpile, to supply it with uranium targets once NRU shuts for good in 2016.

The main reason for the lack of progress is economics, according to a 2010 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study that concluded that LEU-based production was “currently not supported by the market.”

One reason, the report from the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency said, was that the main reactors were originally built using government money and continue to be effectively subsidised, thereby putting off new entrants to the market.

For Ruff, part of the blame also lies with his fellow doctors, who he says have “not played an active and constructive leadership role.” “Most doctors are still unaware of where the isotopes they use for their patients come from,” he says. — AFP

WASHINGTON: A woman protects herself from the rain in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington yesterday as she waits in line to hear arguments on US President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law. A dozen people camped out in front of the Supreme Court to make sure they would get a first glimpse of a historic hearing into the president’s health reform law today. —AFP

CHICAGO: Patients with advanced heart disease who received an experimental stem cell therapy showed slight improvements in blood pumping but no change in most of their symptoms, US researchers said yesterday.

Study authors described the trial as the largest to date to examine stem cell therapy as a route to repairing the heart in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and left ventricular dysfunction.

Previous studies have established that the approach is safe in human patients, but none had examined how well it worked on a variety of heart ailments. The clinical trial involved 92 patients, with an average age of 63, who were picked at random to get either a placebo or a series of injections of their own stem cells, taken from their bone marrow,

into damaged areas of their hearts.

The patients — 82 of whom were men-all had chronic heart disease, along with either heart failure or angina or both, and their left ventricles were pumping at less than 45 percent of capacity.

None of the participants in the study were eligible for revascularization surgery, such as coronary bypass to restore blood flow, because their heart disease was so advanced. Those who received the stem cell therapy saw a small but significant boost in the heart’s ability to pump blood, measuring the increase from the heart’s main pumping chamber at 2.7 percent more than placebo patients.

The treatment worked best in the youngest patients, those under 62, according to the analysis which was done after six

months of treatment. However, other factors showed no improvement-the heart’s maximum oxygen consumption did not change and the defects in the heart were not healed by the treatment-according to an analysis of the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “This is the kind of information we need in order to move forward with the clinical use of stem cell therapy,” said lead investigator Emerson Perin, director of clinical research for cardiovascular medicine at the Texas Heart Institute. Perin’s research, which was conducted between 2009 and 2011 across five US sites, was presented at the annual American College of Cardiology Conference in Chicago.

The technique involved taking bone marrow samples from the patients and processing the marrow to extract stem cells. Doctors

then injected the cells via catheter into the heart’s left ventricle.

The injections, comprising some 100 million stem cells in all, were specifically targeted at damaged areas, identified by realtime electromechanical mapping of the heart.

“With this mapping procedure, we have a roadmap to the heart muscle,” said Perin in a statement released ahead of the presentation in Chicago. “ We’re very careful about where we inject the cells; electromechanical mapping allows us to target the cell injections to viable areas of the heart,” he added, describing the procedure as “relatively quick and painless.” Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States, claiming nearly 600,000 lives per year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. — AFP

Nepal ‘werewolf’ family to be treated in Kathmandu KATHMANDU: A family suffering from a rare genetic condition in which hair grows all over the face arrived in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu yesterday for treatment of their “werewolf-like” appearance.

Devi Budhathoki, 37, her daughters, aged 13 and five, and 12-year-old son say they have endured constant humiliation because of hypertrichosis, which causes hair to sprout between their eyes and across their brows.

“My children have talked about a new life ever since we received word that the hospital was going to treat us,” said Budhathoki, a farmer from the remote northwestern village of Khare, near the border with the Tibetan border.

Sufferers from hypertrichosis, also known as “werewolf syndrome”, have in previous centuries been used as freakshow performers at circuses. “My son is fed up with the mockery he is subjected to and he has told his friends that he will be back with a new face so they can no longer tease him. More than myself, I’m worried about my children,” Budhathoki told AFP. “But I am very happy that the treatment is going to be possible. We have lived under constant harassment, my kids wouldn’t want to go to school because of the hair,” she said. Budhathoki and her husband Nara also have a sevenyear-old son and 17-year-old daughter who have not been affected by the condition.

“The best procedure for them will be laser treatment to remove the hair,” said Shankar Man Rai, a surgeon at the Kathmandu Model Hospital who will supervise their treatment. — AFP

KATHMANDU: Nepalese woman Devi Budathoki (C) with her children Mandira (L), Niraj (2nd R) and Manjura (R) wait to meet doctors at a hospital in Kathmandu yesterday. A family suffering from a rare genetic condition in which hair grows all over the face arrived in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu yesterday for treatment of their “werewolf-like” appearance. — AFP

S Africa plans to curb rampant TB in gold mines

Seeing is believing for heart patients

DRIEFONTEIN GOLD FIELDS MINE: South Africa launched a plan to diagnose tuberculosis in the country’s gold mines, where the disease’s incidence is the highest in the world. Speaking to mine managers in Driefontein, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said the goal was to “ensure that all mine workers, particularly in the gold mining sector, are screened and tested for TB and HIV over the next 12 months.”

The Driefontein Fields gold mine, located about 70 kilometres (40 miles) north of Johannesburg, is a flagship for an industry that has been on the decline but remains lucrative and employs more than 160,000 people.

Tuberculosis is rampant in all South African mines but incidence is particular high in gold mines due to horrendous conditions causing illnesses such as silicosis, which destroys the lungs of miners exposed to silica dust. Gold mines are often older than platinum mines for example and workers at Driefontein sometimes descend as deep as 12,000 feet below the surface to hoist back tonnes of rock.

“Most of us may not be aware that gold mines have three times the amount of TB compared to the general population,” Motlanthe said. The campaign aims to equip the mines’ health teams with a new diagnosis system, GeneXpert.

Motlanthe said the latest screening campaign showed that seven percent of those tested positive were found to have drug-resistant tuberculosis.— AFP

CHICAGO: People who see images of their badly clogged arteries are more likely to lose weight and take anti-cholesterol drugs than people who don’t see severe disease on a computerized scan, researchers said Saturday.

Two studies presented at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Chicago showed that having a look at the real-time effect of one’s own lifestyle habits was a major motivator for change.

The findings are important because convincing people to regularly take cholesterol-lowering drugs is a key hurdle in medicine and many patients are reluctant to make the changes needed until it is too late.

“Seeing a coronary artery calcium scan gives patients a visual picture of how severe their disease is, and this picture seems to have a really big impact,” said Nove Kalia, one of the lead investigators for both studies. The most striking results were seen among patients with the most severe disease, or whose inner arteries had grown clogged due to such factors as overeat-

ing, smoking, high blood pressure or diabetes.

Patients undergoing coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring with cardiac computed tomography, or a CT scan that shows images of the heart, were shown images of their arteries. Those with the worst arteries, or whose CAC topped 400 or more, were 2.5 times more likely to take statins as directed and more than three times more likely to have lost weight, according to a follow up questionnaire, compared to those whose scans showed little evidence of disease.

The statin study followed 2,100 patients and the weight loss study tracked a total of 518. Neither study was able to show whether the scans caused enough of a behavioral change to ward off future heart attacks or stroke.

“With increasing use of noninvasive imaging, it seems we already have a powerful tool in helping to motivate patients,” said Kalia in a statement. “I think we may find this can also help improve outcomes.” — AFP

H E A LT H

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

The faster new world of healthcare Insurers need to focus on three key areas to compete with regulatory reform KUWAIT: The healthcare industry is on the brink of unprecedented change. Wide-scale reform, a response to soaring costs and increasing demand, is forcing healthcare providers and insurers to rethink their value propositions and business models. Thought leaders Booz & Company have identified ways to keep up with evolving procedures.

The health IT market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 24 percent through 2014, according to RNCOS, a market research company. This overdue investment in IT is aimed squarely at the construction of a long-anticipated information backbone that will support improved care quality and cost reduction through enhanced connectivity and data analysis.

The developing health IT infrastructure, with its host of new applications, is ushering in the most intensely competitive era in the healthcare industry’s history, by sharply accelerating the industry’s clockspeed. Charles H. Fine of MIT’s Sloan School of Management used the term to describe the pace of business evolution within industries.

He found that industries with faster clockspeeds, such as computers and entertainment, had higher levels of market experimentation, more competition, and increasingly frequent waves of innovation.

“This will be challenging for the healthcare industry, and for insurers in particular, who are used to a much slower pace of change,” said Dr. Walid Tohme, Principal with Booz & Company. “To succeed, they’ll need to look outside their sector for effective business models, and build new capabilities that support rapid product development, a consumer product mind-set, and expansion into adjacent markets.”

Healthcare’s challenge The leading healthcare insurers will find that IT modernization will either expand their role as information aggregators - making them the primary engine for higher-quality, more cost-effective care - or enable new competitors to supplant them. Historically, insurers have not needed a strategy for responding in a fast-paced environment. Repeated waves of consolidation (which oriented insurers toward scale rather than innovation), complex regulatory requirements that varied by market, the competing incentives and targets of multiple stakeholders, and the slow adoption of information standards have created speed bumps that impeded innovation.

The ambiguity in healthcare reform’s implementation

may seem yet another reason for insurers to assume that the historical pace of the industry will continue. However, as health IT becomes more connected, precise, and prevalent, many companies will have to race to realize its potential. Insurers’ products have already begun to be smartphones will enable faster, more comprehensive data collection and more effective interventions. Existing competitors and new entrants will create real-time decision support tools to help providers and patients better manage care. Microsoft, for example, is exploring virtual care delivery, and medical device manufacturer Medtronic has developed Wi-Fi-enabled cardiac devices that allow doctors to remotely monitor and assist patients. Insurers, who currently control claims data and the valuable insights contained therein, will face a crucial point of reinvention as these advances and the companies that field them engage consumers, influence medical utilization, and seek a proportional share of the healthcare dollar.

The Amazon way Health insurers looking for guidance on how to compete in a fastpaced environment won’t find many examples within their own industry, but they can look to industries where the clockspeed has long been fast and furious, such as online retailing. One excellent model for them to study is Amazon.com Inc. Amazon has built a full-service, seamless vertical approach - including order fulfillment, recommendations, and customer service around its core retail business over the past decade.

Simultaneously, it has staked out beachheads in key horizontal platforms, becoming a partner to other vendors through Amazon Marketplace, e-commerce hosting, and Web services (home of its much-ballyhooed cloud computing business). These businesses generate additional revenues that are funneled back into R&D for Amazon’s core business.

“This kind of approach could translate very well for healthcare insurers today, but to make it work, they will have to establish the proper balance between vertical and horizontal integration, and between control and speed. They will need a vertically integrated approach that keeps critical components under proprietary control to create differentiation,” said Jan Schmitz-Huebsch, a Senior Associate with Booz & Company. “At the same time, they will need strong horizontal capabilities that can be deployed in fast and flexible ways to help master

accelerating product cycles. For example, insurers that decide to help physicians use HER data will need swift application development capabilities. That robust expertise could be deployed in multiple vehicles, such as cloudbased computing to the physician’s desktop or to handheld devices, and for multiple purposes, for example, health analysis or prevention campaigns.”

New businesses like these could enable insurers to strengthen physician relationships and create future revenue streams. Amazon’s example also suggests that the most successful insurers will be those that continually engage their customers through product design and nimbly capitalize on emerging capabilities.

Three areas of focus To compete effectively in a faster environment, insurers will need to develop capabilities that enable them to achieve the following outcomes.

1. Business systems designed for rapid product development. Insurers often serve several customer segments in different regions and provider networks.

This emphasis on breadth has contributed to an abundance of uncoordinated technology strategies and a scattershot approach to value chain design.

Furthermore, speed-to-market has often seen as commodities in the more consumer-driven post-reform marketplace, where health-insurance exchanges, bundled offerings, greater transparency, easy comparison of features, and lower switching costs will soon be commonplace. Add in the conditions typical in fast-clockspeed industries, and incumbents and even first movers could suffer competitive erosion, especially when new players and fast followers with deeper capabilities and more flexibility enter their markets.

For instance, greater granularity in claims data and significant investments in electronic health records (EHRs) will provide the raw material for improved analytics and will presumably lead to better medical outcomes.

And these data sources are only part of the picture: More sophisticated medical devices and the ubiquity of social media and been achieved via custom development rather than via an architecture designed for rapid product cycles.

Over the long term, this hampers insurers’ efforts to be truly nimble. Insurers need a coherent infrastructure that can deliver over successive product cycles. This suggests that they should adopt a business architecture that

can be broken into simpler subsystems, that uses modular and off-the-shelf components, that assumes technological obsolescence, and that preserves future flexibility.

2. A consumer product design mind-set. Insurers have traditionally maintained market share by locking in networks of customers and providers, and in many markets by relying on strong brand names. But they may be illequipped to compete on product features in an environment with low switching costs and intense competition.

To succeed in this emerging environment, successful health plans will develop robust product ideation and iteration capabilities. They will use these capabilities to better align demand with care utilization, creating new products (such as one-price care bundles) and designing incentives that shift care to less-expensive channels (such as non-acute care facilities and preventive health programs).

In addition, to capture the expected growth in individual and small group markets, insurers will need to sell directly to these groups, manage their experience, and encourage healthy behaviors. This will require new retail capabilities in customer engagement, including the support and provision of enhanced interventions and selfcare, as well as new service channels.

3. Expertise in entering adjacent markets. Although some insurers may decide to stick to their traditional strengths in core administrative services to insulate them from the faster pace, they are likely to discover that competing on transactions alone has drawbacks. The largescale system migrations required to significantly improve transaction speeds are both costly and risky. Only a few insurers will achieve the necessary economies of scale, and they will most likely become outsourcing partners for the rest of the industry.

