29 Feb 2012

CR IP TI ON BS SU

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

www.kuwaittimes.net

RABIA ALTHANI 7, 1433 AH

Kuwait National & Liberation Days

‘Tainted’ MP to grill PM over deposits scandal

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NO: 15373

150 FILS

See Pages 4 & 11

Govt delays probe committees for two weeks

Max 24º Min 11º High Tide 04:41 & 16:02 Low Tide 09:38 & 22:53

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: Pro-government MPs (from left) Hussein Al-Qallaf, Nabeel Al-Fadl, Abdulhameed Dashti and Mohammad Al-Juwaihel are seen at the National Assembly yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

New iPad next week SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc is hosting a media event next Wednesday, where it is expected to unveil a faster, betterequipped version of its popular iPad tablet to thwart increasing competition from deep-pocketed rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. The invitation-only event will be held at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on March 7 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where it also introduced the last two generations of iPads. Apple, which sent the invitation to reporters by email yesterday, did not divulge details of the

event beyond saying: “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”

The invitation featured a partial picture of the touchscreen of a device resembling an iPad. Apple launches are some of the hottest events on the tech calendar, scrutinized by fans, investors, the media and industry insiders alike.

The iPad has dominated the nascent tablet computer market, but Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which sells at half the cost, has chipped away at the lower end of the market.

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Day of reckoning as Michigan votes Romney hopes to avoid slipup SOUTHFIELD/GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan: Mitt Romney accused rival Rick Santorum of dirty tricks for encouraging Democrats to defeat him in Michigan’s primary yesterday, when voters will determine whether Romney gets a big win or a humiliating defeat in his home state. Romney, running neck-and-neck with rival Republican presidential candidate Santorum in opinion polls, charged that his opponent was trying to “kidnap” the party’s primary process in Michigan by appealing to Democrats to cast their votes in a contest that is open to supporters of both parties.

Romney’s father was a popular governor and Romney was born and raised in Michigan. Arizona held its Republican primary as well yesterday, with Romney leading in the polls. A new poll yesterday underscored how the former Massachusetts governor is still viewed with suspicion by conservative Republicans. The ABC News/Washington Post poll showed

Israel won’t warn US before any Iran strike

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KUWAIT: The new National Assembly held its first working session yesterday with an MP and strong supporter of the former prime minister declaring he will file to grill the prime minister over illegal deposits.

Saleh Ashour did not provide details about his surprising declaration or the reasons for his planned move, especially that he is one of the 13 former and present MPs implicated in the corruption scandal. The lawmaker, who was interrogated by the public prosecution in connection with the scandal ahead of the Feb 2 general election, did not give a specific date for the grilling, but insisted it will be filed “very soon”.

In a related development, the government used its constitutional right to delay for two weeks the formation of two investigation committees into the illegal banking deposits and the smuggling of diesel. The two separate requests were submitted by the opposition bloc which controls the majority in the Assembly, but the deputy premier and foreign minister demanded that the issue be postponed for two weeks and the speaker agreed based on the internal charter.

In the first request, the opposition demanded the formation of a five-member investigation committee with extensive powers to probe the illegal deposits scandal in which millions of dinars were allegedly deposited into the bank accounts of two present and 11 former MPs. The request specifically asked the committee to question former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, former governor of the Central Bank Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz AlSabah and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali among many others.

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Wounded journalist rescued from Syria Death toll over 7,500: UN • Syria walks out at HRC DAMASCUS: Wounded British photographer Paul Conroy was safe in Lebanon yesterday after being smuggled out of Syria, but there was uncertainty over French reporter Edith Bouvier, who was first reported to have got out as well before that was denied. French President Nicolas Sarkozy retracted an earlier statement in which he had confirmed that Le Figaro newspaper’s Bouvier, who has multiple fractures, had escaped the besieged Baba Amr district of Homs. He said “it is not confirmed that she is now safe in Lebanon.” And a management source at Le Figaro told AFP Bouvier “is not in Lebanon but still in Syria”.

Earlier, a Lebanese official told AFP: “The information we have is that both arrived overnight in Lebanon.”

“Paul Conroy is at the British embassy and in good condition. Edith Bouvier is also here in Lebanon but we have no information as to where she is exactly,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In London, the Foreign Office in London said freelancer Conroy was “receiving full consular assistance from our embassy”.

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DAMASCUS: People carry the body of Mohammed Al-Mnawi who was killed by the Syrian security forces on Saturday as they shout anti-government slogans during his funeral in Kfar Suseh area yesterday. — AP

Leaked emails expose Stratfor LIVONIA, Michigan: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during a press availability following a visit to his Michigan campaign headquarters yesterday. — AFP Romney had fallen to a new low among the most conservative Americans. He is viewed favorably by just 38 percent among strong conservatives, down 14 percentage points from a week earlier. Sixty percent of that group view Santorum positively.

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18 dead in Pakistan sectarian bus ambush

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SAN ANTONIO: Private intelligence firm Stratfor was paid by Coca-Cola to gauge the threat of Olympic protesters, provided Dow Chemical information on environmental activists and groomed Pakistani intelligence sources to get insight on Osama bin Laden’s final days. Now the Texas-based think tank is the latest target of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange, who says his anti-secrecy group has more than 5 million of Stratfor’s emails and is promising to release damaging material in the coming weeks.

Wikileaks’ decision to publish the Stratfor

emails also swings a vast column of light on private intelligence firms, a murky and profitable corner of global business. But the view is less than flattering. In any financial center, war zone or mineral-rich backwater, private intelligence staff are easy to stumble across.

Conspicuously inconspicuous, they can be found mingling at barbecues or muckraking at parties, trying to glean scraps information that could help or harm their clients in business and government. Few of the sector’s biggest players - Aegis, Control Risks, Diligence, Kroll - are household names, but

Macabre hobby gives dead animals new life

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their clients certainly are.

It is big business. According to Tim Shorrock, author of “Spies for Hire”, intelligence outsourcing is worth $45 billion each year in US government agency contracts alone. Industry insiders say the sector has grown exponentially in recent years. The Internet has made non-classified data more readily available to analysts, governments are outsourcing ever-more activities and economic issues not always the staple of spies who lived through the Cold War - have been woven into the intelligence mainstream.

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Strange start for Federer’s record bid

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

LOCAL

Youth movement seeks legalization of parties Kuwaitis urged to register

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: A group of young Kuwaitis gathered at the Kuwait Bar Association on Monday to hold the founding conference of the youth movement titled ‘ Youth Movement from Spontaneity to Organization and Project’. “Our purpose is to reach an elected parliament government through legalizing political work and declaring political parties. Young people are active in the political scene in Kuwait, and were responsible for many critical changes that took place in the country. We decided to make our work and activity more organized to reach our goals in improving the situation in

Kuwait,” Tareq Al-Mutairi, member of the founding committee told the Kuwait Times during the conference.

During these two days (Monday and Tuesday) Kuwaitis who are aged over 18 can register their membership in the founded Movement. The member will pay KD 30 for the first time. The member is not allowed to be a member of any other political faction or movement.

The movement did not choose their name yet.

“During our meeting tomorrow with founding members who register, we will choose a name. We are preparing to be a political party after the law of political parties is approved. The

main goal of this movement is to make the community aware about democracy and the principles of the civil and modern state,” added Al-Mutairi.

The movement has further goals. “The movement also aims to set a justified democratic system of elections without group affiliation. We also aim to increase freedom of speech, separation of powers, eliminate corruption, support development, provide equal opportunities and protect human rights,” he stated.

Zayid Zaid, a media person speak ing at the conference, explained the role of youth groups and their struggles.

“Young people played key role in the Arab Spring events, which

KUWAIT: Zayid Zaid and Dr. Mohammad Al-Wuheib addressing the press conference at the Kuwait Bar Association. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

also affected our country. Kuwait is a small country and our effect does not reach other countries,” he explained.

“The activities of young people in Kuwait started in 2006 with the campaign Leave. Youths took to the streets, as they invented an open public expression of their protest against some issues. They also succeeded in their campaign to reduce the number to five constituencies for elections to Parliament.

In fact this system was applied, and the 25 constituencies changed to five,” said Zaid.

These campaigns happened when there was a Parliament.

“We do not agree completely with this way as there is a Parliament. The first protest and Opposition was in the Monday diwaniyas during the 1980s.

There was no Parliament, and we agreed to it because of the absence of a Parliament.

Some of those who were against the recent youth movements agreed with them later, and those who did not lost.

Youth movements were a result of corruption in both Parliament and the government,” he added.

According to Zaid, youth movements need more organization. “The youth movements propose important issues and the ways to apply them. These issues cannot be achieved unless they prove practical performance. They should highlight people’s suffering and fight corruption, and this can be achieved by reaching the power, the power of the majority. Young movements do not have political projects, and they should aim to achieve balance between political, economic and social powers,” he concluded.

KUWAIT: The Asian liquor trader pictured after his arrest.

416 cartons of liquor seized from Asian

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

was administered treatment on site.

KUWAIT: Detectives from the General Depar tment of Drug Control(GDDC ) recently arrested an Asian with possession of 416 cartons of liquor bottles. Case papers indicate that detectives were tipped off on the suspect’s activity, and had been closely monitoring it. Upon searching his car, detectives found 10 cartons of imported liquor. However, the suspect broke down upon being arrested and confessed to stashing away another 406 cartons in a special warehouse. The liquor was confiscated and a search for the suspect’s accomplice is on.

Car accidents A 29-year-old citizen fractured his left arm and a 21-year- old suffered an abdominal ailment af ter his vehicle crashed into another in Benaid Al-Gar. They were both admitted to Amiri hospital for treatment.

A 21-year-old citizen suffered injuries and two others suffered extensive bodily injuries after their vehicle collided into another along Fahaheel Expressway said security sources, noting that the first was rushed to Mubarak Hospital.

A 19-year-old citizen suffered various injuries and a 28-year- old Egyptian bruised his leg when their vehicles collided along Sixth Ring Road. The two men were rushed to Farwaniya Hospital for treatment.

Road mishap A 13-year-old Kuwaiti girl fell unconscious after a vehicle accidently ran over her in Jlaiah, said security sources. She

Number of Kuwaiti Christians drops 25 percent in five years KUWAIT: The number of Kuwaiti Christians has dropped from 200 in 2007 to 150 according to unofficial statistics quoted by the pastor of the National Evangelical Church, Emmanuel Gharib.

Kuwait is home to nearly 500,000 Christians from various nationalities, but there are only eight churches around the country as places for them to worship in.

Pastor Gharib said yesterday that the number of churches is “very limited compared to the number of worshippers”. The government has failed for years to answer demands to build new churches, pastor Gharib confirmed, adding that many Christians are forced to stand outside church premises during weekly services.

Regarding the drop in the number of Kuwaiti Christians, director of the cultural

communication center at the International Islamic Charitable Organization, Abdul-Aziz Al-Duaij, said this may have resulted from “migration for reasons that might include choosing a lifestyle more oriented towards secularism”. Pastor Gharib said the Kuwaiti citizenship law was amended in 1981 to stipulate that a person must be an Arab Muslim to be entitled to naturalization. He added that most Kuwaiti Christians today are of Turkish, Iraqi or Palestinian descent.

The limited number of worship places is the only problem that Christians in Kuwait face, pastor Gharib said. He stressed that Kuwaiti Christians have always enjoyed equal rights with their Muslim compatriots.

He acknowledged the fact that missionaries are not allowed to preach Christianity by law in Kuwait. —Al-Rai

Fire safety program for students

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Asas International for Educational Services are collaborating with the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) to plan an on-going and developmental Fire Safety and Prevention Program for over 3,000 students attending their schools.

Kenya Purcell, Asas Educational Director, and the heads of the schools met with Col Mohammed Al Shatti, Jahra fire chief, as part of the program to Care For and Educate the Whole Child at their Jahra Pakistani School, An’noor School and Mashael Al Jahra Schools.

The schools will actively participate in the Annual Firemen’s Exhibition, to be held

on March 30 in Jahra. Students will learn about Fire Safety Equipment and their proper use, fire prevention methods and the proper procedures to follow in case of fire.

Fire evacuation drills will be held under the supervision of the KFSD in order to train staff and students on how to exit a building in case of fire. Fire trucks and firemen in uniform will visit the schools for students to become familiar with them and be better able to comply in an emergency.

Asas Int’l extends special thanks to the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate for their enduring and tireless dedication to protecting and educating Kuwait and its community.

Minister to announce new CMA commissioners KUWAIT: The Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Saleh will appoint three new commissioners in the Capital Market Authority by the end of this week, said ministry sources.

The new commissioners will replace three others whose membership was nullified by an Appeals Court. Speaking to AlQabas on condition of anonymity, sources indicate that minister Al-Saleh has already made his choice on the candidates who will replace the three vacant posts. The minister reportedly made his selection on the

basis of experience, integrity and lack of conflict of interest, sources added. He gave this issue top priority since assuming duty earlier this month.

The Appeals Court had approved an earlier decision made by former minister Dr Amani Buresli to terminate CMA commissioners Dr Yousuf Al-Ali, Saleh Al-Yousuf and Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf. The latter was appointed Minister of Education and Higher Education. Meanwhile, Al-Ali and AlYousuf reportedly plan to appeal the court order at the Court of Cassation.-

Campaign against ‘immoral daily apartments’ KUWAIT: Criminal detectives will start an intensive campaign on apartments leased on daily basis within the next few days.

Security sources said most of them are being used for immoral acts.

A number of cases concerning absentee, sexual assaults and drinking are all related to apartments leased on a daily basis, security sources said. Complaints from those living in the same building where such apartments are located were put into considera-

tion, especially as noisy parties occur in such apartments over the weekend and immoral acts are witnessed there.

Sources said a special team will be formed for this purpose, and detectives have been collecting information about these apartments for some time. They have already raided some of the apartments.

Cases have been registered against the one who signed the apartment lease and the one who rented the apartment.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

local

Wataniya Telecom sponsors festival KUWAIT: Stemming from its interest in cultural activities, and as part of its social responsibility to provide support to different cultural and educational centers and organizations, Wataniya Telecom has taken initiative to sponsor the “3rd Cultural Heritage Festival” which took place from Feb 19 to 22.

The festival was organized by ‘Baith Lothan Arts and Crafts Center’ for the third year in a row, commemorating the 51st Independence Day and 21st Liberation Day and the sixth centennial of the proclamation of His Highness the Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as the Amir of the country. The festival included live folklore musical shows performed by TV Folk Band, Bin Hussain Folklore Band, and Fathel Kankouni Band.

Commenting on the sponsorship of this distinctive event, Abdol Aziz Al-Balool Director of Public Relations at Wataniya Telecom expressed

KUWAIT: Regional Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program, Dr Tariq Al-Sheikh (left) paid a visit to Kuwait Times yesterday during which he discussed with Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan, local and international projects which the program adopts to achieve sustainable civil development. The visit comes as part of Al-Sheikh’s ongoing tour to invite local press outlets to participate in the UN-HABITAT international conference, to be held in Kuwait between March 7 and 9.

Municipality announces achievements

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Engineer Osama Al-Duaij, Deputy Director of Kuwait Municipality for Hawalli and Mubarak Al-Kabeer municipal affairs, announced the numerous achievements of his control and inspection teams during January.

In his monthly report, Al-Duaij said the construction license department issued 211 license to erect new buildings, repair or pull down existing ones and build farms.

He said his technical teams have also finished 461 transactions in private residential and commercial areas, such as connecting power currents and land telephone lines.

Al-Duaij added that seven stores have been closed down for violating food quality regulations. He said 350 stores were inspected in January and that 351 citations were filed.

Al-Duaij said 63 abandoned vehicles were removed in addition to 4,918 truckloads of garbage moved to landfill sites.

Writer sheds light on classification of stories

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Popular Kuwaiti writer, Layla Al-Othman, presented a lecture at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) yesterday. She has written tens of short stories and novels, in addition to articles in the press, and programs aired on television and radio.

She started her career in 1965, and seven of her books were banned. Al-Othman spoke about the common classification of stories and novels during her lecture.

“Many people say that stories first started in the west, and that we imported them. This is not true as, in fact, stories such as those from the Holy Quran, of prophets, proverbs, legends, fables, romantic tales and others started here.” “Dante used our literature in his work, which means our literature reached the west. Also other world famous writers such as Voltaire and others used our sources. But later the West became better than us,” stated Al-Othman. Talent is the basic requirement for writing a story. “The writer has to be talented. The talent becomes a skill by reading and listening. The story is usually borne from an idea that comes from a scene, a word, a love story or some other life experience. The idea stays in the memory of the writer, and when they want to release some emotions from inside, this is the chance - by writing. The story has to be interesting so that the reader will not get bored,” she asserted.

According to AlOthman, a short story consists of two to ten lines. A normal story is between four and eight pages long.

Then there is the long story, which is shorter than a novel.

Layla Al-Othman “There are different kinds of stories. Some include pictures or poems. There is the true story, fantasy, mystery, and the poem. The story includes one character or two as maximum, while the novel has many characters,” she explained. There are also different kinds of novels. “There is a social novel, philosophic, historical, romantic, political and other types too. The main character in some novels is an animal. A good author uses his personal experience and includes events that happen in his life in his stories, to give an example to the readers,” noted Layla. She also explained the attack of the Islamists upon her, as her writing is free from their point of view. She said she writes real stories and problems of the Kuwaiti community.

the company’s pride with the Kuwaiti culture and heritage, and his pleasure to sponsor the “3rd Cultural Heritage 2012 Festival” and said “Wataniya Telecom always exerts its utmost efforts in promoting events and activities that highlight the culture and heritage of our beloved country, and which shape us as a community today.”

Al-Balool added “We sincerely appreciate Bait Lothan’s initiative for running the festival every year, and Wataniya Telecom continually seeks to be involved in the events and activities that promote the Kuwaiti culture, in order to ensure that it is passed to the younger generations. With its leadership role in CSR, Wataniya constantly strives to be a major part of cultural, artistic and historical events in order to highlight the importance of the Kuwaiti culture and heritage and the common bonds it shares with the other GCC countries.

More caregivers to accompany patients treated abroad Minister amends regulations KUWAIT: A disabled citizen can now be accompanied by two caregivers on overseas treatment trips, regardless of the level of their disability. A decision on this move was released

by Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi, changing the previous condition that allowed only citizens with severe disabilities to be accompanied by two caregivers.

In addition, the minister amended the regulation to allow individuals up to the age of 18 to be accompanied by two caregivers, in contrast to the previous stipulation that allowed patients till the age of 12 to be accompanied by two caregivers. Dr

Al-Obaidi also issued an order to allow senior citizens over the age of 65 to be escorted by two caregivers on treatment trips instead of one. In addition to paying for treatment expenses to a patient sent abroad, the government also pays expenses to each patient’s caregiver.

In other news, sources said that Jahra Hospital faces issues as delay has stalled the construction of the Central Laboratory project; forcing the hospital’s management to shut down the entire sixth ward. Sources noted that the Mubarak Hospital suffers a similar problem with a delay in opening Gastroenterology Center.

Meanwhile, Head of the MoH’s labor union Husain Al-Sabeel released a statement expressing ‘hope’ that minister Dr Al-Obaidi would pay attention to the demands of MoH staff, including payment of multiple allowances.

In another development, the Diseases Fighting Unit at the Ministry of Health has said that it has obtained initial approval to organize Second International Week for Inoculation, said Director Dr Musaab Al-Saleh.

A financial allocation has been made amounting to $40,000. The event will be held during the period

24 to 30th April next. Dr Al-Saleh said that the Unit has chalked out a plan to organize the international week which will be held under the umbrella of World Health Organization ( WHO). “Preparations were made after a meeting was held towards the end of 2011.

Accordingly, we have made a plan and presented it. We have received an initial approval and are waiting for a financial allocation that amounts to $40,000 from Ministry of Health,” he said. There are some of pharmaceutical companies that participate such activities after receiving approval from the Ministry of Health.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

local

Entertainment City celebrates national holidays

KUWAIT: The Entertainment City celebrated the country’s national holidays on Feb 25 and 26 by organizing special programs, as part of events planned by the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) featuring interactive activities for visitors of all ages.

The celebrations featured the participation of ‘Fantasy’ Group which hosted special activities including cartoon character shows for children.

A fireworks display was also held during celebrations. Furthermore, the Entertainment City’s management organized a special program on Monday exclusively for female visitors.

New Yemeni president to visit Kuwait

By A Saleh KUWAIT: The new Yemeni President Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi will pay a visit to Kuwait as par t of his Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries tour.

Sources added that the tour aims to support the GCC initiative in defusing the Yemeni crisis. Furthermore, they said that President Hadi will urge GCC states to carry on with their aid program and build a special office in Yemen to take follow up action to execute development projects that will be financed by GCC states.

GCC women wealth A report issued by Al-Masah Capital Limited Company in Dubai yesterday showed that GCC women owned a total wealth of $385 billion distributed as fol-

lows: Saudi women own 54 percent, UAE women own 25 percent, Kuwaiti women own 10 percent, Omani women own six percent, Qatari women own five percent and the remaining four percent goes to Bahraini women.

The report added that GCC women took serious steps to overcome their traditional role and make substantial progress in business, education and socioeconomic development.

Furthermore, the report also stressed that 41 percent of GCC population comprised women and that 16 percent of them were working professionals. AlMasah’s CEO, Shailesh Das stressed that women’s wealth is usually invested in safe bonds and stocks.

This led to various financial firms taking serious measures to benefit from this by establishing special bank branches and funds like the Danah for women.

Airport security caught 1,600 deportees KUWAIT: A fingerprint scanning system activated at the Kuwait International Airport (KIA) since April last year has caught 1,600 deportees who tried to reenter Kuwait using forged passports, according to official statistics released last January.

The deportees, most of whom are Asian and Arab nationals, were found with possession of skillfully forged passports. Their fingerprints revealed their true identity after being blacklisted, said a security source who made statistics available to AlQabas daily. “The numbers prove that the fingerprints security system has been very successful in preventing deportees from re-entering Kuwait illegally,” said the source. He explained that this illegal practice posed a real problem for authorities before the new system was adopted.

The Ministry of Interior reportedly plans to launch the second phase of the project by installing fingerprint scanners at sea and land border checkpoints. The system will be activated by mid March, adding that the measure will also help prevent refugees from fleeing Kuwait.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

LOCAL Local Spotlight

The new GCC federation?

kuwait digest

kuwait digest

Judicial and social interests Mohammed Hasanen, PhD GUST, Kuwait hould the judiciary be isolated from society? thinkers, who later became vice prime minister Should judges distance themselves from society described the incident as a historical decision. Of late, to render justice without being influenced by other decisions were made to revoke contracts which external factors? Should courts play a role in deter- were signed by the former regime. These decisions mining policy throughout the country? The answer of have sent across the wrong message to investors these questions is problematic in the Middle East. worldwide. The message has boldly told the foreign The dilemma facing judges there is how to maintain investing companies ‘do not trust us.’ It has also indijustice and meet society’s needs, placing the well- cated that the new government does not honor the being of the country a priority. In Egypt, for instance, actions of the former. In the mean time, away from judicial tradition is based on the principle that judges investment and economy, an adjudication was made should rely only on presented evidence and official a few years ago in the case where more than a thoudocuments to enforce laws with no external or emo- sand Egyptians drowned while taking a ship from tional influence. The tradition also is to keep judges Saudi Arabia. The adjudication released the ship owner who escaped to in their ivor y towers and Europe. In the appeal, he minimize their involvement was sentenced to seven in political or even someAfter the January revolution, years by considering it a times social life. Here comes the conflict between being there is a great probability that the simple case.

One can imagine the professional and maintainrights of hundreds of Egyptians, feeling of families who lost ing an objective towards who were either killed or injured their beloved ones on the protecting country’s interests. during the demonstrations, will be ship because of the ship’s owner. There are Is it acceptable that the lost due to lack of evidence or a graceless other uncountable numjudge make an effor t to flaw. That will cause unwanted psy- bers of drug dealing cases reach a decision that considin which dealers are not ers the society’s needs and chological, economic and political because a docupriorities? Maybe the time effects that may lead to more vio- penalized ment was lost and a mishas come for the judiciary in lence. These were just a sample of take was committed during countries like Egypt to start studying this question. The many other cases where judges investigations. This gave the chance to philosophy and meaning of paid no attention to the surround- criminals commit more crimes withthe judiciary’s independing circumstances before making out being punished. ence needs to be perceived After the January revolufrom different perspectives. decisions. They just abided by protion, there is a great probaAfter the 25th of fessionalism and its institutions. bility that the rights of hunJanuary’s revolution, and dreds of Egyptians, who even before it, many adjudiwere either killed or injured cations have influenced Egyptian society. Unfortunately, they caused eco- during the demonstrations, will be lost due to lack of nomical and political consequences that will have a evidence or a flaw. That will cause unwanted psychonegative impact on the present and the future of logical, economic and political effects that may lead Egypt. The topic is not raised to call for an argument to more violence. These were just a sample of many because this is only allowed in courts. We respect and other cases where judges paid no attention to the trust our honorable judges as well as their freedom. surrounding circumstances before making decisions.

To make this issue clearer, let us recall some of the They just abided by professionalism and its institutions. adjudication.

Finally, it is true that judges are not legislators; Around two years ago, a decision was made to cancel a contract between the government and a real however their role should be more than enforcing estate company. The results of this intended or unin- laws in a mechanical way. They do not make decitended mistake by a former minister or any irrespon- sions in a vacuum. They are part of social and political sible person impacted the lives of hundreds of fami- worlds, and should play a more active role to be able lies and citizens who invested their money in a house to act as policymakers. All cases are mutually affected and influenced by the surrounding environment. or an apartment.

Surprisingly, one of the important Egyptian Therefore, they should not be dealt with in isolation.

Who will pay the price?

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By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net he Saudi King Abdullah has requested that a new GCC federation be formed at the opening of the annual Gulf Cooperation Council Summit held in Riyadh late December 2011. This incident has provoked many politicians in Kuwait to make personal comments and views! As far as I know, most public comments comprise opinions made by former or current MPs. Although all GCC countries and heads of governments have approved the call and even the final statement to assure the need for such unity, few columnists undertook the mission of explaining, arguing and maybe advising the public, instead of leaving the crowd misunderstood!

Former Kuwait Ambassador to the UN and former general secretary to the GCC Abdullah Bishara wrote an article that appeared in Al Watan Arabic daily yesterday that clarified the confusion that prevails over the subject, and what King Abdullah really meant by the formation of a new GCC union. Bishara has expressed concerns about those who are skeptical about the Saudi King’s suggestion and how the Gulf countries need to act in order to confront political and regional threats. He also asked the speaker to act by Kuwait’s status in mind, and the internal and external challenges it faces. Various terms exist to describe the union, some like confederation is a political one that is a union of political units created by a treaty after a common constitution has been used. Confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign affairs or currency. The best example of this system is the United States which is a federal constitutional republic with one president. This system is not applicable to GCC countries and it will not happen. No Gulf leaders will accept it. So what we will see is an upgraded Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC). I believe, changes will be reflected in the strength of our foreign relations and defense.

This is bearing in mind that key Arab players like Egypt will be absent.

King Abdullah did not say that of confederation of GCC states will be formed. He stated the following, “I ask today that we move from a phase of cooperation to a uniting within a single entity,” said the Saudi King, addressing counterparts. This message was not properly received or accepted in Kuwait. Also, I agree that this was made in response to growing threats, regional turmoil and fears over Iran’s attack. I think the Gulf countries should take adequate measures to counter potential threats and ensure the safety of their land and people.

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By Khalil Ali Haidar ill the Shiite conscious bear the massacres of Homs, Daraa, Damascus, Deir Al-Zour and the rest of Syria? And until when? Does this conscience humanly and religiously allow us to keep silent towards the siege of cities, the bombing of people’s homes by tanks and rockets and the indiscriminate killing of innocent people?

Can it remain silent at the killing of between 50 to 100 men every day without reason, other than rejecting tyranny and demanding freedom and dignity as they want to choose the regime they wish?

Does objecting to the ‘Salaf Stand’, or any other stand towards the demands of the Bahraini people, allow the Shiites to ignore what is going on daily in Syria in the form of horrible crimes? Do the continued massacres in Syria, for almost a year, and the horrific bombardment of Homs resemble what is going on in Bahrain? Is not such a stand an unfair comparison, harming the Bahraini people’s calls for justified reforms?

Will two mistakes equal right and will two crimes produce innocence? Who is working in the dark inside Kuwait to distort the Shiite public opinion and who seeks to lead them all to support the Syrian regime and ignore all those crimes that are committed every day in the Sham Cities?

Who knows if the right information reaches those people? Who twists the facts for them and links the destiny and stand of Kuwait Shiites with the destiny of adventurous or tyrant regimes that kill people in the streets and torture demonstrators and destroy cities?

