26 Dec

CR IP TI ON BS SU 150 FILS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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GCC lashes out at Iran, urges Syria transition Gulf states plan unified military command

KUWAIT: Two men wearing cardboard cartons to shield themselves from the rain walk along the side of a road yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Suicide underscores grim Gitmo reality

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MANAMA: The six Gulf states sharpened their tone against their Shiite neighbour Iran yesterday, demanding an immediate halt to its “interference” in their internal affairs while urging a rapid political transition in its ally Syria. Concluding a two-day summit in Manama, the Gulf Cooperation Council members voiced support for Bahrain’s Sunni minority regime while lashing out at Tehran, which they accuse of fueling a Shiite-led uprising in the host country last year.

In a joint statement, the GCC countries said they “reject and denounce” Iran’s “continued interference” in their internal affairs. It added that Tehran must “immediately and completely stop these actions and policies that increase regional tension and threaten security and stability”. The six states - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates - also condemned Iran’s “continued occupation of the three Emirati islands” of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, which lie in the strategic Strait of Hormuz entrance to the Gulf.

In addition to the dispute over the islands, relations between Iran and most GCC states have been further strained since Gulf troops rolled into Bahrain last year to help put down the Shiite-led protests. The regional powers have also taken opposite stances towards the Syrian crisis. While Tehran has openly supported President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, GCC members Saudi Arabia and Qatar have called for arming rebels fighting regime loyalists.

In their statement yesterday, the GCC monarchies expressed “deep sadness over the continued shedding of blood by the regime and the destruction of cities and infrastructure, making political transition a demand which must be rapidly implemented”. They also urged the international community “to make a quick and serious move to end massacres” in Syria and provide humanitarian assistance to the people.

Kuwait’s Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah announced Monday a donor conference on behalf of Continued on Page 13

Iran begins naval war games Tehran police arrest more than 100 ‘thugs’

Assembly forms panels for women, bedoons MPs to debate treaties on Jan 9 KUWAIT: In its first working session after the election, the National Assembly yesterday rejected a proposal by the government calling not to form temporar y committees and instead agreed to form two such panels, one for women and family affairs and the other for human rights and bedoons (stateless). The Assembly also agreed to hold a special debate on Jan 9 to discuss treaties signed by Kuwait with foreign countries, including the recently signed Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) security pact which some former MPs have warned breaches the constitution.

But the GCC security treaty that was signed in Bahrain by all GCC leaders at

Max 17º Min 09º High Tide 11:40 & 21:48 Low Tide 04:39 & 15:27

their summit which ended yesterday had been amended in order to be in line with the Kuwaiti constitution.

Kuwait had refused to sign the GCC security pact since it was proposed around two decades ago because some of its items contradict with the Kuwaiti constitution which forbids extraditing citizens to foreign nations.

During the Assembly session yesterday, MP Ahmad Lari said the GCC security pact is very important but it has to be in line with the Kuwaiti constitution.

A number of MPs demanded during the debate to hold a special session to discuss the security situation in the country and the increase in the Continued on Page 2

TEHRAN: Iran yesterday launched naval manoeuvres in the Gulf, and announced plans for another exercise in the strategic Strait of Hormuz later this week, media reports said. Revolutionary Guards naval units began a four-day exercise inside Iranian waters at South Pars, a joint gas field between Iran and Qatar, a Guards spokesman was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. The drill, dubbed “Fajr 91”, is aimed at honing “capabilities in executing defensive and security scenarios”, Admiral Alireza Nasseri said without elaborating.

The Guards are tasked with defending Iran’s territorial waters in the Gulf.

The regular navy, meanwhile, on Dec 28 begins an exercise dubbed “Velayat 91”, covering an area that includes the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean, navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari said in remarks reported by the ISNA news agency. Warships, submarines and missile defence systems will be used and tested during the exercise, Sayari said. “We will definitely respect the maritime border of our neighbours, and conduct the manoeuvres based on international law,” Sayari said. “Iran aims to demonstrate its defensive naval capabilities by conducting this exercise, and send a message of peace and friendship to regional countries.”

Continued on Page 13

TEHRAN: Iranian police round-up men after arresting them in the capital yesterday. — AFP

in the

news

Kazakh plane crashes, all 27 on board killed ALMATY: A military transport plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan yesterday, killing all 27 people on board, the RIA news agency quoted a senior Kazakh emergencies ministry official as saying. “The plane has burnt up, only some of its fragments remain,” RIA quoted the head of the regional emergencies department as saying. Kazakh TV channel KTK said the plane had disappeared from radar screens at about 1900 local time (1300 GMT) as it was making a descent near the city of Shymkent, the capital of the South Kazakhstan Region. Kazakhstan’s KNB security service said the plane, bound for Shymkent from the capital Astana, belonged to its border troops. The commander of the countr y ’s border guards, Turganbek Stambekov, was among those on board, it said on its site. The plane was carrying a crew of seven as well as 20 servicemen. KTK TV quoted its sources as saying the Antonov An-72 plane had plunged to the ground in bad weather from an altitude of about 800 m.

Bahraini policeman held over ‘slap’ video DUBAI: A policeman in Bahrain has been arrested after a video showing him hitting a resident of a Shiite village was posted online, the interior ministry said yesterday. “The video shows the policeman slapping a citizen in Aali, a local village, on December 23rd, 2012,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that the officer was detained on Monday. “Such behaviour is unacceptable for any police officer and ... a legal investigation has been launched. The case was then referred to the police court,” the statement added. It said the arrest follows Bahrain’s “keenness to equally subject all those who violate human rights to the just penalty, as seen fit by the court of law.” Al-Wefaq, the main opposition grouping in the tiny Gulf kingdom, denounced the incident, saying the policeman “slapped the citizen and insulted him”. In the face of such repeated incidents, the people “stick to their legitimate demands... for democratic reforms” in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, it warned.

Iran foils cyber attack on industrial units TEHRAN: Iran has repelled a fresh cyber attack on its industrial units in a southern province, a local civil defence official said yesterday, accusing “enemies” of nonstop attacks against its infrastructure. “A virus had penetrated some manufacturing industries in Hormuzgan province, but its progress was halted with ... the cooperation of skilled hackers,” Ali Akbar Akhavan said, quoted by the ISNA news agency. Akhavan said the malware was “Stuxnet-like” but did not elaborate and that the attack had occurred over the “past few months”. Stuxnet, tailored specifically to target Iran’s uranium enrichment operation, struck Iran in 2010 and reportedly dealt a serious blow to its disputed atomic program. Akhavan said one of the targets of the latest foiled attack was the Bandar Abbas Tavanir Co, which oversees electricity production and distribution in Hormuzgan and adjacent provinces. He also accused “enemies” of constantly seeking to disrupt operations at Iran’s industrial units through cyber attacks, without specifying how much damage had been caused. (See Page 8)

Russian women paid to cover up in Iran plant TEHRAN: Iran is paying Russian women working as technicians at its sole nuclear power plant to adhere to the Islamic dress code, an Iranian lawmaker told the ISNA news agency yesterday. Women in Iran are required to cover their hair and much of the body. “Based on contracts signed with female Russian employees at the Bushehr (nuclear) power plant, they receive a hijab payment,” MP Mehdi Mousavinejad, who represents a constituency in southern Bushehr province, told ISNA. “Unfortunately, they do not properly observe what is (asked of them), which is mentioned in the contracts,” he said, while criticising authorities for a lax oversight on Russians working at the plant. Mousavinejad also called on Russians to fulfil their “commitments”. “When one party accepts to pay an amount for a commitment, it is important for the other party to fulfil its commitments.” He did not how much money was paid, or how many female technicians are working at the Bushehr nuclear plant.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

LOCAL

MPs to push for capital punishment: Report Alarming rise of crime rates in Kuwait

KUWAIT: A combination of photos taken during the parliament session yesterday showing Speaker Ali Al-Rashed addressing the assembly (left), MP Safaa Al-Hashim looks on during the session (center), and Minister of Planning and Development, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Rula Dashty sharing a conversation with MP Meshary Al-Husaini (right). —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat KUWAIT: In the wake of a murder committed inside a crowded mall last weekend followed by a stabbing at a gas station less than 48 hours later, lawmakers are reportedly planning to raise the issue of authorities’ failure to execute inmates sentenced to death since 2007, a local newspaper reported yesterday quoting ‘parliamentary insiders’.

There are currently 37 death row convicts in Kuwait, most of whom were convicted of first degree murder, according

to the sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity. “Recent cases of violence have prompted legislators to raise the issue of implementing capital punishment as a way to curb crime,” they said, adding that MPs would lobby for executions to take place at the Nayef Palace, traditional place for implementation of the death penalty ever since it was adopted in Kuwait.

Noting that capital punishment is supported by both the positive law and

Islamic Sharia, the sources also predicted that the issue could become “a point of conflict between the legislative and executive authorities” with lawmakers potentially accusing the government of “buckling before international human rights organizations opposing capital punishment.”

The MPs also plan to engage with “the spread of a culture of violence particularly during the past ten years.” The crimes include murder and sexual and physical

assault. “Reports from the interior and defense ministries show an increase in the crime rate and indicate that there was indifference towards punishment in Kuwait,” the sources further said.

In other news, president of the parliament’s financial committee, Dr. Yousuf AlZalzalah said the government has “honest intentions” about resolving the issue regarding writing off interest on loans availed by Kuwaitis from local banks.

“The government is yet to find a road

map to decide how to apply radical solutions to the problem that are in line with the state’s fiscal policy,” the lawmaker told Al-Rai on Monday.

A former finance minister himself, MP Al-Zalzalah also revealed that the financial committee planned to discuss “two proposals made by lawmakers to resolve the problem” during its meeting next Sunday with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. —Al-Rai

IG Events to hold ‘Fight’ Fat’ campaign in Kuwait

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: IG Events will be holding an awareness campaign to fight obesity, titled ‘Fight Fat’, at the Avenues Mall on January 15-18, 2013 under the auspices of the Minister of Health, Dr. Mohammed Al-Heifi.

The campaign will include various activities to engage all family members. “A health exhibition will be on for four days at the Avenues Mall, where various stalls will showcase different activities for children and adults, reaching across all age categories. Our exhibition is different in the sense that usually such events are not about awareness, while ours is a mix of exhibition and awareness.

We will also be available on social media in order to reach more people and communicate with them,” Ahmad Al-Ibrahim, Executive Director of IG Events, said during a press conference held yesterday at the Missoni Hotel.

“We thought of holding this event to participate directly in the social awareness efforts and serve responsibly the various needs of the community. IG Events is working in the media for more than ten

years and is always aiming to provide innovative and special work.

Recently, we decided to add the awareness campaign component to exhibitions and conferences, and hence we came up with this event,” Al-Ibrahim added. This campaign will connect the public with doctors holding different specializations and hailing from various companies. “The specialists will educate people about the best ways to prevent obesity related diseases. We have also used social media such as Twitter, You Tube, smart phone applications and others to achieve the highest level of positive interaction in our awareness campaign,” he pointed out.

The recent crime that took place at the mall is a challenge for the organizers and encourages them more to hold their event at the same place. “I think after this accident, there will be more security guards and policemen to ensure security, and the mall will be even safer. This is our chance to meet young people to give them advice and information about right nutrition and other issues,” concluded Al-Ibrahim.

Dr. Hiba Bin Salama, who is fully dedicated to this event, will be

KUWAIT: Ahmad Al-Ibrahim, Executive Director of IG Events, addresses a press conference at the Missoni Hotel yesterday.

—Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat present throughout the four days related to obesity,” she stated. of the exhibition. “We are holding The high percentage of obesity this event to encourage lifestyle in Kuwait was the main reason for changes. Our community needs to holding this event. “Kuwait ranked learn how to change its lifestyle. second in obesity percentage We do not call for isolation, but worldwide after the United States, we have to learn how to live the followed by Qatar. Nearly 43 perright way. School trips will visit the cent of the population is suffering exhibition. Dr. Majida Al-Kmeekh from obesity. This horrifying figure will provide consultation to preg- led us to hold the awareness nant women suffering from obesi- event to talk about obesity as it is ty while Dr. Ahmad Al-Saleh will still increasing, and women make offer advice about nutrition and up the larger numbers. Even chilsports.

Furthermore, Dr. dren in the three to five year age Mohammed Al-Jarallah will pro- group are being afflicted,” vide information about surgeries stressed Bin Salama.

Two killed in slippery conditions

KUWAIT: A citizen was instantly killed when his vehicle collided into another along King Fahad Highway near Benaider. Fire and rescue had to cut the victim’s vehicle to retrieve his body. In another incident because of the rain and slippery roads, a vehicle slid along the Seventh Ring Road and collided into a lamppost, killing one of its five passengers and seriously injuring the other four, said security sources. — By Hanan Al-Saadoun

Assembly forms panels for women, bedoons Continued from Page 1 number of crimes, citing the murder at the Avenues mall. Speaker Ali Al-Rashed asked the house to give him time until today to consult with the government over the proposed session. Lari criticized the government, especially the interior minister, claiming that former MPs from the opposition exercised some control over the ministry, telling the govern-

ment that it must know that the opposition majority is something of the past.

MP Nabeel Al-Fadl criticized the interior ministry’s failure to put an end to demonstrations staged by opposition activists during the night.

A number of MPs demanded forming a parliamentary investigation panel to probe into the bank deposits of all members of the National Assembly since 2006, but the government exer-

cised its constitutional right to demand delaying the debate on the issue until after two weeks.

The opposition-controlled Assembly which was elected in February but scrapped by the constitutional court had formed three probe committees that began investigating alleged irregularities. The first one investigated alleged bribes accepted by former MPs, the second investigated allegations of illegal

transfers of public funds into foreign private accounts while the third investigated allegations of smuggling of heavily-subsidized diesel into neighbouring countries. All the three committees could not finish their work because the A ssembly was scrapped just four months after the elections. The Assembly is due to complete its session today during which it may vote on the controversial single vote decree.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

LOCAL

Rain fails to dampen Christmas festivities Many Christians cancel outdoor celebrations

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Christians in Kuwait celebrated Christmas with all its religious fervor and festivities though continuous rain drenched many parts of Kuwait all through the day yesterday. Many outdoor, although low-key, Christmas celebrations were cancelled.

In fact, a group of Filipino bloggers and other social activists who were supposed to celebrate Christmas along the seaside cancelled their program due to continuous rain.

Kuwaiti meteorologist Adel Saadoun “We decided to cancel our get together party today and re-scheduled our event for next week. I hope the weather will be okay by then,” the president of one of the Filipino organizations told Kuwait Times.

Another religious group which had planned to hold its annual Christmas party at one of the beach resorts in Kuwait reportedly

cancelled the function in the early hours of yesterday. Although indoor activities and regular mass and other church services were not affected, but there were fewer people in the pews compared to last year’s Christmas celebrations.

“It is not very crowded in Kuwait City this Christmas, possibly because many have cancelled their regular Christmas activities due to incessant rain,” noted an interior ministry official who spoke with this reporter on condition of anonymity.

Kuwaiti meteorologist Adel Saadoun said wet weather conditions may continue over the next couple of days, though there could be some relief today.

“The weather we are experiencing right now is called ‘Deemah rain’ or a period, not actually a season, of continuous rain, which could last for hours,” Saadoun said. “It could stop by tonight, but could restart in the morning once again. Although, I have not seen rain on my radar for tomorrow (today) but Deemah conditions sometime continue till month-end,” he explained.

Saadoun said Deemah rains are brought to Kuwait by seasonal northeasterly winds, better known in Kuwait as the ‘Sudan low pressure’ (seasonal light monsoon) which results in a very light rain though it can result in the entire country being drenched in rain.

The temperature will also drop over the next couple of days, according to Saadoun “We can still feel the hot weather in the afternoon when temperatures hover around 23 to 25 degrees Celsius, but in the next couple of days, the highest temperature will plunge to around 16 to 18 degrees during day time while the lowest could be around ten or even less at night time,” he added. Christmas is usually one of the busiest days for Christians when, regardless of weather conditions, Kuwait City is one of the busiest places as many employers allow Christian workers to take their day off.

KUWAIT: Several main streets and thoroughfares across Kuwait were inundated yesterday following sporadic rains compounding the frustration of motorists driving on the already congested roads. The motorists voiced their anger against the Ministry of Public Works authorities for their alleged failure in repairing the drainage network ahead of the advent of rains. People have become more concerned as meteorologists predicted more rains in the coming days. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh

KUWAIT: The Christian community members in Kuwait celebrate a Holy Christmas Mass at the Holy Family Cathedral in Kuwait City on Monday.

— Photos by Joseph Shagra.

Hawally building caves in

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A shop collapsed in Hawally in the wee hours of yesterday but no casualties were reported. Fire department received a call about the mishap, following which personnel from Hawally fire center and Salmiya fire center rushed to the site.

Fire broke out in a fourth floor apartment in a six-storey building in Shahabeel Street of Hawally but firefighters swiftly brought the blaze under control. No casualties were reported.

Fire department received a report about the fire at dawn and rushed personnel from Hawaly and Salmiya fire centers who immediately evacuated all inhabitants and deployed equipment to scatter away the thick billowing smoke clouds. Meanwhile, another team of firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to other floors, and then brought it under control. Some elderly persons and young children suffered suffocation and were treated at

KUWAIT: The shop that collapsed in Hawally site. Firemen are investigating reasons behind the mishap.

Fire department carried out a mock drill on Monday morning at the Marina Hotel in Salmiya on the Arabian Gulf Road. The drill covered evacuation of the building and fire fighting operations. Prompted by a siren indicating an emergency, Salmiya fire center men rushed to the hotel, arriving within four min-

utes. The entire building was evacuated, using emergency exit routes, and people were gathered at a group point. The whole operation lasted seven minutes. Fire department is keen to carry out such drills to increase awareness among people about how to deal with such accidents in order to reduce and prevent causalities and to ensure that the firemen remain physically fit.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

LOCAL kuwait digest

Local Spotlight

Politics and the art of chaos

Safety and security

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah rab revolutions have exposed the never-ending struggles among sectarian groups, and brought to our attention the power struggles in Islamic and Christian history which in most cases resulted in sectarian wars that left thousands of people dead.

Despite their noble goals, Arab revolutions currently feature sectarian, ideological and political struggles similar to the one between church and science in Europe when the concept of the civil state was sought to be enforced. That struggle witnessed a social and political transformation as a result of which church became separate from state. The French Revolution, for example, fought against the church to usher in secularism. Something similar is happening in the power struggles seen today in countries like Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen as fight rages between two political forces, one Islamic and the other secular.

The two are engaged in conflicts which would not necessarily lead towards reforms or improved living conditions if sectarian and political motives would be involved.

Europe and other unstable parts of the world saw major political changes which left some societies paralyzed, and others facing tumultuous times due to the emergence of secular movement that called for separation of church from state.

The emergence of the European secular movement undoubtedly left its effect all over the world, including Arab and Muslim countries which still remember how the Ottoman Empire was influenced by notions of Western secularism following its fall in 1924. The historical dimension of the reality of relationship between the state and religion on one hand, and between state and politics on the other has impacted countries worldwide. No nation has arguably remained untouched by ideological conflicts taking place between people holding different beliefs.

The Arab World is still suffering from the repercussions of the changes that followed ideological and religious conflicts, especially when it comes to irreconcilable principles. The struggle is evident today in the conflict between political secularism and political Islamism. Muslims reject the idea of separating religion from state in principle, since they take Islam as the source for legislation, intra-people relationship and conduct, and relationship of the people with the state institutions. On the other hand, secularists call for religion and state to become separate entities, and sometimes call for separating religion from daily life by maintaining the status of religion as a belief which at the same time should have nothing to do with political, social, legal and economic systems.

This struggle between secularism and religious outlook is the basis of the majority of conflicts in the Arab World today, especially when it comes to the general public regard for governing and ruling system. The struggle becomes more complicated if we try to analyze the reality of calls for secularism in the Arab Worlds, mainly regarding its connotations and dimensions, and especially that the idea is a Western experience that moved to Arab countries where it found no suitable ground to prosper.

As a result, secularism in principle was generally unaccepted in Arab societies out of the belief that secular practices do not go in line with the basic ideologies of these societies. While secularism calls for freedom, justice and humanity, Arab communities are wary of secular experiences which seem to have failed to achieve freedom and equality, while at the same time opened the door to crime, discrimination, immoral behavior, corruption and tyranny.

Many believe that secularism as a western ideology has limited impact on general life of Arab and Muslim communities. Instead, it is blamed for many negative aspects found in these communities which are still experiencing political problems attributed often to the struggle between political secularism and political Islamism. — Al-Rai

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kuwait digest

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

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kuwait digest

The crisis of ethics

By Ali Mahmoud Khaja e consider a failure to tell the truth as equiva- of wasta and favoritism everywhere and, yet, we conlent to telling a lie or twisting the truth, if our sider it a great favor when someone helps clinch a rivals are involved. We even consider it a transaction for us, provides a fake medical certificate, major sin that calls for severe punishment. At the exempts us from having to stand in a long queue or same time, ëfriendsí liesí are considered not lies but helps us get a job that somebody else deserves more. rather tactics, strategies and proof of cleverness.

We treat people demographically and consider We, thus, have two opinions about the same issue, those who go missing in Faiha or Yarmouk as nondepending upon who is involved and where it is hap- genuine citizens whereas we, at the same time, pening. We even call this ëadaptation and harmonyí accept that someone can actually go missing while and start making excuses about the circumstances. trying to reach Taima or Sabah Al-Nasser.

Yet, when somebody else does the same, we consider We happily abide by all kinds of laws and regulahim or her a hypocrite and tions abroad, even more start reciting verses from the diligently than the people of Holy Quran and hadith to those countries, yet we Our real crisis lies in the criticize them. grumble when our own lack of manners as seen in all laws are applied to us. ìWhy We tend to generalize and condemn a 100,000 us?î we exclaim. the examples cited above. people for a crime that one We like to see men being of them commits and do not The problem is not about any dragged along, tortured, feel shy in describing all of killed or shamelessly insultdecree, or single vote or four ed if they are at fault. ìLet them as criminals and murderers merely because we them suffer,î we exclaim, for a citizen, a court order, do not like them, whereas and when somebody condetention or torture. we never generalize when demns this, we describe members of a family we love them as demagogic. commit embezzlement, We demand that highly murder or indulge in extremism. We even struggle to qualified citizens be recruited to responsible jobs but prove that such aberrations were individual-specific travel abroad to purchase prestigious university and should not be generalized. degrees.

We never care that some people around us no not Our real crisis lies in the lack of manners as seen in have an identity, fail to receive education or health all the examples cited above. The problem is not care and have been provided no accommodation or about any decree, or single vote or four for a citizen, a jobs for fifty years. We simply urge them to ëshow court order, detention or torture. The issue here is a their true nationalitiesí as if humanity was related to moral one, and this will not be solved as long as our the nationality or identity one may have. At the same ethics and manners are plunging downhill. We will all time, we demand to write off the bank loans availed be living in a jungle soon if this situation continues of by citizens and liquidate public funds to alleviate any longer. citizensí financial burdens even if those loans had Our behavioral ëdisordersí are really minute details been taken to purchase luxurious vehicles or go on a of a real crisis in ethics that can be only reformed by vacation. education. The state always has a golden opportunity We, when an innocent young man is slain before during the first 14 years of any citizenís life when it scores of people in one of the most crowded spots in provides and controls the education from kinderKuwait, race to take photos of the awful crime and garten to secondary school. This is the time band in broadcast them over social media to take some silly which the state can inscribe the identity and ethics credit. We keep saying that we are fed up with cor- that a good citizen must have. If only the state would ruption, the deterioration in various fields, the spread awaken and do that. — Al-Jarida

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Fifty years of discrimination is enough

kuwait digest

Off to a bad start

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij awmakers’ agendas in the current parliament are strikingly similar to those of their predecessors, focusing mainly on gifts to citizens instead of achieving balance and justice for people.

Nonetheless, MP Mohammad Al-Jabry’s efforts to improve the situation of female citizens and their children seem more realistic and necessary, as they meet the principles of justice and equality that the constitution guarantees.

It is very strange that the government continues to be a mute witness to the discrimination being meted out to Kuwaiti women in various areas, including financial benefits, government services, as well as nationality and personal status laws. HH the Amir has repeatedly reiterated his commitment to law enforcement and equality among all citizens, and the government ought to have given priority to these concerns. Discrimination against women is found in a majority of laws, official decisions and services which give male citizens exclusive benefits. There is no reason for the discrimination to continue, especially when it comes to naturalization as Kuwaiti women have the right to pass on their citizenship to their children. If anything, we should take into account article 29 of the constitution that bans discrimination among people in general, let alone people sharing the same nationality.

I believe that after fifty years of practicing democracy, it is time to activate the concept of equality among citizens which requires eliminating all forms of discrimination practiced against female citizens. We need to take into account circumstances and social environment that women are subjected to, and need to stand by their side by calling for more democratic and social assurances so that they no longer feel suppressed and inferior as they do today. — Al-Qabas

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he daily crime scenario is becoming unbelievably scary. Newspapers are full of news every day about crimes committed by youth in Kuwait. It matters little whether these youth were Kuwaitis or expats or Bedouins. The important fact is that such crimes were happening in Kuwait. It definitely enjoins a responsibility upon all of us, if not for their actions then at least about how to fight back, how to stop this crazy daily violence. We can no longer ignore the fact that innocent lives are coming under threat every day.

Moreover, I am not in favor of making any excuses about the criminals being young and irrational. I think it is we who are being irrational by trying to see these crimes through such tinted glasses. That is completely unacceptable. I refuse to make any excuses for any kind of crime, particularly one committed in cold blood.

It isn’t funny anymore. Every time I hear someone trying to justify a crime, I feel sick. Recently, in the course of a TV interview, in which I was talking about those who kill others in cold blood because they have a disagreement or are enraged after a trivial fight over a parking lot, I was surprised that the other guest on the panel who happened to be a college professor, claimed that there was no such crime as a cold blood murder and any murder usually happened as a result of someone being under a huge stress.

I am not a college professor but I believe that the fact that a man can go to a local market to buy a knife and then wait for his victims who he stabs a couple of times can only be called guilty of cold murder. What else can you call such a crime? I cannot think of even killing a chicken, so surely I cannot think what could prompt someone to kill a living soul and then claim to be under pressure.

Does that mean that every time someone is under pressure, he would go and kill someone to make him feel better? Is killing people a way to destress? May be for maniacs it is so.

In Kuwait, we do not have a problem of not having laws, but we do have a problem enforcing these laws. There is need to enforce the law to stop criminality, irrespective of how high and mighty a criminal may be.

Please consider this a clarion call to the decision makers that security is not something negotiable. It is literally a matter of life and death. No country can ever falter on the issue of security and safety of its people.

By Dr Hassan Abbas he second parliament elected this year does not seem to be off to a good start. We still have not seen anything to make us feel that things have changed. In fact, it seems as if we are still watching the first 2012 parliament all over again, and only the MPs have changed.

The new parliament was a result of bitter political conflicts that lasted over the last six to seven years.

No wonder, people only expected serious reforms this time.

Personally, I do not think anyone expects this parliament to fall short of achieving that, but so far it seems that the new parliament is following in the footsteps of its predecessors.

As soon as the new lawmakers entered the parliament building, proposals seeking public support at the expense of state funds also made an appearance.

We need a strategy and a work program to save Kuwait from depending solely on oil instead of ‘buying’ people’s silence with projects that only depend on public funds and are unproductive.

Writing off citizens’ loans became the first priority for MPs Saadoun Hammad and Nawaf Al-Fuzai’.

Earlier, it used to be the main concern of former MPs Daifullah Buramia and Falah Al-Sawagh.

There are similarities in the way the government used to deal with the opposition in the last parliament and the way it is dealing now. It is clear that the same approach of ‘silencing the other party’ is in operation.

The government used to appease the opposition in the first 2012 parliament and is using the same

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tactics yet again to appease it in the current parliament. I am talking about the decision to close the AlYoum TV. Regardless of “violations” based on which the decision was made, closing the channel has proven a golden opportunity for the boycotting opposition to bolster its accusations that the government was against freedom of expression.

If I were the information minister, I would have started with a media campaign to expose all violations committed not only be the aforementioned channel, but all other channels broadcasting in Kuwait. I would have also explained the steps the ministry is taking in this regard.

That way, the opposition would have been left with no excuses. What is happening with the AlYoum TV today is strikingly similar to what happened with Al-Dar newspaper a while back.

Even in the multimillion-dinar deposits case, the two parliaments elected this year acted similarly. In the first parliament, lawmakers searched for MPs potentially involved in corruption between 2008 and 2011. Similarly, MPs in the current parliament have already started looking into financial records of lawmakers between 2006 and 2008.

This makes me wonder, what about potentially corrupt MPs in the years before that? Was 2006 the year which saw corruption seep into the political scene for the first time?

We are going through a critical time, and we are also running out of time. MPs and ministers share the responsibility to take us out of the numerous problems created by years of political turmoil. — Al-Rai

kuwait digest

Creating confusion on loans write-off

By Mohammad Ghareeb Hatim ayyed Hussein Al-Qallaf commented upon the stance of the government on the issue of writing off loans and said its actions are actually helping the opposition at every step. In this context, he cited the governmentís decision not to waive off the loans or the accrued interest as the latest such action that has gone in favor of the opposition.

Al-Qallaf blamed Al-Shamali for this and said by rejecting the proposal to write off the loans, AlShamali has raised the opposition’s standing.

Sayyed Al-Qallaf should know that it is not AlShamali or the government that have refused to write-off the loans, but rather the waiver did not come about because the move was unjust and against the notion of equality among citizens.

No one forced anyone to take a loan. It is time some vested interests stopped playing with the emotions of the simple people.

The issue involved is not whether the loans should be waived off or not, but rather how would it affect the Kuwaiti financial system and the bank’s situation. The one who is criticizing a rejection of the move should consider how come he was once topping the electoral charts and has plunged down to tenth position now. Is it because of the opposition or because how he conducted himself in the past?

The people today are far more aware, and are worried about safeguarding the interest of the coming generations. Whoever would try to compromise that interest will fall from grace in the eyes of the people when they will vote next. My question to Sayyed Al-Qallaf is, “Why do you consider the statement Al-Shamali provocative and something that favors the opposition?” You were the first to have Al-Shamali on board and history never forgets.

The opposition did not demand writing off of loans. Rather, the new members in a new assembly who have no worthwhile issue wanted to gain sympathy by raising this demand.

If minister Al-Shamali dug his heels in and refused to buckle, why do you consider it as strife?

Why do you consider statements by Al-Shamali as being helpful to the opposition? You accepted this government and accepted the principle of one vote so why do you contradict the governmentís stand now?

Mr Al-Qallaf, you are confused and are trying to confuse us. You have to explain to the Kuwaiti people how is the opposition going to gain and who is actually with the government. — Al-Watan

S

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

LOCAL

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is being received by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on his arrival in Kuwait from Bahrain yesterday.

MANAMA: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah attends the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Manama yesterday. —KUNA photos

GCC eyes more economic integration: Al-Shamali MANAMA: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali said here yesterday that the final communique of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) includes several important issues dealing with the economic agreement and economic integration among member states.

Al-Shamali said on the sidelines of the 33rd GCC summit, which concluded yesterday that the Supreme Council of the GCC leaders stressed the need to take necessary steps to strengthen joint GCC work, particularly with regard to the third article of the economic agreement.

He added that the Supreme Council called upon concerned committees to accelerate the implementation of the economic agreement, consisting of unifying monetary and financial policies,

and enhancing production capabilities to ensure greater job opportunities for citizens.

Clarifying that financial and economic committees were tasked to present timed programs aimed at achieving complete transition of economic integration among GCC countries. He said, the supreme council praised the GCC achievements in various fields of development, to achieve economic integration and activating the member states’ role. He noted that the Supreme Council called on foreign and finance ministers in the GCC to hold joint meetings before the GCC consultative summit to be held in May 2013, in Riyadh, to draft recommendations concerning economic integration for the summit.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at the conclusion

of their 33rd session yesterday lauded steps taken in implementing the economic agreement, stressing the importance of GCC citizenship values among its people in various fields. In the final communique, GCC leaders voiced relief towards performance of economies of the six GCC member states, calling upon concerned committees to accelerate the implementation of the economic agreement, consisting of unifying monetary and financial policies , and enhancing production capabilities to ensure greater job opportunities for citizens. The financial and economic committee was tasked to present timed programs aimed at achieving complete transition of economic integration among GCC countries. The Supreme Council approved all laws submitted by the Ministerial Council and minis-

terial committees and the Secretariat on the process of joint cooperation in various fields. The Supreme Council welcomed the opening of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Dialogue among religions and cultures, which was inaugurated in Vienna in order to promote dialogue and combat extremism.

It also welcomed the opening of the International Center of discrimination against extremism (Hidaya) in Abu Dhabi, a center of experts, expertise and experiences available in all states to combat extremism in all its forms.

The Supreme Council called on implementing agreements set during the joint ministerial meetings with countries and economic groups to achieve common interests of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and its partners.—KUNA

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is being greeted by National Assembly Speaker Ali Fahad Al-Rashed yesterday.

Amir returns home KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah returned home yesterday from Bahrain where he attended the 33rd GCC summit.

On hand at the airport here were numerous government officials welcoming him back home. Earlier in the day, the Amir was seen off by the chief of Bahraini protocols Sheikh Ali Bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa and Kuwaiti Ambassador in Bahrain Sheikh Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah and a number of embassy staff. Earlier, the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) praised HH the Amir’s speech, and his great

wisdom. In its final communique, the council expressed appreciation towards Kuwait’s hosting of the International humanitarian donor conference for Syria with the participation of the United Nations on January 30, 2013. Aimed at aiding the Syrian people and lessening their sufferings.

The Amir also attended a dinner banquet on Monday hosted by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, in honor of GCC leaders participating in the 33rd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit, hosted here. —KUNA

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

LOCAL

Kuwait has become a drug consuming country: Official Addicts get online orders home-delivered KUWAIT: Kuwait has transformed from being a passageway for drug-trafficking in the region to becoming a consumer state, a senior Interior Ministry official said, a local newspaper reported.

Brigadier General Saleh Al-Ghanim, the Acting Director of the Drug Control General Department, attributed the transformation to “Kuwait’s location northwest of the Arabian Gulf near countries suffering instability such as Iraq, Syria and Iran, and drug-producing countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

“Compared to 12 kilograms of heroin, 400 kg of hashish, 63 grams of opium, 83 grams of cocaine, as well as one and a half million drug

pills in 2011, [the DGCA] recovered 18 kg of heroin, 600 kg of hashish, 1.5 kg of opium and 600,000 drug pills this year as of September 1,” Brig Gen Al-Ghanim told the newspaper to support his argument.

Aware of the narcotics’ global impact and connection with money laundering and supporting organized crime and terrorism, Kuwait signed multiple cooperation protocols with Arab and Gulf states “regarding counter smuggling and handing over suspects,” Al-Ghanim added.

Asked about the reason behind Kuwait becoming “a target for a fierce attack by drug lords” as he described it, Brig Gen Al-Ghanim

mentioned “wealth and economic prosperity” as the reasons.

He said these factors facilitate the contraband trade as home delivery of such services becomes a real possibility. “An addict can get his order delivered to his home after placing it via e-mail or text messages.” The senior official also mentioned the increase in expatriate labor force as a factor in the spread of drugs, particularly since many “workers arrive from countries considered hotbed for hashish industry.”

At the same time, he said a large number of Kuwait’s expatriate workforce hinders the DGCA’s ability to find a mechanism to curb the spread of drugs.

Saudi citizen dies in car crash

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait employee Mohammad Al-Ramzi was recently honored by Chairman and Managing Director Ali Al-Mousa for winning the squash tournament organized by the Kuwait Banks Club featuring fifty competitors and representing local banks and financial institutions.

Doussary demands ban on New Year Eve parties

By A Saleh

By Hanan Al Saadoun KUWAIT: A 23-year-old Saudi expat died in a car accident at Salmi near kilo 4. His body was referred to the medical examiner. Another car accident at Fintas between bloc 2 and 3 left a 29-year-old Egyptian expat with a fractured right hand. He was taken to the Adan Hospital.

Iraqi injured A 26-year-old Iraqi expat was injured in the leg while a 29-year-old Egyptian expat fractured his right leg in a car accident at Fahaheel Expressway opposite Oqaila. Both were taken to the Adan Hospital.

KRCS donates 30 motorized wheelchairs to Palestine KUWAIT: The Kuwait Red Crescent Society donated 30 motorized wheelchairs to people with special needs in various Palestinian governorates. KRCS Chairman Barjas Al-Barjas explained in a statement on Monday that the donation came after employees at the society’s

office in Palestine noticed “the struggle of Palestinians with special needs to have access to motorized wheelchairs which are highly expensive in local markets”. He further announced the plans of KRCS to carry out multiple charity projects in Palestine next year.

Iran ambassador keen on boosting ties with Kuwait KUWAIT: Iranian Ambassador to Kuwait Rouhollah Qahramani underlined his country’s keenness to cooperate and enhance relations with Kuwait, especially in the cultural field which has a positive effect on all levels.

Qahramani made the remarks after the opening of an Iranian traditional art exhibition for the disabled in cooperation with National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) and Iranian Embassy’s Cultural Attache, adding that relations between the two countries are constantly evolving.

The Iranian ambassador noted that the Iranian leadership has always instructed him to bolster ties with Kuwait in all fields. Qahramani said that this exhibition comes as part of activities scheduled to be held in Kuwait aiming at improving ties between the two countries.

The exhibition was also attended by NCCAL President Ali Al-Yoha, in addition to other diplomatic and high ranking officials. —KUNA

Expat injured A car accident on Al Ghazali road opposite Al Rabia left a 27-year-old Indian expat with a head injury while a 37-year-old Bangladeshi suffered multiple injuries. Both were taken to the Sabah Hospital.

A car accident in Jahra between Al Ayoun and Taima left a 19-year-old Kuwaiti youth with a fractured spine. Another Kuwaiti youth, 17, was also injured in the same accident. Both were taken to the Jahra Hospital.

A car accident at Manqaf bloc 4 opposite Al Fahaheel left a 21-year-old Kuwaiti man with a fractured right leg. He was taken to the Adan Hospital.

A car accident on Fahaheel Expressway opposite Hadi Hospital resulted in a fractured right hand for a 27-year-old Kuwaiti man who also received facial injuries. He was taken to the Mubarak Hospital.

A 25-year-old Indian was run over by a speeding car on Ghazali road opposite the gas station. He died on the spot, and his body was referred to the medical examiner.

A car accident on Salmi road opposite Al Ghanim Owaises left a 25-year-old Kuwaiti man with a broken spine. He was taken to the Jahra Hospital.

KUWAIT: Member of Parliament Hammad Al-Doussary has warned the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Humoud, against showing any leniency in enforcing the law on the organizers of musical concerts to mark the ‘so-called New Year’s Eve’.

He said anyone wishing to turn certain spots in Kuwait into night clubs and casinos be dealt with strictly. He said vice was committed and liquor and drugs were abused at such spots.

Moreover, Al-Doussary urged the Information Minister, Sheikh Salman Al-

Humoud, to stop licensing such concerts that were in conflict with the Kuwaiti people’s religious and traditional values.

Money laundering Member of Parliament Safa Al-Hashim has posed a question to the Health Minister Dr Mohammed Al-Haifi, about the overseas treatment program since the appointment of his predecessor, Dr. Ali Al-Obaidi in April, 2012. Al-Hashim also filed an inquiry about the Interior Minister asking whether or not he received lists from UAE authorities that included the names of Kuwaiti figures involved in money laundering operations for the Muslim Brotherhood group.

Hotel Owners Association sponsors HORECA 2013 KUWAIT: Kuwait Hotel Owners Association will be taking part as a golden sponsor of HORECA Kuwait, an exhibition on hotel, hospitality and catering equipment to be hosted in Kuwait on January 28- 30, 2013.

Organized by the Leaders Group for Counseling and Development in cooperation with Lebanon’s Hospitality Services Company, the event will be held at the Raya Ballroom in Court Marriott Hotel.

“The decision came in recognition of the event’s important status. The hotel sector has to be represented as a main field involved in the hospitality market,” KHOA Chairman Ghazi Al-Nufaisi said in a statement yesterday.

Al-Nufaisi also pointed out the importance of “parties involved in the hospitality fields to keep in touch on a periodic basis in a professional atmosphere similar to what HORECA provides.”

“This helps improve quality of service and offers an opportunity for companies to

KHOA Chairman Ghazi Al-Nufaisi discuss future plans focused on the market’s needs,” he said. Meanwhile, Al-Nufaisi urged for discussions as part of the event regarding concerns about a potential drop in operation ratio by 2015 when the room capacity in Kuwait’s hotel sector is estimated to reach 10,000.

Gulf Bank wins CSR excellence award KUWAIT: Gulf Bank yesterday announced it has been awarded the prestigious ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence Award’ from the Arab Organization for Social Responsibility for the outstanding work done by the Bank to encourage wellbeing in the national community in 2012. The award ceremony took place in Dubai at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel on 15 December 2012, gathering together senior executives from companies from different sectors similarly being honored for their exceptional efforts of services in the community.

The Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence Awards encourages government and private institutions in the Middle East to actively maintain their social responsibility activities by focusing on the importance of sustainable devel-

opment, environmental protection, and community servicing through awareness programs. Fawzy Althunayan, General Manager - Board Affairs at Gulf Bank said:

“This award reinforces the Bank’s successful CSR approach, and we are very grateful to the Arab Organisation for Social Responsibility for recognizing Gulf Bank

with this award. The various initiatives that the Bank has carried out throughout the years have always started with the basic objective of increasing the well being of our beloved Kuwait. As a responsible financial institution, our aim is to serve the country and the people who need our support whenever possible.

“Earlier this year, Gulf Bank launched its ‘Give Life’ campaign to encourage more people to donate blood in Kuwait. The initiative, entitled ‘Give Life’, aims to convey to the Kuwaiti community that blood donation is a simple, easy and a very charitable and responsible thing to do.

Recently, Gulf Bank announced that the campaign had reached a major milestone of saving over 1,000 lives thanks to the increasing understanding and generosity of the Kuwait public”.

EQUATE honors employees’ children KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company hosted a ceremony to honor the educational achievements of over 40 of its employees’ children.

On this occasion, EQUATE Senior Executive for Administration & Corporate Services Abeer Al-Omar said, “EQUATE devotes great attention to addressing and interacting with employees and their families within a social context in appreciation of their role in the company’s success.”

Al-Omar added, “Such educational achievements by the employees’ children are sources of pride to everyone at EQUATE which is a diverse family that groups employees hailing from over 25 countries across the globe.” The event’s participants included EQUATE President & CEO Mohammad Husain and other management members.

In line with its “Partners

Success” tagline with all stakeholders, EQUATE hosts numerous activities for its employees and their families, which include Open Days, Gergean, Ghabga, athletic competitions and others.

In recognition of its sustainability achievements, EQUATE has earned several prestigious hon-

ors, including His Highness the Amir Award for the Best Plant in Kuwait; The Gold Award in Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) for Gulf private sector companies; The Award for Best Gulf Company in Recruiting Nationals; Arabian Business Best CSR Company Award; Oil & Gas (O&G)

Middle East CSR Award; O&G Best Implemented Environmental Program of the Year; Middle East Chemical Week (MECW) Plant of the Year Award; as well as Kuwait’s CSR Award in the Industrial and Oil Sector. In addition, EQUATE has received the Highly Commended Best

KUWAIT: EQUATE President & CEO Mohammad Husain with honored students.

Community Program Award during the First Middle East CSR Award Summit.”

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain

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

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

Indonesia Muslims throw rotten eggs at Christians

‘Irresistible’ Iowa woman fired for being too sexy Page 9

Page 12

Christians celebrate Christmas Pope decries slaughter of the ‘defenseless’ VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict used his Christmas message to the world yesterday to say people should never lose hope for peace, even in conflict-riven Syria and in Nigeria where he spoke of “terrorism” against Christians. Marking the eighth Christmas season of his pontificate, the 85-year-old read his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square and to millions of others watching around the world.

Delivering Christmas greetings in 65 languages, Benedict used the Biblical analogy of the “good soil” to underscore his view that the hope represented by Christmas should never die, even in the most dire situations. “This good earth exists, and today too, in 2012, from this earth truth has sprung up!

Consequently, there is hope in the world, a hope in which we can trust, even at the most difficult times and in the most difficult situations,” he said. In his virtual tour of the some of the world’s trouble spots, he reserved his toughest words for Syria, Nigeria and Mali.