“Instead, most insurers should be looking for areas where there is headroom for growth, such as adjacent markets for care delivery. Products and services aimed at delivering more effective outcomes at lower costs, solving ambiguous clinical problems, and promoting virtual care delivery are rich areas of new opportunity for health plans,” said Dr. Tohme. “Successful plans will consolidate a broad range of platforms, including smartphones, cloudbased computing, and videoconferencing, to launch care products that deliver greater value. They will also master the art of relationship building and creative collaboration to overcome adversarial provider relationships and consumer mistrust.”

30

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

Announcements Cricket team selection Kuwait Cricket will have the selection trials of Under 16 boys for forming the Kuwait National Cricket team which will participate in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2-13 May 2012. The age cut-off eligibility date is 1 May 1995 which will be later scientifically verified by ACC. Additionally, the player should be either Kuwait born or must be a resident since last 7 years. All interested youngsters satisfying these conditions should attend the selection trials at the KC Sulaibiya cricket grounds on Saturday 31 March 2012 between 8.30 am-12 Noon. Contact Asad Baig-Director General KC on Mob 97158856 for further details.

Spring Carnival Spring Carnival on Friday 30 March from 1pm - 5pm.

Bring your family & friends to enjoy a fabulous afternoon of arcade games, bouncy castles, merry go round, soap football, magic shows, raffles, delicious food, shopping, face painting, arts & crafts & much more at this carnival extravaganza!

Easter services St Paul’s Anglican Church Easter Services times is as follows: 5 April - Maundy Thursday: 1830 Church House, Ahmadi; 6 April - Good Friday: 1030: Salwa Villa; 8 April: Easter Sunday: 0615 Easter Sunrise Service, British Embassy. If you wish to attend then please ensure that you register on the St Paul’s website: www.stpaulskuwait.com click on ‘Services’, then on Easter Sunrise Service and enter name and Civil ID card number. You will need to be at the Embassy in good time to get through security. 8 April: Easter Sunday: 1900 St Paul’s Church, Ahmadi.

ACK, Central Queensland University sign academic auspice agreement

T

he Australian College in Kuwait signed an academic auspice agreement with the Central Queensland University (CQU) in Australia for Bachelor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering Technology programs.

On the occasion, Prof Vishy Karri, President of ACK, stated: “Commencing 12th of March 2012, we proceeded on agreement with CQU to provide civil and mechanical engineering technology programs within the framework of an international education system. This will bring an addition to the current academic partnerships at ACK with Cape Breton University for petroleum and electronic/communication engineering, Victoria University for Business Management and Marketing, Kangan Institute for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Mechanical B1.1, Central Institute Technology for Mechanical, Civil, Oil and Gas Engineering Diploma, SkillsTech - TAFE Queensland and Tasmanian Polytechnic for Management, Marketing and Human Resources Diplomas.”

“The new academic auspice agreement comes within ACK’s plan to provide an international education system for bachelor degrees, as CQU is specialized

in providing educational systems that cover both theoretical and practical aspects, which ACK seeks to provide within the partnership. Central

skills, which, in turn, reflects ACK’s goal to provide the labor market with individuals capable of contributing to its development.” He elaborated.

Queensland University will be replacing The University of Tasmania (UTAS) for civil and mechanical engineering technology.” He added.

“This Partnership with CQU is significant for ACK in upgrading the scientific and practical aspects of ACK students throughout the educational stages. It establishes knowledge and develops

“ACK has completed all scientific and academic preparations, including labs, equipments, and workshops necessary for Engineering programs. The academic partnership will enhance higher education’s role in formulating the educational policy of ACK, in addition to upgrading the project-based learning system (PBL).

ACK pays great attention to training its

students for innovation and project design for different usages.” He stressed.

“PBL relies on preparing the student broadly to enter into the labor market with distinctive skills acquired during their studies. The system provides students with significant connotations with live experiences in projects. Of the most significant connotations are scientific research, practice, and productivity.

Collectively, these factors create productive students who possess the spirit of research and critical thinking, while finding solutions for projects. Furthermore, ACK is keen to utilize all the developments in technology by giving students an added social dimension through PBL, which based on academic principles, will solidify their personality. This will positively reflect on students’ self-confidence, communication skills and teamwork spirit.” He concluded.

ACK hosted 3 orientation sessions with students in the civil and mechanical engineering technology programs. The sessions were led by ACK’s Management and academic, an academic delegation from CQU and a representative from UTAS, to familiarize the students with the new educational policy, academic partnership and study system.

Writers forum launched Malayalam Kuwait, the platform for readers and writers among the Keralites in Kuwait was launched during a meeting held at United Indian School, Abbassiya. Sharing of reading and writing, debates and discussions, literary symposia and reinforcement of budding writing talents are the goals of the group.

Bergman Thomas, John Mathew, Kaippattoor Thankachan, Sam Painummood, John Mathews, sathar Kunnil, Lissy Kuryakkose, Swapna Jacob, Bessy Kadavil, Unnimaya Nampoothiri, Shibu Philip, Dharmaraj Madappally, Uthaman Valathukadu, Rafeeq Thayath, Tiju Thankachan, Sunil K Cherian and Harikrishnan participated in the first ever meeting of Malayalam Kuwait. The group will hold its monthly discussion every last Friday at various locations, informed the group’s convener Bergman Thomas.

Malayalam members will gather on Friday, March 30 at Successline, Abbassiya to discuss Bergman’s award winning novel, Puramkatal, recently serialized in Kalakaumudi Weekly. Anyone interested to join the group, please contact: 66556867 Earth Hour In Kuwait March 31, 2012 @ 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Where: Kuwait Sahara Resort (6th Ring Road) Contact: KT4GW.org

PGA hosts feast of soccer matches

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he PGA Everton Academy under 13 team competed in the VW Masters tournament at the weekend at Yarmouk Sports Club. The PGA Everton Academy, sponsored by Porsche Centre Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company, hosted a feast of football matches at Shaab Park over the weekend. Pictured are some of the participating teams.

TES 2012 Spring Carnival March 30, 2012 @ 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Where: TES-The English School (Salmiya, Block 12, Mousaed Al-Azmi Street) The much awaited Spring Carnival at The English School (TES) is coming up soon! Bring your family and friends and enjoy an afternoon of shopping and fun activities. Over 80 amazing stalls selling beautiful handicrafts and knick knacks! Bouncy castles, face painting, magic show and a large array of carnival games and activities for the kids. A fun day for all! See you there!

‘The Golden Age of Arab Sciences’ exhibition Kuwait’s Amricani Cultural Centre will be the destination for a unique cultural event held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Minister of Information and President of the National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters. Taking place from March 15 to June 16 at the Amricani Cultural Centre in Kuwait City, ‘The Golden Age of the Arab Sciences’ exhibition will present rare artefacts and texts, as well as informative audio-visual presentations, exploring the Arab world’s pioneering contribution to ancient science and philosophy. Hosted by Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah (DAI), the exhibition is being brought to Kuwait by the Institut du Monde Arabe of Paris (IMA), with the support of Total and the French Embassy. The three-month exhibition will feature priceless items from The Al-Sabah Collection of art from the Islamic world, the private art collection of Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and his wife, DAI director general and co-founder Sheikha Hussah Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. The visiting hours: Monday - Thursday: 9 am to 7 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, Sundays closed.

Mummified animals displayed at Najla Al-Naqqi Forum

ESF SightSavers Members of the English School Fahaheel’s Active Citizenship Club have organized a whole charity event to be held on Tuesday, March 27 in aid of the international Charity ‘SightSavers’ which works in over 30 countries around the world to prevent and cure blindness. Staff and students will be wearing shades for the day. All money raised on the day will be donated to SightSavers.

IOC arts competition Indian Overseas Congress, Kuwait is conducting Arts Competitions-2012 on 11th and 12 May 2012 at United Indian School. The winners of this prestigious competition will be awarded with trophies and medals. The awards will be distributed during the Gandhidarshan Program in October, this year. The competitions include Elocution, Solo, Poetry Recitation, Dance, Indian Patriotic Song, Mono act, Drawing/Painting and Poster Poetry. Although the competitions are mainly meant for children from various disciplines, Elocution and Indian Patriotic Song Competitions will be held for elders also. For entry forms, please contact the following collection points.

Abbassiya - Hidine Super Market, Sakina Book Stall; Salmiya - Uduppi Restaurant, Sakina Book Stall; Riggae - Al Dallah Super Market; Fahaheel - Royal Mobile Services and Sales. For details, contact 24316426, 24884175, 24343173, 66110570, 66853100.

Filled forms can be sent to fax : 24331461 or Email : iockuwait@yahoo.com Or deliver by hand to Sakina Book Stall, Abbassiya.

Kuwait Improv Fun lovers of Kuwait unite. A get together by people who love to surprise, be surprised and just be about at anything are welcome to Kuwait Improv, a gathering, reminiscent of the famous American TV program Whose Line is it Anyway, informally organized by American School of Kuwait teacher Brad Manker. No histrionic talent required, but a willingness to share.

Please contact: mankerb@ask.edu

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he Najla Al-Naqqi Forum hosted an event recently which featured an exhibition for mummified animals owned by Kuwaiti collectors and worth thousands of dollars.

The items displayed included rare animals such as a Siberian tiger worth $150 thousand, and an Arabian

Leopard, both presented by researcher Abdullah bin Nasser.

All mummified animals displayed at the event are licensed as per the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) treaty.

31

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

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 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. nnnnnnn

ESF students visit Kuwait Times

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he English School Fahaheel (ESF) Year 8 students visited Kuwait Times yesterday. The students were taken on a tour inside the premises where IT Manager Islam Sha’ra briefed them on editing stories, layouts, designs and printing. They were accompanied by their teachers Ahmed, Jones, Warner and Cooke.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 A.M until 12:00 P.M on Sunday through Wednesday.

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. nnnnnnn

Four AUK teams qualify for Microsoft Imagine Cup finals

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or the 4th consecutive year, American University of Kuwait (AUK) makes its way to the prestigious Microsoft Imagine Cup contest, this time participating with four teams. Over the years, AUK has established its competence within the world’s most prestigious technology competition that proposes solutions to serve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

This year, 12 teams from different universities in Kuwait submitted their software design ideas to Microsoft. Only five teams qualified for Kuwait finals, four of which were AUK teams. The five winning teams will compete again in April to be whittled down to one winner who will advance to the world finals in Australia in July 2012.

Under the mentorship of Dr Amir Zeid, Program Lead of Computer Science & Information Systems (CSIS), AUK teams have been gaining regional titles in the Annual Imagine Cup competition since 2009, winning 1st Place Mobile Award in 2009; First Place Software Design Award in 2010, and 2nd Place Software Design Award in 2011. In addition, two AUK teams have qualified to the world finals in Poland 2010 and New York 2011.

The number of AUK teams qualifying for the regional rounds has been increasing over the past yearsto reach four qualifying teams this year. Dr. Zeid expressed his delight at

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EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on Thursday, April 5, 2012 on account of “Mahavir Jayanti”. nnnnnnn

Team Code Breakers with Dr Zeid.

EMBASSY OF KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturdays to Thursday Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm

Team GG with Dr Zeid.

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Team 1337 with Dr Zeid. the progress the young teams are making “Having 4 teams from AUK competing for a spot in the world finals is a record and achievement by itself. The contest will be tough but I consider it a great learning experience. To me, it is very rewarding to see our students competing in such prestigious contest every year” The four qualifying teams representing AUK this year are: Team GG, composed of AUK Senior students Ali Taqi,

Team TriQ8 with Dr Zeid.

TalalAlyaseen, Omar Elkhatib, and Thamer Al-Mayyan.

Team TriQ8, composed of AUK Senior students Barrak AlSarraf, Eman Karam, and Wadha Al-Dalama.

Team Code Breakers, composed of AUK Senior students Khaled W Al-Qahtani, Khaled A Al-Jassar, Abdulla Al-Shaya and Mohammed A Al-Shati Team 1337 composed of AUK Senior students Khaled AlHazeem, Mubarak Al- Enezi, and Dalaa W. Al- Qahtani.

The Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS) program at AUK encompasses the principles of computing that enables students to keep abreast of developments in a rapidly changing technology.

CSIS students not only gain a solid foundation in the theory and design of modern computing systems, but are exposed to a variety of applied applications, both in lab assignments as well as in internships and in a semester based senior cap-

stone project course. The students are also encouraged to explore cross-disciplinary connections by completing a Minor in a related field.

The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is an independent, private, equal opportunity, and co-educational liberal arts institution of higher education.

The educational, cultural and administrative structure, methods and standards of AUK are based on the American model of higher learning.

KES students visit Salmiya fire station

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy has moved. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies. Registration information can be emailed to cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227 or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine).

uwait English School KG children went on an interesting and informative trip yesterday (Sunday) to Salmiya Fire Station. The visit coincided with Firefighters Week.

“All the children had a wonderful time seeing how to put a fire out and riding in the fire engine with the sirens going,” said Julie. The firefighters treated the children to a short trip in a fire engine. The teachers rode in the fire truck with the children.

It was deja vous for First Lieutenant Musab Al-Hubail and his colleagues on C shift, as three of them are former Kuwait English School students.

The men cheerfully helped the children to squirt long lines of water from the hose.

Al-Hubail, now Public Relations Officer for Kuwait Fire Service Directorate, showed the children how to put on the special firefighting suit and boots and let the children try on a helmet. Mrs Jane tried on the helmet, and thought it was very heavy.

“It was a wonderful trip, a wonderful day and wonderful firemen,” concluded Mrs Jane.

First Lieutenant Al-Hubail invited KES students to participate in Firemens’ Week activities. Firefighters are holding special events at Sharq Mall on 29, 30 and 31 March and at Marina Mall on 30 March as well as at Qurain Fire Sation.

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.

Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” (+ 965) 972-79-206. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF VENEZUELA Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, request Venezuelan citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy, This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Venezuelan citizens in cases os emergencies. Registration Information 25324367 or by email: embavenez@gmail.com. Our time is from Sunday to Thursday from 8.30am till 2 pm. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 25317531, Ext: 14.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Untamed & Uncut 01:40 Last Feast Of The Crocodile 02:35 Planet Earth 03:30 Venom In Vegas 05:20 Escape To Chimp Eden 05:45 In Too Deep 06:10 Animal Cops Philadelphia 07:00 Orangutan Island 07:25 Growing Up... Wolves 08:15 The Really Wild Show 08:40 Project Puppy 09:10 Your Pet Wants This 10:05 Wild France 11:00 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 11:55 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes?

12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Wild Animal Orphans 13:45 Animal Cops Houston 14:40 Wild France 15:30 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 17:00 Talk To The Animals 17:25 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 18:20 Must Love Cats 19:15 Orangutan Island 19:40 Wildlife SOS 20:10 Gorilla School 20:35 Xtremely Wild 21:05 Wild France 22:00 Animal Planet’s Most Outrageous 22:55 Deep Into The Wild With Nick Baker 23:50 Animal Cops Miami

00:15 Lark Rise to Candleford 01:05 Orang-Utan Diary 01:35 Monarch Of The Glen 02:25 Last Woman Standing 03:15 The Weakest Link 04:00 Fimbles 04:20 Charlie and Lola 04:35 Teletubbies 05:00 Buzz & Tell 05:05 Tikkabilla 05:35 The Large Family 05:45 The Adventures of Spot 05:50 Fimbles 06:10 Charlie and Lola 06:20 Teletubbies 06:45 Buzz & Tell 06:50 Tikkabilla 07:20 The Large Family 07:30 The Adventures of Spot 07:35 Last of the Summer Wine 08:05 Keeping Up Appearances 08:35 The Weakest Link 09:20 My Family 09:50 Doctors 10:20 The Planets 11:10 Monarch Of The Glen 12:00 Keeping Up Appearances 12:30 Last of the Summer Wine 13:00 The Weakest Link 13:45 My Family 14:15 Doctors 14:45 The Planets 15:35 Monarch Of The Glen 16:25 The Weakest Link 17:10 Eastenders 17:40 Doctors 18:10 Holby City 19:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 19:30 Beautiful People 20:00 Waking The Dead 20:50 Sport Relief: Walliams vs the Thames 21:50 Red Cap 22:40 Beautiful People 23:10 The Weakest Link 23:55 Holby City

00:00 00:55 01:40 03:20 04:55

Diy SOS Holmes On Homes What Not To Wear Gok’s Fashion Fix MasterChef Australia

06:10 07:00 07:50 09:25 10:10 11:00 11:50 12:40 14:15 15:00 15:45 16:25 17:20 18:00 19:55 20:45 22:25 23:10

Diy SOS Glamour Puds MasterChef Australia Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me 10 Years Younger Gok’s Fashion Fix Fantasy Homes By The Sea Holmes On Homes Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA Glamour Puds 10 Years Younger Gok’s Fashion Fix Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:00 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:00 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:40 12:00 12:15 12:40 12:55 13:45 14:10 Doo 14:35 15:00 15:50 16:40 17:05 17:20 18:10 18:35 Doo 19:00 19:15 19:40 20:05 20:30 20:55 21:20 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:20 23:45

Duck Dodgers The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Jetsons Puppy In My Pocket Popeye Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races The Flintstones A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Popeye Classics The Garfield Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Pink Panther And Pals Puppy In My Pocket The Scooby Doo Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Duck Dodgers Tom & Jerry Kids Pink Panther And Pals Wacky Races Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Garfield Show A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-

00:00 00:30 01:00 03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 10:00 10:30 11:00

Open Court World Sport World Report The Best Of Backstory Talk Asia Fareed Zakaria Gps CNN Newsroom The CNN Freedom Project News Special World Sport Inside Africa World Report World Sport News Special World Business Today

Looney Tunes Puppy In My Pocket Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show The Scooby Doo Show Scooby-Doo And ScrappyJelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley New Yogi Bear Show

12:00 The Best Of Backstory 12:30 African Voices 13:00 World One 14:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 19:00 World Sport 19:30 African Voices 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:20 American Dragon 06:45 Rekkit Rabbit 07:10 Pokemon: Black And White 07:35 Phineas And Ferb 08:00 Pair Of Kings 08:25 Kickin It 10:55 Phineas And Ferb 11:20 Pair Of Kings 11:45 Zeke & Luther 12:10 Rated A For Awesome 12:35 Scaredy Squirrel 13:00 Phineas And Ferb 13:25 I’m In The Band 13:45 Kid vs Kat 14:10 Pair Of Kings 14:35 Zeke & Luther 15:00 Rekkit Rabbit 15:25 Pokemon: Black And White 15:50 Kickin It 16:15 Pair Of Kings 16:40 Zeke & Luther 17:30 Phineas And Ferb 18:20 I’m In The Band 18:45 Pair Of Kings 19:10 Rated A For Awesome 19:35 Pokemon: Black And White 20:00 Kick Buttowski 20:25 Phineas And Ferb 20:55 Zeke & Luther 21:20 Aaron Stone 21:45 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:10 Phineas And Ferb 22:35 Kid vs Kat 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am

00:15 01:05 01:55 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 Cody 09:35 10:00 11:26 11:40 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:05 17:30 18:56 19:10 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 21:51 22:05

Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Fish Hooks Recess Timon And Pumbaa Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Wizards Of Waverly Place So Random The Suite Life Of Zack And A.N.T. Farm Thirteenth Year Phineas And Ferb Jake & Blake Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb So Random Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie A.N.T. Farm Phineas And Ferb Hannah Montana Shake It Up Jessie 16 Wishes Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Have A Laugh Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Fish Hooks Recess Phineas And Ferb Thirteenth Year

STREETDANCE ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

00:40 River Monsters 07:00 Mythbusters 07:50 Gold Rush 08:45 Swords: Life On The Line 09:40 How Do They Do It? 10:05 Cake Boss 10:30 Border Security 10:55 Auction Kings 11:25 Dirty Jobs With Peter Schmeichel 16:00 Overhaulin’ 16:55 Ultimate Survival 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 Cash Cab Us 19:10 Border Security 19:40 Auction Kings 20:05 How It’s Made 20:35 How Do They Do It? 21:00 Cake Boss 21:30 Gold Rush 22:25 Walking The Amazon 23:20 Swamp Loggers

00:35 What’s That About?

01:25 The Tech Show 01:50 What’s That About?

06:10 Future Weapons 07:00 The Gadget Show 07:50 How Does That Work?

08:15 How Stuff’s Made 08:40 Meteorite Men 09:35 Killer Outbreaks 10:25 Mighty Ships 11:20 Thunder Races 12:15 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 13:05 The Future Of...

13:55 How Does That Work?

14:20 How Stuff’s Made 14:50 The Gadget Show 15:40 The Tech Show 16:05 Thunder Races 17:00 Mighty Ships 17:50 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 18:40 Mega World 19:30 Superships 20:20 The Gadget Show 21:10 Thunder Races 22:00 Mega World

00:05 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 00:30 Good Eats 00:55 Restaurant: Impossible 01:45 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 02:35 Barefoot Contessa 03:25 Chopped 04:15 Unique Sweets 04:40 Good Eats 05:05 Aarti Party 05:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 05:50 Food Network Challenge 06:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:00 The Next Iron Chef 07:50 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 08:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 08:40 Good Eats 09:05 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 10:20 Lidia’s Italy 10:45 30 Minute Meals 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 12:00 Good Eats 12:25 Guy’s Big Bite 12:50 Aarti Party 13:15 Cooking For Real 13:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 14:05 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 14:30 Unwrapped 14:55 Paula’s Best Dishes 15:20 Meat & Potatoes 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Cooking For Real 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:50 Aarti Party 18:15 Good Eats 18:40 Chef vs Britain 19:05 Meat & Potatoes 19:30 The Next Iron Chef 20:20 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 20:45 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 21:10 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 21:35 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 22:00 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 22:25 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 22:50 Mexican Made Easy 23:15 Mexican Made Easy 23:40 Meat & Potatoes

00:15 Little Einsteins 00:40 Jungle Junction 01:10 Little Einsteins 01:30 Special Agent Oso 02:00 Lazytown 02:25 Little Einsteins 02:50 Jungle Junction 03:20 Little Einsteins 03:40 Special Agent Oso 04:10 Lazytown 04:35 Little Einsteins 05:00 Jungle Junction 05:30 Little Einsteins 05:50 Lazytown 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:45 Handy Manny 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:10 The Hive 08:20 Handy Manny 08:35 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:05 The Hive 09:15 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 09:20 Mouk 09:30 Cars Toons 09:35 Little Einsteins 10:00 Jungle Junction 10:15 Cars Toons 10:20 Imagination Movers 10:45 Art Attack 11:10 Imagination Movers 11:35 Special Agent Oso 11:45 Lazytown 12:10 Handy Manny 12:25 Jungle Junction 12:40 Imagination Movers 13:05 The Hive 13:15 Special Agent Oso 13:25 Little Einsteins 13:50 Lazytown 14:15 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates

15:05 Mouk 15:20 Jungle Junction 15:35 Cars Toons 15:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 16:05 Mouk 16:15 Cars Toons 16:20 Lazytown 16:45 Art Attack 17:10 The Hive 17:20 Special Agent Oso 17:30 Jungle Junction 17:45 Handy Manny 17:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:25 The Hive 18:35 Little Einsteins 19:00 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 19:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:25 101 Dalmatians 19:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:20 The Hive 20:30 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 20:35 A Poem Is...

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS 02:20 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Then And Now 05:30 Wildest TV Show Moments 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 10:15 THS 12:05 Kendra 13:05 Dirty Soap 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Bridalplasty 17:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 18:55 THS 19:55 Khloe And Lamar 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Dirty Soap 22:25 Fashion Police 23:25 Chelsea Lately

00:15 01:30 02:20 04:50 06:30 2008 08:00 08:25 10:55 11:45 12:35 13:25 14:15 15:05 15:55 16:45 17:10 19:40 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50

Aiya TV Ed’s Up Man’s Work Summer Dew Tour 2011 Ride Guide Mountainbike

00:30 00:55 01:15 02:05 02:50 03:40 04:05 04:25 Jones 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:25 10:10 10:35 10:55 11:40 12:25 13:15 14:00 14:25 14:50 15:35 16:20 17:10 18:00 18:45 19:10 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 23:15 23:40

I Married A Mobster I Was Murdered Behind Mansion Walls Kidnap And Rescue Scorned: Crimes Of Passion I Married A Mobster I Was Murdered True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis On The Run Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Fugitive Strike Force Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared On The Run Forensic Detectives Fugitive Strike Force Real Emergency Calls Mystery ER Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared I Married A Mobster Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Deadly Women: Face To Face Extreme Forensics

00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00

Calcutta Or Bust Racing Around The Clock Meet The Natives: USA Young Global Hotshots One Man & His Campervan Bondi Rescue Endurance Traveller Long Way Down The Best Job In The World Calcutta Or Bust Racing Around The Clock Meet The Natives: USA Young Global Hotshots One Man & His Campervan Bondi Rescue Endurance Traveller Long Way Down The Best Job In The World Calcutta Or Bust Racing Around The Clock Banged Up Abroad Banged Up Abroad Graham’s World Destination Extreme Perilous Journeys Which Way To Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Banged Up Abroad Banged Up Abroad Graham’s World Destination Extreme Perilous Journeys Which Way To

IFMXF 2010 Alli Presents Glutton For Punishment Ed’s Up Featured Blood, Sweat And Gears World Combat League Glutton For Punishment Ed’s Up IFMXF 2010 Alli Presents Blood, Sweat And Gears Featured Glutton For Punishment World Combat League Enfusion Featured

I AM NUMBER FOUR ON OSN CINEMA

00:00 Lost Boys: The Thirst-18 02:00 Game Of Death-PG15 04:00 The Running Man-18 06:00 Four Brothers-18 08:00 Odysseus: Voyage To The Underworld-PG15 10:00 Smoke Screen-PG15 12:00 The Warlords-PG15 14:00 Odysseus: Voyage To The Underworld-PG15 16:00 Last Breath-PG15 18:00 The Warlords-PG15 20:00 Tortured-18

00:45 Of Gods And Men-18 03:00 Tron: Legacy-PG15 05:15 Waiting For Superman-PG15 07:15 Bound By A Secret-PG15 09:00 Cars 2-FAM 11:00 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs.

Evil-PG 13:00 Freestyle (2010)-PG15 15:00 Flipped-PG 17:00 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs.