How can Shiites say, after ignoring Syrian massacres, that they support the oppressed and the violated? How much credibility will remain in the crying of Shiites during Muharram and Ashoura, and the destruction of their homes and the torture of prisoners? The Shiite conscience will pay dearly from its credibility for this ignorance and silence! This strange stand will be considered an embarrassing dark card in the coming days, exactly like the ignorance of the Arab World to the Kurds massacres during the time of Saddam Hussein, or his crimes against the Shaaban uprising in 1991.

This ignorance of Syria’s pains will justify the feelings of hatred and repulsion towards Shiites everywhere and for a long time. Political Shiism, its parties and ideas destroyed the Shiites vision of their interests and manipulated all their realistic balances. More dangerous than that is that it terrified its opponents, so they started avoiding everything which exposes them to the anger of those parties. All Shiites must ask: who will pay the price of such a stand and ignorance? They must also ask: where are the Shiite scholars and their religious, political, cultural and academic leadership? Do all those allow these crimes, massacres and city bombardments? Does “what went on in Bahrain and is still going on there” justify the annihilation of the Syrian people?! — Al-Watan

W

kuwait digest

When can we topple the hierarchy?

By Fahad Rashed Al-Mutairi democratic society is more like an inverted pyramid or hierarchy, with individuals at its base and the spirit of the group on top. It is one where, socially, an individual can maintain his own privacy and express his individualism through lifestyle. He would, politically, seek those sharing his own ideas and aspirations through involvement in group work. Such a pyramid still stands erect in our non-democratic and uncivil society where, socially, individualism would give way to groups while they become increasingly selfish. This contrast explains the power of political organizations in civil societies versus its fragility in ours. A political organization where members are fully convinced of joining it is solid and integral. This concept only develops in open societies that fully respect individualism and grant individuals more space and freedom of thought and self-development, which does not exist in conservative societies where an individual remains bound by values of a tribe, race or doctrine, which can be easily invested in to achieve political ambitions. In a previous article, I highlighted the resemblance between nature and conservative societies; nature passes down its genetic-make up

A

through generations and so does a conservative society where behavior and conduct are passed down from one generation to another. Nevertheless, a genetic mutation might lead to the creation of a new natural form while individualism may threaten a conservative society’s principles!

In other words, genetic mutation rebels against inherited natural features and, yet, nature smiles and allows such change to take place. Individualism is fiercely fought and resisted by inherited social behaviors and a conservative society may look down upon such resistance and rebellion! What if nature followed the steps of conservative societies? What if it fought each and every mutation of genetic make-up? The simple scientific answer is that our chances of existing on this planet are impossible! Accordingly, it’s only logical to say that chances for the existence of integral, civil political organizations in a conservative society is almost impossible since the main condition is unavailable. So, without people being capable of thought, expression and selection, political practices will remain governed by affiliations, be it politically ambitious individuals or retroactive religious parties. — Aljarida

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Gunmen shoot dead 18 Shiites on road in Pakistan Page 12

Romania holds up decision on Serbia’s EU candidacy Page 9

Israel will not warn US on Iran strike WASHINGTON: Israeli officials say they won’t warn the US if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations with US officials, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood that the US would be held

SEOUL: South Korean human right activists and former North Korean defectors shout slogans during a rally to demand Chinese government release North Korean refugees captured in China, near the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. The protesters called for China not to send North Korean refugees back to their country, saying those refugees might be executed. The yellow banner in the foreground reads: “Stop Repatriation to North Korea.” — AP

Riots in China kill at least 12 ‘Violent mobs’ launched attacks BEIJING: Riots in the volatile Chinese region of Xinjiang left at least 12 people dead yesterday, state news agency Xinhua reported, in the latest unrest to rock the country’s remote northwest. The news agency said that “rioters” killed at least 10 people, and police then shot dead two of those involved in the violence in Yecheng county, Kashgar prefecture.

Xinhua said that “violent mobs” launched attacks at around 6:00 pm (1000 GMT) and police were now in pursuit of those involved in the violence. The information could not be immediately independently verified.

Xinjiang-a vast region in China’s northwest that is home to around nine million mostly Muslim Uighurs who complain of oppression under Chinese rule-has been hit by sporadic bouts of violent unrest in the past few years. Xinjiang authorities said last month they plan to recruit 8,000 extra police officers, as China strengthens security in the country’s volatile regions in the run-up to a major leadership transition later this year.

In July 2009, Xinjiang was hit by China’s worst ethnic violence in decades when Uighurs launched attacks on members of the country’s dominant Han group in the regional capital Urumqi. The government says nearly 200 people were killed and 1,700 injured in the violence, which shattered the authoritarian Communist Party’s claims of harmony and unity among the country’s dozens of ethnic groups.

China threw a huge security clampdown on Xinjiang after the violence and many Uighurs are angry over the arrests or alleged disappearances of people rounded up

across the region in the aftermath. In December, seven people were killed in Pishan county in what the government described as a hostage rescue operation after “terrorists” kidnapped two people.

Exiles, however, said the incident was a conflict between regular Uighurs and policemen prompted by mounting discontent over a crackdown and religious repression in the area. The region was also hit by three deadly attacks last July that left dozens dead. The government blames much of the violence in the resource-rich region on extremism, separatism and terrorism but some experts doubt terror cells operate in Xinjiang, where Turkic-speaking Uighurs practise a moderate form of Islam. —AFP

responsible for failing to stop Israel’s potential attack, said one US intelligence official familiar with the discussions. The US has been working with the Israelis for months to convince them that an attack would be only a temporary setback to Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli defense officials confirmed that there are no plans to alert the US ahead of time about any operation against Iran, though they stressed no decisions have been made on whether to attack. —AP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

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

Iran quadrupled rate of public executions NEW YORK: Iran put to death more than twice as many people in 2011 as it did the year before, Amnesty International said Monday in a new report. The rights group said that the rate of executions in public increased even more dramatically, in an apparent bid to suppress political dissent and promote a climate of fear among those who might defy harsh Iranian law. “Casting a shadow over all those who fall foul of Iran’s unjust justice system is the mounting toll of people sentenced to death and executed,” said the 70-page report, released in the run-up to Iran’s parliamentary elections on March 2.

“There were around four times as many public executions in 2011 than in 2010, and hundreds of people are believed to have been sentenced to death in the past year,” it said. In Iran, prisoners are usually executed by hanging. The report said the heightened pace of executions “may be a strategy to spread fear among the

population and to deter protests. As the repression of dissenters widens, the risk of further death sentences and executions cannot be excluded.”

Amnesty’s report interprets the increase in public hangings, and an overall crackdown on dissent and freedom of the press - particularly Internet-based communication - as a harsh response to the public protests that erupted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed 2009 re -election. Calls left at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations seeking comment were not returned

by Monday evening. “Since the 2009 crackdown, the authorities have steadily cranked up repression in law and practice, and tightened their grip on the media,” Amnesty said in the report.

The fear even reaches overseas.

Earlier this month, the BBC said family members of employees of its Persian language service - which is banned in Iran - had been subjected to harass-

ment, including one who was arrested in January and held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Others had their passports confiscated. “They have stopped public protests using articles of Iran’s Penal Code that make demonstrations, public debate and the formation of groups and associations deemed a threat to ‘national security’ punishable by long prison sentences or even death,” Amnesty said. The report noted that Iran does not provide official statistics on their use of the death penalty, and said there is credible evidence that many people are put to death in secret. Amnesty’s Iran specialist Elise Auerbach told The Associated Press that there were 50 officially acknowledged public executions in 2011, compared to 14 such executions in 2010.

“In a couple of photographs of hangings, I’ve seen little boys and girls watching executions,” Auerbach told the AP. “It’s degrading and demean-

ing.” The total number of executions repor ted in Iranian state media, meanwhile, increased from 253 to 600. She said both figures were the minimum known, and stressed that “the true number was quite a bit higher.”

Among those on death row in Iran is a former US Marine interpreter arrested while on a trip to visit his Iranian grandmothers. Arizona-born Amir Mirzaei Hekmati was sentenced to death in January as a CIA spy, the first time an American citizen has been condemned in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New Yorkbased group.

Amnesty International’s report, and the United Nations, also pointed to Iran’s adoption of capital punishment for drug offenses beginning in 2011 as another factor behind the increase in executions. “There was a noticeable increase in the application of the

death penalty, including in public, since the beginning of 2011. The execution of political prisoners and juvenile offenders was also reported,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the General Assembly in September.

About 80 percent of the executions involved drug offenses, Auerbach told the AP. Some death penalty cases involved rapists and murderers, but she said the expanding use of capital punishment “desensitizes the public” and paves the way for wider use of the death penalty in politically motivated cases, or on religious grounds such as apostasy or “enmity against God.” Last year, a report on the death penalty worldwide by Amnesty International found that China was the most prolific user of the death penalty, with executions believed to number in the thousands in 2010. Iran ranked second with 253. North Korea executed 60 people in 2010; Yemen executed at least 53; and the United States executed 46

Migrant workers pay high price to seek Libya riches ‘We need to deporting them-we are simply full’

TEHRAN: Iranians walk past electoral posters of candidate for parliamentary elections, Tahereh Saheb-alzamani in downtown Tehran yesterday.

Campaigning began in Iran on February 23, for parliamentary elections to take place on March 2, where the voters will chose lawmakers for the 290 seats in the parliament, known as the Majlis. — AFP

Islamist voted speaker of Egypt’s upper house CAIRO: Egypt’s newly elected upper house of parliament picked an Islamist as its speaker yesterday, consolidating control by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party over the two legislative chambers.

The election of pharmacology professor Ahmed Fahmy as speaker of the Shura Council came during the chamber’s inaugural session. Saad el-Katatni, like Fahmy a member of the Freedom and Justice Party, was elected speaker of the more power ful lower house, or People’s Assembly, on Jan. 23.

The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt’s oldest and most powerful Islamic organization. Its Freedom and Justice Party members hold just under half of all seats in the 508-seat lower house and 106 of the Shura Council’s 180 elected seats. An additional 90 lawmakers are due to be appointed by the ruling generals who took over power when Egypt’s longtime authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak was ousted after a popular uprising a year ago.

The generals are expected to leave the appointments to the nation’s next president, due to be elected before the end of June. Then the generals say they will hand over power to a civilian government.

Ultra-conservative Islamists known as Salafis made strong showings in elections for both chambers, finishing second behind the Freedom and Justice Party and giving parliament a distinct Islamic character. The two houses are due to hold a joint session later this week to select a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution, the main role of the chambers, chosen in Egypt’s first free elections in decades.

Liberal and secular activists who spearheaded the mass demonstrations that toppled Mubarak last February fared poorly in the election for the Shura Council, repeating their failure in voting for the People’s Assembly.

As was the case when the People’s Assembly held its first session, Salafi members of the Shura Council improvised when taking their oath of office yesterday. The oath ends with a pledge to respect the constitution and the law, but several of them added “God’s law” or said “as long as there are no contradictions with God’s law.”

Egypt’s military ruler, Hussein Tantawi, sent the Shura Council a message, blaming outside forces for Egypt’s continuing turmoil. Tantawi, who was Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years, spoke in the message of “attempts to sow sedition among the people” to distract the armed forces from what he called the restoration of state institutions.

Tantawi, as in previous public statements, did not say who was trying to drive a wedge between Egyptians nor elaborate on their motives. Tantawi and the generals on the ruling military council have been accused of killing protesters, torturing detainees and putting at least 10,000 civilians on trial before military tribunals. They also are accused of bungling the transition and failing to revive the economy or restore security over the past year.

Fahmy read the message to the chamber, then heaped praise on the military, repeating the generals’ line that the military sided with last year’s popular revolution against Mubarak’s regime and has since served as a “sword and shield to protect and defend the nation.”— AP

WEST BANK: Palestinian protesters hold pictures of Hanaa al-Shalabi, a Palestinian woman freed in a prisoner swap with Israel but was re-arrested on February 16 and has gone on hunger strike since, during a sit-in outside the Red Cross offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday. Shalabi “is demanding the end of administrative detention (imprisonment without charge) and that the Israeli soldiers who beat her up and undressed her to carry out a body search be put on trial,” her lawyer said. — AFP

GHERYAN: As Libyans set about rebuilding their nation one year after the outbreak of a revolt that toppled Muamer Gaddafi, thousands of immigrants are trapped in makeshift detention centres, denied the chance to work, but with no way home.

In the mountainous city of Gheryan southwest of Tripoli, 950 migrants-some originally bound for Europe, others seeking a better life in Libya-are held at one such site, overstretched like so many others across the country. “We need to start deporting them-we are simply full,” said Imad Saqir, an English teacher who acts as coordinator for the handful of wardens overseeing the Italian-built complex, where each block is designed for 52 people, but holds more than 60.

“Some of them are innocent, people who heard in the local news that Libya needs a lot of labour,” Saqir said, while others are victims of trafficking, sent from their home country to a recipient in Libya without a penny on them.

Those held in Gheryan mostly hail from Chad or Nigeria, but the complex houses other sub-saharan Africans chasing higher income opportunities-from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Niger-as well as Egyptians. Militias detained the majority of them at checkpoints in and around the area, on the basis that they had no entry stamps on their passports. Some were relocated from camps further afield, in Sabha and Sabrata.

With its vast desert borders and lax monitoring policy, Libya has for years served as a destination and a transit country to European shores for hundreds of thousands of African immigrants.

But there are no official figures, and it is hard to draw the line between legal and illegal migration.

“There is no clear framework on migrants in Libya,” said Laurent Grosbois of the UN refugee agency, who says the country hosted more than three million foreign workers before the war last year that ousted Moamer

Gaddhafi. “The line is blurred because the information is not always very clear, both for the people moving-the migrants-and those who are enforcing the law,” Andria Kenney of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) told AFP. Many of those detained in Gheryan are newcomers who travelled in groups, lured by the promise of work rebuilding Libya, of starting afresh and making a quick buck in the oilrich nation. “ The new arrivals have the idea that because the borders are so lax this is their chance,” Kenney said, adding that once they arrive, the reality is much tougher than what they anticipated.

Racism and the belief that Gaddhafi heavily recruited sub-Saharan mercenaries during the war have made dark-skinned Libyans and black Africans a recurring target of theft, and abuse by armed brigades, according to rights groups.

“A lot of them are in hiding and are afraid of coming outside,” Kenney said. Some male detainees pointed to nicks and cuts on their heads and bodies as evidence of beatings at the hands of their captors, who claim they are keen to transfer their responsibilities to the interim government or aid agencies. Women, some of them pregnant, bemoaned being separated from their spouses. “My husband had been working in Zawarah for more than a year, then he came to get me in Nigeria,” said a subdued and pregnant Precious Oyumayu, age 23. “We came here to find money but they tell us they don’t need blacks in their country.

Now we have to go back but we have no money,” she said.

Many of the detainees openly admit to not having an entry stamp but argue that they are not at fault.

“I spent two years living in Libya working as a farmer in Zawiya,” Walid Abdelaty, 27, told AFP. “Twelve of us came in across the border but no one stamped our passports, we just

passed.” Arun Kulwali, a 23-year-old mason from Mali, entered from Algeria. “They have no (entry) stamps, even if you present a passport,” he charged. A Nigerian minor, 17-yearold Abdullah Issa Salam, summed up the situation: “Sure, there are people manning the border outposts but as long as you give them money, you are sure to pass, passport or not.”

Kenney agrees that much of the confusion stems from a lack of clear information. “On paper they broke the law but so many of them are not informed or were given the impression that they are following the right rules. They are just unaware so it is a shame that they are getting punished for it.”

Citing “enormous problems” caused by the influx of thousands of migrants, Libya’s interior minister in January urged Europe and neighbouring countries to help deal with the flow, by rehabilitating 19 detention centres and setting up better border surveillance.

Fawzi Abdelali also warned Libya would not be the “border guard” of Europe although in reality brigades have been deployed with the specific mission of monitoring borders to the south, according to sources familiar with the issue. Kadhafi used immigration as a means to pressure the West, and one year ago he asked the European Union for billion of euros annually, to stop illegal trafficking.

But the issue was swept aside in the tumultuous events of 2011, and today resources are severely lacking at the Gheryan detention centre.

“We have a shortage in everything,” said Saqir, complaining that despite community donations and some help from aid agencies, at least 300 people still lacked blankets.

From behind barred, padlocked doors, a chorus of tightly confined detainees complain of hunger pangs and the spread of disease in the absence of ventilation and sufficient water to address hygiene needs. “They say they cannot feed us. So they should let us free to work,” said one. — AFP

Syrian Kurds flee to Iraqi safe haven ARBIL: Away from his family and living in a small flat, Omar Izzat Ibrahim is among rising numbers of Syrian Kurds who have fled a bloody crackdown to the safe haven of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Their increasing numbers were highlighted by the announcement on Monday that authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan had awarded refugee status to 30 Kurdish Syrian soldiers who defected, with officials insisting they would not be handed back to Damascus.

“Many soldiers want to leave the army and defect,” said Ibrahim, a sergeant from the town of Kobani, along Syria’s border with Turkey. “From the start of the uprising, we were under a lot of pressure from our commanders. They were cursing us all the time, especially Kurdish soldiers who came from cities where rebellions took place.”

The 30-year-old told of how he forged papers granting him six days of leave and fled to Kobani and hid with relatives before secretly crossing into Dohuk, Iraq’s northernmost province, in early February.

Since then, he has lived in a relative’s apartment in the regional capital Arbil with a civilian defector and three others, with only a small television as entertainment. Syrian Kurds represent about nine percent of the country’s population and are mainly located in the northeast and Damascus, where they form an important minority.

They say they have been the subject of political discrimination for decades, and demand recognition of their language and culture and want to be treated as full citizens. That said, they have largely escaped the worst of a ruthless military offensive against parts of the country revolting against the rule of President Bashar alAssad. Rights groups estimate that the conflict has left at least 7,600 people dead. Iraqi Kurdish officials, meanwhile, expect 1,000 Syrian families to cross into Dohuk and are preparing to build a camp in the province to accommodate them, according to Shaker Yassin, head of the Kurdish interior ministry’s immigration office.

“Those who are escaping the violence have been coming to Kurdistan since the beginning of the year,” said Yassin, adding that he did not have numbers on how many families had crossed into Iraq since the uprising began 11 months ago because most, like Ibrahim, stayed with relatives and did not register.—AFP

EAST JERUSALEM: An Israeli soldier fires tear gas during clashes with stonethrowing Palestinians in the West Bank district of al-Ram, bordering Israel and annexed East Jerusalem, yesterday. — AFP

Iraq MPs face anger over armoured cars BAGHDAD: The decision of MPs last week to spend $50 million on their own armoured cars on a day that dozens of people were killed in a wave of attacks has drawn sharp criticism from across Iraqi society. The vote, alongside a long-delayed approval of the 2012 federal budget on Thursday evening, was taken largely without debate or objection and will see a total of 350 armoured vehicles purchased at a cost of 60 billion Iraqi dinars ($50.4 million), a parliament official said.

All major political groups, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition, the main Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, the alliance of Kurdish parties and the movement loyal to anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr voted in favour of the move, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But the decision-which allocates one armoured car per MP and an additional 25

vehicles to be dispersed at the discretion of parliament’s speaker-has sparked the ire of regular citizens, religious leaders and obser vers. “ The subject of buying armoured cars was approved quickly, while other laws are taking a long time, which shows that MPs prioritise their own benefits over the needs of the people,” said political commentator Tariq al-Maamuri.

“If they fear for their lives in this way, let them resign and sit at home, because the Iraqi people are not ready to waste their money to protect these MPs,” he said. Iraqi journalist Wassan al-Shimmari said lawmakers were “over-reacting”.

“They live in secure areas inside, or even outside, the Green Zone,” she said, referring to the heavily-fortified centre of Baghdad that is home to the government and parliament. “Each one of them has a full team of bodyguards so there is no need to have other privileges.” —AFP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

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

Stricken Italian cruise ship faces 24 hour tow to safety VICTORIA: Over 1,000 passengers on a stricken Italian cruise ship from the same fleet as the tragedy-struck Costa Concordia, were being towed to safety yesterday, but will not reach landfall for another 24 hours.

Fire broke out in the engine room of the Costa Allegra on Monday, stalling the vessel in the choppy waters of the Indian Ocean where Somali pirates have in the past attacked and captured foreign ships. A French fishing boat started towing the cruise ship to the tiny island of Desroches, while two tug boats from the coast guards were expected to reach the vessel later Tuesday, the Seychelles Coast Guard said.

“The Seychelles Coast Guard can confirm that a French purse seiner vessel (a trawler) reached the location of the Costa Allegra last night and is towing the vessel towards Desroches island,” it said in a statement.

It was not clear how far the boat

was from Desroches, but Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic said the coastguard were not expecting its arrival at the remote island “ until tomorrow.”

Emergency crews onboard managed to extinguish the fire after a few hours and nobody was injured, but the stranded liner was forced to make a mayday call seeking assistance from nearby vessels in the dangerous ocean seas. Passengers were all moved onto the ship’s outer decks to ensure an easier evacuation if needed, and Indian naval aircraft flying overhead took photographs showing passengers crowded around the cruise ship’s swimming pool.

A Seychelles helicopter delivered food and satellite phones to the ship, cruise operator Costa Crociere said.

Officials from Costa Crociere have said that all 636 passengers and 413 crew members were in good health, and confirmed the boat was being towed

to Desroches island.

“Guests onboard are continuously informed and assisted by the captain and the staff onboard, a cold breakfast was served this morning,” the company said in a statement. The Costa Allegra is from the same fleet as the much larger Costa Concordia, which crashed into an Italian island in January, in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives. The cruise ship’s passengers and crew including are from 25 countries, including 135 Italians, among them nine Marines to guard against pirate attacks, 127 French, 97 Austrians and 90 Swiss, as well as nationals from Britain, Germany, Mauritius, Russia, Slovenia and Spain.

The passengers are expected to disembark on Desroches before travelling the 230 kilometres (140 miles) southwest to Mahe, the main island in the archipelago. Desroches, a tiny outcrop of land known for its white sandy beaches and dense lush forests of

coconut palms and surrounded by coral reefs, is just some 15 kilometres (nine miles) in circumference and hosts an exclusive luxury resort. Resort manager Mark Leslie said they were in close contact with the authorities, and that they expected the passengers to arrive sometime “after lunch on Wednesday.”

“We will be able to accommodate around 200 guests, if they want to stay,” Leslie told AFP. “The other ones will be airlifted to Mahe.” However, people will need to be transported in several planes since the short airstrip can handle only small aircraft with a maximum capacity of 25 people per plane, Leslie added.

“We are in contact with the agent of the ship and we are making arrangements to transport the passengers and crew by air to the island of Mahe,” said Alain St Ange, the Seychelles Tourism Board’s director. “Our only concern is that we do not have enough bed-

rooms for everyone... as we are holding an international carnival which begins on Friday.”

The Seychelles Coast Guard said two tug boats were expected at the location of the cruise ship later yesterday. “They will be towing the Costa Allegra back to Port Victoria in due course and will be given a protection escort by the Seychelles Coast Guard and the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces Airwing,” the statement added.

The ship was on its way from Madagascar to the Seychelles, an idyllic Indian Ocean archipelago of more than 115 islands. It was at the start of a cruise which would have also taken it to Oman, the Red Sea and the Egyptian Mediterranean port of Alexandria.

Nine people are under investigation for the January disaster, including three Costa Crociere executives, the ship’s captain and five other crew members. — AFP

Thousands of Russians to monitor vote, stop fraud Putin expected to win presidential election

BUCHAREST: Romanian President Traian Basescu (L) speaks to Lebanon’s President Michel Sleiman (R) during an official welcoming ceremony at Cotroceni Palace, the Romanian Presidency headquarters, in Bucharest yesterday. Sleiman is on a visit focusing on bilateral and international development of cooperation between the two countries in economic sectors of common interest. — AFP

Romania holds up decision on Serbia’s EU candidacy BRUSSELS: Serbia stood poised to win official European Union candidate status but last-minute objections yesterday from Romania held up Belgrade’s drive to put the Balkans wars behind it for a future in the EU club.

One of the last ex-communist states of eastern Europe still outside the bloc, Serbia’s application to become an EU candidate nation was under review by European affairs ministers meeting in Brussels.

Ministers, who were widely expected to approve Serbia for entry, held two hours of talks but finally were forced to call a temporary break in proceedings when Romania withheld its support, a diplomatic source told AFP. As all EU votes require unanimity, the discussion on Serbia was postponed until later in the day, but had not resumed at 1500 GMT. “Ministers are waiting around while the highest-level contacts take place with Bucharest,” said a source close to the negotiations.

“But there is still no white smoke.”

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said: “We’re very close to having good news” but added that “if this decision is not taken today we expect it to be taken at the European council”, or summit on March 1 and 2.

“Serbia deserves candidate status,” Barroso added. Should Romania lift its objections and the ministers approve Serbia for entry, the verdict will need final approval from EU leaders meeting at the summit. Bucharest’s demands for guarantees for Serbia’s Romanian-speaking minority of Vlachs, some 30,000 people, took ministers “by surprise”, another diplomat said.

“Romania is the only country holding out,” said a source close to the negotiations. “Romania has been asked to go back and consult and hopefully it will accept.” Romania itself will be lobbying for support later this week when the EU’s refusal to allow Bucharest to join the visa-free Schengen area comes up at the summit. A separate spat over diplomatic and trade issues with Lithuania, which is also one of several eastern European countries wary of Belgrade’s friendship with Moscow, was laid to rest at yesterday’s talks, a source said.

“The strategic goal for my country is to become a member state,” Serbian President Boris Tadic, who is largely credited with bringing the country closer to Europe, said on the eve of the vote.

“It is very important to creating better conditions in southeast Europe,” he added. “Our region suffered very much in the 1990s.” It was Tadic, whose proEuropean coalition dominates the Belgrade parliament, who last year cleared a crucial hurdle in Serbia’s bidthe arrest of wanted war criminals Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, after almost two decades on the run.

Their handover to international prosecutors came on the heels of another historic concession when Belgrade last year agreed to sit at an EU table with breakaway Kosovo, while staunchly refusing to recognise its 2008 declaration of independence. But Belgrade’s belief that it would earn an EU pat on the back by being declared an official candidate at a December summit turned sour, when the likes of Germany and Britain demanded more from the SerbiaKosovo dialogue. — AFP

BRUSSELS: Swedish EU Affairs Birgitt Ohlson (L) and French EU Affairs Minister Jean Leonetti talk prior to a General Affairs Council yesterday at the EU Headquarters in Brussels. The Council will examine draft conclusions for the European Council on 1 and 2 March. It will also take note of a synthesis report on the European Semester, prepared on the basis of the Commission’s Annual Growth Survey and contributions from the Council’s other configurations, which will be presented to the European Council. — AFP

MOSCOW: Before officials could sign off on the vote tally at Moscow polling station No. 81 in December’s parliamentary poll, the local election commission chief had disappeared with the ballots, they said.

The election officials waited for her until almost 1:00 am, then gave up and went home.

A security guard later told one of them he had seen Klavdia Titova, the head of the commission, climb out of a first-storey window.

When she reappeared the next day, an extra 322 votes had been added to the count of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, court documents show. One official said his signature had been forged on the protocol.

The court denied an appeal by the opposition Communist party against the results, and, at the trial, Titova declined to comment to Reuters about the allegations. Such reports have prompted tens of thousands of Russians to sign up as vote monitors for Sunday’s presidential election to guard against a repeat of alleged irregularities that marred December’s poll. The fraud allegations have spawned a civil awakening and sparked the biggest opposition protests since Putin rose to power 12 years ago, although he is still all but certain to win the election. “It had never even entered my head before that an ordinary person could be a vote monitor. But after the December election I heard from friends who’d been observers and were upset by the falsifications that I could also try to do something,” said Natasha Vostrikova, a 28-year-old translator at an IT company.

She was one of more than 100 people who gave up their Sunday to sit through a fourhour, powerpoint lecture on election law, one of dozens of training sessions organised by independent vote-monitoring groups.

“There has never been so much talk of politics ... now everyone is not just talking but taking action,” she said. Many volunteers say they have no links to any political party.

Independent groups are helping them register as monitors and sending them to polling stations which they say delivered suspiciously high results for United Russia in December.

The Kremlin has denied there was widespread fraud in December’s election and dis-

missed opposition calls for a rerun. Putin has said he wants Sunday’s poll to be free and fair, and ordered 182,000 web cameras to be set up at the 91,000 voting stations across the vast country.

But his opponents have dismissed the 13billion-rouble ($446-million) project as a sham and say they still fear fraud, complaining that

MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, speaks with residents of an exploded apartment building in Astrakhan, about 1280 kilometers (800 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, yesterday. The nine-storey apartment building collapsed in an explosion caused by natural gas, killing at least eight people. — AP what they regard as even the most blatant cases of ballot-stuffing have gone unpunished by the state.

“I am going to be a vote observer,” said Yevgeniya Chirikova, one of the opposition protest organisers. “If we can prove that there is falsification ... then there will be a very strong reaction (from the people).”