“Yes, may peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims,” he said. “Once again I appeal for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced, and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict.” The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics also condemned conflicts in Mali and Nigeria, two countries where Islamist groups have waged violent campaigns. “May the birth of Christ favor the return of peace in Mali and that of concord in Nigeria, where savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians,” he said.

In Nigeria, the Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds in its campaign to impose sharia law in the north of the country, targeting a number of churches. In Mali, a mix of Islamists with links to al Qaeda have occupied the country’s north since April, destroying much of the region’s religious heritage. They have also carried out amputations to help impose strict Islamic law on a population that has practiced a more moderate form of Islam for centuries. Benedict also held out a Christmas olive branch to the new government in China, asking is members to “esteem the contributions of religions”. China does not allow its Catholics to recognize the pope’s authority, forcing them to be members of a parallel state-backed Church.

Late on Monday night, Benedict presided over a Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, where he urged people to find room for God in their fast-paced lives filled with the latest technological gadgets. “Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him,” he said. “The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full,” he said.

He said societies had reached the point where many people’s thinking processes did not leave any room even for the existence of God. “There is no room for him. Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so ‘full’ of ourselves that there is no room left for God.” —Reuters

VATICAN: Pope Benedict XVI delivers his ‘Urbi et Orbi’(to the City and to the World) message from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica yesterday. —AP

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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

Syria student turns bomb-maker for jihadists ALEPPO: “We don’t have rocket launchers, but I can make a bomb out of practically anything,” says a proud Abu Hudeifa, a university dropout turned member of a jihadist group fighting in Aleppo, northern Syria. “I connect two cables to the vehicle battery, and when they make contact ... boom!” says the 24-year-old, who confesses a deep hatred for President Bashar Al-Assad, as he shows off an old Russian-made rocket mounted on a pick-up truck.

Born in the town of Marea in Aleppo province, which has seen fierce fighting between rebels and regime forces for several months-Abu Hudeifa has joined the Al-Nusra Front, blacklisted by Washington as a “terrorist” group. He, however, bears no anger towards the United States and the focus of his hatred is clear. “I don’t hate the United States or the West... I just want Assad to leave my country and to stop killing people. That’s why I joined Al-Nusra,” he said.

Not much is known about Sunni AlNusra Front except that it is a jihadist group with roots in Iraq and has claimed some of the deadliest attacks against Assad’s forces in the conflict roiling

Syria. Analysts say the group believes that the fight against Assad is a religious struggle to oust a regime dominated by members of Allawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which the president belongs. Some 80 percent of Syria’s population is Sunni. Many also believe that for months now Al-Nusra Front has been spearheading the antiAssad rebellion even as the main rebel Free Syrian Army struggles to overcome divisions in its ranks.

Abu Hudeifa, who learnt his bombmaking skills from his older brother Ammar, says he joined the Islamist group for its adeptness at combat and not for its extremist ideology. “Thanks to Al-Nusra, we will win the war ... only Al-Nusra is ready to fight to the death.”

Ammar says his younger brother is only a fighter like him and not an extremist, like other members of Al-Nusra Front.

“My brother is much more open-minded than all the men in his group. He is no radical...He’s just a fighter, like me,” says Ammar, 28, who himself is a member of a mainstream rebel group and has swapped bomb-making for filming battles. As children, Abu Hudeifa and Ammar spent long hours taking apart

and then fixing remote-controlled car toys or any gadgets they could lay their hands on. “I’ve always been good at fixing things,” says Abu Hudeifa. “When my mother’s washing machine or fridge stopped working, or when my father’s car broke down, I’d get my toolbox out and get working... Now my brother and I put our knowledge to practice in war,” says Abu Hudeifa, who has sharp features and a short beard.

The brothers take great pride in their inventiveness, which however, has not been without cost. Abu Hudeifa has lost three fingers when a small plastic explosive blew up too early. “We’ve made devices from scratch. I’ve made remote-controlled bombs that exploded as army vehicles drove past,” he says. “We’ve also packed pressure cookers with explosives.

We close them tight with screws, heat them up for hours, then lay them on the road. When they explode, the cooker breaks up into shrapnel.

“They’re very effective. We’ve even managed to destroy many army vehicles’ armour that way,” Abu Hudeifa says. The two brothers share a raging hatred towards Assad for very person-

ALEPPO: Rebel fighters aim their weapons at regime forces on the front line in the Old City of Aleppo. — AFP al reasons. Ammar’s wife was killed instantly when a rocket fired by regime soldiers struck the car she was travelling in. “I’ll never forget my brother’s face when he heard his wife had been killed,” says Abu Hudeifa.

The two also share the pain of being separated from their parents who fled

their home for neighboring Turkey when violence swept northern Syria. “I want revenge ... I want to make Assad pay for my parents’ misery in a refugee camp across the border. They are freezing to death,” says Abu Hudeifa.

“I’m tired of watching friends and family being buried.” — AFP

17 die as soldiers clash with Yemen tribesmen Brigadier shot dead

CAIRO: Egyptian National Rescue Front leader and Former Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdin Sabahi (left) talks with Front member Amr Hamzawy during a press conference in Cairo. Egypt’s opposition said it will appeal a referendum in a new constitution backed by ruling Islamists, and vowed to keep up a struggle that has spawned weeks of protests and instability. — AFP

‘Charter illegitimate,’ Egypt liberal insists CAIRO: One of Egypt’s leading opposition figures has pledged continued resistance to his country’s Islamist-oriented constitution even if it is declared to have passed, contending that the process was fundamentally illegitimate. Unofficial tallies say nearly two-thirds voted in favor of the draft constitution, but turnout was so low that opponents are arguing that the vote should be discounted.

Hamdeen Sabahi, who placed third in the nation’s first free presidential race over the summer, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the majority of Egypt’s people are not Islamists. He argued that the string of election triumphs by President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group are the result of unfair electoral practices and key mistakes by the liberal opposition, particularly a lack of unity and organization. “The Muslim Brotherhood is a minority - this is for sure. They get majority votes because of division within the opposition,” he said.

“If there is transparency (in voting) and unity among civil groups, then surely the majority will turn from the Brotherhood.”

Sabahi said the Islamist groups in the country “for sure have tried to steal” the revolution that toppled authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak neat two years ago - “but we will prevent them.” Sabahi said the National Salvation Front - a union of key opposition forces that coalesced in the fight against the draft constitution - is not calling for civil disobedience in rejection of the Islamist-drafted constitution, but for a new constitution through peaceful means. The path toward such an outcome appears uncertain at best - especially as Sabahi rejected the notion, somewhat plausible in Egypt, of the military stepping in to undo the inconvenient outcomes of politics.

In a sign of the opposition leadership’s efforts to coalesce, Sabahi said the grouping would be led in the interim by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the Vienna-based United Nations nuclear agency. No confirmation of that was immediately available from ElBaradei.

In the interview, the silver-maned, charismatic former journalist seemed to embody the frustrations of liberal Egyptians today: While championing the democracy and lauding the 2011 revolution that felled Mubarak, they reject the outcome of that revolution, yet seem at something of a loss to cause a change of course.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets weeks before the referendum to demand a new assembly with greater diversity write the charter. Instead, an Islamist-dominated assembly hurriedly passed it before a court could rule on the body’s legitimacy, and Morsi himself issued decrees, later rescinded, that gave him near absolute powers to push the constitution to a referendum. Backers of

the Brotherhood and others Islamist parties also rallied in support of the charter, leaving the country split and leading to violent clashes between the two camps that killed 10 outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month. That created the impression that street protests can be conjured up to support either side in the current divide.

But only around 30 percent of eligible voters participated in the referendum on the divisive charter. Of that number, unofficial figures estimate that 64 percent voted in support of it. Sabahi said the low voter turnout shows people were not convinced by the Brotherhood’s slogans nor with the opposition’s. “This means that the battle for politics is concentrated on survival, food, jobs and prices - daily struggles that are the priority of all Egyptians,” he said. Under such circumstances, he said, it was illogical to enshrine the document as a constitution that can be amended only by supermajorities in parliament.

Critics say the new constitution seeks to entrench Islamic rule in Egypt and that the charter does not sufficiently protect the rights of women and minority groups.

Morsi and his supporters say the constitution is needed to restore stability in the country, install an elected parliament, build state institutions and renew investor confidence in the economy. In a reflection of the complex nuances at play, Sabahi refused to describe the current conflict roiling Egypt as a clash between secularism and theocracy, saying that in the Arab world, religion and public life could never be distinct in accordance with the Western model.

Rather, he said, the issue was preventing the Brotherhood from establishing a “tyranny” as a political movement not unlike that of the previous authoritarian regime. He likened Morsi to the ousted leader, Mubarak, saying the Brotherhood is after absolute power. “He (Morsi) reached power democratically, but is not exercising power democratically,” he said, adding that the Brotherhood “wants to establish a system of tyranny in their benefit.” Regarding the fears of theocracy, Sabahi said, “We are against separation of religion and state ... The intellect of the Arab region, and Egypt, is built essentially on religion and specifically the Islamic religion.”

Nonetheless, Sabahi said the opposition would continue to fight the constitution, arguing that the low turnout made it illegitimate. “From the beginning the National Salvation Front said this constitution does not represent the people,” he said. “This constitution is not one of national consensus, but of national division.” He said the NSF would now try to remain united in preparation for possible participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections. — AP

SANAA: Yemen’s army yesterday launched an offensive against tribesmen suspected of repeatedly sabotaging an oil pipeline in east Yemen, sparking clashes which left 17 people dead, tribal sources said. The dead included 10 tribesmen and seven soldiers, said the sources, who added that the army offensive in Marib province’s Habab valley, 140 kilometers east of the capital Sanaa, was launched in the early hours of the morning and was backed by air raids.

The sources said the army was “randomly shelling” the area where some Al-Qaeda militants joined tribesmen ranks in battling Yemeni troops. Marib is a major Al-Qaeda stronghold in the country. Tribesmen, of whom 18 were also wounded according to the same sources, fought back with rocketpropelled grenades and machine guns, one source said. The army did not immediately confirm the deaths of four soldiers. According to official figures, lost production due to attacks on the oil pipeline in the east cost the government more than $1 billion dollars in 2012, while oil exports fell by 4.5 percent.

A tribal source said that the offensive was aimed against prominent figure Salah bin Hussein Al-Dammaj, who has allegedly blown up the pipeline several times to pressure the authorities to pay him 100 million riyals ($480,000) in compensation for land he claims was taken from him in Sanaa.

The 320-kilometre pipeline carries oil from Safer oilfields in Marib to an export terminal on the Red Sea. It produces around 180,000 barrels per day.

Attacks on oil and gas pipelines by AlQaeda militants or by tribesmen seeking to extract concessions from the central government are common in Yemen. In July, Petroleum and Minerals Minister Hisham Abdullah said the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country had lost more than $4 billion (3.1 billion euros) in revenues since

February 2011 due to the attacks. Yemen produces about 300,000 barrels of oil a day, most of which is destined for export. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took advantage of the weakness of Yemen’s central government during an uprising last year against now ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, seizing large swathes of territory across the south.

But after a month-long offensive launched in May by Yemeni troops, most militants fled to the more lawless desert regions of the east.

Tribes in Yemen as well as AQAP militants often resort to violence and abducting foreigners to force the government to respond to their demands.

On Friday, two Finns and an Austrian were kidnapped in Sanaa, allegedly by Al-Qaeda-

linked gunmen. State news agency Saba reported yesterday that “security services are still carrying out vast search operations to hunt down the abductors and the place where the hostages are held to secure their safe release as soon as possible.”

In another development, at least five militants were killed and three soldiers wounded in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said. In a separate incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry’s offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available. — Agencies

SANAA: A Yemeni soldier mans a checkpoint at the entrance to the capital Sanaa following the kidnapping of three foreigners. — AFP

Syrians face harsh winter in desperate conditions BAB AL-SALAMEH: Huddled inside thin plastic tents in a makeshift camp after fleeing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s bombs thousands of refugees say they face a new enemy. “The cold is killing us,” many of them say.

Having survived a conflict in which more than 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed, refugees at the Bab Al-Salameh camp on the Syrian-Turkish border say the winter is now a bigger threat to them than the violence engulfing their country.

“The situation here is even worse than being at home,” said Waad Orfali, a 27-year-old woman, dressed in a pink headscarf, velvet pink gown and slippers, as rain pounded the camp.

“At least in the village there was a doctor,” said Orfali, who escaped from the northern village of Marea about two weeks ago after snipers and air strikes forced her and her family to relocate to the relative safety of the camp. The flimsy tents scattered across the encampment offer scant relief to the thousands of men, women and children facing freezing weather and constant rain, and colder conditions are still to come.

Earlier this month, the United Nations refugee agency said more than half a million Syrian refugees are registered or waiting in other

Middle Eastern countries, with about 3,000 new people seeking refugee status and assistance daily. “I’m three months pregnant and I’ve been bleeding,” said Orfali, who suffered from mouth sores. She said her husband suffered from kidney stones, but that neither had been able to receive medical care at the camp. “At home there’s no water or electricity and it’s the same thing here,” another woman chimed.

Tents reeked of damp as the rain seeped through, soaking blankets, clothes and rugs, and with no electricity in the camp, children, many wearing a single layer of clothing and slippers with no socks, shivered in the cold. Mothers complained they received little food. By the afternoon, they said breakfast had not even been distributed. With no running water, lavatories near the mosque stank of rubbish and sewage. “Tell them Syria’s people are full of lice,” said Um Ali, a mother of 12, said. She carried her ID papers in plastic to protect them from the rain in the hope that she could use them to get supplies from the camp authorities for her children.

STOP THE SLAUGHTER Some refugees here are trying to scrape together a living amid the misery. They set up

stands to sell cigarettes, and children zigzag through the tents hawking sweets and chocolate. IHH, a Turkish relief group, is running the camp.

Shawkat Gukman, the IHH coordinator at Bab al-Salameh, said the camp housed about 870

tents and 6,000 people with about 200 people streaming through each day. Gukman said IHH had not been entirely in charge of running the camp until recently. He said some 5,000 pairs of children’s shoes had been given out. — Reuters

Tehran tightens online security DUBAI: An Internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran, in an apparent extension of a covert cyber war that initially targeted the country’s nuclear facilities, an Iranian official said. Iran, the world’s No 5 oil exporter, has tightened online security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran believes was planted by arch-adversaries Israel or the United States.

The unit tasked with fighting cyber attacks, the Passive Defense Organization, said a virus had infected several sites in Hormozgan province in recent months but was neutralized. “Enemies are constantly attacking Iran’s industrial units through Internet networks in order to create disruptions,” Ali Akbar Akhavan, head of the Hormozgan branch of the organization, was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students’ News Agency yesterday.

“This virus has even penetrated some manufacturing industries in Hormozgan province, but with timely measures and the cooperation of skilled hackers in the province, the progress of this virus was halted,” Akhavan said. “As an example, the Bandar Abbas Tavanir Co, a producer of electricity in the province and even adjacent provinces, has been the target of Internet attacks in recent months,” he said. Bandar Abbas is the capital of Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast and home to an oil refinery and container port. — Reuters

9

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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

Two US firefighters shot dead in arson ‘trap’ NEW YORK: A convicted felon shot dead two firefighters and wounded two others Monday after luring them to a blaze that police said he had apparently set as a trap in a small town in New York state.

The 62-year-old shooter-who was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 17 years for his grandmother’s death in 1980 - then fatally shot himself in the head, said police in Webster, a suburb of Rochester on the shores of Lake Ontario.

His sister, who lived with him, was nowhere to be found, according to police. Investigators had not yet determined the gunman’s motive. The incident, which comes as debate rages in the United States about gun control following the Newtown school massacre earlier this month, happened shortly before 6:00 am in a small lakefront residential community.

“It does appear that it was a trap that was set for our first responders,” Webster police chief Gerald Pickering told a press conference, his voice breaking with emotion. “People who get up in the middle of the night to fight fires, they don’t expect to get shot and killed,” he added. “We are a safe community, a tragedy like this is just horrendous.” The firefighters were shot as they approached the scene of the blaze-a car and a house engulfed in a fire that they now believe was set inten-

tionally by the shooter, identified as William Spengler. “Four of the firefighters were shot. Two are deceased, two were transported to area hospitals,” Pickering said.

The two injured men were not in critical condition and were both expected to recover. Another off-duty police officer who responded was also shot and wounded. One of the injured firefightersall volunteers in the small suburb of Rochester-was able to escape and call for help. “We are being shot at. Multiple firemen down. Multiple firemen are shot. I am shot. I think he is using an assault rifle. We have multiple firemen down.

Working fire,” said the injured man, according to a police scanner recording broadcast by Fox News. A security cordon was put up around the scene and residents were evacuated. Seven homes were destroyed in the blaze, as the shooting thwarted initial efforts to douse the flames.

Pickering said emergency personnel had not yet been able to search the torched homes for possible additional victims. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said state police and the Office of Emergency Management were working with local law enforcement to respond to the scene. He also offered his condolences to the families of the victims of

the “horrific shooting” and “senseless act of violence.” “New York’s first responders are true heroes as they time and again selflessly rush toward danger in order to keep our families and communities safe,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We as the community of New York mourn their loss as now two more families must spend the holidays without their loved ones.”

The incident in Webster came 10 days after a shooting rampage at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut that saw a disturbed young man gun down 20 children, aged six and seven, and six adults. The shooter, Adam Lanza, had killed his mother at their home before heading to the school, where he eventually took his own life. The Newtown shooting has revived debate in the United States on the country’s gun laws, which are far more lax than in most other developed nations. President Barack Obama said he would support a new bill to ban assault rifles, and has put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of a panel looking at a wide range of other measures, from school security to mental health.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein has pledged to introduce a bill in January that would ban at least 100 military-style semi-automatic assault weapons, and would curb the transfer, importation and possession of such arms. But the nation’s

most powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, strongly opposes any new restraints in gun sales, with the group’s executive vice president Wayne LaPierre calling Feinstein’s proposal “pho-

ny.” The United States has suffered an explosion of gun violence over the last three decades, including 62 mass shooting incidents since 1982.—AFP

NEW YORK: Firefighters battle a blaze after they were let back in Webster, NY. A gunman ambushed four volunteer firefighters responding to an intense pre-dawn house fire Monday morning outside Rochester, killing two and ending up dead himself. —AP

Suicides underscore grim reality at Guantanamo Seven deaths recorded at Gitmo

BETHLEHEM: Foud Twal, the Latin Patriarch of the Holy Land, embraces Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (left) as the Palestinian Authority leader attends the Christmas Midnight Mass in Saint Catherine’s Church yesterday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. —AFP

Pilgrims celebrate at Jesus’ birthplace BETHLEHEM: Pilgrims and locals celebrated Christmas Day yesterday in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminating the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filling its overflowing halls. Overcast skies and a cold wind didn’t dampen the spirits of worshippers who came dressed in holiday finery and the traditional attire of foreign lands to mark the holy day in this biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited eagerly to see the grotto that is Jesus’ traditional birthplace.

Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va, traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem’s Manger Square where the church stands. “I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time,” Hardock said.

“On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we’re suddenly in the middle of the party.”

Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Hardock’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Gemmell of Longmont, Colorado, compared the festive spirit in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, saying “it’s like being at Times Square at New Year’s.” The cavernous church

was unable to hold all the worshippers who had hoped to celebrate Christmas Day Mass inside. A loudspeaker outside the church broadcast the service to the hundreds in the square who could not pack inside.

Tourists in the square posed for pictures as vendors hawked olive wood rosaries, nativity scenes, corn on the cob, roasted nuts, tea and coffee. An official from the Palestinian tourism ministry predicted 10,000 foreigners would visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day and said 15,000 visited on Christmas Eve - up 20 percent from a year earlier. The official, Rula Maia’a, attributed the rise in part to the Church of the Nativity’s classification earlier this year as a UN World Heritage Site. Christians from Israel - Arab citizens and others - also boosted the number of visitors.

Information technology consultant Martin Wzork came to Bethlehem with his wife and young daughter from Krakow, Poland. “My wife believes in God, so it’s important for her,” said Wzork, who described himself as a non-believer. “For me, it’s interesting because it’s a historical place and famous.” On Christmas Eve, thousands of Christians from all over the world packed the square, which was awash in light, resplendent with decorations and adorned by a lavishly decorated, 17-meter fir tree. Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city’s year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations’ recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month. —AP

WASHINGTON: The suicide of a Guantanamo inmate underscores the grim reality for detainees held there for nearly 11 years without charge or trial, with no end in sight to their imprisonment.

Three months after Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif was found dead in his cell, the US Army formally declared his death to be a suicide-the seventh at the prison. US Southern Command, which oversees Guantanamo, said the US Navy’s criminal investigation unit has opened a probe into Yemeni’s the death. “Too many questions are open,” his attorney David Remes said.

How, Remes would like to know, did the prisoner manage to die at the tightly-controlled facility of a self-administered drug overdose, as the autopsy report cites as the cause? And how could an inmate suffering from acute pneumonia be languishing in a disciplinary cell without medical care? “If it was suicide, it was assisted suicide,” the attorney quipped. Remes said that his client “foresaw that the military was trying to kill him, but without their fingerprints.”

Other Guantanamo detainees have reported finding “scissors and sharp objects in their cells,” he said. Remes recalled that Latif was known as a difficult inmate, and had been placed in a block of inmates being punished for throwing urine on his jailers. “He was a pain in the neck for the authorities. No doubt that he expressed and tried to commit suicide,” Remes said. “Nothing worse than spending 11 years of captivity. Nobody asked whether they are guilty or not. It’s a misery. They feel very depressed.” Remes said the despair is especially acute among the 15 Yemenis that he represents at Guantanamo.

THE EYE OF THE DEVIL President Barack Obama’s re-election, after nearly four years of failing to fulfill his vow to shutter the controversial facility, has compounded the despondency felt by many detainees. In one of his first acts in office, Obama declared that he would close the doors of the George W Bush-era “war on terror” prison for good. But it remains open, housing 166 detainees on the eve of his inauguration next month to a second term. Lieutenant Colonel Barry Wingard, an attorney who represents three of the detainees, said closing the prison would not necessary solve the inmates’ problems. “If closing Guantanamo means relocating my clients to other prisons throughout the world without a chance to prove their innocence, then it represents a new beginning without end for the prisoners,” he said.

“What we really need is the beginning of the end, and that involves release after 11 years in animal cages.” Among his clients is Fayiz Kandari, a Kuwaiti man who saw his war crime charges

recently dropped. “People always ask me ‘why are you so committed to your clients?’” Wingard said.

“When I travel to Gitmo, I look into the eyes of evil and injustice. There can be nothing more obscene in a legal system than keeping innocent men in prison.” Prison conditions and legal constraints have only gotten tougher, not easier, under the Democratic president, according to Wingard.

“Some of best examples involve the current regime insisting on reading my mail to my clients, deciding what mail he can receive and not allowing me to travel outside the US on behalf of my clients,” he said. “Under the Bush administration, these were protections we took for granted,” Wingard said, adding that the prison conditions “haven’t gotten any better.”

Wingard said detention under Obama has been no less cruel than under Bush. “Being punched in the face with a leather glove feels the same as being punched with a velvet glove,” he said.

Of the 166 detainees still held at Guantanamo, 55 have received the US militar y ’s formal approval to be transferred, as had Latif. But there is no immediate prospect for their release.

And their status only became more uncertain after Congress gave its final nod last week to an annual defense bill with provisions barring detainees from being moved to the United States or to foreign countries-in effect forcing the controversial facility to remain open.

Various human rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have urged Obama to veto the bill. “President Obama must also keep his promise to close Guantanamo,” Amnesty International’s Washington office chief Frank Jannuzi said after lawmakers approved the bill. “President Obama must veto this legislation.”—AFP

‘Irresistible’ Iowa woman fired for being too sexy CHICAGO: An “irresistible” Iowa dental assistant fired for threatening her boss’s marriage-even though she turned away his advances has lost her discrimination lawsuit. Melissa Nelson, who is married with children, had worked for James Knight for 10 years before his wife complained about his infatuation with her. Nelson told the court that she had seen Knight as a father figure and a man of “integrity” who generally treated her with respect. But about nine years into the job, Knight started to complain that her clothes were “distracting” because they “accentuated her body,” and he sometimes asked her to cover up with her lab coat. At one point, Knight told Nelson that “if she saw his pants bulging, she would know her clothing was too revealing,” court records showed.

After she told him that his complaint about the tightness of her shirt wasn’t fair, he texted back that it was a good thing she didn’t wear tight pants too “because then he would get it coming and going,” the court records showed. And at one point when Knight discussed infrequency in Nelson’s sex life, he told her “that’s like having a Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it.”

Knight’s wife, who also worked in the dental office, put her foot down when she discovered the two were texting each other. After meeting with their pastor, Knight agreed to fire Nelson because she was a “big threat to our marriage.”

Knight had his pastor by his side when he told

Nelson that their relationship-even if there was no sexual affair-had become a “detriment” to his family and that for the sake of both their families they shouldn’t work together. He later told Nelson’s husband she had not done anything wrong or inappropriate, but that he was worried “he would try to have an affair with her down the road if he did not fire her.” Since Nelson did not consider Knight’s behavior to be sexual harassment, the Iowa Supreme Court determined the question to be “whether an employee who has not engaged in flirtatious conduct may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.”

While Iowa law prohibits discrimination against employees based on gender, the all-male court ruled that Knight’s conduct was “unfair” but “did not amount to unlawful discrimination.” “I’m trying to stay strong. It’s tough,” Nelson told CNN on Saturday, two days after the ruling was released. “I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s right.” She denied wearing provocative clothing, telling the television network she wore loose-fitting scrubs to work under her lab coat. Knight’s attorney said there was a clear precedent to allow employers to fire employees who aroused jealousy in their spouses. “He and his wife really agonized about it,” Stuart Cochrane told CNN. “He didn’t want to terminate her.”—AFP

10

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

international

Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms More than 100 sites blocked for ‘maintenance’ DUSHANBE: Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites yesterday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year’s election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office. Rakhmon, a 60-year-old former head of a Soviet cotton farm, has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for 20 years. He has overseen constitutional amendments that allow him to seek a new seven-year term in November 2013.

The Internet remains the main platform where Tajiks can air grievances and criticize government policies at a time when the circulation of local newspapers is tiny and television is tightly controlled by the state. Tajikistan’s state communications service blocked 131 local and foreign Internet sites “for technical and maintenance works”. “Most probably, these works will be over in a week,” Tatyana Kholmurodova, deputy head of the service, told Reuters. She declined to give the reason for the work, which cover even some sites with servers located abroad.

The blocked resources included

Russia’s popular social networking sites www.my.mail.ru and VKontakte (www.vk.com), as well as Tajik news site

TJKnews.com and several local blogs.

“The government has ordered the communications service to test their ability to

ANKARA: Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon (left) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during a welcoming ceremony at the Cankaya presidential Palace in Ankara on December 18, 2012. —AFP

block dozens of sites at once, should such a need arise,” a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“It is all about November 2013,” he said, in a clear reference to the presidential election. Other blocked websites included a Ukrainian soccer site, a Tajik rap music site, several local video-sharing sites and a pornography site.

VOLATILE NATION Predominantly Muslim Tajikistan, which lies on a major transit route for Afghan drugs to Europe and Russia, remains volatile after a 1992-97 civil war in which Rakhmon’s Moscow-backed secular government clashed with Islamist guerrillas. Rakhmon justifies his authoritarian methods by saying he wants to oppose radical Islam. But some of his critics argue repression and poverty push many young Tajiks to embrace it. Tighter Internet controls echo measures taken by other former Soviet republics of Central Asia, where authoritarian rulers are wary of the role social media played in revolutions in the Arab world and mass protests in Russia. The government this year set up a volunteer-run body to monitor

Internet use and reprimand those who openly criticise Rakhmon and other officials. In November, Tajikistan blocked access to Facebook, saying it was spreading “mud and slander” about its veteran leader. The authorities unblocked Facebook after concern was expressed by the United States and European Union, the main providers of humanitarian aid for Tajikistan, where almost a half of the population lives in abject poverty.

Asomiddin Asoyev, head of Tajikistan’s association of Internet providers, said authorities were trying to create an illusion that there were no problems in Tajik society by silencing online criticism. “This is self-deception,” he said. “The best way of resolving a problem is its open discussion with civil society.” Moscow-based Central Asia expert Arkady Dubnov told Reuters that Rakhmon’s authoritarian measures could lead to a backlash against the president in the election.

“Trying to position itself as the main guarantor of stability through repression against Islamist activists, the Dushanbe government is actually achieving the reverse - people’s trust in it is falling,” he said. —Reuters

UN approves a new arms treaty debate US National Rifle Association opposes treaty UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Monday to restart negotiations on a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms, a pact the powerful US National Rifle Association has been lobbying hard against. UN delegates and

administration joined other members of a UN committee in supporting the resumption of negotiations on the treaty.

That move was set in stone on Monday when the 193-nation UN General Assembly voted to hold a final round of negotiations on March 18-28 in New York. The for-

attend, which UN diplomats said was due to the Christmas Eve holiday. The exact voting record was not immediately available, though diplomats said the United States voted ‘yes,’ as it did in the UN disarmament committee last month.

Countries that abstained from last month’s vote included Russia,

ST LOUIS: Gun enthusiasts look at various firearms on the floor at the National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits in this file photo in St Louis, Missouri. US firearm sales have sky-rocketed since the Newtown school massacre, as debate over gun control rages and enthusiasts fear certain assault weapons and high-capacity magazines could be banned. —AFP gun control activists have complained that talks collapsed in July largely because US President Barack Obama feared attacks from Republican rival Mitt Romney before the Nov 6 election if his administration was seen as supporting the pact, a charge US officials have denied.

The NRA, which has come under intense criticism for its reaction to the Dec 15 shooting massacre of 20 children and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, opposes the idea of an arms trade treaty and has pressured Obama to reject it. But after Obama’s re-election last month, his

eign ministers of Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United Kingdom - the countries that drafted the resolution - issued a joint statement welcoming the decision to resume negotiations on the pact. “This was a clear sign that the vast majority of UN member states support a strong, balanced and effective treaty, which would set the highest possible common global standards for the international transfer of conventional arms,” they said.

There were 133 votes in favor, none against and 17 abstentions. A number of countries did not

Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Belarus, Cuba and Iran. Among the top six arms-exporting nations, Russia cast the only abstention in last month’s vote. Britain, France and Germany joined China and the United States in the disarmament committee in support of the same resolution approved by the General Assembly on Monday.

NRA THREATENS The main reason the arms trade talks are taking place at all is that the United States - the world’s biggest arms trader, which accounts for more than 40 percent of global transfers in conventional

arms - reversed US policy on the issue after Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty. Obama administration officials have tried to explain to US opponents of the arms trade pact that the treaty under discussion would have no effect on gun sales and ownership inside the United States because it would apply only to exports.

But NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told UN. delegations in July that his group opposed the pact and there are no indications that it has changed that position. “Any treaty that includes civilian firearms ownership in its scope will be met with the NRA’s greatest force of opposition,” LaPierre said, according to the website of the NRA’s lobbying wing, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

LaPierre’s speech to the UN delegations in July was later supported by letters from a majority of US senators and 130 congressional representatives, who told Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that they opposed the treaty, according to the NRA-ILA. It is not clear whether the NRA would have the same level of support from US legislators after the Newtown massacre. US officials say they want a treaty that contributes to international security by fighting illicit arms trafficking and proliferation but protects the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade.

“We will not accept any treaty that infringes on the constitutional rights of our citizens to bear arms,” a US official said last month. The United States, like all other UN member states, can effectively veto the treaty since the negotiations will be conducted on the basis of consensus. That means the treaty must receive unanimous support in order to be approved in March.

Arms control activists say it is far from clear that the Obama administration truly wants a strong treaty.

Any treaty agreed in March would also need to be ratified by the parliaments of individual signatory nations before it could come into force.—Reuters

Storms, tornado mar Christmas in US NEW ORLEANS: Forecasts of snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened to complicate Christmas Day travel around the nation’s midsection yesterday as several Gulf Coast states braced for a chance of twisters and powerful thunderstorms. A blizzard watch was posted for parts of Indiana and western Kentucky for storms expected to develop amid predictions of up to 4 to 7 inches of snow in coming hours. Much of Oklahoma and Arkansas braced under a winter storm warning of an early mix of rain and sleet later turning to snow. Some mountainous areas of Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow amid warnings travel could become “very hazardous or impossible” in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the National Weather Service said.

Yesterday, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety said some bridges and overpasses were already becoming slick. Also, Kathleen O’Shea with Oklahoma Gas and Electric said the utility was tracking the storm system to see where repair crews might be needed among nearly 800,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Elsewhere, areas of east Texas and Louisiana braced for possible thunderstorms as forecasters eyed a swath of the Gulf

Coast from east Texas to the Florida Panhandle for the threat of any tornadoes. Storms expected during the day along the Gulf Coast could bring strong tornadoes or winds of more than 75 mph, heavy rain, quarter-sized hail and dangerous lightning in Louisiana and Mississippi, the weather service said.

“Please plan now for how you will receive a severe weather warning, and know where you will go when it is issued. It only takes a few minutes, and it will help everyone have a safe Christmas,” Mississippi Gov Phil Bryant said. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email. The most lethal were the storms of Dec 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32; and those of Dec 24-25, 1964, when two people were killed and about 30 people injured by 14 tornadoes in seven states.

In Alabama, the director of the Emergency Management Agency, Art Faulkner, said he has briefed both local officials and Gov Robert Bentley on plans for dealing with a possible outbreak of

storms. No day is good for severe weather, but Faulkner said Christmas adds extra challenges because people are visiting unfamiliar areas and often thinking more of snow than possible twisters.

“We are trying to get the word out through our media partners and through social media that people need to be prepared,” Faulkner said. During the night, flog blanketed highways at times in the Southeast, including arteries in Atlanta where motorists slowed as a precaution. Fog advisories were posted from Alabama through the Carolinas into southwestern Virginia.

Several communities in Louisiana went ahead with the annual Christmas Eve lighting more than 100 towering log teepees for annual bonfires to welcome Pere Noel along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. That decision came after fire chiefs and local officials decided to go ahead with the tradition after an afternoon conference call with the National Weather Service. In California, after a brief reprieve across the northern half of the state on Monday, wet weather was expected to make another appearance on Christmas Day. Flooding and snarled holiday traffic were expected in Southern California. —AP

SOUTH DAKOTA: In this file photo, riders participate in the Dakota 38 Plus 2 memorial ride near Woonsocket, South Dakota. The riders left from Crow Creek and were expected to arrive yesterday in Mankato, Minn. —AP

Indians mark hangings with trek on horseback ST PAUL: The day after Christmas will be somber for Dakota Indians marking what they consider a travesty of justice 150 years ago, when 38 of their ancestors were executed in the biggest mass hanging in US history.

Overshadowed by the Civil War raging in the East, the hangings in Mankato, Minnesota, on Dec 26, 1862, followed the often overlooked sixweek US-Dakota war earlier that year-a war that marked the start of three decades of fighting between Native Americans and the US government across the Plains. President Abraham Lincoln intervened in the case, demanding a review that reduced the number of death sentences. But he allowed 38 to be executed, including two men historians believe were hanged in error, even as he was preparing the Emancipation Proclamation to free black slaves in the South.

This month, in an annual event that started in 2005, some Dakota are making a 300-mile trek on horseback in frigid winter temperatures to revive the memory of this footnote in US history. “It was just a terrible trauma that they had to endure, and we continue to have to endure this generational trauma to this very day,” said Sheldon Wolfchild, former chairman of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in southwestern Minnesota. This year’s ride began on Dec 10 in Crow Creek, South Dakota, the reservation the Dakota were exiled to from Minnesota after the executions. It ends on Dec 26 in Mankato, where riders will attend a ceremony to remember the hangings.

Riders travel east across South Dakota, crossing the border into Minnesota and heading southeast to Mankato. Some ride the entire route, others join as their schedules permit.

Support vehicles follow them. The ride was captured in the documentary film “Dakota 38,” which won a special jury award this year at the Minneapolis-St Paul Film Festival. “During the ride ... it feels as close to how we might have been in a camp,” said Gaby Strong, who has participated in the ride or support for it each year.

“That is really what we are doing over the course of the 10 or 15 days that we are all together.”

Strong, 49, who lives in Morton, Minnesota, near the site of a key 1862 battle in the USDakota war, said the ride has helped form bonds among the Dakota Sioux, especially the young.

“It’s about healing, not only just for me, but for my community,” said Vanessa Goodthunder, a rider and participant each year. “We are just bringing home our ancestors. You meet a lot of new people, and I get a lot of different perspectives.” Goodthunder, 18, who is majoring in American Indian studies and history at the University of Minnesota, said the rides have helped young Dakota connect with each other and their history. “It’s your identity. It is who you are,” she said.

FORGOTTEN WAR Over the next three years, Americans will commemorate the 150th anniversary of a host of Civil War battles. Almost forgotten are the conflicts with Native Americans that occurred in the second half of the 19th century as the United States rapidly expanded west. Few of those conflicts are well known, with the exception of “Custer’s Last Stand”-when flamboyant officer George Armstrong Custer and his men were killed by Sioux leader Crazy Horse and his

warriors in 1876 - and the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, which many historians consider a massacre and the end of the Indian wars.

Thousands of Native Americans, white settlers and US soldiers were killed in the Indian wars. Native Americans were coerced to cede their lands and then forced onto reservations. In the Upper Plains, that included members of the Great Sioux Nation, which comprises Lakota to the west, Nakota in the middle and Dakota to the east around Minnesota. The seeds of the Dakota war were planted years earlier, in the 1830s, according to historians, when the fur trade that had been the basis of the region’s economy since the late 17th century began to fade and land became valuable for settlement.

Under treaties in 1851, the four main Dakota bands ceded about 35 million acres of what is now southern Minnesota, parts of Iowa and South Dakota. In exchange, the US pledged payments and allowed the Dakota a narrow tract of land about 10 miles wide on either side of the Minnesota River. Settlers swarmed onto the newly opened lands. In 1858, just after Minnesota became a state, Dakota chiefs were summoned to Washington, DC, and told they would have to give up the northern half of that narrow reserve, said St Cloud State University historian Mary Wingerd. By summer 1862, the Dakota, now largely dependent on government treaty payments that were long delayed, were starving. On Aug 17, young Dakota men out hunting killed five white settlers.

The hunters pressed Chief Taoyateduta, known as Little Crow, to back a war. Some Dakota, but not all, fought soldiers and settlers in the short, bloody war in August and September 1862. Hundreds of settlers were killed and hundreds more taken hostage in the war during attacks on forts, federal Indian agencies, cities and farms around southwestern Minnesota. Thousands of settlers fled east, fueling a statewide panic, and federal troops marched in to quell the Dakota fighters. The US was victorious on Sept 23, 1862, and Little Crow left Minnesota. Afterward, more than 2,000 Dakota were rounded up, whether they fought or not. Almost 400 men faced military trials, which often lasted just a few minutes, and 303 were sentenced to die.

LINCOLN’S REVIEW Lincoln demanded a review limiting the death sentences to those Dakota who raped or killed settlers. The number sentenced to hang was reduced to 38, but even in these cases the evidence was scanty, said Dan Stock, history center director at the Minnesota Historical Society. The 38 condemned men stood on a large square gallows surrounded by soldiers.

Thousands watched as a single blow with an ax cut a rope and dropped the scaffolding.

Wingerd said she could understand why the Dakota fought, but the brutal killings of settlers could not be condoned and she could not agree with people who believed that no one should have been hanged. “We have to understand it as a huge tragedy with victims on both sides,” Wingerd said of the deaths of settlers and the forced marches and scattering of most Dakota from Minnesota. “In fact, the Dakota nation did not go to war and most of the people who were expelled from Minnesota were guilty of nothing,”Wingerd said. —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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

Japan’s defeated ruling party picks new leader Ex-trade minister becomes new DPJ leader

HEHO: Photo shows smoke rising from the scene of an Air Bagan passenger plane crash near Heho airport in Myanmar’s eastern Shan state. — AFP

Two dead, 11 hurt in Myanmar plane crash YANGON: A Myanmar passenger jet packed with foreign tourists crash-landed and burst into flames yesterday in a field in eastern Shan state, killing at least two people and injuring 11 others, officials said. Black smoke was seen billowing from the charred wreckage of the Air Bagan aircraft, which came down near Heho airport-the gateway to the popular tourist destination of Inle Lake. Long isolated from the world under decades of junta rule, Myanmar has seen an influx of tourists and business travelers in recent months following a raft of political reforms.

Fifty-one foreigners were among the 63 passengers on board the Christmas Day flight from Yangon via Mandalay, according to the information ministry.

The ageing Fokker-100 jet crashed while attempting to land in heavy fog, breaking its tail and catching fire, according to the ministry. Air Bagan said a Burmese tour guide on board the plane was killed.

Earlier the information ministry said an 11-year-old had died but the airline said it was not aware of any child fatality. A motorcyclist on the ground also perished.

Two Americans, two Britons and one Korean man were among those taken to hospital in nearby Taunggyi, according to Air Bagan, which described the incident as an “emergency landing”. Two French nationals were also slightly injured, according to a French embassy official in Yangon. The information min-

istry said on its website that the plane appeared to have landed in a field next to the runway due to the bad weather.

“Because of the emergency landing near the airport, the plane broke up in the middle,” a government official told AFP, adding that passengers were evacuated.

The two pilots were among those taken to hospital, according to Air Bagan spokesman Ye Min Oo. “The cause of the accident is not clear yet. Only the pilots will know the cause, but we can’t contact them yet as they have been sent to hospital,” he said. Air Bagan is one of several domestic carriers seeking to profit from a tourist boom in Myanmar as it emerges from decades of military rule. It is owned by tycoon Tay Za, who is known for his close links to the former junta and has been blacklisted by the US Treasury which once described him as “a notorious regime henchman and arms dealer”.

The Fokker 100, which is no longer manufactured, was one of two operated by the airline along with four ATR turboprop aircraft, according to the company’s website. A surge in demand for air travel as Myanmar opens up has stretched the impoverished country’s aviation infrastructure, in particular in remote airports.

Yangon International Airport, the country’s main terminal, is set to exceed its limit of 2.7 million passengers this year and the Department of Civil Aviation warned in July it needed urgent upgrading. — AFP

Indonesia Muslims throw rotten eggs at Christians BEKASI: More than 200 Indonesian Muslims threw rotten eggs at Christians wanting to hold a Christmas mass near land outside Jakarta where they plan to build a church, police and a witness said.

Some 100 Christian worshippers intended to hold a mass near empty land where they hope to build a church, about 30kilometre east of the capital, in a project barred by district government and community members in 2009. Since then, worshippers from the Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant have held Sunday services under scorching sun outside the property. Yesterday, however, local community members blocked the road near the land, Andri Ananta, a local police chief on Jakarta’s outskirts said.

An AFP photographer witnessed furious locals-men and women wearing Muslim headscarf, with small children in tow-physically blocking the road and throwing rotten eggs at the gathering worshippers. Ananta said police managed to convince the Christians to drop their plan and return home. “We tried our best to avoid any clash and the Christians

agreed to leave,” he said, adding 380 police and military personnel including an anti-riot squad were deployed to the area. Church leader Reverend Palti Panjaitan said the incident came after a Christmas Eve attack Monday evening when “intolerant people” threw not only rotten eggs but plastic bags filled with urine and cow dung at them.

“Everything had happened while police were there. They were just watching without doing anything to stop them from harming us,” he said. The country’s high court last year overruled the district government’s 2009 decision, but constant intimidation from Muslims in the area has delayed the church’s construction, church officials said. Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has escalated since 2008. Ninety percent of Indonesia’s population of 240 million identify themselves as Muslim but the vast majority practice a moderate form of Islam. — AFP

BEKASI: Indonesian police block angry Muslim residents (background) away from Christian worshippers from the Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant intent on holding a Christmas mass on their property at the Jejalen Jaya village in Bekasi yesterday. More than 200 Indonesian Muslims threw rotten eggs at Christians wanting to hold a Christmas mass near land outside Jakarta where they plan to build a church, police and a witness said. — AFP

TOKYO: Japan’s defeated Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) yesterday picked as its new leader the industry minister during last year’s Fukushima nuclear crisis, after suffering a landslide electoral defeat. Banri Kaieda, 63, who broke down in tears in parliament last year as he faced heavy criticism over his handling of the accident, notched up 90 of 144 votes from party members, beating Sumio Mabuchi, a 52-year-old former infrastructure and transport minister. “I will do my best to reconstruct the DPJ. Please give me your support,” Kaieda told fellow lawmakers after being chosen as party president.