Evil-PG 19:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 21:00 Eat Pray Love-PG15 23:30 Yogi Bear-FAM

00:00 Allen Gregory 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Saturday Night Live 02:30 Family Guy 03:00 Friends With Benefits 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 The Simpsons 06:30 Yes Dear 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:30 Friends With Benefits 09:00 The Simpsons 09:30 Raising Hope 10:00 Traffic Light 10:30 Yes Dear 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 10 Items Or Less 13:00 The Simpsons 13:30 Yes Dear 14:00 Friends With Benefits 14:30 Traffic Light 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Melissa And Joey 18:30 Mad Love 19:00 Raising Hope 19:30 Traffic Light 20:00 Community 20:30 Allen Gregory 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:00 Entourage 22:30 How To Make It In America 23:00 The Cleveland Show

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:15 15:00 17:00 PG15 19:00 21:00 23:00

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Malibu Shark Attack-18 The Running Man-18 Neowolf-18 Planet Of The Apes-PG15 StreetDance-PG15 Windtalkers-PG15 Wild Bill-PG15 StreetDance-PG15 The Sorcerer’s ApprenticeRoboCop-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15 Sleep Dealer-18

Sweet Home Alabama-PG15 Miami Rhapsody-PG15 Tooth Fairy-PG Coming & Going-PG15 Nine Months-PG15 A Lot Like Love-PG15 One Hot Summer-PG15 It’s A Wonderful Afterlife-PG15 Sweet Home Alabama-PG15 Crazy On The Outside-PG15 The Extra Man-PG15 Team America: World Police-18

01:00 Machete-18 03:00 The Day After TomorrowPG15 05:15 Grown Ups-PG15 07:00 Made In Dagenham-PG15 09:00 The Karate Kid-PG 11:30 Charlie St. Cloud-PG15 13:15 The Greatest-PG15 15:00 Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale-PG15 16:45 The Karate Kid-PG 19:00 Cyrus-18 21:00 The Extra Man-PG15 23:00 Brothers-18

00:00 Shipwrecked-PG 02:00 Christopher Columbus-PG 04:00 Moomins And The Comet Chase-FAM 06:00 Open Season 3-FAM 08:00 Young Fisherman-PG 09:45 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 12:00 Bat Cat And Bitsy-FAM 14:00 Christopher Columbus-PG 16:00 Columbus III: The New World 18:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 20:00 Jetsons: The Movie-FAM 22:00 Bat Cat And Bitsy-FAM

00:30 NRL Premiership 02:30 Premier League Darts 06:00 Trans World Sport 07:00 Scottish Premier League 09:00 Volvo Ocean Race 10:00 Trans World Sport 11:00 Live NRL Premiership 13:00 Futbol Mundial 13:30 WWE Bottom Line 14:30 WWE This Week 15:00 Trans World Sport 16:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 17:00 Scottish Premier League 19:00 Super Rugby Highlights 20:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 21:00 NRL Premiership 23:00 Premier League Darts

01:30 Futbol Mundial 02:00 Asian Tour Golf 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 NRL Premiership 09:00 Golfing World 10:00 World Cup Of Pool 11:00 World Pool Masters 12:00 Ping Pong World Championship 13:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 13:30 NRL Premiership 15:30 Super League 17:30 Futbol Mundial 18:00 ICC Cricket World 18:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 19:00 AFL Winners 20:00 NRL Full Time 20:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 21:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 21:30 Scottish Premier League 23:30 Golfing World

00:00 MysteryQuest 01:00 Mud Men 02:00 Pawn Stars 03:00 Ancient Aliens 04:00 The Universe 05:00 UFO Hunters 06:00 MysteryQuest 07:00 Mud Men 08:00 Pawn Stars 08:30 Pawn Stars 09:00 Ancient Aliens 10:00 The Universe 11:00 UFO Hunters 12:00 MysteryQuest 13:00 Mud Men 14:00 Pawn Stars 15:00 Ancient Aliens 16:00 The Universe 17:00 UFO Hunters 18:00 Cities Of The Underworld 19:00 Battlefield Detectives 20:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads – The Andes 22:00 UFO Files 23:00 Ancient Aliens

00:00 01:00 01:25 01:55 02:50 03:20 04:15 05:10 06:05 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:25 09:55 10:50 11:50 12:50 13:15 13:45 14:45 15:40 16:35 18:25 20:20 21:15 22:10

Open House Fashion Classics Open House Videofashion Daily Videofashion News How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Married Away Clean House Videofashion News Videofashion Daily Open House Fashion Classics How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Clean House Dress My Nest Mel B: It’s A Scary World How Do I Look?

Giuliana & Bill Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Designer Marathon Tia And Tamera Clean House: New York Giuliana & Bill The Amandas

02:00 04:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 12:30 13:30 17:00 19:00

Scottish Premier League NRL Premiership ICC Cricket World Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Golfing World European PGA Tour Golfing World Premier League Darts Super Rugby Pro 12 Celtic League

00:00 Globe Trekker 01:00 Food Tripper 02:00 Indian Times 03:00 Globe Trekker 04:00 Safari Stopovers 05:00 Globe Trekker 06:00 Glutton For Punishment 07:00 Planet Food 08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Cruise Today 09:30 Essential 10:00 Intrepid Journeys 11:00 Planet Food 12:00 Flavours Of Greece 12:30 Glutton For Punishment 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 Planet Food 15:00 Spring 15:30 Spring 16:00 Short History Of Convict Australia 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Glutton For Punishment 18:30 Flavours Of South Africa 19:00 Planet Food 20:00 Globe Trekker

01:00 02:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00

WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Highlights UFC Unleashed WWE Bottom Line WWE Experience Speedway Mobil 1 The Grid V8 Supercars Extra V8 Supercars Highlights WWE NXT WWE Experience WWE SmackDown V8 Supercars UFC UFC Unleashed

00:05 02:15 04:05 06:30 07:00 08:30 10:15 12:05 13:45 16:20 18:20 20:05 22:00

Wild Rovers The Fearless Vampire Killers Ice Station Zebra-FAM TCM Presents Under The...-U 42nd Street-FAM 3 Godfathers-FAM Kim-FAM Marlowe-PG The Four Horsemen Of...-PG Innerspace-PG Hooper-PG The Goonies-PG The Dirty Dozen

Classifieds MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation two bedroom at in Abbassiya, two bachelors accommodation from April 1st. Rent KD 40. Contact: 99162583.

(C 3917)

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR ETH GFA UAE ETD DHX FDB MSR QTR JZR KAC THY DHX FCX JZR KAC BAW JZR KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY KAC QTR FDB ETD KAC BAB GFA MEA JZR IRC RBG JZR MSR GFA KAC FDB OMA QTR SVA RJA KAC JZR KAC QTR SYR KAC JZR ETD RKM UAE AZS GFA KNE SVA UAL JZR JZR ABY RBG ALK KAC KAC BAB KAC FDB MSR KAC KAC KAC JAI KAC FDB MEA GFA JZR UAE BBC ABY QTR DHX AIC GFA UAL TAR DLH THY KLM PIA

Arrival Flights on Monday 26/3/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 539 CAIRO 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 370 BAHRAIN 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 503 LUXOR 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 201 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 529 ASSIUT 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 284 DHAKA 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 344 CHENNAI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 6521 LAMERD 3553 ALEXANDRIA 561 SOHAG 610 CAIRO 219 BAHRAIN 672 DUBAI 57 DUBAI 645 MUSCAT 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 546 ALEXANDRIA 134 DOHA 341 DAMASCUS 118 NEW YORK 535 CAIRO 303 ABU DHABI 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 857 DUBAI 7110 MUMBAI 215 BAHRAIN 745 JEDDAH 510 RIYADH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 3557 SOHAG 227 COLOMBO 542 CAIRO 786 JEDDAH 438 BEIRUT 104 LONDON 63 DUBAI 620 ASSIUT 618 DOHA 674 DUBAI 742 DAMMAM 572 MUMBAI 774 RIYADH 61 DUBAI 402 BEIRUT 221 BAHRAIN 135 BAHRAIN 859 DUBAI 43 DHAKA 129 SHARJAH 136 DOHA 372 BAHRAIN 975 CHENNAI 217 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 327 TUNIS 636 FRANKFURT 772 ISTANBUL 411 AMSTERDAM 239 SIALKOT

Departure Flights on Monday 26/3/2012 Time 0:15 0:20 0:30 1:45 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:55 3:10 3:20 3:25 3:55 4:10 4:35 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:15 6:30 6:40 7:15 7:45 7:50 8:05 8:20 8:25 8:30 8:45 9:00 9:20 9:30 9:35 9:35 10:00 10:55 11:05 11:10 11:15 12:25 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:45 14:00 14:25 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:05 15:15 15:55 16:00 16:00 16:35 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:15 17:20 17:20 17:25 17:30 17:40 17:45 17:55 18:00 18:15 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:35 19:40 20:00 20:15 20:35 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:40 23:40 23:45

Airlines

Flt

Route

Time

AIC

982

AHMEDABAD

0:05

UAL

981

WASHINGTON DC

0:25

DLH

637

FRANKFURT

0:30

PIA

206

PESHAWAR

1:10

THY

773

ISTANBUL-ATATURK

2:15

GFA

218

BAHRAIN

2:30

ETH

621

ADDIS ABABA

2:45

UAE

854

DUBAI

3:45

FDB

68

DUBAI

3:50

DHX

371

BAHRAIN

3:55

ETD

306

ABU DHABI

4:05

MSR

613

CAIRO

4:20

QTR

139

DOHA

4:50

QTR

149

DOHA

5:40

JZR

560

SOHAG

6:00

JZR

164

DUBAI

6:55

GFA

212

BAHRAIN

7:05

THY

771

ISTANBUL-ATATURK

7:10

KAC

545

ALEXANDRIA

8:10

BAW

156

LONDON

8:25

FDB

54

DUBAI

8:25

JZR

256

BEIRUT

9:00

ABY

126

SHARJAH

9:05

JZR

534

CAIRO

9:10

KAC

671

DUBAI

9:20

KAC

787

JEDDAH

9:35

UAE

856

DUBAI

9:40

QTR

133

DOHA

10:00

FDB

56

DUBAI

10:05 10:15

ETD

302

ABU DHABI

BAB

437

BEIRUT

10:25

GFA

214

BAHRAIN

10:45

KAC

541

CAIRO

11:30

KAC

165

ROME

11:45

MEA

405

BEIRUT

11:55

RBG

3558

SOHAG

11:55

IRC

6522

LAMERD

12:10

JZR

776

JEDDAH

12:15

KAC

103

LONDON

12:30

KAC

785

JEDDAH

13:10

JZR

176

DUBAI

13:20

GFA

220

BAHRAIN

14:20

FDB

58

DUBAI

14:25

MSR

611

CAIRO

14:30

OMA

646

MUSCAT

15:00

KAC

673

DUBAI

15:05

KAC

617

DOHA

15:45

SVA

501

JEDDAH

15:45

RJA

641

AMMAN

15:50

QTR

135

DOHA

16:15

KAC

773

RIYADH

16:25

KAC

741

DAMMAM

16:30

SYR

342

DAMASCUS

16:55

ETD

304

ABU DHABI

17:20

JZR

538

CAIRO

17:40

QTR

141

DOHA

17:45

UAE

858

DUBAI

18:05 18:10

RKM

311

RAS ALKHAIMAH

KNE

746

JEDDAH

18:10

GFA

216

BAHRAIN

18:15

JZR

134

BAHRAIN

18:20

ABY

128

SHARJAH

18:25

RBG

3554

ALEXANDRIA

18:35

SVA

511

RIYADH

18:35

UAL

982

BAHRAIN

18:40

ALK

228

DUBAI

19:10

FDB

64

DUBAI

19:25

BAB

439

BAHRAIN

19:30

JZR

184

DUBAI

20:05

MSR

621

ALEXANDRIA

20:10

KAC

283

DHAKA

20:15

JAI

571

MUMBAI

20:35

FDB

62

DUBAI

20:40

KAC

331

TRIVANDRUM

20:50

KAC

351

KOCHI

21:05

MEA

403

BEIRUT

21:15

KAC

543

CAIRO

21:30 21:35

GFA

222

BAHRAIN

JZR

502

LUXOR

21:45

DHX

171

BAHRAIN

21:50

ABY

120

SHARJAH

22:10

UAE

860

DUBAI

22:25

FCX

102

BAHRAIN

22:30

QTR

137

DOHA

22:35

KAC

301

MUMBAI

22:40

KAC

205

ISLAMABAD

22:45

DHX

373

BAHRAIN

23:00

BBC

44

DHAKA

23:05

KAC

411

BANGKOK

23:40

TAR

328

DUBAI

23:45

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

Accommodation in Farwaniya near Gulf Mart, big room for bachelor or couple, Filipino only, available April 21. Contact: 94418396.

20-3-2012

FOR SALE Toyota Prado 2006, Golden color, 6 cylinder, excellent condition, price KD 5,200/-.

Contact: 50699345.

(C 3921) 25-3-2012 Household goods for sale, includes furniture, electronics, kitchen equipments, books, curtains, and other miscellaneous items. All at throw-away prices. Call 99510519 or 66210509.

(C 3919) 21-3-2012

SITUATION WANTED Male Indian secretary B.Sc., 14 years experience, including 7 years in Kuwait, well versed in secretarial practices, computer operations & correspondence, conversant in English, Hindi, Malayalam & Tamil, Transferable residence.

Contact: 97667430.

(C 3924) 26-3-2012 Female 26 years post graduate 4 years experience in HR executive, seeking suitable jobs. Mob: 60473639.

Email: soumyakt.4u@gmail.com (C 3918)

SITUATION VACANT Housemaid wanted for a small family in Farwaniya.

Mob: 97514390 21-3-2012 Manager (Asian) in Maidan Hawally looking for a maid.

Part time. Good salary. Call 97263962 for details.

(C 3915) 17-3-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Donga Hanumanthu Ram holder of Indian passport No. F2522828, son of Donga Swamy change has changed my name to DONGA HANUMANTHA RAO. (C 3923) 26-3-2012 I, Murugesan Uma Maheshwari, holder of Indian passport No. E2156446 have changed religion (embraced Islam).

Hence I will be known as Riyazudeen SaďŹ a Begum.

(C 3922) 25-3-2012

TUITION Math teacher for secondar y stage, language schools, bi-lingual schools and intermediate stage: Algebra, Gmath, Geometry, Statistics for arts and science branches. Tel: 66974020.

English language teacher specialized in starting elementary and intermediate, 10th and 11th experienced in starting functions, grammar, set book, vocabulary, notes and model exams available. Tel: 65791555.

Arabic language teacher, masters in methods of teaching for secondary and intermediate students. Tel: 50644685.

Senior Arabic language

FOR SALE PEUGEOT 407

v 0RGHO v NP v FUHGLW .'