The vote-monitoring groups say they have enough volunteers to send four or five people to all Moscow polling stations. That means also deploying monitors in state institutions such as hospitals, homes for the elderly and prisons. United Russia scored particularly high

Senegal’s Wade admits he may face run-off poll DAKAR: Senegal’s veteran leader Abdoulaye Wade faced the prospect yesterday of a runoff election after conceding he may have failed to secure a first round victory in his bid to remain president into his 90s.

Although official results are not due until later in the day, Wade revealed on state television that early tallies showed him winning less than a third of the votes counted so far-albeit with a clear lead over his nearest rival.

While Wade said that “everything is possible, victory or a second round of voting” ahead of official results, the opposition savoured its strong showing.

“Wade, its over,” headlined L’Observateur opposition newspaper, calling the incumbent’s address to the nation on Monday night his “swansong”.

The United Nations and the United States meanwhile called for calm on all sides after the run-up to Sunday’s ballot was marred by deadly violence.

Wade, 85, is seeking a third term in office after circumventing a two-term limit he introduced into the constitution.

He says changes extending term lengths from five to seven years made in 2008 allow him a fresh mandate. The country’s highest court upheld his argument, sparking a month of riots that claimed six lives and prompted international concern for the west African nation’s long-held reputation as a haven of stability.

In his television address, Wade said he would rise to the challenge of a second round, evoking the possibility of alliances to assure a final victory. The president said that the results from

tallies in such institutions in December.

Overall, about 30,000 volunteers have signed up to new online services that help them register as monitors, including one launched by anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny. Many more have registered directly with presidential candidates.

“Suddenly having a civic stance has

around half the overall turnout gave him 32.17 percent of the votes. His closest challenger, former prime minister Macky Sall, had 25.24 percent.

Sall, 50, appears to be the most likely contender in a second round and called the results a “massive rejection of the outgoing president.” The mayor of the western city of Fatick fell out of favour in 2008 with Wade, his former mentor, under whom he had held several ministerial portfolios and also served as prime minister. Election day passed off without any major incident and all sides are being urged to ensure the situation remains peaceful. United Nations special representative in west Africa Said Djinnit urged the population to “show restraint until the end of the electoral process.”

The United States’ top Africa diplomat Johnnie Carson said “early results indicate that a second round of voting is highly likely”. “We call upon all political party leaders and their supporters to follow the rule of law and respect the results,” Carson added.

Emerging market analyst Samir Gadio, with London-based Standard Bank said Wade had suffered a “setback” for Wade but he would still prevail if the opposition fails to present a united front.

“The outcome of the second round will be conditional on the opposition’s ability to firmly unite behind one candidate and present a coherent platform for political change.” Wade, who is Africa’s oldest leader after Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, 88, was first elected in 2000 on a wave of euphoria and his supporters praise him for overseeing a development boom. — AFP

become trendy,” said Georgy Alburov, who runs Navalny’s RosVybory website. “A huge number of people have started waking up.”

Communist party candidate Gennady Zyuganov’s campaign team said it was astonished at the number and enthusiasm of volunteers, 50 of whom have offered to go to Chechnya, where United Russia won 99 percent of the votes in December, despite the risk of violence in the volatile North Caucasus region. “Never has there been anything like this,” Communist deputy Kazbek Taysayev said.

“The Moscow protests aren’t just hot air.

Everyone is fed up.” — Reuters

Sudan rebels say border battle killed 150 troops KHARTOUM: Sudanese rebels said yesterday they killed 150 government soldiers along the disputed border with South Sudan in a battle that prompted Khartoum to threaten retaliation against the newly independent state. Sudan’s military denied the casualty toll and said it had killed a “huge number” of rebels, but gave no figure. The casualties came during Sunday’s “surprise attack” along the disputed border with South Sudan against a government base in the Jau area, said Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

Rebels counted the bodies on the ground, he said, and seized three tanks along with hundreds of weapons and vehicles in the joint operation with a small number of fighters from Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The insurgents, who last year formed a “revolutionary front” aimed at toppling the Khartoum regime, claimed the attack in the contested Jau area-part of an oil-rich region on the poorly defined border-as their first combined operation against government forces.

But an analyst said the attack could not have occurred without direct involvement by South Sudan’s army. The fighting must be seen as part of the “bargaining process” between two nations engaged in a major dispute over oil fees and other issues related to the South’s separation, argued Magdi El Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute.

“I think the rebel force is now just a pawn in a bigger process,” he said. South Sudan separated in July-taking with it about three-quarters of Sudan’s oil productionafter an overwhelming vote for independence that followed more than two decades of war.

Last month Juba shut down the flow of oil after accusing Khartoum of stealing the crude which runs through pipelines in the north to Sudan’s Red Sea port.

The South has no other way to export its oil but the two sides have failed to agree on how much it should pay to use the infrastructure. After the Jau attack, SPLM-N rebels said they moved further north to Taruje, and on Monday retook a government outpost at El-Ahmier, 30 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of the state capital Kadugli, Lodi told AFP. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

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

In US, push underway for civilian drone flights WASHINGTON: Drones are going mainstream in the United States. Civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have tracked, spied on and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news organizations and others wanting bird’s-eye views that are too impractical or dangerous for conventional planes or helicopters to get.

Along with the enthusiasm, there are qualms. Drones overhead could invade people’s privacy. The government worries they could collide with passenger planes or come crashing down to the ground, concerns that have slowed more widespread adoption of the technology.

Despite that, pressure is building to give drones the same access as manned aircraft to the sky at home. “It’s going to be the next big revolution in aviation.

It ’s coming,” says Dan Elwell, the Aerospace Industries Association’s vice president for civil aviation.

Some impetus comes from the military, which will bring home drones from Afghanistan and wants room to test and use them. In December, Congress gave the Federal Aviation Administration six

months to pick half a dozen sites around the country where the military and others can fly unmanned aircraft near regular air traffic, with the aim of demonstrating they are safe.

The Defense Department says the demand for drones and their expanding missions requires routine and unfettered access to domestic airspace, including around airports and cities. In a report last October, the Pentagon recommended flights first by small drones both solo and in groups, day and night, expanding over several years. Flights by large and medium-sized drones would follow in the latter half of the decade.

Other government agencies want to fly drones, too, but they have been hobbled by an FAA ban unless they first receive case-by-case permission. Fewer than 300 waivers were in use at the end of 2011, and they often include restrictions that severely limit the usefulness of the flights. Businesses that want to put drones to work are out of luck; waivers are only for government agencies.

But that is changing. Congress has told the FAA that the agency must allow civilian and military drones to fly in civilian airspace by September 2015. The

FAA is set to take a first step early this year by proposing rules that would allow limited commercial use of small drones for the first time.

Until recently, agency officials were saying there were too many unresolved safety issues to give drones greater access. Even now FAA officials are cautious about describing their plans and they avoid discussion of deadlines.

“Our big concern is ensuring that as these get introduced into (civilian airspace) the system is safe,” Michael Huerta, FAA’s administrator, said. “What we’re hearing from the Congress and the industry is, ‘This technology is evolving quickly, and we don’t want the FAA to be too cautious so as to hold up technological innovation.’”

There is no question that the FAA must find a way to accommodate this new class of aircraft, he said.

“Not that long ago some in aviation viewed the whole unmanned aircraft thing as kind of a passing fad. I think we’re all beyond that now,” Huerta said.

“Everyone recognizes that the technology has developed and ... these things are really a permanent part of the aviation industry.”

Drones come in all sizes, from the

high-flying Global Hawk with its 116foot (35-meter) wingspan to a hummingbird-like drone that weighs less than an AA battery and can perch on a window ledge to record sound and video. Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or “whirly bird,” equipped with imaging sensors, that weighs less than an ounce.

Potential civilian users are as varied as the drones themselves. Power companies want them to monitor transmission lines. Farmers want to fly them over fields to detect which crops need water.

Ranchers want them to count cows.

Journalists are exploring drones’ newsgathering potential. The FAA is investigating whether The Daily, a digital publication of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., used drones without permission to capture aerial footage of floodwaters in North Dakota and Mississippi last year.

At the University of Nebraska, journalism professor Matt Waite has started a lab for students to experiment with using a small, remote-controlled helicopter. “Can you cover news with a drone? I think the answer is yes,” Waite said. The aerospace industry forecasts a worldwide deployment of almost 30,000 drones by 2018, with the United States

accounting for half of them. “The potential ... civil market for these systems could dwarf the military market in the coming years if we can get access to the airspace,” said Ben Gielow, government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry trade group.

The hungriest market is the nation’s 19,000 law enforcement agencies.

Customs and Border Patrol has nine Predator drones mostly in use on the US-Mexican border, and plans to expand to 24 by 2016. Officials say the unmanned aircraft have helped in the seizure of more than 20 tons of illegal drugs and the arrest of 7,500 people since border patrols began six years ago.

Several police depar tments are experimenting with smaller drones to photograph crime scenes, aid searches and scan the ground ahead of SWAT teams. The Justice Department has four drones it lends to police agencies.

“We look at this as a low-cost alternative to buying a helicopter or fixed-wing plane,” said Michael O’Shea, the department’s aviation technology program manager. A small drone can cost less than $50,000, about the price of a patrol car with standard police gear.— AP

One dead, four wounded in Ohio high school shooting Gunman wanted to target group of students

RIO DE JANEIRO: The son of lieutenant Carlos Alberto Figueredo, one of the two military killed in the fire at the Brazilian Antartic’s base Capitao Ferraz last February 25, cries beside his coffin during a ceremony at Rio de Janeiroís air base. The destruction of Brazil’s Antarctic base in a fire that killed two navy personnel has dealt a major blow to the country’s strategic research on the resource-rich continent, experts say. — AFP

Supreme Court 101 in session at high court WASHINGTON: George Mason University law student Matthew Long still has three months of schoolwork before graduation, but this week he and two classmates had a case before the Supreme Court.

The group of students is part of a new class dedicated to Supreme Court work at the Fairfax, Va., school. Nationwide, more than half a dozen law schools offer similar courses. The students don’t get to argue the cases. They aren’t even lawyers yet. But students participating in the so-called Supreme Court clinics get do everything else: research issues, draft briefs and consult with the lawyer actually presenting the case to the high court.

“We’re all very much aware that you can go your entire legal career without ever being on a case before this court, and it’s unbelievable that we’d have this experience as law students,” Long, 26, said as he stood outside the Supreme Court after Monday’s arguments in a case about a man in prison for murder in Colorado and time limits involved in his case.

Stanford University started the first Supreme Court clinic for students in 2004 and is still involved in the most cases. But schools with clinics now include Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Virginia and the University of Texas. In the past three years, clinics report that students have been involved in about 1 out of every 6 cases argued before the court. This week, students are participating in two of the court’s cases.

“We now run into situations more often where we contact somebody, or somebody contacts us, and they are talking to other clinics as well,” said Jeffrey Fisher, the codirector of the Stanford Supreme Court

Litigation Clinic, who will argue before the court Tuesday as part of a case his students worked on.

Fisher and other instructors who run law school clinics say their classes have helped raise the quality of arguments before the court and clinics offer something big law firms can’t. They are willing to get involved in disputes against big businesses, for example. And enthusiastic students can take on time-consuming tasks that would run up costs for a law firm, such as reviewing every state’s policy on an issue or scouring hundreds of pages of law for the way a single word is used. There’s another factor that can make clinics attractive to potential clients: Their help comes free.

Students don’t do the work alone. Each clinic is supervised, usually by a professor or a lawyer at a firm with extensive Supreme Court experience. Students, for their part, may work to identify lower court cases that they believe the Supreme Court will be interested in reviewing. When a clinic takes a case, students may then draft petitions asking the court to hear the case and, if the case is accepted, research and help craft legal briefs for the court.

“One thing we’ve told students from the very start is, ‘You should approach this like a job,’” said Thomas McCarthy, a partner at a Washington law firm who graduated from George Mason and now oversees its clinic with a colleague, William Consovoy.

Clients, meanwhile, have been happy with the help. Texas resident Doug Spector sued a cruise ship company in a case that reached the Supreme Court in 2005. He said he viewed the Stanford students who worked on his case like medical students who study under and assist a doctor.— AP

TransCanada in new push for US pipeline OTTAWA: TransCanada Corp announced Monday it would go ahead with building part of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline between Oklahoma and the Texas coast that does not require US presidential approval. The company also said it will resubmit its proposal for the entire $7 billion pipeline project from Canada’s oil sands of Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries that US President Barack Obama rejected last month.Construction of the southern leg from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Texas refineries is expected to be completed by mid to late 2013 at a cost of $2.3 billion, TransCanada said.

The Keystone XL pipeline has turned into a major issue in US politics, with environmentalists waging months of protests and the oil industry funding an advertising blitz, claiming the project would immediately create jobs amid a weak economy.

Environmentalists fear an accident along the 1,700-mile (2,700-kilometer) pipeline would spell disaster for aquifers in central US Great Plains states. They also oppose the project because exploiting the oil sands requires energy that generate a large volume of greenhouse gases.

Supporters say the pipeline will help lead towards energy independence, and that it will quickly create thousands of construction jobs. The White House welcomed TransCanada’s announcement, saying the southern pipeline “will help address the bottleneck of oil in Cushing that has resulted in large part from increased domestic oil production, currently at an eight-year high.”

However House Speaker John Boehner, who supports the full pipeline project, accused the president of trying to “have it both ways” by supporting the southern segment. “If the president thinks this project is good for America, he knows how to make it happen right away. Until he does, he’s just standing in the way of getting it done,” Boehner said in a statement to ABC News. In January Obama rejected the original $7 billion pipeline proposal, saying he could not vouch for its safety by a February 1 deadline.

TransCanada said it will submit a new application for the northern leg that will include “an alternative route in Nebraska as soon as that route is selected,” as well as an “already reviewed route” in Montana and South Dakota. — AFP

CHARDON: A teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at a suburban Cleveland high school Monday, killing one student and wounding four others before he was chased from the building by a teacher and captured a short distance away, authorities said.

A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that the one who was killed was gunned down while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.

A lawyer for the suspect’s family has identified him to a Cleveland television station as T.J. Lane and said Lane’s family is mourning “this terrible loss for their community.”

FBI officials would not comment on a motive. And Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities “have a lot of homework to do yet” in their investigation of the shooting, which sent students screaming through the halls at the start of the school day at 1,100-student Chardon High.

An education official said the suspected shooter is a Lake Academy student, not a student at Chardon High. Brian Bontempo declined to answer any questions about the student. Bontempo is the superintendent of the Lake County Educational Service Center, which operates the academy.

The alternative school in Willoughby serves 7th through 12th grades. Students may have been referred to the school because of academic or behavioral problems. The FBI said the suspect was arrested near his car a half-mile from Chardon. He was not immediately charged.

Teachers locked down their classrooms as they had been trained to do during drills, and students took cover as they waited for the all-clear in this town of 5,100 people, 30 miles from Cleveland.

One teacher was said to have dragged a wounded student into his classroom to protect him.

Another chased the gunman out of the building, police said.

Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting, said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But others disputed that. “Even though he was quiet, he still had friends,” said Tyler Lillash, 16. “He was not

CHARDON: Bouquets of flowers sit on the sign in front of the high school in Chardon, Ohio yesterday.

A gunman opened fire inside the school’s cafeteria at the start of the school day Monday. Two of the victims have died and three remain hospitalized. — AP bullied.” Robert Farinacci, a lawyer who is representing Lane and his family, told WKYC-T V that Lane “pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about.”

Long before official word came of the attack, parents learned of the bloodshed from students via text message and cellphone and thronged the streets around the school, anxiously awaiting word on their children.

Two of the wounded were listed in critical condition, and another was in serious condition. “I looked up and this kid was pointing a gun about 10 feet away from me to a group of four kids sitting at a table,” Komertz said. He said the gunman fired two shots quickly, and students scrambled for safety. One of them was “trying to get underneath the table, trying to hide, protecting his face.” The slain student, Daniel Parmertor, was an aspiring computer repairman who was waiting in the cafeteria for the bus for his daily 15-minute ride to a vocational school. His teacher at the Auburn Career School had no idea why Parmertor, “a ver y good young man, very quiet,” had been target-

ed, said Auburn superintendent Maggie Lynch. Officers investigating the shooting blocked off a road in a heavily wooded area several miles from the school. Federal agents patrolled the muddy driveway leading to several spacious homes and ponds, while other officers walked a snowy hillside. A police dog was brought in. It wasn’t clear what they were looking for.

Teacher Joe Ricci had just begun class when he heard shots and slammed the door to his classroom, yelling, “Lockdown!” to students, according to Karli Sensibello, a student whose sister was in Ricci’s classroom. A few minutes later, Ricci heard a student moaning outside, opened the door and pulled in student Nick Walczak who had been shot several times, Sensibello said in an email. Ricci comforted Walczak and let him use his cellphone to call his girlfriend and parents, Sensibello said. She said her sister was too upset to talk.

Heather Ziska, 17, said she was in the cafeteria when she saw a boy she recognized as a fellow student come into the cafeteria and start shooting. She said she and several others immediately ran outside, while other friends ran into a mid-

dle school and others locked themselves in a teachers’ lounge.

“Everybody just started running,” said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. “Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway.”

Farinacci said Lane’s family was “devastated” by the shootings and that they offered “their most heartfelt and sincere condolences” to Parmertor’s family and the families of the wounded students.

“This is something that could never have been predicted,” Farinacci told WKYC-TV. Rebecca Moser, 17, had just settled into her chemistry class when the school went into lockdown. The class of about 25 students ducked behind the lab tables at the back of the classroom, uncertain whether it was a drill.

Text messages started flying inside and outside the school, spreading information about what was happening and what friends and family were hearing outside the building. “ We all have cellphones, so people were constantly giving people updates - about what was going on, who the victims were, how they were doing,” Moser said. — AP

Venezuelans face anxious wait on Chavez surgery HAVANA: Venezuelans are on tenterhooks, unsure how President Hugo Chavez will fare in surgery in Cuba to have a lesion removed from the same pelvic area where a cancerous tumor was cut out last year. The possible return of Chavez’s cancer has cast doubt over his bid to be re-elected on October 7, in what is likely to be the most closely contested presidential election in years.

Chavez, a leftist anti-American firebrand, faces a strong challenge from 39-year-old Henrique Capriles, who was chosen as the sole opposition candidate in a primary earlier this month. Chavez, 57, has used Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to help keep his Communist ally Cuba afloat for a decade, as he courted anti-US allies from Iran to Syria to Libya and Bolivia.

His survival in power is pivotal to the fate of both his nation, South America’s preeminent oil power and an OPEC member, and Cuba’s. The Americas’ only one -par ty Communist regime in Havana would be

rocked without the Venezuelan cut-rate oil that helps keep its feeble economy alive.

The Venezuelan president underwent medical tests Saturday in Havana, and said he expected to be operated on Monday or Tuesday at the top-of-the-line Cuban medical center CIMEQ. But he and his travel companions, including family and colleagues, stayed mum over the weekend.

Chavez remains the active-duty president while away from Venezuela and is running for reelection in October after 13 years at Venezuela’s helm. Chavez said Friday that his Health Minister Eugenia Sader would be giving updates on his condition. As of Monday midday, there had been none.

In Venezuela, private media were up in arms at the lack of information coming from the government over the weekend.

Chavez usually fills the local airwaves with round-the-clock political discourse, and some ministers took to TV seemingly only to try to fill the void.

Chavez declared himself cancer-free last October only to deliver the shocking news on February 21 that a one-inch lesion had been discovered. “Nobody can say right now that it is another malignant tumor,” but “the likelihood that it is malignant is greater than that it is not,” he admitted at the time.

Chavez could still appoint a successor to run in his place, delay the October vote, or soldier on and focus the campaign on his left-wing legacy.

“His relapse did not come as an absolute surprise. And neither has the lack of official information on Chavez’s operation,” said Luis Leon of pollsters Datanalisis.

“I think what people are waiting for is for the president being seen again, for him to look solid, recovered and even for him to come home.” Chavez has never specified what kind of cancer he is suffering from and denied that he is facing metastasis-when the disease spreads to another organ or organs.—AFP

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

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

Myanmar relaxes grip on media, vows end to censors YANGON: It was a newspaper article that just months ago, Myanmar’s draconian state censors never would have approved. It told how prison authorities crudely attempted to cure a scabies outbreak by wiping down naked inmates with medicine -laden brooms - a demeaning act that revealed the poverty of the nation’s prisons and the decrepit state of its health care system.

“In the past it would’ve been a very dangerous thing to publish,” said Zaw Thet Htwe, who wrote the story and was a political prisoner himself until last month. “It wasn’t allowed.” But in a sign of just how much is changing in this long-oppressed nation, it was allowed.

The article was not only published this month in the Health Journal, a Yangonbased weekly, but it hit the streets without having to be reviewed first by the government’s infamous censorship body, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department.

Journalists have been jailed, beaten and blacklisted for decades in Myanmar, and the government continues to censor reporting about politics and other subjects it deems sensitive. But since last

year, when the nation’s long-entrenched military junta stepped down, censorship has ended on subjects such as health, entertainment, fashion and sports, and reporters are testing the limited freedom that has begun to emerge.

Today, images of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, once a highly taboo figure, routinely appear on the front pages of everything except state-controlled media. And the days of buying foreign publications, only to find sensitive stories cut out, are over. “It’s much more relaxed,” said Thiha Saw, chief editor of a news weekly called Open News, who said he’s now able to write freely about fires, murders and natural disasters - all prohibited at various times in the past.

The government has gone even further, promising to abolish censorship altogether once the parliament approves a new media law later this year. The legislation, currently being drafted, would effectively allow Myanmar’s independent press to publish on a daily basis for the first time in decades.

As recently as last fall, the future of journalism seemed grim in this

Southeast Asian nation, which is also known as Burma. Reporters were still subjected to routine state surveillance, phone taps and censorship so intense that many were forced to work anonymously, undercover. In January, Reporters Without Borders ranked the country a lowly 169 out of 179 nations in its annual press freedom survey.

Few expected much change when the junta ceded power last March. The new government, dominated by a clique of retired officers, had risen to power in an election widely considered neither free nor fair.

But in an inaugural speech, President Thein Sein promised sweeping democratic reform, and vowed to “respect the role of the media, the fourth estate.” In June, the government quietly began removing blocks on once-banned foreign news websites. It also began allowing international newspapers and magazines to be sold without sensitive sections cut out.

Exiled reporters, for decades among the country’s most fervent critics, have been allowed to return and report freely, along with once-blacklisted correspon-

dents from foreign news organizations, including The Associated Press. “Things are moving in the right direction,” the Committee to Protect Journalist’s Southeast Asia representative, Shawn W. Crispin said yesterday in Bangkok.

But he added, “The reforms we’ve seen are just scratching the surface. By any objective measure, Burma’s media is still among the most repressed in the world.” Nine reporters have been freed this year, but three remain behind bars, he said.

While “publications have been allowed to put Suu Kyi on the cover and report some of the things she says ... there are plenty of areas the press is not allowed to venture into, including any critical reporting of the ongoing conflict” between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the army in the north.

Saw, the Open News editor, said a team of around 50 government censors still spikes about 10 percent of the content in his 30-page journal each week.

But even that is progress. In the past, he said, censors were not averse to scrapping entire editions.

“We don’t really expect freedom of

expression in a few months or a few years,” the bespectacled journalist told the AP in an interview in his small Yangon office, where a poster of Suu Kyi hangs on the wall.

Censorship has been in place in Myanmar one way or another since a 1962 military coup, he said, and “we still have a long, long way to go.” Now, writing about peace talks between the government and ethnic rebels is OK, Saw said, but stories about fighting between them are not. Pictures of refugees aren’t allowed, and neither are articles about past crimes or corruption allegedly committed by ruling party officials. Also taboo: stories about student activists (like the ones who rose up in 1988) and monks (like the ones who rose up in 2007).

When dissident monk Shin Gambira was briefly detained by authorities earlier this month, “that story was killed, too,” Saw said in an email Monday. “We just keep on pushing.” U Tint Swe, Myanmar’s censorship boss, told the AP that censorship had historically been needed to maintain stability. But he said such edicts will be a soon be a thing of the past. —AP

Gunmen shoot dead 18 Shiites on road in Pakistan Four buses were targeted MANSEHRA: Gunmen wearing military uniforms stopped a convoy of buses in northern Pakistan yesterday, ordered selected passengers to get off and then killed 18 of them in an apparent sectarian attack, the police and a lawmaker said.

The victims were Shiite Muslims,

er people in the four-bus convoy.

A spokesman for a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, a Sunni militant group, claimed responsibility for the killings. The incident in the remote Kohistan region was the latest in a spasm of violence in the country in recent weeks that has demonstrated the resilience

the two nations are strained, hampering cooperation.

The attack took place in the mountainous village of Harban Nala, which is some 211 miles (340 kilometers) north of the capital Islamabad.

The area, part of the famed Silk Road link ing nor thern

ISLAMABAD: Gilgit-bound passengers wait for a bus as transporters suspend their service due to firing on their buses, at a bus terminal in Islamabad, Pakistan yesterday. Gunmen wearing military uniforms stopped a convoy of buses on way to Gilgit in northern Pakistan yesterday, ordered selected passengers to get off and then killed 18 of them in an apparent sectarian attack, the police and a lawmaker said. —AP a minority in Pakistan that is frequently targeted by extremists from the majority Sunni community, said lawmaker Abdul Sattar. The gunmen spared several dozen oth-

of militant networks, including alQaida allied groups. The US has tried to support Pakistani security forces in the fight against the extremists, but relations between

Pakistan to China, is populated

by Sunni tribes.

Police officer Mohammad Azhar said the buses were traveling from Rawalpindi city to Gilgit

when the gunmen attacked.

Sattar, the lawmaker, said eight gunmen were involved in the ambush, and all were wearing military uniforms, presumably to make it easier to stop the buses.

He said the attackers ordered the passengers to produce their identity cards before ordering the 18 off and shooting them.

Sattar and Sher Khan, an official at the Rawalpindi bus station, said the fear of attacks on travelers increased after an incident last month in which an unknown number of Sunnis were killed in the Gilgit region.

Khan said buses have since been traveling in convoys as a security measure.

Sunni extremists allied to or inspired by al-Qaeda and the Taleban routinely attack government and security force targets, as well as religious minorities and other Muslim sects they consider infidels. Most of the violence has been in the northwest, close to Afghanistan, though sectarian attacks happen across the country with some regularity.

Many thousands have been killed in the last five years, and attacks on Shiites - targeted purely because of their sect - have been some of the bloodiest. The Jandullah faction of the Pakistani Taleban - one of the country’s deadliest and best organized militant groups - claimed responsibility. “They were Shiite infidels and our mujahedeen shot them dead one by one after bringing them down from a bus,” said Ahmed Marwat, a purported commander, who called an Associated Press reporter from an undisclosed location. —AP

Philippine sect rallies as Aquino ties sour MANILA: About 600,000 members of an influential sect held rallies in the Philippines Tuesday, police said, in a show of force amid perceived political tension with once staunch ally President Benigno Aquino.

Police shut major roads in Manila from midday (0400 GMT) and deployed hundreds of officers as about 200,000 members of the religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) gathered at a seaside park in the capital.

Officers monitored similar gatherings in two other cities, including one of 400,000 people massed in Tarlac, Aquino’s home province, said national police spokesman Agrimero Cruz.

“The situation is peaceful,” said Cruz, who also reported 7,000 sect members at a park in the central city of Cebu. The three million-strong sect is one of a handful of religious groups courted by politicians of all stripes during election campaigns, with its massive vote block handing increasing its political clout.

Local media said Aquino’s previously strong ties with the sect have soured since Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona-who has indirect links to the Iglesia-was impeached in December, stirring condemnation from the group. The Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday quoted an unnamed sect insider as saying despite the group’s public statements to the contrary, the rallies were meant to show its unhappiness with Aquino.

“It seems Malacanang (presidential palace) is not getting the message of the church. This is just another way to show our displeasure,” it quoted the source as saying. Aquino also fired sect member Magtanggol Gatdula as National Bureau of Investigation chief last month after the official was accused of covering up the abduction of a Japanese woman by his aides.

Iglesia spokesman Bienvenido Santiago could not be reached for comment by AFP on Tuesday after being quoted by local media as saying the rallies would be purely religious in nature. Aquino

also played down the motives of the rallies, saying the conservative sect had assured him they were purely religious events leading up to the 100th anniversary of its founding next year.

“There are others who are saying that there is a political dimension here,” Aquino told reporters.

“Their official communication to us is this is part of their religious obligations and part of their faith,” he added, stressing that the sect had helped him win the 2010 election.

Aquino said that politicians would normally be welcome to join the rally but he had been advised to stay away to avoid giving “a political

tinge” to the event and detracting from its “religious intention.”