Yesterday’s vote was largely a sideshow in the runup to the installation on Wednesday of Shinzo Abe as Japan’s new premier. The centre-left DPJ suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party in a general election earlier this month, seeing its representation in the powerful 480-seat lower house of parliament dive by about threequarters to 57 seats. The conservative LDP’s landslide win ended three years of DPJ rule, with outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda saying he would resign from the party’s top job in the wake of the defeat.

Analysts said it could take years for the DPJ to retake power as urban voter support fell away, while some swing voters put their backing behind a new party led by conservative former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara and reformist Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto. The DPJ’s 2009 election win was historic for the country’s staid political scene, which had seen almost unbroken LDP leadership for the past five decades. Key to the defeated party’s chances of regaining power would be bringing “leftist forces” together to differentiate it from Abe’s conservative LDP, said Shigeki

Uno, professor of political thought at Tokyo University.

In a speech before yesterday’s vote, Kaieda said the party was “necessary for Japan today and tomorrow”. “The DPJ has two great roles.

One is the role as a party which pursues social equity,” he added. “The other role is the DPJ as a reformist party. We have forgotten that we are a reformist party, haven’t we?” Kaieda was trade and industry minister in 2011 when Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami that sparked the disaster at Fukushima, the world’s nuclear accident since Chernobyl. After facing a barrage of criticism

over his handling of the affair, Kaieda broke down in tears in parliament, a rare episode for a Japanese politician. On foreign policy, Kaieda is seen as pro-China and has said that he does not see Beijing’s growing military might as a threat to Japan.

Tokyo and Beijing are embroiled in a diplomatic row that flared in September when Tokyo nationalized a group of East China Sea islands at the centre of the sovereignty dispute. Kaieda is a free trade advocate who recently backed off that position, which is deeply unpopular among Japan’s powerful and highly protected farm lobby. — AFP

TOKYO: Former Japanese trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda (left) and outgoing prime minister Yoshihiko Noda (right) raise their fists as they shout slogans at a meeting of parliament members from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in Tokyo yesterday. —AFP

News

in brief

123 perish in Russia MOSCOW: A bitter Russian cold spell has claimed 123 lives in 10 days as temperatures plunged to -30 degrees Celsius (-34 degrees Farenheit) in the Moscow region and -60 degrees Celsius (-51 degrees Farenheit) in Eastern Siberia, officials said yesterday. “Since the start of the cold, 123 people have died of exposure and frostbite,” a medical source was quoted by Interfax as saying. About 800 people have been hospitalized, 201 of them in the last 24 hours, the source added. Temperatures are about 12 degrees Celsius lower than seasonal norms in Russia, where the coldest weather usually does not arrive until January or February. Russia’s weather service is predicting a drastic temperature jump in the European parts of Russia later this week, with 0 degrees Celsius expected in Moscow.

Fires kill 8 in Philippines MANILA: Eight people were killed and thousands left homeless as two fires struck the Philippine capital on Christmas Day, with one of the blazes sparking a riot in a slum, officials said. Seven charred bodies, all believed to be from one household, were recovered after a blaze razed a row of old apartments in northern Manila at dawn, fire officer Francisco Mabunga said.

The cause of the blaze, which broke out as the metropolis of 14 million people held Christmas Eve parties that lasted until dawn Tuesday, is under investigation, officials said. “They are all believed to be from a family that owned the apartment row and lived in one of the units where the fire was suspected to have started,” Mabunga added. A second blaze broke out at a sprawling shantytown, sparking riots that left one man dead and lead to two suspected rioters being arrested, said Manila fire marshal Santiago Laguna.

“They (residents) started grabbing hoses from our firefighters, who could not do anything as they feared for their own safety,” Laguna said in a radio interview. He said a man was beaten up and later died from his injuries in the melee as the blaze consumed the shantytown in the San Juan district. Arson is believed to be the cause of the blaze.

18 die as truck crashes HARARE: Zimbabwe state radio says 18 people headed home for the holidays died when their open truck veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in northeastern Zimbabwe. The radio said yesterday another 46 passengers crowded on the back of the truck were injured in the crash in the remote Honde Valley region known for its steep and winding roads and tracks. Bus and truck accidents, common in Zimbabwe, are mainly blamed on poor vehicle maintenance and speeding. Zimbabweans traditionally travel to their rural villages for the holidays. Travelers this year complained that bus companies hiked fares, in one case from $4 to $10 for a 150 kilometer trip. State radio said police yesterday warned against boarding private vehicles unlicensed to carry passengers.

Prosecutor, 6 others killed GUATEMALA CITY: A Guatemalan federal prosecutor and six other people were killed in an attack near the Mexican border blamed on drug traffickers, officials said Monday. The attackers burned the bodies of their victims, including Chiquimula prosecutor Irma Olivares, a businessman and the director of a regional government social services agency, said Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez. The bodies of three bodyguards were found in another charred vehicle nearby.

“The modus operandi of the attackers corresponds to drug trafficking groups” operating in the border region, he added. According to Lopez, the victims were returning from the inauguration of a hotel in La Messilla city. Mexican drug cartels, especially Los Zetas, have expanded their operations to Guatemala, a source of cocaine being smuggled into the United States. About 42 percent of crimes and acts of violence in Guatemala are tied to drug trafficking, according to government estimates.

Indian policeman injured in gang-rape protest dies NEW DELHI: An Indian policeman injured in clashes during a protest over a gangrape in New Delhi died yesterday, a police spokesman said, as much of the city centre remained sealed off following the violence. Subash Tomar, a 47-year-old constable deployed at the India Gate monument on Sunday to control the protests, was beaten up by a mob and rushed to hospital by the police. “The protesters pelted stones at Tomar. He was unconscious for two days and today he died,” New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

More than 50 policemen were injured in Sunday’s violence as officers struggled to quell increasing outrage over sex crimes following the gang-rape of a 23year-old student. Tomar’s cousin Ajay, who was in the hospital to claim the body, said the constable had joined the police in 1985 and had never spent a single festival with the family. “My cousin was always out on streets maintaining law and order. The mob attacked him for no reason. They just killed him,” said Ajay Tomar. Much of central Delhi remains sealed off after a wave of violent protests against the student’s gang-rape in the capital on December 16 and over a surge in violence against women.

The rape victim’s condition deteriorated on Monday night and she “continues to be in the intensive care unit and is having respiratory problems”, said M Mishra, a doctor at Safdarjung Hospital. In a rare televised address on Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged for calm following the weekend clashes in New Delhi and vowed to punish the rapists for their “monstrous” crime. Meanwhile President Pranab Mukherjee has also appealed to the youth to maintain law and order. “The anger of the youth should not overcome reason and there is need for practical action,” Mukherjee said, according to reports.

Police barricaded roads leading to India Gate, an imposing war memorial in

the centre of the city that has become a hub of the protests, mostly by college students. Many metro rail stations in fogshrouded Delhi were also closed. “Today is Christmas but we cannot step out of our houses because of the police restrictions,” Anita Kumar, a mother of three daughters told Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. Protests across India over the last week against sex crimes have denounced the police and government, with the largest in New Delhi at the weekend prompting officers to cordon off areas around government buildings.

More than 100 people were injured, including dozens of policemen. “Protest is important. It shakes the conscience of society, it brings people close to change, it makes them feel part of the change,” feminist author Urvashi Butalia wrote in an editorial in the Hindu newspaper.

“Rape is not something that occurs by itself. It is part of the continuing and embedded violence in society that targets women on a daily basis,” she added.

A significant section of protesters are demanding death sentences for the accused in the rape case and opposition parties have joined the demonstrations, mostly organized through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

The current maximum penalty for rape is life imprisonment, which is a “very harsh punishment”, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar told the NDTV news channel, rejecting calls for executions. “Some people say it is even more difficult than the death penalty because you suffer a feeling of death every day inside prison.” Traditionally conservative India’s rapid economic growth has thrown open new job opportunities for women and increased their financial independence but activists say many men see the trend as a threat to male dominance.

Almost 90 percent of the 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year were against women, with the number of rapes in the capital rising 17 percent to 661 this year, according to official figures. — AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian policemen fire in the air during the cremation of their colleague Subhash Tomar in New Delhi yesterday. — AP

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

NEWS GCC lashes out at Iran, urges Syria transition Continued from Page 1 civilians caught up in the Syrian conflict to be held on Jan 30 at the request of the United Nations. The GCC states also affirmed their support for the newly-formed opposition National Coalition “as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people”.

The statement meanwhile welcomed a decision by Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to restructure the army and the defence ministry, purging them of relatives and cronies of former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Gulf states had strongly backed a political deal reached last year in which Saleh resigned following a year-long uprising in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation. The GCC called on “all components of the Yemeni people” to participate in a national dialogue after it failed to take place last month when southern separatists refused to join the talks. The dialogue is part of the transition period, as per the Gulf-backed deal.

The summit had opened Monday with a call for closer economic integration and unity in the face of the turmoil which has swept much of the Middle East and North Africa. In the closing statement, the meeting said the GCC states had decided to accelerate the process of integrating the economic gap between member states and had approved a security treaty, while announcing the creation of a unified military command. The GCC said it had “supported the creation of a unified military command that organizes and plans and leads the ground, naval and air forces.” The communique did not elaborate.

But Mustafa Alani, a security analyst, told Reuters that he understood the idea was to have a standing command rather than a functioning one, and that it would only operate in times of crisis. The GCC

already has a pan-GCC military force - the 9,000-strong Peninsula Shield, created in 1986 and based in Saudi Arabia. It took part in the 1991 Gulf war and was deployed in Kuwait during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. But the Saudi-based force is widely seen as ineffective.

Gulf Arab states have faced a host of obstacles to military integration, including a lack of common equipment, their own reliance on their US ally and concern among some states about potential Saudi dominance of any joint military effort.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed bin Mohammed AlKhalifa told reporters Iran posed a “very serious threat”. “Politically, (there is) lots of meddling in the affairs of GCC states; an environmental threat to our region from the technology used inside nuclear facilities; and there is of course the looming nuclear program,” he said, referring to Iran’s disputed atomic work. “So the threat level is quite high, but we are ready if faced with circumstances that require action.”

While not racked by disturbances on the scale of Syria or Egypt, Bahrain has been volatile since pro-democracy protests led by its Shiite majority erupted last year. Scattered smoke plumes rose from Bahrain’s Sitra and Sanabis districts yesterday, apparently caused by youths burning tyres, but no major demonstrations were reported by activists. Bahrain’s Shiites say they are marginalised politically and economically, a charge the government denies. It has rejected the protesters’ main demand for an elected government. Four of the six heads of state did not attend the annual gathering. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is convalescing after a back operation in November, while Qatar sent its crown prince, the United Arab Emirates its vice president, and Oman its deputy prime minister. The next summit will be held in Kuwait. — Agencies

Iran begins naval war games Continued from Page 1 Iran frequently conducts missile tests and manoeuvres to underline its military muscle and has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic should it be attacked. The strait is a narrow channel at the entrance of the Gulf through which a third of the world’s traded oil passes. The United States has warned Iran that any attempt to close the strait would be viewed as a “red line” - grounds for US military action. Iran’s navy, with 17,000 servicemen, is tasked with defending Iranian interests in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Its offshore forces are limited to half a dozen small frigates and destroyers, and three Russian Kilo class submarines.

Iran regularly denounces the regional presence of foreign forces, including the US, particularly those stationed in the Gulf. It says the security of the region must be ensured “by regional countries”. Arab monarchies on the opposite side of the Gulf from Iran are worried by what they see as territorial ambitions by the Islamic republic, which frequently stresses Persia’s historic dominance over the waterway.

Separately, police in Tehran said yesterday they had arrested more than 100 “thugs” as part of an operation to curb violent crime after the brutal assault of a man was captured on a surveillance camera. “This (Tuesday) morning we apprehended over 100 thugs, some of whom had (criminal) records,” the commander of

Tehran metropolitan police, Hossein Sajedinia, said on state television. “We will parade them in the area where they were making trouble, by a judiciary order,” he added. Police operations targeting lawbreakers are carried out regularly in Iran but the latest operation comes after a video posted on YouTube showed images of a man being assaulted as he stands at an ATM machine.

The video, captured by the ATM camera, has been shown on state television. Posted on Dec 6, the video shows a man attacked by two masked individuals, who rob him of his money, bag and coat. One of the assailants, armed with a machete, leads the assault. The attackers arrive and leave on motorbikes ridden by two other gang members. On Dec 12, Iran’s judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani condemned the attack, saying it “caused insecurity”. “Though such events occur around the world, its occurrence in the Islamic country is shocking for us and the police have to resume confronting the thugs,” he said.

Larijani, quoted by the ISNA news agency, stressed that “based on Islamic teachings there is no difference between using firearms or knives and clubs in a crime, it is moharebeh (waging war against God) and it carries the death sentence”. Three days later, the deputy head of the Iranian police, Ahmad Reza Radan, announced that the four assailants in the video had been arrested.

Radan yesterday said that due to nationwide police operations, the country had seen a 47 percent reduction in crime since Dec 12. — AFP

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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Issues

Postcard from Myanmar: The land time forgot

By Anita Kumar here are no credit cards. The Internet is virtually impossible to access. Other everyday conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to in the United States are nonexistent. You couldn’t even find a Coke in Myanmar until a couple of months ago, when the Coca-Cola Co announced that it would start exporting its drinks to the Southeast Asian nation for the first time in six decades. Diet Coke still seems to be out of reach. In many ways, Myanmar is the land time forgot. Tourists arriving in the country for the first time in two generations find it still looks much as it must have in the 1960s, when the military seized control of the government and began its 49-year rule.

International isolation has left the nation’s largest city, Yangon, resembling the old-fashioned colonial capital it was during more than a century of British rule instead of a large Asian metropolis buzzing with technology. Massive colonial structures the size of Washington’s federal buildings - which once housed government agencies, courts and department stores - span block after block of downtown Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon. Even the heavily guarded pale blue City Hall has a colonial motif, though with Asian overtones.

History books tell us that the Myanmar government kicked out squatters and began sprucing up the buildings 20 years ago. But while some have been restored to their former grandeur, most have been abandoned in desperate need of repair or covered in blue scaffolding. Yangon, home to 4 million of the country’s 55 million people, doesn’t feel like the massive urban centers that dot Asia, such as neighboring Bangkok or Mumbai. There are no skyscrapers. Visitors flying into the former capital city can still see lush green fields, oxen hauling supplies and homes made of bamboo and dried leaves.

Everywhere you look, the infrastructure appears to have failed to keep up with the times. Large dilapidated apartment buildings that appear uninhabitable are overflowing with residents. Streets and sidewalks, uneven right to left and up and down, are crammed with food stalls selling fruit unfamiliar to Americans, fried treats and cold drinks in plastic bags with straws. Vendors hawk T-shirts, jewelry made from Myanmar jade and traditional lacquerware handicrafts.

Secondhand books that look like third- or fourth-hand books are sold on Pansodan Street in what some call Yangon’s open-air library. Women wearing traditional longyi sarongs and heavy beige powder on their faces carry baskets on their heads, while men crowd the ubiquitous teahouses and the Myanmar version of food trucks, small carts where meat is cooked in front of the one or two people who are able to snag seats.

A 2010 election launched a series of political changes in the country - ceasefires in some ethnic conflicts, the release of political prisoners, loosened restrictions on the news media and with political changes came cultural changes. Last month, in an attempt to encourage the emerging democracy, Barack Obama became the first US president to visit a nation still known to most people as Burma, arriving to throngs of jubilant fans, who filled the streets, chanting his name and waving American flags.

A team from AT&T accompanied his staff and press corps, setting up phone and computer lines in a nation where only one in four people have electricity. They even managed to provide wireless communication - somewhat intermittently - for the US media working on the manicured lawn outside the home of famed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the same place where the activist known in Myanmar simply as “the lady” spent 15 years under house arrest, presumably with no communication with the outside world.

When Air Force One left, so did the technology.

International visitors quickly realized that cellphone service providers don’t provide service in Myanmar, putting it in the same category as a handful of countries that include Cuba and North Korea. Some residents have cellphones, but many others make calls at stalls equipped with landline phones and people standing by to collect money. Finding wireless service is even more difficult. Only a handful of hotels and cafes have such service, but like air conditioning and electricity, it often doesn’t last for long.

There are signs that, finally, in small ways Myanmar is starting to catch up with the world. Guides offer English tours at the 2,000-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda, a massive structure that despite the nation’s immense poverty gleams with gold and diamonds. A few of the fortunetellers that line busy Sule Paya Road now cater to foreigners. Billboards, written in Myanmar and English, advertise Samsung, Panasonic and Rolex products. One promoted cappuccino with “real foamy Italian taste!” Credit cards still aren’t accepted, but visitors can pay some hotels, now filled to capacity, in US dollars. The airport, however, can still barely handle one flight taking off at a time. —MCT

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All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait.

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

China is the elephant in the situation room

By Ian Bremmer arlier this month the US National Intelligence Council released its Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds report - a document that comes out once per presidential administration - mapping out likely geopolitical trends over the next two decades or so. As usual, it’s a must-read, offering comprehensive analysis of the disparate factors that will drive global politics through 2030.

Further, the NIC took bold steps to correct some previous weaknesses in past reports. In the past the report nailed the “what” more often than the “when.” That is particularly the case with its treatment of the United States, for which “past works assumed US centrality.” This time around the NIC sets an increasingly “multi-polar world” - which I call the G-Zero - as the backdrop of its report, acknowledging that the lack of global leadership has accelerated in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008-09. America’s status as a “hegemonic power” is eroding, and no country is likely to take its place.

This multipolar world is the foundation for the rest of the NIC’s predictions.

The report is organized around subsections that range in probability: There are the megatrends that are sure to have an effect, the game-changers that could go a number of ways, and the four potential worlds of 2030. In my opinion, when it comes to probabilities for the future global order, the single biggest variable - both in terms of its importance and its potential variance - is China’s rise or lack thereof. If there are twin “gigatrends” that supersede all else, they are China’s trajectory and the multipolar world in which it is playing out.

China is mentioned more than 300 times in the report, and the NIC’s assertion that “the US-China relationship is perhaps the most important bilateral tie shaping the future” is dead on (though I’d cut the word “perhaps”). But despite China’s implicit impact on the report, the NIC doesn’t establish it as the twin pillar alongside the multipolar world it vividly describes. Nor do we get a full sense of how a host of negative China surprises could fundamentally alter the world of 2030 as we imagine it. A look at each subsection of the NIC report demonstrates just how critical China’s development is - or should be - in its calculus.

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Megatrends 1. Individual empowerment: Reduced poverty, growing middle classes and new communications and technologies will empower individuals around the world.

Individual empowerment is, on balance, a positive global trend. But in China, it is moving along two tracks.

There is the increasingly affluent, coastal, urban China, where citizens have access to the Internet and increasingly demand the protections that come with the rule of law, respect for intellectual property rights and tougher environmental standards from their government. In an authoritarian, state capitalist nation, where the central government’s priority is to maintain its grip on power, empowered citizens are a wild card. An

increasingly affluent population that is demanding more transparency and accountability poses a challenge to regime stability.

On the other hand, there is the half of China that is rural, mainly inland, impoverished and uninformed. Should this group fall further behind, China might face unrest and volatility from the other side of the spectrum. China’s two-speed individual empowerment is a more destabilizing dynamic than it may appear.

2. Diffusion of Power: Without a hegemon, power will shift to “coalitions in a multipolar world.”

This is spot on. But if power is shifting away from the United States and its allies, where is the bulk of it shifting to?

According to the NIC report, China will provide one-third of global growth by 2025, even if its growth rate should slow considerably. As the United States scales back its role on the global stage, the needs of China’s economy are tying its leaders ever more tightly to the world’s conflict zones.

3. Demographic patterns: We’ll see more aging, urbanization and migration.

China is ground zero for all three of these critical demographic trends and the interplay between them. According to some studies, the ratio of Chinese workers per retiree could drop from 8 to 1 today to 2 to 1 by 2040. That’s a product of a rapidly aging population - and a one-child policy that will keep the labor force from growing fast enough to keep pace. With “two Chinas,” one urban and empowered, the other impoverished and rural, urbanization and migration will cause significant turbulence in China’s social and economic fabric.

4. Food, water, energy nexus: “Demand for these resources will grow substantially” For the most part, demand from the developing world - mainly China and India - for these resources will drive conflict surrounding them. Today, China and India are home to 37 percent of the world’s population - and just 10.8 percent of its fresh water. Their share of the population will grow - as will demand for water as their middle classes grow.

Food is a similar story. Consider meat, which is particularly grain-intensive (and so requires a lot of water). In 1978, China’s overall meat consumption was one-third that of the United States’; today, it’s double. China now eats one-quarter of the global supply of meat, or 71 million tons a year. But per capita, it still only consumes onequarter as much meat as the United States. Expect the gap to close-with dramatic ramifications for global food supplies - as China’s middle class grows through 2030.

Game-changers 1, 2, 3. Crisis-prone global economy, governance gap, potential for increased conflict: Will multipolarity lead to a collapse or a greater resilience in the global economy? Will a governance gap between countries’ leadership capacities and changing realities overwhelm governments? Will we see more conflict?

Whether a multipolar world makes the global economy more or less volatile will increasingly depend on China’s trajectory and the role it chooses to play on the global stage. In terms of the governance gap in China, the NIC notes that there is a chance that demand for democratization will vastly outstrip Beijing’s progress in that direction. The NIC sees short- to mediumterm volatility arising from rapid democratization-and “a democratic or collapsed China” in the longer term, with the bright possibility for huge gains should China’s state structure turn democratic.

Unfortunately, in the case of sweeping democratic change, I just cannot get past that word “collapse”. Think about the Soviet Union in 1991. Then remember that China is on pace to become the world’s largest economy. In other words, there are a wide range of possible events in China that would have a starkly different - and enormous - impact on what the world looks like in 2030.

4. Wider scope of regional instability: “Will regional instability, especially in the Middle East and South Asia, spill over and create global insecurity?”

In this section, East Asia gets an honorable mention, but it should be front and center. The NIC aptly explains the regional dynamic: “Regional trends will pull countries in two directions: toward China economically but toward the US and each other for security.” As China grows, this balancing act will become unsustainable. And with such an outsized percentage of global growth slated to come from East Asia, this region’s issues are the world’s issues. I don’t mean to give prospects for Middle Eastern and South Asian instability short shrift - they will have their fair share and more. But C hina and its neighbors are at the center of this trend.

5. Impact of new technologies: Can the advent of new technologies help address global challenges like population growth and climate change?

Technological innovation is a global positive, but its potential to negatively impact China is a substantial piece of the puzzle. Let’s focus first on social media and innovation in information and technology. Any trend that scrambles the status quo of public perception and could potentially pierce the Politburo’s opacity has the potential to be structurally destabilizing. An estimated 570 million Chinese are on the Internet, and approximately 100,000 log in for the first time each day. Can the government keep pace with the lightning speed of technological innovation? What happens if it can’t?

Another field of cutting-edge technology between now and 2030 will be in 3-D printing for manufacturing and robotics. As the NIC explains, these technologies could eliminate low- and middle-wage jobs in developed countries, as has already happened with outsourcing. But what of their impact on a developing nation such as China?

A similar “outsourcing” from human labor to a machine equivalent could be hugely disruptive. Machine-driven eco-

nomic growth could exacerbate the dichotomy between the poor rural China and the rich urban one. What happens when China’s most valuable resource - ample cheap labor becomes the most serious threat to central political control?

6. Role of the United States: “Will the US be able to work with new partners to reinvent the economic system?”

The report correctly depicts the role of the United States as a game-changer, but China could use a parallel section. China and America’s global actions will increasingly be informed by the other. The report’s question would better read, “Will the US be able to work with countries like China to reinvent the economic system?” Or, if their bilateral relationship proves more contentious, tweak as follows: “Will the US be able to work around China?”

Potential Worlds In the potential worlds section, we get four distinct global scenarios for 2030 and a disclaimer that the real outcome will likely contain elements from all of them. On one end of the spectrum, we get a world of Stalled Engines, in which the United States has pulled inward, globalization has largely ceased and the powerhouses of global growth have halted. On the other end, there is Fusiona world where “China and the US collaborate on a range of issues, leading to broader global cooperation.” There are two other scenarios that I won’t go into here - take a look at the report itself to read about them.

All the NIC’s scenarios are compelling.

But China could be better positioned as a key variable and signpost in determining how we get from today to 2030. I structure what comes next based on two simple questions. First, “How collaborative - or hostile - will the United States and China be?” Second, “How multipolar will the world really be - that is, will other countries be weak or powerful in comparison to the US and China?” If the answers are, respectively, “very collaborative” and “very weak in comparison,” then we’ll see a scenario that resembles Fusion, with a workable US-China G2. If, on the other hand, we see a weaker, more adverse US-China, a scenario like Stalled Engines may be more likely. The bottom line: With its vast size and enormous potential for outsized success or failure, China’s trajectory is the true game-changer between today and 2030.

I’ve only scratched the surface of the NIC report. I highly recommend you read it for yourself. And be sure to look out for China - you can’t miss it.

NOTE: Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research and consulting firm.

Bremmer created Wall Street’s first global political risk index, and has authored several books, including the national bestseller, The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?, which details the new global phenomenon of state capitalism and its geopolitical implications. He has a PhD in political science from Stanford University (1994), and was the youngestever national fellow at the Hoover Institution —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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Pagano joins Colts

Jayawardene: Bring it on

Michu set for Spain debut

NEW YORK: The Indianapolis Colts and their fans got an early Christmas gift when head coach Chuck Pagano returned to work on Monday, three months after being forced to the sidelines to battle cancer.

Diagnosed with leukemia in late September, Pagano spent the last three months undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy, while his inspired team led by rookie quarterback Andrew Luck battled on the field earning an unlikely playoff spot.

“Circumstances don’t make you, they reveal you,” an emotional Pagano told reporters after reporting for work at the teams Indianapolis training facility.

“The way I look at it is, my job has just begun.

“Besides my job here...my job now is to give back everything I can possibly give back to everyone out there who’s fighting some type of illness, some type of disease, some type of cancer.”

The Colts, who tied for the NFL’s worst record last season at 2-14, improved to 10-5 with their win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday clinching an AFC wild card.

After three games into a rebuilding season, the Colts learned Pagano would take indefinite leave to fight his cancer and was replaced by assistant coach and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. —Reuters

MELBOURNE: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has no illusions about the hostile reception awaiting his team at Melbourne Cricket Ground but insists it will only spur the tourists in the second test against Australia starting today.

Sri Lanka do not have particularly fond memories of the MCG, where their spin great Muttiah Muralitharan was noballed seven times when the islanders last played a test here in 1995. The visitors have riled the Victorian fans this time by unofficially accusing local favourite Peter Siddle of ball-tampering in the first test in Hobart. “We have been through a lot of hostile things in the past. 1995 was one and even after that,” Jayawardene told a Christmas Day news conference yesterday.

“I don’t think that fazes our team. It might give us something extra,” added the visiting captain, who was expecting a decent Sri Lankan turnout in the match. “You have to remember there will be a good partisan Sri Lankan crowd as well so that will be good. It might go against him (Siddle). “We can’t control what happens out there. All we can control is what happens in the middle.” Sri Lanka have not won a single test on Australian soil and Jayawardene wants to break that spell before relinquishing captaincy after the ongoing series. —Reuters

LONDON: Swansea City’s free-scoring striker Michu is set to make his Spain debut early next year following a sensational start to his career in the English Premier League.

Vicente del Bosque, coach of European and world champions Spain, told Spanish television that the 26-year-old will play in the Feb. 6 friendly against Uruguay in Doha. Michu will be joined in the Spain squad by Iago Aspas, currently being linked to Swansea, whose manager Michael Laudrup is an admirer of the Celta Vigo forward. “Iago Aspas and Michu will appear (against Uruguay),” confirmed Del Bosque.

Michu has been prolific since his bargain $3.2 million transfer from Rayo Vallecano in the summer, topping the Premier League scoring charts with 13 goals in 18 games. He leap-frogged Manchester United’s Robin van Persie after scoring the equaliser in Sunday’s 11 home draw against the league leaders. Aspas may well be on Laudrup’s wish-list for the January transfer window but the expected price tag of around $13 million could put Swansea off. — Reuters

Southern Methodist defense sparks Hawaii Bowl victory

HONOLULU: SMU players hold up the Hawaii Bowl trophy after defeating Fresno State 43-10 in the NCAA college football game. — AP HONOLULU: Southern Methodist University dominated Fresno State to win college football’s Hawaii Bowl 43-10 on Monday, thanks largely to a disruptive per formance by Estonian defensive end Margus Hunt.

Hunt, a 6-foot-8 (203 centimeter) senior with an 82-inch (208-centimeter) wing span, forced two fumbles that led to field goals and sacked Derek Carr for a safety as SMU (7-6) built a 22-0 halftime lead en route to victory.

The Mustangs also returned two interceptions for touchdowns, giving them eight for the season to tie the National Collegiate Athletic Association record set last year by Southern Miss. Hayden Greenbauer picked

off Carr and returned it 83 yards with 1:14 left, the final blow to a miserable night for the Bulldogs (9-4).

SMU had seven sacks, the most Fresno State has given up all year. SMU quarterback Garrett Gilbert ran for a touchdown for the first score of the game and connected with Darius Johnson for a 21-yard score to answer the Bulldogs’ only touchdown. He rushed for 98 yards on 18 carries and threw for 212 yards. But this game was decided by the Mustangs’ defense, with Hunt leading the way. He was voted the game’s Most Valuable Player. Fresno State, which had averaged just over 47 points in its last five games, was held

Drag race for super maxis SYDNEY: Ragamuffin Loyal skipper Syd Fischer is predicting a good old-fashioned drag race between Wild Oats XI and his boat for line honors when the Sydney to Hobart begins Wednesday in Sydney Harbor.

The two super maxis are favorites with Wild Oats XI having previously won on five occasions and Investec Loyal - as she was known then - claiming line honors last year. The fleet of 77 yachts is expected to sail into a blustery southeasterly breeze of around 15 knots on Wednesday. The winds will lighten after a few hours but forecast northerlies will boost the fleet along Thursday.

“I think it’s going to be a bit of drag race actually, because they are going to be watching us and we’re going to be watching them,” Fischer said. The oldest competitor in the race at 85, Fischer is confident his boat is ready to go after an eventful lead-up.

It required repairs to rigging after the mast struck Sydney’s Anzac Bridge two weeks ago. “We were struggling, we had a couple of problems that we’ve had to overcome but we’re pretty right,” Fischer said.

With a westerly change now likely to arrive earlier than expected on Thursday, it may be difficult for any boat to break the race record. The race totals 628 nautical miles (723 miles; 1,163 kilometers). Wild Oats X1’s record from 2005 is 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 10 seconds in its race debut.

The 100-foot-long Investec Loyal won last year’s race of 88 yachts in 2 days, 6 hours, 14 minutes, 18 seconds.

That was just more than three minutes ahead of Wild Oats in one of the closest

finishes in the history of the race, which was first held in 1945.

“The race record to us is a bonus ... it all depends on the conditions,” Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards said.

There are five foreign entries - New Zealand has two with Japan, Lithuania and France one each. The Volvo 60 Ambersail is the first Lithuanian entry in the history of the race and arrived in Sydney on Saturday after contesting several other offshore races around the world.

“The boat named Ambersail is pretty much a household name back home,” said skipper and owner Simonas Steponavieus. “This is one of these legendary races and I’m very delighted to be here and to bring the boat here.

Japan’s 54-foot KLC Bengal 7 is only the eighth Japanese entry to take on the Sydney to Hobart. Owner Yoshihiko Murase started thinking about entering 40 years ago. “It’s not easy for me but this is my dream,” Murase said through an interpreter.

Asked why the race hadn’t attracted more Japanese entries, Murase said “the weather is really rough, that’s why I think many Japanese people don’t think about doing this race.”

France is represented by PeugeotSurfrider, a Beneteau 45 better known as Balance and chartered from an Australian. “French sailors we are very amazed and impressed by the Sydney to Hobart, so it was a dream like maybe one year to participate in the race,” said Peugeot-Surfrider’s Sebastian Guyot, who has a crew comprising Sydneybased Frenchmen and some sailors from France. — AP

scoreless in the first half for the first time in two years.

The Mustangs were playing in a schoolrecord fourth straight bowl game. They have won three of those games, twice as underdogs to explosive offenses - a 45-10 win over Nevada in 2009 and Saturday against Fresno State, both in the Hawaii Bowl.

Hunt, who won gold medals in the Junior World Championships in Beijing in 2006 in the shot put and discus, came to SMU for athletics and earned a football scholarship when the coaches took one look at him, and saw his 4.7 seconds time in the 40-yard dash. He set an NCAA record this year by blocking his

10th field goal.

His speed made all the difference in his final college game as Hunt zipped around tackles and harassed Carr all night. Carr finished with 362 yards on 33-of-54 passing. The 10 points were the fewest Fresno State has scored since a 20-10 loss to Boise State this year. After a scoreless opening quar ter, Gilbert shook off one tackle and scored on a 17-yard run. The defense took over from there. Hunt blew past right tackle Alex Fifita and blindsided Carr, dropping him flat as the ball came loose and was scooped up by Aaron Davis, who returned it 23 yards to the Fresno State 16 until he fumbled it out of

bounds. SMU had to settle for a field goal. On the next series, Carr scrambled backward and couldn’t escape an 18-yard sack to the 6, and then Hunt sacked him in the end zone for a safety.

Hunt then caused another fumble on Carr’s delayed handoff to Robbie Rouse on the following series. SMU’s Taylor Reed recovered the fumble, leading to Chase Hover’s 48yard field goal.

The two second-half interceptions sealed the victory for the Mustangs. Reed returned an interception 69 yards to make it 36-10, and then Greenbauer finished off a great night for the Mustangs’ defense. — AP

Seattle isn’t just sleepless, it’s loud!

NEW YORK: That dull roar still rumbling between your ears a day later is not your imagination. It’s the echo from the 49ers-Seahawks game Sunday night, when an already notoriously loud hometown crowd outdid itself.

How? Start with CenturyLink Field, a U-shaped stadium with cantilevered roofs extending over most of the 67,000 seats in the grandstands, a configuration designed to bounce back sound. Then throw in some fans presumably hopped up on espresso and, thanks to a later starting time, some more who stopped at Safeco Field on the way over to quaff 24-oz. beers offered through a promotion at a mere $4.50 each.

Next, mix in their dislike for a nasty NFC West rival and especially coach Jim Harbaugh, who smacked the Washington Huskies every chance he got when he was at Stanford and has been tormenting Seahawks coach Pete Carroll ever since. Finally, throw in that early, unexpected lead and - voila! - a near-perfect sound storm. Just know it could have been worse.

“Obviously, they were jacked up last night,” said Fred Gaudelli, the innovative producer of “Sunday Night Football” on NBC. “But in my mind, it’s one of the underrated sports towns in America. Actually, the special challenge there is always to convey how loud it actually is. “We knew that going in, plus we knew the 49ers were the team their fans hate the most.

So at Wednesday’s regular ‘brainstorming session,’ we turn to our head audio engineer and said, ‘How do we make viewers understand you can’t hear the person next to you most of the time, even if he’s yelling?’ We wanted to be ready.” Gaudelli knows what can happen to a team that ventures into Seattle without

preparing for the wall of noise.

In 2005, the visiting New York Giants collected 11 false-start penalties in a single game, the start of a five-year span when opponents piled up league-leading totals, averaging twice as many there as the Seahawks. The Carolina Panthers once practiced for a game there by dragging loudspeakers down to the practice field and simulating the sound of a jet engine. If that sounds over the top, it is, by about 18 decibels. Jets are routinely measured at around 130, Century Link’s best is only 112.

Gaudelli and his crew hatched a plan to demonstrate that by having sideline reporter Michele Tafoya speak into a microphone as the sound reverberated, then take a step back and try again. When they ran through it before the game, he had a stadium staffer simulate the crowd noise over the PA system. At the point Tafoya’s words were drowned out the system was cranked to 50 percent of volume.

“So I asked the guy, is it really going to be that loud? He looked at me,” Gaudelli chuckled into the phone, “and said, ‘Double it.’” The guy was right. That much was apparent at the start of the broadcast, when Tafoya interviewed Carroll - remember, the game hadn’t even begun - and didn’t dare stand anywhere but uncomfortably close.

Uncomfortable might be the right word to describe the 49ers as well, at least in the early going, when they had to burn timeouts as relatively inexperienced quarterback Colin Kaepernick was having trouble getting the play calls from his sideline. Right about then, he probably wished the 49ers had devoted more time to mastering their silent snap counts.

“The crowd’s explosive, it really is,” Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson said. “They love us

so much, and it brings so much energy to our football team. They keep us in the game, obviously, and they keep us alert.”

Experts have been arguing over the worth of home-field advantage for decades. Most concluded that in those places where it’s statistically significant, it’s usually because of a number of factors and not just one, such as noise. Since CenturyLink opened up in 2002, Seattle is 58-29 at home, a 67 percent winning clip that ranks the Seahawks sixth in the NFL over that span. That’s a far cry from New England’s league-best 72-15 record (83 percent).

But the Seahawks haven’t had Tom Brady at quarterback, and their road record is dismal enough (33-55) that the boost the fans at CenturyLink have provided might be best measured by their last four playoff appearances. If that’s not exact enough, try this: After a 2001 earthquake shook a viaduct that runs along the water and near the stadium, the University of Washington set up a lab to track future “seismic events.” One of them actually occurred during Marshawn Lynch’s thundering, winning, 67-yard touchdown run in a memorable upset of the then-defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints on Jan. 9, 2011.

Yet while we know how Seattle fans make so much noise, why remains the subject of much speculation. Gaudelli, like a lot of people, blames coffee. But I’m going with a theory advanced Sunday night by announcer Al Michaels, who suggested the locals roar nonstop because showcase games gives them a rare chance to remind the rest of the country they’re there. “For media people on the East Coast,” he said half in jest, “Seattle might as well be Bulgaria.” —AP

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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Sad sagas the story of 2012 NEW YORK: Jerry Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison, Penn State football played under NCAA sanctions and Joe Paterno passed away. Lance Armstrong abandoned his fight against doping allegations. Roger Clemens won his court battle, despite lingering skepticism over whether he used steroids. The impact of early-stage dementia forced Pat Summitt to step down from her coaching perch.

Again and again, it seemed, the sports world in 2012 saw the end of long tales with tragic or, at best, bittersweet endings. And in so many cases, off-the-field news overshadowed what happened on it: • In State College, Pa., where the Sandusky mess at Penn State destroyed lives and radically changed the face of a proud football program.

• In Washington, where Clemens emerged from court a winner, after a mistrial the first time around on charges he lied to Congress about performance-enhancing drug use.

• In Kansas City, Mo., where Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, then drove to the team’s facility in the Arrowhead Stadium complex, thanked his coach and general manager, and turned the gun on himself.

• In Austin, Texas, where the news broke that Armstrong decided to give up his long fight against doping charges, saying “enough is enough” but acknowledging no wrongdoing. The move began the cyclist’s swift fall from his spot as cancer-fighting sports hero in the public eye. And though he maintains he was victimized by a “witch hunt,” Armstrong still was stripped of all seven of his Tour de

PARIS: In this July 24, 2005 file photo, Lance Armstrong, of Austin, Texas, carries the United States flag during a victory parade on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, after winning his seventh straight Tour de France cycling race. In 2012, Armstrong decided to give up the battle against doping charges, saying ‘enough is enough’ but acknowledging no wrongdoing. The move began his swift fall from being perhaps the nation’s best-known cancer-fighting hero, and though he maintains he was victimized by a ‘witch hunt’ he was still stripped of all seven of his Tour de France victories. —AP

LONDON: In this Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 file photo, United States’ Michael Phelps competes in the men’s 100-meter butterfly swimming semifinal at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Phelps became the most decorated Olympian in history in 2012, adding to his enormous swimming haul with six more medals at the London Games, where the United States topped the winning charts once again. — AP France victories. “We must create a culture in which people are not afraid to speak up, management is not compartmentalized, all are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards, and the operating policy is open, collegial and collaborative,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said the day the NCAA levied massive sanctions against the Nittany Lions including a four year postseason ban. Erickson was speaking of his own school.

But in 2012, at least some of those lessons could have applied to any number of topics.

Sure, there were amazing moments to remember and savor. Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian in history, adding to his enormous swimming haul with six more medals at the London Games, where the United States topped the winning charts once again.

Usain Bolt became the first man to win the 100- and 200-meter dashes at consecutive Olympics, Eli Manning and the New York Giants reigned supreme in the NFL, San Francisco stormed its way to the World Series title, the Los Angeles Kings hoisted the Stanley Cup (no telling if any other team will anytime soon) and LeBron James and the Miami Heat silenced doubters by winning the NBA title.

Yet in a year like this, such times of achievement and triumph seemed few and far between. Take March 21, for example. That was the day when Tim Tebow was traded by Denver to the New York Jets, a huge story simply for the Tebowmania factor - and one that wasn’t even the biggest in the NFL that day, not with the announcement that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton would serve a yearlong suspension for his role in the bounty scandal.

Try August 15, when baseball got to experience a rarity - Felix Hernandez pitching the first perfect game in Seattle Mariners’ history and an all-too-common occurrence, that being someone testing positive for something, in this case San Francisco’s Melky Cabrera basically forfeiting any shot at the MVP or the NL batting title by being suspended 50 games following a positive test for testosterone.

Or Oct. 10, when Raul Ibanez showed off a flair for the dramatic - twice - by hitting tying and winning home runs as the New York

Long Run looks to regain lost lustre LONDON: Long Run bids on Wednesday to regain his King George VI Chase crown which he won so impressively two years ago but to do so he must rediscover the form he displayed then.

Long Run - trained by master handler Nicky Henderson - looked as if he was going to dominate the chasing scene for years to come when he won the King George at the astonishingly young age of six and then went on to capture the blue riband of the jumps, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. However, last season put a dampener on that notion, winding up with a limp defence of his Gold Cup crown when he finished a well beaten third behind Synchronised, who tragically was killed in the Grand National a month later.

With him gone and the legend Kauto Star retired - and controversially sent to be transformed into a dressage horse - Long Run will take on nine rivals at Kempton Park in what is effectively the mid-season steeplechase championship.

He comes into the race on the back of finishing second behind Silviniaco Conti last month in the Betfair Chase - the same race he was beaten by eight lengths by Kauto Star last season - but Henderson believes that he is in the right form to win.

“Everything has gone right. Haydock went much better this year than it did last year, probably thanks to no Kauto Star to thump him,” the 62-year-old told At The Races.

“OK, we got beaten, but he ran well and was probably straighter and didn’t get quite as hard a race. “He improved dramatically from last year’s Haydock race to the King George. We only got beaten less then two lengths by Kauto instead of eight.

“We’d expect to find that improvement, and I’d be hopeful that the ground is the one thing that can play to his strengths. Everything has gone well, the schooling has gone well and his work has been great.

“I think he goes in there with as big a chance as he had two years ago and we’d like the same again,” added Henderson, who also saddles Riverside Theatre. Among those hoping to prevent a repeat of his 2010 victory will be the surprise Gold Cup runner-up The Giant Bolster, who was third in the Betfair and due to be ridden by Tony McCoy, and Captain Chris, who was third in the King George last year.

“He’s flying, in tip-top condition,” said The Giant Bolster’s trainer David Bridgewater. “It was a superb run at Haydock and he’s come on a bundle from it. I’m getting very excited about the race.”

David Pipe has two in the race, Grands Cru and Junior but perhaps the most interesting contender is Kauto Star’s half-brother Kauto Stone, who will sight his stellar relation as he is due to be paraded before the race.

His trainer Paul Nicholls says there is little similarity between the two brothers. “There aren’t any similarities with Kauto Star. He’s half the size, he’s a different colour and has a different profile. “He doesn’t look a first cousin, but he’s a Grade One winner and a decent horse in his own right.” — AFP

Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the AL Division Series, an enormous moment by any measure. Of course, those blasts came on the same day that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a report in which Armstrong was portrayed as the lead of the “most professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

As stunning as Armstrong’s fall was, what went on at Penn State continued to dominate the sports lexicon. Sandusky was arrested in November 2011, but resolution didn’t really begin until 2012 - part of why the case was voted the top sports story of the year by The Associated Press, based on balloting by U.S. editors and news directors.

The longtime Penn State defensive coordinator was convicted of 45 counts of abuse involving 10 boys, and later sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison, which means Sandusky is likely to die behind bars.

Paterno succumbed to lung cancer in January, and a statue of his likeness outside Beaver Stadium was removed six months later, one day before the NCAA announced a $60 million fine and four years of scholarship reductions. Still to come: civil suits brought by Sandusky’s victims and the trials of former school administrators accused of neglecting their duty to report allegations.