REQUIRED

FOR RENT

for a high class beauty salon in Shaab Albahri

Newly renovated

1. Pedicure & manicure specialist 2. Nails art specialist Preferred transferable visa

0RE

Tel: 99491633/ 97709559/ 99797145

teacher, elementary and intermediate, long experience in Kuwait curricula, explaining grammar rules and starting those weak in reading and writing. Tel: 99262948.

French language teacher, specialized in 11th and 12th grades, languages schools, Pakistani and Indian schools. Long experience in Kuwait curricula.

Senior chemistr y and physics teacher. Long experience for 10th, 11th and 12th stages. Intermediate science and applied institutions. Highly competent.

Tel: 99542922.

Mathematics and statistics female teacher for female students in the secondary, intermediate, university and applied institutions female students. Tel: 99410370.

Female Syrian Arabic language teacher for elementary and intermediate, and starting the weak using Halaby method in her house located in Abdallah Al-Mubarak area. Tel: 50513699.

Senior biology and science teacher for 12th, 11th and 10th grades, and science for all intermediate classes, religious institutes, nursing, educational experience, simple explanation for fast understanding.

Tel: 66543474.

Senior Arabic language and Islamic studies teacher to help weak and slow learning students in a short time. 20 years experience, teaching all elementary subjects excep E. Arabic and Islamic studies for elementary and intermediate.

Tel: 66896088.

Senior mathematics and statistics teacher. Long experience in Kuwait curricula to teach secondary students both science and arts branches, and university admission exams. Tel: 97975096.

Senior chemistry teacher for secondary students and science for intermediate. All reviews and exams, and university qualiďŹ cation chemistry. Tel: 99560268.

Female senior mathematics teacher, 35 years experience in Kuwait for secondary, intermediate and elementary stages, applied, initial university, communications and navigation and special courses. Tel: 97926737.

Elementary stage teacher, 12 years experience, ready to give remedial lessons for all topics in the elementary stage in a simple method.

Tel: 66594901.

English teacher specialized in elementary and intermediate, experienced in grammar, book questions and synonyms. Highly experienced in Kuwait curricula.

Tel: 97373301.

No: 15399

Senior philosophy and logic teacher for the 12th stage, psychology for 11th grade, with notes and exams solutions. Tel: 99835421.

Senior mathematics and statistics teacher for the secondary and intermediate stages and ďŹ fth grade, clear and simple explanation for slow learners and exams method.

Tel: 99410112.

Arabic language teacher, long experience in general secondary with simplifying

FOR RENT Flat in South Surra, 3 bedrooms, 2 of which are master + living room + kitchen + maid room, new, super deluxe. Tel: 97864628.

For rent, commercial at in Hawally, can be used as workshop, large area. No middle men. Parking. Tel: 66043961.

Flat in Bneid Al-Gar, 2 rooms + 2 bathrooms + living room + kitchen + Gym + swimming pool overlooking the sea, central satellite + internet. For families, no middle men.

Tel: 66043961.

Flat in Salmiya 3 bedroom + 2 bathrooms + living room + kitchen + central satellite + internet. 4x4 rooms, 4x8 living room for expatriates only. Rent KD 330. No middle men. Tel: 66043961.

Flat in Salmiya 2 rooms + 2 bathrooms + living room + kitchen + central satellite + internet. Families only, no middle men. Tel: 66043961.

A commercial oor in Salmiya. Close to Blajat. Car parking. No middle men.

Tel: 66043961.

First floor in Shuhada, 4 rooms + living room + 5 bathrooms + maid room + balcony. Must be small family. Tel: 60308586.

Flat in Zahra, 2 rooms + living room + kitchen + 3 bathrooms + laundry room + maid room. Tel: 60308586.

A floor in Zahra, 4 rooms + living room + kitchen + 3 bathrooms, second oor, elevator. Must be small family. Tel: 99719887.

Flat in west Jleeb, 3 rooms + living room + kitchen + 2 bathrooms ďŹ rst oor. No

villa in Rawda 750m2, corner, swimming pool, 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, garden, C-A/C, easy access to 4th Ring Road & Maghreb Highway, KD 2,000/-

Tel: 97130879 elevator. Must be newlyweds or one child only.

Tel:99719887.

Flat in Salam, 3 rooms + living room + kitchen + 3 bathrooms + maid room.

Must be newlyweds or two children only. 60308586.

First oor in Rumaithiya. 4 rooms + living room + kitchen + maid room + 6 bathrooms. Super deluxe.

Must be foreigners and expats only. Tel: 60308586, 99719887.

Large ďŹ rst oor with the roof in Firdous. No middle men. Tel: 99490502.

Fully furnished at in Mahboula 2 rooms + 2 baths + living room + Gym + DSL, Satellite + full sea view. Rent starts from KD 450. Tel: 66060822.

Furished at in a Salmiya resort 3 rooms + maid room + garden + swimming pool + children play room + DSL. Sea view + hotel service + car parking. Rent KD 800.

Tel: 66060299.

For rent or investment, medical clinics in Salmiya.

Good location licensed and unlicensed. No brokers. Tel: 66060299.

Flat in Salmiya, 3 bedrooms (2 master) + maid room + 3 bathrooms + 2 balconies + sea view + Gym. No brokers. Rent KD 550. Tel: 66060299.

Commercial oor in Salmiya, main street, sea view, good location. Can be used for saloon, clinics, lawyer oďŹƒce. Rent KD 1650.

Tel: 66297171.

Complete building in Salmiya, 55 ats. 2 rooms + 2 bathrooms + kitchen + living room. Good location + central satellite. Good for company residence. Tel: 55939470.

Ground oor in Jabriya.

Private entrance, 4 rooms (2 master) + living rooms (10x10) + saloon 11x10 + 5 bathrooms + very large kitchen + guest wash area + 2 maid rooms. Rent KD 950. Tel: 94463321.

Flat in Zahra, 3 rooms + 3 bathrooms + maid room + spacious living room + shaded parking + electricity and water + DSL, foreigners and expats, rent starts from KD 600. Tel: 66297171.

Villa in Zahra. 4 rooms + 5 bathrooms + maid room + driver room + 2 large balconies. Super deluxe + satellite + DSL. Rent KD 1000. Tel: 66297171.

New ďŹ rst oor in south Surra, 4 rooms + 4 bathrooms + living room + maid room. Not used. For small family. Rent KD 750. Tel: 66694740, 94024242.

34

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 628

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) A light heart begins the day. This may be from reading poetry or watching a beautiful sunrise. Memories come back to you and it is hard to get them out of your mind. Consider writing a poem about particular memories. At this time, you may be busy thinking and working at pulling in extra finances.

Sensible thought must be given to the practical use of money. Complaints or your recognition of things out of balance will keep you on your toes today. Patience and attention to details all afternoon will put you out in front of people as you work to sell some artwork or help with coordinating some group activity. Being more involved with neighbors or sibling satisfies a deep emotional need later today. The next few days bring opportunities for extra money.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may decide that it is time to involve yourself with a few different pieces of literature to update and improve your business knowledge. You may have been thinking about teaching. This is a good time to be in charge of some project that requires a conservative mind. Everything seems to be working together and you may find yourself expressive and able to communicate well. Your timing should be perfect and those around you should find you most captivating. You have needs and you sense the needs of others. You are likely to hear some good news today regarding some matter of importance. You may gain insight through some conversations with legal types today. Your desire to succeed is strengthened and you do well with your endeavors.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A nucleic acid that transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.

4. A nap in the early afternoon (especially in hot countries).

10. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

13. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

14. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug overdose or poisoning).

15. Ancient Hebrew unit of liquid measure = 1.5 gallons.

16. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

17. An annual award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievements in motion picture production and performance.

19. A woman's loose unbelted dress.

21. A republic in southwestern Africa on the south Atlantic coast (formerly called South West Africa).

23. (`cease' is a noun only in the phrase `without cease') End v 1.

24. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

25. Acquire or gain knowledge or skills.

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

33. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and use of an electronic database.

34. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

35. Counting the number of white and red blood cells and the number of platelets in 1 cubic millimeter of blood.

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

40. Having any of numerous bright or strong colors reminiscent of the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies.

41. A genus of Platalea.

44. A genus of Ploceidae.

46. Antipsychotic drug (trade name Moban) used in the treatment of schizophrenia.

48. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary having one or many seeds within a fleshy wall or pericarp.

50. A ballistic missile that is capable of traveling from one continent to another.

52. A Hindu prince or king in India.

56. A thrusting blow with a knife.

57. Precipitation of ice pellets when there are strong rising air currents.

59. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

60. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

63. 100 avos equal 1 pataca.

64. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

65. A member of an agricultural people in southeastern India.

66. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvet-textured blooms and yielding a yellow dye.

DOWN 1. A large quantity of written matter.

2. (Babylonian) God of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools.

3. A river that rises in northern Colombia and flows generally eastward to the Orinoco in central Venezuela.

4. Of or relating to the Sioux people or their language and culture.

5. A battle between the successors of Alexander the Great (301 BC).

6. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

7. The act of scanning.

8. A village in eastern Ireland (northwest of Dublin).

9. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

10. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

11. Being three more than fifty.

12. A former copper coin of Pakistan.

18. A choice or delicious dish.

20. Common black European thrush.

22. A master's degree in business.

26. A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number).

27. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

28. A change in the electrical properties of the skin in response to stress or anxiety.

29. Any of a group of Indic languages spoken in Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

30. In bed.

31. A quantity of no importance.

36. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.

37. A device for creating a current of air by movement of a surface or surfaces.

39. A drug combination found in some over-the-counter headache remedies (Aspirin and Phenacetin and Caffeine).

42. Upright consisting of a vertical side member of a door or window frame.

43. On a ship, train, plane or other vehicle.

44. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..

45. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

47. Of or pertaining to a number system having 8 as its base.

49. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

50. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

51. One of the two main branches of orthodox Islam.

53. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

54. An island in Indonesia south of Borneo.

55. In a murderous frenzy as if possessed by a demon.

58. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

61. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

62. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You may find some books and theories on a few problem-solving techniques that would be helpful in the workplace. Let’s face it, you have been thinking of better ways to handle business problems and now may be a good time to gear up for a change. Taking notes may be all that is necessary. Intense work or concentration with little time for breaks over these past few weeks can cause anyone to become frustrated. Concentrate on creating a balance. This afternoon would be a wonderful time to spend with friends or with neighbors. This interaction is one of the better ways you have to let go of the stress that may have accumulated lately without you realizing it. Tonight there is time for an art showing or a play and someone you know may be in cameo.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

It is possible that you can come to an understanding between friends or family members about important matters today. People are willing to bring unsolved problems to an end and most of what you hear will be a compromise—including your own. Your mind is alert, your objectives are clear. Your buoyant optimism will help win your way. There are wonderful opportunities for you to help guide others today. For you, success is in the recognition of some discovery or insight. Medicine and research, science, technology and psychology are worth considering when it comes to a vocation. You may, in fact, want to study later this evening.

Whether you are working on a thesis, a report or studying young children, your future work is important.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Communication is the key for this day. What a day to charge your batteries with a two-way flow of ideas and information! You are eager for everyone to hear your point of view and just as eager to hear theirs. You teach and enjoy being taught. This is a prime day for conferences and negotiations. If nothing else, write those letters and make those phone calls. There is an opening in which you may choose to join a club today—new friends and new opportunities are waiting! You appear perhaps more charming and refined than usual at this time and may find an opportunity to ask someone for a date or otherwise make yourself known. Everything conspires to reveal you at your most elegant this evening and you will enjoy a social happening.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) This should be one of those feel-good days. You make your way now by using practical vision and common sense. This could be some kind of high-water mark for your career-recognition. You feel good about your friends and when asked, can solve all sorts of problems. You have good insight into your own plans and methods that are available to you but will sometimes become a procrastinator. Perhaps you could set some rewards for the completion of your goals. This will help you to get beyond the procrastination. This is a very good time to communicate your goals and put them into words. This is also a good time for decisions. Your charm is showing this evening—there is an opportunity for romance.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

This is a successful workday and some of the co-worker friends and you may get together for a special gathering this afternoon.

Later today you may join in with some of your friends to join a volunteer group. You will find your time and your talents well used. You will be able to change what could be a difficult day for a few people, into a most memorable, positive time. Your sense of humor is contagious and your ability to find the right words will be of benefit to all around you. The people you care about are grateful for your nurturing and kind ways.

A new exercise plan that a friend might have suggested will help you relax in the evening and you are encouraged to keep a good exercise routine. You enjoy quiet time this evening. Keep a diary.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Planning and goal setting seem to be the thought process for this morning. Financial matters are definitely getting better! Some sort of financial windfall is in the cards for this next week—possibly real estate. Think about a plan for investing this money now. There is growth and gain through these things. This afternoon is a great time for artistic endeavors. You may find yourself dreaming and wishing you could be surrounded by only beauty today. Hopefully, all the practical, mundane stuff has a different place in your life and this afternoon you can laugh and forget your cares. Perhaps a movie or a good book can help sweep you away and hold your attention. This evening you are inspired! Expressing affection may be an easy effort tonight.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may be prone to impulsiveness today. If you plan to shop, you might do best if you make out a list and stick to it; otherwise, there are temptations. Another good idea is to take just enough cash for what is on your list. Self-discipline and a sense of self-worth become important issues. Happily, an urge to be a couch potato is short-lived. You read, watch a movie or sew while sitting and can never really seem to be still enough to end up with the potato-shaped body that comes with this sort of living; thank goodness.

A little walking or bicycling exercise this afternoon will help you to regain some focus and feel refreshed. You have the ingredients to cook a new recipe and this evening is a good time to experiment.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Everything’s coming up roses and optimism rules this day. Life is for living and you cannot wait to partake in all those new and rewarding experiences that are waiting to welcome you! Do not go overboard, but have fun!