No overt political comments were made at the rally which came as the Senate was holding a trial on whether Corona’s impeachment was valid. Led

by Eduardo Manalo, grandson of its late founder Felix Manalo, the sect exerts huge political influence in Philippines, home to more than 75 million Catholics. While Aquino can not stand for a second six-year term, the sect’s block vote could have on impact on the electoral success of his political allies in next year’s midterm Congressional polls. —AFP

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri Muslim women workers of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) shout slogans as policewomen try to stop them, during a one-day general strike in Srinagar, India, yesterday. Shops and banks were closed, factories shuttered and traffic sparse in major cities across India during an industrial strike yesteray called by trade unions against the government. Eleven major trade unions called for the strike to protest against rampant inflation. —AP

All-India strike poses fresh challenge to govt NEW DELHI: A nationwide strike called by trade unions including those affiliated with the government hit Indian cities yesterday, as millions joined the call for tighter labour laws and a minimum wage. Eleven central trade unions backed the strike call, posing a fresh challenge to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his leftist administration, which had called on the unions to call off the show of force.

“This is a historic occasion. For the first time all the big trade unions have come together to protest the anti-labour polices of the government,” All India Trade Union Congress general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta told AFP. Among the unions’ demands are a national minimum wage, permanent jobs for 50 million contract labourers, more government efforts to rein in the rising cost of living, and an end to the sale of stakes in profitable public companies.

“We gave the government ample opportunity to discuss these issues. Now striking is the only option before us,” Dasgupta said.

“We are fighting for our rights against a government that is anti-people,” he added.

Singh’s government, already tainted by a series of high-profile corruption scandals, has struggled to keep inflation in single digits at a time when the economy is growing at its slowest rate for three years. Transport, banking and postal services were all hit by the 24-hour strike that began midnight Monday. In Kolkata, a traditional trade union stronghold, most bank branches, shops and other businesses were closed, with taxis and rickshaws staying off the streets. But the city’s metro was working normally, and West Bengal’s firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had denounced the strike call, brought 1,000 state-owned buses into the city to ease the transport problem.

Kolkata police chief R.K. Pachnanda said 10,000 police officers had been deployed

across the city, including special units in government offices, bus depots and metro stations to prevent intimidatory picketing by union activists. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said about 100 pro-strike supporters had been arrested in different districts for obstructing rail and road traffic.

In Mumbai, the financial capital of India, All India Bank Employees Association general secretary Vishwas Utagi claimed there was a “complete shutdown” in the banking sector.

The clearing house for transaction at the central bank had been shut, “so the private and foreign banks where we do not a have a presence, also get affected,” he told Press Trust of India agency.

Elsewhere, the state government, railways and the city public bus service employees were largely unaffected, while schools and colleges were open. In New Delhi, traffic was lighter than usual and people arriving at the capital’s main railway station struggled to find transport to other areas of the city. Just a couple of staff had reported for work at a branch of the Bank of India, a public bank, in the centre of the capital which was open, but no business was being carried out.

“We are backing the protest because the demands are legitimate,” said one bank clerk who had reported for duty. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, affiliated to Singh’s Congress party, said it was time the government lent them an ear.

“Our most important demand is the abolition of contract labour and a check on the uncontrolled increase in prices,” said Reddy.

“We will study the reaction of the government to this strike before deciding on our future course of action,” he told AFP. Down south in the state of Kerala, the Congressled state government enforced ‘dies non’ (no work-no pay) order against the employees, the PTI said. —AFP

‘Yellow Shirt’ founder jailed

MANILA: Thousands of devotees of the Christian sect, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) walk towards the Rizal Park in Manila, Philippines yesterday for a a prayer rally dubbed “Grand Evangelical Mission.” Iglesia Spokesman Beinvenido Santiago said yesterday’s gathering in Manila and 17 other cities around the country, is “purely religious rally” where politicians have been invited but won’t be allowed to address the crowd. —AP

BANGKOK: A court in Thailand yesterday sentenced one of the kingdom’s most controversial political figures, media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, to 20 years in prison for corporate fraud.

Sondhi is the founder of the royalist “Yellow Shirt” protest movement, which has played a major role in Thailand’s colour-coded political conflict and helped to topple fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

The Criminal Cour t in Bangkok convicted Sondhi of violating the Securities and Exchange Act in a case dating back to the mid-1990s, and gave him the maximum sentence possible, a court official told AFP. He was accused by Thailand ’s Securities and Exchange Commission of falsifying documents used as col-

lateral for a loan of almost 1.1 billion baht (36 million dollars) for his ASTV/Manager media empire.

Mass protests by the Yellows, formally known as the People’s Alliance for Democracy, helped trigger the 2006 coup by royalist generals who ousted Thaksin, then seen as Sondhi’s arch-enemy. Thaksin now lives in selfimposed exile overseas to avoid a jail term imposed in his absence for corruption, but his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra is the current prime minister.

The Yellows claim allegiance to the throne and are backed by the Bangkok-based elite, although their influence has waned since 2008 when they seized Bangkok’s airports and stranded hundreds of thousands of tourists. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

NEWS Leaked emails expose Stratfor Continued from Page 1

Giant Olympic rings, measuring 11-m high and 25-m wide, are launched on a barge onto the River Thames in London yesterday as organisers celebrate 150 days to go until the start of the 2012 London Olympics. — AFP (See Page 17)

New iPad next week Continued from Page 1 The third iteration of a device that has helped put pressure on demand for traditional laptops and computers is expected to boast a faster, quad-core processor, and a higher-definition screen.

Some analysts and industry experts expect 4G wireless capability, ensuring that the iPad remains current as cutting-edge broadband technology from Verizon Wireless and other carriers gains momentum. Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc. “The picture is zoomed in on an icon and I don’t see any pixels in that icon,” Avi Greengart, analyst at Current Analysis, said, underscoring how industry experts pick apart even Apple’s communiques for hints of what to expect. “You don’t need exceptional foresight to guess that Apple is likely looking at a higher resolution display.”

The company’s market value has climbed steadily in past weeks, buoyed by anticipation over its latest gadget as well as by hopes that Apple will finally accede to

shareholders’ demands that it return some of its $98 billion war chest of cash and securities. Yesterday, Apple shares racked up a record high of $534.62 in heavy trading on the Nasdaq market before easing slightly to $532.70, up 1.3 percent on the day.

Apple iPad tablet sales doubled in the December quarter to 15.43 million units. The company has sold about 55 million iPads since it introduced the device in 2010. It may be looking to “make further inroads into the general computing market” with the newest iPad, Greengart said. Chief Executive Tim Cook has often said that he expects tablets to outsell personal computers eventually. Cook, who took the company’s helm after visionary Steve Jobs died in October, will likely lead the event, with ample help from marketing chief Phil Schiller and other executives. With the iPad 2 starting at $499, investors will also be watching to see if Apple plans to discount it, creeping farther down the price chain and closer to the Fire, to broaden the iPad’s appeal. — Reuters

Day of reckoning as Michigan votes Continued from Page 1 To boost Santorum, supporters paid for an automated “robocall” to Democrats to encourage members of the other party to vote for the former Pennsylvania senator.

Democrats could tip the close race in Santorum’s favor unless there is a big Republican turnout, in a year when the number of Republicans going to the polls has been declining steadily compared to the 2008 campaign.

Romney said the robocall helps make the race unpredictable. “There’s a real effort to kidnap our primary process, and if we want Republicans to nominate the Republican who takes on Barack Obama, I need Republicans to get out and vote and say no to the dirty tricks of a desperate campaign,” he told a news conference at his headquarters in Livonia. Most Michigan polls close at 8 pm EST (0100 Wednesday GMT).

A victory for Santorum on what is essentially Romney’s home turf would scar the erstwhile frontrunner a week before a defining day of the race for the nomination to take on Obama in the Nov 6 general election - the March 6 “Super Tuesday,” when voters in 10 states go to the polls. A Santorum win in Michigan could upend the race and prompt Republican Party leaders - concerned that Santorum’s unflinching religious conservatism could make him unelectable against Obama - to search for a new candidate to join the race.

“I think Santorum is completely radioactive and will bring an electoral disaster to the Republicans - he could deliver Obama a landslide,” said Michigan Democratic strategist Joe DiSano, who has launched one effort to help Santorum. The Detroit News reported that the calls blast Romney for bailing out “Wall Street billionaire buddies” while opposing the federal auto bailout, which Obama and his union supporters have stressed as they have campaigned against Republicans.

As voters in Michigan went to the polls, Obama gave a fiery speech to the United Auto Workers union, defending the bailout and trumpeting its success. “I believed in you. I placed my bet on the American worker,” he said to applause and raucous cheers at the union’s convention.

“Three years later, the American auto industry is back.”

Santorum’s campaign said the robocalls were an effort to reach out to blue-collar Democrats, who supported Republicans like former President Ronald Reagan in earlier elections. “Rick Santorum’s message - a balanced budget, cutting spending and revitalizing the manufacturing sector - resonates and inspires the conservative base and resonates with Reagan Democrats,” Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley said. “But there is nothing dirty about sending a robocall to the voters of Michigan saying we’re the most conservative, we’re going to fix the economy, vote for us,” he said.

Romney is supported by Michigan’s governor and other state party leaders, and his campaign spending here has exceeded $4 million, more than doubling Santorum’s. But Santorum has made himself competitive by painting Romney as a moderate and stressing his own conservative views on social issues, blue-collar roots as the grandson of a coal miner and vision for rebuilding manufacturing in the hard-hit Midwest.

Santorum has the strong support of the state’s evangelical Christians, an important Republican voting bloc. In national politics, Santorum is mostly strongly identified with conservative social views like opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights, for homeschooling his seven children and criticizing women who work outside the home.

Romney, seen as a moderate Republican when he was governor of Democratic-leaning Massachusetts, is viewed warily by the most conservative wing of the Republican party. The former private equity executive, whose fortune is estimated at $250 million, has also struggled to convince voters that he can relate to the struggles of average Americans and made gaffes reminding Americans he is among the super-rich. Romney has a comfortable lead in Arizona, aided by the man who beat him in the 2008 Republican nominating race but then lost to Obama in the general election, Arizona Senator John McCain, who has endorsed and campaigned for Romney. Other Republican candidates - Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, and Ron Paul, a Texas congressman - are running far behind the two leaders and have not competed heavily in Michigan, making the state a Romney-or-Santorum contest. — Reuters

‘Tainted’ MP to grill PM over deposits scandal Continued from Page 1 The second request called for asking the Assembly’s public funds protection committee to investigate allegation of widespread smuggling of heavily-subsidized diesel. The opposition MPs said the request is based on a report by the interior ministry about three years ago to the oil ministry that subsidized diesel worth $2.5 million was being smuggled daily out of the country. It added that the government formed an investigation committee and the oil ministry formed a technical probe panel and both did not reach any conclusion on the issue, and accordingly the Assembly should be allowed to conduct its own probe over the sensitive issue.

A request for a third investigation committee on allegations that the former premier transferred public funds into his own overseas bank accounts did not come up for discussion as the session was adjourned for today. Opposition MPs want a detailed and thorough investigation to establish who ordered the transfers and why and the amount of the transfers.

The deposits scandal and money transfers issue ignited youth-led street protests late last year that eventually forced the former prime minister to resign in late November. The Amir later dissolved the Assembly and snap elections were held in which the opposition

scored an impressive victory.

The session got off to a rocky start when a number of Shiite MPs and their supporters objected to the speech delivered by Islamist MP Khaled Al-Sultan, being the oldest member, at the inaugural session which was opened by HH the Amir. In the speech, Sultan strongly blasted the Syrian regime and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad for the massacres against Syrian people, and also called for abolishing of bank interest for being unIslamic.

MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the speech does not represent him and because Sultan spoke about foreign policy, he embarrassed the Amir and the state of Kuwait. That ignited a fiery response from Islamist MPs who said the speech echoed the sentiment of the overwhelming majority of the Kuwaiti people, and strongly lashed out at the Syrian regime and its barbaric slaughter of civilians.

During the session, the Assembly also elected a number of temporary committees which were dominated by the opposition. These include committees for human rights, bedoons, women’s affairs, a panel for environment and nuclear energy, a panel for agriculture and others. The Assembly is scheduled to debate the Syrian issue today and start comments on the Amiri address delivered at the opening session.

In CIA parlance the “green badgers,” or contractors, have become as vital to national intelligence as the blue-badge-carrying government employees. Today intel firms help negotiate the release of oil firm hostages in Nigeria, investigate potential Ecuadoran business partners for sketchy links and gather information on Syria’s armed opposition for anxious Western governments.

The first, small batch of emails published yesterday contained little that was particularly scintillating - but revealed clients that Stratfor has long safeguarded and refused to disclose.

They range from local universities to megacorporations like Coca-Cola, which apparently worried about animal-rights supporters crashing and disrupting the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. “To what extent will US-based PETA supporters travel to Canada to support activism?” a Coca-Cola manager asked a Stratfor analyst in a 2009 email.

An initial examination of the emails turned up a mix of the innocuous and the embarrassing. But Assange has accused Stratfor of serious deeds, such as funneling money to informants through offshore tax havens, monitoring activist groups on behalf of big corporations and making investments based on its secret intelligence. “What we have discovered is a company that is a private intelligence Enron,” Assange told London’s Frontline Club, referring to the Texas energy giant whose spectacular bankruptcy turned it into a byword for corporate malfeasance.

Stratfor denied there was anything improper in the way it dealt with its contacts. “Stratfor has worked to build good sources in many countries around the world, as any publisher of global geopolitical analysis would do,” the company said in a statement. “We have done so in a straightforward manner and we are committed to meeting the highest standards of professional conduct.”

Headquartered on the fourth floor of a bank building in downtown Austin, Stratfor might be one of the smallest targets on which WikiLeaks has set its sights. Founded in 1996, the company was reported to have the equivalent of around 40 full-time employees in Austin in 2008 and regularly plucks interns from the nearby University of Texas campus.

According to one internal Stratfor document released by WikiLeaks, the company boasted having 292,000 paid subscribers but also acknowledged that the actual number of people reading its products is far fewer.

Stratfor uses analysts to scour the Internet for open-source information, which they then use to determine

where the world’s next crisis might strike.

But the company also pays for information. One email released by WikiLeaks described a $6,000-amonth payment made to a Middle Eastern source, and another carried bits of gossip dropped by a retired spy. In December, Stratfor founder George Friedman gave advice on handling sources to one of his analysts gathering information on the health of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. “If this is a source you suspect may have value, you have to take control (of) him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control to the point where he would reveal his sourcing and be tasked,” the email read. “This is difficult to do when you are known to be affiliated with an intelligence organization.”

Stratfor Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton bragged in other emails about his “trusted former CIA cronies” and promises to “see what I can uncover” about a classified FBI investigation. Messages left for Burton weren’t immediately returned.

Stratfor has speculated that some of the leaked emails may have been altered or forged, although the firm did not provide any evidence of tampering. Anonymous said in a Twitter message that the suggestion of forgery was “pathetic”.

Some clients are already facing questions. Among the emails are reports apparently compiled for The Dow Chemical Co on activists who have targeted the company over its links to the Bhopal gas leak disaster, which killed thousands of Indians and spawned a long-running legal battle.

Dow said in a written statement that “major companies are often required to take appropriate action to protect their people and safeguard their facilities,” adding that it operated within the law. Coca-Cola also defended reaching out to Stratfor before the 2010 Olympics, releasing a statement yesterday that read, “We consider it prudent to monitor for protest activities at any major event we sponsor, as such activities may affect our partners, customers, consumers or employees.”

While Stratfor correspondence shows an impressive breadth of coverage, it also shows private intelligence is sometimes more Google hits than GoldenEye, more meta search than Mata Hari. While firms like Britain’s GPW boast of hiring former MI6 station chiefs to provide top-class insight, some of Stratfor’s staff appear less qualified than clients might wish.

Asked for intelligence about PETA, one Strafor staffer seems to have responded: “I’d like to put a really good research-oriented intern on the case.”

Industry insiders insist that Stratfor is not held in high esteem by its peers,

but that kind of treatment of issues is likely to raise questions from clients of all firms. The question of how good private intelligence is, is a longstanding one according to a onetime government client. “In many ways you could claim that these people are doing things that actual government or military employees do, but get paid much more money,” said Richard Bloom, a psychologist who spent 20 years as a US military officer and intelligence operations manager working in various US intelligence agencies.

According to Bloom there is often a solid case for the government going outside for a fresh take. He points to research which suggests the United States developed a nuclear weapon more quickly than Germany because Berlin restricted access to the program too much. Intelligence failures in predicting the fall of the Soviet Union or Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait may well have been spotted had a broader group of analysts been brought in. But too often, said Bloom, the relationship between the government and contractors seems to be a one way street. “Quite frankly, a typical successful contractor will try to interface as much as they can with the people who are providing the money or who are asking the question and trying to pick your brain as well. It certainly happens that there are times when what the contractor provides you is well written summary of what you already knew.”

But Bobby Inman, former director of the National Security Agency and former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, called Stratfor’s paid intelligence service competent and said the company has delivered “high-quality” analysis in the past.

Inman said yesterday that the leaked list of clients would almost “certainly be damaging” to Stratfor’s business for now. “If you think who might find that information useful, it would be a competitor out there looking for clients,” he said.

How WikiLeaks got the company’s emails remains unclear. Assange refused to answer questions about the matter yesterday, but Stratfor said the messages appeared to be the same ones stolen by hackers in December.

That breach, claimed by the Internet activist group Anonymous, ravaged the company’s servers and led to the disclosure of thousands of credit card numbers and other information.

Wired magazine quoted an unnamed member of Anonymous as saying that the stolen data had been transferred to WikiLeaks, which allegedly acknowledged receiving the transfer using a coded message on Twitter.

Anonymous appeared to confirm that account, pointing to the cryptic message “rats for donavon”, which WikiLeaks posted Dec 30. — Agencies

Wounded journalist rescued from Syria Continued from Page 1 Thirteen activists were killed trying to help the Western journalists and to bring in aid to the Homs rebel stronghold Baba Amr, international activist group Avaaz said.

UN officials called for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into violence-torn regions of Syria, where the United Nations now says well over 7,500 people have been killed. The death toll in the Syrian government crackdown is now “certainly well over 7,500”, B Lynn Pascoe, UN undersecretary general for political affairs, told the Security Council yesterday. The international community’s failure to “stop the carnage” is encouraging the Syrian government to believe that it can act with “impunity”, Pascoe said.

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that declaring Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad a war criminal could “complicate” a solution to the crisis. “I also think that from long experience that can complicate a resolution of a difficult, complex situation because it limits options to persuade leaders perhaps to step down from power,” Clinton told a Senate hearing.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper said Conroy was “in good shape and good spirits” following his escape. A father of three, Conroy was working for the weekly during a rocket attack on February 22 on a makeshift media centre in Baba Amr. His family expressed relief. “I have spoken to Paul this morning and he sounded in good spirits. The family is overjoyed and relieved that he is safe and look forward to getting him home,” his wife Kate said in a statement.

Avaaz’s Wissam Tarif said the organisation coordinated his rescue from the battered city in central Syria and across the border. “Avaaz coordinated with Syrian activists Conroy’s exit from Homs and his arrival in Lebanon,” Tarif told AFP in Beirut. US veteran reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in last

week’s rocket attack in Homs while Bouvier and Conroy were wounded.

Two other journalists trapped in Homs are William Daniels, a photographer also on assignment for Le Figaro, and Spaniard Javier Espinosa, who works for Spanish daily El Mundo.

A Lebanese activist said Conroy, 47, had been smuggled through an illegal crossing into northern Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled region “after midnight on motorbikes”. The Syrian Red Crescent and international Red Cross had been trying for days to rescue the wounded pair and to retrieve the bodies of the dead but conditions were deemed too dangerous. Yesterday, rescuers from the two aid agencies left Homs after another failed attempt, officials from both organisations said.

Red Crescent spokesman Abdel Rahman Attar told AFP negotiations were held through an intermediary, a Muslim cleric who asked for food and medical supplies for Bab Amr resident. “We asked in return to meet the journalists, but he refused,” Attar added. Activists of the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page said Baba Amr was “bombarded for the 25th straight day by regime forces” yesterday. “The shells are falling and the world watches,” said an activist in a video showing columns of black smoke rising from bombed buildings.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 11 civilians died yesterday in Baba Amr, while five Syrian soldiers were killed in clashes with deserters in the southern province of Daraa. Activists also reported that thousands of mourners took to the streets of the Damascus yesterday for the funerals of civilians killed in the regime’s crackdown on dissent.

UN rights chief Pillay urged a ceasefire at the opening of an urgently arranged debate on Syria at a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva yesterday. “There must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to end the fighting and bombardments,” said Pillay. Western powers have said the violence called into question the veracity of a referen-

dum held at the weekend, which Damascus said resulted in almost 90 percent of voters approving a new constitution.

The Syrian representative to the United Nations, Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, walked out of the especially convened meeting in Geneva, telling the assembly: “We declare our withdrawal from this sterile discussion.” He said the aim of the debate was to “fuel the flames of terrorism” in his country and that a simple measure to help the Syrian people was “to stop inciting sectarianism and providing arms,” and putting the Syrian people against one another.

US ambassador to the HRC Eileen Donahoe described the comments as “delusional”. “Anyone who heard the Syrian ambassador should be aware that his comments were borderline out of touch with reality,” she told media on the fringes of the meeting. “I think it’s a reflection to some extent of what’s going on with the Assad regime itself,” she added, citing the move to hold a “farcical” referendum in the midst of a “humanitarian crisis of their own making”. “I think the Syrian ambassador’s comments were equally delusional,” said Donahoe.

Several HRC members called for the urgent debate to discuss reports of human rights abuses in Syria and the deteriorating humanitarian situation. A resolution filed

by Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey calling for access for relief agencies was to be discussed after the meeting, although a UN spokeswoman said it was not clear if this would happen yesterday. Before walking out of the debate, the Syrian envoy said he was not pretending that the human rights situation in his country was “perfect”. He said that services were lacking but blamed armed groups which he said were responsible for attacking hospitals, health centres and ambulances. “We are convinced that the real aim (of the debate) is to cover up for the violence and murder perpetrated by armed groups against innocent civilians,” he said. — Agencies

14

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

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Issues

The decade-long demise of Palestinian armed resistance

By Arieh O’Sullivan espite the eruption of bloody clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem over the weekend, support by Palestinians for armed struggle against Israel has seen an unprecedented demise over the past decade, a new poll shows. Support for armed resistance is at a 14-year low as more and more Palestinians say they prefer using strikes, boycotts and demonstrations over rockets and suicide bombings to pursue their cause, according to a poll released by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC). Periods of stagnation in the peace process have traditionally boosted support for armed struggle, but the pollsters said they were surprised find was that that even though virtually no peace talks have been conducted in three years Palestinians were less inclined than ever to favor violence.

“This change from high support for armed struggle to low support took as long as 11 years and this is because of their experience. The Palestinians have seen that the last wave of violent confrontation and armed resistance, the Second Intifada, wasn’t very useful to the Palestinian cause and also because the Palestinian leadership now is committed to non-violence,” Ghassan Khatib, director of Palestinian Government Media Center, told The Media Line. According to the poll, just 29.3 percent of Palestinians polled today support so-called military operations against Israelis. This is down from 84.6 percent in Sept 2001 in the midst of the Second Intifada. Ironically, the poll came as the annual Israeli intelligence assessment reportedly warned that the stalled peace process was liable to push the Palestinians to turn increasingly violent.

Clashes on Jerusalem’s volatile Temple Mount erupted on Friday and rioting spread over the weekend, with Israeli police killing a young man near Ramallah. The disturbances has since simmered down, but they have sparked speculation that the Palestinians are on the verge of launching a Third Intifada. The JMCC poll noted that two major shifts in support for armed struggle in late 2001 and 2004 illustrated that the Palestinian public can quickly change its mind. “The Palestinians, like all Arabs, are a very emotional people,” Munther Dajani, a professor of political science Al-Quds University near Jerusalem, told The Media Line. Dajani said he didn’t believe the report about Israel expecting the Palestinians to launch a violent Third Intifada. “That is wishful thinking by their military and politicians because whenever they have economic problems, they like to change the focus and push the conflict with the Palestinians,” he said. “They know this conflict is asymmetrical.”

The asymmetry is most likely what led to a drop in support for armed conflict, which the JMCC has measured since 1997. Then, support for armed conflict began at a low mark with some 40% of respondents saying they thought military operations were an appropriate response for gaining statehood versus 47.7 percent opposed. After peaking in 2001, support for armed resistance began a steady decline and dropped dramatically after the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November 2004. It rose again following the Dec 2008-Jan 2009 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip in which over 1,300 Palestinians were killed. “There appears to be a correlation between the numbers of Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel and Palestinian support for military operations against Israel. Often, when Palestinian casualties increased, support for military operations also increased,” the poll said.

It did, however, detail that in Gaza support for military operations during the invasion four years ago dropped as they sought calm, while it rose among the Palestinians in the West Bank. “The death toll plays both ways,” Hillel Cohen, a professor on Palestinian affairs at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told The Media Line. “It creates a will for revenge, but it also creates fear. You are seeing today that less Palestinians are involved in armed conflict and you can assume that the atmosphere is less supporting for them.” Khatib of the media center said the trend is largely due to the current Palestinian leadership’s efforts to “create a culture of non-violence and educate people on the significance of legal non-violence”. “We lost more than we gained using violence, especially during the last wave of confrontations,” Khatib said. The poll found that there was little difference between gender and location, but that political factions were a significant factor. Those who support Hamas, which has a more radical view of the conflict with Israel, were more supportive of armed resistance. —Media Line

D

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Somali reform rush may be militant lifeline

By William Maclean eakened on the battlefield, Somalia’s Al Shabaab militants may yet sur vive, and even prosper from, a reinvigorated Western and African push to rebuild arguably the world’s most deeply war-damaged nation. But if there is a future for the radical Islamists, it won’t be thanks to the merger they announced on Feb 9 with Al-Qaeda, the militant network in disarray a decade on from the Sept 11 attacks following a remorseless US counter-terrorism campaign. Instead, their fate depends on internal political struggles that have little to do with the West’s fight against militancy or even with the multinational drive against pirate communities believed to have tactical tie-ups with some in the insurgency.

The group’s prospects, analysts say, will gain in proportion to the degree of clan conflict stirred by the creation of a successor to the weak interim government, a task that must be done before its mandate expires just six shor t months from now. Somalia’s nine million people are composed of dozens of clans and sub-clans, many with a history of armed rivalry over land, political power and businesses during 20 years of war. Those communities left out of any administration hastily cobbled together to succeed the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) may resort to force to stake their claim to power, and Al Shabaab may be waiting in the wings to offer them support.

O th er s with vested commercial in terests in tur moil may also tur n spoiler, teaming up with disaffected communities to prolong the inter-clan conflict that has ravaged the country ever since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. “In my experience in Somalia you never want to be playing against the clock,” said veteran Somalia expert Ken Menkhaus, a political science professor at Davidson College, North Carolina. “We know for a fact that rushing processes produces bad results,” he said in interview. “ This ver y accelerated end of transition process is going to face a lot of very critical decisions about representation and ultimately about who rules. That will create unhappiness and some of the S omalis who are unhappy will defect (from the process).

In a country full of young men with guns, and in urban areas few jobs apar t from robber y and ex tor tion, oppor tunities for stok ing political mayhem are plentiful. Whether Al Shabaab endures or fades into history is a matter of high importance for its Western and African foes, who view it a s a te r ro r i s m t h re a t a n d a c a u s e, along with a host of lesser clan militias, of the pover ty and chaos in which piracy thrives.

The TFG has said hundreds of foreign fighters have joined the insurgenc y from countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Gulf and

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Western nations such as the United States and Britain.

The Islamists have launched crossborder raids into Kenya and have thre atened Kenya, Uganda and Burundi with major attacks if the troops they have sent to fight Al Shabaab do not leave. Many Somalis, too, say they would like an end to the group, likened by some to the Taleban for its zealous persecution of individua l s d e e m e d p ro -We s te r n a n d to Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge in its taste for radical, agrarian-based self-sufficiency. The group earned widespread criticism in Somalia for impeding the flow of international emergency food

new set of alliances. A notable example of thwar ted clan ambition was Mohamed Farah Aideed, a general who helped bring down Siad Barre and whose goal of becoming president stirred a power struggle that helped to accelerate S omalia’s descent into chaos.

Aideed ’s militiamen fought US forces in a celebrated 1993 battle, portrayed in the Hollywood film “Black Hawk Down” and widely remembered as a humiliating defeat by Washington.

For now, with the international communit y ’s fight against Al Shabaab dominating the political landscape, clan infighting may seem a remote

A man looks at the body of his friend who was killed in an explosion at a football match in the war-torn Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday. —AFP aid to famine-struck communities in 2011. Some of the many nationalists who flocked to its banner during an earlier Ethiopian incursion have deser ted it, disenchanted by its actions during the famine.