“We can expect more fallout,” Erickson said.

Paterno is still considered by many as a sympathetic figure, and still revered as a role model by some. Clemens’ legacy doesn’t seem to resonate the same way with sports fans. It’s almost like his courtroom win was one that many did not expect to see happen, and it may be his last big victory for a while. Clemens - the only seven-time Cy Young Award winner is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year, and a recent survey of voters by the AP shows that he is likely to fall well short of the number of votes necessary for induction in 2013.

Clemens was accused by former personal trainer Brian McNamee in the Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball of using steroids and HGH, allegations Clemens denied before Congress. Eventually, after a Justice Department investigation looked into whether Clemens lied under oath, a grand jury indicted him on two counts of perjury, three

counts of making false statements and one count of obstructing Congress.

He was acquitted of all the charges on June 19 after a 10-week trial. “I’m very thankful,” Clemens said. “It’s been a hard five years.”

in coaching, her last loss was against an invisible opponent.

Summitt stepped down as Tennessee’s coach in April, a few months after revealing she has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. Summitt led Tennessee to eight national titles in her 38-year tenure, winning 1,098 Division I games along the way.

“It’s never a good time,” Summitt said. “But you have to find the time that you think is the right time and that is now.” Still, the year wasn’t gloom and doom for everyone, not by a long shot. Alabama got a chance to avenge a loss to LSU and win college football’s national championship, the second for the Tide in three years. The Tide will be back in the BCS title game again in January, against rising and surprising Notre Dame.

Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers became baseball’s first Triple Crown winner in 45 years. The Kings put together a stunning run through the Stanley Cup playoffs, the last celebratory moment the NHL got to enjoy before more labor strife led to a lockout.

Baylor went 40-0 for the NCAA women’s basketball title, while Kentucky returned to the top of the men’s game. And the Giants (New York) and Giants (San Francisco) more than lived up to their names, in championship fashion. But if there was one happy ending among all those the drawn-out sagas of this sports year, it was the year James had with the Heat.

Miami won the NBA title, beating Oklahoma City in five games for the franchise’s

BELLEFONTE: In this Oct. 9, 2012 file photo, former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky (center) is taken from the Centre County Courthouse by Centre County Sheriff Denny Nau (left) and a deputy, after being sentenced in Bellefonte Sandusky was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison, effectively a life sentence, in the child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno’s downfall. The Sandusky saga was a top story in the sports world in 2012. — AP Armstrong’s fight lasted even longer than that. second title and the first for James, who left The testicular-cancer survivor won the Tour Cleveland for the Heat two years earlier for de France seven times, all while dogged by the moments such as that. He won the league’s stigma of he-must-be-cheating. Armstrong MVP award. He won the NBA Finals MVP was never caught by a drug test, but rather award. He even helped the Americans win was ultimately done in largely by the words of another basketball gold medal at the London his former teammates. Armstrong continues Olympics.

After all he went through - from hero to vilto deny doping, but simply said his fight had lain, revered to pariah for his infamous gone on long enough.

Giving up has come with a price. “Decision” - James found a way to shake it all Armstrong cut ties to his well-known charity, off and complete his quest. “It’s a year I know Livestrong, and longtime sponsor Nike - I’m never going to forget,” James said. Not among other corporations - cut ties with him. many people will. Thing is, in so many cases in And as for Summitt, one of the greatest names 2012, it isn’t for the right reasons. — AP

Stomach virus rules Nadal out of Abu Dhabi return MADRID: Former men’s tennis world number one Rafael Nadal’s long-awaited return after an agonising six-month knee injury battle has been put off because of a stomach infection he revealed on his Twitter and Facebook sites yesterday.

The 26-year-old Spaniard - who hasn’t played since his shock second round exit to 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon in June - had been due to play in a six player exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi this week ahead of his return to the ATP circuit at Doha from December 31. He was due to join world number one Novak Djokovic and US Open champion Andy Murray among others at the three day event.

“I am really sorry but I cannot compete this year in Abu Dhabi,” wrote the seven-time French Open champion and presently ranked number four in the world.

“Everything was ready and I was really eager to return to competition, but the doctors have forbidden me to participate in Abu Dhabi because of a viral infection of

Rafael Nadal

the stomach which has provoked a fever.” Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam title winner, has been plagued by knee injuries throughout his career, a legacy of his allaction style.

But earlier this week he shrugged off any fears that despite falling to number four in the world rankings, he is no longer a threat to Djokovic, Murray and world number two Roger Federer. “I haven’t forgotten how to play. I have played over 600 ATP matches and I have spent two years without playing. My feeling is good. I won Roland Garros and those emotions are still me,” he said. “The doctors say the knee is fine and that is great news for me. I still feel something, it’s not perfect.” Nadal insisted he is not bitter over his recent experiences. “I have accepted it as normal, as part of my career, part of my job. It’s another challenge,” he told marca.com. “All I can do is try. But people have to realise that when you’re so many months without competing you need time to progress.” — AFP

NFL playoff puzzle nearly complete with one week to go NEW YORK: With one week remaining in the regular season, the National Football League’s playoff picture has come into sharper focus with only a few more pieces of the post-season puzzle to be put into place.

Much of the remaining drama is focused on the NFC East, where the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will stage a battle royale for the division crown with a ticket to the post-season going to the survivor. The Redskins (9-6), riding a six-game winning streak and with rookie sensation quarterback Robert Griffin III healthy and calling plays, host the Cowboys (8-7) in the Sunday evening prime time finale to the NFL regular season that will see the winner claim the division. While the Cowboys’ (8-7) only path to the post-season requires a victory, the Redskins could still scrape into the playoffs with a loss if the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings also lose their finales.

The situation is much more dire for the slumping

Giants (8-7), who will need plenty of help to advance.

The defending Super Bowl champions have lost five of their last seven and must defeat the Philadelphia Eagles at home on Sunday and hope Dallas, Chicago and Minnesota all lose.

The Seattle Seahawks (10-5) and San Francisco 49ers (10-4-1) enter the final weekend having clinched playoff berths but with the NFC West title still up for grabs along with a possible first round bye.

San Francisco can take top spot in the West with a win at home over the Arizona Cardinals (5-10) while the surging Seahawks, who have outscored opponents 150-30 in their last three contests, must close out the regular season with a fifth straight victory when they visit the St. Louis Rams (7-7-1) and have the 49ers lose.

With the 49ers or Seahawks guaranteed playoff spots the other NFC wildcard will go to either the Bears (9-6) or Vikings (9-6). The Vikings, who have staged a

late season charge behind the running of Adrian Peterson, can lock up a playoff spot with visit to Lambeau Field and a win over NFC North rivals the Green Bay Packers (11-4).

The Bears close out the campaign with a trip to the Motor City where they must combine victory over the Lions (4-11), losers of seven straight with a Vikings loss to move on. The Atlanta Falcons (13-2) clinched a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 31-18 win over the Detroit Lions on Saturday and the Packers can also grab a first round bye with a win over Minnesota or a San Francisco loss combined with a Seattle loss or tie. The post-season picture is much clearer in the AFC with the four division winners, New England Patriots (East), Baltimore Ravens (North), Houston Texans (South), Denver Broncos ( West) and wildcards Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts already decided. —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

S P ORT S

Preview

Celtic won’t be fooled by struggling Dundee

Victor Anichebe

Moyes: Anichebe return perfect timing LONDON: Everton’s Nigerian striker Victor Anichebe has returned to first team action at just the right time club manager David Moyes said on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old showed little sign of lacking match fitness as he returned to the side and scored in last Saturday’s 2-1 English Premier League victory over West Ham leaving them fifth in the table.

Moyes, who has gained many admirers over the years for keeping Everton competitive by spending wisely the little money he has been allocated, is especially pleased Anichebe has returned now as the impressive Belgian international Kevin Mirallas is struggling with a hamstring problem.

Anichebe may well lead the line against third from bottom Wigan today.

“Victor has played very well. He is an important player for us and a lot of people under-estimate what he can do for us,” said the 49-year-old Scot, who has been in charge of Everton for 10 years.

“Not having him available means we have not been able to change many things in the attacking areas. “Not having Mirallas available for the last couple of months at different times has meant we have been limited in forward areas and probably not won as many games as we should have.

“We want to keep him (Anichebe) fit and him to have a bit of self-confidence and I am sure that goal will do that for him.” Moyes, who has at times been slated as being the ideal replacement for Alex Ferguson when the venerable Scot steps down at Manchester United, will likely be without Mirallas while his highly-rated compatriot midfielder Marouane Fellaini is definitely out.

Fellaini, who will be serving the second of a three-match ban for headbutting Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross, will be replaced by Leon Osman, whose form recently earned him a call-up to the England squad at the relatively advanced age of 31. — AFP

GLASGOW: Celtic manager Neil Lennon has warned his players not to expect an easy game against Scottish Premier League basement side Dundee today. The Dens Park side sit bottom of the table, six points from safety, while the Hoops are five points clear at the top of the SPL. Dundee have found life difficult in the top division after they replaced the liquidated Rangers in the summer, having won just three of their 18 fixtures so far.

Current champions Celtic are looking for their fifth straight win in the league for the first time this campaign but despite his side being in a rich vein of form Lennon says he won’t be taking anything for granted.

“I’m not going to take the game lightly,” Lennon said. “We have another three games, Dundee, Hibs away and Motherwell before the break, so I will try to use the squad but everyone wants to play. “The team is playing so well that I don’t want to break the momentum up too much. But people are champing at the bit to play.”

With Celtic booking their place in the last 16 of the Champions League it means the Hoops remain in all four competitions at Christmas for the first time since legendary manager Jock Stein was in charge of the club.

The Parkhead side’s 4-0 win over Ross County on Saturday put them five points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand over nearest challengers Inverness Caledonian Thistle. And Lennon believes his squad are in good enough shape to continue this fine run of form before the winter break begins on January 5. “I don’t expect us to pull away, but I expect us to kick on,” he said.

“We are playing well at the minute and had an excellent second half on Saturday — a really good, top-quality performance from every-

Neil Lennon

one, and with the likes of James Forrest coming back to the team, he gives us an extra dimension as well.

“The players have acquitted themselves brilliantly so far and we are halfway through the season and obviously we would just like to keep that going now. “Whether other teams can stay with us, I don’t know, but it doesn’t look like Inverness are letting up, while Aberdeen had a good win at the weekend, so the league is still very vibrant.”

While Lennon is pleased with his side’s momentum, he is happy to accept the winter break, which gives teams two free weekends after new year. “I’m looking forward to the break,” Lennon said. “We are into mid-30s now

in terms of games already.

“It has come at a good time for everybody.

Hopefully when we come out of the winter break we will have a full squad. “And it will give the players a chance to refresh themselves mentally and give their bodies a rest for a week. “We will come back and do a mini preseason training camp and get ready to go again.”

Elsewhere, second-placed Inverness Caledonian Thistle take on St Mirren, Hibernian host Ross County, Kilmarnock take on Hearts at Rugby Park and Motherwell face Aberdeen at Fir Park. — AFP

Clarke still unsure of start in 2nd Test MELBOURNE: Australia captain Michael Clarke put himself through a tough fitness test on Tuesday but has not decided whether he will lead his side in today’s second cricket Test against Sri Lanka.

Clarke suffered a hamstring injury during last week’s 137-run win by Australia in the first test and has made steady improvement in recent days, including batting and fielding sessions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Christmas Day. “It’s improving every day ... but a decision can’t be made today,” Clarke said. “I’m still pretty positive I’ll be right for tomorrow. I haven’t run at a 100 percent but I’ve certainly built up over the last three days.”

Batsman Usman Khawaja, who has been out of the Australia side for a year, is on standby for Clarke.

Paceman Jackson Bird will make his debut in place of injured quick Ben Hilfenhaus, while Mitchell Starc has been rested and his fellow left-armer Mitchell Johnson returns to the lineup.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said he is expecting some repercussions at the MCG amid ongoing tensions over ball-tampering accusations made against Australia’s Peter Siddle.

Sri Lanka made an unofficial complaint to International Cricket Council match referee Chris Broad during the

first test in Hobart last week. Although the allegation was dismissed, Siddle said later he was upset because his name had been mentioned critically in social media following the complaint.

The last time Sri Lanka played a test at the MCG in 1995, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was no-balled seven times in three overs for throwing. “We have been through a lot of hostile things in the past ... 1995 was one and even after that,” Jayawardene said. “I don’t think that fazes our team. It might give us something extra.

“You have to remember there will be a good partisan Sri Lankan crowd, as well, so that will be good. It might go against him (Siddle). We can’t control what happens out there. A lot of the younger guys probably won’t even understand what the crowd’s going to tell them.”

Sri Lanka’s best test results in Australia have been two draws. The team has been defeated nine times.

But the Sri Lankans still believe a win during the current three-test series is possible.

“I’ve been a part of a lot of good teams and good performances, so if we do that, it won’t be for me personally but for the entire team and for the entire country,” Jayawardene said. “It would be something good and it would be for the next generation to look at.”—AP

Wiesinger, Reutershahn take over at Nuremberg BERLIN: Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn were appointed joint coaches of struggling Nuremberg on Monday following Dieter Hecking’s decision to take over at Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg at the weekend. Wiesinger, 39, who has recently been working with the club’s youth academy, and Reutershahn, 52, an assistant under Hecking, will take the reins for the second half of the season.

The team are fifth from bottom in the table after drawing 1-1 at Werder Bremen on Dec. 16, their final match before the mid-season break .

Nuremberg said Wiesinger, who played 186 league games for the club between 1993-99, would have the final say on team matters.

“In Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn we have two coaches from our own ranks that enjoy a great amount of trust and acceptance,” sporting direc tor Mar tin Bader told Nuremberg’s website (www.fcn.de).

“Michael has achieved great things with the youth setup and should bring

a fresh impetus with him.” Wiesinger played for several clubs during his career including Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich.

He was a Champions League winner with Bayern in 2001 and helped them land the Bundesliga title twice and the German Cup once. Wiesinger had a spell as coach of lower-league Ingolstadt from 2008-10. “Nuremberg is my club,” he said. “I was a player here and have put my heart and passion into my work here over the past year and a half.

“To get the chance to take on this challenge is ver y special for me.”

Reutershahn is one of the most experienced assistant coaches in the Bundesliga, having previously worked at Bayer Uerdingen, Hamburg SV and Eintracht Frankfurt. “Armin is an import a n t c o n s t a n t fo r t h e t e a m ,” s a i d Bader. “We have come to appreciate his skills and qualities as a person and coach.” Wiesinger and Reutershahn will be officially presented at a news conference on Jan. 3. — Reuters

Victorious Riggae Cricket Club team with officials.

CCC and RCC sail to the next round Kuwait Cricket U-15 Tournament KUWAIT: Riding on a spectacular 65 runs by Allan Thomas and his 108 runs partnership for the second wicket with Sharath helped (CCC) Cricket coaching club to emerge victorious by a margin of 95 runs against the spirited and young Gladiators cricket club in the Kuwait Crickets ongoing U-15 school cricket tournament played at Gulf Consults ground.

This tournament is played under the auspicious of ACC for the development of junior cricket in Kuwait. The much composed and stylish Allan with nimble footwork and precise timing struck some wonderful off side strokes while Sharath struck a handsome 38 not before Vineeth the opening batsman & captain of CCC played a cameo knock of 18 runs.

A late onslaught by Amal was another highlight of CCC innings as he played well to score 32 runs for CCC as they reached a formidable 167 runs in 20 overs.

Chasing a decent total to win, the young Gladiator players much younger to their opponents put up a brave fight but could not match the skills of seasoned CCC team and were all out for 72 runs in the 18th over.

Pawan who scored 18 runs was the top scorer for Gladiators. Ashwin took 2-14 whereas David, Clive & Amit took a wicket each for

Gladiators Cricket team with officials.

All-rounder XI with officials.

CCC. Allan Thomas was rightly declared Player of the Match for his marvelous innings.

Devastating bowling by young Justin Merwin Lewis who scalped 4 wickets for just 14 runs helped (RCC) Riggae cricket club to prevail over All-rounder XI by 59 runs in the second match of the U-15 school cricket tour-

nament. Batting first RCC scored 109 runs in which opener Vineeth top scored with 38 runs . Needing 110 to win the match Allrounders XI were All out for 60 runs in which Bonrich scored 20 & Rahul top scoring with 25 runs.

Justin was declared Player of the match for his bowling performance.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

S P ORT S

Preview

Rodgers backs Liverpool to cope with Stoke barrage

Vincent Kompany

Preview

City can still overhaul Man United, says Barry SUNDERLAND: Gareth Barry is confident Manchester City will be able to chase down Manchester United at the top of the table as the champions prepare to face Sunderland yesterday.

Roberto Mancini’s team have responded to their 3-2 defeat in the Manchester derby earlier this month with consecutive victories. That loss to their bitter rivals increased United’s lead to six points but second placed City managed to reduce the deficit to four over the weekend.

Barry scored in stoppage-time to secure a 1-0 win over a stubborn Reading side on Saturday before United dropped two points with a 1-1 draw at Swansea on Sunday.

England midfielder Barry, 31, acknowledges that United’s home games against Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion over the Christmas period are easier than City’s trips to Sunderland and Norwich. But City overturned United’s eight-point lead in the final six games of last season to win the Premier League title and Barry is adamant Mancini’s side have a similar determination this time around.

“When there’s a little gap it’s important that you don’t slip any further behind,” Barry said. “If we can keep chipping away hopefully we can be there at the end of the season. “It’s going to be a big Christmas and looking at the fixtures, they didn’t fall that kindly for us, with two away games with the distances we’ve got to travel.

“They’re tough games but we showed a great performance at Newcastle and we’ve got to do the same over Christmas.” City captain Vincent Kompany was on the bench for the win over Reading after a groin problem and he may be fit enough to return to the starting line-up at the Stadium of Light.

Italian striker Mario Balotelli could return from illness, while Mancini will be hopeful that left-backs Gael Clichy and Aleksander Kolarov can overcome minor injury problems.But Samir Nasri, Micah Richards and Jack Rodwell are all ruled out until the new year. Although United have the advantage at present, City’s recent defeat to Alex Ferguson’s side was their only loss in the Premier League this season and Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure believes the champions have already demonstrated they have what it takes to retain their title.

“It’s giving us encouragement because we haven’t played to our best yet,” Toure said. “We are the champions, every team knows we are champions. They play 200 percent and that makes it really hard for us.

“We just keep fighting, keep pushing and we can still be better.” Sunderland winger Adam Johnson is a doubt to face his old club as City go in search of their first victory at the Stadium of Light for almost fourand-a-half years.

City inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Martin O’Neill’s side in October, but they have taken just one point from their last three trips to Wearside, and their most recent victory was in August 2008. Johnson is showing signs of recapturing his best form after struggling to impress since a £10 million move four months ago. The England international was forced off with a thigh problem during the second-half of the 1-0 victory at Southampton that pushed Sunder land four points clear of the relegation zone, and O’Neill is keeping his fingers crossed the midfielder recovers in time. “I’m hoping it’s not too serious, but the way he limped off, it didn’t look all that inviting,” O’Neill said. —AFP

Benitez eyes title push with resurgent Chelsea NORWICH: Rafael Benitez believes Chelsea are showing signs they are capable of mounting a title challenge as the Blues prepare to face Norwich at Carrow Road today.

Benitez’s side gave their best performance of the season on Sunday to destroy Aston Villa 8-0 at Stamford Bridge and maintain the momentum from their midweek 5-1 victory against Leeds in the League Cup quarter-finals.

Chelsea fell just one goal short of matching the Premier League’s record margin of victory in an impressive display that saw seven different players find the net against a team who had been unbeaten in six matches.

The goal spree against Villa ensured the west Londoners moved back into third place, 11 points behind leaders Manchester United with a game in hand.

Now interim manager Benitez expects Chelsea to maintain the form that has seen them score 13 goals in just two outings since losing the Club World Cup final to Brazilian side Corinthians in Japan.

“The main thing is to win our games; you can do it if you see the team improving. With this kind of performance you can normally win games,” he said. “You could see the mentality of the players, even at 60 we were pushing and trying to score more. The team are attacking as a whole and not just depending on one or two players, which is good news.

“Hopefully we can keep this momentum. We have to sustain this run, keep winning some games and then it will be easier for me to send a message out that we can compete.”

Brazilian defender David Luiz is likely to continue in midfield against Norwich as Chelsea bid to make it three successive league victories. John Terry is still absent for Chelsea so Branislav Ivanovic should partner Gary Cahill at the back once again.

Frank Lampard celebrated his 500th Premier League start with Chelsea’s fourth goal against Villa, although doubts remain over the England midfielder’s future at Stamford Bridge.

Lammpard’s contract expires at the end of the season but despite rumors linking him with moves to QPR and French Ligue 2 side Monaco in January, Benitez refused to give anything away. “He’s an important player for us; he’s playing well, training well and his commitment’s there,” Benitez said.

“I’m really pleased for him scoring another goal. We have a long season to play and he’s doing well.” Norwich surrendered their 10-match unbeaten run against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, but have won their last five Premier League matches at home.

Canaries manager Chris Hughton hopes to have Grant Holt available again after he missed the trip to the Hawthorns, but he won’t gamble on the striker’s fitness going into the hectic Christmas programme.

“We hope that Grant will be back with us for the Chelsea game, but we’ll see. He was touch and go for West Brom, but we need to make sure it’s right,” Hughton said.

“It’s not about one or two games, it’s about a season, and us trying to finish as strong as possible. “For that you want all your best players available. That’s what the squad is about though and that’s why you have the competition that you have.”—AFP

STOKE-ON-TRENT: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is sure his team can cope with Stoke’s physicality as he prepares for today’s trip to the Britannia Stadium.

The Reds are finishing 2012 strongly, with a run of four wins in five matches taking them to within five points of the Premier League’s top four. Rodgers is satisfied with the speed that the Reds have adapted to his passing strategy since his arrival from Swansea in the close-season.

And he has no concerns that Stoke’s aggressive approach will ruffle his team’s smooth style. After keeping Swansea in the top flight in their first campaign last season, Rodgers has plenty of respect for the work Tony Pulis has done with unfashionable Stoke whatever the critics say about their tactics.

“I’ve always respected them. There’s no right or wrong way to play football but Stoke sometimes have got a lot of unfair criticism,” Rodgers said. “How they play the game, they challenge you physically, which is fine, because it’s a physical sport, and at the elite level that’s what happens.

“To consistently stay at this level after Tony got the team promoted takes a lot of work. I know through my time at Swansea the difficulties last year in that first full season and you’re trying to grow on that season by season and Tony’s done that.

“It’s always going to be a tough challenge and a tough game but we’ll be ready for it because you have to be able to mix your game as well and this team can do that.”

Rodgers is confident of making some additions to his side in January after failing to add to his attacking options before the transfer window. The Reds are close to a deal for Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge and have also been linked with a move for Blackpool’s England under 21 winger Thomas Ince.

Rodgers believes that some new faces, plus his team’s growing comfort with his methods, mean that Liverpool will finish the season strongly. “You include the growth of the

Brendan Rodgers group, the young players have got experience, the responsibility the senior players have had to take on board, working with a new manager and finding new ways to play football,” he said.

“Some of our performances haven’t been rewarded but I know there’s a strong spirit in the group and we feel we’re improving all the time. “As long as we keep that mentality to do our work and work well with the aggression in our game, we can really improve.

“We missed out on one or two signings in August and we don’t want to make many in January but the one or two that we do can make a difference and help us.

“If we do that then we can have a good second-half of the season.” While Rodgers is in confident mood, Liverpool have not won at the Britannia Stadium since Stoke were promoted in 2008.

Stoke have kept nine clean sheets this season, which is more than any other team in the Premier League and gives them one of the best defensive records in Europe.

Pulis is delighted with the way his team have steadily established themselves as a force in the top-flight and expects more evidence of their progress against Liverpool. “We have gradually got better over the five years we have been in the Premier League but we have to take our time and make sure we do it properly,” Pulis said.

“The other thing is that when we got in the Premier League, as a football club we had no infrastructure in place so we had to spend a lot of money on that. “It’s hopefully building a club for generations to come and not just for this moment in time. We are what we are. We have to keep improving and do the things we feel are right.” — AFP

Preview

Vidic boosted by end of United’s injury woes MANCHESTER: Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic believes the Premier League leaders’ improving injury situation will have a significant impac t during the busy Christmas period.

United, who saw their advantage over second-placed Manchester City trimmed to four points over the weekend, host Newcastle on Wednesday and then face West Bromwich Albion before travelling to Wigan on January 1. With such a hectic schedule, Vidic, who made his first start after three months out with a knee problem in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Swansea, knows it will be a major bonus to have a healthy squad.

Rio Ferdinand will be available again after being rested for the trip to Swansea, while Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa is set to return to training this week following a knee problem.

That leaves only Rafael da Silva, Nani and Anderson on the injured list, in stark contrast to the host of problems that plagued the opening months of United’s campaign.

Vidic feels the increase in options are essential for United manager Alex Ferguson as his team try to hold onto their lead at the top heading into 2013. “We now have three games in the next nine days,” Vidic said.

“Obviously we have a few players who are coming back from injury and they will be important for that period.”

Newcastle eased the pressure on boss Alan Pardew with only their second victory in 12 games thanks to a 1-0 win against fellow strugglers QPR at the weekend to climb five points clear of the relegation zone.

Ferguson admits he is surprised to see Newcastle struggling towards the foot of the table, but the Scot was just as shocked to see Pardew ’s side challenge for a Champions League place last season.

He also revealed he knew little about Newcastle’s impressive signings before they arrived in England. “The new players they brought in caught us all by surprise. We didn’t really know a lot about them,” Ferguson said. “I knew about (Demba) Ba, of course, but I didn’t know anything about (Yohan) Cabaye or (Papiss) Cisse to be honest with you. “They had fantastic seasons. Second time round, clubs are starting to analyse them a bit different, plus, more importantly, he’s had some injuries.

“Cabaye’s out until next year, (Cheick) Tiote is out to next year, he’s had one or two important players injured and that does make a difference when you’ve not got a squad as strong as the likes of ourselves or City or Chelsea.” Newcastle winger Gabriel Obertan admits there is added incentive to do well on his latest return to Old Trafford.

The former France Under-21 international faces his former club keen to force his way back into Pardew’s plans after overcoming a persistent toe injury. Obertan failed to make an impression under Ferguson and was restricted to just 13 starts in two seasons before a £2 million switch to St James’ Park in August 2011.

Nemanja Vidic

“It’s always special to go back to an old club. I’ve still got friends there and it was a little weird the first time I returned, but now I’m used to it and we go there searching for three points,” he said.

“There’s always a bit of extra motivation when you play against your old team. It was the same for me against Bordeaux.”

Obertan, who came on as a second-half substitute against QPR, added: “That win doesn’t really change anything for us on Wednesday. “After what we did last season people have high expectations of us. We k now we’ll have to work hard at Old Trafford. The pressure is still on us even after this win.” — AFP

19

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

SPORTS

On the back roads of golf, tales from the tour KIAWAH ISLAND: Dave Kindred, a preeminent American sports writer who has worked his trade for the better part of four decades, was walking down the right side of the first fairway at Kiawah Island with the final group at the PGA Championship when he mentioned he had been teaching a writing class to college students.

Like most great columnists, Kindred’s strength is his power of observation, and he has tried to pass that along. “The one thing I tell them,” he said, “is that if you really pay attention to what you’re covering, you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.”

He stopped and kneeled to watch Carl Pettersson, playing in the last group that Sunday with Rory McIlroy, hit his approach to the green. Pettersson was just inside the red hazard line, so he was careful not to ground his club. Brushing the top of the grass was OK. Moments after his shot, he was approached

by PGA rules official Brad Gregory and told there might be a problem.

In a bizarre development, Pettersson’s club nicked a leaf on the way back, a violation of Rule 13-4c for moving a loose impediment in a hazard. After an exhaustive video review, Pettersson was given the bad news — a twostroke penalty — on the fourth hole. Pay attention and you never know what you’ll see.

That much was true in a wild year of golf.

Phil Mickelson lost his bid at the Masters by hitting two shots right-handed. Rory McIlroy was confused by the time zone and needed a police escort to get to the final day of the Ryder Cup on time. Tiger Woods never found his golf ball, was not penalized and still missed the cut.

Those have been well-documented. What follows is the 2012 edition of “Tales from the Tour,” the obscure moments that keep golf so interesting and entertaining. Kyle Stanley is a quiet man. This was a quiet celebration.

One week after he made triple bogey on the 18th hole at Torrey Pines and then lost in a playoff, he rallied from eight shots behind on the final day with a 65 in the Phoenix Open to win his first PGA Tour event. It was a remarkable turnaround. One week he faced the media after his meltdown and fought back tears. The next week he was a winner.

Stanley was invited to a Super Bowl party that night at the home of Jim Mackay, the longtime caddie of Phil Mickelson. He was late to the party because of the media obligations that come with winning. When he finally arrived, Stanley knocked and then walked in the door holding the oversized winner’s check over his head. He quietly placed it above the TV, and then sat down to watch the game, a player at peace.

No other golfer spends more time with the media after every round than Ryo Ishikawa, who is treated like a rock star in Japan. When he signs his card, even when it’s late in the day, it’s not unusual for the 21-year-old to

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

English Premier League QPR v West Bromwich Abu Dhabi HD Sunderland v Man City Abu Dhabi HD Reading FC v Swansea City Abu Dhabi HD Man United v Newcastle Abu Dhabi HD Everton FC v Wigan Abu Dhabi HD Norwich City v Chelsea Abu Dhabi HD Aston Villa v Tottenham Abu Dhabi HD Stoke City FC v Liverpool Abu Dhabi HD

18:00 18:30 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 20:30 22:45

spend close to an hour fulfilling his media obligations.

That’s where “The Chair” comes in. His handlers have a white folding chair for Ishikawa as he endures two interviews with different television stations. A dozen or so reporters form a semi-circle around him as they wait and listen, occasionally jotting down notes.

Then, it’s their turn. They spent close to 15 minutes with Ishikawa after his round at Innsbrook, going over the clubs he used and shots he hit on just about every hole - this after a 73 that left him 12 shots out of the lead.

Finally, he was finished. He got up from the chair and walked around the clubhouse toward the parking lot. The Japanese reporters followed him, walking in a group about 20 yards behind. One of them was asked where they were going. “Now we wave goodbye,” the reporter explained. Indeed, they stood on a sidewalk and waved as Ishikawa’s car drove by them.

Butch Harmon was talking retirement in the spring. He turned 69 this year. A Vietnam War vet, he has been teaching most of his life, working for Sky Sports and traveling the world, which is starting to take its toll. He worries about the day when his attention span is short or he doesn’t care as much as he once did. “It’s not there, but it’s coming,” he said. “I will never step away. I’ll always teach. I love to teach.”

The next morning, he was on the range at Quail Hollow waiting for Phil Mickelson to arrive. Gary Christian, a 40-year-old PGA Tour rookie from England, walked over and introduced himself. Christian said he was fascinated to watch so many Americans use the leading edge of the club on wedge shots. They chatted for a few minutes and after Christian walked away, Harmon said, “Who was that?”

Harmon nodded when told about Christian’s back story, how he came to America on a college scholarship, supported himself by selling steak knives and toiled in the minor leagues for 15 years before finally making it to the big leagues.

Still no sign of Mickelson. A few minutes later, Harmon walked over to Christian. He spent a few minutes observing, and then pulled a wedge from the bag and gave an impromptu lesson.He’ll always teach. He loves to teach.

You’ve seen the sign at the baggage claim to check your luggage because some bags may look alike.

That goes for golf travel bags, too.

Nick Watney and Angel Cabrera arrived in San Francisco for the U.S. Open about the same time, on different flights. Cabrera kept waiting at oversized luggage for his bag to come out, and he began to think the airlines had lost it. There was only one golf bag there, and it belonged to Watney.

That’s when the light came on.

Cabrera’s agent called the person in charge of US Open courtesy cars and asked them to stop Watney on his way out. Sure enough, Cabrera’s golf bag was in his trunk.

The relationship three-time major champion Padraig Harrington has with reporters is unlike that of any other player, especially the Irish media. He was giving an interview to Greg Allen of Irish radio station RTE, and after they finished, Harrington began making small talk. He asked Allen, “I heard you lost your sunglasses?” Allen’s shoulders slumped as he told Harrington he had misplaced his glasses and didn’t know where to look for them.

Harrington didn’t commiserate. He smiled. “They’re in my locker,” he said. “You left them behind the other day.”

Sung Kang received elite training in South Korea’s national program that is producing more and more

KQMC ready for 3rd round of Kuwait Rally KUWAIT: The 3rd round of Kuwait Rally 2013, organized by Kuwait Quarter Mile Club (KQMC) will kick off next Saturday outside the Fintas Safir Hotel with participation of 16 competitors from Kuwait, KSA, Qatar and Lebanon will take part in the six-phase race. All participating vehicles would be examined Friday morning till the third round officially kicks off Friday evening and will continue till Saturday 4 pm. The main-

tenance zone will be outside the Sea Shell Hotel and resort, Jelai’a.

Kuwait will be represented by old hand driver, Masoud Al-Saleh on a fully equipped Ford Ace 2000. Kuwait will also be represented by Drag Race driver, Ahmed Al-Za’abi on debut in the championship. The race is sponsored

by MOI, MOH, KFSD, Safir Hotel, Sea Shell Hotel, Gulf Telecom Co. and Car Wash.

top players, but he worked equally hard on his English and speaks beautifully for someone who has played the PGA Tour only the last few years. Turns out he has been coming to America twice a year since 2002 to work on his golf, and he devoted just as much effort to the language.

In Florida? California? “Dallas,” Kang said. “I went to the Hank Haney schools, so I would work with Haney and learned English there in Texas.” Some things, however, still get lost in translation. Kang was asked if he ever bought cowboy boots from all that time spent in Dallas. “No,” he said. “I don’t really like the NFL. I’m more of a Lakers fan.”

The British Open has a massive scoreboard in the press center where a group of volunteers, most of them women in their early 20s, move ladders on rails from side to side as they post the score of every hole for every player.

Press officers often check to see which players they should bring in for interviews the first two rounds as the leaderboard is taking shape. In the second round, Adam Scott had a 67 to get within one shot of the lead with several players still on the course.

The announcement over the intercom: “Can we see a show of hands for Adam Scott?”

Six young women posting scores all raised their hands. About two dozen fans waiting for autographs behind the ninth green on the Magnolia Course at Disney got more than they expected. Brian Harman emerged from the scoring trailer after the final PGA Tour event of the year and said, “Who’s left-handed?”

One man came forward, and it turned out to be his lucky day. Harman went over to his bag, removed all the irons and handed them to the fan. Turns out Harman wanted to try something different at Disney, so he used irons with graphite shafts. He described it as the worst ball-striking week he had all year.

“I just wanted to try some different stuff,” Harman said. “And now I know what was not the answer.” No other sports organization comes close to the amount of charity produced by the PGA Tour. Harman took it to a new level.—AP

Rory McIlroy

Vidic boosted by end of United’s injury woes

Southern Methodist defense sparks Hawaii Bowl victory

18

15

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

Celtic won’t be fooled by struggling Dundee

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Yevgeny Plushenko

Plushenko on form for national title MOSCOW: Russia’s 2006 Olympic champion Yevgeny Plushenko grabbed the lead in the men’s competition at the Russian figure skating championships on Tuesday at the venue in Sochi where he hopes to crown his career with a second Olympic title in 2014.

The 30-year-old former three-time world champion, who is bidding for his 10th national title at the newly-built 12,000-seat Iceberg are-

na, received 91.68 points for his short programme. He is 3.99 points ahead of Sergei Voronov, who is second after the short programme, while Maxim Kovtun is third after the first day of the championships with 75.38 points. Plushenko said that even after returning from a second knee operation - which he underwent after winning the European titlke in January ruling him out of March’s world champi-

onships - he still doesn’t feel 100%.

“I still experience certain health problems but I hope I can cope with them,” Plushenko said. “The Russian championships is a very important tournament for me and I hope to win it for the 10th time.

“I will do everything I can in my power to win here.” In the pairs competition the European champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim

Trankov, who won the Grand Prix finals earlier this month, took the lead after the first day with 78.69 points. They are 8.5 points ahead of Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, while Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov are third on 67.78 points. “Last year we missed the national championships because of injuries. And we’re really pleased with an opportunity to compete at the event again,” Trankov said.

King Bolt seals legend status PARIS: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt cemented his status as a true legend of track and field by claiming a second Olympic treble gold medal haul at the London Games.

Bolt followed up his podium-topping showing in Beijing in 2008 by becoming the first sprinter to defend both the 100m and 200m. He then led home the 4x100m relay team in a world record-breaking 36.84sec to cap a pulsating nine days of track and field at the Olympic Stadium in east London. “It’s what I came here to do. I’m now a legend, I’m the greatest athlete to live,” said Bolt.

“For 2013, the objective is to go as fast as possible and win the 100m title at the world championships in Moscow,” which run between August 10-18. Rarely can there have been a week’s athletics as enthralling and entertaining as that at the London Olympics.

Every session at the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium was a sell-out, and the knowledgeable public helped make for an electric atmosphere, notably on the first Saturday when Britain won three gold medals in the space of 45 frenetic minutes.

While Bolt stole the headlines for his sprinting prowess, David Rudisha also produced an outstanding performance on the track, although his Kenyan team endured a relatively disappointing Games. The Masai tribesman obliterated his own world record in the 800m, running 1:40.91 in the highest quality twolap race ever seen. Last-placed Andrew Osagie’s time would have won him gold in the Beijing Games by 0.88sec.

Britain’s gold medal rush was kicked off by postergirl Jessica Ennis, who dominated the heptathlon. She was superseded by Mo Farah, a devout Muslim born in Somalia but a London resident since the age of eight, who galvanised a nation in the most multi-cultural of world cities when he became the seventh runner to win the 5000m-10,000m double.

The sheer spectacle on the final night’s action when Farah kicked for home with just over a lap of the 5000m remaining was a spine-tingling experience those in the stadium will never forget. The track and field also broke new ground when South African Oscar Pistorius became the first double amputee to

race in an Olympics. He failed to qualify for the individual 400m final, but anchored his team in the 4x400m relay final, in which they finished last. The United States finished atop the athletics medals table with a total of 29 medals, comprising nine gold, 13 silver and seven bronze, for their best haul since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

Russia came in second with 18 (8-4-6) and the Bolt-inspired Jamaica in third on 12 (4-4-4). There was also a world record for American Aries Merritt in the men’s 110m hurdles, the American clocking 12.80sec at the Diamond League meet in Brussels to smash the previous record of 12.87 set by Cuban Dayron Robles in June 2008.

Bolt and American sprinter Allyson Felix were named the International Amateur Athletics Federation’s athletes of the year. It was the fourth time in the last five years that Bolt has won the award, but the first time for Felix, who also won three golds in London, in the 200m and in both the women’s relay races.

The highest-profile casualty in the war on doping was Belarus shot putter Nadezhda Ostapchuk, who was stripped of her Olympic gold after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid.

New Zealand’s Valerie Adams was handed gold, but Ostapchuk only received a one-year ban because her coach had doctored her food without her knowledge. Four medallists from the 2004 Olympic Games were officially stripped of their medals by the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC took the decision after new analysis of their dope tests taken at the Athens Games revealed traces of steroids. Ukraine’s Yuri Belonog was stripped of his shot put gold, Belarus’ Ivan Tikhon of his silver in the hammer, and Irina Yatchenko of Belarus and Russian Svetlana Krivelyova lost their bronze medals in the women’s discus and shot put respectively.

It is the second Olympic medal Tikhon has been stripped of, having had his bronze from the 2008 Games taken away also for a doping offence.

Ironically, the disgraced Ostapchuk was promoted to the podium in place of Krivelyova and will receive a bronze.—AFP

Meanwhile, two-time European championship silver medallists Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev lead the dancing section after the free dance. “It wasn’t our best performance today but it wasn’t the worst one also,” Soloviev said. “We still have enough time ahead of the European championships to improve both technical and emotional components of our dance.”—AFP

India, Pakistan face off again on cricket ground

Usain Bolt

BANGALORE: Four years after Pakistani gunmen laid siege to India’s financial capital of Mumbai, South Asia’s bitter rivals were meeting again on the cricket ground, marking a gradual thaw in their decades-old rivalry.

The first bilateral series between India and Pakistan since November 2007, comprising two Twenty20 matches and three one-day internationals, began Christmas Day with a Twenty20 match in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Pakistan won the match with five wickets to spare after India’s batting collapsed at 133 for nine. Thousands of cricket fans began lining up outside Bangalore’s massive Chinnaswamy Stadium nearly five hours before the match was to begin.

“This match is like no other. There’s a special thrill to a match where India faces Pakistan,” said Ravinder Singh, his loyalties evident from the Indian flag colors painted on his cheeks. “I’m telling my friends it will be worth the wait,” said Singh, a college student, as he stood in a slow-moving line outside the stadium. Some of his friends were in the sky blue shirts of the Indian team.

Security was tight with thousands of paramilitary soldiers and police outside the stadium. Groups of police carried out body searches before allowing fans into the stadium after they had gone through metal detectors. Unflustered by the tight security, cricket fans carried flags and proIndia banners while a few sported colorful wigs and face-paint.

Analysts see the cricket series as a sign the two sides are ready to move past the bitterness that followed the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, when 10 Pakistan-based gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage across the city.

India blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba mili-

tant group for the attacks and demanded that Islamabad crack down on terrorism.

Despite a long history of mutual distrust and animosity, the love of cricket bequeathed to India and Pakistan by South Asia’s British colonial rulers - is one of the few things the countries agree upon.

Relations have improved since the Mumbai attacks and diplomatic ties have been renewed, but New Delhi remains unsatisfied with the slow pace of Islamabad’s efforts to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

New Delhi froze nearly all contact with Islamabad - including sporting ties - after the Mumbai attacks, a hiatus that has been bridged in recent years by India and Pakistan playing matches in third countries or in international meets such as the World Cup. In the years since the Mumbai attacks, some efforts have been made to bring bilateral relations out of the deep freeze.

Direct trade has been increasing steadily as both countries make efforts to increase trade across their land border.

At the Wagah-Attari land border in Punjab, India has opened a huge customs depot and warehouses that can handle more than 600 trucks a day from Pakistan.

Two-way trade direct between India and Pakistan totals around $2 billion, but a large chunk of the trade is channeled through Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore.

Earlier this month, India and Pakistan signed an agreement that makes it easier for business travelers to get visas. People aged over 65 also will be entitled to get visas on arrival. Members of families divided during Britain’s partition of the subcontinent, along with tourists and religious pilgrims, are also supposed to get quick visas.—AP

Business

Iraq’s Asiacell seeks to raise $1.35bn from IPO Page 22

Kuwait’s growth picked up in 2012

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

Page 23

US lawmakers play waiting game with ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

Russia unveils $25bn oil link to the Pacific

Page 22

Page 25

BEIJING: Chinese women play near Christmas decorations outside a shopping mall. — AP

Egypt slaps new rules on traveling with cash Banks, money changers running low on dollars CAIRO: Egypt has banned travellers from carrying more than $10,000 in foreign currency in or out of the country, as officials worry over pressure on its pound currency and a rush by Egyptians to withdraw their savings from banks.

Political turmoil over the past month has raised fears among ordinary citizens and investors that the government - which has pushed back talks to seal IMF funding till January - may not be able to get its fragile finances under control.

The central bank has spent more than $20 billion of its foreign reserves to support the pound since the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. It now has only $15 billion, equal to only about three months of imports cover. The uprising drove away tourists and foreign investors alike, freezing growth, pushing the state budget deficit into double digits as a percentage of national output and worsening its balance of payments.

On Monday, Standard & Poors’ cut Egypt’s

long-term credit rating and said another downgrade was possible if deepening political turbulence undermined efforts to prop up the economy and public finances. Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali yesterday confirmed the new government currency restriction, which includes US dollars or their equivalent in other foreign currencies. The decision also forbids sending cash through the mail.

The decision prohibits all travellers from “bringing foreign currency into the country or carrying it out to only $10,000”. Any funds over $10,000 must be transferred electronically, Ali added. Previously, travellers were simply required to declare any amounts above $10,000 to authorities on their way in or out. The central bank has already limited Egyptians from transferring more than a cumulative $100,000 out of the country since the uprising nearly two years ago unless they can demonstrate a pressing need for the funds. Many wealthier Egyptians have

reached their limit and are no longer able to send funds abroad.

IMF accord The crisis has complicated a $4.8 billion loan the government is seeking from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF had been due to approve the loan on Dec 19, but the government asked for a delay after it cancelled a series of unpopular austerity measures deemed essential for its approval. Bankers said depositors had been withdrawing greater amounts of cash from their accounts since President Mohamed Mursi issued a constitutional declaration last month that expanded his powers and threw the country into political crisis.