Your emotions, or the feelings of those around you, may be very clear. You could find that you are appreciated or valued for your feelings and your ability to act and get things done. Plato said, “A person is effective, only when he has the separate parts of himself properly linked together in well-tempered harmony—when he is one man instead of many.” Concentrate on what you want to accomplish and stay focused.

Today is a good day to put your skills to good use. Use that optimistic side of you to encourage a young person.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Projects you have worked on for many months will probably reach completion at this time. Be sure to check if these activities produce the results you expect and that those results are as important to you as you thought they would be. Be your own judge! Money comes into play today when another person has none and you have some. If you have paid this person’s admission before, don’t do it now. If you have never helped this person, trust that they will return the favor. Don’t be afraid to move forward. Make all your activities come into balance in order to lessen the stress. Sympathy and understanding toward friends and loved ones are emotional qualities that take on a greater importance. It’s an attitude of gratitude that counts most.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Today is a good time to assess what changes or improvements you would like to make in your work, if necessary. Changes are not pleasant when we have no control over them so now would be a good time to take control and create the changes that will help bring about some pleasant financial rewards. Keeping informed is also important to you as it makes you feel in touch and aware of the world around you. You might decide that this is a good time to put in a little time doing research in a library or after work on the Internet. You might set an alarm so you don’t forget about a date or social event. Your friends would miss your presence and you would miss all the fun happenings with which you and your friends tend to become involved.

A

y

e niv rsar n

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Years

i n f o r m at i o n

FIRE BRIGADE ST TAT TE OF K KUW WAIT A

112

Te el.: 161

DIRECTORA ATE T GENE GENERAL OF CIVIL AV VIA ATION T METEOROLOGICAL DEP PARTMENT A DA AY: Y Sunday

WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

25/03/2012

Ministry of Interior

Ext.: 2627 262 - 2630

Fax: 24348714

07:00

Issue Time

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours Mostly sunny with light to moderate northerly to north easterly wind, with speed of 10 - 32 km/h

BY Y DA AY:

website: www.moi.gov.kw Clouds will increase gradually with light variable wind, with speed of 06 - 22 km/h

BY Y NIGHT:

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

No Current Warnings arnin a

WARNING A ST TATION T

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

KUW WAIT A CITY

24812000

MAX. EXP P.

MIN. REC.

28 °C

19 °C

KUW WAIT A AIRPOR RT

27 °C

14 °C

NUW WAISEEB A

26 °C

14 °C

WAFRA A

27 °C

12 °C

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

SALMI

27 °C

11 °C

Chest Hospital

24849400

ABDAL LY

31 °C

12 °C

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

JAL ALIY YA AH

28 °C

13 °C

23940620

FAILAKA A

26 °C

14 °C

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

AHMADI POR RT

24 °C

20 °C

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

UMM AL-MARADEM

20 °C

15 °C

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

WARBA A A - BUBY YA AN

24 °C

14 °C

Adan Hospital

Clinics

SFC. CHART

25/03/2012 0000UTC

4 DA AYS Y FORECAST

4732263

Roudha

22517733

DA AY

DA AT TE

Adhaliya

22517144

Monday

26/03

24848075

Tuesday

27/03

24849807

Weednesday

28/03

Shamiya

24848913

Thursday

29/03

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Fajr

04:27

MAX. Temp.

27 °C

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Sunrise

05:47

MIN. Temp.

11 °C

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Zuhr

11:54

MAX. RH

31 %

Asr

15:23

MIN. RH

06 %

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Sunset

18:02

MAX. Wind

E 36 km/h

Dasmah

22532265

Isha

19:19

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Keifan

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

POLICE STATION

Rabiya

Khaldiya

Al-Madena

Temperatures WEA ATHER T

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

partly cloudy + scattered rain

27 °C

16 °C

SE

15 - 40 km/h

partly cloudy + scattered rain

26 °C

14 °C

SE

25 - 45 km/h

clouds to decrease

26 °C

13 °C

SE-E

08 - 30 km/h

sunny

28 °C

15 °C

N-NE

10 - 32 km/h

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

00 mm V1.00

25/03/12 02:51 UTC

T1.06

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

171 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22921555 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia

00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

36

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

LIFESTYLE F e a t u r e s

Aretha Franklin

News

in brief

retha Franklin has a lot more than her 70th birthday to celebrate: She’s reuniting with one of her musical mentors, Clive Davis, for a new album. In an interview at her swanky birthday party on Saturday, Franklin said she and Davis, who helped engineer her comeback in the 1980s, would be working on new music. “I have resigned with Clive Davis, so I’m recording with Clive again,” said Franklin of the music mogul, who is associated with Sony Music Entertainment. Franklin said that after Davis’ birthday next month, “we’re going to sit together and decide what it is we’re going to record.” Davis sat next to Franklin for most of the night at the soiree at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, which included a sit-down dinner, a dance performance and a mini-concert that featured rising jazz pianist Kris Bowers. Other guests included Diane Sawyer, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Willie Wilkerson, Franklin’s longtime companion and briefly this year her fiance.

Wilkerson stood by Franklin’s side as she cut her three-tier, lime-green birthday cake while the crowd serenaded her with Stevie Wonder’s version of “Happy Birthday.” When asked whether marriage might once again be in her future, the Queen of Soul simply said: “We’ll see what happens.” As far as future work-related plans, she was looking forward to performances in California and said she was helping negotiate a record contract for her grandson. Her planned biopic is on hold. “It’s in a limbo position,”

turns 70, talks new music

A

Spelling announces she’s pregnant - again Hopefully she didn’t pack away her maternity clothes.

Reality TV star, actress and author Tori Spelling is pregnant again. Spelling and her husband, Dean McDermott, have three children together, including a daughter, Hattie, born in October. They have another daughter, Stella, and a son, Liam. McDermott also has a son from a previous marriage. The 38-year-old Spelling made the announcement on her website Friday by saying: “Baby makes 6!” and her family is “beyond thrilled” to announce “another little McDermott is on the way!” Tori, Dean and their children can be seen on their Oxygen reality show, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.”

Aretha Franklin and Clive Davis. she said. “It’s just a lot going on.” Franklin said she planned to spend her actual birthday-relaxing with a paper, her feet up and watching TV. But Saturday night, she hung out with friends long after the party’s designated end time. At one point, she joked that she was turning back the hands of time. “I was wondering, ‘What is it going to be like to be 50?’ I can tell you how it feels like 40,” she

said as the crowd laughed. She then made reference to the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” about a man who gets younger as he ages. “So remember Benjamin Buttons?” she said. “Ree Ree Buttons!”—AP

Aretha Franklin attends her seventieth birthday party in New York, Saturday. —AP

Game of Thrones returns exclusively on OSN he multi-award winning hit series Game of Thrones returns exclusively to OSN First on Monday, 2nd April at 21:00 KSA less than 24 hours after it returns in the US. The highly anticipated second season that promises to be even more epic than the first is guaranteed to satisfy fans with plenty of sword play, new cast members and old favorites, deadly omens in the sky and dragons. Based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling book series A Song of Ice and Fire, the Golden Globe and Emmy-winning drama chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom.

Season one remained true to the harsh and brutal world created by the author - a man who’s never been afraid to swing the sword in

T

Gallagher to retire from performing live The comedian Gallagher says he’s had his fill of performing live onstage and is retiring after 32 years. The Los Angeles-based comedian, whose full name is Leo Anthony Gallagher, told an Ohio radio station on Thursday that his retirement plans include posting his writings online and possibly appearing at private parties. Gallagher is known for smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer. He had a heart attack March 14 before a performance at a suburban Dallas bar. He came out of a medically induced coma this week and was released from a hospital Wednesday. He told Scott Spears of WDCM in Marion that it sometimes didn’t matter how clever his jokes were if the audience couldn’t hold their liquor. He said the job is like “babysitting people who can’t handle alcohol.”

the direction of his major characters - and a good number of key players lost their lives in some of the series’ most shocking and memorable scenes.

After the revelations at the end of season one, which hinted at the dangers lying beyond the great wall, it’s set to be a season of exploration, danger and death this time round. The cold winds are rising across Westeros, as the bloody battle for the Iron Throne continues...

Set in twelfth century England, Pillars of the Earth is a tale about love, war and religious strife during the building of the Kingsbridge Cathedral.

Genesis Rodriguez feels at home in Will Ferrell’s ‘Casa’ y the time she turned 21, Genesis Rodriguez had already starred in several highly-rated telenovelas and could have easily settled into a long and comfortable career. But instead, when the Miamiborn actress had fulfilled her contract with Telemundo, she did what countless other actresses had done before her: moved to Los Angeles to break into movies.

“I took a huge risk by walking away from a steady paycheck to chase a dream,” she says.

“But I had always wanted to act in Hollywood films. I didn’t care if I was going to be stuck playing Girl No. 2. Apart from being Hispanic, I’m also bi-cultural. I consider myself as American as a cheeseburger. So I wanted to give it a shot.”

Three years and one guest-stint on HBO’s “Entourage” later, Rodriguez fulfilled her dream. In January, she appeared as an acrobatic thief alongside Jamie Bell in the thriller “Man on a Ledge.” Now she’s starring in the

B

comedy “Casa de mi Padre” as Sonia, the young beauty who wins the heart of a noble Mexican played by Will Ferrell.

“I heard about the movie during a meeting with my agent, and I thought it was a brilliant idea: Will playing a Mexican in a Spanishlanguage movie? It was genius!” she says.

Although she didn’t really think she had any chance of landing the role, she snagged an audition and had the part a week later.

“During the audition, Will kept laughing when played our scenes, and I didn’t know if that was good or bad, because I was trying to be dead-serious,” she says. “And he literally couldn’t get his lines out because he was laughing so hard. It’s very surreal when you’re starting out as an actor and someone like Will Ferrell validates you. It’s the best stamp of approval I could hope for.”

“Casa de mi Padre”-which opens Friday and also features a hilarious cameo by her famous father, singer Jose Luis “El Puma”

Rodriguez-is the first of three major films the actress has completed. In May, she will be part of the ensemble cast of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” a comedy about pregnancy starring Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz and Anna Kendrick. Next year comes “Last Stand,” in which she plays an FBI agent who teams up with a small-town sheriff (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to hunt down a drug kingpin.

Not bad for an actress who was initially told she would get nowhere without changing her name. “Everyone had a problem with ‘Genesis,’” she says. “They said it made me sound like a stripper! And they didn’t like the Rodriguez, either. But you know what? This is the name I was born with, and I want to keep it. And I’m so happy that so far, it’s been working.” —MCT

Genesis Rodriguez arrives for “Casa De Mi Padre” premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. —MCT

Queen Elizabeth stuns newlywed couple Britain’s Queen Elizabeth stunned a newlywed couple by walking in on their ceremony. John and Frances Canning were shocked when they saw the 85-year-old monarch and her husband Prince Philip walking into the room moments after they had tied the knot at Manchester Town Hall. The royal couple had been attending a lunch with 200 local volunteers in an adjacent room, and the queen had asked if she could pop in to congratulate the bride and groom. They then spent about five minutes talking to the newlyweds and even agreed to pose for photographs. Frances said: “It was bizarre that she knew our names. She said: ‘Hello John, Hello Frances.’ “ Groom John added: “She commented on how beautiful Frances looked in her dress and wished us all the best for the future. John chatted with Philip while Frances posed with the queen for a few photos and he was very impressed with the Duke of Edinburgh. He said: “He was lovely man. He even asked where in Italy we were going on our honeymoon.” The couple had booked the town hall for their civil wedding last year and were told they would be sharing the venue with an VIP. When they discovered who it was John, jokingly wrote to Buckingham Palace to invite the them to the celebration, but had received a reply politely declining the offer. However, they decided to make their dream come true and got in contact with Manchester City Council to arrange the surprise. Frances told the Manchester Evening News: “We never dreamt we would be able to meet her. When we had our ceremony, the staff asked us to wait for a moment in the corridor and just a few minutes later the Queen arrived.

She knew both our names and apparently we had been especially added to her rota.” —Agencies

Paul McCartney performs during a concert at Ahoy in Rotterdam on March 24, 2012. —AFP

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

lifestyle T R A V E L

a wave. g to ride n ti p m e reak att ack the b Surfers p

A local family sits on the boardwalk of a local beach facing the break to watch surfers practicing in Lima. — AFP photos

N

ot for these commuters the rush for the bus, the crowds on the train or the slow, frustrating crawl through the traffic. Instead every day some Lima residents head for the beach on their way to work. The Peruvian capital is one of the few mega-cities where the beaches abutt the city lines, and the Makaha beach in particular has gained a reputation as a topnotch surfing spot. So as the sun rises, surffans dressed in wetsuits can be seen waxing their boards or stretching to warm up before plunging into the Pacific Ocean waters. Early birds paddle with their arms to catch the first wave of the day.

Surfboards are piled next to a coastline road waiting to be rented to enthusiasts or students at a beach in Lima.

“It energizes you,” Santiago Mariani, an international organizations consultant, told AFP. “You start the day in a different way, de-stressed, by contact with the sea.” Stefan Reich, a psychologist, said surfing in the morning makes him “eager to be in on the day, to be involved in my missions. The

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impan Pleurngnoi puts the finishing touches to a brightly coloured statue of a curly-haired fairy, painting the fairy’s eyes a sparkling blue.

Nearby, her elderly mother carefully brushes thick brown paint on a small dog made of clay. “They’re very popular with hairdressing shops,” Pimpan said.

“Hairdressers like to have a fairy standing in front of their shop, welcoming customers.” Their village of Nong Sanoe, part of Nakhon Ratchasima and some 260 km (155 miles) northeast of the Thai capital of Bangkok, is centre to a thriving pottery industry that maintains the traditions of centuries-and the beneficiary of a programme established by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The One Tambon One Product (OTOP) scheme, which began in 2001, promotes local handicrafts at grassroots level and co-operates with villagers to help promote and sell their goods at national and international levels. It has proved a boon for Nong Sanoe, a village in the rice-growing province of Nakhon Ratchasima. Five years ago there were only a handful of shops in Nong Sanoe village. Today, over two hundred families in the village make their living from clay, many of them people who worked as farm labourers or factory workers before starting their own businesses.