But experts say Al Shabaab may well spy opportunity in the peace process backed by the West, recalling that Somalia’s war has sometimes seen peace efforts fail when militias feel left out and resort to the gun or build a

prospect. After all, the insurgents are being weakened, relinquishing ground to African Union troops around the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and losing territor y to Kenyan and Ethiopian forces in parts of southern and central Somalia. The lucrative Al Shabaab-held port of Kismayu is under threat from Kenyan forces.

But Menkhaus said a “worst case scenario” would see an effort by some T F G l e a d e r s, w i d e l y c r i t i c i s e d fo r

alleged graf t, to manipulate the process so that they stayed in office.

The result, he said, might be that armed groups nominally allied to the TFG would turn against it, weakening the interim authorities and offering Al Shabaab possible new allies. “ What that points to is that we shouldn’t be fixated on Al Shabaab,” said Menkhaus.

“We should be fixated on armed rejectionists of any type, because what will happen is that the groups that are very unhappy with whatever political dispensation emerges will put up resistance. They will try to spoil the process.”

Afyare A Elmi, Assistant Professor, International Affairs Department at Qatar University, said the scenario of spoilers complaining of a lack of inclusiveness “is plausible”. He is among several analysts who see the West presiding over a security-driven approach that gives more importance to armed pressure against Al Shabaab than to patient efforts to win consent from the country’s many clans for a rebuilt state.

“The process overseen by the UN will merely recycle the current politicians and prolong the status quo,” he told Reuters.

Suspicions that the TFG, too, favours a security approach over consensus building hardened last week when TFG Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said on the sidelines of an international conference on S omalia that he would welcome targeted air strikes against Al Shabaab. The To Do list Somali politicians have set themselves is long. By August 20 they must complete plans for constitutional and parliamentary reform and hold indirect presidential polls.

A similar Kenyan-hosted agreement clinched in 2004 took two years of talks, punctuated by numerous walkouts and rows. There is particular concern that international forces may fumble a long-planned assault on Kismayu port, a key Al Shabaab income generator, if clans are left out of any successor local administration and fight to gain a share of tax revenue.

“I don’t see any contingency planning for life in Kismayu as a liberated city, especially for the youth who’ve been ac tively involved with Al S h a b a a b,” S h u k r i G e s o d, a S o m a l i youth activist, said in an interview. “All they have known is the sound of bullets. If you’re not offering help for them then you run the risk of failure.

You can’t cut corners when it comes to stability and peacekeeping.”

Even those who detec t signs of hope are guarded in their optimism.

Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle of Mogadishu’s Center for Research and Dialogue, said that Al Shabaab was widely hated and he could not foresee it “getting any support, in part because of their ruthless k illing of innocent S omalis”.

“However, in the event the current political process ... fails to meet people’s expectations, a new alliance composed of a cocktail of religious groups and warlords may emerge.” — Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

analysis

Japan radiation clean-up raises questions

By Takehiko Kambayashi onstruction and landscapers working in a bucolic mountainous area of north-eastern Japan shovelled up and bagged radioactive contaminants released from the nation’s worst nuclear accident. They removed contaminated surface soil from residents’ properties in Fukushima, a city 55 km northwest of the source of the radioactivity, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. After their work, radiation readings dropped from 1.5 to 0.2 microsieverts an hour, compared with a pre-disaster background level of 0.04. “City officials have instructed us to remove contaminated topsoil until radiation readings fall below 1 microsievert an hour,” one worker said.

Clean-up workers are dealing every day with a large quantity of material with high levels of radioactive contamination, but they wear normal gloves, masks and work uniforms instead of protective gear.

Critics said government officials, employers and workers underestimate the risks involved in the clean-up started in late September, six months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant.

A series of fires and blasts at the plant led to the release of radioactive substances. The facility suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors. “I’m not worried about them so much,” one worker in his 20s said about the possible effects of his exposure to radiation. The man who works for the local Shunko-en landscaping firm said he knows there are some risks. “But somebody has to do this,” he said.

Kazuo Morito, president of the firm, said he is careful to minimize his workers’ exposure to dangerous levels of radia-

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tion. “We believe taking care of our workers’ health is important, and we are working closely with city officials,” Morito said.

The central government has set guidelines for the cleanup, but it is employers who have ultimate responsibility for the health of their staff, city officials said.

Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, said there is no safe dose of radiation. Koide said it is impossible to thoroughly decontaminate land, and the government-led operation is just moving radioactive material from one place to another. “However, in order to protect

children, it is necessary to decontaminate areas where they are around, for instance, by removing the topsoil of school playgrounds,” he said.

The central government has also started to focus more on clean-ups in areas around the plant, including the no-go zone within a 20-km radius of the facility.

Tokyo wants the zone’s more than 80,000 evacuated residents to return to their homes soon. The government reportedly plans to spend more than 1 trillion yen ($12.3 billion) on the clean-up projects, which were expected to last until March 2014. The operation within the no-go

A journalist checks radiation level with her dosimeter before stricken Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan yesterday. — AFP

zone was supposed to start in January, but snowfall prevented any progress, Environment Ministry officials said.

Critics pointed out that the government awarded the first decontamination contracts to major construction companies that had benefited from building nuclear power plants. The cleanup also requires the government to find sites to store radiation-contaminated soil and other nuclear waste, but Tokyo has already had difficulty in doing so. Fukushima has been temporarily keeping such waste at an undisclosed location in its mountains, but the total amount is set to end up being much more than the government expected, city officials said.

Tokyo needs to find or build storage for 90 million cu m of radioactive waste, equivalent to 72 domed baseball stadiums, Deputy Environment Minister Hideki Minamikawa was quoted as saying in late September by the local newspaper Fukushima Minpo. Residents said they were concerned that, even after the clean-up, radioactive substances would easily come down from the mountains that surround the region’s cities and towns and recontaminate their land.

Despite such concerns, Prime Minster Yoshihiko Noda declared in December that the Fukushima plant had been brought to a “cold shutdown,” which means no nuclear reactions were taking place and little radiation was leaking into the environment. Many Fukushima residents expressed frustration with Noda’s declaration as high levels of radiation were still detected in many parts of the city. “What was he talking about?” asked one resident in the city’s Onami district. The clean-up “has just started.

The disaster is far from over.”— dpa

With unrest in Egypt, Israel faces blackouts

By Ari Rabinovitch srael may be facing a summer of power outages as the countr y scrambles to replace gas supplies lost because of sabotage attacks on a pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. The pipeline that feeds gas to Israel, an easy target for anti-Israel Islamists, was one of the first victims of the revolution that erupted in Egypt in January last year. “Israel is facing a serious risk of blackouts. We may not be able to keep the power switch on,” said Energy Minister Uzi Landau on Feb. 15 as his office provided a million and a half energy-efficient lightbulbs to electronics stores nationwide. It was the latest attempt at lowering energy consumption before the peak demands of summer, part of a long-term efficiency plan that has taken on new urgency.

Landau’s ministr y has already offered 50,000 new refrigerators at a discount. Next month it will be 10,000 air conditioners, and after that, energysaving washing machines and hot water heaters. Israelis watched anxiously as popular revolts swept the Middle East, toppling a number of veteran Arab leaders. Perhaps the most rattling development was the ousting of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who supported the 1979 peace deal with Israel that has been a cornerstone of Israeli diplomacy.

The most significant economic project to emerge from the pact was a 2005 gas deal, which secured a reliable energy source and underpinned the regional relationship. Israeli leaders have made clear that ensuring the pact endures is a policy priority. The ArishAshkelon pipeline, a mostly underwater, 100-km duct that connects the Egyptian city of Al-Arish to the coastal terminal at Ashkelon in Israel, has been

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hit by about a dozen bombings since the unrest in Egypt began.

Natural gas from the pipeline represents 40 percent of Israel’s gas supplies.

With the stoppages the country has had to turn back to less clean and more expensive fossil fuels like diesel and fuel oil, and has precipitously exhausted its sole work ing gas field.

Companies invested in the IsraeliEgyptian venture have taken a hit and are seeking compensation from the Egyptian government for billions of dollars.

The first attack on the pipeline took place on Feb 5, 2011, as authorities in Egypt were losing control of street protests and a week before Mubarak was forced from office. For more than 200 days last year gas did not flow, costing Israel’s economy about $2.5 million a day in what was a relatively mild summer. The use of diesel jumped 200 percent and fuel oil more than 100 percent, the energy ministry said.

When gas did flow, it was usually at less than full capacity. The latest attack was on Feb 5, 2012. “We are certainly interested in upholding the agreement as much as possible. We want to buy gas from them, but whenever there are attempts to star t it up anew, the pipeline is blown up again,” Landau, who as energy minister oversees the deal with Egypt, said in an interview.

The attacks have been carried out by Islamist militants who are against selling gas to Israel, local Egyptians and tribal leaders say, and since they enjoy popular support, they are likely to carry on with their sabotage attacks. The militants target the pipeline near Al-Arish on the north Sinai coast, often pulling up in trucks, planting explosives and detonating them remotely. They have been successful in part because security in Sinai loosened after Mubarak’s fall

as the police presence thinned out across Egypt. The government in Cairo says it is cracking down and recruiting security patrols from Bedouin tribes in the area. Fences, surveillance towers and reinforced iron barricades will all be erected along the pipeline, North Sinai Governor Abdel Wahab Mabrouk said. “It all depends on the stability of rule in Egypt and how it controls what’s happening in Sinai. But who knows what will happen and which direction it will go? We all hope the trend in Egypt will be positive,” Landau said.

The pipeline was built and is operated by the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Co (EMG), whose shareholders include the Egypt Natural Gas Co, Thai energy giant PTT, US businessman Sam Zell, Israel’s Merhav and Ampal-American Israel Corp. In 2010, EMG provided 2.5 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas to Israeli customers. But that number was expec ted to more than double throughout the 20-year deal. The precise value of Egyptian gas exports to Israel is unclear. Ampal, together with PTT and Zell, have taken legal action against the Egyptian government, seeking $8 billion in damages for not safeguarding their investment.

Israel made several huge offshore natural gas discoveries over the past three years that will ensure its energy independence for decades and even make it an exporter. But the first one will not be online until the second quarter of 2013.

To compensate during the energy crisis, production at the country’s only working field Yam Tethys, which is run

by Texas-based Noble Energy, has been accelerated and the small reserves are nearly depleted. It has in fact been so over-taxed that some of the gas may now prove irrecoverable, Yehuda Niv, commissioner of the Elec tricit y

Administration, told repor ters at a briefing. Israel is also implementing some radical stop-gap measures. It has signed a deal with Italian marine contractor Micoperi to rush construction of a 500-million-shekel ($135 million) liquefied natural gas terminal. Floating 10 km off its Mediterranean coast, the buoy will be able to receive about 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas each year. It also plans to import a fleet of about 10 portable generators to be mounted on the backs of trucks or ships. Each produces 25 megawatts of electricity and in emergencies can be deployed to areas in need.

Looking to the future, now that the government has belatedly seen the risks of having small elec tricit y reserves, just two or three percent of total produc tion, it has chosen to invest heavily in infrastructure. This is one of the reasons the Energy Ministry is pushing to build a 500-million-euro ($660 million) underwater power cable connecting it with Cyprus, and from there, to the rest of Europe. The IsraelCyprus leg would stretch about 270 km, allowing 2,000 megawatts to flow in both directions. Israel would be able to sell electricity when production is high and have a back-up if reserves drop. Though there are compelling reasons for Israel and Egypt to keep up with their gas trade, the outcome will ultimately depend on their broader relationship, said researcher Alexander Murinson in a recent paper for the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies near Tel Aviv. The center is named after the two leaders - Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat -who signed the peace deal decades ago. “In the long term, Israel must develop its domestic gas sources and move away from this unreliable provider,” Murinson said. — Reuters

Assad to use referendum to prove legitimacy he Syrian regime will use the referendum on a new constitution to try to prove its legitimacy in the face of Western condemnation of its deadly crackdown on dissent, analysts said yesterday. “This referendum is a success for the Syrians who have faith in reforms and is a defeat for the Arab regimes and the West who want to destabilise our country,” government daily Tishrin said.

The new constitution was approved by 89.4 percent of votes cast in Sunday’s referendum which saw 57.4 percent of those eligible casting their votes, despite boycott calls and fresh bloodshed, according to official figures.

“The regime will use the referendum to say it has the majority of the people with it, it has undertaken reforms and is fighting against the Salafist groups and terrorists,” said Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. But “the numbers don’t make sense in the middle of this bloodbath,” he said. The opposition had called for a boycott of the referendum, which abolishes the monopoly of Assad’s Baath party but leaves considerable powers in the hands of the head of state.

President “Bashar Al-Assad may use the referendum to reassure his supporters by telling them ‘you were right to

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believe I am a reformist,’” said Thomas Pierret, lecturer of contemporary Islam at the University of Edinburgh. “And it can be used by his Russian ally to tell the West: ‘See, Assad made reforms,’” he said.

“But objectively speaking, the credibility of the referendum is lost. Its promise of

reforms is meaningless. It will be believed by those who already support the plan, but will not convince any opponent, even the moderates.” Pierret also doubted that 57 percent of registered voters cast their votes. “This is a huge figure and probably fanciful,

A woman walks past huge banner of President Bashar Al-Assad hanging from the central bank building in Damascus yesterday.— AFP

straight out of the imagination of Syrian officials... in a country in revolution and where the opposition called for a boycott of the vote, which was not even held in several regions,” he said.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland questioned how “any kind of democratic process” could take place while Syrian government guns, tanks and artillery were still firing into Homs and other cities. “We dismiss it (the referendum) as absolutely cynical,” Nuland said of the balloting. “Essentially what he’s done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he controls so that he can try to maintain control,” Nuland said, referring to Assad.

The United Nations also cast doubt on the credibility of the referendum. “It is unlikely to be credible in a context of pervasive violence and mass human rights violations,” UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said. Another expert on Syria, Bahout Joseph, professor at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris, said the “regime will probably say that the numbers (of the referendum) give it absolute credibility”. According to the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, 7,600 people have been killed in a regime crackdown since the start of protests against Assad’s regime last March. — AFP

Focus

Arabic chronicles shed light on weather of yore

By David Rosenberg gentle sprinkling of snow fell on Baghdad in the first days of 2008, a bare wisp that mostly melted when it touched the ground yet it was the first and only snowfall in about a century. But in the early Middle Ages, when the city was the commercial and cultural capital of the Muslim world, the white stuff came more often, with snowfalls recorded in 908, 944 and 1007. The more frequent snow as well as freak temperature drops during Baghdad’s usually sweltering July back in 920 - is among the tantalizing weather data that a team of scientists discovered after poring through historical records of the era. It’s not that the city and its environs were necessarily colder and wetter back then but the weather appears to have been more erratic.

“We found that some extreme events like snowfalls in Baghdad were more frequent during the period 900-950 than nowadays. But we cannot conclude that this period in mean was colder than today,” Fernando Dominguez-Castro, who led the team of researchers, told The Media Line in an e-mailed response to questions. Studying medieval weather patterns isn’t for curiosity’s sake. Assembling data on changes in temperature and perception give meteorologists and climatologists more insight into modern weather, in particular a better perspective on global warming. Historical data can provide clues as to whether today’s trends mirror cyclical patterns or represent a new phenomenon, perhaps induced by human activity.

As Bob Dylan said, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. The team led by Dominguez-Castro, who teaches at Spain’s Universidad de Extremadura, gathered their information on the weather of yore by systematically reading through medieval chroniclers such as Muhammad ibn Jarir Al-Tabari (838-923), Ali Ibn Al-Athir ((12331160) and Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti (1445-1505). That meant assembling a multidisciplinary team of climatologists like Dominguez-Castro, meteorologists, Arabic translators and historians.

In Europe, weather historians usually turn to official archives, which are regular and continuous. In the Middle East, those kinds of records have often been destroyed - Baghdad, for instance, was sacked in 1258 by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulegu - forcing researchers to turn to independent sources that survived extant or were copied by later historians like Al-Suyuti in the case of Dominguez-Castro study.

“These kinds of studies are really important because now we start to have a picture of the climate in this epoch,” Dominguez-Castro said. “Now, we know a little more about the climate in Baghdad in these times. And more important, we know that it’s possible to rescue climatic information from Arabic chronicles. Many of this chronicles remain unexploited.”

These independent writers were historians, more concerned about caliphs and court intrigue than climate. But they did take an interest in the weather, especially when it was unusual or affected agriculture. “On December 7, there was a great snowfall in Baghdad. Six days before that, the weather had become very cold, and after the snow, it was even more cold,” Ibn Al-Jawzi recorded in his Categorical Collection of the History of the Nations about the year 926. “The scholar known as Abu Zakariya sat in the middle of the Tigris, on the ice, and gave there lessons of Prophetical tradition.”

Indeed, the wealth of information waiting to be prized out of those medieval texts is so important and vast that the German Science Foundation has launched a project called Historical Climatology of the Middle East Based on Arabic Sources Since 800 AD (Dominguez-Castro’s work is not connected with it). “The large body of written historical sources from Islamic medieval times shows great potential and perspective for climate reconstructions in the Middle East during the Medieval Climate Anomaly,” Steffen Vogt, who teaches in the Department of Physical Geography at Germany’s Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, wrote in a paper on the subject last year.

That’s the name scientists give to the period of the unusually warm climate in the North Atlantic region that lasted from about 950 to 1250. The fact is, however, that while it was hot in Europe and North America, other parts of the world were cooler than their norm. So, while Vikings were getting autumn tans, Baghdadis were throwing snowballs at each other once every couple of decades.

Dominguez-Castro said the drop in temperatures during July 920 may have been linked to a great volcanic eruption.

The data for world climate before the modern period when professional meteorologists began collecting systematical records is poor. As a result, historians of the weather usually rely on indirect evidence in the form of tree rings, ice cores and coral, but that kind of information lacks details like freak storms and floods. Human sources only cover certain times and places so for instance European chronicles while more complete go back typically no further than 1500, according to Vogt. In the medieval Arab world, the trend line is the reverse and the quantity of manuscript information on the weather begins to tail off as writers turned the attention away from accounts of events and more toward biographies and anecdotes.

There is another problem. The amount of material changes by time and place, depending on the rise and fall of various cities as scientific and cultural centers in the region. Between the ninth and 15th centuries, the core of documentary evidence shifts from Abbasid Baghdad to Ayyubid centers in modern day Syria and Israel, and later to Fatimid and Mamluk Egypt. Vogt and his team surveyed about 50 medieval Arabic manuscripts, including such well know works as Al-Tabari’s History of Prophets and Kings as well as a host of lesser-known works, like the diary of Ibn Tawq, a Damascus notary of late 15th century. Dominguez-Castro said he is now turning his sights to Spanish-Arabic documentation in his homeland.— Media Line

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

sp orts

Miller out for the season

Change in F1 testing

Ribery ends Bayern career

SWITZERLAND: Olympic champion and multiple world gold medallist Bode Miller will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, the American ski team said on Monday.

“After further evaluation of an injured left knee, Olympic champion Bode Miller will miss the remainder of the Alpine World Cup season,” the team said.

The 33-year-old Miller, who had knee surgery following the Feb. 18-19 races in Bansko, Bulgaria had returned to Europe with the intention of competing in Crans Montana and finishing the season.

Miller showed a return to form this season, winning his first downhill in three years at Beaver Creek before clinching podium places in Val Gardena, Wengen and Chamonix.

But injur y struck the super-combined Olympic champion in Bansko. “The plan was to come back and race in Crans Montana, but I couldn’t get the range of motion that I needed out of my knee to be competitive.

We thought if I rested a few more days, things would come around, but it didn’t happen,” Miller said on the US Ski Team website. — Reuters

LONDON: Champions Red Bull and rivals Ferrari have changed their plans for the final pre-season Formula One test after the sport’s governing body ruled that all testing must end by March 5.

Both teams had planned to start the test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on Friday, a day later than others, and run through until the end of Monday. However they changed their plans after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) sent teams a clarification of the sporting regulations on Monday evening. Both will now test from Thursday to Sunday. Article 22.4 states that no testing can take place “between the start of the week preceding the first event of the championship and 31 December of the same year” with the exception of a three-day test in August.

The season starts in Melbourne on March 18.

The two teams had interpreted the rule to mean Monday March 12 was the cutoff, although the first practice session in Australia is on March 16. The FIA said that date was incorrect because the rules would have stipulated “the week of the first event” for that to be the case. — Reuters

PARIS: France winger Franck Ribery would be happy to end his career at Bayern Munich. Ribery has helped Bayern remain a Bundesliga title contender, scoring 10 goals in 22 games to leave him only one short of his best total in the league.

Ribery, who is likely to play against Germany in today’s friendly in Bremen, said in yesterday’s edition of France Football magazine that he is not tempted to join another club.

“I’m nearly 29 and I’ve got a contract that runs until 2015, so why not (stay)? I’m not thinking about leaving,” Ribery said. “My wife and my children are happy in Munich. We’ve just bought a nice house. I’ve been at Bayern for five seasons, I’ve got close friends like (defender) Daniel (van Buyten). This club has become my second family, my sporting family.”

Ribery became an instant hit among Bayern fans when he joined from Marseille four seasons ago. “I’m popular here. At Bayern, in Germany, I feel happy, that’s the word. I’m really loving it,” Ribery said.

“The next Champions League final is being held in the Allianz Arena ... I hope 2012 will be a great year for me.” Ribery has scored 64 goals in 176 games for Bayern in all competitions, and the club needs him to stay at his best. — AP

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Monday. NY Rangers 2, New Jersey 0; Nashville 2, Los Angeles 1; Edmonton 5, Winnipeg 3; Colorado 4, Anaheim 1; St Louis 3, Calgary 1.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA PTS NY Rangers 40 15 6 169 124 86 Pittsburgh 36 21 5 198 163 77 Philadelphia 34 20 7 203 187 75 New Jersey 35 23 4 172 170 74 NY Islanders 26 28 8 146 184 60 Northeast Division Boston 37 20 3 200 139 77 Ottawa 33 23 8 198 192 74 Toronto 29 26 7 184 190 65 Buffalo 27 27 8 154 180 62 Montreal 24 29 10 163 175 58 Southeast Division Florida 29 20 12 153 169 70 Winnipeg 30 27 8 166 186 68 Washington 31 26 5 169 176 67 Tampa Bay 28 28 6 174 212 62 Carolina 23 26 13 162 187 59 Western Conference Central Division Detroit 41 19 3 197 149 85 St. Louis 39 17 7 161 126 85 Nashville 37 19 7 178 161 81 Chicago 33 24 7 193 189 73 Columbus 18 37 7 144 207 43 Northwest Division Vancouver 40 16 7 203 154 87 Colorado 33 27 4 168 173 70 Calgary 28 24 11 151 173 67 Minnesota 28 25 9 139 163 65 Edmonton 25 31 6 167 184 56 Pacific Division Phoenix 32 21 9 164 155 73 San Jose 32 22 7 177 159 71 Dallas 33 26 4 165 171 70 Los Angeles 28 23 12 134 137 68 Anaheim 27 26 10 161 178 64 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

Predators roll over Kings NASHVILLE: Pekka Rinne made 30 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. Roman Josi and Patric Hornqvist scored for Nashville, which has won four of its last five.

Dustin Brown had the lone goal for Los Angeles. The sliding Kings have lost five of six. They had defeated Nashville in their last three trips to Music City.

Rinne’s 35 wins this season are a career high and lead the NHL. The Predators have won 17 of their last 21 home games and are 10-0-2 in their last 12.

Kyle Wellwood and Alex Burmistrov each scored in the second period for Winnipeg), while Nik Antropov added a goal with 1:10 left in the game.

Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for the

David Backes also scored for St. Louis, which is 9-3 in its last 12 games and moved within two points of Vancouver for first place overall.

Curtis Glencross scored the lone goal

Rangers 2, Devils 0 At New York, Carl Hagelin scored late in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made the goal stand up as New York snapped New Jersey’s seven-game road winning streak.

After a relatively quiet NHL trade deadline day for both teams, the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers stretched their advantage to nine points over Boston and Pittsburgh.

Hagelin gave the Rangers a 1-0 edge with 3:01 left in the first period. Ryan Callahan added an empty-netter with 1:06 left, his career-best 25th goal - with an assist from Hagelin - to make it 2-0.

Lundqvist, who entered with the league’s lowest goals-against average in February, dropped it even further by making 13 saves for his NHL-best eighth shutout of the season and the 43rd of his career. Lundqvist made a lunging glove snare with 2:26 left to rob Ilya Kovalchuk and secure his 30th win of the season.

Oilers 5, Jets 3 At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Lennart Petrell and Taylor Hall both had a goal and an assist as Edmonton scored four times in the third period.

Petrell assisted on Hall’s winner midway through the third period as Edmonton earned its third win in four games. Ryan Whitney, Ryan Jones and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Oilers.

WINNIPEG: Jets’ Jim Slater (19) upends Edmonton Oilers’ Jordan Eberle during the second period of an NHL hockey game. —AP win, while Ondrej Pavelec stopped 20 shots for the Jets.

Blues 3, Flames 1 At Calgary, Alberta, Jason Arnott scored a pair of power-play goals, helping St. Louis into a tie with Detroit atop the Central Division.

for Calgary, which remained in 11th place in the Western Conference, three vpoints back of eighth-place Dallas.

Avalanche 4, Ducks 1 At Denver, Ryan O’Reilly broke a tie 37 seconds into the third period and Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots.

Ford Focus Rabaa rally is on seeking GCC’s finest team KUWAIT: Ford Middle East yesterday launched Ford Focus Rabaa, the first ever interactive inter-GCC rally tour, in an unprecedented and never-been-donebefore initiative as part of its launch efforts surrounding the all-new 2012 Ford Focus.

Focus Rabaa [referring to a gang of friends in Khaleeji dialect] sets the ground for a fun challenge and a test for driving skills, endurance, and the use of the all-new 2012 Ford Focus technologies, as participants drive across all of the Gulf countries to complete a series of tasks and challenges.

Teams will be rated on their skills and performances rather than speed, as well as the level of participation and support of their fans.

The competition calls for six teams - one each from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - to represent their country. Each team will be headed by their respective national captains, who are a group of celebrities from the entertainment and sports world in the GCC, and manned by three drivers who will show their skills in driving, road handling and sheer mental power as they compete against each other in a series of challenges along the way.

The national team captains on board the Focus Rabaa are: ● Team Kuwait: Barakat Al Wegyan, TV presenter, Al Watan TV ● Team Bahrain: Ismaeel Abdulatif, Football Striker and Winger, Al Muharraq Club ● Team Oman: Nabil Al Busaidi, Arab Adventurer ● Team Qatar: Abdul Aziz Hasan, Vice President - Qatar Football Association ● Team Saudi Arabia: Khalid Khalifa, Comedian ● Team United Arab Emirates: Anas Bukhash, CEO and Managing Partner Ahdaaf Sports Club; Photographer.

“We are very excited to launch this incredible journey across the region,” said

Cody McLeod, Matt Duchene and Jay McClement also scored for the Avalanche, who won their fourth straight to move into a tie with Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the

Paul Anderson, Marketing director of Ford Middle East. “The Focus Rabaa rally tour is a region-first activity that Ford is proud to bring to the GCC. We have had great feedback from audiences when we first launched similar challenges in other global markets and we are confident that this activity will equally engage a broad audience across the GCC.“We are also thrilled to have the support of the team captains who have come on board this exciting project with us.

We can’t wait to get this ball rolling! This will be a great opportunity to put the all-new Ford Focus to the test and showcase the range of new technologies that have been put into this amazing car. A unique experience, for a truly unique car,” he added.

DJ, music producer and radio presenter Dany Neville who will be the host of the rally, said: “We are now looking for 18 people to form six brave teams who think they can rise to the 4,000 km long challenge across the land we all call home. Registration will begin in just a few days on the Ford Middle East Facebook page, so keep checking for updates and information - do you think you have what it takes?”

The finalist teams will be selected from a two-round online process featuring voting from friends as well as demonstrations of their own skills.

Registration is open from March 7-29, to GCC nationals with a valid driver’s license, on the Ford Middle East Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/FordMiddleEast .Kicking off late April at the Reem International Circuit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the journey will bring the teams through all six GCC countries over the course of 10 days to compete for the most points in seven exciting challenges. Ford will also produce an on-line series documenting the activities, with a new entertaining video episode produced each day of the Rally. Fans can follow the action on the Ford Middle East Facebook page. The final challenge will take place at

the iconic Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in early May, after which, the team that successfully finished all seven challenges and earned the most points overall will win an all-new 2012 Ford Focus for each team member.

While the six teams compete against each other during the rally, fans from across the region will have the chance to support their favorite team by participating in online

challenges on the Ford Middle East Facebook page that will directly impact the results of the real-life rally. Fans participating online will also have the chance to watch daily episodes of the Focus Rabaa challenges, live streaming video updates and win exciting prizes as they support and cheer for their team. One lucky fan will have the chance to win an all-new 2012 Ford Focus as well.