The constitutional declaration has led to occasional street battles between supporters and opponents of Morsi. “Since the clashes on Nov 28 and after the announcement that the IMF loan was delayed for a month some dollarisation

started to take place, mainly through cash transactions,” said an official at the treasury of a Cairobased bank.

Depositors have also been spooked by an unexpected weakening of the Egyptian pound, which the central bank has allowed to fall by about 1 percent over the last month, he added.

Seeking to quell what it called these “public rumours”, the central bank on Monday said it was taking all steps needed to safeguard deposits in Egyptian banks whether denominated in local or foreign currencies.

Ayman Osama, father of two young children, said he withdrew the equivalent of $16,000 from his account this week and planned to withdraw more in the coming days. “I have been hearing that the central bank is going to take over all our bank deposits to pay wages for government employees given the current deteriorating economic situation,” he said. “I am not going to put any more money in the bank and neither will

many of the people I know.” One Egyptian who wanted to buy $10,000 last week said he had to go to many currency exchange shops before he could find sufficient dollars because most shops had run out. Bankers said the rush had left banks and money changers short of dollars, but that more bank notes had been ordered from abroad.

“We are having a shortage of dollars these last few days. It therefore may be difficult to pull out money.

But the shortage should be solved in a week,” an official at one Cairo bank told Reuters. In a note published last week, EFG Hermes economist Mohamed Abu Basha lowered his forecast for the currency to 6.60 pounds to the US dollar by the end of 2013 from an earlier forecast of 6.40 pounds. “An extensive delay in the IMF deal will definitely lead to disorderly devaluation, which is likely to take the USD-EGP up to 7.0 pounds, where dollarisation would be the crack to the system,” Abu Basha wrote. — Reuters

Retailers hope Christmas shoppers bring good cheer

Gulf markets fall in thin trade

College in New Rochelle, New York, was at a Walmart on Monday, buying last-minute gifts, such as knitting supplies for her mother.

Collymore said she was being more careful this year and not spending more on herself. “I don’t throw money away,” she said.

down 13 percent from a year ago, Baker said.

That will likely be a disappointment to Microsoft and many third-party retailers, as past releases of Windows have spurred PC sales. However, that has been disrupted by the popularity of tablets eating away at PC sales, Baker said.

MIDEAST STOCKS

Cheap televisions abound Retailers have done a good job controlling inventory levels, even in the face of diminished forecasts, analysts said. The season has been “decent” but “not exceptional,” said Noam Paransky, vice president in AlixPartners retail practice. He said he has not seen unplanned discounting or too much excess inventory despite slightly slower-than-expected growth. “Retailers have been disciplined. They haven’t hit the panic button yet,” Paransky said.

Still, Target Corp slashed the price of its collaborative holiday collection with Neiman Marcus by 50 percent a few days ago. The collection was still marked at full price at Neiman Marcus. Meanwhile Sears was offering 60 percent off clothing from the reality TV family’s “Kardashian Kollection,” and Target, Walmart and Best Buy all had last-minute discounts hundreds of dollars deep on big-screen TVs. Apple’s iPad mini has been tough to find in some places but is still available, while the new iPhone 5 is still in stock, suggesting that people may have stuck with their prior models or bought the less expensive iPhone 4S instead, said Feldman. A mix of electronics are selling “exceptionally well,” from low-cost tablets to very large-screen TVs, and items such as audio sound bars and headphones, said NPD Group’s Stephen Baker. One area of concern is in computers, as sales of PCs and tablets running Windows 8, from its launch in late October to mid-December, were

After-Christmas sales Superstorm Sandy hit sales in the densely populated Northeast in late October and early November but retailers were able to bounce back weeks later with a strong turnout on Thanksgiving weekend. Now, fresh concerns about whether Washington will reach an agreement to avert the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts before Jan. 1 is leading some shoppers to curb spending.

Overall, analysts said inventory levels appeared about right, though consumers’ minds have changed since retailers placed orders for items such as apparel back in the spring. “I don’t think it’s an issue of ordering too much, I think it’s the fact that the consumer has recognized ‘I can learn to live with less, I don’t have to have that fourteenth sweater, I just don’t have to have it,’” said Blischok.

Even if the stores are quiet, the Internet is not.

There were 12 days this holiday when spending topped $1 billion, up from 10 such days in 2011, according to comScore. Online sales rose 16 percent in the first 51 days of the holiday season, it said. Those retailers that are seeing weakness before the holiday could use after-Christmas sales to sell discounted goods, analysts said.

Typically, retailers like to clear out their holiday merchandise quickly, so that shoppers coming in with the gift cards they received are more likely to buy full-price spring merchandise at fatter profit margins. — Reuters

CHICAGO/WHITE PLAINS: Retailers limped into Christmas with last-minute blowout deals on everything from TVs to celebrity-branded clothing, after a disappointing few weeks of sales led many analysts to lower their expectations for the holiday season. Some industry watchers said shoppers were making smaller purchases, even though they are still visiting stores and browsing online. Since the holiday quarter can account for about 30 percent of annual sales and half of profit for many chains, such small distinctions can be crucial. “The attitude of the shopper went from Christmas euphoria on Thanksgiving weekend to more subdued, to less frenetic,” said Thom Blischok, chief retail strategist and a senior executive adviser with consulting firm Booz & Company’s retail practice.

Before the season began, Blischok was looking for sales to rise more than 5 percent in November and December over the same period in 2011. Now, he said a gain of 2 percent to 2.5 percent appears more likely. Research firm ShopperTrak last week said it now expects an increase of 2.5 percent, rather than 3.3 percent.

“The season will be an OK season. It won’t be as strong as last year, but it won’t be maybe as bad as feared heading into it,” said Joseph Feldman, managing director and senior research analyst at Telsey Advisory Group. “Christmas comes every year.”

Some of the winning chains this holiday season appeared to be Macy’s, TJX, Michael Kors, Costco, Limited, Gap Inc, Anthropologie and Walmart, Feldman said, citing the number of shoppers in their stores, their products and online presence. Even so, some of those who are buying said they were holding back. Terene Collymore, a student of criminology at Monroe

DUBAI: Egypt’s bourse fell yesterday due to a weak outlook for economic policy, and all other Gulf markets also declined as investors booked profits ahead of the year-end.

Cairo’s benchmark lost 1 percent, its second decline since last Thursday’s four-week closing high. The market had rallied for most of December because of bargain-hunting, much of it by foreign investors, according to stock exchange data, following a plunge triggered by the political crisis over Egypt’s new constitution.

But investors remain concerned that politics is preventing government action to repair the economy and obtain an International Monetary Fund loan. Standard & Poors’ cut Egypt’s long-term credit rating on Monday, saying another downgrade was possible if political turbulence undermined efforts to prop up the economy. “There is still a lot of uncertainty and the outlook is not positive,” said a stock trader who asked not to be identified. “There is no clear plan from the government on what needs to be done - the deficit is increasing and the currency is getting cheaper - but the cheap prices (of stocks) are not good entry points.”

Palm Hills Development and Citadel Capital fell 3.3 and 3.5 percent respectively. Losers outnumbered gainers 25 to two on the 30stock index; three stocks end flat.

The index has immediate, minor support at 5,298 points, the intra-day low from which it rebounded sharply on Monday, but the next major chart support is on the 200day average, which now comes in at 5,126 points. In Saudi Arabia, National Industrialisation (Tasnee) jumped 4.9 per-

cent after the petrochemical firm’s board proposed a cash dividend of 2 riyals per share, for a total of 1.3 billion riyals, according to a bourse statement.

The kingdom’s index slipped 0.2 percent, trading within a range of 50 points since Dec. 17, as investors awaited fresh cues to take positions. One cue could be the 2013 state budget, expected to be announced within the next week or two. Large-caps were mixed, with Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) slipping 0.6 percent; Al Rajhi Bank gained 0.8 percent.

Analysts and investors are bullish on the top two telecom operators, Saudi Telecom (STC) and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily). Shares in STC climbed 1.1 percent, while Mobily slipped 0.3 percent. “Valuations remain attractive with the sector trading at 8.6 times 2013 estimate price-to-earnings ratio, 10 percent below regional peers,” NCB Capital said in a note.

“A relatively stronger macro environment in the Kingdom is likely to support faster growth in the sector than in other regional countries.

Although the outlook for STC and Mobily remains positive, we prefer the latter due to strong fundamentals, good dividends and its Saudi focused business.”

Elsewhere, Kuwait’s bourse recorded its largest one-day drop since Dec 4, as retail investors dominated trade. The index fell 0.6 percent. The market had rallied 6.2 percent from early November till Dec 23, as bargain hunters and support from government buying lifted the market from an eight-year nadir touched on Nov 4. —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

BUSINESS

US lawmakers play waiting game with ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

Iraq’s Asiacell seeks to raise $1.35bn from IPO IPO will be largest in Iraqi bourse

Obama vacationing in Hawaii WASHINGTON: With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a “fiscal cliff,” lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year’s Day. Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation’s capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.

The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of lastminute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed. So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Christmas holiday yesterday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.

Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates. But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.

“We don’t yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town,” said McConnell’s spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. “So I just don’t know what they’re going to do over there,” he said.

Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.

House Speaker John Boehner’s referred everyone to McConnell.

McConnell’s tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a “moment that calls for presidential leadership.” Reid’s tweet said: “There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act” on the cliff. The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-theboard tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar. The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a

DUBAI: Iraq’s Asiacell, a unit of Qatar Telecom, said it planned to raise at least $1.35 billion by floating 25 percent of its share capital on the Baghdad stock market, in what would be the country’s largest initial public offer of equity. The offer, the first major IPO in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, will test investor confidence in an economy that is struggling to recover from years of war, political instability and financial sanctions.

Mobile telephone operator Asiacell, in which Qtel owns 54 percent, will sell 67.503 billion shares at a price of at least 22 Iraqi dinars ($0.02) per share in the offer, which starts on Jan. 3, it said in a statement yesterday. Asiacell and its two rivals in Iraq must raise funds through IPOs as a condition of receiving their $1.25 billion operating licences from the government. All three companies missed an earlier deadline of August 2011 to do so, and Asiacell is now set to be the first to float on the Iraqi bourse.

Asiacell, which claims to have a 43 percent share of revenues in the mobile phone market and 9.9 million subscribers, said founding shareholders of the company would offer their shares for sale in the IPO, but did not specify if

PHILADELPHIA: In this photo, a person passes a retail store with sale sign displayed in the window in Philadelphia. — AP Thursday return a theoretical pos- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison demands for cuts in entitlement sibility. urged fellow Republicans to be programs such as Medicare and However, aides to the flexible. “We’re now at a point Medicaid, the government-run Republican leaders in Congress said where we’re not going to get what health insurance plans for seniors there were no talks with Democrats we think is right for our economy and the poor. on Monday and none scheduled and our country because we don’t However, with only a few work after negotiations fell off track last control government. So we’ve got days left in Congress after Christmas, week when Boehner failed to per- to work within the system we there is a good chance that no deal suade House Republicans to accept have,” she told MSNBC. Two bills in can be worked out and tax rates tax increases on incomes of more Congress could conceivably form would then go up, at least briefly, than $1 million a year. “Nothing the basis for a last-minute stopgap until an agreement is reached in new, Merry Christmas,” an aide to measure.

Washington. “We may go off the cliff Boehner responded when asked if Last spring, Republicans in the on January 1, but we would correct there was any movement on the fis- House passed a measure that that very quickly thereafter,” cal cliff. But a senior Obama admin- would extend Bush-era tax cuts for Democratic Representative John istration official, speaking on condi- everyone, reflecting the party’s Yarmuth told MSNBC. The prospects tion of anonymity, said White deep reluctance to increase taxes. of the United States going over the House aides were talking with The Democratic-controlled Senate fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Senate Democratic staffers about passed a bill in August, extending Wall Street for a “Santa rally” in the the situation. lower tax rates for everyone except holiday season, when stocks tradithe wealthiest Americans - a group tionally rise.

Scaled-back expectations defined at that point as houseThe Dow Jones industrial averIf there is some last-minute leg- holds with a net income of age dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 islation, Republicans and $250,000 or above. Obama has percent, in Monday’s shortened Democrats agreed on Sunday since increased that to $400,000 a holiday session. Failure to work out news shows that it will not be any year, in an effort to win Republican tax rates in the coming days would sort of “grand bargain” encompass- support. cause chaos at the Internal ing taxes and spending cuts, but Analysts say Democrats might Revenue Service, said analyst Chris most likely a short-term deal put- be able to get the backing of Krueger of Guggenheim Securities. ting everything off for a few weeks enough Republicans in both the “Next weekend is going to be a or months, thereby risking a nega- House and Senate, especially if total, total debacle,” he said. The tive market reaction. A limited they are willing to raise the num- IRS is unlikely to have enough time agreement would still need bipar- ber to $500,000. Under that sce- to revise its tables for withholding tisan support, as Obama has said nario, lawmakers might also put taxes. “The withholding tables are he would veto a bill that does not off spending cuts of $109 billion sort of like an aircraft carrier, you raise taxes on the wealthiest that would take effect from can’t turn the thing on a dime.” he Americans. On Monday, Texas January and agree to Republican said. — Reuters

parent Qtel would sell part of its stake.

The offer may be difficult to absorb for the stock market, which has a total capitalisation of only slightly more than $4 billion, and which trades around $3.3 million daily. Questions have been raised over Asiacell’s ability to sell the entire 25 percent stake after two international banks, Morgan Stanley and HSBC, cancelled plans to help arrange the IPO. That leaves Baghdad-based broker Rabee Securities as sole distributor and selling agent.

The absence of international banks may limit any foreign buying of Asiacell’s shares, and although Iraq’s economy is now growing rapidly and some local investors are flush with cash, it is unclear whether their buying will be enough to support the offer. The minimum offer price announced by Asiacell is in line with market expectations.

In June Qtel agreed to pay $1.47 billion to raise its stake in Asiacell to 54 percent from 30 percent, with a further increase to 60 percent pending Iraqi government approval; that deal valued all of Asiacell at about $5 billion.

Asiacell shares are expected to start trading on the Iraq Stock Exchange on Feb. 3, the company said. — Reuters

Northern Mali occupation choking Bamako economy BAMAKO: The occupation of northern Mali by Islamists has hammered the economy in Bamako, the southern capital, where foreigners are pulling out and unemployment and prices are climbing higher. “The Malian economy is going through a tough time. Already struggling because of a poor harvest in 2011-2012, it has suffered considerably because of the coup of March 2012 and its fallout,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted after a mission to the North African country last month. Islamic militants have controlled most of Mali’s northern desert regions since the overthrow of former president Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, and plans are afoot for an international force to intervene there sometime next year.

“The occupation of the North seriously disrupted agricultural production and trade relations. The deteriorating security situation prompted a sharp reduction of travel to Mali,” the IMF noted. “This hit hard the commerce, hotel and restaurant sectors,” it added. The Fund expects Mali’s economy to contract by 1.5 percent this year, and US President Barack Obama has stripped the country of trade priviledges conferred by the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program, citing backtracking from democratic reforms. In Bamako, unemployment has shot up to 17.3 percent of the workforce, according to data from the national statistics institute Instat. The service sector has con-

tracted by 8.8 percent this year, Instat data shows, making it the hardest hit part of the economy, with waves of layoffs in hotels a stark sign of slumping business and tourist activity.

“Employers have run out of ways to maintain jobs such as having staff take time off and resorting to technical or temporary unemployment,” said Salif Bagayoko, head of the local labor inspection office. Women looking for domestic work swarm the Apaf association for family aid, and have lowered their salary targets even as the rising cost of living hits low-income households.

OPERATING AT A LOSS The cost of fuels, cooking gas and other essential products have doubled in some cases. Some domestic workers used to be employed by foreign aid staff for the modest sum of 80,000 CFA, or 122 euros ($160) per month. Now, “even 35,000 CFA would be acceptable,” acknowledged Aissa Camara, a 42-year-old widow who lost her job in February. Mali’s national carrier Air Mali has suspended its activities for nine months owing to the crisis. The airline has asked the government for more funds, “but the state has problems too,” Air Mali finance director Souleymane Sylla said on Monday. “Shareholders were not ready to inject fresh funds and want to give themselves some time to have better outlook regarding to the country’s future.” — AFP

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 Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .4510000 .3670000 .3040000 .2800000 .2900000 .0040000 .0020000 .0761350 .7417630 .3880000 .0720000 .7271670 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2804500 GB Pound/KD .4534880 Euro .3697170 Swiss francs .3060510 Canadian dollars .2823990 Danish Kroner .0495490 Swedish Kroner .0427600 Australian dlr .2917240 Hong Kong dlr .0361860 Singapore dlr .2296320 Japanese yen .0033240 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0763860 Bahraini dinars .7441950 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0748070 Omani riyals .7287250 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - transfer Irani Riyal - cash

3.342 5.145 2.871 2.186 3.220 231.580 36.335 3.455 6.852 9.205 0.271 0.273

.2840000 .4620000 .3760000 .3130000 .2910000 .3020000 .0067500 .0035000 .0769000 .7492180 .4060000 .0770000 .7344750 .0510000 .2825500 .4568830 .3724860 .3083430 .2845130 .0499200 .0430800 .2939090 .0364570 .2313520 .0033490 .0051540 .0022410 .0029080 .0035500 .0769580 .7497680 .3996460 .0753670 .7341820 .0069300

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 75.123 77.405 731.710 748.240 76.709

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.700 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 45.561 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.314 Tunisian Dinar 181.970 Jordanian Dinar 397.380 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.890 Syrian Lier 3.060 Morocco Dirham 33.928 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 281.600 Euro 374.250 Sterling Pound 459.570 Canadian dollar 286.470 Turkish lire 158.390 Swiss Franc 309.960 Australian dollar 297.090 US Dollar Buying 280.400 GOLD 319.000 161.000 83.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

SELL CASH

296.100 749.550 3.790 287.600 553.500 45.900 50.800 167.800 47.730 375.900 37.080 5.480 0.032 0.161 0.242 3.430 399.410 0.191 94.900 45.900 4.330 235.200 1.826

51.700 732.110 3.070 7.270 77.960 75.250 232.360 35.210 2.685 458.700 44.900 311.300 3.400 9.560 198.263 76.850 282.200 1.360

731.930 2.903 6.868 77.530 75.510 232.360 35.210 2.222 456.700 309.800 3.400 9.400 76.750 281.800

GOLD 1,764.360

10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

COUNTRY

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 456.700 281.800

SELL DRAFT

294.600 749.550 3.499 286.100

232.400 45.641 374.400 36.910 5.126 0.031

SELL DRAFT

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL CASH

297.47 288.17 313.21 375.48 281.40 459.41 3.41 3.520 5.117 2.225 3.210 2.889 76.68 749.27 45.63 400.90 732.37 77.71 75.25

296.000 288.000 311.000 373.500 282.850 458.000 3.690 3.660 5.500 2.330 3.600 3.050 77.300 747.500 47.300 398.700 734.000 77.850 75.600

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 399.380 0.190 94.900 3.220 233.700

Rate for Transfer

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro

Selling Rate

281.750 284.290 455.440 371.830

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

308.010 745.925 76.685 77.335 75.095 397.165 45.625 2.220 5.123 2.885 3.494 6.839 691.135 4.315 9.290 4.370 3.290 91.965

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees 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

281.800 2.898 5.136 2.235 3.490 6.895 76.830 75.300 749.200 45.624 460.800 2.990 1.550 377.200 289.800 3.265

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

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 *Rates are subject to change

281.200 374.000 457.400 285.250 3.370 5.115 45.585 2.218 3.490 6.830 2.886 749.000 76.600 75.100

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

BUSINESS

Kuwait’s growth picked up in 2012 Banks’ loan portfolio grows 4.5% KAMCO economic RESEARCH

KUWAIT: Credit facilities extended by Kuwaiti banks have been gaining momentum since the beginning of 2012 compared to marginal growth rates recorded during 2011 and 2010. The loan portfolio of Kuwaiti banks grew at 4.5 percent during the first 10 months of 2012 to record KD 26.76 billion ($94.7 billion) at the end of October 12 representing around 54 percent of 2012 forecasted GDP. This growth rate is favourably compared to the 1.1 percent recorded during the comparable period in 2011.

Despite the low appetite for credit, banks’ conservative lending policies, and the restructuring of corporate debt along with delay in implementing a dozen of infrastructure and economic projects, the credit market has witnessed signs of recovery in 2012 that will most likely continue through the next year driven

by the easing of political tension in the country along with the gradual restoration of confidence in the private sector. Since the beginning of the year banks have extended additional credit of KD 1.15 billion ($4 billion) with personal facilities contributing to around 80 percent of this increase followed by the credit to the real estate sector and trade which added around KD 258 million and KD 253.5 million, respectively. On the contrary, credit to investment companies dropped KD 35 million on the back of continuing debt problems faced by the sector.

Driven by the increase in the salaries of the public sector and the strengthening of purchasing power of Kuwaiti nationals, personal facilities have been following a continuous upward trend since February 2011, increasing by 17 percent to record KD 9.87 billion at the end of October 12, representing 37 percent of banks’ credit portfolio. During the first 10 months of 2012, personal facilities grew by 10 percent fuelled by high consumption and robust growth in the retail sector accompanied with the significant increase in public sector salaries.

However, growth in credit facilities for the purchase of securities, which account for 27.5 percent of personal facilities, remained stagnant during the first 10 months of 2012 at 2.8 percent. Nonetheless, the share of this credit component remains high as it accounts for around 10 percent of local banks’ loan portfolio at KD 2.71 billion ($9.6 billion). Given, the deterioration in the local and int’l equity markets, the structure of credit facilities with the highest percentage of funds channelled into the equity market, has been exposing banks to

credit and default risk by individual investors who are heavily invested in the local and regional bourses.

Following 5 consecutive years of strong growth rates over the period 2004-2008 with a CAGR of 34.5 percent fuelled by buoyant market and ample liquidity, growth in credit to the purchase of securities slowed down significantly during 2009 to 1 percent and then followed a downtrend in 2010 and 2011 with a yearly contraction of 4.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. This drop came on the back deleveraging amid high market risk and volatility in local and international markets. This made banks shift their lending policy by extending credit to households and the productive economic sectors guaranteed by sustainable cash flows.

Chart 2 depicts the sustain-

able growth in consumer loans (excl. purchases of securities) since Dec 05 indicating a robust growth amid increase in consumption and purchasing power fuelled by increase in public sector salaries. Consumer loans grew at a 6-year CAGR of 8.4 percent since 2005 up from KD 3.9 billion to KD 6.3 billion in Dec 11.

During the first 10 months of the current year, consumer loans grew at 13.4 percent to KD 7.15 billion fuelled by the improvement in purchasing power and banks’ strategies of mitigating credit risk.

Loans to the real estate and construction sectors, which together amount to KD 8.71 billion accounting for 32.5 percent of banks’ loan portfolios, gained momentum during the first 10 months of 2012 and advanced

by KD 265 million, a growth of 3.1 percent; Chart 3 shows that since 2008, growth in the real estate loans has started to lose momentum driven by the slowdown in property market and the depreciation in asset prices.

Following a 3-year CAGR of 40 percent over the period 2004-

2007, growth in loans to the real estate and construction sectors dropped sharply to 17 percent in 2008 then to 10 percent in 2009 and remained flat in 2010. Given the slowdown in the real estate market and the challenging business environment faced by real estate companies and contractors, high exposure to this sector by banks indicates that further correction in the real estate market might expose local banks to higher credit risk and weigh down on asset quality.

The most significant repercussion of the financial turmoil was the sudden evaporation of credit to investment companies (ICs) in the last quarter of 2008 that followed easy credit in the per-crisis era when loans to ICs grew at a CAGR of 55 percent over the period 2004-2007. Since then, credit slowed down to 19 percent in 2008 and 1.2 percent in

2009 and then followed a steep downward trend in the years that followed dropping by 16 percent in 2011. Banks remain cautious in extending additional credit to ICs given the challenging business environment and the deterioration in their financial standing and credit profile; accordingly, credit facilities to ICs fell during the first 10 months of 2012 by 14.1 percent to KD 2.04 billion, representing 7.6 percent of banks’ loan portfolios down from a percentage contribution of 12 percent before the crisis.

We believe that banks’ nonperforming loans of ICs will most likely increase and as a result will continue to pressurize banks’ profitability in Q4-12 and 2013 by booking additional provisions. However, liquidation of collaterals held against ICs credit along with debt restructuring remains the optimal options for some banks to avoid additional provision. Chart 4, which depicts the change in outstanding loans across the major economic sectors during the trailing twelve month (TTM) period ending Oct 12 and Oct 11, reflects a consid-

erable growth in personal loans and credit to real estate sector and financing trade along with shrinking credit to ICs due to the strict lending policies followed by local banks and deleveraging in the financial sector.

During the trailing 12 month period ending Oct 12, credit to the real estate sector grew by KD 272 million, while growth in personal facilities showed significant improvement to KD 1.04 billion fuelled by the increase in consumption and the reassessment of banks strategies that became more retail-focused. On the other hand, credit to ICs fell

by KD 411 million, indicating the deterioration in operating environment, weak financial standing of some major players along with the restructuring of some highly leveraged firms and the significant losses incurred by the sector originated mainly from drop in the prices of equities and real estate.

Deposits with Kuwaiti banks Banks’ deposit base (public and private) increased in Oct-12

by KD 9.4 million to KD 32.7 billion driven by low risk appetite in the local market that has been prevailing since 2009. Private sector deposits, which represent 84 percent of local banks’ deposit base, added KD 46 million or 0.17 percent to stand at KD 27.6 billion. During the first 10 months of 2012, banks’ total deposits grew by 7 percent while private sector deposits were up 3.2 percent. Growth in private sector deposits has accelerated during 2011 to record 8.8 percent compared to 2.2 percent in 2010. This growth was mainly fuelled by the Amiri grant which took place in Feb 11 when private sector deposits increased by KD 1.22 billion in addition to the volatility in financial markets which resulted in flight to safety.

Money supply Kuwait’s broad measure of money supply (M2) increased for the third consecutive month in October-12, adding KD 84 million or 0.3 percent to stand at KD 28.75 billion. During the first 10 months of 2012, M2 grew 3.3 percent compared to a growth of 6 percent in the comparable period of 2011. The rise in M2 is mainly attributed to the increase in quasi-money by 3.4 percent or KD 728 million to stand at KD 21.9 billion. However, in an analysis of the evolution in money supply and its effect on credit facilities, it is evident that the significant expansion seen in money supply following the year 2008 failed to spur growth in the credit market as banks became more cautious in their lending policies.

Stocks slump with budget deal in doubt at year’s end NEW YORK: Stocks fell in light trading Monday during a shortened holiday trading session with lawmakers running out of time to reach a budget deal that would prevent the US from going over the socalled fiscal cliff. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 52 points to 13,139.08. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gave up 3 points to 1,426.66 The Nasdaq composite slipped 8.4 points to 3,012.60.

In more than a dozen interviews with The Associated Press, conservative activists said they would rather see the country fall off the cliff than agree to any tax increases for any Americans, no matter how wealthy.

With many in Washington away for the holidays, that scenario appears increasingly likely. “There is starting to become a little bit of an acceptance that we fall off the fiscal cliff,” said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist for TD Ameritrade. “People are starting to think about how they may plan their portfolio if that does happen.”

Stocks fell sharply Friday, with the Dow logging its biggest drop in more than a month, after House Republicans called off a vote on tax rates. That left federal budget talks in disarray just days before sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that “it’s the first time that I feel it’s more likely we’ll go over the cliff than not,” following the collapse late Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes. Wyoming Sen. Jon Barrasso, a member of the Republican leadership, predicted the new year would come without an agreement.

Failure to agree on a budget plan before year-end would lead to simultaneous spending cuts and tax hikes that many fear may push the economy back into recession. President Barack Obama and Congress are on a short holiday break.

Congress is expected to be back at work Thursday and Obama will be back in the White House after a few days in Hawaii.

JC Penney Co’s stock jumped after Oppenheimer analysts reiterated a “Buy” rating on the company Monday, saying that traffic in stores in the final weekend before Christmas was strong. The analysts said that this made them more optimistic that the company’s new approach to promotion will help it through the holidays and into 2013.

The stock gained 28 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $19.87. Other retailers may struggle though this holiday season, as Christmas shoppers rein in their spending, their spirits dampened by concerns about the economy and the aftermath of shoot-

ings and storms. Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at NPD Inc., a market research firm with a network of analysts at shopping centers nationwide, estimates customer traffic over the weekend was in line with the same time a year ago, but that shoppers are spending less.

Shoppers are increasingly worried about the fiscal cliff deadline, adding to the fall’s retail woes after Superstorm Sandy’s passage up the East Coast.

Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of economic growth, so how confident people are about parting with money is crucial for any economic recovery.

Falling stocks outnumbered gainers by a ratio of five to one in the 30-member Dow, with technology companies leading the decliners. Hewlett-Packard fell 33 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $14.01 and Microsoft Corp. dropped 39 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $27.06.

Stocks may also come under pressure in coming days as investors who have seen their holdings gain this year, decide to sell and book the capital gains tax in 2012 so as to avoid any potential increase in that tax rate next year, according to Kinahan, of TD Ameritrade. “People who have had a nice year in a particular stock may say ‘why not take the hit this year,’ “ said Kinahan.

Barring a dramatic sell-off in the year’s final days of trading, stocks will end the year higher on signs that the U.S. housing market is recovering and the US economy is adding jobs. The Federal Reserve also announced a third-round of its so-called quantitative easing program in September.

The program, intended to lower the cost of borrowing and spur lending, helped underpin demand for stocks.

The S&P 500 is 13 percent higher for the year, the Dow is almost 8 percent up and the Nasdaq is nearly 16 percent higher.

Trading volumes were lower than average today before the Christmas holiday Tuesday. The stock market will close at 1 pm Monday and will reopen Wednesday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.78 percent. Among other stocks making big moves: Herbalife Ltd., the nutritional supplements company, fell $1.21, or 4.4 percent, to $26.06. The stock has tumbled 43 percent this month after William Ackman, the founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP, claimed that the nutritional supplements company is a pyramid scheme. The company said Monday that it would hold an analyst and investor meeting Jan. 10 to discuss the company’s business in detail. — AP

NEW YORK: In this New York Stock Exchange photo, Trader Warren Meyers uses his handheld device as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. —

24

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

business

‘Inbox Zero’ method aims to tame work email lunacy

By Gregory Karp ight. That’s how many emails are in my Microsoft Outlook inbox at this moment. How is that possible when I, like millions of cubicle dwellers across America, get literally thousands of emails per month? It’s a philosophy called Inbox Zero. It’s a solution to the overwhelmed, out-of-control feeling that a jammed inbox invokes. Granted, my inbox of eight emails is not zero.

But that’s the nature of living the Inbox Zero life; it’s more an aspiration than an up-to-the-minute reality.

But with a mostly clean inbox, I feel more organized and less stressed by the daily email avalanche, maybe because I know nothing is getting missed. And I’m not even very good at Inbox Zero, being a relative newbie of just nine months on the program. Ben Rady, 34, a software engineer in Chicago, is better at it, subscribing to the philosophy since 2006. He’s unequivocal: Inbox Zero saved his career. “There’s no doubt in my mind that my career would be nowhere near where it is now if I had not done this or something like it. I needed to make a big change,” he said. Rady, who says he has a terrible memory and was disorganized, had just gotten a job as a consultant and was overwhelmed by the logistics of arranging meetings with clients and managing travel itineraries, in addition to the programming he was doing. His email was a central

E

problem. “I couldn’t handle it,” he said. “I had to get organized or I would have been fired.”

He went on to excel at his career and to write a book and teach classes on the side. “A lot of people think it’s impossible,” Rady said of regularly reducing his inbox to zero. “I get the reaction sometimes, ‘Why would you take the time to do that?’ The whole reason I do it is to save time.” The basic idea of Inbox Zero is to use the inbox as a triage space for doing something with email, not as a repository. With a new email, you might delete it or move it to a folder. For example, I received an email about an in-house social media seminar that I should attend. I noted the date and time on my calendar and deleted the email because I’ll never need it again. I harvested all the useful information from it, leaving a useless husk.

As an airline-industry reporter, I also received a stock analyst report on United Airlines with possible useful information. Without reading it, I moved it to a folder called “Airline story fodder.” I’m not writing about United Airlines today, but I might need it soon.

I also write a personal finance column, so when I get a news release about smart use of coupons, I move it to a folder, again without reading it. When I write a column about coupons, I can just search for the keyword “coupon” to find all the emailed news releases I need. The point is to act on email as

you “process” it in batches. Leaving messages in the inbox is frowned upon. So, Inbox Zero doesn’t mean you don’t keep old emails, it means they’re not in your inbox where they’re a constant energy- and attention-sucking distraction.

As InboxZero.com says, “That zero?

It’s not how many messages are in your inbox - it’s how much of your own brain is in that inbox. Especially when you don’t want it to be.”

Inbox Zero is not particularly new, especially among productivity gurus.

Its origin is attributed to Merlin Mann, founder of productivity website 43Folders.com, who, in turn, cites inspiration from David Allen, author of the book “Getting Things Done.”

Productivity consultant Jan Wencel, of Naperville, founder of Life Contained, is a strict adherent to Inbox Zero, but she doesn’t push it on her clients. “I advocate finding a rhythm that works for them, and that’s not always an Inbox Zero,” she said.

Cases in point are Kristy Gagoff and Donna Dorsey who both work in the human resources department at truckmaker Navistar in Lisle. Gagoff uses Inbox Zero. Dorsey? Not so much.

Wencel said the difference among clients is typically how often they processes the inbox to zero, whether once a day or once a week, instead of processing to zero every time they look at their inbox, as hard-core users advocate. Some people will leave a few

Inbox zero tips Ultimately, you’ll have to develop a version of Inbox Zero that works for you, but here are some tips: - Delete: A key to Inbox Zero is literally a key: the Delete key. If deleting makes you nervous, it shouldn’t. With almost all email systems, deleted emails are really just moved to a trash folder, where they could be reclaimed if needed. “If you’ve already read it, get it out of your line of sight because it’s just going to keep distracting you,” Rady said.

- OHIO: Another key is the acronym OHIO, for only handle it once.

After you open an email, do something with it. Do not close the message window without deleting it or moving it out of your inbox. “You want to make that decision the first time you read that email,” Rady said. Many emails can be made into items that belong on a to-do list or calendar. For me, that’s the Remember The Milk online to-do list and Microsoft Outlook calendar synced with my phone.

- Be purposeful: Check email less often. Wencel says you shouldn’t “fidget” in your email program. “Only go there when you’re ready to add value,” she said. If you need to focus, consider closing your email program, or at least turning off new-mail notifications.

- Reduce: Any way you can limit emails to your inbox is a good idea.

Unsubscribe to email newsletters and advertisements you don’t want, use automatic filters that route certain emails to certain folders, and label spam as junk.

- Search: Email search tools are better than they used to be. So you don’t need an elaborate folder system in order to find them later. The most aggressive Inbox Zero systems might only have one folder, perhaps called “archive,” as Gmail calls it. Incoming emails get either deleted or archived. You retrieve archived emails later with a search tool, not by scrolling through hundreds of them. The inbox is preserved for only processing new email. The Microsoft Outlook search is notoriously slow, but add-on software search tools can help. I use Xobni, an Outlook plug-in. Other search tools Wencel recommends are Copernic Desktop Search and X1.

- Getting started: Watch a 2007 video of Merlin Mann explaining Inbox Zero to Google employees. More broadly, many advocates, including Mann, point to the self-help book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. If you have hundreds or thousands of emails in your inbox, get a fresh start. Move all of them into a folder - as per Mann’s suggestion, I called it DMZ, for demilitarized zone - and then begin Inbox Zero from this moment forward. You can go back to process DMZ emails as you have time. — MCT

emails in the inbox. They represent tasks to do in the near term, today or tomorrow. Tasks deferred longer more properly belong on a to-do list or project list.

Gagoff, 37, a human resources manager Navistar, said she gets her inbox to zero about once every two weeks, despite receiving 150 to 200 emails each workday. More often, she has eight to 15 emails in her inbox related to things she’s actively working on. “A lot of people have tons of emails in their inbox. For me, that doesn’t work,” she said. Instead, keeping her inbox relatively clean gives her a sense of control and accomplishment.

“It makes me feel like I haven’t dropped the ball on anything,” she said.

“If I had hundreds of emails in my inbox, I might question whether I responded to some people.” She said she finds it “shocking” when colleagues say they haven’t responded to her email because it’s buried among thousands of messages in their inbox. Her colleagues are equally shocked when they find her inbox is near or at zero.

“They think it’s crazy, actually,” she said.

“But it’s a system that works for me.”

One recent Friday, she emailed a screen shot of her cleaned inbox to fellow Navistar workers also striving for Inbox Zero. “It’s become a little competition at work,” she said.

Dorsey, vice president of human resources for business operations at Navistar, is Gagoff ’s boss and also worked with Wencel. But she does not strive for Inbox Zero, although she will sometimes get down to “one page of emails,” which she estimates to be about 40 messages. She instead focuses on maintaining a good task list.

“Everyone appreciates a more productive life, but how you accomplish that can be different,” Dorsey said. “The biggest thing for me was not to be obsessed with having Inbox Zero, because that was stressful to me. You don’t want to create more stress.” Says Gagoff, “At the end of the day, we’re both very well-organized, but we have very different systems.”

So, Inbox Zero - or customized versions of it - saves time and helps efficiency. But there’s more to it than that.

The system’s deeper benefits go to the root of our most basic emotions: fear, anxiety, trust, control. They are the feelings that a jammed inbox can create and a better system for dealing with email can alleviate. Of course, that sounds hokey. This is, after all, only email, right? “I think for a lot of people it is emotional,” Wencel said. “When they open their inbox, they hold their breath.” Not Rady; not anymore. Once a slave to email, he’s now master of it. “I would say it’s almost purely an emotional tool,” he said. “That’s almost entirely the benefit.” Another check of my Outlook program shows my inbox now has 16 inhabitants. No worries; I’ll process that sucker to zero in no time.

Investors rush in to rent out foreclosures he foreclosed home in Aurora, Ill was an outdated, unkempt eyesore until crews arrived this fall, performing thousands of dollars of work to make it attractive and modern, inside and out. But it wasn’t until workers walked across the street to ask for some water that neighbors Mario Cervantes and Oralia BalderasCervantes learned that a corporation, not a consumer, had bought the house, intending to turn it into a rental property. Despite being landlords themselves, the couple aren’t sure they like the idea.

“If it’s going to be a company that is watching out for the community, yes,” Cervantes said. “If it’s going to be a company that is watching out for themselves, no.”

Added Balderas-Cervantes: “I’d rather see a homeowner.

A lot of renters don’t care. It’s like renting a car versus buying a car. It’s different.”

Similar scenarios and concerns are unfolding in markets hard-hit by the housing crisis. Well-capitalized, outof-town private equity funds are scouring neighborhoods, paying cash for distressed single-family homes and renting them out. The opportunities are plentiful, enabling investment groups to profit from low home prices, rising rents and an increase in the number of potential renters.

The transactions are returning vacant properties to active use. But they also are stoking fears among neighbors and municipalities about the long-term effect of large, private investors -including many that are operating under the radar - in their communities.

“This scares the hell out of me,” said Ed Jacob, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Inc. “In this rush to say this is a new asset class, are we creating the next community development problem? “You talk to them, and it’s all about neighborhood recovery. They all have the narrative down.”

The general strategy of the companies is the same: buy low, make the necessary upgrades, fill them with tenants and then sell the homes in three to seven years.

With companies and analysts anticipating projected returns of at least 8 percent, there also is talk of creating publicly traded real estate investment trusts.

“What this reminds me of is the dot-com boom,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Carrington Mortgage Holdings LLC, a California firm. “That’s what this feels like. Every investor in America wants to buy foreclosures and turn them into rentals.” Two statistics increasing that appetite are the homeownership rate and rental rates. Foreclosures, tight lending conditions and wary consumers have pushed down the nation’s homeownership rate to 65.5 percent at the end of September, according to census data. Meanwhile, the percentage of vacant rental units has been on a steady

T

AURORA: Leslie Mendoza uses a laptop as her father, Felipe (right) his nephew Aaron Carillo and Carillo’s son, Jayden, talk in the home they rent in Illinois. —MCT decline since 2010 as more people opt for leases rather than mortgages.

But investors aren’t flocking to all neighborhoods equally. Most want homes in desirable neighborhoods with strong area employment. They also look at the strength of local rules protecting landlords in disputes with tenants. After vetting the tenant and securing a lease, property managers say they routinely drive by the homes and sometimes schedule inside inspections to protect their investment.

It remains to be seen whether their expectations will be met. One problem with the business model is there’s no performance track record to speak of. And as housing prices slowly recover, acquisition costs also will increase and cut into returns. There also isn’t any history on property management firms tasked with overseeing so many scattered-site rental properties. Any well-publicized mistakes involving poorly maintained properties or wronged tenants could taint investors’ reputations.

That’s one reason why big-name players are likely to avoid buying in neighborhoods where they fear a greater chance of eviction proceedings occurring. “You make one mistake in those properties, and you’ll be toast,” Sharga said. While some funds have outlined plans for foreclosure-to-rental conversions, it’s impossible to easily quantify the purchases. For one thing, purchasers have formed various corporate entities to do the deals. In other cases, there’s uncertainty about whether investors plan to resell the homes immediately or rent them and outsource property management to other firms. An early leader in the sector is Waypoint Real Estate Group LLC, which recently secured more than $300 million in financing from Citigroup to expand its national portfolio. — MCT

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

BUSINESS

Dockworkers at US Northwest ports decline pact proposal Union urges grain shippers to return to bargaining table SEATTLE: Dockworkers at four US Pacific Northwest ports moved closer to a possible labor clash with grain shippers on Monday, as parties in a larger, separate dispute at 15 East and Gulf coast ports agreed to mediation ahead of strike deadline set for Dec 30. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced nearly 3,000 of its members had voted to reject a contract proposal that management called its “last, best and final” offer.

The proposed contract covers six of the nine grain terminals operating in Puget Sound and along the Columbia River that account for more than a quarter of all US grain exports and nearly half of US wheat exports. The stalemate in contract talks in Oregon and Washington state and management’s failure to win approval of its offer, fueled speculation that grain shippers might impose a lockout of union members in a bid to keep terminals operating with replacement workers.

The ILWU has not asked its members to authorize a strike, nor has it set a strike deadline or made mention of a walkout. The union urged the shippers to return to the bargaining table. Talks have foundered over numerous work-rule changes sought by the companies to improve efficiency, but opposed by the ILWU as onerous give-backs ultimately designed to break the union. The Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association, which represents the shipping companies and the grain terminals they own, said in

response to rejection of their contract offer that employers were “reviewing their options.”

The ILWU has said the shippers have hired a Delaware-based company that specializes in providing security and replacement workers in labor disputes. The US Coast Guard said last week it was preparing to establish buffer zones to keep unionrelated protests from interfering with navigation around two of the ports seen as most likely to be caught up in waterborne labor unrest.

The possibility of a labor showdown in the Northwest is just the latest in a series of union disputes to hit US ports. The US Atlantic and Gulf coasts are bracing for a strike threatened for Dec 30 by nearly 15,000 union dockworkers unless shippers extend their contract. Major sticking points to a settlement there include the future of so-called “container royalties” earned by union members based on tons of cargo moved through a port, and eight-hour workdays guaranteed under the current contract.

In a potential breakthrough on Monday, the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said the agency had called a meeting of the two sides in the East Coast dispute and both parties had agreed to attend.

Two days of federally mediated talks in the Northwest dockworkers dispute earlier this month failed to produce an accord. A counter offer presented by the union was rejected by management on Dec 17. Only weeks ago, harbor clerks and union

longshoremen staged an eight-day walkout in Southern California at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, idling much of the nation’s busiest cargo-shipping complex.

Shippers seek work-rule changes In the Northwest, the ILWU has accused management of bargaining in bad faith, citing 750 changes it said the companies were seeking to impose on labor contract terms that have stood for more than 80 years. The shippers said the dispute centers on proposed work rule changes aimed at making their terminals more competitive, such as allowing fewer employees to load ships, allowing elevator workers to assist in ship loading and greater management discretion in hiring and staffing decisions.

“Regardless of the outcome, they (the companies) remain committed to operating” the terminals, the Grain Handlers Association said in its statement.

Votes management’s latest offer were cast Friday and Saturday by union members in Portland, Oregon, and in Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, Washington. According to the final tally announced on Monday, 93.8 percent of those voting disapproved the proposal, as recommended by union leaders.