Pimpan was studying to be a teacher when a friend recommended she move to Nong Sanoe. Her extended family of seven now lives and works in a small house. “Mostly, we wholesale to businesses here in Thailand. Other times Thai clients have something very specific in mind so we make statues according to what they want,” Pimpan said. All along the dirt road families sell statues of dragons, beaming children, parrots and elephants. Other shops display striking statues of deities such as Ganesh, Kali, Buddha and the Chinese patron of compassion, Guanyin, which are sprayed a brilliant gold, the smell of spray lacquer hanging heavy in the air.

“Do I dream of doing something else?

Sometimes. This is hard work, each piece takes time from start to finish,” Pimpan said. “Commissioned

truth is it’s spectacular.” The beach is just minutes from government offices, including the Peruvian Government Palace, where many of the early morning surfers work and they are now a common scene in Lima’s urban landscape.

Wetsuit clad surfers walk down streets or steep stairs snaking up the cliffs carrying their surfboards. “I come four times a week.

I clean off afterwards, I keep my suit in the car and then I go to work. I start at 8:00 am,” said lawyer Juan Mujica who has been taking an early morning dip for the past 10 years. “Whenever I’m late, my colleagues understand because they know that I go to the beach to do my favorite sport, which is surfing,” Mujica said at Punta Roquitas beach, while changing his clothes after shampooing his hair with water in a bucket.

And he vows he will “keep going as long as God gives me the strength.” Previously a sport for the affluent, surfing in Peru is gaining popularity among lower-income residents, partly because of the easy access to the waves. “This is a great advantage of Lima and, besides, there are good waves to ride,” said Roberto Meza, director of Waves Peru, the area’s oldest surfing school. He began with just one school in 1992 and now has 40. Under a misty Lima sky, the five-mile long beaches are filled by early morning, with surfers of all ages and backgrounds.

“In Peru there are about 100,000 surfers and more will follow,” Meza said. Five years ago, there were only about 60,000 Peruvian surfers along the country’s roughly 1,550 miles of beaches. The rising popularity is derived partly from the fame gained by Peru’s international surfing champions, such as Sofia Mulanovich, said Meza. The sport is also becoming organized and professionalized. In office parking lots, surfboards sometimes stick out of car trunks.

Some workers keep their surfboards propped up near their desks, easy to grab if

pieces fetch a good price but the small garden statues don’t.” Still, the industry has brought significant economic gains. Wimolrat Rumposomchok, who rents a space next to Pimpan’sfamily, said she makes a good living. “If it’s a busy month, I can earn up to 70,000 baht ($2,300) a month. I can’t complain. My rent is 20,000 baht a year,” said the 28-year-old, who used to work at a factory making beeswax figures for 150 baht a day.

The province, which despite being Thailand’s largest and steeped in centuries of history, is hoping to use the villages as a draw for the foreign tourists who pack other parts of the nation to bring in still more income. “When visitors from abroad come to Thailand they like to go to the beaches... Or they go to the mountains in Chiang Mai. Bringing tourism to the province is a top priority for us,” said Chakrin Cherdchai, the chairman of Nakorn Ratchasima’s Chamber of Commerce.

Some villages are already reaping the benefits.

Dan Kwian, a village just a few minutes drive from Nong Sanoe, receives busloads of Chinese visitors during peak holiday seasons. Here, the sculptures are finished in a large communal firing oven tended by young men bearing sacred tattoos on their backs and arms.

The work is exhausting and the men regularly fill their plastic cups with cold water until the last sculpture is carried out and set to cool, signalling the end of a long work day. Somport Buadkatoo, a potter for 40 years, said that despite the centuriesold traditions, villagers have had to adapt to make a living no matter what. “We used to make water urns and other items to use at home. Nowadays, people prefer decorative items,” he said. “So we make garden statues.”— Reuters

they want to head to the beach at the end of the day.

One group of evangelists call themselves “Christian Surfers International”.

Their slogan is “A Christian without a Bible is like surfing without a board.” Peru still is behind countries like Australia, Brazil, South Africa and the United States for the number of surfers. Nevertheless, international brands and stores associated with surfing are popping up in beachside communities like Miraflores, San Isidro and Barranco. With mass production, prices for surfing equipment have been falling. “For about 700 soles (about $260), you can get a surfboard, wax and wetsuit, but in summer you do not need a suit,” Meza said. “A surfboard can also be shared among three or four.” Surfing schools might also have encouraged the sport’s popularity by changing its image, said Fernando Vidal, a surfing instructor at Makaha beach.

“Previously, moms worried if their children were at the beach all day, thinking ‘marijuana,’” he said, with a laugh. — AFP

Surfers carrying their boards walk down a path carved on a cliff on their way to practice their sport.

Surfers walk on a sidewalk on their way home after practicing their sport.

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MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

LIFESTYLE F a s h i o n

Chechen models applaud founder and owner of Firdaws (Paradise) fashion house, Chechen First Lady Medni Kadyrova, during a fashion show in Dubai on March 24, 2012. More than 20 Chechen models walked down the cat walk in robes of silk and richly embroidered muslin covering them from head to toe, respecting the Islamic law of veiling that was imposed by Kadyrova’s husband.— AFP

Fashion Show

Chechen first lady unveils Islamic fashion in Dubai hechnya’s first lady, Medni Kadyrova, has displayed her Islamic fashion collection to a captivated audience in Dubai, faithful to the politics of her husband who has sought to impose Islamic dress codes in the Caucasus republic. More than 20 veiled Chechen models paced the catwalk in a Dubai palace on Saturday evening, clad in silk and carefully embroidered

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label outside Chechnya. “With their beautiful eyes and their slender figures, they actually look like houris,” said Omar, a Palestinian working at the show, referring to the virgin angels who, according to the Koran, await faithful Muslims in the afterlife.

“But our young women who wear revealing tops and short skirts, will they agree to dress like this?” he asked.

Chechen First Lady Medni Kadyrova who is the founder and owner of Firdaws (Paradise) fashion house, stands in front of Chechen models displaying Islamic dresses. muslin dresses that covered them from head to toe but also managed to outline their figures. The show culminated in a display of wedding dresses.

Organized by the Firdaws (paradise in Arabic) fashion house, launched by Kadyrova three years ago, it was the first such show for the

countries and between the Kadyrovs and the ruling family” in the emirate, said Zeina Habib, with the public relations agency who helped organize the show. Dubai is considered “a fashion hub as well as being an Islamic country,” she added.

“My designs are inspired by natural beauty and the grace of Arab women, to whom I dedicate my collection,” Kadyrova said, adding that she hoped the show in Dubai would be “the first step towards the organization of many others in the region.”

Kadyrova is married to the Kremlin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, a 35-yearold former Chechen rebel who took power in 2004 and has described Islamic law as superior “to the laws of the Russian federation.” A father of seven, Kadyrov has sought to impose Islamic values by encouraging women to wear headscarves and men to take multiple wives, even though traditions like polygamy are in conflict with Russian law. —AFP

Firdaws was founded by Kadyrova in 2009 “to lead Chechen women towards a new way of life, full of harmony and serenity, based on the national Islamic traditions,” according to a statement by the show’s organizers. “Dubai was chosen for the event because of the good relations between the two

Fox News anchorMegyn hether you’re an avid viewer of Fox News or have only a passing acquaintance with the network, it’s been nearly impossible not to notice anchorwoman and “America Live” host Megyn Kelly.

Particularly during the GOP primary round of debates and Super Tuesday coverage, Kelly’s position in the lead anchor chair along with co-anchor Bret Baier has put the 41-year-old blond front and center at Fox News as the network’s fresh face and opinionated voice of this election season.

Kelly, a former lawyer and subject of a rather racy 2010 GQ photo shoot (for which she makes no apologies), is known for direct, no-nonsense reporting, which has drawn commentary from fans, critics and comedians alike.

She’s been famously ridiculed, for instance, for calling pepper spray “a food product, essentially” and lauded for defending Chaz Bono’s turn on “Dancing With the Stars.” Her in-studio interview last week with presidential contender Mitt Romney drew commentary from across the political spectrum. For Kelly, it’s all in a day’s work.

The confidence she displays on air isn’t just reserved for the camera. It translates into her TV and real-life wardrobes, which she describes as “tailored, classic and never frilly.”

It’s this sharp look and strong sense of on-air style that set her apart sartorially from the rest of the pack of reporters and commentators. Though she says, “I still don’t consider myself a fashion girl,” her fans and viewers might think otherwise, taking notice of her reworked traditional suits, the peep-toe or T-strap stilettos that sometimes peek out from under the news desk, the length of her hair and even the shade of her lip gloss.

The morning we meet in her Midtown Manhattan office, she’s in her off-camera “uniform”: dark skinny jeans (Citizens of Humanity and Joe’s “Honeycut” style are favorites), a longsleeved white cotton top and black Prada boots topped off with a plush

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faux fur vest from Elizabeth and James.

Her chin-length blond hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and her face is makeup-free.

“Before I got into TV, I wasn’t fashionable at all,” says Kelly, who practiced law for nine years before making a career change at age 32 and going to work in Washington, DC, at ABC News affiliate WJLA-TV as a general assignment reporter. There, she covered state and presidential elections before joining Fox in 2004 and eventually taking on a more visible role in the national spotlight.

As a lawyer, “I was more about getting into my legal clothes-navy, brown or black suits; that was it,” she says.

“Though I did make the executive decision to not wear sneakers with those suits while on my way to and from work. I didn’t think about it that much. I was overworked and overwhelmed.” These days she still sticks to a conservative color palette during her down time. Navy, black and ivory basics are her go-tos and define a style she calls “New York casual.”

“I’m not big on the hot pinks, bright reds,” she says. “I just don’t have a lot of that in my wardrobe. I like black, white and navy. I think navy looks good with blond hair and dark blue eyes.”

Accessories, especially statement necklaces, are something she shuns both on and off camera. On TV, accessories can be distracting. Off the air, Kelly factors in the impracticality jewelry can pose while raising young kidsshe and her husband, Douglas Brunt, have two, a 3-year-old son and an 11month-old daughter. “I’m still getting spat up on,” she says. “And my son is whipping things across the room.”

Her approach to career dressing has changed significantly since she practiced law. She pays more attention to the role her clothes play in her overall image. A wall of dark wood closets lines one side of her office, housing brightly colored shift dresses, blazers and knee-length skirts from DVF, Elie Tahari and Chiara Boni. Color is a style

Kellygoes

hallmark of Fox News anchors. Fashion stylist Gwen Marder, who has been dressing the on-air talent for 12 years, favors pops of solid, bright color, and there’s no shortage of it in Kelly’s wall of closets, despite her propensity for sticking to neutrals in her private life.

“I really like our anchors to wear color because people react in such a visceral way to color,” Marder says. “It’s stimulating and pretty to look at on television.”

Wooden shoe racks propping up about 20 pairs of heels from designers including Giuseppe Zanotti, YSL, Jimmy Choo and Alexandre Birman sit

for well-tailored classics

45-minute drill, rimming her eyes in dark liner, swiping a concoction of several shades of red and fuchsia gloss on her lips and adding voluminous curls to her short hair. Kelly emerges from under a blow dryer — and from listening to a conference call that her producers hold each morning to iron out last-minute details about the impending show-to say, “Hair and makeup sets a mood. I can’t leave this room in a bad mood. It can be a therapy session.” She goes right back to the call. The noise of the blow dryer and distraction of the mascara wand and false eyelashes hit-

“I’m not big on the hot pinks, bright reds. I just don’t have a lot of that in my wardrobe. I like black, white and navy,” says Fox News’ ‘American Live’ anchor Megyn Kelly. —MCT directly across from Kelly’s desk. Her footwear isn’t always visible on camera, but she contends that wearing a pair of heels makes a difference in her attitude and confidence, regardless of whether anyone can see them.

On the day we meet, she checks her pedicure before deciding on a pair of black T-strap Gucci heels. She wears them with a pinstripe, wool Gucci bustier, black knit bolero, black Max Mara pencil skirt and a skinny metallic belt to break up the dark color.

Her hair and makeup team does a

ting her eyelids never seem to faze her.

Once she reaches the set of her midday show, she is aggressive with her questioning during interviews, assertive with her guests, sometimes overlapping their answers with more questions. When her attention isn’t fixed on the camera, she shifts focus to her laptop, where she continues to research the day’s topics and stay updated on breaking news. Kelly’s show averages about six to eight guests a day and includes a segment

in which the host debates a hot topic along with several guest voices.

The demands of Kelly’s schedule require an early start each morning at 6:30 am in her Upper West Side apartment, where she begins to devour the information packets her assistant puts together each day to prepare her for the guests who will appear at 1 pm on “America Live.” She also checks headlines from several sources, all of which she reads electronically. It helps that her wardrobe has been streamlined with Marder’s help.

The stylist has what Kelly calls a “trunk show” twice a year, bringing Fox News anchors a selection of clothing she has approved. Talent, including Kelly, can pick what they want to wear for the season from the approved selection, mixing and matching pieces to create new looks.

During this busy election year, Kelly chose two of her favorite blazer shapes and Marder had them remade in several different colors to make packing and getting dressed a nobrainer, especially while Kelly travels to various cities on the campaign trail.

Kelly knows her favorites, often repeating clothes before traveling to different states to do live election coverage. “It’s not taboo to wear the same thing twice in one season,” she says.

“We don’t have enough of a wardrobe budget not to. We try and mix it up with different shoes and jackets.”