Western Conference. Bobby Ryan had a goal for a weary Ducks squad that was playing for a third time in five nights. The fatigue showed in the third period when Anaheim surrendered three goals, including two within a span of 2:18 to help Colorado end a six-game skid to the Ducks on home ice. —AP

Deadline Day turns into Dud-line day NEW YORK: The National Hockey League Deadline Day frenzy turned into Dud-line Day as the trade window closed on Monday with only a handful of mostly minor deals.

The day began with the spotlight on Columbus where the last place Blue Jackets were eager to consummate a blockbuster deal involving their AllStar forward Rick Nash.

The number one overall pick in the 2002 draft, Nash, a proven scorer and leader helping Canada to world championship (2007) and Olympic gold (2010) has the type of resume that causes coaches’ pulses to quicken. Several teams reportedly made pitches for the Blue Jackets captain but in the end the asking price was simply too rich, leaving Nash, who requested the trade, in Columbus until at least the offseason. “We agreed to accommodate his request as long as we could get a deal that would provide us with a cornerstone pieces to help us compete for a Stanley Cup championship in the coming years,” said Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson.

“It did not happen by 3 o’clock today. This is too important to our franchise and our fans to do a deal that is not in our best interest.”

With all but five of the league’s 30 teams within six points of a playoff spot, the compact standings seemed to paralyze the trade market with cautious general managers unwilling to throw in the towel on the 2011-12 season.

Two years ago, Deadline Day featured a record 31 trades but last year the number of deals dropped to a low of 16 while only 15 were completed on Monday, involving 31 players and 11 draft picks. The lack of action left an army of television experts and analysts scrambling to fill airtime as Canada’s all-sports networks dedicated an entire day’s programming to what has become an unofficial holiday for hockey obsessed Canadians. “(Deadline Day) is a made for television event,” said Calgary Flames general manager Jay Feaster, who was not part of the deadline day action. “This day is so overhyped ... we have been doing things.

“It’s OK to be emotional but the last thing you want to do is make deals and move players on the basis of emotion.” Nashville, one of the team’s believed to be in hot pursuit of Nash, settled on pair of smaller deals by adding a couple of key pieces to set themselves up for a Stanley Cup run. — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

S P ORT S

Pink, purple: London Olympics seek a distinct look LONDON: For athletes, the Olympics are about the gold. For London organizers, the Olympics are about the pink, the purple and the orange - colors that will give the 2012 games an immediately recognizable look. Cities, towns and hamlets all over Britain are getting ready for their once-in-a-lifetime TV close-ups.

Take Mole Valley, a community of 80,000 near London that is hosting the Olympic cycling road race. It has asked residents to plant dahlias, petunias and sunflowers in Olympic-approved shades so when the riders swish past on July 28-29, television viewers will be left seeing swishes of pink, purple and orange.

It’s not an accident: Making Britain memorable is considered critical to the long-term success of the games. “What will people be reminded of when they pull out the T-shirt, the pin?” asked Greenwich University marketing department professor Peter Vlachos. “Will they remember London or the Olympics?”

Work is being done now in hopes that viewers and potential tourists in particular - fondly remember the UK and not just the sports. Britain’s leaders will spend 9.3 billion pounds ($14.6 billion) on the games, but hope that tourism and outside investments will repay billions in revenue over time.

A barge carrying huge Olympic rings is sailing down the Thames on Tuesday - a precursor of photo opportunities to come. Local neighborhoods without the money to hire a barge for the day need only consult Olympic organizers’ “Look Book” to get ideas - and purchase materials - to festoon their buildings in games-approved decor.

London’s look is predominantly pink, aqua blue, yellow, purple and green - big colors in shards that slash at the edges of Olympic banners.

“The people who are running these things and their paymasters and mistresses have convinced themselves that you hold these things to sell yourselves to the world,” said David Goldblatt, who wrote “How to Watch the Olympics,” with co-author Johnny Acton. “The selling of brand GB(Great Britain)/London is at the heart of the rationale.”

This is not an idea unique to London.

Hollywood-conscious Los Angeles recognized in 1932 that the games offered a platform for selling its image as the capital of glitz and sun. Organizers planted palm trees along Wilshire Boulevard, making it seem bigger, more stately - a feel that is readily identifiable as Californian.

“If people are going to take pictures, you’ve got to dress the set,” Goldblatt said. “The genius of Los Angeles is that they realized it.”

Then Los Angeles supplied the cast - having Hollywood stars appear at the Olympic Village.

Screen idols like Mary Pickford hosted parties. The Marx Brothers went to athletics events. Movie mogul Louis B. Mayer had athletes over for coffee.

Although it’s a world away from Los Angeles, cycling venue Mole Valley is beside itself with excitement, planning British street parties, contests for kids, welcome centers for tourists.

“The games will put Surrey on the map,” said Denise Saliagopoulos of the Surrey County Council, who predicts the games will attract 1 million tourists a year. No one is forcing any community to take part. Banner hanging and flower planting are optional.

In London, organizers will hang the Olympic rings from the famous Tower Bridge. Light displays are also planned. In a separate move, Olympic organizers also are working to keep out any advertisers trying to sneak in a publicity stunt.

Organizers have imposed strict advertising regulations along the route to protect Olympic sponsors from unwanted competition.

“Where a company deliberately attempts to create an authorized association with London 2012 we will take swift and firm action,” organizers said in a statement.

London’s Olympics organizers aren’t really talking too much about look yet - preferring to wait until a big launch in the spring. One might say they are a tad media-shy, as their early attempts at a unified look have not been met with acclaim.

The unveiling of the 2012 London logo was met by a wave of derision. Iranian hard-liners complained that the squarish design spelled out the word “Zion” as opposed to the numerals “2012.”

Impromptu contests sprang up in the blogosphere to offer alternative logos featuring icons like Big Ben or the London Eye. But that doesn’t mean organizers won’t go to great lengths to make sure London and other sites hosting the games look just so.

The marathon route originally was supposed to go through gritty areas in east London where the Olympic Park is located. But - mindful of television images - organizers rerouted the race so it now passes classic London landmarks.

Civic leaders in east London, however, were outraged. After six years of living next to one of Europe’s biggest construction projects, they were hoping to reap the benefits of being on the world stage. “It just makes you feel as if they were completely ashamed of that part of London,” said Andrew Boff, a Conservative politician. “It didn’t fit with TV angles.”— AP

Kohli keeps India alive in Tri-series

ABU DHABI: England’s Kevin Pietersen (left) is congratulated by his teammate Craig Kieswetter after he hits the 6 runs during the third Twenty20 cricket match between England and Pakistan. — AP

England survive last-over drama to defeat Pakistan ABU DHABI: Captain Stuart Broad and Jade Dernbach held their nerve in the closing overs to bowl England to a five-run victory and a 2-1 series win over Pakistan in the final Twenty20 international in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Man-of-the match Kevin Pietersen had laid the foundations by belting 62 off 52 deliveries while carrying his bat through the England innings. But his hard work appeared to be in vain as Pakistan reached 113 for three with Awais Zia (23), Asad Shafiq (34) and Umar Akmal (22) all making useful contributions.

However, with Pakistan needing 17 runs off the final two overs, Broad bowled a superb penultimate over conceding only four runs when Jonny Bairstow allowed the ball to slip through his legs and over the boundary.

He also claimed Akmal’s scalp when the batsman skied the ball and allowed Graeme Swann to take a comfortable catch.

When Dernbach came in to bowl the final over, Pakistan still needed 13 runs for victory and, with the dangerous Shahid Afridi at the crease, the 2009 Twenty20 world champions must have fancied their chances.

However, Afridi’s call for a second run proved to be their downfall. Thinking it was batting partner Misbah-ul-Haq who was running towards the danger end, Afridi failed to make his ground when wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter whipped off the bails. That effectively took the fight out of Pakistan and Dernbach ended the match by clean bowling Misbah for 28 with the final delivery of the contest.

“Twenty20 is a thinking man’s game and it can change every ball,” Broad told the BBC. “As a team, we need to keep our emotions in check and keep calm.—Reuters

SCOREBOARD Scoreboard from the third and final Twenty20 international between Pakistan and England in Abu Dhabi yesterday: England won by five runs to clinch the series 2-1.

England innings K. Pietersen not out 62 17 C. Kieswetter c Shoaib Malik b Saeed Ajmal R. Bopara c Umar Akmal b Aizaz Cheema 1 E. Morgan run out 9 J. Bairstow b Saeed Ajmal 3 J. Buttler lbw b Saeed Ajmal 7 S. Patel st Umar Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 16 S. Broad not out 6 Extras (lb 1, w 7) 8 Total (six wickets; 20 overs) 129 Did not bat: G. Swann, J. Dernbach, S. Finn Fall of wickets: 1-29 2-37 3-62 4-72 5-89 6-109 Bowling: Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-22-0, Aizaz Cheema 4-025-1, Umar Gul 4-0-39-0 (3w), Saeed Ajmal 4-0-23-4, Shahid Afridi 4-0-19-0.

Pakistan innings Awais Zia lbw b Swann 23 0 Mohammad Hafeez c & b Dernbach Asad Shafiq run out 34 Misbah-ul-Haq b Dernbach 28 Umar Akmal c Swann b Broad 22 Shahid Afridi run out 3 Hammad Azam not out 2 Extras (lb-7, w-5) 12 Total (six wickets; 20 overs) 124 Fall of wickets: 1-8 2-48 3-76 4-113 5-120 6-124 Did not bat: Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Aizaz Cheema Bowling: Finn 4-0-31-0 (1w), Dernbach 4-0-24-2 (2w), Broad 4-0-24-1, Patel 4-0-18-0, Swann 4-0-20-1 (1w).

HOBART: Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 133 as India chased down a mammoth 321-run target in under 37 overs against Sri Lanka in Hobart yesterday to stay alive in the one-day international Tri-series.

To retain any hope of qualifying for the best-of-three finals against an already qualified Australia, India needed to reach their target in 40 of the 50 overs allocated to earn a bonus point victory. India now require hosts Australia to beat Sri Lanka in the last group match in Melbourne on Friday to stay ahead of Sri Lanka on points.

“I will be rooting for Australia on Friday. This is a special feeling, and this is probably my best one-day innings so far,” Kohli said during a pitchside interview. “To be able to execute everything I wanted in that situation is really very satisfying.”

Kohli, 23, hit 16 boundaries and two sixes in his 86-ball knock as the 50-over world champions reached 321 for three wickets in 36.4 overs.

The right-hander added 115 runs for the third wicket with Gautam Gambhir (63) and then stitched together 120 runs with Suresh Raina (40 not out) for the unbroken fourth wicket to ensure India won with a bonus point.

Openers Virender Sehwag (30) and Sachin Tendulkar (39), who once again failed in his bid to score his 100th international ton, provided a brisk start for India but it was left to Kohli to guide the team to victory.

The Delhi batsman displayed some sublime strokeplay and was particularly severe on paceman Lasith Malinga (one for 96), whom he hit for 24 runs in an over, including a six and four boundaries in consecutive deliveries.

England drop Morgan for Sri Lanka Test series LONDON: Middle order batsman Eoin Morgan paid the price for a string of low scores as he was dropped from England’s squad named yesterday for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting next month. Morgan scored just 82 runs at an average of 13.66 in six innings as the world’s top-ranked test side were outplayed by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, losing the series 3-0.

In the subsequent one-day internationals, which England won 4-0, Morgan fared only marginally better, notching 66 runs with a highest score of 25 not out. The 25-year-old has played 16 tests since making his debut against Bangladesh in 2010. All rounder Samit Patel, a regular in England’s one-day team, was added to the test squad for the first time, while off spinner James Tredwell, who played his only previous test in 2010, was recalled.

“He (Morgan) needs to go away and work on his test technique... that will be quite difficult for him at this moment because he is going straight to the IPL (Indian Premier League),” national selector Geoff Miller told Sky Sports News.

“But I’m sure he will be wanting to re-establish his career back in the test arena and he’s a strong enough character to do that. “It’s not an excuse culture that we’re in with this England team, we have to make the decisions on certain players and certain areas and we wanted to cover the spin options as well as the batting options, so he missed out because we needed to try somebody else as well.

“Ravi (Bopara) has got an opportunity to fight for the batting spot with Samit Patel, who has shown a lot of promise.”

Paceman Tim Bresnan, who missed the Pakistan series with an elbow injury, returned to the squad with Graham Onions, called in as cover in the UAE, omitted. “We have selected a squad that we feel will be able to make best use of the conditions we are likely to encounter in Sri Lanka,” Miller added.

“There is no doubt that this test series will be a challenging one but it is exciting that players have an opportunity to demonstrate that they have learnt from the disappointment of the Pakistan test series and can make further strides in developing the skills needed to succeed on the sub-continent.” The first Test starts in Galle on March 26 with the second test in Colombo beginning on April 3.

Squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Steven Finn, Samit Patel, James Tredwell, Tim Bresnan, Steven Davies, Monty Panesar. — Reuters

“I committed a few mistakes in the last games. I was hitting the ball pretty well until I was getting to 20. I was trying to middle every ball, which is not possible in international cricket,” Kohli said. “I told myself to just play myself in, and stick in there no matter what... and it paid off. “I have the self-belief that if you keep working hard and keep the mind in the game and stay positive and get in the face of the opposition, results are going to come.”

Earlier, centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara powered Sri Lanka to 320 for four. Dilshan (160 not out) equalled his highest score in one-day internationals and added 200 for the second wicket with Sangakkara (105) after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to field after winning the toss. Sangakkara was the more attacking of the duo and his 13th one-day hundred was studded with eight boundaries and two sixes, coming off 87 balls. Dilshan was watchful at the start but opened up after completing his 11th hundred. He hit 11 boundaries and three sixes during his 165-ball stay at the wicket.

The Indian bowlers looked listless and erred in both line and length, making it easier for the two former Sri Lanka captains to prosper at the crease.

— Reuters HOBART: Indian batsman Virat Kohli celebrates hitting the winning runs over Sri Lanka in their one-day international cricket match. — AP

SCOREBOARD Scoreboard after India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the 11th match of the one-day international Triseries, also featuring Australia, at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart yesterday: India won the toss and elected to field.

Sri Lanka innings M. Jayawardene c Sehwag b Jadeja 22 160 T. Dilshan not out K. Sangakkara b Kumar 105 T. Perera run out 3 A. Mathews c Ashwin b Zaheer 14 D. Chandimal not out 2 Extras (lb-3, w-11) 14 Total (four wickets; 50 overs) 320 Did not bat: L. Thirimanne, F. Maharoof, N. Kulasekara, L. Malinga, R. Herath Fall of wickets: 1-49 2-249 3-279 4-309 Bowling: Zaheer 9-0-61-1 (2w), Kumar 9-0-64-1 (4w), Yadav 8-0-56-0, Jadeja 9-0-43-1, Ashwin 10-0-52-0, Sehwag 3-0-24-0, Raina 2-0-17-0.

India innings V. Sehwag c Dilshan b Maharoof 30 39 S. Tendulkar lbw b Malinga G. Gambhir run out 63 V. Kohli not out 133 S. Raina not out 40 Extras (b-4, lb-6, w-6) 16 Total (three wickets; 36.4 overs) 321 Did not bat: MS Dhoni, R. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, P. Kumar, Z. Khan, U. Yadav Fall of wickets: 1-54 2-86 3-201 Bowling: Malinga 7.4-0-96-1 (2w), Kulasekara 8-0-71-0 (1w), Maharoof 3-0-21-0, Perera 7-0-59-0 (1w), Mathews 7-0-44-0, Herath 4-0-20-0 (1w).

India won by seven wickets.

NZ begin long road to sevens gold at Rio SINGAPORE: The names Collins and Umaga are revered in New Zealand rugby, especially so at Wellington Regional Stadium where the duo were stalwarts for the Super Rugby Hurricanes, local provincial side and the All Blacks.

Earlier this month, two of their less famous relatives took the first step to what New Zealand hopes will be an Olympic gold medal in women’s sevens at the 2016 Rio Games.

Brenda Collins, the younger sister of former loose forward Jerry, and Soraya Umaga-Jenson, the niece of former All Blacks captain Tana, were two of the 20 players selected to play in the first women’s match held at the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Wellington sevens tournament.

The exhibition game, won 15-0 by Collins and Umaga-Jenson’s Wahine Kaha team, was the culmination of the first open selection camp organised by the New Zealand Rugby Union, as they sought to expand the player base ahead of the Rio Games.

“This is the first stage really,” Sean Horan, the first fulltime women’s sevens coach employed by the NZRU told Reuters in the players’ tunnel after the game. “We have a recruitment drive then international competition then it’s all about going for gold in 2016.”

While New Zealand’s Black Ferns are the women’s World Cup champions, Horan said the purpose of the camp and the exhibition match was to try to discover a new talent pool.

The Wellington selection camp, the first of 14 that will be held throughout the country, attracted 60 women. Some, like Collins were rugby players.

Others like 16-year-old Sinead Namana had none.

Others like Renee Leota played for New Zealand’s women’s soccer team at the Beijing Olympics. “You look at sevens, it’s still rugby and its about the fundamentals, but you’re looking for someone who is quick, can get into space and have the skill levels

but also who have the character to push themselves,” Horan said.

“I think the standard of the camp was surprising... and it was good to see the girls and the young athletes coming through.

“We also tend to forget that New Zealand is a rugby nation. A lot of these young female athletes, they play rugby and have for quite a while.

“Those who don’t have got a family member who does.” Family members like 48-test All Blacks flanker Jerry Collins, though Brenda Collins said she had turned up to the camp just to “give it a bash”. “It was quite good,” the secondary school physical education teacher said of the training camp.

“It was good to get that experience, particularly from a female perspective. “And it was awesome playing here,” she added of the match that was included as part of the first day of the sevens tournament in Wellington.

Collins, who plays fullback for local club Northern United and had spent two years with the Wellington women’s team, said she really only played rugby for fun and her older brother “was the serious player”.

At 29, she was also unsure if she would still be in the frame for Rio. “Hmmm. Possibly. I’ll see. Maybe I’m a bit too old for it,” she said with a smile. “(But) who knows what may come of it?”

Horan, who has a contract until the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia, will work intensely with New Zealand men’s coach Gordon Tietjens over the next year as the women’s squad is developed at invitational international tournaments.

“We identify an elite squad then take it from there,” added Horan, who coached Bay of Plenty in New Zealand’s provincial competition for five seasons. “It’s all about identifying athletes who may be ready for 2016 and preparing them. The Olympics are just a massive opportunity for the sport.”—Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

S P ORT S

Clubs and UEFA agree to drop August friendlies WARSAW: Europe’s leading soccer clubs hailed a ‘major breakthrough’ yesterday after agreeing with UEFA to drop the unpopular August date for international friendlies.

European Clubs Association (ECA) chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, in an address to the body’s general assembly in Warsaw, said an agreement had been reached with the European governing body over scrapping the date.

However the German warned that world body FIFA had yet to sanction the move. FIFA itself said it was surprised by recent developments at the ECA, saying the association had hindered progress on the international calendar because its members had declined to attend FIFA committee meetings.

ECA said that it and UEFA had agreed that the international calendar would be made up of nine doubleheaders covering a two-year period, with no single friendlies.

In a new Memorandum of

Understanding between UEFA and the clubs, they agreed that the two matches of the double date for friendlies should be played on the same continent.

The final tournaments of all confederations would end in mid-July in future, and players would not be expected to play in more than one international tournament a year.

The ECA, comprising Europe’s top 201 clubs, also reached agreement over insurance payments for players injured while on international duty, starting at Euro 2012.

It agreed an increase in benefits from UEFA for clubs whose players were involved in Euro 2012 and Euro 2016, with the increases to be announced at the UEFA Congress in Istanbul next month.

With so many more African players now with European clubs, it was agreed that the Africa Cup of Nations should start as early as possible in January, when it was staged. Rummenigge said

the agreement was “a major breakthrough for European club football”.

“With this agreement, UEFA clearly recognises the importance of clubs and the significant contribution they make to the success of national team football,” he added.

“The negotiations have not always proved easy, but were always conducted in a fair and respectful manner. “I sincerely thank UEFA, in particular UEFA President (Michel) Platini, on behalf of all European clubs and look forward to our continued cooperation. This is once more a proof that in the European football family solutions can be found in a cooperative and fair way.”

However, the German said problems remained with FIFA, adding: “Unfortunately, discussions with the FIFA president have failed to lead to a satisfactory outcome which takes account of the clubs’ demands.”

In a statement, world soccer’s governing body replied: “FIFA is surprised by recent comments made by ECA stat-

ing that they are not satisfied with their discussions with football’s world governing body regarding topics of interest to the European clubs, including the international match calendar.

“ECA representatives are in fact members of several FIFA committees and are always invited to take part in the discussions on such topics, together with representatives from clubs of other confederations.”

It said a meeting would be held at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters on March 5, involving representatives of continental confederations, national associations, clubs and players to discuss the international match calendar.

FIFA said the aim was to reach “a unanimous consensus in order to make it simpler and easier for all stakeholders and to answer the clubs’ concerns while keeping in mind the interests of the national associations and the players.”

FIFA added: “Both ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and ECA general secretary Michele Centenar...have

been invited to attend the meeting, but have declined to take part.

“ECA representatives have previously declined attendance to other FIFA committee meetings, making it very difficult for progress to be made in discussions with the European clubs.

“FIFA remains, as always, willing to discuss with ECA on these topics, as it does with all other stakeholders in the world football community.

“Finally, FIFA would like to recall that the international dates and the international match calendar have to be applied on a worldwide basis and that this calendar is ultimately regulated by FIFA, as football’s world governing body.”

The new Memorandum, starting on June 1 and running until May 30 2018, also includes a new clause allowing clubs a “referral right” on all decisions affecting club football. No decision relating to club football would be taken without the consent of the clubs, both sides agreed. —Reuters

S Korea aim to keep Brazil dream alive Clash with Kuwait today HONG KONG: Former World Cup semi-finalists South Korea take on Kuwait today in a crucial home clash, seeking to avoid becoming the highest-profile casualty of Asian qualifying for Brazil 2014.

The Koreans are level on 10 points at the top of Group B with Lebanon, who defeated South

going into the final Asian qualifying round, South Korea’s 2014 World Cup dream will be over if they lose and Lebanon draw or win away at the United Arab Emirates.

Cho’s replacement Choi KangHee spoke of a “crisis” when he named an experienced squad for

who plays in Scotland for Celtic, Park only joined up with the rest of the squad on Monday afternoon.

“I cannot make much of a tactical demand from them as they have not left enough time for training,” Choi said of the influential pair. “But their presence will certainly make my job easier. Now I

SEOUL: Kuwait national football team head coach Goran Tufegdzic (left) and his team midfielder Jarah Al Ateeqi (right) attend a press conference at a stadium in Seoul ahead of the final World Cup qualifying in Asia against South Korea. —AFP Korea 2-1 in November in a shock reversal that prompted the sacking of coach Cho Kwang-Rae. Kuwait are third in the group on eight points ahead of the final round of games in the current qualifying stage.

With the top two in the group

the match in the South Korean capital. He faces a dilemma over his frontline, with the 32-year-old Lee Dong-Gook expected to start but Arsenal striker Park Chu-Young, who has hardly played since his move to London, a major doubt.

Like midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng,

have to think about how to make the best use of them. I can use Park and Ki as starters or late-game jokers.” South Korea reached the World Cup semis in 2002 when they co-hosted the tournament with Japan, who could give an international debut to their flying

Arsenal winger Ryo Miyaichi, who joined Bolton on loan in January.

The reigning Asian champions are already through to the final qualifying stage and their Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni said he was eager to see the 19-year-old in action against fellow Group C qualifiers Uzbekistan. “He has performed at Bolton well in an eyecatching manner. He has a lot of quality and that’s why I have called him up,” said Zaccheroni.

Of Asia’s other major powers, Australia are also already through, but Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill vowed there would be no let-up against Frank Rijkaard’s Saudi Arabia, who can still qualify.

Australia are out of reach in Group D, but the Saudis have six points, Oman five and Thailand four, meaning all three are in with a shout of qualifying on what promises to be a nervy evening.

Rijkaard knows his side may not have to win to qualify, depending on the result in Oman, but the Dutchman said they would be gunning for all three points.

“All our ambitions are concentrated on getting a win tomorrow,” Rijkaard said. “Even if we have a bad win tomorrow, we are focused to get a win.”

Another key tie sees a top-ofthe-table showdown in Group E between Iran and Qatar. The Iranians are through and Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts, look certain to qualify ahead of Bahrain.

Bahrain, who take on Indonesia in Manama, are three points behind Qatar and have a far inferior goal difference. Also already into the last qualifying round are Jordan and Iraq in Group A, but China and North Korea are out. —AFP

US to face untried Italian strikeforce GENOA: Jurgen Klinsmann has guided the United States to a three-match winning streak and here today the German great will hope to extend that with his biggest scalp yet - European giants Italy.

The last time the urbane 47-year-old crossed swords with Italy was when he coached hosts Germany at the 2006 World Cup finals and they lost to the Italians in the semi-finals.

This time round the stakes are not as high but Klinsmann catches the hosts at a good time with Cesare Prandelli desperately looking for a strikeforce he can deploy ahead of the Euro 2012 finals in June.

Having successfully got them to the finals and rebuilt some of the damage done to their image after they became the first defending champions to exit at the first hurdle in the 2010 World Cup Prandelli has lost his three leading strikers.

Antonio Cassano so often excluded from previous squads for his off the field behaviour is out because of a heart problem for which he underwent an operation last November and while he is on the road to recovery he will not be available for the June extravaganza.

Giuseppe Rossi too is recovering after suffering a serious injury at the end of October playing for his Spanish club Villarreal while Cassano’s replacement as the badboy Mario Balotelli has been dropped for his on the field behaviour.

“The players know that behaving badly like that risks their being at the Euro,” said Prandelli, who was also referring to Roma’s Pablo Osvaldo whom he excluded from the squad after he was sent off on Sunday for slapping an opponent.

“I’ve had enough of this type of behaviour in football, these nervous reactions and slaps, they

are a sign of weakness. “We cannot take a player to the Euro who risks seeing us reduced to 10 men during the match. “I am also very disappointed that the two players in question did not ring me to talk to me about it.”

Thus for the United States game Prandelli will likely turn to starting Parma’s diminutive Sebastian Giovinco, with nine goals this season, while there may even be a chance for the newly-called up 20-year-old Fabio Borini of Roma, scorer of seven this term, to start alongside him as Inter Milan’s Giampolo Pazzini is like his team completely out of form.

Klinsmann has unlike his counterpart got the luxury of a full-strength squad meaning he has his European-based players available.

That means he can start Fulham striker Clint Dempsey alongside fellow veteran Landon Donovan of MLS champions LA Galaxy for the first time since he took over last year.

Klinsmann, though, is delighted that his side have got such a high-profile opponent - the three wins have been agaisnt lesser lights Slovenia, Venezuela and Panama - and away ta boot as he says it will help them develop.

“It’s very important we get these games and in particular playing them on the road. That’s when you really get players out of their comfort zone and they have to deal with a difficult environment on a physical and psychological level.

“Our roster is highly competitive and ready to give them a real fight.” —AFP

ITALY: US soccer team players run during a training session ahead of today’s friendly soccer match against Italy, at the Genoa Luigi Ferraris stadium. —AP

LONDON: England’s interim manager Stuart Pearce (third left) supervises training ahead of England’s International friendly match against Holland at Wembley Stadium. —AFP

England begin life after Capello against Dutch LONDON: An injury-depleted England face a demanding friendly against 2010 World Cup finalists Holland here today as they begin life without departed manager Fabio Capello.

Capello’s shock resignation following the decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy has left England’s Euro 2012 preparations in limbo, with the Football Association yet to appoint a full-time successor to the Italian.

While Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is the overwhelming favourite to take over, the FA has yet to make a move for the Spurs boss, leaving Stuart Pearce to oversee today’s friendly at Wembley.

Pearce — who is coach of England’s Under-21 team and who will manage Britain’s football team at the Olympics — has made no secret of his willingness to lead England’s challenge at the Euros in Poland and Ukraine, but remains a longodds outside bet to succeed Capello on a permanent basis.

Any hopes Pearce may have had of using today’s friendly to enhance his credentials have not been helped by an injury crisis that has deprived him of Wayne Rooney, Tom Cleverly, Darren Bent and Kyle Walker.

Strangely, Pearce has declined to draft in replacements for strikers Rooney and Bent, meaning that the three forwards who remain-Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Fraizer Campbell-have only four caps between them.

With Terry already missing through injury, Pearce also raised eyebrows last week by choosing to omit veterans such as Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.

“I know Frank, Rio and some of the other senior players I don’t think I would learn anything watching them play. But I might learn something from watching some of the younger players,” Pearce said. “We are on the home run for the tournament and it’s important we get young faces in and see if they can handle a game of this magnitude.”