Switching from barges to trains?

Waterfront labor strife in the Northwest would compound an existing slowdown in US grain

exports caused by the low water on the Mississippi River by making it harder for shippers to meet expectations set by the US Agriculture Department, said Bob Utterback, of Utterback Marketing Services, a brokerage for farmers. Pendleton Grain Growers, for example, the largest cooperative grain dealer in Oregon, will likely overhaul its shipping plans to send more wheat, corn and soybeans to ports via railroad instead of barges, said Jason Middleton, director of grain operations for the cooperative.

Such a switch could slow shipments, most of which normally are sent up the Columbia River en route to Asia. Utterback said the soybean market already is on edge over weakening demand following recent cancellations of purchases by China, a top importer. Other grain dealers said they saw little effect on prices absent a prolonged labor clash, lasting at least two or three weeks.

The old contract for dockworkers at the six terminals expired on Sept 30, but under terms that remain in effect for the time being, regular work shifts for ILUW members ended at 3 pm local time Monday, and union workers have the day off on Tuesday for the Christmas holiday. The shipping companies say they are seeking the same workplace rules and terms the union had agreed to after lengthy and contentious labor talks with EGT, an exporter that opened a new terminal last year in Longview, Washington. — Reuters

Russia unveils $25bn oil link to the Pacific Analysts worry Russia lacks enough accessible oil

TOKYO: A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index that rose 126.55 points to 10,066.61 yesterday. — AP

Japan stocks rally as yen weakens BANGKOK: Japan’s benchmark stock index jumped yesterday as a softening yen helped boost the country’s powerhouse export sector. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo rallied 1.4 percent to close at 10,080.12, with export shares leading the way. The yen traded at a 20-month high of 84.95 yen in New York after incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe turned up the pressure on the Bank of Japan to adopt a 2 percent inflation target. During a televised program Sunday, Abe said he will consider revising the Bank of Japan Act if the central bank refuses to act at next month’s policy meeting, Kyodo News Agency said.

That’s designed to fight deflation, or continually dropping prices, which deadens economic activity. The Japanese economy has been stuck in deflation for two decades. On Monday in Asia, the dollar stood at 84.77 yen.

Mazda Motor Corp gained 2 percent, while Nikon Corp advanced 2.3 percent. Nomura Holdings jumped 6.3 percent.

Stocks in mainland China posted strong gains. The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.5 percent to 2,213.61. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index surged 2.4 per-

cent to 855.79. Shares in real estate, financial services and travel-related companies led the gains. Poly Real Estate, China’s second-largest listed developer, gained 4.7 percent while industry leader China Vanke soared 6 percent.

Markets in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand were among those closed for Christmas. On Wall Street on Monday, the last day of trading before Christmas, stocks fell on concern that time is running out for lawmakers to reach a budget deal to avoid the U.S. going over the “fiscal cliff.”

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.4 percent to close at 13,139.08. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.2 percent to 1,426.66.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.2 percent to 3,012.60.

For weeks, discussions between the White House and Congress over a budget deal have been the main driver in markets. If a deal isn’t reached by the start of 2013, automatic spending cuts and tax increases worth hundreds of billions of dollars will be imposed which many economists think could push the US economy back into recession.—AP

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday unveiled the final extension of a new $25 billion oil pipeline to the Pacific that underscores the energy power’s gradual shift away from stagnant European markets. The East Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) link is also expected to expand sales to the United States and fulfil Putin’s dream of cementing Russia’s place as a dominant force on international crude markets.

Moscow hopes to make ESPO into a benchmark in the Asia Pacific region that competes with WTI-the US oil standard whose price some traders believe is too heavily based on domestic political factors.

But analysts worry that Russia may currently lack enough accessible oil in its underdeveloped East Siberia fields to keep the line fully flowing despite strong demand in China and Japan. “There is just enough East Siberian for the existing pipeline,” said Sberbank Asset Management energy analyst Valery Nesterov. “But expanding this pipeline further would be impossible without West Siberian oil-and that oil is already meant to go west,” Nesterov pointed out. Putin brushed those concerns aside as he joined in the ribbon-cutting ceremony by video link from the Far East city of Khabarovsk.

“By completing the second leg, our potential is expanding,” Putin said in televised remarks. “This is a serious event.” The second leg of the 4,200-kilometre (2,600mile) pipeline runs from fields west of Lake Baikal to the Pacific port of Kozmino near the northeastern edge of China. The portpreviously connected to East Siberian oil fields by rail-also provides Russia with quick access to Japan and South Korea.

But the head of the Transneft state oil pipeline operator said most of the crude from the final leg would in fact be destined for the United States. “The American market will receive 35 percent of Kozmino oil,”

Nikolai Tokarev said at the opening ceremony in comments reported by the company’s website. “Around 30 percent will go to Japan and 28 percent to China. The rest will go to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.” Russia has repeatedly tried and failed to make meaningful inroads on the US oil and natural gas markets. Its gas sales never materialised after the North American shale revolution made both Canada and the United States effectively self-sufficient. Analysts also point out that US oil production is expanding at rates that should soon see the country outpace Russia and Saudi Arabia in the next few years.

“We can only be talking about a few tankers (going to the United States), and only in case if they are profitable,” said ATON investment house analyst Vyacheslav Bunkov. But Transneft’s Tokarev appeared to be placing his bets on the US as he laid to waste the idea of offering Europe any assurances that the continent could continue to rely on Russian oil.

“We do not owe a single EU country a thing, and we are certainly not obligated to account for ourselves,” RIA Novosti quoted Tokarev as saying. “If they (EU nations) want to hold a normal, proper conversation, they should change their approach to such a dialogue.”

The pipe’s first leg had until now pumped 30 million tonnes (220 million barrels) of oil per year from Eastern Siberia to the Chinese border town of Skovorodino.

One half of that oil went along an existing pipeline to the Chinese city of Taishet while the other was transported by tanker car to Kozmino. The extension will allow Russia to boost output along the first half of the link to 50 million tonnes (367 million barrels) per year. China will continue to receive its 15 million barrels while the remaining 35 million barrels will be distributed among various clients at Kozmino. — AFP

Bricks-and-mortar boutiques coming back to LA LOS ANGELES: As the postprandial fatigue of the Thanksgiving meal gives way to the adrenaline rush of the holiday shopping season, those hitting the streets are likely to notice a whole new crop of bricks-and-mortar stores that weren’t there during the last candy-cane-colored, ornament-festooned romp through retail’s winter wonderland.

The bumper crop of boutiques opening in time for holiday shopping or just after the New Year includes newcomers ranging from British brand Joseph opening its first West Coast store (on Robertson Boulevard), to French label Isabel Marant coming to Melrose Place, to Will Leather Goods’ store full of strappy satchels on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Calif. There are locally owned places too, including LaMerch, a gift shop next to the popular LaMill coffee shop in Silver Lake.

Also in the mix are retailers that opted to expand an existing Southland presence, such as J. Crew, which opened a standalone men’s store at the Grove the day before Thanksgiving, and those that are opening shiny new renovated retail palaces just in time for the holidays, such as Dior and Van Cleef & Arpels, both on Rodeo Drive. Dembo Realty’s Chuck Dembo, who specializes in luxury retail property leases, confirms that brands have been increasingly bullish on bricks-and-mortar.

“The big picture is that there’s been a steady climb since the beginning of the year,” says Dembo. “Things are coming back strong and vacancies are declining.” As evidence, Dembo points to retail rows such as Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, where Intermix, which already has a handful of

SoCal stores (including one not even two miles away on South Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles), has a new boutique.

“Beverly Drive was maybe half-vacant for years, and now it’s getting leased up. It’s never going to be 100 percent, but it’s right up there close to the top.”

Dembo thinks there are two things stoking the SoCal storefront resurgence: lease rates that have been starting to rebound

after bottoming out at about half their high-water mark (during what he calls the “pre-pre-recession”) and a market - Los Angeles - with global cachet. Jan Rosen, owner of the 9-year-old artisanal candle brand DL & Co, considered the same factors before deciding to open his first bricks-andmortar boutique on Beverly Drive in October.

“No. 1, real estate was a little more

LOS ANGELES: A leafless Christmas tree decorates DL&Company, one of many boutique retailers. — MCT

advantageous, price-wise... Right now (retail lease) rates in Beverly Hills are what they were in 2005 and 2006, and that’s amazing.”

But, Rosen says, locking in a good lease was only part of the equation. For luxury products like his, a stand-alone boutique, especially one with a Beverly Hills address, is an essential part of brand extension.

“There are two ways to do that,” Rosen says. “I can take on another PR firm for $10,000 to $15,000 a month, or I can open my own store. I like the store concept.”

Similar considerations - branding and cost convinced jewelry designer Kimberly McDonald, who launched her line in 2008, to open her first store in Sunset Plaza last week, even though she hadn’t planned to make the move into bricks-and-mortar until sometime next year.

“I always wanted to do my own store because it’s the best way for a designer to show their whole aesthetic,” said McDonald, “but I saw the (for rent) sign go up and it didn’t make any sense to wait and hope that another similarly priced and sized place would open up.” For McDonald, who describes herself as a “huge, huge fan of retail” to begin with, there’s also an intangible reason to open a store - one that can’t simply be explained by rental rates and brand extensions. “For me, bricks-and-mortar retail is also a part of our society. It’s social; it’s fun. You do it with friends or after a breakup to feel better or for special occasions.” Which, by McDonald’s metrics, means this holiday shopping season is going to be a whole lot of fun. Something that’s worth remembering as you hunt for a parking spot. — MCT

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin watches an opening ceremony of the second leg of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline through a live video link from the Novo-Ogaryovo residence yesterday. — AP

Nokia, RIM settle old disputes HELSINKI: Nokia Corp and Canadian smartphone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent licensing pact which will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said Friday. The agreement includes a “one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia,” Nokia said, but did not disclose “confidential” terms.

Last month, Nokia sued the Blackberry maker for breach of contract in Britain, the United States and Canada over cellular patents they agreed in 2003. RIM claimed the license - which covered patents on “standards-essential” technologies for mobile devicesshould also have covered patents for non-essential parts, but the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled against RIM’s claims.

Major manufacturers of phones and wireless equipment are increasingly turning to patent litigation as they jockey for an edge to expand their share of the rapidly growing smartphone market. Nokia is among leading patent holders in the wireless industry.

It has already received a $565 million royalty payment from Apple Inc to settle long-standing patent disputes and filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC Corp. and Viewsonic Corp infringe a number of its patents.

The company says it has invested $60 billion during the last 20 years in research and development and has one of the wireless industry’s largest IPR portfolios claiming some 10,000 patent families. Nokia’s share price closed down 3.5 percent at 3.05 on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. — AP

26

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

business

Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automotive sponsors event at Marina Crescent KUWAIT: Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automotive the exclusive distributor of Chevrolet in Kuwait sponsored the Corvette and Camaro Club season opening in Kuwait that took place on Saturday, December 15 at the Marina Crescent. Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automotive is keen on interacting with the youth and supporting their activities especially Automotive related. Alghanim Automotive displayed 2 cars in the event which were the Corvette 427 60th anniversary edition, which is the fastest convertible corvette ever built, and the Camaro ZL1 which is the fastest Camaro ever manufactured.

A large number of Corvette owners attended the event, and displayed their pride and joy on the crescent. The cars were out of this world, personalized and customized to reflect the unique personalities of their owners. The Camaro Club was also present in the event, and had a section dedicated for their extremely accessorized Camaros

which added a special touch to the event.

There was a panel of judges evaluating the cars participating and chose cars based preset criteria. The crowd also had a say in the event, and voted for the best looking Corvette and Camaro.

Yusuf A Alghanim Automotive chose the best of the best, and their eyes fell on a rare 1995 Corvette, ZR1. The event proved to be a huge success as people poured from all over Kuwait to the Marina Crescent to take a look at the masterpieces in the crescent. The Corvettes ranged from the C1 to the C6, and the Camaros on display, ranged from the first Camaro ever built to the 2013 ZL1, telling an amazing success story about the history of both cars.

Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automotive is committed to supporting sports car enthusiasts and interacting with the youth through different channels.

Balancing act: The top workplace trends of 2012

Burgan Bank offers free valet parking service at Al-Hamra Luxury Center KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday that it has added a new site for the free Valet Parking service offered for Premier customers in Al-Hamra Luxury Center.

Premier Customers are entitled to free valet parking at Al-Hamra Luxury Center, Salhiya Complex, Fanar Mall, Marina Waves and The Palms Resort. Customers carrying either the VISA Platinum debit or credit

card need to simply present either of their cards upon arriving in order to benefit from this new service. Designed to suit the lifestyle of its distinguished customers, the free valet parking service has been introduced as part of the bankís wide range of valuable privileges and benefits created and tailored to suit customersí lifestyle and needs.

As the country recovers from a recession, our workplaces are moving forward in new ways with new rules. Changes are afoot from how our offices look to who runs them and what equipment will be used. Here are the trends we saw in 2012 and what to expect in 2013: •

NBK rewards customers with the largest loyalty program KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) rewards its customers with the largest loyalty program in Kuwait, “NBK Rewards Program”.

MBK Rewards program is recognized as the first and best rewarding program in Kuwait.

NBK Credit Cardholders (Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club( enjoy exclusive discounts and rewards when using their credit cards at more than 500 participating outlets.

The program`s mechanics are simple and guarantee discounts and reward points at many of the best international and local brands in Kuwait. NBK Credit Cardholders benefit from exclusive discounts at more than 500 outlets in Kuwait encompassing worldrenowned brands in fashion, dining and lifestyle. NBK Credit Cardholders also have the

opportunity to redeem their NBK Reward points for vouchers and use them in the participating outlets.

NBK’s leadership in the Credit Card market in Kuwait has been established by consistently delivering superior value to its customers. NBK always strive to develop promotions and exclusive offers to reward its customers. To receive their NBK Rewards Vouchers, NBK customers can call Hala Watani on 1801801 or log to Watani Online on www.nbk.com and request to redeem their NBK Rewards Points then collect their NBK Rewards Vouchers from their branch in three working days. They can also visit any NBK branch and request their Vouchers which will be issued instantly.

•

Top performers are lifelong learners. It hasn’t been easy, but American workers finally realize we need to take control of our careers. Most companies cut way back on training and on education reimbursement at the same time we discovered a need to add to our skills toolbox. Being the top sales associate, or even the best doctor, now means we have to keep up with new technology, trends and approaches and we have to do it on our own time and our own dime.

•

Social media at work is a complicated issue. Through social media, companies now have an amazing way to market their handbags or food delivery services. But this new outlet for driving sales is also driving management crazy. As American workers turned to Facebook and Twitter to rant about cheap bosses or snotty customers, we saw employees getting fired and employers getting sued. Meanwhile, labor lawyers are busy drafting social media policies for companies trying to protect themselves by letting workers know what’s acceptable. The rise of social media in the workplace isn’t likely to slow, and employers will have to prepare themselves for the benefits - and the hazards.

•

Flexibility is king. Sure, we want to be paid well. But more importantly, we want to know that our employers “get it.” We want the day-to-day flexibility in how, when and where we work to better manage our lives. This year, we even saw reports that claim almost half of all workers would give up some of their salary to get more flexibility. We also saw smart employers of all sizes begin to position flexible work as part of their culture.

Guillermo Rotman, president of Regus Americas, predicts more businesses will offer their employees flexible work options going forward, particularly as technology untethers us from our desks.

BP Visco oils end ‘Go for Gold with Visco’ campaign In one of the most successful promotions this summer, the BP Visco (Go for Gold) campaign was concluded after achieving great appeal.

This promotion ran between September 15 and November 30, and the final grand draw took place on December 18, 2012. Prizes of more than 500 grams of pure gold were won.

Yusuf A Alghanim, the exclusive dealer for BP oil in Kuwait, recorded great demand on this offer across its service centers, all Bumper-toBumper centers, as well as the participating partners that included the Co-ops’ puncture shops, and repair garages all over Kuwait. The grand draw took place at Salwa cooperative society under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in addition to Salwa Co-op members. The Gold prizes were drawn as follows: Grand Prize (one winner) 100 grams of gold, 2nd place: 4 winners 50 grams of gold, 3rd place: 4 winners 20 grams of gold, while the remaining 40 winners got 5 grams of gold each.

Participation in the BP Visco campaign was automatic, with every oil purchase of 4 liters

from Visco 3000 (10W40) or Visco 5000 (5W40).

The customers received a draw coupon. Such simplicity and ease of participation made it convenient for the customers to get the chance to win, with peace of mind when selecting the best quality oil for their vehicles.

BP Visco range in Kuwait includes two of the highest quality engine oils worldwide, which are BP Visco 3000 and BP Visco 5000. The Visco 3000, known as the Clean Guard provides perfect Engine Protection Technology. It is suitable for automotive gasoline and diesel engines. BP Visco 5000 enjoys the same Clean Guard Technology, with additional specifications that make it the ultimate choice for automotive gasoline and diesel engines of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. In order to provide appropriate solutions, BP has adopted a technology lubricating by developing a special project lubricating oil for gasoline engines.

Ending this successful campaign, Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim & Sons keeps developing unique promotions with BP in Kuwait to provide its customers with the best value and satisfaction.

Employee engagement. There’s no polite way to say it - workers have had it. In 2012, we lost our happy-to-have a job mind-set, and now we want appreciation.

For some of us it’s been a few years since we’ve had a raise or bonus. An October sur vey by MSW Research and Dale Carnegie Training found a mere 29 percent of employees are fully engaged.

Experts say if our employers want us more engaged, they need to boost our confidence in senior management and look for ways to reward us. “Companies are going to have to decide, ‘Do we want to invest in our people again?’ “ said John Hollon, vice president for editorial at TLNT.com, which follows workplace trends. “They will need to reconnect with workers in ways haven’t had to worry about for about 5 years now.”

desks, staring at a screen all day is making us fat and unhealthy. We saw a new pressure on employers to encourage workplace heath initiatives and pay more attention to physical activity at work. And we’ve realized we need to work differently, to get up and move around, because mini-breaks of just one minute throughout the day can actually make a difference.

•

•

We’ve got to get up. This was a breakthrough year in understanding that how we work affects our health. Sitting at our

Overtime. Is stopping on the way in for doughnuts for co-workers considered onthe-clock time? It could be. Companies are running into trouble with workers who

•

Newly designed workplaces. Our workspaces are changing along with our work habits. As collaboration becomes more important, we are finding that workplaces that allow for sharing ideas are the new norm - open floor plans and collaborative work environments, standing work stations and dual monitors. We also see an increasing number of co-working or

FLORIDA: DHL Express CEO Ian Clough (front left) and Nikolaus Hagleitner (second from left) always takes the stairs up and down four flights every day as part of the company’s wellness program. — MCT claim there’s a rampant disregard for overtime pay provisions. In 2012, employees filed more than 7,000 federal lawsuits commonly known as wage-and-hour cases against their employers or former employers, records show. Losing these cases proved costly for some employers, and lawyers say they see these types of lawsuits continuing in 2013 along with a new interest in management training on what counts as a violation.

•

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Wellness programs are on the rise. Our employer really do care if we eat that doughnut or go for the apple. They care so much, in fact, that in many instances they’re going to pay us to lose weight or participate in a wellness program. By now, employers realize that if we engage in healthy behavior, they benefit from lower health care costs. Expect this trend to get even more attention because the Affordable Care Act will expand the ability of employers to reward workers who achieve health improvement goals.

held for decades. “Some industries already are very focused on how to replace those exiting employees,” said Jennifer Schramm, manager of workplace trends and forecasting for the Society of Human Resource Management. Others will have to work hard and fast to develop the next generation of corporate leaders. At the same time, retirement creates a need for older workers to find ways to stay productive. Look for retirees to seek out opportunities to find work that helps them contribute to the greater good or causes they care about, said Marci Alboher, VP of Encore.org and author of “The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life.” “They will be looking for opportunities to do something impactful.”

Boomers retiring. We’ve been told of its coming; now it is happening. Experts say 2013 is the year that kicks off a wave of baby boomers retiring from careers they

shared office space and virtual offices, preparing us to say goodbye to office cubicles of the past and look forward to opportunities for better networking. And while we’re at it, we will likely be bringing our own device with us to the office of the future. A Cisco study showed a staggering 95 percent of organizations permit employee-owned devices in the workplace. This includes laptops, tablets and smartphones. Leading organizations recognize the challenges and opportunities that these trends bring. For most, the belttightening is over and 2013 will be the year to refocus on top talent and move forward together. — MCT

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Instagram sued over contract changes SAN FRANCISCO: A lawsuit is seeking to stop Instagram from changing its terms of service, saying the Facebook-owned smartphone photo-sharing service is breaching its contract with users.

The class action lawsuit filed Friday by the Southern California-based Finkelstein and Krinsk law firm called on the federal court to bar Instagram from changing its rules.

“Instagram is taking its customers property rights while insulating itself from all liability,” the law firm said in the filing, which also demanded that the service pay its legal fees. “In short, Instagram declares that ‘possession is nine tenths of the law and if you don’t like it, you can’t stop us.’”

Facebook said the complaint was “without merit.”

“We will fight it vigorously,” the social network added.

Changes to the Instagram privacy policy and terms of service had included wording that allowed for people’s

pictures to be used by advertisers at Instagram or Facebook worldwide, royalty-free. Last week, Instagram tried to calm a user rebellion by apparently backing off the changes, due to come into effect from January.

“I want to be really clear: Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don’t own your photos, you do,” Instagram co-founder and chief Kevin Systrom said in a blog post. But the lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, argues that Instagram didn’t backpedal enough and that customers who leave the service still forfeit their rights to any photos that they had previously shared on the service.

“The purported concessions by Instagram in its press release and final version of the new terms were nothing more than a public relations campaign to address public discontent,” the complaint said. Tens of thousands of Instagram users in the state of California are eligible to join the class action lawsuit. — AFP

Indian land program shows tech’s limits Bhoomi digitizes 20 million land records

BANGALORE: A man (right) waits to get a copy of a land record at Bhoomi, a program that digitized Karnataka state’s 20 million handwritten land records, kiosk in Tumkur 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Bangalore, India. — AP

Kodak blows itself up in hopes of surviving ROCHESTER, NEW YROK: Those photos you shot years ago on film and stuck in a scrapbook or shoebox theoretically will last for centuries. The phrase “Kodak moment” may survive for years to come as part of pop culture. But Kodak itself?

Survival of the company that invented film photography for the masses and technology for mobile phone photography is far less certain as it transforms itself into part of the commercial printing and packaging industry.

The likelihood Kodak will get through its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy rises almost daily. Eleven months in, Kodak has secured an $830 million line of credit from various lenders - money that is supposed to carry it through the rest of its bankruptcy and out the other side.

And the company continues to maintain it will come out of bankruptcy sometime in the first half of next year as a pruned-down but finally profitable company. That postbankruptcy Kodak will barely resemble the company that filed for bankruptcy protection in January. Desktop inkjet printer manufacturing will stop next year though the company will continue to make the inks.

Kodak expects to save $100 million next year by ending all the retiree health benefits it long has provided. And the company estimates it has shed roughly 3,700 positions worldwide this year, or roughly 1 in 5 workers, including numerous middle and upper managers alongside hourly workers.

But perhaps most momentously, Kodak will be out of the photography business.

The digital camera business has been shut down. The photographic-paper and still-camera film businesses are for sale alongside the document-scanner and photo-kiosk operations. The heavy lifting is not getting out of bankruptcy, but the months and years afterward.

“The major question is the longevity,” said Art Roberts, president of Kodak retiree group EKRA Ltd. “There’s probably enough confidence in the 12- to 24-month window, but is there technology to carry that into the future? I don’t know.” If Kodak has a fan, it’s John Place.

The chief executive of Mercury Print Productions here, Place had a Kodak Prosper 5000 digital printing press installed last year. He expects to have a Prosper 1000 installed within a couple of weeks and looks to buy another Prosper 5000 some time next year.

“They have the best technology,” Place said. “But Kodak has always been bad at marketing.” Since Mercury installed its Prosper 5000, numerous potential Kodak customers have come through Mercury, seeing the digital printing press running almost constantly, churning out textbooks.

“My opinion is, (Kodak) is going to be successful,” Place said. “And we’re going to help them be successful.”

After decades of generating Midas-like fortunes by putting light-sensitive chemicals on plastic strips, Kodak sees its next life revolving around a similar deposition process - this time in printing. Specifically, Kodak is looking to commercial printing, packaging printing and print industry services - as well as the just-emerging field of functional printing - to be its next life.

The choice has not been happenstance.

The thought process started back in the

mid-2000s, said Christopher Payne, vice president of Kodak’s business-to-business marketing, when Kodak began acquiring a variety of print-related businesses, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on such firms as NexPress and Scitex.

Kodak’s entry to the packaging world is more recent, with its introduction of the Flexcel NX printing system in 2008. And functional printing - using printing technology as a means of manufacturing such goods as circuit boards or solar cells - is itself in its infancy.

Today, print “is the only business they have that they could emerge from bankruptcy with and have a hope of succeeding,” said Tone Kelly of Webster, N.Y. He retired in 2007 after 34 years with the company, most of it in corporate strategy.

The high-speed inkjet Prosper system “is a breakthrough technology,” Kelly said. “If they get that going ... it’ll be a real opportunity.” Packaging printer Hammer Packaging in Henrietta, N.Y., has been a user of Kodak pre-press offerings such as plates before and through the bankruptcy.

“Everything’s been on time,” Chief Executive James Hammer said. “They’ve got good products. The credibility is still there.”

But whether Kodak can make a big splash in packaging printing will depend on it being able to offer technology and products that set it apart from the competition akin to its inkjet technology in commercial printing, Hammer said. Kodak has a Feb. 28 deadline for its plan to repay creditors and exit bankruptcy. The plan has to be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The plan itself, even if Kodak’s creditors sign on to it, “does not necessarily mean that the parties believe that a company will succeed, just that there is some possibility and it is the best deal they can get at the time and better than an orderly liquidation,” said John C. Ninfo II, a retired U.S. bankruptcy judge for the Western District of New York.

Yet now arguably is not the best time to bet the farm on printing. While it’s a growing industry in much of the developing world, commercial printing is on the decline in the United States, according to quarterly Census Bureau economic statistics. Another of western New York’s traditionally dominant companies, Xerox Corp., has made a major bet on business services as its printing equipment business growth has slowed to a crawl.

The difference, according to Kodak, is its printing technology, with its high-speed inkjet Stream technology putting it on the path to a sort of holy grail in the print world - the speed and image quality of offset printing but the ability to do short press runs or personalization that comes with digital. But Kodak has a history of great technology that it never could translate into big bucks. Think organic light-emitting diodes. Think digital photography.

As the end of silver halide photography became evident, Kodak had a history of throwing lots of spaghetti at walls to see what might stick, from digital photography to pharmaceuticals.

“Kodak’s biggest problem was its success,” said Roberts of the retiree group.

“The film business was so profitable that every other technology was a second cousin through the years.”—MCT

BANGALORE: For years, Karnataka’s land records were a quagmire of disputed, forged documents maintained by thousands of tyrannical bureaucrats who demanded bribes to do their jobs. In 2002, hopes emerged that this was about to change.

The southern state, home to India’s technology hub in Bangalore, unveiled Bhoomi, a program that digitized Karnataka’s 20 million handwritten land records. At the time, it was hailed as a landmark use of computers to cut through bureaucracy and corruption.

But a decade later, Karnataka remains plagued by land disputes that merely migrated from paper to the database, and even the program’s creator says it could take 30 more years to sort it all out.

As the Indian government puts increasing faith in technology to help solve the nation’s thorniest problems - including a complete tech-based overhaul of its welfare system - Bhoomi presents a cautionary tale: that technology, even at its most successful, can only be a part of the solution. “(Officials) kind of look at technology to be a panacea for everything, which cannot be. The political will is the most important thing,” said Rajeev Chawla, the government administrator who created Bhoomi.

For Yashoda Puttappa, Bhoomi merely marked another setback in her family’s six-decade struggle to recover a plot of 1.6 hectares (four acres) she said was illegally taken from her grandfather in the 1940s as supposed repayment of a loan from a wealthy upper-caste neighbor. She feels that Bhoomi cemented the competing claim.

“In the computer, the name is of that man, the dominant caste, which is only going to make this harder,” said Puttappa, a land rights activist.

Bhoomi is good, she said, for preventing future land disputes, by making it more difficult to forge documents, but it also gives a patina of legitimacy to old land grabs.

“Whatever we lost, we can’t get back,” she said.

In this country, a third the size of the US and four times as populous, land supports hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers and is often the only inheritance they pass to their children. It has also become a hugely profitable investment, as India’s expanding cities grow desperate for new space for office complexes and housing developments. But land ownership has long been controlled by corrupt bureaucrats beholden to powerful land mafias that dispossessed the downtrodden and spawned millions of disputes.

In Karnataka, 10,000 village accountants presided over piles of stapled, crossed-out, erased and rewritten documents that had been revised so often it was nearly impossible to trace back how land was transferred - or stolen.

Wealthy families routinely took land documents as collateral for usurious loans to the poor, Puttappa said. Upon default, they took the land, often illegally. Even if the loan was repaid, many would trick illiterate debtors into putting their thumbprints on sale documents they couldn’t read, she said.

“You couldn’t even fight in the courts, because you didn’t have the records,” Puttappa said.

Bhoomi, which means “land” in the local Kannada language, changed that. The land records were transferred to a database and the tattered paper documents declared invalid.

Farmers who used to wait days and pay bribes to village accountants to get a copy of their land records, crucial for bank loans, can now get an instant printout at 200 government kiosks across the state for 10 rupees, less than two US cents.

When they want to sell their land, they register at the kiosks, which put their requests in a first-come, first-serve queue that makes it far harder for officials to drag their feet in hopes of soliciting a bribe.

But even as the World Bank and others praised Bhoomi as a pioneer in e-governance, the project faced criticism. In presenting Bhoomi with a UN public service award, Cabinet minister Jairam Ramesh criticized the program as “garbage in, garbage out,” saying it should have cleaned up the records before digitizing them.

“We all knew it was garbage,” Chawla said. “But if I tried to clean this garbage, it may take donkey’s years for me, and by the time I cleaned it, more garbage would come into the system.”

Instead, by putting safeguards in place to ensure the same piece of land is not sold to multiple buyers and by making the system of land sales more transparent, he hoped the garbage would slowly be squeezed out of the system as land was sold over the years. But that could take decades, he acknowledges. The land fight in Karadigere Kaval, a tiny village 85 kilometers (53 miles) from Bangalore, has raged since 1952, when the government gave a little under a hectare (two acres) apiece to hundreds of dalits - so downtrodden they have no caste.

It was rich earth - what they called “golden land” - where almost anything could grow. But repeated droughts forced many to move away. In the late 1970s, the government redistributed the land, giving the 90 remaining families 1.6 hectares

(four acres) each, according to residents and a local land rights group. Upper-caste families insisted they had bought some of the land from migrating farmers and it was rightfully theirs. The two sides fought in the fields and in the courts.

Three dalits were killed in a battle over the land in 1980. Six years later, the upper castes won eviction notices against some dalits. The dalits convinced local officials not to serve the notices, and got a court to agree to preserve the status quo and leave them on the land. An upper caste farmer fenced off about 18 hectares (44 acres). The dalits rounded up hundreds of allies, ripped down the fence and sold off the barbed wire. Finally, in 2002, a court ruled in favor of the dalit villagers, the residents said.

Yet when Gangarangamma, a 65-year-old widow who uses one name, went to the Bhoomi office to check her land record, it showed the four acres she and her husband had farmed for decades were registered to the government, a sign the land remained in dispute. She has repeatedly complained, she said. “(Officials) all the time say this will be fixed, but we haven’t got it,” she said in exasperation. “All of my generation is dead, only three of us are left, I can’t say with any confidence this will be resolved before I die.”

GN Nagaraj, a state Communist Party leader, hailed Bhoomi as “wonderful software,” but it was only of “very, very small, limited help.” The land mafia can still pressure the officials entering the records into the computer to help them steal land, he said.

Chawla said Bhoomi was designed to prevent new disputes from entering the system, but he acknowledged it wasn’t foolproof. Officials were still required to process land sales. They could be bribed and so could witnesses identifying sellers, he said. Bhoomi’s transparency did help Goutham Venki in his fight to get back land that had been taken long ago from his great grandfather by a powerful landlord.

He and about a dozen from his community of migrant stoneworkers looked up their dispossessed land at the Bhoomi office in 2004 and found it had been registered to a real estate developer, who had just bought it from the landlord.

Venki sued - and won. But he still had to borrow 120,000 rupees (about $220) at 60 percent interest from a loan shark to bribe bureaucrats to change the Bhoomi record back into his name.

A month later, the real estate developer appealed. And the decades’ old land dispute drags on, like so many of Karnataka’s land battles. — AP

BANGALORE: A Bhoomi program kiosk operator hands over the prints of land records to a villager in Hoskote 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Bangalore, Karnataka state, India. — AP

Rapid evolution marks ship design The Celebrity Reflection that arrived at PortMiami last month had changed so much from the original ship in its class that it was two feet wider in order to balance the weight of an additional deck and other new features. Carnival Breeze, which also arrived last month, is only the third ship in the Dream class, but its public spaces are very different since they incorporate features from Carnival’s new Fun Ship 2.0 program, launched after the first two Dream-class ships were built. Both are the last ships in their class.

Of 2012’s three new ships, only the Oceania Riviera is not significantly different from the first ship in its class. Frank Del Rio, chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings, Oceania’s parent company, says he’ll use the same design to build the next Oceania ship, although that will be at least two years off. In the world of cruise ships, the end of this year will mark a graduation of sorts. Most major USbased lines have wrapped up one ship design and are moving on to a new one.

Why? Guests demand changes, technology allows for features that didn’t used to be possible, and ships need to keep up with the competition or get out in front of it.

The result: Ship designs are more fluid; there are more differences between ships built from the same basic blueprint, and older ships are sent into dry dock to be retrofitted with features from newer ships. Among the features on the last class of ships that seem to be keepers are more elaborate water parks and sports decks, Norwegian’s cabins for the solo traveler, spa-linked staterooms, exclusive luxury areas on non-luxury ships, more niche bars and ever-more-specialized restaurants.

“One thing they all have in common is increasing options, especially for dining and drinking,” said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. “Norwegian Cruise Line has been the innovator here, and now others are following suit in significant ways. It’s recognizing that travelers don’t want to be limited to set dining hours.

“Definitely the increasing use of outdoor spaces

during the night as well as the day is a really great new innovation, a nice change from the days when people went inside at sundown. Princess Cruises gets a lot of credit for jump-starting this; its Movies Under the Stars has led to other really cool uses, from Celebrity’s Lawn Club (where live jazz under the stars is a highlight) to Royal Caribbean’s high dive acrobatics and its Central Park.”

Ship design changes reflect the lifestyle that passengers have on shore, Del Rio said. Just as homes are bigger than they were a generation or two ago, his line’s ships are bigger and so are staterooms. Dining is healthier and has more of a gourmet flair, the ambience and dress are more casual, and the stateroom has more amenities.

Carnival already has a larger ship with a new design under construction. So do Princess, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Holland America.

Not all the old blueprints are being thrown out. In addition to its two new “Project Sunshine” ships on order, Royal Caribbean is negotiating for construction of a third Oasis-class ship, the mega-ship that carries 5,400 passengers, to be delivered in 2016.

But most lines are looking for change.

“We’re always looking at how to improve,” said Gus Antorcha, Carnival’s senior vice president for guest commerce. “Guests are expecting more. They expect more choices, and they expect more value from their vacation. That has really forced us to think a lot about the product, how to keep pace with consumer preferences. With Fun Ship 2.0, that’s what we have been doing. We have been focused on improving the dining experience, bars, entertainment, and the outer decks.”

“Our product is very ‘fun in the sun,’ “ Antorcha said. “Our guests want to be in the pool and in the sun.” So Carnival beefed up the experience around the pool deck with Fun Ship 2.0, expanding the water park, adding outdoor seating on a lower deck, bars and eateries, including Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint, interactive Hasbro game shows and new entertainment. —MCT

28

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

health & science

Victim of face-eating attack remains unhealed Eye sockets hidden under flaps of skin MIAMI: When Ronald Poppo was a kid in the 1950s and ‘60s, a family Christmas in Brooklyn meant wind-up model trains circling the tree, Italian dinners of lasagna and stuffed squid, and, because Dec 25 was also his father’s birthday, ricotta-filled cassata cake. There was always music, because the Poppos have musical talent. Ronnie, as his older sister and two older brothers called him, played the violin as a child and guitar as a teenager. And there was church, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as their mother was a devout Baptist.

An aunt brought Christmas presents, recalled Ronald’s sister, Antoinette Poppo, who still lives in New York. “We were poor, but we didn’t know we were poor,” she said. It’s hard to say when Ronald Poppo last enjoyed childhood Christmas memories, had a merry-

emerge with snippets of information about his life before he disappeared onto the streets.

Following intensive medical treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Poppo moved to Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center, an 11-acre, 163-bed nursing home/rehab facility in South Dade, its halls now cheerily decked with holiday decorations.

He has refused all interview requests since the incident, and apart from allowing doctors to hold a news conference in June, he hasn’t authorized his treating physicians to talk about his medical condition. Jackson officials closely guard his privacy.

Photos displayed at the June news conference showed Poppo’s face as a mass of clots and raw tissue, his eye sockets hidden under flaps of skin, his nose gone, his cheeks and

MIAMI: Jackson Memorial Hospital personnel assist Ronald Poppo, who was attacked on the MacArthur Causeway in Florida, leaving him mutilated and blind. —MCT photos

MIAMI: Ronald Poppo who was attacked on the MacArthur Causeway. or even comfortable-Christmas. After vanishing from the family in the early 1970s, he encamped on the gritty streets of Miami, an inebriated vagrant drifting ever further from the mainstream.

His last known home was the concrete stairwell of a tourist-attraction parking garage. He surfaced again May 26 as the hapless victim in one of South Florida’s most sensational, blood-drenched crimes. That day, a naked, crazed, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene attacked 65-year-old Poppo on the MacArthur Causeway, stripping away his clothes then gnawing on Poppo’s face, leaving him mutilated and blind. Police shot and killed Eugene about 18 minutes into the assault.

Through news of the event, Poppo’s stunned siblings learned he had been alive all along, and people from his past began to

forehead partially so. Doctors had to remove one mangled eyeball but at the time hoped to save the other, and at least some sight. They weren’t able to.

His sister says that when they talk, brother Ronnie doesn’t mention the attack, the past, or how he spends his time. But he did recently say that he likes his accommodations and the people who care for him. “He says they take him outside and walk him around the place,” Antoinette Poppo said. “He’s glad to be there ... He doesn’t really talk much at all. He says, ‘Take care of yourself.’ It’s so sad he can’t see, and has to depend on other people.”

He told her that “his face hasn’t healed yet,” but that he doesn’t want more surgery because “it’s going to hurt.” If so inclined, Poppo could have participated in all sorts of Christmas festivities at Perdue, where wellwishers from The Cocoplum and Cutler Ridge Women’s Clubs, the Soroptimist Club of Coral Gables, the Grupo de Kendall, Bethel Baptist Church, and the Teddy Bear Club brought gifts for residents like shampoo, batteries, homemade goodies-and teddy bears.

“An anonymous ‘angel’ bought sweatpants, socks and a hat for every resident,” said Jennifer Mooney Piedra, Jackson senior media specialist. She said the staff hosted a holiday barbecue for residents on Dec 18, and that Haitian Ministry singers caroled in Creole.

Apart from stealing his eyesight, getting him off the streets, and making him the object of ghoulish fascination worldwide, the savagery of the May 26 assault has wrought other changes for Ronald Poppo. Some he has embraced; others not. He knows that his brothers are aware of his circumstances, but he hasn’t asked to call them nor has he asked them or his sister to visit.

A New York newspaper found an adult daughter, Janice Poppo DiBello, in New Jersey, the product of a brief marriage in the late 1960s. The Poppos never knew she existed,

Antoinette said.

After the attack on her father, Janice reached out to her aunt and uncles-Albert in California and Joseph in New York-but hasn’t tried to get in touch with her father, Antoinette said. Nor, she said, has Ronnie asked to speak to his daughter. In fact, Ron Poppo doesn’t believe he has any children, his sister said. DiBello, who has shared photos of her parents’ modest wedding at a Brooklyn restaurant with her newfound family members, hasn’t responded to interview requests.

After graduating from Manhattan’s elite Stuyvesant High School in 1964, Ron Poppo attended the City College of New York, and according to reporting by Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4, played in a band called “The Famed Flying Berserks. “He was into music,” recalled his sister, who allowed Poppo to live with her and her five sons for a time when he attended City College, until “he got mixed up with the wrong kind of people:” 1960s-era counterculture druggies.

Poppo joined the band in 1965, said fellow guitarist Stevan Porter, who was living in Coney Island and attending City College at the time. They were looking for a lead guitar and were introduced to Poppo, who played but didn’t sing.

“We liked him,” said Porter, a retired engineering professor. “He was a regular guy, and you had to be pretty bright to go to City College in those days.” All the guys were science-minded, he said, including Poppo. For the two years that Poppo played with the Berserks, they mainly played British invasiongroup covers: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals. But Poppo “loved the Beach Boys,” Porter said. “He introduced us to ‘In My Room.’”

Poppo grew his hair into a Beatles-style mop, and used the lingo of the era. “Every other word was ‘cool’ and ‘like,”“ Porter said.

And if he was doing drugs, “it was probably marijuana.”

The band lost track of Poppo in the fall of 1966. As Porter recalls it, he didn’t show up when he was expected and didn’t answer the phone. “He just vanished,” said Porter. “We never saw him again.” It was, apparently, all downhill from there. In Miami, Poppo amassed a long record of petty offenses and once was shot.

Swimming teacher Jackie LeBel said she used to see him near the Miami Beach Publix at 1045 Dade Blvd., and that he was well known in the area. “He used to walk down 17th Street and over by the fire station in Miami Beach,” she said. “People used to know him. They’d hand their leftover lunches to him out of the car window...He was a regular kind of person who minded his own business and stayed out of trouble.”

Poppo’s last known home was the garage stairwell at Jungle Island, according to outreach workers from the Homeless Trust, who last spoke to him there two days before attack. He had repeated contacts with outreach workers since the late 1990s, but seemed to prefer his independence.

Under the stairs it was safe, an isolated space where he kept his few belongings, water and food, with a public restroom a few steps away. Although a chronic alcoholic, Poppo didn’t bother anyone, Jungle Island employees said. Sometimes he’d clean up trash in the garage, and they’d give him a few dollars.

But a patron complained a few days before the attack and the outreach workers called police, who cleared out Poppo’s stairwell cave.

Poppo hit the road. He was lounging in the shade on the MacArthur walkway near The Miami Herald parking garage about 2 pm when Rudy Eugene spotted him and began his savage attack. His face was the last thing Ronald Edward Poppo ever saw. —MCT

Few tests done at toxic sites after superstorm OLD BRIDGE: For more than a month, the US Environmental Protection Agency has said that the recent superstorm didn’t cause significant problems at any of the 247 Superfund toxic waste sites it’s monitoring in New York and New Jersey. But in many cases, no actual tests of soil or water are being conducted just visual inspections. The EPA conducted a handful of tests right after the storm, but couldn’t provide details or locations of any recent testing when asked last week. New Jersey officials point out that federally designated Superfund sites are EPA’s responsibility.

The 1980 Superfund law gave EPA the power to order cleanups of abandoned, spilled and illegally dumped hazardous wastes that threaten human health or the environment. The sites can involve long-term or short-term cleanups. Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club in New Jersey, says officials haven’t done enough to ensure there is no contamination from Superfund sites. He’s worried toxins could leach into groundwater and the ocean. “It’s really serious and I think the EPA and the state of New Jersey have not done due diligence to make sure these sites have not created problems,” Tittel said. The EPA said last month that none of the Superfund sites it monitors in New York or New Jersey sustained significant damage, but that it has done

follow-up sampling at the Gowanus Canal site in Brooklyn, the Newtown Creek site on the border of Queens and Brooklyn, and the Raritan Bay Slag site, all of which flooded during the storm.

But last week, EPA spokeswoman Stacy Kika didn’t respond to questions about whether any soil or water tests have been done at the other 243 Superfund sites. The agency hasn’t said exactly how many of the sites flooded.

“Currently, we do not believe that any sites were impacted in ways that would pose a threat to nearby communities,” EPA said in a statement.