Where style meets substance Armed with poise, focus and information, these notable news anchors are most memorable for their reporting skills and wit. But each also possesses a certain style hallmark that has garnered attention from audiences and that adds to her overall image.

Ann Curry NBC’s raven-haired “Today” coanchor has recently been trying out fashion’s big color-blocking trend. The bold pops of color, not a traditional choice for an on-camera newsperson,

show well on camera and help viewers start the morning on a bright note.

Robin Roberts While many news anchors steer clear of hefty accessories, Roberts wears them with ease. She dons layered necklaces and drop earrings at ABC’s “Good Morning America” desk as well as when she’s reporting from the red carpet. Rather than overwhelming her toned frame, the pieces accentuate her cropped hair and graceful neck.

Mika Brzezinski A news anchor’s legs are usually covered by what’s called a “modesty panel” attached to most news desks.

But MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Brzezinksi’s gams have garnered quite a bit of attention anyway, thanks to her slightly above-the-knee shift dresses that showcase her well-toned stems.

Diane Sawyer The news veteran and anchor of ABC’s flagship nightly “World News” has always had a refined elegance, favoring easy, solid separates, softshouldered blazers and blouses. But it’s the subtle pop of the turned-up collar on the tailored button-down shirts Sawyer often wears that adds an extra touch of style and confidence.

Greta Van Susteren Sticking to a straightforward style, the host of Fox News’“On the Record With Greta Van Susteren” is known for sporting boxy black blazers and crisp white button-down shirts, for a nofuss, no-nonsense look.

Rachel Maddow The host of an eponymous show on MSNBC, Maddow has a casual, boyish style often punctuated by a pair of hefty black eyeglasses that have become a signature of her look, along with her head of closely cropped hair. —MCT

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

lifestyle F A S H I O N

Say Hello! to Pakistan’s glamorous side P

security of the people they profile, but he wasn’t overly concerned. “I don’t think terrorist networks are going to be reading Hello! anytime soon,” he said. Pakistan already has a series of local publications that chronicle the lives of the well heeled in

major cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, especially as they hop between lavish parties. But the producers of Hello! Pakistan hope the magazine’s international brand and greater depth will attract followers.

The editorial staff of Hello magazine address a news conference during its launching ceremony at National Press Club in Islamabad, Pakistan on Saturday. — AP

Hello! was launched in 1988 by the publisher of Spain’s Hola! magazine and is now published in 150 countries. It’s well-known for its extensive coverage of Britain’s royal family and once paid $14 million in a joint deal with People magazine for exclusive pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins. The market for English-language publications in Pakistan is fairly small.

Most monthly and weekly magazines sell no more than 3,000 copies, said Khan, the consulting editor. But they hope to tap into the large Pak istani expatriate markets in the United Kingdom and the Middle East as well.

Hello! Pakistan will be published once a month and will cost about $5.50, twice as much as what many poor Pakistanis earn in a day. The first issue will be published in mid-April and will focus on the Pakistani fashion scene. Saifullah, who grew up watching her mother and grandmother read Hello! as she hopped between London and Karachi, said it took her two years to convince the magazine to publish a local version in Pakistan. “ They were concerned about whether Pakistan was ready for a magazine like this,” she said. But Saifullah thinks the timing is perfect to showcase Pakistan’s too often hidden treasures, citing Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who recently became the first Pakistani filmmaker to win an Oscar for a documentary about the plight of female victims of acid attacks in the country. “We want to tap into the aesthetically beautiful, the athletic, the fashionable,” said Saifullah. “There is so much going on on a daily basis that nobody ever covers. It’s totally unexplored.” — AP

Lithuania

Fashion Week

China

akistan is better known for bombs than bombshells, militant compounds than opulent estates. A few enterprising Pakistanis hope to alter that perception with the launch of a local version of the well-known celebrity magazine Hello!. They plan to profile Pakistan’s rich and famous: the dashing cricket players, voluptuous Bollywood stars and powerful politicians who dominate conversation in the country’s ritziest private clubs and lowliest tea stalls. They also hope to discover musicians, fashion designers and other new talents who have yet to become household names.

“The side of Pakistan that is projected time and time again is negative,” said Zahraa Saifullah, CEO of Hello! Pakistan. “There is a glamorous side of Pakistan, and we want to tap into that.” But celebrating the lives of Pakistan’s most prosperous citizens is not without its critics in a country where much of the population lives in poverty.

Advertising one’s prosperity could be risky as well since kidnappings for ransom are on the rise and attracting attention from Islamist militants can mean death. Wajahat Khan, a consulting editor at Hello! Pakistan, said they were cognizant of the sensitivity of publishing a glamour magazine in a conservative Muslim country where many people are struggling and planned to be “socially responsible and culturally aware.”

“We are trying to be happy in a war zone,” Khan said Saturday at a news conference with Saifullah and other members of the magazine’s editorial staff. “We are trying to celebrate what is still alive in a difficult country.” Khan said they would do everything they could to protect the

Fashion Festival

Models parade creations by a Chinese designer at the Hempel Award, The 20th China International Young Fashion Designers’ contest during the bi-annual China Fashion Week in Beijing yesterday.

—AFP/AP photos

Models present creations by Lithuanian designer Jurgita Januskeviciute during the Lithuania Fashion festival at The Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius. —AFP

Aretha Franklin turns 70, talks new music

36

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

A hand-built wooden bicycle at Masterworks Wood and Design.

Mauro Hernandez cruises on one of his hand-built wooden bicycles at his San Jose, California, shop.

—MCT photos

Amazing wooden bicycles:

Beautiful, artistic, cool and recycled W

e are surprising slaves to conformity when it comes to the materials used to make things. An armoire made of bicycle parts?

That would just be silly. But what about a bicycle made from an armoire? As it turns out, a bike hewn out of wood is a ride that some people pine for. For the most part, form has rigidly followed function in bicycle design, with increasingly featherweight wonders forged out of materials ranging from aluminum to titanium. But a pair of San Jose, Calif., woodworkers-one a self-taught genius, the other his interpreter to the real world-are turning recycled Honduran mahogany, cherry and maple hardwoods into cycling’s most splendid splinters.

At Masterworks Wood and Design, Bill Holloway, 49, and Mauro Hernandez, 33, are an artistic odd couple who have carved out a unique place for themselves in cycling’s peloton. They have built 10 bikes-all cruisers, with a pedicab in the works-that are made almost entirely of wood, and look like a Harley enthusiast’s idea of an elaborate weathervane. The original sapling in this fleet fleet, called the Defender, is their entry-level model and costs $5,500. Other models, such as the Interceptor, which has a pirate theme, and the Cherry Bomb, with flames carved out of wood, run as much as $7,500.

The bikes are considered “green” because the wood used to make them is not. The pair spends countless hours tracking down the most beautiful used woods they can find and repurposing them for their rolling works of art. The craftsmen are so environmentally friendly they’ve been featured on the TreeHugger.com website. Relying on a network of

arborists-who let Holloway and Hernandez know when an ornamental Chinese pistache is about to be turned into mulch, or a redwood has been uprooted from a traffic median-they use old-growth “urban wood” to create heaven on two wheels.

The pair worked together at a wood shop that Holloway ran for a designer of upscale homes, and forged an unlikely partnership. Hernandez lived in Mexico City until he was 10, and had been a manager at a Target before he met Holloway. “I knew nothing about woodworking when I started,” he says.

But he had mad skills as a draftsman, so Holloway taught him how to sculpt a piece of mahogany.

Hernandez helped the visionary craftsman realize his potential as an artist.

“He comes up with the ideas,” Hernandez says, “but it’s hard for him to get them down on paper because he doesn’t have an artistic background.”

Holloway could narrate a vivid description of the bike frame he had in mind, but his sketches were crude stick figures. “I’m a dreamer, so I have a lot going on in my head,” he says. “What’s always held me back is getting out the crazy stuff I design. If I tell Mauro something, he can draw it and add something of his own.”

They opened their own woodworking company in June 2008, just as the economy was going into the woodchipper. Holloway lost his house in San Jose that year because he hadn’t been paid in months. The design firm they worked for went under still owing both men money, so Masterworks actually started life in the red.

“It’s been real tough,” says Holloway, standing amid a mountain of lumber stacked in the unheat-

ed 4,800-square foot shop, where reclaimed grape stakes mingle with old floorboards and discarded furniture. “I want to be one of a kind, but in today’s economy it’s killing me because it’s expensive.” All around the sawdust circus are delicate hand carvings by Hernandez, elegant kitchen cabinets and ornate doorways. It has all been lovingly executed, but the work devours so much time that the custom shop is barely profitable.

“I hate cookie cutter work” Holloway says. “I like to be original, to do things I haven’t done before.

That’s who I am. But it shoots me in the foot. Many times I’ve wished I could be like normal people.”

Growing up in San Francisco, Holloway got all his joy from riding a bike or skateboard, and fixing them when they broke. “I was an adrenaline junkie,” he says. “When I was in high school, if I wasn’t risking my life, I wasn’t happy.”

A friend with whom he used to race bicycles suggested he combine his passions and attempt to build a wood bike. “Once you put something like that in this guy’s head, he won’t stop thinking about it until something comes out,” Hernandez says. A plywood prototype took about 85 hours to assemble, which is still about how long it takes to make one. Along the way have come refinements, such as the handles-once fitted out using hockey tape,

A pirate carving adorns a hand-built wooden bicycle.

The frame of a hand-built wooden bicycle.

Bill Holloway cruises on one of his handbuilt wooden bicycles.

replaced now with hand-sewn English leather-and one bike that has a carved skull gear-shift.

The bike’s inner frames are built around a highgrade multi-ply mahogany imported from England, which provides both strength and flexibility. An expensive Brazilian rosewood oil is applied to seal the finish. Holloway took an early model on a 25mile rain ride, and after giving it a quick polish, the

bike looked as good as new. Thanks to the fat Kenda Flame tires-fiery little tongues of tread make them look cool and hot at the same time-Holloway has completed a 50-mile ride on the curved wooden seat, and lived to tell the tale.

“You don’t take this bike to the store and leave it sitting out front,” he says. “It’s a cruiser, not an errand-running bike. It’s meant to be taken to the boardwalk, ridden for 10 miles and that’s it.” The seat, which looks like a slightly modified Eames chair, was what caught the eye of Bob Williams, a retired music teacher in Pleasanton, Calif., who owns one of the three bikes Masterworks has sold. “I could never get the seat big enough to be comfortable,” Williams says. This has a swooping, curving narrow bench that you straddle, and it even gives support to your lower back. At no time are you getting pinched anywhere.” —MCT

Magicians seek to conjure up new site for closed museum I

f only these stage sorcerers could reach into a black top hat and pull out a home for their magical paraphernalia. Short of cash and abracadabra moments, the Society of American Magicians is struggling to find a public venue for its vast collection of antique stage illusions. After a freak accident forced the closure of the group’s Hall of Fame and Magic Museum in Hollywood, Calif., the society moved its trove of tricks into a self-storage center.

“We’d love to reopen the museum. The problem is money,” said John Engman, president of the society’s local assembly. The collection includes 5,000 props, costumes and devices used by such famed magicians as Harry Houdini and Harry Blackstone Sr. The items were once displayed in basement space donated by what was then a Washington Mutual bank at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.

But the exhibit was shut down Dec 13, 2004, by an explosion-and it wasn’t theatrical flash powder.

Smoke from a nearby underground electrical blast spewed into the bank building, coating the collection with toxic PCBs. A second exhibit that also shared the basement-a collection of microphones, radio transcripts and audio boards owned by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters-was similarly contaminated.

The bank reopened after a thorough cleaning of the tellers’ counter area, but the two groups’ collections remained sealed for 3 { years as the magicians and broadcasters wrangled with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power over the cost of decontamination.

The DWP eventually agreed to pay the two groups $57,000 each to settle a lawsuit. When the magicians and broadcasters regained access to

their museums, they discovered that the contamination was less severe than had been expected and that the display items could be cleaned. After Chase purchased Washington Mutual in 2008, the two groups’ access to the basement was restricted to banking hours. Unable to conduct nighttime

events, the magicians and broadcasters packed up their collections and put them in storage.

The broadcasters’ collection is slated to eventually be displayed at the Thousand Oaks Library, according to Encino, Calif., television producer Sam Lovullo, president of the 500-member Pacific

Ed Thomas, a magician and vice president of the Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and Magic Museum, left, and Jogn Engman, the society’s president, demonstrate a flying magic carpet trick from the mid-20th century at the museum’s storage facility in Pico Rivera. — MCT

Pioneer Broadcasters. But the magicians have yet to find a home for their illusions, historic memorabilia, nightclub tricks and displays that trace the history of magic back to 2500 BC. “We had a real nice deal with Home Savings and later Washington Mutual. They let us have the space rent free,” Engman said. To save money on storage, the magicians scrapped the mannequins they used in their exhibits and junked the theaterstyle seating used during Saturday evening magic shows.

They hope to have space donated for a new museum. “We’re looking for around 3,000 square feet, preferably in Hollywood. We’d have a little theater, a display area and storage space,” said Engman, a retired Alhambra, Calif, attorney who has performed magic tricks since he was a child. If adequate and affordable space isn’t found, it’s possible the museum could be relocated to Parker, Colo, where the society has plans to open a national office in donated space, he said.

For now, the society’s 80 local members have to visit the self-storage center if they want to see the historic magic show posters, the saw-the-girl-inhalf illusion, the disappearing chair trick, the floating-carpet illusion and keys collected by Houdini for his escape-artist act. “The keys were used by Houdini’s wife, Bess, when she conducted her last seance on the roof of the Hollywood Knickerbocker in 1936 on the 10th anniversary of his death,” said Ed Thomas, an office manager who lives in Koreatown and once served as national president of the 6,000-member society. The magicians hope Houdini and the rest of the museum pieces soon escape from storage. — MCT