One veteran who did make the cut is Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who is

expected to regain the England armband he wore at the 2010 World Cup. Gerrard, 31, will win his 90th cap today, but hinted at the weekend that he may be entering the final few months of his international career as he seeks to prolong his playing days at Liverpool.

“It’s something I am going to have to sit down and think about after the Euros this summer,” Gerrard said. “First and foremost is that I love playing for England and to captain your country is the pinnacle for any player so that makes me proud.

“I am aware of the future, the injuries I’ve had and I want to play for Liverpool for as long as I can,” added Gerrard, who returns to Wembley just three days after lifting the League Cup at the venue in Sunday’s win over Cardiff.

Gerrard’s Liverpool and England teammate Stewart Downing is hopeful the midfielder may yet reconsider any decision to retire.

“I have not spoken to Steven about whether he is going to retire after the tournament but I would be selfish and say I hope he plays on,” Downing said.

“He is a great player and we need players like him in our team. He (Gerrard) is a great influence on players. He drives teams on. If he is given the captaincy that is a good thing.”

Holland boss Bert van Marwijk meanwhile has been grappling with injury problems of his own, with Tottenham’s Rafael van der Vaart ruled out of the squad on Monday following an ankle injury. Van Marwijk will also be anxious to assess injury-prone Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben, who has struggled to find his best form since coming back from a groin problem.

Robben has revealed that he continues to be hampered by the problem. “I still have pain almost every day,” he said. “This has been the worst injury of my career.”

“With the help of adrenaline I am getting through but I can still not say I am 100% fit,” he added. “During training it often feels uncomfortable. I am heading in the right direction but I need games to get my rhythm.” —AFP

France take on injury-hit Germany BREMEN: Germany host France in a preEuro 2012 friendly today with the Germans missing several first-choice stars and French coach Laurent Blanc relishing playing one of Europe’s top teams.

“It is necessary in sport to play the best in order to progress. This is what is most exciting,” Blanc told AFP. “What’s the risk?

Everyone expects us to take a beating.

“That is just extra motivation for us.”

Germany play France in Bremen and the French have the better record of the 23 matches between the neighbors with ten wins to the hosts’ seven and the German’s last win over France was back in 1987.

Yet Germany coach Joachim Loew has forged his young team into one of the most feared sides on the continent and the Germans have convincingly beaten Brazil, Argentina, Holland and England in the last two years.

They breezed through their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with ten consecutive

wins, while world and European champions Spain were the only other team to go through the qualifiers unbeaten.

Loew has repeatedly played down expectations from the German public amidst hopes of a fourth European title and after his team hammered Holland 3-0 in their last appearance the previous November, the coach is relaxed.

“The result (against France) will neither spur us on or rob us of self-confidence,” said the 52-year-old. “The development of the team over the last few years, since 2010 in particular, makes me relaxed.”

However, the Germans have been weakened by injuries to stars Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker and Mario Goetze, while captain Philipp Lahm also withdrew on Sunday with a knee infection. In their absence, rising starlets Marco Reus and Andre Schuerrle, of Moenchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, are expected to have their chance to shine. —AFP

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

S P ORT S

Forget the clouds, look at silver lining NEW YORK: The Daytona 500 wasn’t just delayed. It was a flat-out disaster. But if the folks at NASCAR are as smart as they think, they’ll chalk up the fiery explosion that made it an unbearably long night to bad luck, then forget about the storm clouds that postponed the start by a day - and look hard for a silver lining. Because that’s what Monday night’s race could turn out to be.

Sure, five-time circuit champion Jimmie Johnson was out after just two laps, sidelined in the same wreck that reduced glamour girl Danica Patrick and defending champ Trevor Bayne to also-rans for the rest of the race. Even the last lap was anticlimactic.

Matt Kenseth cruised comfortably to the win, in large part because his teammate Greg Biffle couldn’t do much with a late push from Dale Earnhardt Jr. By the time it ended, there were probably more fans left in the stands than still looking in on TV across the land. For all that, though, “Monday Night Racing” is an experiment that might be worth trying again.

NASCAR is still America’s No. 2 sport by most important measures, but it’s struggling

just to hold its place and it’s always going to be stuck between a rock and the NFL. That’s one reason NASCAR czar Brian France has dipped into the NFL playbook for ideas in the past, and this one deserves a long look.

Moving a regular-season race or two from a weekend slot to Monday night might be just the spark his sport needs to keep a still-fragile recovery on track.

France is smart enough to know the problem with building an empire is that sooner or later, you bump into someone else’s. So instead of competing head-tohead against pro football, baseball or basketball - NASCAR bumps up against all three at some point in its season - he’s bent over backward positioning his sport as a complementary package and squeezing his races into time slots dictated by his TV partners.

The Daytona 500 might be NASCAR’s Super Bowl, but had it gone off as originally scheduled Sunday afternoon, it would have been a dimming memory for most sports fans by the time the Oscars and NBA All-Star game rolled around later that evening.

Complain all you want about the heavy

rain that forced postponement of the race for the first time in its 54-year history - there was plenty of that - but having the stage to itself is an opportunity the sport should jump at.

NASCAR already has a handful of evening starts sprinkled into the schedule, and the biggest obstacle to moving one or more of those to Monday night is that it would cut into preparation time for the next weekend’s race. Teams often stop off at their garages near NASCAR headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., to swap or modify their cars, then load up the haulers before hitting the road again.

But during one stretch from late August through early September, the circuit has three night races in a row at Bristol, Tenn., Atlanta and Richmond, Va. All three tracks are within easy driving distance of Charlotte and close enough to keep delays to a minimum. And none of the three - in order, the “Irwin Tools Night Race,” the “AdvoCare 500,” and the “Wonderful Pistachios 400” - would be sacrificing much in the way of tradition by moving to Monday night.

Besides, racing just looks better at night,

and it’s a whole lot wilder, something that wouldn’t be wasted on the 18-34 demographic NASCAR is so desperately seeking.

In 2007, for example, car parts, smoke and sparks flew through the air like the climactic chase scene from “The Road Warrior” as Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin raced side by side at 200 mph separated by the length of a car hood. Seconds later, providing a per fect exclamation point, Clint Bowyer skidded across the line with his car upside down - and on fire.

The announcers that night, with decades of NASCAR experience between them, scoured their memory banks for a comparison. Finally, driver-turned-broadcaster Darrell Waltrip settled on the NASCAR-inspired hit comedy from a year earlier. “It’s ‘Ricky Bobby,” he said. “It couldn’t have been any better.” This one could have, but it had nothing to do with the stage.

It’s been a turbulent few years, economically, for all pro sports and NASCAR might have been the hardest-hit. Last year’s season delivered a 10 percent jump in TV rat-

ings, but it came after a decline that saw the sport’s numbers slide by nearly a third from their peak in 2005.

Attendance is sagging, sponsorships are harder to come by, more than a few skilled drivers are still struggling to find regular rides and at least one former big-time team finished the year living paycheck to paycheck before being sold for cheap.

But NASCAR isn’t going anywhere. It’s got two years left on an eight-year, $4.5 billion TV deal with Fox, TNT and ESPN that runs through 2014. But France is expected to begin talks on a new deal later this year and he’ll need more than luck just to get the $560 million NASCAR is bankrolling annually under the old one. He’s going to have to bring something new to the table and “Monday Night Racing” might not be a bad place to start looking.

“We were talking about it on the back straightaway,” Earnhardt said afterward.

“When you’re in the car, you don’t think about what night it is, and you could just forget, really, to be honest. “But whenever they want us to race,” he added, “we’ll race.” —AP

Lionesses ready to roar — coach

Marseille’s Ghanaian forward Andre Ayew (right) challenges for the ball in this file photo.

Ghana to face Chile without Gyan, Ayews JOHANNESBURG: Ghana must do without Asamoah Gyan and Andre and Jordan Ayew when they tackle Chile today in a friendly hosted by American city Philadelphia.

Gyan, on loan from Sunderland to United Arab Emirates club Al Ain, has gone into temporary retirement to cope with the trauma of a second crucial penalty miss in a major tournament.

His spot-kick against Zambia in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals this month was saved and many supporters blamed the striker after the Black Stars suffered a shock defeat.

Gyan also fluffed a penalty in the 2010 World Cup quarter-final against Uruguay in Johannesburg, with the ball going over the crossbar in the dying seconds of extra time and Ghana losing the subsequent shootout.

It was a heartbreaking moment for the 26-year-old as Ghana were set to become the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals, and in the first edition of the tournament staged on the continent.

Marseille withdrew the Ayew brothers, who are sons of three -time African Footballer of the Year Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew, saying they were injured during the 1-0 French Ligue 1 loss at Brest at the weekend.

Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic cannot afford a third consecutive loss, after the defeat by Zambia and then a loss to Mali in the Cup of Nations third place play-off, as he battles to keep his job.

A decision on whether he stays is expected next week with football officials reportedly split over the Serb, who vowed to bring the Cup of Nations back to Accra after a 30-year absence when he assumed control last year.

Stevanovic, who claimed in a posttournament report that some of his players used witchcraft against team-mates, has given first call-ups to midfielder Afriyie Acquah and strikers Emmanuel Baffoe and Richard Mpong.

Senegal have axed 14 of the squad that made a stunning first-round exit from the Cup of Nations-including captain Mamadou Niang and fellow strikers Demba Ba and Moussa Sow-for a game against South Africa in Indian Ocean city Durban.

Edward Manqele, a striker with unfashionable mid-table club Free State Stars and third highest national league scorer with eight goals, has been called up by goal-shy Bafana Bafana (The Boys).

Ivory Coast, runners-up to Zambia in the Cup of Nations, play Guinea in Abidjan, Morocco face Burkina Faso in Rabat, Tunisia meet Peru in Rades and Egypt tackle Niger in the Qatari capital Doha in the week’s other friendly fixtures. —AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings) Friendlies - National Hungary v Bulgaria 20:00 Aljazeera Sport +1 Romania v Uruguay Aljazeera Sport +10

21:30

Morocco v Burkina Aljazeera Sport Global

22:00

Switzerland v Argentina 22:30 Aljazeera Sport +6 Poland v Portugal Aljazeera Sport +7

22:45

Germany v France Aljazeera Sport +4

22:45

Italy v United States Aljazeera Sport +1

22:45

Wales v Costa Rica Aljazeera Sport +8

22:45

England v Netherlands Aljazeera Sport +5 Aljazeera Sport +3 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

23:00

Spain v Venezuela Aljazeera Sport +2

23:30

WC2014 Qualifying - Asia China v Jordan Aljazeera Sport +1

11:00

Australia v Saudi Arabia 12:30 Aljazeera Sport +2 South Korea v Kuwait Aljazeera Sport +1

15:00

UAE v Lebanon Aljazeera Sport Global

15:00

Iran v Qatar Aljazeera Sport +1

16:30

Bahrain v Indonesia Aljazeera Sport 2

16:30

Iraq v Singapore Aljazeera Sport +2

16:45

BUENOS AIRES: Hosts Britain have emerged as Argentina’s chief rivals for the women’s hockey gold medal at the London Olympic Games, even if the world champions say there is no one team that stands above other rivals.

Britain narrowly lost the Champions Trophy final 1-0 to Argentina in Rosario three weeks ago in the last major tournament before the London Games that start on July 27.

Argentine coach Carlos “Chapa” Retegui believes that Las Leonas (The Lionesses) will be ready to roar in London, however, and have what it takes to counter Britain’s intense preparation for the Games.

“Great Britain have had astronomical financial support for their preparation for the Olympic Games due to the fact or organising them,” Retegui told Reuters in an interview.

“It’s a support that’s very difficult to equal even if today we have very good support from the

government’s Sports Secretariat and spectacular (help) from ENARD, the national high performance body,” he said.

“This is one of the best creations in (Argentine) sporting history,” said Retegui, a former defender who played for the Argentine men’s team at three Olympic Games, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

“Today we can plan and know that in 2012, 2013, 2014, beyond 2016 we’ll be able to carry through that planning. Before, we didn’t know if we were going to be able to spend (money) up to a week before (an event).

“We hope we can equal that support enjoyed by Great Britain, one of the most improved teams in recent years,” said the 42-yearold, who has been the Argentine women’s coach since 2009 after training the men’s team.

Retegui said Las Leonas had numerous qualities that have made them such a strong team for more than a decade, winning the World Cup twice, the

Champions Trophy five times and one silver and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games.

“There’s a bunch of qualities... but I think the teamwork, solidarity, is one of the most important ... quite apart from the superlative individual standard there is in the squad. They’re a team that work very hard,” he said.

“What I do like to say is that Argentines always give a plus, with their heart, with their soul, with their tenacity, that’s why Argentine sportsmen and women are so valued in the world whatever their sport.”

Retegui said Argentina never got carried away looking further ahead than their next match and they would not let the fact that the Olympic gold medal was the one top prize they have yet to win blind them.

“We are seeded by our ranking (second behind the Netherlands) and don’t have a team we must beat, just our first opponents, they are the only one we’ll be thinking about (at the Games),”

he said.

“Each one (of the teams) has its qualities and it’s all about culture, the Anglo-Saxons, the Latins, the Asians. This doesn’t mean one is better than the other, we’re different.”

Retegui’s philosophy is that the team are fortunate to be playing their sport at the highest level and they should enjoy the moment.

“You have to savor each moment... being proud of what you do,” he said after a morning practice in late summer sunshine at Cenard, the ENARD’s training centre for Argentina’s top competitors and teams on the fringe of the capital.

“I don’t think about the London medal, I think about these days of training which have been so nice, the ones to come and when (the team) are already in their pool, then we’ll think of trying to climb step by step. We have five steps which are the pool and we have to go match by match.” —Reuters

Nigeria bank on Odemwingie JOHANNESBURG: Nigeria hope Peter Odemwingie can transfer his scoring touch from the English Midlands to Rwanda as the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers begin today.

The West Bromwich Albion goal poacher netted twice in the weekend demolition of Sunderland and got a hat-trick in his previous English Premier League outing against Wolves.

Odemwingie was dumped by the Super Eagles last year after a bust-up with then coach Samson Siasia, who gave way to Stephen Keshi after failing to qualify for the 2012 Cup of Nations.

Keshi has ditched the longtime policy of Nigerian coaches to choose almost exclusively foreign-based players, including 11 locals for the first round, first leg clash at the 22,000-seat Stade de Kigali.

But the spine of the team will still be foreign with goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, defenders Joseph Yobo and Taye Taiwo, midfielder Joel Obi and Odemwingie.

There is also likely to be a first cap for Wigan Athletic midfielder Victor Moses, capped at various age-group levels by England after moving there in his early teens.

“Bear the heat because Rwanda is going to be even hotter on match day,” Keshi warned his players after an early afternoon training session staged to replicate the conditions expected in central Africa.

Rwanda lack the pedigree of two-time Cup of Nations champions Nigeria, qualifying for the tournament only once, and are 18 places below the west Africans on the continental rankings. “ We do not want to be a punching bag like in the last qualifying competition when conceding five goals at home to Ivory Coast,” stressed recently hired coach Milutin Sredojevic.

A successful coach of leading

clubs in Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, the Serb said Nigeria resemble a “wounded lion and those are the most dangerous animals”.

Cameroon and Algeria are other countries desperate to restore pride severely dented by failure to reach the 2012 African showcase, won unexpectedly by Zambia in Libreville this month after a shootout with Ivory Coast.

The Indomitable Lions will receive match fees before the away game against minnows Guinea Bissau to avoid any chance of a strike similar to the one last November that led to a friendly against Algeria being cancelled.

Star striker and captain Samuel Eto’o is serving an eight-month ban as a consequence, a disciplinary action that led Jean Makoun and Benoit Angbwa to withdraw from the squad in protest.

The problems of French coach Denis Lavagne, who replaced Spaniard Javier Clemente after the 2012 Cup of Nations failure, do not end there with Jean-Armel Kana Biyik, Stephane Mbia and Benjamin Moukanjo injured.

Algeria rise and fall with alarming regularity and could have a tough time in Gambia, a Zimbabwe squad shorn of many regulars being probed for matchfixing visit Burundi, and Kenya host Emmanuel Adebayorinspired Togo.

The Cup of Nations has been switched to odd-number years starting in 2013 to avoid every second tournament being played the same year as the World Cup and this has forced the organisers to condense the elimination process.

Instead of the traditional fourteam mini-leagues, there will be two rounds of home-and-away ties with the 16 teams who made the 2012 Cup of Nations receiving first round byes. —AFP

WARSAW: Poland’s goalkeepers Wojciech Szczesny (left) and Lukasz Fabianski, who plays for Arsenal, warm up during a national team training session. —AP

Doubts linger over Poland Euro squad WARSAW: As they brace to face Portugal in what looks likely to be one of their toughest encounters in the buildup to Euro 2012, cohosts Poland say their squad for June’s tournament is all but ready, but experts have big doubts.

With just 100 days left until the European championships, the Poles today take on tournament qualifiers Portugal in a match that also marks the opening game in Warsaw ’s brand-new National Stadium.

Like fellow hosts Ukraine, Poland have an automatic berth at the 16-nation championships and have had to rely on friendlies to get ready.

Having flunked their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, they will not have played a competitive match since the end of 2009 by the time they kick off Euro 2012 against Greece in Warsaw on June 8.

Their friendlies since then have been patchy, upping the ante for manager Franciszek Smuda, a gruff Pole who was put in charge after Dutchman Leo Beenhakker failed to steer the squad to the World Cup. The often-criticised Smuda reckons his Euro 2012 squad is now in shape. “ The basic 11 is ready. And for the full squad, I’m

at about 90 to 95 percent,” he said.

The weight of history is heavy, as home fans pine for Polish football’s long-lost glor y days of Olympic gold in 1972, third place in the 1974 World Cup, Olympic silver in 1976 and a further World Cup third in 1982.

In a sign of how far Poland have fallen since that era, they now lie 70th in the global rankings of world football’s governing body FIFA, compared to Portugal’s sixth.

In addition, the weaknesses of the domestic league has been underscored by the dominance of foreign-based players.

Sixteen of the names on Smuda’s 22-man list for the Por tugal match play abroad, including seven in neighbouring Germany, four in France and two in England.

“The team’s strength lies in its leaders: Jakub Blaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski and Lukasz Piszczek, who are shining at Borussia Dortmund, and Arsenal’s goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny,” Polish football blogger and scout Michal Zachodny told AFP. Striker Lewandowski, midfielder Blaszczykowski and defender Piszczek have been key in lifting Dor tmund to the top of the Bundesliga. —AFP

Kuwait and S Korea to clash today in Seoul

Kohli keeps India alive in Tri-series

18

17

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Clubs and UEFA agree to drop August friendlies

Page 18

DAYTONA BEACH: Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Best Buy Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. — AFP

Kenseth braves rain, fire to clinch Daytona 500 DAYTONA BEACH: Well, NASCAR certainly knows how to make a prime-time impression. Rain, fire and Tide laundry detergent all factored into a Daytona 500 that will go down as the most bizarre in NASCAR history.

And Brad Keselowski tweeted most of it live. From his race car. Then he provided another update minutes after crashing at 190 mph. And oh, yeah, Matt Kenseth picked up his second Daytona 500 title.

“You would think after 65 years and running all the races that NASCAR has run ... that you’ve seen about ever ything,” NASCAR President Mike Helton said. “You do think about, ‘Oh, my gosh, if that can happen, what else can happen?’”

The first Daytona 500 to be postponed took more than 36 hours to complete after rain pushed it from its scheduled Sunday afternoon start to Monday at lunch, and ultimately turned it into the first ever NASCAR race run in prime-time television.

Then Juan Pablo Montoya crashed under caution into a safety truck filled with about 200 gallons of jet fuel, and the collision caused a massive fireball that scorched the track and will be the most indelible image of the 54th running of the “Great American Race.” What did they use to clean it up? Tide laundry detergent, of course. Seriously.

The two-plus hour stoppage turned into a tweet-up of sorts, as the drivers climbed

from their cars and crowded around Keselowski, who had pulled out his phone to provide real-time updates to his fans by posting photos and answering questions.

His number of followers ballooned from about 65,000 at the start of the race to almost 200,000 by the time the fire was extinguished and racing could resume.

“I thought it was pretty funny,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had his losing streak hit 130 races when he came up short in his bid to chase down Kenseth in a two-lap overtime sprint.

“That was kind of fun actually, standing around on the back straightaway. We did take the phone and put it to some use and looked up the weather.”

When the 500 finally ended in the early morning hours yesterday, the two-week SpeedWeeks odyssey wasn’t over: Fog closed the North Carolina airports, stranding drivers and teams at Daytona for yet another night.

“Now believe it or not I can’t go home,” fourth-place finisher Denny Hamlin posted on Twitter. “Fogged in. Yet another night in Daytona.”

The endurance race will be long over by the time the television ratings come in later yesterday. No one was sure what to expect as Fox made the unprecedented decision to show the race in prime time the best case scenario once rain washed it out on Sunday. NASCAR originally resched-

Strange start for Federer DUBAI: Grand Slam record-holder Roger Federer began his attempt to win a record fifth Dubai Open title with one of the strangest victories of his career.

The Swiss legend won 6-0, 7-6 (8/6) against France’s Michael Llodra in a match in which he won the first 11 points and then the first set in only 17 minutes, only to find himself set point down in the second.

Part of this schizoid quality was created by Llodra arriving late the night before from the Marseille Open final, starting slowly, and then ambushing Federer with some brilliant net attacks and a sudden leap in standard. “I don’t know when was the last time that happened to me,” said Federer of a first set in which he conceded only seven points. “After that I had to make sure I controlled Michael as much as I could because I know he is a dangerous player.”

So much so, that Llodra first had Federer break point down in the third game of the second set, a minicrisis the second seed averted with a good serve, and then came from 2-4 down in the tie-breaker to hold set point at 6-5.

Federer saved that with a ferocious forehand drive winner and then two rallies later punished a Llodra second serve to close out the match.

He next plays another left-hander, Feliciano Lopez, the world number 15 from Spain, whom he played in the 2004 final here. “He’s somewhat similar to Llodra, so I don’t have to adjust a whole lot, I don’t think,” said Federer. “At the same time, I know the danger of Feliciano. He’s had a great season.”

The winner could play Mardy Fish for a place in the semi-finals, though the American will have to beat Mikhail Youzhny, the Russian who got past another Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who was suffering from flu and retired after losing the first set 6-3.

Earlier the three-time Grand Slam finalist Andy Murray was made to struggle by a qualifier before sur-

viving his opening match.

Murray, playing for the first time since almost halting Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of last month’s Australian Open in Melbourne, trailed 3-4 in the final set to Michael Berrer of Germany before coming through.

The third-seeded Scot admitted to being “frustrated” with his up-and down performance after sneaking through 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 against an increasingly ambitious world number 116.

Berrer became encouraged after Murray was unable to consolidate breaks of serve at 3-2 in the second set, and at 1-0 and 2-1 in the final set.

He became bolder and more aggressive, sometimes hitting fiercely angled drives, and more often charging the net to break up the rhythm of Murray’s high quality ground strokes.

Murray played a well-controlled and canny last three games to escape from the increasing danger, and afterwards complained of having felt unwell.

“I felt like I wanted to vomit — I don’t know if I wasn’t hydrated,” he said. “I was feeling really really bad. I was getting it after long points and after getting up from the change-over. “I wasn’t drinking that much after the change-over in the third set and then I felt better.”

Another player seeded to reach the semi-finals here this week, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, also had to battle hard to get over the first hurdle, beating a fellow former Australian Open finalist, Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 (7/2), 64. The world number five from France only arrived at midnight the evening before the match but twice recovered from 15-40 on his serve in the second set.

“I am confident about winning matches, and although I didn’t play well today, I fought and won,” said Tsonga, who next plays Lukas Rosol, the world number 96 from the Czech republic. — AFP

DUBAI: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France celebrates after defeating Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus during the Emirates Dubai ATP Tennis Championships. — AP

uled for Monday afternoon but scrapped those plans in the morning based on more rain.

With a 4.5 overnight rating on Fox’s coverage of Sunday’s rain delay, vice chairman of Fox Sports Media Group Ed Goren wasn’t sure what to expect Monday night.

“We are in the middle of February ratings sweeps, and there are significant successful shows on other networks,” Goren said. “The question becomes, ‘Will the loyal NASCAR audience find us?’ The casual fan seems to have caught on Sunday for the storylines and the season, but the casual fan who was with us yesterday, now in prime time, has other options. “So, let them race, and let’s find out what happens.”—AP

Roddick hopes for turnaround DELRAY BEACH: Andy Roddick is hoping to turn around a dismal season so far at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

The fourth-seeded Roddick, who has slipped to No. 30 in the rankings, usually does well in the first couple of months of the year.

He has traditionally fared well at the indoor tournaments in February - he’s won the Memphis and San Jose titles three times each. But he’s battling injuries. A right hamstring injury forced him to abandon his Australian Open second-round match, and he sustained a right ankle injury during his opening match at San Jose two weeks ago.

Roddick will face Philipp Petzschner of Germany in a first-round match at Delray Beach late yesterday. Roddick is 2-3 this year, his worst start since he joined the ATP Tour full-time in 2001.

“Honestly, I’m not as concerned with the ranking,” Roddick said. “I just want to get into a flow again rather than some days on, some days off. I just want to play continuously for a while.”

In an all-American first-round match on Monday, Ryan Sweeting swept Donald Young 6-1, 6-1 on a windy day near the beach.

Sweeting never offered Young a break point opportunity in the 52-minute match.

He also won 21 of 23 first serve points that went in play. Young struggled with his serve and was broken on four of nine break points

he presented to Sweeting.

“It was quicker than I expected and I don’t think Donald played his best tennis today at all,” Sweeting said. “I think he was struggling with the wind a little bit and made a lot of unforced errors. “From the beginning my plan was to just be consistent and keep the ball in play while being aggressive. I wanted to make a lot of first serves.”

Roddick, who grew up nearby in Boca Raton, first played this tournament in 2000, the year he won the Australian and US Open junior titles. This is his first appearance here since 2003.

On Monday morning before practicing with Philipp Kohlschreiber, Roddick said he’s feeling much better and started running a few days ago. He’s hoping that will translate into a good outcome this week. “It’s just a matter of getting back to where you’re playing a good numbers game; your winners are more than your unforced errors and you’re playing solid on the big points,” Roddick said.

“That just comes from match play.

“You can come out here and practice and hit shots all day, but for me I just want to get to the point where I’m comfortable playing matches again.”

In other first-round matches: Dudi Sela of Israel defeated American wild card Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-3 and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-2, 6-3. — AP

Kuwait real estate sales strong in Jan Page 22

WB protest highlights China reform tension Page 25 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Kuwait stocks edge up Page 24

US durable goods orders drop by most in 3 years Page 23

LONDON: Protesters try to hold their position as one protester is taken down, at the Occupy London camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral at bailiffs move in, backed by police, to remove tents from the anti-capitalist protest camp in London, early yesterday.—AP

Euro-zone defers talks on debt firewall boost Leaders succumb to Germany’s pressure BRUSSELS: Euro-zone leaders yesterday pushed back talks on boosting a financial firewall they hope will end the euro-zone debt crisis, owing to pressure from Germany.

“Germany is not ready,” a euro-zone governmental source told AFP, of the latest move in a global tug-of-war over emergency bailout funding. “Chancellor Angela Merkel ultimately agrees that the funds, old and new, should be combined,” the source said. “But the timing isn’t yet right.” At talks among the Group of 20 major world economies in Mexico at the weekend, finance ministers and central bankers there said the euro-zone had to put in place a bigger firewall before non-euro or EU countries would help with loans to increase International Monetary Fund resources.

Euro-zone leaders were originally to debate on Friday, in a special restricted session on the second day of a European Union summit in Brussels, whether to combine a temporary firewall with a permanent

pot due to come into effect in July.

This would give the debt-wracked 17nation zone a total fund of some 750 billion euros ($1 trillion). However, EU president Herman Van Rompuy yesterday delayed this sensitive discussion. A source said a special summit of the 17 euro currency partners could be held next month instead.

“Don’t rule out a (euro-zone) meeting before March ends,” he said. In new conclusions for the summit, also seen yesterday ahead of their planned adoption, the leaders of the 27 EU states “encouraged G20 finance ministers to continue their work with a view to reaching agreement on an increase in the IMF’s resources at their next meeting in April.”

This is “in order to enhance the IMF’s capacity to fulfil its systemic responsibilities in support of its global membership,” they were to say, in a clear sign that Europe wants the rest of the world to act alongside the euro-zone and supportive EU states. As a result, discussion of the firewall this week

is expected to be “very, very brief,” an EU diplomat also told AFP. The diplomat stressed that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says March would be “timely,” in other words sufficient, for a detailed debate among euro-zone governments. Schaeuble also said that pouring in more cash to the pot “didn’t make any economic sense.” Euro-zone countries themselves have already promised 150 billion euros to the IMF in the hope of reassuring the markets they have the resources to tackle a re-emergence of the crisis. But countries outside the zone, including the United States, Britain, Japan and China insisted at the G20 meeting that the eurozone do more.