Politicians have been asking similar questions, too. On Nov 29, US Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., wrote to the EPA to ask for “an additional assessment” of Sandy’s impact on Superfund sites in the state. Elevated levels of lead, antimony, arsenic and copper have been found at the Raritan Bay Slag site, a Superfund site since 2009. Blast furnaces dumped lead at the site in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and lead slag was also used there to construct a seawall and jetty.

The EPA found lead levels as high as 142,000 parts per million were found at Raritan Bay in 2007. Natural soil levels for lead range from 50 to 400 parts per million. The EPA took four samples from the site after Superstorm Sandy: two from a fenced-off beach area and two from a nearby public playground. One

of the beach samples tested above the recreational limit for lead. In early November, the EPA said it was taking additional samples “to get a more detailed picture of how the material might have shifted” and will “take appropriate steps to prevent public exposure” at the site, according to a bulletin posted on its website. But six weeks later, the agency couldn’t provide more details of what has been found.

The Newtown Creek site, with pesticides, metals, PCBs and volatile organic compounds, and the Gowanus Canal site, heavily contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, volatile organics and coal tar wastes, were added to the Superfund list in 2010. Some say the lead at the Raritan Bay site can disperse easily. Gabriel Fillippeli, director of the Center for Urban Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said lead tends to stay in the soil once it is deposited but can be moved around by stormwaters or winds. Arsenic, which has been found in the surface water at the site, can leach into the water table, Fillippeli said.

“My concern is twofold. One is, a storm like that surely moved some of that material physically to other places, I would think,” Fillippeli said. “If they don’t cap that or seal it or clean it up, arsenic will continue to make its way slowly into groundwater and lead will

be distributed around the neighborhood.” The lack of testing has left some residents with lingering worries. The Raritan Bay Slag site sits on the beach overlooking a placid harbor with a view of Staten Island. On a recent foggy morning, workers were hauling out debris, and some nearby residents wondered whether the superstorm increased or spread the amount of pollution at the site.

“I think it brought a lot of crud in from what’s out there,” said Elise Pelletier, whose small bungalow sits on a hill overlooking the Raritan Bay Slag site. “You don’t know what came in from the water.” Her street did not flood because it is up high, but she worries about a park below where people go fishing and walk their dogs. She would like to see more testing done. Thomas Burke, an associate dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, says both federal and state officials generally have a good handle on the major Superfund sites, which often use caps and walls to contain pollution. “They are designed to hold up,” Burke said of such structures, but added that “you always have to be concerned that an unusual event can spread things around in the environment.” Burke noted that the storm brought in a “tremendous amount” of water, raising the possibility that groundwater plumes could have changed. —AP

CALIFORNIA: Thang Q. Tran is photographed at the TLC Pharmacy in Fountain Valley, where he sent his customers after he lost his license. —MCT

Rogue pharmacists fuel addiction LOS ANGELES: Joey Rovero’s quest for pills ended at Pacifica Pharmacy. It was the same for Naythan Kenney, Matt Stavron and Joseph Gomez. All four were patients of a Rowland Heights physician who was a prolific prescriber of narcotic painkillers and other addictive drugs. To get their fix, they needed more than a piece of paper. They needed a pharmacist willing to dispense the drugs, and at Pacifica they found one.

All four died of drug overdoses after filling prescriptions at the tiny pharmacy in Huntington Beach, Calif, court and coroners’ records show. Pacifica’s owner, Thang Q. “Frank” Tran, sold pain medications in large quantities.

Particularly popular with his customers were high-dose, 80-milligram tablets of OxyContin.

Tran filled nearly twice as many of those prescriptions as did nearby Walgreens, CVS and Sav-On pharmacies combined, according to state records.

Many of his customers traveled long distances and paid cash. Rovero drove more than 350 miles from Arizona State University in Tempe to get his prescriptions in Rowland Heights and then 33 more miles to the pharmacy. “I thought to myself, ‘Why in the world would these kids go that much farther out of their way?’ “ said April Rovero, whose son was 21 when he died. “Someone must have told them to go there.”

Pharmacists are supposed to be a last line of defense against misuse of prescription medications. By law, they are required to scrutinize prescriptions, size up customers and refuse to dispense a drug when they suspect the patient has no medical need for it. Some, however, provide massive amounts of painkillers and antianxiety drugs to addicts and dealers with no questions asked, according to state records, regulators and law enforcement officials.

Rogue pharmacists are key enablers of drug abuse and an important source of supply for the illegal market. State officials who license and oversee pharmacies are overmatched by the scale of the problem. Prescription drug abuse has increased sharply over the last decade, fueling a doubling of drug fatalities nationwide.

California’s 42,000 pharmacists filled 318 million prescriptions last year. Those for OxyContin, Dilaudid and other potent painkillers have increased 52 percent over the last five years, according to a review of prescription data collected by the state. The total dosage dispensed by pharmacies has also grown: by nearly 50 percent, the data show.

The task of identifying careless or corrupt pharmacists and initiating disciplinary action falls to 37 investigators for the California Board of Pharmacy. “We are struggling to keep up because there are more pharmacies, more licensees, more places to go,” said Virginia Herold, the agency’s executive director. “We work really hard. But there’s a limit to what we can do.”

The board has added investigators in recent years. Even so, “we do have some pharmacies that seem to be able to help deliver unconscionable quantities of drugs to patients,” Herold said. It doesn’t help that illegal dispensing is a low priority for law enforcement agencies. Criminal prosecutions are rare and penalties typically light. Rogue pharmacists have a symbiotic relationship with physicians who prescribe drugs for addicts. Neither can flourish without the other.

Their cooperation is usually unplanned.

Through trial and error, addicts whose doctor writes prescriptions for narcotics will discover a pharmacist willing to dispense the drugs without the appropriate scrutiny. Then word gets around. Both pharmacist and doctor can reap a windfall by writing and filling large numbers of prescriptions for cash.

High-volume dispensing of addictive drugs was par for the course at Burbank Medical Pharmacy, according to board records.

In a single day - Dec 3, 2007 — the pharmacy filled 85 prescriptions for pain medications, according to a board accusation. None of the doctors who wrote the prescriptions were from the Burbank area, nor were any of the patients, the complaint states. Both are signs that a pharmacy is catering to addicts, according to regulators and law enforcement officials. Burbank Medical also dispensed painkillers in volume to a drug dealer who claimed to be picking them up for patients too sick to do so, according to the board accusation and court files. The dealer was convicted in a prescription drug fraud scheme that prosecutors said generated millions of dollars.

Pharmacist Nancy Cha and the pharmacy are accused by the board of failing to ensure that the drugs they dispensed were for patients with legitimate need. They have not been implicated in the drug dealer’s fraud scheme.

The pharmacy also failed to account for 12,610 OxyContin tablets with a street value of more than $1 million, the board said. Cha’s attorney, Richard Moss, said she was a well-meaning pharmacist who naively believed she was help-

ing people in need.

“This was a real wake-up call,” Moss said of the board accusation. At a recent hearing on the case, Moss presented a defense that he said was largely “explanation and mitigation.” The 13-member board will decide whether to revoke Cha’s license or take other disciplinary action. In recent years, the board has taken disciplinary action only infrequently against pharmacists for filling customers’ prescriptions without ensuring that they were for legitimate medical needs.

Since 2006, five pharmacists have had their licenses revoked on those grounds, according to board records. Twelve others surrendered their licenses, and 22 were placed on probation. Over the same period, 23 California pharmacies have been sanctioned for similar offenses.

Derrick Jones, an agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration who oversees a prescription drug task force, said corrupt or inattentive pharmacists are a boon to addicts and dealers. “If you’ve got a 22-year-old kid coming in with a prescription for enough Oxy to put a horse down, that’s got to raise some red flags with a good pharmacist,” Jones said.

“When those questions don’t get asked, that’s when the floodgates open. You’ll have people coming from L.A. all the way down to Orange County because they know they can get that prescription filled without any questions.”

Andrew Snay was adrift. The 22-year-old bounced from job to job. He worked at Home Depot, as a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman and as a telemarketer. The one constant in his life, his mother said, was his addiction to pills. At one point, he used a shoulder injury as a pretext to obtain pain medications, his mother said. “He was just getting high,” she said. He went to great lengths to get pills-literally.

He would travel 40 miles from his home in Thousand Oaks to the office of Dr Bernard Bass, a general practitioner in North Hollywood who treated people for chronic pain. Prescription in hand, he would go five more miles to Jay Scott Drugs in Burbank. Bass would prescribe-and Jay Scott Drugs would dispense-the painkiller Norco, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and a muscle relaxant called Soma, according to pharmacy board records. Together, they form a drug cocktail popular with addicts.

In a 14-month period, Snay filled 89 prescriptions at Jay Scott Drugs, according to a board accusation. Snay filled two of them-for hydrocodone and Xanax-two days before he died of an overdose on March 20, 2008, records show. An empty bottle of painkillers with the pharmacy’s label was at his bedside.

Shortly after his death, Snay’s mother, Kim, confronted Albert Daher, the supervising pharmacist and owner of Jay Scott Drugs, according to her testimony at a pharmacy board hearing. She asked for a record of the drugs her son had purchased. Daher gave her a printout, then asked for it back moments later, she said. She said she refused and walked out. Scanning the document, Snay saw that her son was able to obtain 400 pills in one four-day period in 2007, the year before he died. “I almost fainted,” she said. Snay and three other people from Ventura County, ages 21, 25 and 31, died of overdoses in the span of a month in 2008 after filling prescriptions at Jay Scott Drugs, according to the board accusation.

All four were patients of Bass, who pleaded guilty in May 2009 to illegally prescribing painkillers and other addictive drugs. Bass, 62, died of a heart attack a month later. Over a 19month period, Jay Scott Drugs filled an average of 68 prescriptions a day written by Bass for painkillers and other commonly abused drugs, the board said. On a single day-Sept 7, 2007 — 93 out of 132 prescriptions for controlled substances filled at the pharmacy were for patients of Bass. In July of the same year, Jay Scott’s wholesaler alerted the pharmacy board that the drugstore was ordering more than 100,000 hydrocodone pills a month, records show. A board expert said at the hearing that 100,000 pills was a “huge amount” for a pharmacy of that size.

In all, the pharmacy dispensed $1.7 million worth of drugs prescribed by Bass, according to a board investigator’s report. Jay Scott Drugs also catered to patients of Dr. Masoud Bamdad when others would not fill his prescriptions, according to board records and testimony.

Bamdad’s patients routinely drove from his office in San Fernando to Jay Scott Drugs, 11 miles away. The pharmacy filled 1,357 prescriptions for Bamdad’s patients over 18 months.

Nearly three-fourths were for painkillers and other controlled substances. Bamdad is serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison for selling prescriptions to addicts, one of whom died of an overdose at age 23 after filling a prescription for Xanax at Jay Scott Drugs. The pharmacy board is seeking to revoke or suspend the licenses of Daher and two colleagues and the pharmacy’s operating permit. —MCT

29

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

health & science Dar Al-Shifa Clinic welcomes Dr Deacon as Pediatric Dentist

Thalgo’ s trip to Nice Al Jothen Company (Madi International), the exclusive distributor of Thalgo la Beaute Marine organized a trip to Nice in France for its clients powered by Thalgo. More than 15 beauty therapists enjoyed a 5 days training program at Thalgo’s education and training center in France mixed with fun and enthusiasm. Moving from Nice to Monaco, clients explored the wonders of another city, where they spent exclusive time for site seeing and leisure.

KUWAIT: Dar Al-Shifa Clinic announced yesterday that it has appointed Dr John Deacon - Pediatric Dentist lately to join its fast growing team. Dr Deacon specializes in providing a complete oral health care, including diagnosis, prevention and treatment. His unique skill set also ranges from local anesthesia, General anesthesia and sedation for infants, teenagers, as well as special needs children patients.

Over the course of his professional career, Dr Deacon participated in many surveys that aimed at detecting caries’ rate in school children, and conducted statistical and cost-saving study for research departments on the importance of early orthodontic intervention versus corrective orthodontics in Kuwait. He is also well known for teaching courses to GP dentists working in oral health programs across five municipal areas around Kuwait. The courses he teaches consist of theory, clinical and lab aspects. On this occasion, Dr Deacon said: “With my long years of experience in Kuwait and my ability to work effectively with patients challenged by disabilities or phobias, I hope to improve the Pediatric Dentistry department, which is part of Dar AlShifa Clinic’s and Dar AlShifa Hospital’s notable contributions to the overall Dr John Deacon health sector in Kuwait.”

“Dar Al-Shifa Clinic, which is a part of Dar Al-Shifa Hospital, is amongst Kuwait’s top medical institutions, known for introducing the latest medical technologies. I am optimistic about my new career move to the clinic’s team, especially its Pediatrics department. I hope to add my extensive experience in the field of child healthcare to patients’ benefits,” added Dr Deacon. Dar Al-Shifa Clinic provides patients with comprehensive medical solutions. The clinic includes an extensive array of Clinics such as Dar Al-Shifa Dental Center, Dermatology, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Dietary, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, a fully equipped laboratory as well as a solely dedicated pharmacy to accommodate patients’ prescription requirements.

Dar Al-Shifa’s Dental Center is located at Dar Al- Shifa Clinic in Midan Hawally. For more information, patients are required to call 25666999 or 1802555

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

Jordanian Community holds an open day Announcements

Shirva feast

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hirva Welfare Association Kuwait (SWAK) will be celebrating their Shirva Parish feast-2013 here in Kuwait.

On this occasion there will be a mass offered at 9.15 am on February 8, 2013 at the Holy Family Cathedral.

Kuwait and the celebration / get-together with a of variety entertainment programme will he held from 4:30 pm - 9 pm on the same day at the Indian Community School, Salmiya.

SWAK members or their children who would like to participate in the variety entertainment programme and show their talent are requested to contact any of the SWAK committee members listed below to avail the opportunity before January 10, 2013. Likewise if any of members children have excelled in academics or any other extra curricular activities in the past 1 year will be appreciated and hence are requested to inform any of the SWAK committee members listed below before the 10th of January. Last date for enrollment in the talent show is January 15, 2013.

T

he registration committee for the Jordanian Community Assembly held an open day at the Harbawi Camp in AlJulai’ah, attended by Jordanian Deputy Ambassador Essam AlBdour and other embassy staff, as well as senior members of the Jordanian Community Assembly and members of the Jordanian community in Kuwait.

Several activities were held as part of the event including sports and entertaining activities as well as cultural competitions.

Arabic courses

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WARE will begin Winter 1 Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula on from December 2, 2012 until January 24, 2013. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. For more information or registration, please log-on to our website.

Charity show

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n the occasion of New Year Hangama 2013, which will be held on December 31, 2012 , from 6:00 pm to 12:00 am at Carmel School, Khaitan. Rak Dance Academy is conducting dance competition in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. The winners will be rewarded.

Goan Culinary Club

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he Goan Culinary Club - Goa encourages you to log on to their website where you can find a video of Odette and Joe Mascarenhas sharing their thoughts on Goan cuisine. These videos were recorded at the launch of the Goan Culinary Club in Goa on March 3, 2012. Thanks to support from all at the Goan Culinary Club, we have made great progress in six months.

Basketball Academy

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he new Premier Basketball Academy offers coaching and games every Friday and Saturday from 10 am onwards for 6 to 18 year olds, boys and girls. Located in Bayan Block 7, Masjed Al-Aqsa Street by Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School. Free Basketball and Tee Shirts for all participants, with certificates and special awards on completion of each 6 week course. Qualified and experienced British and American Coaches, Everyone Welcome.

Arabic courses

A

WARE will begin Winter 1 Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula on from December 2, 2012 until January 24, 2013. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. For more information or registration, please log-on to our website.

Embassy holidays French Embassy The French Embassy in Kuwait will be closed on the occasion of the New Year Tuesday, January 1st, 2013.

Indian Embassy The Embassy of India will remain closed on 01 January, 2013, Tuesday being New Year Day. Australian Embassy On the occasion of Christmas and New Yearís, the Australian Embassy wishes to advise that it will be closed today December 26, 2012, Thursday December 27, 2012 and Tuesday January 1, 2013. The Embassy will reopen on Sunday, December 30, 2012 after Christmas holidays and on Wednesday January 2, 2013 after the new yearís holiday.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

T

he PGA Everton Winter Camp is being held at Bayan Block 7, adjacent to Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School. The first three days of the camp concluded with lots of fun and games and a visit from Santa and his superhero helpers - Spiderman, Batman, Superman and the Shadow! All the children enjoyed a pizza party before receiving their gifts of footballs and gift vouchers from sponsors Go Sport. The boys and girls are grouped according to age and enjoy expert coaching and games under the guidance of Everton Coaches Mike, Peter and Shak, assisted by Yousaf, James, Jonathan, Joey, Sam, Bader and Azmi. The next three days of the Winter Camp will take place on 28th, 29th and 30th December from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm daily, with presentation of certificates and medals at the end of course party on Sunday 30th December. Places are still available for children of all ability levels aged from 3 to 16 years.

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W H AT ’ S O N

CiK holds seasons greeting event

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anadians In Kuwait (CiK), a social networking organization for the Canadian expat community based in Kuwait, celebrated the current season for its members and guests with a grand event with pomp and color at Hotel Missoni Salmiya on Dec 17, 2012.

Ishtiaq Malik the new President of CiK welcomed the dignitaries, members and guests on behalf of CiK. The Canadian Ambassador George Douglas addressed the audience by greeting the Canadian community in Kuwait with season’s greetings and thanking the CiK for holding this event. The ambassador praised the efforts of CiK’s outgoing president Angela Hofmeister and welcomed Ishtiaq Malik as the new president of CiK. Malik said that CiK is a social networking organization and shares Canadian culture with other expat communities in Kuwait, utilizing the talent and efforts of its members. CiK’s top agenda is to promote Canada’s national traditions and events in Kuwait.

Year 2012 was a very active year. OK had conducted several successful events for its members to enjoy their time in Kuwait. The membership in CiK has grown substantially in the year 2012. The CiK website has proven to be very informative with weekly news updates and is beneficial to its members. Malik thanked the CiK Executive Board for their relentless efforts, energy and enthusiasm towards CiK. CiK celebrated the Canadian Ambassador’s birthday by cutting a birthday cake. All members and guests wished the ambassador a very happy birthday. CiK executive board on behalf of its members presented a memento to Angela for her support and help to CiK. Finally, Malik wished love, joy and happiness of the season and for the upcoming year 2013 to all.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm. � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Canadian Embassy in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 7:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed for lunch from 12:30 to 13:00. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

Birthday celebration of the ambassador.

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Gifts and prize distribution

Welcome speech by CiK President Ishtiaq Malik.

HE Canadian Ambassador Douglas George addresses attendees.

CiK members and guests enjoying the event

Souvenir presentation to the outgoing president Angela Hofmeister

Kuwait National English School celebration!

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform the Kenyan community residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that the Embassy has acquired new office telephone numbers as follows: 25353982, 25353985 - Consular’s enquiries 25353987 - Fax Our Email address: info@kenyaembkuwait.com. � � � ��� � �

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he Reception Children of Early Years at Kuwait National English School held their annual Winter Concert on Dec 17, 2012. The theme of the concert was “Celebration”. The children were celebrating diversity, respect and responsibility as well as friends. These are all themes of learning they have been developing during their first two years at school. So the message of the reception children is “Celebrate” everything!

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, Al-Salaam 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. � � � ��� � �

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. � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF PERU The Embassy of Peru is located in Sharq, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Al Arabiya Tower, 6th Floor. Working days / hours: SundayThursday /9 am - 4 pm. Residents in Kuwait interested in getting a visa to travel to Peru and companies attracted to invest in Peru are invited to visit the permanent exposition room located in the Embassy. For more information, please contact: (+965) 22267250/1.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:50 Animal Cops Philadelphia 01:45 In Search Of The King Cobra 02:35 Untamed & Uncut 03:25 Gator Boys 04:15 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 05:05 Lions Of Crocodile River 05:55 Call Of The Wildman 06:20 Cheetah Kingdom 06:45 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:10 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:35 Wildlife SOS 08:00 The Really Wild Show 08:25 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 09:15 Dogs 101 10:10 Too Cute!

11:05 Lions Of Crocodile River 12:00 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 15:10 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 15:40 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 16:35 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 17:30 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 19:20 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 20:15 Monkey Life 20:40 Bondi Vet 21:10 Call Of The Wildman 21:35 Cheetah Kingdom 22:05 Almost Human With Jane Goodall 23:00 Wildest Islands 23:55 Biggest And Baddest

01:20 Kirstie & Phil’s Perfect Christmas 02:10 Come Dine With Me 03:00 Antiques Roadshow 03:50 Bargain Hunt 04:35 Masterchef: The Professionals 05:05 Masterchef: The Professionals 06:00 Rick Stein’s French Odyssey 06:30 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 07:15 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 08:00 MasterChef Australia 08:50 MasterChef Australia 09:40 Rick Stein’s French Odyssey 10:05 Rick Stein’s French Odyssey 10:30 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 11:20 Kirstie & Phil’s Perfect Christmas 12:05 Come Dine With Me 13:00 Antiques Roadshow 13:50 Bargain Hunt 14:35 Masterchef: The Professionals 15:04 Masterchef: The Professionals 16:00 Baking Made Easy 16:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 18:00 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 18:45 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 19:10 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 19:35 Come Dine With Me 20:25 Antiques Roadshow 21:15 Bargain Hunt 22:00 Masterchef: The Professionals 22:55 Masterchef: The Professionals 23:20 Baking Made Easy 23:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

00:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 00:30 Hardtalk 01:00 BBC World News America 01:30 BBC World News America 02:00 Newsday 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 Newsday 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Sport Today 04:00 Newsday 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Sport Today 05:00 BBC World News

05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Asia Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 Hardtalk 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 World Business Report 11:45 BBC World News 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 Hardtalk 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 BBC World News 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 BBC World News 15:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:30 GMT With George Alagiah 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 16:30 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 19:30 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 BBC Focus On Africa 21:00 BBC World News 21:30 World Business Report 21:45 Sport Today 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 23:00 BBC World News 23:30 World Business Report 23:45 Sport Today

00:05 Taz-Mania 00:30 Pink Panther And Pals 00:55 Moomins 01:20 Tom & Jerry Kids 01:45 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 02:10 Puppy In My Pocket 02:35 Wacky Races 03:00 Looney Tunes 03:25 Duck Dodgers 03:50 Dastardly And Muttley 04:00 Dexter’s Laboratory 04:30 Wacky Races 04:55 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 05:20 Tom & Jerry 05:45 The Garfield Show 06:00 Moomins 06:10 Looney Tunes 06:35 Tom & Jerry Tales 07:00 Dexter’s Laboratory 07:30 Baby Looney Tunes 07:55 Jelly Jamm 08:10 Gerald McBoing Boing 08:35 Bananas In Pyjamas 08:50 Ha Ha Hairies 09:05 Tom & Jerry Kids 09:30 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 09:55 Puppy In My Pocket 10:20 Wacky Races 10:45 Looney Tunes 11:10 Popeye 11:30 Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood 12:50 Dastardly And Muttley 13:00 Ha Ha Hairies 13:15 Gerald McBoing Boing 13:40 Jelly Jamm 13:55 Baby Looney Tunes 14:20 Cartoonito Tales 14:35 Moomins 14:50 Dexter’s Laboratory 15:20 Johnny Bravo 15:45 Tom & Jerry 16:10 Pink Panther And Pals 16:35 The Garfield Show 17:00 What’s New Scooby Doo? 17:25 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 17:50 Tom & Jerry Tales 18:00 Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island

19:20 19:30 19:45 20:00 20:15 20:40 20:55 21:20 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:40

Pink Panther And Pals Moomins The Garfield Show Ha Ha Hairies Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show What’s New Scooby Doo? Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Tom & Jerry Tales The Looney Tunes Show

00:40 Chowder 01:30 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 01:55 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:20 Foster’s Home For...

02:45 Foster’s Home For...

03:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 04:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 04:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Powerpuff Girls 05:40 Generator Rex 06:05 Ben 10 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Cow & Chicken 07:30 Casper’s Scare School 08:00 Eliot Kid 08:45 Johnny Test 09:05 The Powerpuff Girls 09:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:20 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:45 Courage The Cowardly Dog 11:35 Adventure Time 12:00 Regular Show 12:25 Transformers Prime 12:50 Ben 10: Omniverse 13:15 Courage The Cowardly Dog 14:05 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 14:30 Young Justice 14:55 Codename: Kids Next Door 15:45 Ben 10: Alien Force 16:10 Ben 10: Alien Force 16:35 Powerpuff Girls 17:00 Angelo Rules 17:20 Young Justice 17:40 Hero 108 18:00 Level Up 18:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 18:50 Johnny Test 19:15 Adventure Time 19:40 Regular Show 20:05 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 20:30 Ben 10: Omniverse 20:55 Generator Rex 21:20 Level Up 21:45 Grim Adventures Of...

22:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 23:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:50 The Powerpuff Girls

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Amanpour 01:30 World Sport 02:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 03:00 World Report 03:30 World Sport 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business 07:00 The Situation Room 08:00 World Sport 08:30 News Special 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Report 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Inside Africa 12:00 World Business Today 13:00 Amanpour 13:30 Leading Women 13:45 Future Cities 14:00 World One 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight

THE WARRIORʼS WAY ON OSN ACTION HD

16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 20:45 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

News Stream World Business Today International Desk Global Exchange World Sport Leading Women Future Cities International Desk Quest Means Business Amanpour CNN Newscenter

00:15 01:10 02:05 03:00 03:55 04:20 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 14:35 15:05 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:20

Superhuman Showdown Superhuman Showdown Superhuman Showdown Superhuman Showdown Border Security Scrappers Auction Hunters How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Ultimate Survival Street Customs Berlin Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Border Security Scrappers How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Flying Wild Alaska Bear Grylls: A Day In...

Ultimate Survival Border Security Scrappers Auction Hunters Penn & Teller Tell A Lie Penn & Teller Tell A Lie Penn & Teller Tell A Lie Penn & Teller Tell A Lie How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Border Security Scrappers Auction Hunters Deception With Keith Barry Mythbusters Mythbusters

00:40 When Aliens Attack 01:35 Space Pioneer 02:25 Tech Toys 360 02:50 Tech Toys 360 03:15 Thunder Races 04:05 One Step Beyond 04:35 When Aliens Attack 05:25 When Aliens Attack 06:15 How Do They Do It? 06:40 The Tech Show 07:05 Space Pioneer 08:00 Tech Toys 360 08:25 Tech Toys 360 08:50 The Future Of...

09:40 Head Rush 09:43 Patent Bending 10:10 How Stuff’s Made 10:40 How Do They Do It? 11:05 How Do They Do It? 11:30 Mega Builders 12:20 Thunder Races 13:10 The Gadget Show 13:35 The Tech Show 14:00 Tech Toys 360 14:25 Tech Toys 360 14:50 The Future Of...

15:45 One Step Beyond 16:10 How Do They Do It? 16:35 How Do They Do It? 17:00 Head Rush 17:03 Patent Bending 17:30 How Stuff’s Made 18:00 Mega Builders 18:50 Space Pioneer 19:40 Thunder Races 20:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 21:20 The Future Of...

22:10 The Gadget Show 22:35 The Tech Show 23:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:50 The Future Of...

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:30 03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:40 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:20 09:35 10:00 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:25 11:40 12:05 12:15 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:00 18:20 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:30 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 22:15

Fish Hooks Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Doc McStuffins Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Kim Possible Jessie Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Shake It Up Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins Art Attack Jessie Jessie High School Musical 2 Shake It Up Shake It Up Jessie Jessie Lion King 2 Austin And Ally Phineas And Ferb A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Jessie That’s So Raven Cory In The House Kim Possible Hannah Montana Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb

00:25 Holly’s World 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS

03:15 Behind The Scenes 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 THS 05:05 THS 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 09:15 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 10:15 50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up 12:05 Khloe And Lamar 12:35 Khloe And Lamar 13:05 Married To Jonas 13:35 Married To Jonas 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 E!es 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Opening Act 17:55 Opening Act 18:55 Fashion Police 19:55 THS 20:55 Married To Jonas 21:25 THS 22:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Holly’s World

00:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner 01:30 Ghost Lab 02:20 Psychic Witness 03:05 Deadly Affairs 03:55 Deadly Women 04:45 Dr G: Medical Examiner 05:30 Ghost Lab 06:20 Psychic Witness 07:10 Disappeared 08:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 08:50 Street Patrol 09:15 Street Patrol 09:40 Real Emergency Calls 10:05 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

10:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 11:20 Murder Shift 12:10 Disappeared 13:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 13:50 Street Patrol 14:15 Street Patrol 14:40 Forensic Detectives 15:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 16:20 Real Emergency Calls 16:45 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

17:10 Murder Shift 18:00 Disappeared 18:50 Forensic Detectives 19:40 Street Patrol 20:05 True Crime With Aphrodite Jones 20:55 Stalked: Someone’s Watching 21:20 Nightmare Next Door 22:10 Couples Who Kill 23:00 Reel Crime/Real Story 23:50 I Almost Got Away With It

01:15 Mgm’s Big Screen 01:30 The Killing Streets, The 03:15 Two Moon Junction 05:00 Wild Orchid 06:50 Charge Of The Light Brigade 09:00 K-9000 10:35 Rockula 12:05 Smile 14:00 What Did You Do In The War Daddy 15:55 New York, New York 18:35 Mgm’s Big Screen 18:50 A Star For Two 20:25 Cadillac Man 22:00 The Unforgiven

00:15 Delinquent Gourmet 00:45 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 01:40 A World Apart 02:35 Dive Detectives 03:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 04:25 By Any Means 05:20 The Best Job In The World 05:45 Market Values 06:15 One Man & His Campervan 06:40 Exploring The Vine 07:10 Delinquent Gourmet 07:35 Delinquent Gourmet 08:05 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 09:00 A World Apart 09:55 Dive Detectives 10:50 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 11:45 By Any Means 12:40 Somewhere In China 13:35 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 14:00 Exploring The Vine 14:30 Delinquent Gourmet 14:55 Delinquent Gourmet 15:25 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 16:20 A World Apart 17:15 Dive Detectives 18:10 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 19:05 By Any Means 20:00 Delinquent Gourmet 20:30 Delinquent Gourmet 21:00 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 21:30 Exploring The Vine 22:00 The Best Job In The World 22:25 Market Values 22:55 One Man & His Campervan 23:20 Exploring The Vine 23:50 Food School

00:00 Megastructures 01:00 Naked Science S2.5 02:00 Naked Science S2.5 03:00 Convoy: War For The Atlantic 04:00 Fight Science 05:00 Animal Autopsy (AKA Inside Nature’s Giants) 06:00 Convoy: War For The Atlantic 07:00 World’s Toughest Fixes 08:00 Megastructures 09:00 Naked Science S2.5 10:00 Naked Science S2.5 11:00 Convoy: War For The Atlantic 12:00 Fight Science 13:00 Animal Autopsy (AKA Inside Nature’s Giants) 14:00 Convoy: War For The Atlantic 15:00 World’s Toughest Fixes 16:00 Megastructures 17:00 Naked Science 18:00 Naked Science 19:00 Hooked 20:00 Situation Critical 21:00 Predator CSI

RESTLESS ON OSN CINEMA 22:00 Hooked 23:00 World’s Toughest Fixes

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Animal Intervention Amazonia’s Giant Jaws Wild Russia World’s Deadliest Animals Asia’s Deadliest Snakes Built For The Kill Wild Mississippi Wild Russia World’s Deadliest Animals Asia’s Deadliest Snakes Monster Crocs How Big Can It Get Wild Case Files The Rise Of Black Wolf Wild Russia World’s Deadliest Animals Striker!

Moray Eels: Alien Empire Monster Jellyfish Wild Case Files Wild Russia World’s Deadliest Animals Asia’s Deadliest Snakes Monster Crocs How Big Can It Get

01:00 Re-Kill-PG15 03:00 Covert One: The Hades Factor-PG15 06:00 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 07:45 Master And CommanderPG15 10:15 Legendary Assassin-PG15 12:00 The Green Hornet-PG15 14:00 Master And CommanderPG15 16:30 Kingdom Of Heaven-PG15 19:00 The Green Hornet-PG15 21:00 Outcast-R 22:45 Saw VII: The Final Chapter-R

01:00 An Invisible Sign Of My OwnPG15 03:00 Footloose-PG15 05:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back-PG 07:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG15 09:00 An Invisible Sign Of My OwnPG15 11:00 Fighting-PG15 13:00 Footloose-PG15 15:00 Spud-PG15 17:00 Restless-PG15 19:00 Arthur-PG15 21:00 Bel Ami-18 23:00 Contagion-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 American Dad 02:00 Allen Gregory 02:30 How To Make It In America 03:00 New Girl 04:00 Hope & Faith 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Hope & Faith 08:30 New Girl 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Hope & Faith 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 New Girl 19:30 The Office 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:30 The Big C 23:00 Bored To Death 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00

Fairly Legal Hawthorne Pillars Of The Earth Six Feet Under

04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Private Practice Grey’s Anatomy Fairly Legal Emmerdale Coronation Street Criminal Minds The Ellen DeGeneres Show Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds Fairly Legal Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds Touch Warehouse 13 Hawthorne Smash Six Feet Under

01:00 Carriers-PG15 02:30 Covert One: The Hades Factor-PG15 05:30 Hackers-PG15 07:15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 09:00 True Justice: Blood Alley-PG15 11:00 Hackers-PG15 13:00 Dad Savage-PG15 15:00 True Justice: Blood Alley-PG15 16:45 Aeon Flux-PG15 18:30 Carlito’s Way-18 21:00 Hustle And Flow-18 23:00 Exorcismus-18

00:00 Stuck On You-PG15 02:00 How The Grinch Stole Christmas-PG 04:00 Mrs. Miracle-PG15 06:00 Desperately Seeking SantaPG15 08:00 How The Grinch Stole Christmas-PG 10:00 Cars 2-FAM 12:00 Mrs. Miracle-PG15 14:00 Below The Beltway-PG15 16:00 Cars 2-FAM 18:00 Jumping The Broom-PG15 20:00 Friday After Next-18 22:00 The Dilemma-PG15

01:00 Les Miserables 25th Anniversary-PG15 04:00 True Grit-PG15 06:00 Christmas Comes Home To Canaan-PG15 07:30 Certified Copy-PG15 09:15 Oceans-PG15 11:15 African Cats: Kingdom Of Courage-PG 13:00 Family Gathering-PG15 15:00 Oceans-PG15 17:00 Jane Eyre-PG15 19:00 Manolete-18 21:00 Scent Of A Woman-18 23:30 Beautiful Boy-18

01:30 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt.1-PG15 04:00 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt.2-PG15 06:30 Real Steel-PG15 09:00 Puss In Boots-PG 11:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 13:00 Christmas Comes Home To Canaan-PG15 15:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 17:00 Puss In Boots-PG 18:45 John Carter-PG15 21:00 Bel Ami-18 23:00 Take Me Home Tonight-18

01:00 Little Einsteins: Rocket’s Firebird Rescue-FAM 02:30 Treasure Buddies-PG 04:30 Princess Sydney: The Three Gold Coins-FAM 06:00 A Very Fairy Christmas-PG15 07:30 Blue Elephant 2-FAM 09:30 The Muppets-PG

11:15 Arrietty-FAM 13:00 Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas-FAM 14:15 Treasure Buddies-PG 16:00 The Lucky Dragon-PG 18:00 The Muppets-PG 20:00 The Swan Princess-FAM 22:00 Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas-FAM 23:15 Blue Elephant 2-FAM

00:15 The River Why-PG15 02:00 Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure-PG 04:00 Call Of The Wild-PG15 06:00 Glee: The Concert MoviePG15 08:00 The 16th Man-PG15 09:15 War Horse-PG15 11:45 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol-PG15 14:00 Gulliver’s Travels-PG 16:00 The 16th Man-PG15 17:45 Captain America: The First Avenger-PG15 20:00 Rabbit Hole-PG15 22:00 Albert Nobbs-18

02:30 Live Cricket Test Match 02:30 Trans World Sport 10:30 ICC Cricket 360 11:00 Live Twenty20 Big Bash League 14:00 Trans World Sport 15:00 Cricket Test Match 22:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League

02:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 03:00 The USPGA Championship Official Film 04:00 The Ryder Cup Championship Official Film 05:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 Futbol Mundial 08:30 The Open Championship Official Film 09:30 The USPGA Championship Official Film 10:30 The Ryder Cup Championship Official Film 12:00 PGA European Tour Weekly 13:00 Darts 17:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League 20:00 Trans World Sport 21:00 Darts

02:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 12:30 14:30 15:30 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:30 20:30 21:00 21:30 23:30

Spirit of Yachting Spirit of Yachting Trans World Sport Fukuoka Marathon Golfing World Ladies European Highlights Spirit of Yachting Futbol Mundial Top 14 Highlights Pro 12 Top 14 Golfing World MENA Golf Tour Highlights Asian Tour Golf Futbol Mundial Spirit of a Champion Spirit of a Champion Golfing World Spirit of Golf Spirit of Golf Top 14 Top 14 Highlights

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 23:00

WWE Vintage European Le Mans Series European Le Mans Series UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 149 WWE Vintage WWE NXT PrizeFighter European Le Mans Series European Le Mans Series WWE SmackDown WWE Vintage V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Extra UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 150 UFC 155 Countdown

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

ACCOMMODATION Room available, rent KD 65, near the big Jamiya, Bahrain St, Ghadeer Clinic building. Tel: 66792392/ 66282602/ 60421240.

(C 4263) 25-12-2012 FOR SALE Indoor plants, 7-seater coffee colored velvet sofa, center table and other. items at Hateen Villa. Contact: 25221890 / 99405162.

(C 4257) 20-12-2012 Mazda (6) white color 2003, excellent condition, insurance one year, KD 1,100.

Mob: 66729295. (C 4256) 18-12-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Suresh Dhanapal, Indian Passport No: E6840843 have converted from Hindu to Islam and changed my name to Barakath Ali Dhanapal (C 4265) 25-12-2012 I, Abdul Rasheed Nelliyot Thodi, holder of Indian Passport No H0113546 hereby change my name as Abdul Rasheed Parambil, Pottayil House, Periymbalam, P O Pulikkal, Malappuram - 673637, Kerala. (C 4259) 24-12-2012 I, Ali Bhai, holder of Indian Passport No: G1349572 hereby change my name to ALI BHAI JIVAJI ALI KAKA. 19-12-2012 MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited for a Keralite Christian Orthodox girl, 26 years, M-tech, doing doctorate in Netherlands.

Parents working in Kuwait, seeking alliance from parents of well qualified God fearing boys. Contact email: proposal1987@hotmail.com (C 4261)

SITUATION WANTED Systems Engineer (2-3 years experience in Infosys Ltd) Configuration Controller and Release Management, UNIX, Oracle, B-Tech Electronics & Comm.

Mob: 65015932. (C 4260) 24-12-2012 Accountant (5 years’ experience) B.Com, MBA Finance, Finalization of accounts, B/S, P/L, TB, Bank Transaction, Cash, Debtor, Creditors and Inventory Management, ERP Tally, Oracle. Seeking suitable position.

Contact: 97176224. (C 4255) 18-12-2012

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is

1889988

SITUATION VACANT A decent housemaid is urgently needed for a family in Mangaf. Please call 60055305, 23741548 25-12-2012 TUITION Learn Holy Quran in perfect way, private tuition available for elders and children by Hafiz-E-Quran.

Contact: 66725950.

(C 4262) Tuition available for Web Designing & Professional Graphic Designing. Learn to create your own website just in 3 months. Flexible schedule, join us to build your career as Web Designer. Call 60078629, 22403408. (C 4264)

Prayer timings Fajr:

05:15

Shorook

06:40

Duhr:

11:48

Asr:

14:38

Maghrib:

16:57

Isha:

18:19

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw Supreme Council for Planning and Development www.scpd.gov.kw

No: 15669

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 26/12/2012 Flt Route

Time

JAI THY JZR JZR QTR ETH GFA UAE ETD OMA DHX QTR FDB MSR THY JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC ETD UAE KAC ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB IRA JZR MEA KNE MSR IRM UAE KAC JZR CLX FDB IRC KAC SVA SVA QTR JZR KAC

574 772 267 539 148 620 211 853 305 643 170 138 67 612 770 555 529 157 412 206 53 302 352 933 855 344 121 132 55 301 213 436 603 165 404 470 610 1190 871 382 175 792 57 6692 672 500 9601 140 561 788

0:30 0:35 0:45 0:50 1:00 1:45 1:50 2:35 2:45 2:50 2:55 3:01 3:05 3:10 5:30 6:00 6:35 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:30 8:40 8:40 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:55 10:05 10:40 11:20 11:55 12:10 12:45 12:50 12:50 12:55 13:10 13:15 13:50 14:10 14:10 14:30 14:30 14:45 14:50 14:55

MUMBAI ISTANBUL BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA ADDIS ABABA BAHRAIN DUBAI ABU DHABI MUSCAT BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI CAIRO ISTANBUL ALEXANDRIA ASSIUT LONDON MANILA ISLAMABAD DUBAI MUMBAI COCHIN ABU DHABI DUBAI CHENNAI SHARJAH DOHA DUBAI ABU DHABI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN SHIRAZ DUBAI BEIRUT JEDDAH CAIRO MASHAD DUBAI DELHI DUBAI LUXEMBOURG DUBAI MASHAD DUBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH DOHA SOHAG JEDDAH

KAC QTR KAC JZR JZR IYE UAE JZR ETD RJA GFA SVA KNE JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC JZR RBG KAC BAB FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC OMA FDB KAC JAI AXB MSR ABY QTR ALK MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR FDB KAC KLM AIC JZR GFA JZR UAL DLH

284 134 538 787 535 824 857 357 303 640 215 510 462 777 144 127 982 542 177 3553 786 438 63 166 618 102 674 774 647 61 614 572 389 606 129 146 229 402 136 221 307 859 135 59 1784 417 975 239 217 185 981 636

DHAKA DOHA SHARM EL SHEIKH RIYADH CAIRO SANAA DUBAI MASHAD ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN RIYADH MEDINAH JEDDAH DOHA SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO DUBAI ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI PARIS DOHA NEW YORK DUBAI RIYADH MUSCAT DUBAI BAHRAIN MUMBAI MANGALORE LUXOR SHARJAH DOHA COLOMBO BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI JEDDAH AMSTERDAM CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN FRANKFURT

15:10 15:30 16:05 16:10 16:25 16:30 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 17:55 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:30 18:40 18:45 19:10 19:20 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:10 20:20 20:25 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:50 22:00 22:00 22:05 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:05 23:25 23:55

Airlines AIC PIA BBC UAL JAI KAC ETH THY KAC FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA THY KAC JZR FDB JZR BAW JZR KAC KAC ABY UAE FDB KAC ETD QTR ETD GFA KAC JZR BAB KAC IRA JZR KAC JZR MEA KAC KNE MSR JZR IRM UAE

Departure Flights on Wednesday 26/12/2012 Flt Route 982 AHMEDABAD 206 LAHORE 44 DOHA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 573 MUMBAI 283 DHAKA 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 381 DELHI 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 537 SHARM EL SHEIKH 560 SOHAG 54 DUBAI 174 DUBAI 156 LONDON 534 CAIRO 787 JEDDAH 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 117 NEW YORK 302 ABU DHABI 133 DOHA 934 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 175 FRANKFURT 356 MASHHAD 437 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 602 SHIRAZ 776 JEDDAH 103 LONDON 786 RIYADH 405 BEIRUT 785 JEDDAH 461 MADINAH 611 CAIRO 176 DUBAI 1191 MASHHAD 872 DUBAI

Time 0:05 0:10 1:00 1:10 1:30 2:25 2:45 2:55 3:15 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:35 8:10 8:15 8:25 8:35 8:45 9:15 9:25 9:35 9:45 9:55 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:30 10:30 10:40 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:30 11:40 12:15 12:20 12:55 12:55 13:00 13:10 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:15

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

FDB CLX KAC IRC SVA KAC SVA QTR KAC KAC KAC JZR IYE ETD JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA KNE ABY JZR QTR RBG JZR UAL FDB BAB FDB KAC OMA KAC JAI ABY MSR DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC FDB JZR UAE KAC KLM QTR JZR GFA JZR KAC

58 792 673 6693 503 617 2301 141 773 1783 613 238 824 304 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 471 128 266 145 3554 134 982 64 439 62 353 648 331 571 120 619 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 60 554 860 205 417 147 502 218 528 415

DUBAI LUXEMBOURG DUBAI MASHHAD MADINAH DOHA JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH JEDDAH BAHRAIN AMMAN SANAA ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH JEDDAH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI KOCHI MUSCAT TRIVANDRUM MUMBAI SHARJAH ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA LUXOR BAHRAIN ASSIUT KUALA LUMPUR

14:30 14:45 15:05 15:10 15:45 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:25 16:30 17:05 17:15 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 18:15 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:50 19:00 19:05 19:10 19:25 19:30 20:40 20:45 20:55 20:55 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:50 21:55 22:20 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:35 23:50 23:50 23:55

34

s ta rs CROSSWORD 50

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) You may have to go to the drawing board to create some new ideas for this afternoon. A gathering of school friends or family members may call for cameras, food, old school pictures, etc. You have much to create and may have been spending time on this gathering the last few days. You may have already gotten some calls from people that want to be sure to be present and accounted for and are willing to help you organize. Your letter to all the people may have been so inviting that the people that are coming to the gathering have invited more people. You are appreciated for your exceptional talents and may receive praise or some sort of recognition. Those that can’t make the trip now may talk you into another gathering in the spring.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is a powerful time where you gain a great deal of insight into your life and how you want to make changes to your home or land. There are ideas running around in your head about your work as well. Given time to think, you could suddenly find a way to transform and improve your current job. A certain amount of mental tension can be expected—bear with it. Insights into your deeper and more spiritual nature are available to you as well. You may be able to uncover whole new areas of your psyche or mind that have been closed up to now. There are insights into dreams and ideals. You appear perhaps more charming and refined than usual. There are some fun conversations among friends this evening. Phone calls are waiting to happen.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

5. The act of damaging something or someone.

11. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

15. Type genus of the Rutaceae.

16. Of or relating to or characteristic of Hades or Tartarus.

17. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

18. Flat blade-like projection on the arm of an anchor.

19. In truth (often tends to intensify).

20. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

21. King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975 (1906-1975).

23. A federation of North American industrial unions that merged with the American Federation of Labor in 1955.

25. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

26. The address where a person lives.

28. Strike sharply.

30. Dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight.

33. Small Old and New World herons.

37. An alliance made up of states that had been Soviet Socialist Republics in the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution in Dec 1991.

39. The immaterial part of a person.

40. A sudden short attack.

42. Mentally or physically infirm with age.

45. A wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention.

47. Spanish poet and dramatist (1898-1936).

49. English Pre-Raphaelite painter (1827-1910).

50. A river in northern Italy that flows southeast into the Adriatic Sea. 51. Conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence.

52. The seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located adv.

53. The third month of the civil year.

55. A piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred.

58. An honorary degree in science.

59. Swelling from excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue.

61. An associate degree in applied science.

63. (informal) Exceptionally good.

66. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

71. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

73. Low stingless nettle of Central and South America having velvety brownish-green toothed leaves and clusters of small green flowers.

75. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

78. A barrier constructed to contain the flow or water or to keep out the sea.

79. A light touch or stroke.

80. The intellectual conception of a thing as it is in itself, not as it is known through perception.

81. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. German musician who developed a system for teaching music to children (1895-1982).

2. The basic unit of money in Botswana.

3. Small ornamental ladies' bag for small articles.

4. Conqueror of Gaul and master of Italy (10044 BC).

5. The second great battle of the American Civil War (1862).

6. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..

7. (of eggs) No longer edible.

8. The starting place for each hole on a golf course.

9. German biologist and philosopher.

10. An affix that is added at the end of the word.

11. An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling of light-headedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months.

12. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

13. A small cake leavened with yeast.

14. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

22. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

24. An implement used to propel or steer a boat.

27. A mountain in south central Alaska.

29. (Judaism) A Jewish festival (traditionally 8 days) celebrating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

31. United States poet and critic (1916-1986).

32. God of the underworld and judge of the dead.

34. A ring-shaped surface generated by rotating a circle around an axis that does not intersect the circle.

35. Moved around an axis or center.

36. Midwife toads.

38. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

41. Angle that resembles the hind leg of a dog.

43. Expletives used informally as intensifiers.

44. Offering fun and gaiety.

46. Tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites.

48. A small restaurant where drinks and snacks are sold.

54. (trademark) Nylon fabric used as a fastening.

56. An ancient country is southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean.

57. Russian physicist (1895-1971).

60. A Portuguese province on the south coast of China and two islands in the South China Sea. 62. The main city of ancient Phoenicia.

64. Avatar of Vishnu.

65. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

67. A domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church.

68. Beyond what is natural.

69. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

70. God of love and erotic desire.

72. The compass point that is one point north of due east.

74. Belonging to or on behalf of a specified person (especially yourself).

77. A gray lustrous metallic element of the rare earth group.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

A friend or relative may be under too much stress today and until you ask how you can help, you may be getting the cold shoulder all day long.

Sometimes you think some problem must be your fault when it does not involve you at all.

Consider the positive and be open to the possibilities. Bring the friend or relative a special item for lunch and see what you can do to make the load a little easier—results are excellent. This afternoon you will have an opportunity to help someone move or to come to their assistance in some way. You tend to feel happy and confident most days. You are sensitive to the feelings of others and can feel warm and comfortable with your family. The gentle harmony that you feel tonight may arouse your romantic feelings.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) There is a more outgoing quality to your attitude. Besting others in the heat of competition and taking on a guidance type of role means more to you at this time. This is also a time you may be focused on some product outside your own skill and research may be needed. This could mean you are in sales of some sort. You are energized as you move through your day. Some of your ideas may prove quite successful at the next group meeting. A new car may be the focus of your attention this afternoon—most likely a new type of car. You could be ready to purchase a new car soon, but if you wait until the last week of January, you will be happier with the outcome. This could be the best time to understand where you want to aim your energies.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You make good decisions. If you look around, you will notice that others respect your opinion and ask you for advice. You have a natural sense of what the public wants at this time and will have the opportunity to serve in some political capacity. Clear decisions are possible and forward moving. You remove old emotional ties now and free yourself to enjoy a new relationship. Be brave and allow yourself time to experience this day in all its wonder. You are beginning to put some real value on yourself and you are learning to set limits. Learning to say no in a firm but kind way is an important process towards good mental health. Consider anything that may slow you from your goals.

Music soothes the soul and you enjoy a little music tonight.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Unexpected changes may find that you are careful in expressing yourself.

Wherever you go today has changed and you may question the reasons for the changes.

Just go with the flow for a while and do not bring up your quandary for now . . . sooner or later you will discover the answer. There really is no need to worry. Maintain your composure—a step back will help you to create better insight. Your charm is irresistible and you will have an opportunity to make several new friends. You may learn about the world of investments today as someone you know is doing better than most when it comes to income. You may or may not want to do what this person has learned to do in order to pull in the finances. This evening you will be enjoying a celebration.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) Car problems may find you riding with friends or possibly taking a cab to where you need to go today. You may decide that having someone else drive is a good idea, particularly with the congestion on the highways. Sometimes these little delays are a blessing—count your blessings and make it a point to be flexible. Unless there are other constraints, you should be successful in most any undertaking today. Participation in group activities is favored and you could learn something of value from your friends.

Artistic work now will be inspired. A visitor or friend may encourage you to display your work in a nearby restaurant or retail store. There are pleasant conversations with strangers this evening and you may discover answers to long past questions.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Taking care of life’s essentials is a major theme today—much can be accomplished. This may be the first time you have had time to tend to replacing lights, preparing meals ahead of time, clearing away a place for a winter garden, catching up on some of the DVD’s you may have gotten for your birthday earlier this year. There are some fun opportunities coming up later this day that will involve your friends—perhaps some group sports. Your friends may have some ideas for you to ponder that may lead to extra money early next year. Think through your options before making any decisions.

Quick decisions made now may have to be changed later. Social events will be most enjoyed in small gatherings. A young person needs attention this evening.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may seek information that would be better left for another day. Your curiosity can be quenched soon but not today. Family may demand your attention and the computer will just have to take a back seat today. Your health and your mental abilities are in top form as you take the initiative with decision making this morning.

This is a time of new beginnings in your life—an urge to strike out on your own in a new direction, to take on new challenges—no matter what the risks. Perhaps this means a breakthrough invention or some new computer software game or program. You attract people back into your life and may find that later today, someone from your past needs your attention. You may be in the mood for deep and penetrating conversations.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You could find that you are able to accomplish your goals for this day with much speed and accuracy. A fear of asserting yourself can hold you back—as can coming on too strong. Trust in your talents and abilities and they will take you far. This time of the year is very important in the scheme of romance. Gifts, celebrations and latenight dates have been planned well—let fate take its route now and enjoy this time. Travel, short or long could be in your plans before the second week of January. Gossip could be a sensitive area for you this afternoon. You could do much to change the flow of conversation.

At home this evening there could be many interruptions from phone calls. Do what you can to retain your personal space—we all need a time to recharge.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You like the feeling you get today as you look back over your successes this past year. You may take some time for yourself to think about a few goals for next year. You might ask others that are around you if they have thought of goals for next year. Problems are valued as lessons, rather than perceived as obstacles. You may be able to enjoy and value your own life situation today or feel especially kind toward a friend or loved one. A visitor in your home this afternoon may compliment you on your tastes or belongings. Phone conversations to distant relatives may be confusing and you could be making plans to visit or at least plan more phone conversations. This is a great time to reflect and understand your own situation.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You may find that you enjoy your creative opportunities this day. You are appreciated for the way you always seem to think in positive, practical ways—you have a natural sense of what others need and enjoy. A conference this morning may have others listening to your point of view and your ideas. You win reward, recognition and authority through hard work and knowing the score; otherwise, you may find that someone hungrier and savvier than you will overtake you. You will be able to enjoy your own life situation—particularly if you can take the things you want to change one step at a time. You can use the information you gain today to move into a more assured peace of mind. A light dinner and a movie can be quite enjoyable this evening.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TAT TE OF KUW K WAIT A

Te el.: 161

DIRECTORA AT TE GENE GENERAL OF CIVIL AVIA V ATION T PA ARTMENT METEOROLOGICAL DEP DA AY: Y Tuesday

Ext.: 2627 262 - 2630

25/12/2012

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

07:00

Issue Time

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours BY Y DA AY:

Rainy with light to moderate freshening gradually at times variable wind changing to light to moderate north easterly wind, with speed of 15 - 40 km/h with a chance for scattered rain that might be thundery at times

BY Y NIGHT:

Partly cloudy to cloudy with light to moderate freshening gradually north easterly changing to south westerly wind, with speed of 15 - 40 km/h with a chance for rain that might be thundery at times Thunder storms

WARNING A

KUW WA AIT CITY

21 °C

15 °C

KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT

19 °C

12 °C

NUW WA AISEEB

22 °C

13 °C

WAFRA A

24 °C

11 °C

SALMI

22 °C

13 °C

ABDAL LY

24 °C

12 °C

JAL ALIY YA AH

21 °C

13 °C

25623444

FAILAKA A

19 °C

14 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

19 °C

18 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

21 °C

20 °C

W Hawally

22630786

WARBA A A - BUBY YA AN

19 °C

11 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

ST TAT TION

SFC. CHART

25/12/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AY YS FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA ATE T

WEA AT THER

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

Weednesday

26/12

unstable + scattered rain

18 °C

11 °C

W-NW

25 - 45 km/h

Thursday

27/12

Friday

28/12

cool + scattered clouds

20 °C

10 °C

NW

20 - 40 km/h

cool

20 °C

09 °C

NW

12 - 35 km/h

Saturday

29/12

cool + scattered clouds

20 °C

08 °C

NW-VRB

08 - 26 km/h

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WA AIT AIRPORT

Fajr

05:15

MAX. Temp.

22 °C

06:40

MIN. Temp.

12 °C 91 %

Ardhiya

24884079

Sunrise

Firdous

24892674

Zuhr

11:48

MAX. RH

Asr

14:38

MIN. RH

25 % N 25 km/h

Omariya

24719048

Sunset

16:56

MAX. Wind

N Khaitan

24710044

Isha

18:19

TOT TA AL L RAIINF FALL A L IN 24 HR.

Fintas

23900322

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

1.1 mm

25/12/12 08:26 UTC

V1.00

T1.06

PRIVATE CLINICS 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

Dr. Salem soso 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

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

Kaizen center 25716707

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

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Al-Shuhada

WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

MIN. REC.

Psychologists /Psychotherapists

22418714

Fax: 24348714

MAX. EXP P.

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

Al-Madeena

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 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

lifestyle G O S S I P

Kelly banned from giving niece gifts elly Osbourne isn’t allowed to buy Christmas presents for her niece. The ‘Fashion Police’ star has been spoiling her brother Jack’s nine-month-old daughter Pearl so much, he has asked her not to buy the tot anything new over the holidays. She said: “I promised Jack I wouldn’t spoil her so I have to run everything past him. We’ll see how long that lasts.” Kelly also revealed her brother has matured into a loving husband to model wife Lisa as well as a doting father.

She added: “Nothing makes me more proud

K

of Jack. I feel like I’ve watched my little baby brother turn into a man overnight. “I’ve always been very protective of him but his wife Lisa is the first girl he’s dated where I’ve been like, ‘Oh my God, I love you.’ And we’re a bigger family now. What could be better?”

It may not just be Kelly who’s banned from buying for Pearl, as soon after the birth Jack and Lisa told people not to buy any more gifts for her. He said in October: “Everyone does spoil her. We’ve had to respectfully decline any more gifts.”

The Wanted were broke before finding success

hile the ‘Glad You Came’ hitmakers have had a hugely successful year, breaking the lucrative US market and supporting Justin Bieber on tour, Siva Kaneswaran admitted when they started out, the group struggled to make ends meet. He told the Sunday World newspaper: “I’m not gonna lie, we are quite comfortable

W

Barlow makes time

now. But it was never about the money. In the beginning, we spent 18 months doing school and club gigs with nothing coming in. We were all in the red before our big break. Now we can focus on what’s really important in life, the music and taking care of family.” While the band are looking forward to a busy 2013 with the release of a new

Spelling’s Christmas drama

Lohan angry with ‘Scary Movie 5’ producers

G

Kim is ‘so proud’ of Khloe over ‘The X Factor’ im Kardashian is “so proud” of her sister Khloe for presenting ‘The X Factor’. The reality TV star was based in Miami for the past few months filming a new season of her reality show ‘Kourtney and Kim Take Miami’ but Kim tuned in to watch her sister on Fox every week and was impressed with Khloe’s skills. She wrote on her website: “Being in Miami for the last few months I really missed Khloe! It was so great to be able to turn on the TV every Wednesday and Thursday night to watch her on ‘The X Factor’. I’m so proud of her! “It’s like she was born to be a presenter. She did such an amazing job this season.” Khloe - who is married to Clippers basketball star Lamar Odom - previously revealed that her sister had given her constructive criticism on how to improve her presenting skills. She explained: “My sisters have already texted me tips, which I love. I love constructive criticism. I’ve never done this before, so I just think I can only get better - hopefully. “My sister Kim was like, ‘You did amazing, but don’t yell so much!’ I did notice at some points, I was like, ‘Why did I just yell?’”

ugh Bonneville gets “pathetically excited” about Father Christmas. The ‘Downton Abbey’ actor has confessed he turns into an eager child during the festive season and is “religious” about making sure everything is done right for the arrival of the main man on Christmas Day. He revealed: “I’m in charge of games.

No, my main role is to keep out of the way! I get pathetically excited about Father Christmas coming and I’m religious about putting out mince pies and a glass of wine and then checking for footprints in the fireplace.”

Hugh, who has 11-year-old son Felix with wife of 27 years Lulu Williams, will make several appearances on UK TV this year. Not only will he star in the ‘Downton Abbey’ Christmas special as Lord Grantham but he will also be in David Walliams’ adaptation of children’s book ‘Mr Stink’, playing the main character. Describing the story in his own words Hugh, 49, said: “[Mr Stink] is very different and yet not so different [from Lord Grantham].

He’s visually very different - he’s a messy, curmudgeonly tramp. “It’s a glorious Christmas story that has all the elements of a traditional Christmas fable, but it’s very contemporary. “It also touches upon the way we treat those less fortunate than ourselves. It’s very warm.”

album, Siva is looking forward to a quiet Christmas first.

He said: “There are some pubs in Dublin where I like to sit in a corner and enjoy a drink. And I have a couple of country pubs in Longford and Cavan where I go. They have massive big fires and nobody really knows me there, it’s brilliant.”

for royalty at Christmas

ary Barlow’s family always watch Queen Elizabeth’s speech on Christmas Day . The Take That frontman - who organized the Diamond Jubilee concert in honor of the monarch in the summer - says it’s part of their tradition to watch the British queen address the nation and is extra excited about this year’s speech because it’s been such a momentous year for the UK. He said: “I don’t think I’ll be getting a Christmas card from the queen! She’s had a great year, though, hasn’t she? It’s a bit of a tradition in our house to watch the queen’s speech, and I think this year will be extra special. “The Jubilee was amazing, though - just such a brilliant, special day with some amazing people.” Gary - who has three children, Daniel, 12, Emily, 10, and threeyear-old Daisy, with wife Dawn - can’t wait for Christmas and is looking forward to spending lots of time with his family.

He said: “It’s a really nice cosy family affair - lots of food and drink and just good quality time with the family.”

Bonneville like a kid at Christmas H

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ori Spelling’s plans for a white Christmas were ruined by the rain.

The former ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ actress who lives in Los Angeles with her husband Dean McDermott and their four children Liam, five, Stella, four,12-monthold Hattie and two month old Finn - loves to make an effort at Christmas but admitted it doesn’t always go exactly to plan.

She told Us Weekly: “One year, I bought snow for a winter wonderland party. But in the morning, it rained - totally poured.

All the ice melted, so we had mud instead. It was awful.” Tori and Dean will be looking forward to a Christmas at home with their kids after a difficult year in which she was diagnosed with placenta previa, a condition which causes internal bleeding, during her fourth pregnancy. After having to endure months of bed rest along with fears she could lose the baby, Tori insisted having Dean take care of her and their kids showed her what a great man he is. She said: “It just reconfirmed that Dean is my soul mate he’s the glue in this family. We are all such a bonded group now. It changed us all, it really did.”

indsay Lohan is reportedly furious with ‘Scary Movie 5’ producers. A new preview clip for the movie released on Friday shows the troubled 26-year-old actress screaming in horror while watching a fake news clip of her probation being revoked but Lindsay claims the clip, which mirrors her real life troubles, wasn’t approved by Lindsay.

According to gossip website TMZ: “Producers assured Lindsay she’d have the final say on what jokes went in ... so she was livid when she saw the probation joke instead. “Lindsay feels this final joke was meant as payback from producers - all because they blame her for holding up the shoot and trashing her trailer. “She plans to speak to her team this week over the alleged breach of contract.” The working script for the movie is said to make fun of Lindsay - who recently had her probation revoked after it was claimed she lied to police over a car accident in June and police are prosecutors are hoping she will be sent to prison - and her multiple brushes with the law. It also calls for her to poke fun at her public persona in the opening scenes of the movie, during which she is lying in bed making a sex tape with ‘Anger Management’ star Charlie Sheen.

According to the script, the actress then says: “Okay but let’s do this quick, I got a court hearing in the morning ... It’s a driving mishap thing.” Charlie then makes her promise she won’t drive, and Lindsay replies: “That’s very sweet. You’re worried about me behind the wheel.” He then says: “I’m worried about me. I’m a pedestrian.” It is not yet known if the lines will make the final cut. — Bang Showbiz

Roberts loved working with Aniston mma Roberts loved working with Jennifer Aniston. The 21-yearold actress recently filmed ‘We’re The Millers’ alongside the former ‘Friends’ star and Jason Sudeikis and Emma revealed working with her idol Jennifer was a “dream come true”. She told the Huffington Post: “Jennifer Aniston is a genius. I’ve been such a fan of hers for so long, so to get to work with her was one of those dream come true, check-offmy-list kind of things that I’ve always wanted. I think we all worked together really well and I think there was a good chemistry between us. We became friends outside of work, so it translated well.” After achieving a dream by getting to work with Jennifer, Emma now hopes to film a movie with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. She said: “I would really love to work with Rachel McAdams, I love her. I’m obsessed with all the movies she’s been in and I love ‘The Vow’, so Channing Tatum too. I love both of them, I think they’re so good in that movie. I cried like a baby.”

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Duchess Catherine made her own Christmas cards

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ritain’s Duchess Catherine used to make all her Christmas cards. While the future queen and her husband Prince William - who are expecting their first baby together - would have sent out expensive cards over the festive period, when she was younger, she and her family would create their own as well as being very involved with the decorations. Her sister Pippa Middleton said: “When I was a child, my December weekends were spent making cards, decorating the tree, hanging the wreath and preparing peppermint creams. Bowls brimming with walnuts, shiny wrapped chocolates and piles of clementines would appear around the house. There was always a distinc-

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tive smell, too; pine and cinnamon and the heady scent of mulled wine and pomanders that merged into the festive basket.” Pippa, 29, says she and her family still like to repeat their Christmas rituals as it brings back such great memories. She wrote in her book ‘Celebrate’: “No matter how much we may adapt other celebrations, come December we tend to repeat our own familiar customs year after year -and this is perhaps key to the magic of Christmas.

Look ing back , I don’t remember the presents I received, nor whether the sprouts were overcooked or the turkey dr y. But what I do remember are all the small rituals.”

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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Homeless man in video asks for Timberlake’s help homeless man featured in a mock video produced by a friend of Justin Timberlake for the actor’s wedding is now asking the actor-singer to him for help. High-profile lawyer Gloria Allred is publicizing the demands of the man, who goes by “Eddie” and who has lived for six or seven years off and on Skid Row, a Los Angeles neighborhood with a heavy homeless population. In an open letter, Eddie asked for Timberlake to arrange a meeting with him “very soon” through Allred “so you can understand my situation, and so that we can talk about this situation involving so many others who are homeless.”

“I would like to take you on a tour of Skid Row and other places where we the homeless live and talk with you about what you can do to help us,” he added. Allred challenged Timberlake and his friends to “take action to provide meanFile photo shows ingful assistance to ‘Eddie’ and actor/singer Justin others like him.” “This issue is Timberlake arriving not just about fans being for the UK premiere upset or anyone being offendof ‘In Time’ at the ed by a video,” she said. “It is Curzon in about people being down on London. —AP their luck and in desperate need of help by those who are in a position to provide it.” Timberlake posted an open letter in October on his website about the video, in which a string of homeless, transgender and other people wished him best wishes for his wedding that month to actress Jessica Biel in southern Italy. “I had no knowledge of its existence. I had absolutely ZERO contribution to it,” he said of the video, whose makers are said to include his friend Justin Huchel. “I think we can all agree that it was distasteful, even though that was not its intention.”

The video, initially posted on the Gawker website, has a series of Los Angeles vagrants, street musicians and others talk to camera, sending wishes to Timberlake and Biel for their recent Italian nuptials.

Eddie said Timberlake’s letter showed he has a “good heart, but (does) not really understand the situation I face or that (is) faced by the thousands living on the streets of Los Angeles and around the country.” — AFP

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File photo shows Japanese comic artist Keiji Nakazawa standing in front of the atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima in western Japan. —AFP

Japan’s iconic A-bomb comic strip author dies eiji Nakazawa, a Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor whose iconic comic strip about the incident was read by millions of school children in post-war Japan, has died, associates said yesterday. Nakazawa, who had been ill with lung cancer, passed away last week at a hospital in Hiroshima at the age of 73, surrounded by family, according to his longtime friend Koichiro Maeda, head of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The author’s “Barefoot Gen” manga series, which carried strong anti-war themes and often gruesome drawings, was serialized in magazines from 1973 to 1985 and was also turned into books that sold more than 10 million copies, according to Japanese media.

The series focused on a character named Gen Nakaoka and depicted how he survived the blast and lived through tumultuous post-war years. It has been translated into 18 languages, including English, French, Korean, Thai, Russian and a few Scandinavian languages. “I met him in October and talked about the 40th anniversary of Barefoot Gen next year. He looked spirited, if not perfect, although he had been in and out of hospital,” Maeda told AFP by telephone yesterday.

Nakazawa made his debut as a comic artist in 1963 but refused to write about his A-bomb experiences until 1966 when his mother died of what was suspected to be the after effects of radiation. He did not attend the annual Hiroshima anniversary ceremonies until last year, saying: “I want to convey my anger toward atomic bombs and my thoughts on the war to future generations.”

Nakazawa was just six years old and on his way to school when the blast struck on August 6, 1945 in the final chapter of World War II. His father, older sister and younger brother died while Nakazawa’s mother and older brother survived the blast. An estimated 140,000 people died instantly in the massive explosion or from radiation in the days and months after a US bomber unleashed the deadliest weapon ever seen at the time, ushering in the nuclear age. Over 70,000 perished as a result of another US atomic attack on the port of Nagasaki three days later. —AFP

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Bollywood musicians Shankar Mahadevan and Ehsaan Noorani take part in a Christmas performance for cancer affected children at The Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai yesterday. —AFP

Jack Klugman, famed for US TV role on ‘The Odd Couple,’ dies at 90 mmy-winning actor Jack Klugman, a versatile, raspy-voiced mainstay of US television during the 1970s and early ‘80s through his starring roles in “The Odd Couple” and “Quincy, M.E.,” died on Monday at the age of 90. Klugman, whose pairing with Tony Randall on “The Odd Couple” created one of television’s most memorable duos, died at his home in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles following a period of declining health, according to his son, Adam Klugman.

“He went very suddenly and peacefully ... he was there one minute and gone the next,” the actor’s son told Reuters, adding that the elder Klugman had “been in convalescent mode for awhile.” He said his father had lost his ability to walk and spent much of his time in bed. His wife of four and a half years, Peggy Crosby, former daughter-in-law of the late singer Bing Crosby, was with him when he died, his son said.

In addition to his TV success, Klugman enjoyed a healthy career on the stage as well as in movies and made successful forays into horse breeding and political activism. Not even the loss of a vocal cord to cancer in 1989 could silence him for long. Klugman gained fame for playing slovenly sports writer Oscar Madison in the sitcom “The Odd Couple” - a role he also had played on Broadway - and then as a crusading coroner in the crime drama “Quincy, M.E.” “The Odd Couple,” based on Neil Simon’s play about two disparate divorced men forced to share an apartment, ran for five years on the ABC network, starting in 1970, but was never a hit during that time. Only through reruns did Klugman and co-star Randall, who played neat-freak Felix Unger, leave their mark as one of US television’s great sitcom teams. “We had wonderful respect for one another, we liked working together but we never became friends,” Klugman told the Miami Herald in 2005. “I think that was on account of me. I was withdrawn. I never let anybody get too close.” It

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was not until Klugman’s cancer surgery, following years of heavy smoking and throat problems, that a friendship developed with Randall. Klugman had no voice and was glumly resigned to the end of his acting career, but with Randall’s encouragement, he returned to the stage.

They resurrected their “Odd Couple” roles in a 1993 TV movie, and Klugman paid tribute to Randall, who died in 2004, in the memoir “Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship.” “Quincy, M.E.,” which ran on NBC from 1976 to 1983, saw Klugman assume a heavy behind-thescenes role. He recalled that he spent 20 hours a day working on the series, and he twice

In this June 15, 2008 file photo, Jack Klugman speaks at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York.

In this Dec 3, 1992 file photo, Jack Klugman, left, and Tony Randall laugh at a news conference. — AP photos sued its producer, Universal Studios, for a porting roles in such films as “12 Angry Men” share of the net profits he claimed were owed (1957), “Days of Wine and Roses” (1962) and “Goodbye, Columbus” (1969). He won the first to him. of three Emmys in 1964 for an appearance on the legal drama “The Defenders.” Klugman Love of horses Horses were perhaps Klugman’s first love - and Randall each received Emmy nominations both as a keen gambler starting in his teens for each of the “Odd Couple” seasons, with and later as a breeder. One of his horses, Jaklin Klugman winning in 1971 and 1973 and Klugman, finished third in the 1980 Kentucky Randall in 1975.

Klugman also earned four Emmy nominaDerby and earned millions as a stud. Born Jacob Joachim Klugman on April 27, 1922, he tions for NBC’s “Quincy, M.E.” His character, grew up in a tough Philadelphia neighbor- who stepped out of his role as medical examhood. In 1945 a loan shark was after him due iner to solve murders that flummoxed the Los to gambling losses so he fled to Pittsburgh, Angeles police, never had a first name. where he studied drama at Carnegie Tech and Klugman is survived by Crosby, his second worked several jobs to settle his debts. Two wife, whom he married in 2008 after a 20-year years later in New York, Klugman appeared courtship; and two sons, Adam and David, opposite Henry Fonda in the national stage from his first marriage to late “Match Game” production of “Mr Roberts.” In 1960, Klugman panelist Brett Somers. Klugman and Somers received a Tony nomination for his supporting were separated for more than 30 years of their 54-year marriage, which ended with her death role in the musical “Gypsy.”

In Hollywood, Klugman had notable sup- in 2007. — Reuters

Bollywood actresses Kareena Kapoor and sister Karishma Kapoor arrive with daughter Samiera to attend Midnight Mass in Mumbai early yesterday. —AFP

Singer Odell first male to win Brit newcomer award inger-songwriter Tom Odell was named the Brit Awards’ tip for the top in 2013, the first male artist to receive the honor previously won by chart queens including Adele and Jessie J. The 22-year-old, whose musical style and voice has drawn comparisons to Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, beat London electronic duo AlunaGeorge and classically trained soul singer Laura Mvula to the Critics’ Choice Award.

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Selected by a panel of music industry experts, the annual prize goes to a British artist tipped for mainstream success, and previous winners have gone on to top charts in Britain and beyond. “Looking at the list of amazing female artists who have won the Award already, I just hope I don’t let the boys down!” Odell said in a statement.

He released his debut E.P. “Songs From Another

Love” in late 2012 and followed up with a performance on the popular live music show “Later...with Jools Holland”. Odell also appears on the BBC’s Sound of 2013 longlist and MTV’s Brand New For 2013 selection of 10 up-and-coming artists, as the music business seeks to identify the chart-toppers of tomorrow. Many acts, including Odell, already have record deals with major labels.—Reuters

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

Highlights are a new “Under the Sea” Little Mermaid ride in Prince Eric’s Castle. — MCT photos

ew Fantasyland adds some spangle-sparkle to the stately Magic Kingdom. With the help of a flying pachyderm, a book-reading do-gooder and an aquatic sylph wishing for feet, New Fantasyland lets visitors immerse themselves in the stories of true love and happy endings. It officially opened Dec 6, when many parents came with little girls in pastel princess dresses. People waited nearly 1hours to get into Enchanted Tales with Belle. Small children rode in clamshells down into the deep of the Little Mermaid Under the Sea. The most popular theme park in the world, the Magic Kingdom had 17 million visitors last year. Disney World is clearly aiming for more.

Here are answers to some questions that children asked me before I visited. I promised the answers, so here they are:

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The Cinderella Castle is just beyond the towers of the new Fantasyland.

Q: Can you go into the Beast’s Castle?

A: Yes and no. The castle is somewhat of an optical illusion, appearing to be distant and atop a very high rock cliff. However, you do enter into the cliffside to find yourself in the famous ballroom and other rooms that look exactly like the film “Beauty and the Beast.” There, you can eat lunch or dinner in the huge 550-person Be Our Guest restaurant. (Don’t miss the side room that holds a magical rose that hovers under glass.) The French-inspired food is very good.

Q: Are there real mermaids swimming at the Little Mermaid ride?

A: No. But the ride takes you in a clamshell car down onto a pretend ocean floor, where you are met by singing throngs of fish, shellfish and coral.

Children can meet Ariel after the ride.

Although the New Fantasyland opened December 6, 2012, in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, nothing tops the sight of the Cinderella Castle there, decorated for the holidays.

Elephant rides-with a second Dumbo ride spinning the opposite direction next to the first. They are centerpieces of a pastel, dreamy new section of Fantasyland, Storybook Circus, which also includes the Barnstormer family coaster featuring the Great Goofini.

Q: Do all the New Fantasyland rides have Fastpass?

A: No, only Dumbo, Under the Sea and the Barnstormer. Dumbo also has a new pager system that will hold your place in line while you play in the Big Top area next to the line. Fastpass is a way to get a timed ticket so your wait is shorter.

Fastpass would help at these other new attractions; I saw a 70-minute wait for Enchanted Tales with Belle-a long time for young children to stand in line.

Q: Where is New Fantasyland?

A: When you pass through the Cinderella Castle, it’s off to the right. One odd sight is that the attractions are spread around the outer rim of a fencedoff area. That’s where the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train family coaster is being constructed; it will open in 2014, featuring cars that swing back and forth. Also nearby is the now-closed Snow White’s Scary Adventures. It will make room for the Princess Fairytale Hall in 2013, giving children a chance to meet Disney princesses amid more spangle-sparkle.

To counteract all the princesses over at Fantasyland, parents should take their daughters down the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street to meet some suffragettes near the Sweet Treats Emporium.

Q: Does Fantasyland still have the carousel and the teacup rides?

A: Yes. Q: Is New Fantasyland a copy of the Harry Potter village at Universal Orlando?

A: No. Both were on the drawing board at the same time. Fantasyland is more princess-y and looks more like a French village. No wizards here.

However, Fantasyland has introduced a special nonalcoholic LeFou’s Brew (apple-mango-marshmallow drink) in the park’s Gaston’s Tavern; it’s similar to Universal’s Harry Potter Butter Beer.

The Beast himself greets guests at the Be Our Guest restaurant at the new Fantasyland.

Q: What is the Little Mermaid castle like?

A: It’s actually called Prince Eric’s Castle, and it holds the Under the Sea ride. It has small stone towers but is nowhere near as big as the Cinderella Castle, which still dominates the park.

Q: Is there a ride featuring Belle?

A: No. Instead, you go inside the pretty Maurice’s Cottage, pass through two rooms and step through a magic mirror to get to Enchanted Tales with Belle. It lets guests be part of the story as the tale is recounted how she and the Beast fell in love. The talking Madame Wardrobe and Lumiere steal the show.

Q: Is the Dumbo ride still in Fantasyland?

A: Yes. In fact, now there are two Dumbo the Flying

The audience gets a chance to participate in Storytelling With Belle at the new Fantasyland.

Getting there: New Fantasyland is in the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

From Detroit, fly nonstop to Orlando (about $250 roundtrip).

Logistics: There are multiple options for tickets, lodging and dining, but if you just want to go to the Magic Kingdom and see New Fantasyland, you should be able to do it in a day.

Tickets: A one-day Magic Kingdom ticket is $89 plus tax for ages 10 and up; $83 plus tax for ages 3-9. Children ages 2 and younger are admitted free. (www.disneyparks.com, 407-939-6244) Design your own vehicle at upgraded test track It didn’t get the splash debut of the New Fantasyland, but the very cool renovated Test Track reopened Dec. 6 at Epcot. Sponsored by Chevrolet, it pretty much dumps the test-track motif and replaces it with a chance to design your own vehicle-then see how it stacks up against other vehicles in power, capability, efficiency and responsiveness.

Naturally, most people (including me) are choosing the awesome mega-rocket-power cars over the environmentally responsible models.

Dumbo is still in Fantasyland but is surrounded by a second Dumbo ride and a circus-themed Storybook Circus area.

Guests first go into a design center, where at a kiosk they get to design a vehicle (a Miray roadster concept car or EN-V truck-looking thing) on a monitor, choosing everything from fins to wheels, grilles, paint and aerodynamic design. You store the information on a key card.

You then ride the outdoor test track and find out how your vehicle performed at checkpoints and compared to others. After that, the top-scoring vehicles of the day are posted up; you can even have your picture taken standing with your simulated vehicle in front of an exotic locale backdrop. You also can race your car against others at a digital driving table.

Chevrolet Design and Disney have done a great job here, using computer-aided design so sophisticated it can now be used just for fun. We’ve come a long way from the 1960s and the acres of drafting tables and quaint slide rules GM Fisher Body designers used. — MCT

The mysterious rose hovers in the Beast castle.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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niversal Orlando is doing things right.

Having labored in Disney World’s shadow year after year, it sprang into the limelight in 2010 with its wildly creative the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction, which still prompts gasps and even tears among fans as they see the world they imagined come to life-magic wands, talking portraits and all.

This year, the park opened Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, an amusing and vertigo-inducing 3-D simulator that builds on the animated film. It added Cinematic Spectacular-an outdoor evening of movie fun. The popular Spiderman ride has been completely updated with villains who seem to climb right into your lap. And Transformers the Ride 3D, an epic battle between Autobots and Decepticons, opens next summer.

Attendance at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, where the Potter attraction is based, skyrocketed 29 percent from 2010 to 2011, with 7.7 million visitors last year, according to the Themed Entertainment Association.

Striking while the iron is hot, the park confirms plans to expand Harry Potter’s world. Details are hard to come by, but cranes at the park and online rumors seem to indicate that by 2015 there could be a new London street, more magic wand action, a new coaster, and maybe a Hogwarts Express train.

These days, it is harder to impress theme park visitors, says Mike West, executive producer of Universal Creative, who is deeply involved in the Transformers attraction. With 3-D TVs at home, online and video games, the only thing parks can do is create an exciting collective social experience, “a chance to see something together, to hear the laughter of strangers,” he says. Harry Potter definitely does that. And West likes to think Transformers will do that.

“The scale of it is like nothing we’ve ever done.

We’ve got some of the most amazing special effects-you’ll come up against Megatron and Ravage and Bonecrusher, and you’ll be standing side to side with Bumblebee and the other good guys.”

One thing I really like about Universal Orlando is its sections for young children, like Curious George Goes to Town and Seuss Landing, where even the real palm trees are crooked. A whole bunch of new Simpsons midway games just opened, dreamed up by the twisted Simpsons folks-including Mr Burns’ Radioactive Rings.

And amid the high-tech thrill rides and simulators, the human touch remains-costumed Minions from “Despicable Me,” Ollivanders wand shop at Harry Potter (you could hear a pin drop as the wizard taught a real boy from the audience to use a magic wand), children shooting water at Curious George, and the pure, clean ride of the Incredible Hulk green steel coaster. Whatever Universal is doing, keep it up. — MCT

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Universal Orlando has new attractions, but nothing so far has topped its amazing 2010 Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The Incredible Hulk coaster at Universal Orlando has that clean green speed.

Cauldron cupcakes are showcased for sale at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure.

hen in doubt about what to take to a hostess or give as a last-minute gift for someone special, select a plant that can be enjoyed indoors.

Houseplants-let’s change their nickname to indoor plantsare affordable, caring ways to show your appreciation for anyone of any age-even school-age kids. Just like a garden outdoors, plants indoors can help children learn responsibility because they can monitor the plant’s water, light and fertilizer needs. They can research the plant, write a paper about it, discuss its progress with you and even use it for show-and-tell times at school. Just think, one plant could help a child develop a passion for a lifelong pastime, or maybe even a fulfilling career. Before giving any child a plant, learn about its safety for nontoxic properties.

Indoor plants offer many other benefits, too-they cheer the elderly, help clean household air and improve mental health, according to research and experts. Fruit-producing miniature lemons and oranges add to the fun.

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5 plant gift ideas Norfolk Island Pine. This open-branched evergreen fits into small spaces-on top of desks, counters and tables. It likes bright light near a window, but not direct sun or hot heat, or its needles quickly drop. Keep the soil moist but don’t let it dry out or stand in water. It’s perfect for yearround miniature embellishments-shiny red ornaments for December, red paper hearts for February, bunnies for March-April, American flags for summer and pumpkins for fall.

foliage. Cast Iron Plant is a cold-hardy ground cover in Hampton Roads, Va. It’s cold hardy outdoors in zones 611.

Cast Iron Plant. This indoor plant is as rugged as its name because it needs virtually nothing to thrive. Its foot-long, upright dark-green leaves are narrow and nice-they just need dusting occasionally with a clean, damp cloth. Place it near bright light, not full sun, and don’t water it very often. To add color for gift-giving any time of the year, place some fresh-cut florist flowers in water tubes and insert them among the plant’s

Combo planters. Using a basket, china bowl, small metal tub or whatever container strikes your fancy, tuck a few small pots of greenhouse-grown plants-miniature ivy, creeping fig, ferns, mini orchids-and group them in the container. Tuck packing straw, moss or shredded paper round them. Your recipient can enjoy them on a windowsill or permanently plant them as a terrarium or dish garden to enjoy for months to come.

Citrus is a living gift that keeps on giving. — MCT photos

African violet. These grandmotherly flowers, often grown on wide, bright windowsills in country kitchens, are returning as favored plants for indoor miniature/fairy gardens. These violets like bright, filtered sun, nothing hot and direct. Give them moist, not wet, soil; feed with a special African violet fertilizer.

Small plants in pots look like a mini indoor garden when grouped together.

Water misers. Succulents and bromeliads are ideal indoor plants for anyone who has difficulty keeping plants alive. Watering plants too much is as bad as watering them too little; in fact, over watering is the common cause of plant death indoors and outdoors. — MCT

A Norfolk Island Pine can be embellished for holidays throughout the year.

Diggin’ In: Plants make excellent holiday gifts

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2012

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British travelers, left to right, Liam Skalley, John Arthurs, Ben Saunders, Sam Hope and Liam Fillingham kick up their heels as they celebrate Christmas Day despite wet and cold weather at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, yesterday. — AP

Jennifer Hudson talks to children during the Julian D. King Gift Foundation Christmas Toy Giveaway. or the fourth Christmas Eve since her son’s murder, Julia Hudson along with her sister, singer and actress Jennifer Hudson, tried to create something positive out of her family’s tragedy. The Hudson sisters and volunteers gave Christmas gifts to thousands of youngsters Monday through a toy drive organized by the foundation Julia Hudson started to honor her son, the Julian D. King Gift Foundation.

“It’s a blessing to be able to give back to where you came from,” Jennifer Hudson said. “To turn something so sad into such a blessing.” In October 2008, 7-year-old Julian King, along with the Hudson’s sisters’ mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were shot and killed. William Balfour, Julia Hudson’s ex-husband, was convicted of the murders and sentenced in July to three life sentences.

Julia Hudson subsequently started the foundation and toy giveaway “to kind of help us heal,” she said Monday. She and her sister greeted thousands of children who came to the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in the South Side West

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Kimora White, 2, rides a tricycle she picked.

Pullman neighborhood for a little Christmas cheer.

“The best part is just seeing the happy faces of the kiddies,” Jennifer Hudson said. A line started forming at 3 a.m. and eventually stretched into the community center’s parking lot, where families stood bundled in the cold. The families, some with tiny babies, were ushered into waiting rooms where they sat, in some cases for hours, before making it to a room where each child chose one toy, then were given a board game and either a teddy bear or a ball.

“That part is a bonus, because they were only expecting one toy,” volunteer Darius Monroe said.

Atahjionna Bishop, 9, who came to the toy drive with her mother, two sisters and several cousins, got a new pink and white bike. “It doesn’t have training wheels,” she said. Her older sister picked out a bracelet-making kit. “It feels good, because half the time you want (a toy), you can’t get it,” said Alarrionna Atwood, 11.

Their mother, Tarlyn Waters, said the toy drive was especially appreciated this year, because she and her family had just endured the expense of mov-

This picture taken on December 24, 2012 shows Japanese three-year-old boy Kaito Yamauchi smiling as he receives a Christmas gift from a Santa Claus from Finland at Minamisanriku town in Miyagi prefecture on Christmas eve.

Tyler McKamey, 11, picks out which Beyblade he wants during the Julian D. King Gift Foundation Christmas Toy Giveaway.

ing to a new home. “It was a struggle to get them everything they wanted,” Waters said. “So it really helped.” In the toy room, Zion McKinnie, 9, started to cry when a gift she had her eye on was chosen by another girl. Julia Hudson asked her what she would want if she could have anything for Christmas.

Zion said she wanted a tablet. Julia Hudson, without taking a moment to think about it, had someone grab her tablet and then gave it to the little girl. “I’m going to have her sign the back,” Zion said excitedly.

Her mother, Onjel McKinnie, Zion’s mom, made it clear she would have to share with her sister. Zion was fine with that. Organizers said the toy drive had 50,000 toys to give away this year, the most ever.

WGN-TV, which like the Chicago Tribune, is owned by the Tribune Co., collected more than 30,000 toys for the giveaway. — MCT

A Bangladeshi man, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, gives chocolate to a child during a Christmas party in Dhaka yesterday.

Julia Hudson smiles as her sister, Jennifer Hudson, and Jennifer’s son, David Otunga Jr, make a ‘grinch face’ during the Julian D King Gift Foundation Christmas Toy Giveaway at the Ray and Joan Kroc Center in Chicago. — MCT photos

A man and a woman of the ice swimming club Berlin Seals laugh as they attend the annual Christmas swimming at the partial frozen Oranke Lake in Berlin, yesterday.

A man dressed as Santa Claus blesses a child at a Christmas Day party in Dhaka, Bangladesh, yesterday.—AP/AFP photos