Senior figures at the IMF have tentatively scheduled March 13 for their talks on the issue, but delays on both sides of the equation raise the prospect of the debate dragging on. In the hours before the summit starts on Thursday at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT), euro-zone finance ministers will hold a dis-

Bahrain fund boss quits over lack of deals DUBAI: The head of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund quit over differences of strategy with the board, disappointed by its lack of deal-making as it focuses on reviving loss-making domestic assets, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Talal Al-Zain, the urbane former investment banker, told Reuters on Monday he would leave his job as chief executive of Mumtalakat, the $9 billion sovereign fund, to set up a new investment firm in the island kingdom. The sources said Al-Zain was particularly frustrated with the board’s focus on housekeeping at debt-laden national carrier Gulf Air, which Mumtalakat owns.

“There were clear differences between Talal and the sovereign fund management over the handling of Gulf Air in the portfolio,” said a banking source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Everyone knows the airline has been bleeding money and if you are CEO of a SWF (sovereign wealth fund) with a loss-making company as your top holding, there is very little you can do.” Al-Zain declined to give a reason for his resignation, saying he had always planned to return to the private sector after a stint in the public sector.

“I’m staying in Bahrain and will always be part of the system here,” he told Reuters on Monday. Political turmoil in the Gulf Arab region last year changed the landscape for sov-

ereign wealth funds there, prompting governments to focus more on developing domestic economies than investing abroad to appease local populations. Sovereign funds have historically seen home investment as a low priority, except in cases of severe downturn, with certain funds like Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Norway’s fund undertaking minimal local investments.

Al-Zain, who took the helm at Mumtalakat in 2008 after an 18-year stint at asset manager Investcorp, spent much of his tenure reviving Gulf Air, which has been eclipsed by regional rivals, and cleaning up the balance sheet of Aluminium Bahrain, which owns the world’s fourth largest smelter. He will remain chairman of Gulf Air. “Mumtalakat has hardly done any deals or investments in the last couple of years,” said the banking source. “When you have an investment background and run an organization which has seen its investments significantly curtailed, it can be quite frustrating.”

Mumtalakat, among the smallest sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf Arab region, suffered a ratings downgrade amid the political unrest.

The fund is rated triple-B. Set up in 2006 to help diversify Bahrain’s economy away from hydrocarbons, Mumtalakat has stakes in over 35 commercial entities, including Gulf Air, Bahrain Telecommunications Co and Gulf International Bank. — Reuters

cussion on Greece, to check whether the government in Athens has met a string of conditions for a second bailout worth 237 billion euros ($310 billion). When currency partners finally backed a second bailout last week, they set a long list of conditions that had to be fulfilled by a February 29 deadline.

A governmental source in Athens said Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos will arrive in Brussels today for the talks. He is to start a day early with a meeting with European Commission chiefs to discuss ways to re-direct nearly 8.0 billion euros ($11 billion) of EU grants allocated to Athens between now and 2013. By the end of the summit, Van Rompuy is expected to have been elected to chair formal bi-annual euro-zone summits. He is also set to be returned for a new 30-month mandate as full EU president, after leaders sign on Friday morning a new treaty on fiscal stability agreed by 25 EU states, minus the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. — AFP

UAE eyes new rules on markets ABU DHABI: New rules in the United Arab Emirates on mutual funds, shortselling, and rights issues may be finalized by mid-2012 as part of measures to strengthen the operation of exchanges and attract overseas investors, the regulator said yesterday.

Last year, the UAE postponed draft regulations on its nascent asset management industry, which were seen as a key step for investor protection and boosting market confidence, after market players voiced concerned that some of the proposals lacked clarity, sources said. Abdullah Al-Turifi, CEO of the Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA), told reporters yesterday that the body was finalizing regulations which could be issued by midyear. “ These new regulations and mechanisms, products and services for the markets will complete the regulatory framework for the system,” he said, adding the rules also covered market makers.

Mutual funds, earlier regulated by the central bank, are now under the ambit of the SCA. The regulator licensed three mutual funds last year and plans to promote foreign mutual funds, Turifi said.

The three licensed funds are run by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank , Al Hilal Bank

and Al Mal Capital.

The UAE bourses are still classified as frontier markets by Index provider MSCI, failing to make the grade to emerging markets status late last year.

The exchanges hope that an upgrade would bring in much-needed capital from foreign investors and raise their profiles as they seek to become regional financial centers. Foreign ownership in companies is limited to 49 percent but most companies have lower levels of foreign investors. A long-awaited companies’ law is unlikely to raise this limit, said Turifi. “We have our own strategy for the new companies law, it won’t open up to 100 percent for foreign ownership, only for certain industries,” he said.

The UAE has many free zones where 100 percent ownership is allowed and foreign companies can invest there, he added. Poor market conditions and weak investor sentiment have deterred companies from listing on the UAE stock exchanges. Last year only three companies were listed, he said, declining to say how many may list this year.

“It is left to the companies. We are encouraging them,” he said. There are 128 companies listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market and the Dubai Financial Market.— Reuters

London Occupy camp cleared from outside St Paul’s LONDON: Police tore down the anti-capitalist camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London yesterday, arresting 20 people as they brought a swift end to the last major Occupy protest around the world.

Dozens of police officers and bailiffs moved in shortly after midnight Monday and within hours the encampment, which sprung up in October in support of similar actions in the United States and Spain, was cleared. However, about 60 tents remained pitched at a square a short walk from St Paul’s which has acted as an overspill area for the past four months.

The protesters vowed to continue their fight, saying: “This is only the beginning.” Fifty to 60 activists were present when the authorities arrived to enforce a High Court-ordered eviction, and a lone piper heralded the camp’s demise. The City of London Corporation had urged activists to dismantle their tents peacefully but some hastily erected barriers of wooden pallets and let off smoke bombs in an attempt to stall the clearance.

A handful of protesters were reported to have handcuffed themselves to a makeshift wooden structure, but the rest of the site was reduced to a pile of old mattresses and tents within two hours.

Stuart Fraser, a spokesman for the Corporation, the local authority, said in a statement: “It is regrettable that it had to come to the need for removal but the High Court judgment speaks for itself.

“The site has now been cleared and the area is undergoing a deep clean.” City of London Police said the operation had been “largely peaceful”, adding: “A small minority of protestors obstructed the work of bailiffs. Police made 20 arrests as of 4:30 am (0430 GMT).”

The Occupy the London Stock Exchange protest began outside St Paul’s Cathedral, in the heart of the capital’s financial district, on October 15 as part of a global movement against the excesses of capitalism. But activists had been waiting to be moved on since the Court of Appeal last week dismissed their application for permission to challenge a High Court ruling that they must disband.

Another protester, Marco McHugh, 29, a nurse, said the eviction was “kind of inevitable”.

“I never thought four months ago when I first came here that we would still be here (today),” he told AFP from the steps of the cathedral yesterday.— AFP

22

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

business

Kuwait real estate sales strong in Jan NBK ECONOMIC REPORT

SHANGHAI: Workers walk down a road in Shanghai yesterday. Shanghai said it will raise the minimum monthly wage by 13 percent, the latest pay hike in China as officials try to combat labor shortages and worker unrest, the official Xinhua agency said. —AFP

Iraq to invite firms to start work on giant port BAGHDAD: Iraq will invite bids for the building of a breakwater in the Gulf, the country’s state port company said, the first stage of construction in a giant $6 billion port scheme that has been held up for decades by sanctions and war.

The port, known as Grand Faw, is to be built south of Iraq’s oil hub, Basra. Iraq has had plans to build a modern trade hub in the Gulf since the 1980s, but these were shelved early in former dictator Saddam Hussein’s rule. Omran Rahdi Thani, general manager of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, told Reuters the Transportation Ministry would soon seek bids soon to build the breakwater, which is expected to cost around 400 billion dinars ($340 million).

Iraq relies on ports in Kuwait for much of its non-oil trade. A modern port is part of a long-term goal to turn Iraq into a transportation corridor between the Middle East and Europe- bypassing the Suez Canal—by rebuilding a colonial-era railway linking the

Gulf to Turkey. “If Grand Faw port is completed it would be a major event for world transportation. We will shorten the time to reach Europe from 20 days to three or four,” Thani said.

The port will include 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) of dock to receive container ships. The dock for general cargo would be 3,500 meters. Iraq has huge untapped oil reserves and since the 1980s has been sitting on plans for extravagant development projects, such as a metro railway system for traffic-choked Baghdad and a high-speed railway linking Baghdad to Basra.

Officials frequently talk about restarting such projects, but have made little headway since Saddam was toppled by a US-led invasion in 2003. Much of the country has only intermittent electricity and many areas lack running water.

Development was halted in the 1990s by sanctions against Saddam, and since the invasion has been held up by sectarian warfare. — Reuters

Oman’s Renaissance plans $104m convertible bond DUBAI: Oman’s Renaissance Services said yesterday it will ask shareholders to approve plans for a 40 million rials ($103.9 million) offering of zero coupon convertible bonds. The approval will be sought at a shareholder meeting on 25 March, the oil services firm said in a filing to the Muscat Securities Market. Zero coupon convertible bonds are instruments which can be converted into ordinary stock in a company but while maturing at a par value are originally sold at a discount.

“Even though the capital raising plan is slightly below the 50 million rials plan disclosed during December 2011, we still see this as a positive and it gives us greater confidence that the company will undertake its capex expansion plans as expected,” EFG Hermes said in a note.

“Furthermore, the successful issue of the planned convertible bonds would help improve investor confidence.” The company said in December it would raise new capital worth up to 50 million rials through the sale of a quasi-equity instrument to fund expansion. Bank Muscat was advising on the offering, it added.

Renaissance posted a 93 percent drop in annual profit for 2011 earlier this month after taking a writedown at its Topaz Marine and Engineering subsidiary and as operating expenses rose.

In August, Renaissance said it had uncovered financial misconduct and fraud at Topaz, having pulled the unit’s London initial public offering in March, citing valuation concerns and growing regional unrest. — Reuters

KUWAIT: Real estate sales activity picked up in January, totaling KD 318.1 million in value, a 64% increase year-on-year (y/y). The level was the third best level on record. All three sectors of real estate saw big increases, with the residential sector taking up 54% of total sales. The uptick in sales should persist for the year albeit perhaps with less impetus.

Residential sector sales were KD 170.3 million for January, a 40% y/y climb. A major contributor to this increase was the high number of transactions concluded, totaling 806 transactions óa 4year peak for the sector. The majority of these transactions (71%) were for plots of land, as opposed to finished homes. Residential sales should continue to do well in the near future, as it appears backed with solid demand.

The investment sector (mainly apartments and buildings intended for rental), saw KD 127.3 million in transactions for January, a little more than double the amount of last January. This was supported by a higher average transaction size, compared to 2011. Although this sector has mostly trailed the residential sector in monthly sales value, it continues to be a major factor in the recovery of the real estate sector as investors look for income property and investment alternatives.

The commercial sector recorded 8 transactions in January. They totaled KD 20.5 million in value, an increase of KD 11.5 million from last January. Month to month volatility in both monetary value and the number of transactions is common in this sector.

The Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) approved 298 housing loans, totaling KD 16.2 million. Of these loans, 59% will go into financing new houses constructions while 31% will be used to purchase existing homes. Additionally, KD 10.9

Almarai mulls stake raise in PepsiCo JV DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Almarai is in talks with PepsiCo Inc to increase its stake in a joint venture formed with the US soft drink giant in 2009, the Gulf dairy firm said yesterday.

Almarai, the Gulf’s biggest dairy firm by market value, currently holds 48-percent in International Dairy & Juice Ltd (IDJ), with PepsiCo owning the remaining 52-percent stake. The IDJ joint venture was formed to target growth opportunities in the dairy and juice sector in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East, excluding the Gulf region.

“Almarai is looking at possibly slightly increasing their ownership of IDJ,” the company said in a bourse statement. “It is anticipated that an announcement could be made during the course of March 2012, although discussions are still ongoing.”

Almarai, currently roadshowing for a riyal-denominated Islamic bond, has been keen to expand its footprint outside its core presence in the Gulf. In December, the company acquired Fondomonte SA which owns and operates farms in Argentina, to secure feed for its dairy herd and poultry businesses.

It plans to invest $1.1 billion in the poultry sector, it said in June. Interest in Saudi Arabia’s consumer sector is growing among international investors as the country’s population rises beyond 27 million, most of which are under the age of 30.

Coca-Cola Co invested $980 million in Saudi Arabia-based beverage firm Aujan Industries in December. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, US private equity firm Carlyle Group acquired a 42percent stake in Alamar Foods, the master franchise operator for Domino’s Pizza and Wendy’s restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa. — Reuters

million loans were disbursed by the SCB, a 22% y/y increase.

January saw a strong start for the real estate sector in 2012. The pick-up in activity should be sustained through the year.

South Korea posts rare CA deficit SEOUL: South Korea recorded a current account deficit in January for the first time in nearly two years as the euro-zone debt crisis and the faltering US economy depressed exports, the central bank said yesterday.

The account-the broadest measure of trade with the world-saw a $772 million shortfall compared with a revised $2.81 billion surplus in December.

The January figure marked the first deficit since February 2010, when the country ran a shortfall of $549 million.

The goods account, which measures imports and exports, had a deficit of $1.42 billion in January compared to a surplus of $2.7 billion in December.

The central Bank of Korea attributed the trade deficit to poor exports of ships, telecommunications devices and display panels, along with fewer working days in the month due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

Exports to Europe fell 38 percent in January year-on-year compared

to a 20 percent fall in December.

The bank and analysts expect the current account to return to the black in February.

“Exports of automobiles and steel products are strong and there are more working days in February, which will help the country run a current account surplus that’s more than enough to cover January’s deficit,” senior bank official Yang Jae-Ryong told reporters.

Exports to emerging economies would offset the decline in shipments to Europe, he said.

The deficit in the travel account was $810 million in January, widening from a gap of $350 million, on increased overseas trips during the winter holiday season.

January’s primary income account, which records wages for foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, saw a surplus of $1.19 billion from $490 million in December.

Overall this year, the bank expects the current account surplus to fall to around $13 billion from $27.65 billion in 2011. — 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 Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2730000 .4360000 .3690000 .3060000 .2750000 .2960000 .0040000 .0020000 .0750650 .7313380 .3830000 .0710000 .7169450 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2765000 GB Pound/KD .4380310 Euro .3714500 Swiss francs .3081120 Canadian dollars .2775410 Danish Kroner .0499530 Swedish Kroner .0420170 Australian dlr .2979430 Hong Kong dlr .0356540 Singapore dlr .2206880 Japanese yen .0034420 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0753100 Bahraini dinars .7337140 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0737530 Omani riyals .7184620 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

3.598 5.667 3.154 2.436 3.341 213.250 35.672 3.580 6.336 8.873 0.271 0.273

.2800000 .4460000 .3780000 .3150000 .2840000 .3050000 .0070000 .0035000 .0758200 .7386880 .4000000 .0760000 .7241500 .0072000 .0500000 .2786000 .4413580 .3742710 .3104520 .2796490 .0503320 .0423370 .3002050 .0359250 .2223640 .0034690 .0056990 .0023290 .0030750 .0034230 .0758820 .7392860 .3940590 .0743130 .7239180 .0065560

GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 74.150 Qatari Riyal 76.402 Omani Riyal 722.230 Bahraini Dinar 738.540 UAE Dirham 75.715 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.500 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.282 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.272 Tunisian Dinar 189.860 Jordanian Dinar 392.670 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.865 Syrian Lier 6.003 Morocco Dirham 33.814

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

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 277.950 Euro 370.650 Sterling Pound 431.930 Canadian dollar 268.420 Turkish lire 153.940 Swiss Franc 300.620 Australian dollar 277.000 US Dollar Buying 277.750 GOLD 315.500 159.000 81.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

SELL CASH

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 Norwegian krone Omani Riyal

302.700 738.680 3.590 282.400 545.500 45.300 51.100 167.800 47.460 377.100 36.510 5.790 0.032 0.161 0.241 3.560 393.910 0.188 94.400 45.500 4.270 237.200 1.800 51.000 721.460

SELL DRAFT

301.200 738.680 3.377 280.900

223.100 46.009 375.600 36.360 5.655 0.031

311.900 4.100 9.330 75.630 277.700

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

Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 442.400 277.700

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

278.350 280.050 442.450 374.710 311.100 737.105 75.760 76.405 74.185 391.815 46.117 2.314 5.685 3.068 3.361 6.470 682.780 3.525 9.265 5.860 3.650 92.105

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

Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

303.53 283.10 314.33 376.21

445.00 3.70 3.550 5.770 2.625 4.250 3.200 76.00 738.68 47.70 393.90 728.00 77.25 74.40

277.700 3.053 5.655 2.306 3.380 6.530 75.695 74.195 738.300 45.975 445.400 3.190 1.550 378.700 284.500 3.690

Al Mulla Exchange

UAE Exchange Center WLL Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro

442.70 3.51 3.390 5.645 2.294 3.540 3.060 75.59 738.67 46.00 395.08 721.72 76.58 74.15

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Currency

721.280

3.070 6.515 76.410 74.160 223.080 38.360 2.343 442.400

GOLD 1,847.740

10 Tola

393.580 0.187 94.400 3.550 235.700

3.130 6.790 76.840 74.160 223.080 38.360 2.647 444.400 43.200 313.400 4.100 9.490 198.263 75.730 278.100 1.310

304.00 283.00 314.00 377.50

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

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

277.350 375.400 442.200 280.600 3.475 5.655 45.965 2.291 3.380 6.471 3.052 738.550 75.550 74.050

23

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

BUSINESS

Oil dependence shadows Putin’s Kremlin return MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin’s hopes of turning Russia into one of the world’s top five economies by 2020 will stay a pipe dream unless he makes a final push to wean the economy off its dependence on oil exports.

But the hundreds of billions of dollars Putin has promised to spend in the face of the biggest protests of his 12year rule will make the job especially difficult upon his almost certain return to the Kremlin in Sunday’s polls.

“I think that if oil prices were to fall dramatically, Putin’s presidency would be in danger,” said Renaissance Capital economist Ivan Chakarov.

“We estimate that even if oil prices were to stay at current levels ... Russia will start to run a current account deficit sometime between 2014 and 2015.”

Putin is remembered fondly by Russians as the man who replaced the

anarchic economic decade of early post-Soviet rule in the 1990s with eight years of growth that saw the middle class blossom and state coffers balloon.

It was also an era when the inflationadjusted global price of oil tripled.

Today however it stands at more or less the same level it was when Putin started serving as President Dmitry Medvedev’s prime minister in 2008.

Analysts said uncertainty about the future direction of energy costs and Putin’s dual promise of income growth and mass state spending will make for one very tough balancing act. Putin has set the target of raising Russia’s per capital gross domestic product from the $10,440 estimated by the World Bank in 2010 to $35,000 by 2020.

Yet the state bank Sberbank believes his new social spending program- covering everything from pensions to

roads and railways-will cost $170 billion by the time his third term as president ends in 2018.

Add another $775 billion earmarked by the ex-KGB spy for defense this decade and that will make a big tax on business especially tempting although such a level could hit growth.

“The oil story in Russia is over. Oil will no longer be able to provide growth or stability in the economy,” said Troika Dialogue strategist Chris Weafer. “But it has the ability to create destruction if the prices collapse,” Weafer cautioned. Some economists draw parallels to the 1970s when the vast Soviet Union-inherently inefficient and in dire need of cash-survived largely because oil-producing Arab states hiked prices sharply.

Oil prices fell back in the 1980s as US ally Saudi Arabia boosted produc-

tion and the Soviet system crumbled under the weight of social unrest.

Economists say Putin may be haunted over the next six years by his failure to diversify the economy through the investment of oil profits he reaped in his first two terms. “A lot of the reasons (for the current protest wave) rest in the fact that the government failed to push ahead with any of its diversification programs under Putin,” said Weafer. “He may now have to do things that run counter to his impulse,” Chakarov agreed.

But analysts added that some of Medvedev’s more liberal accomplishments as Putin stand-in over the past four years should work in the strongman’s favor on his impending return.

Russia entered the World Trade Organization after a record 18-year battle and is now finally in a position to

see a steady flow of foreign investment pour into its most efficient industries.

“Reforms are accomplished in the context of WTO accession that would not normally be achieved so quickly,” said a report co-authored by David Tarr of the World Bank.

“Unlike reforms unilaterally undertaken, WTO commitments cannot be reversed by a later government that is less inclined to offer a liberal trade and foreign direct investment regime.”

Medvedev last year also unveiled a $10 billion state investment fund that hopes to draw an additional $50 billion from foreign players into the Russian economy over the next five to seven years. “Russia now needs considerable help from foreign investors,” said Weafer. “It needs not only their money but also the active participation of foreigners in Russian industries.” —AFP

US durable goods orders drop by most in 3 years Businesses slash spending on machinery

ATHENS: Schoolchildren walk yesterday past drawings and a slogan on a wall in the center of Athens. The European Central Bank (ECB) said in a statement that Greek bonds could no longer be used by banks in the euro-zone as collateral for ECB loans following the announcement by rating agency Standard & Poor’s that Greece is in “selective default”. —AFP

ECB temporarily suspends Greek bonds as collateral FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank said yesterday that it would temporarily refuse to accept Greek bonds as collateral, but said national central banks would provide funds to any banks in need.

The ECB said in a statement that Greek bonds could temporarily no longer be used by banks as collateral for loans after the rating agency Standard & Poor’s declared Greece to be in “selective default”.

The ECB’s governing council “has decided to temporarily suspend the eligibility of marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic for use as collateral in eurosystem monetary policy operations,” the statement said. “This decision takes into account the rating of the Hellenic Republic as a result of the launch of the private sector involvement offer.”

On Monday, S&P declared Greece in “selective default” after banks agreed to write off more than half of their Greek debt holdings in a second EU bailout of the country. The rating was lowered from S&P’s already junk-level “CC” grade for Greece, which has been seeking to avoid an outright default on its massive debt by negotiating a “voluntary ” debt exchange with creditors.

The ECB move will almost certainly make it difficult for Greek banks in particular to take advantage of an unlimited amount of ultra-cheap three-year loans being made available by the central bank on Wednesday in an operation aimed at averting a credit crunch in the single currency area.

But any banks affected by the suspension of Greek bonds would still be able to

borrow cash from their national central bank under emergency assistance provisions, the ECB said. Furthermore, the Greek bonds would likely become eligible as collateral again in mid-March, when a bond swap deal between Greece and its private creditors had been completed, the ECB added.

“Marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic will become in principle eligible upon activation of the collateral enhancement scheme” agreed by eurozone leaders last year, “together with a number of other measures aimed at assisting Greece in its adjustment program,” the ECB said. “This is expected to take place by mid-March 2012.”

In a 237-billion-euro bailout deal last Tuesday, the European Union agreed to provide Greece with up to 130 billion ($174.5 billion) in new financing while representatives of private investors, mostly banks, agreed to write off 107 billion euros’ worth of Greek debt via a bond swap.

The government hopes that nearly all of its private creditors will sign up to the bond swap deal, allowing Athens to impose the collective action clause to force hold-outs to accept the swap and losses as well. The bond swap was launched on Friday, and is scheduled to be completed about March 12.

S&P said that if the exchange is consummated, “we will likely consider the selective default to be cured and raise the sovereign credit rating on Greece to the ‘CCC’ category, reflecting our forward-looking assessment of Greece’s creditworthiness.” —AFP

German consumer confidence rises FRANKFURT: German consumer confidence hit its highest level in a year, data showed yesterday, fuelled by households’ rising income expectations despite the euro-zone debt crisis.

Market research company GfK released its latest index of household confidence, with the barometer forecast to rise fractionally to 6.0 points in March from 5.9 points in February, a statement said. That will bring it to its highest level since March 2011.

“Overall, consumer sentiment remained stable in February. While both economic expectations and consumers’ willingness to spend slipped slightly, income expectations rose perceptibly,” GfK said.

The headline consumer confidence index is based on responses from around 2,000 households with regard to their expectations about pay and the economy as a whole in the coming months, as well as their willingness to spend money.

Economy Minister Philipp Roesler hailed the seemingly unstoppable rise in consumer confidence. It showed that “the domestic stimuli for the economy remain intact,” Roesler said. “The German economy is continuing to excel in a very difficult

environment in Europe.” Germany has indeed managed to shrug off the worst of the euro-zone debt crisis thanks to deep structural reforms implemented in recent years, notching up robust growth of 3.0 percent last year, while unemployment fell to record lows. And with unemployment set to remain low, domestic demand is expected to be able to offset any weakness in exports resulting from the debt crisis, economists say.

“It looks as if nothing can shatter German confidence. For the time being at least, the euro-zone’s biggest economy looks like a country full of optimists,” said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Belgium. The GfK barometer was “continuing its non-stop rally since September. This bodes well for a further stabilization of private consumption throughout 2012,” the analyst said.

Last week, another leading indicator, the Ifo business climate index, rose for the fourth time in a row in February, hitting its highest level in seven months as robust domestic demand helped protect the German economy against the debt crisis. —AFP

WASHINGTON: Businesses slashed spending on machinery and equipment in January after a tax break expired, pushing orders for long-lasting manufacturing goods down by the largest amount in three years.

Orders for durable goods fell 4 percent last month, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

A big reason for the decline was demand for so-called core capital goods, which are viewed as a good measure of business investment plans, tumbled 4.5 percent. That’s the biggest drop in a year. Demand for core capital goods hit an all-time high in December. Companies rushed to take advantage of a tax break that expired at the end of last year. A durable good is a product expected to last at least three years. They include everything from appliances and cars to heavy machinery and planes. Orders tend to fluctuate sharply from one month to the next. But the overall trend in orders has increased since the recession ended nearly three years ago.

In January, overall orders totaled $206.1 billion. That’s 38.6 above the low hit during the recession.

Orders are still 16 percent below their peak hit in December 2007. Even without that tax break, many analysts believe business investment will pick up and stay strong in 2012 as companies take advantage of stockpiles of cash to expand and modernize their production facilities.

US factories boosted output last month and December ended up being their best month of growth in five years. Strong auto sales

About 9 percent of the nation’s jobs are in manufacturing. But last year, factories added 13 percent of new jobs. And in

final three months of last year.

Economists are looking for roughly the same level growth in the current quarter. And a fore-

GLENDALE: Chris Kraft loads a new mattress set that he purchased at Costco Wholesale store in Glendale, California. The Commerce Department said yesterday orders for durable goods — products that are expected to last at least three years — fell 4 percent last month. —AP and growing business investment in machinery and other equipment are keeping factories busy and helping the economy grow.

HK stockbrokers protest cut to lunch break HONG KONG: Hong Kong stockbrokers marched through the central business district yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to stop the city’s stock market operator from trimming their lunch break next month. Waving cutout figures of the stock exchange’s CEO and its chairman, brokers walked through the CDB to the stock exchange and on to government headquarters in a plea to keep their midday break at 90 minutes.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., which operates the southern Chinese financial center’s stock market, plans to reduce the break to one hour starting Monday. It’s the second stage of a plan that began last year by trimming an hour from the 2 1/2 hour trading break.

The change is aimed at stepping up competitiveness by bringing trading hours in line with rival bourses in Asia and the West. But protesters, most of whom were from Hong Kong’s many small brokerages, complained they won’t have enough time to talk with clients, research stocks or attend presentations on initial public offerings. The brokers tried to dispel the popular notion that they spend their time smoking cigars and drinking fine wines during long leisurely lunches at swanky restaurants.

“I actually bring along my lunch box,” said Danny Lam, an account executive at Kingston Securities. “Our lunch hour can be very stressful as well. We still have to rush.” —Reuters

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stockbrokers hold cutouts of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd CEO Charles Li (right) and Hong Kong Stock Exchange Chairman Ronald Arculli during a march through the central business district to the stock exchange and on to government headquarters in Hong Kong yesterday. —AP

January, about one-fifth of the 243,000 net jobs the economy created were in manufacturing.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the

casting panel of the National Association for Business Economics said Monday that the economy should grow 2.3 percent this year. —AP

Portugal passes bailout review by ‘troika’ LISBON: Portugal has passed the third euro zone now that Greece is in default, so review of its 78-billion-euro bailout program we assess that if there is a probability of by the European Union and IMF but the default, it’s higher in Portugal than in any country’s economic slump will deepen this other country in the euro zone,” S&P analyst year, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said yes- Moritz Kraemer told Reuters.

Kraemer said Portugal’s situation was difterday. Officials from the European Union and IMF will recommend disbursement of ferent to Greece, partly because it is seen as the bailout’s next tranche of 14.6 billion more able to implement adjustment. “But on euros after finding Portugal has met fiscal the other side of the coin you have a really goals and launched reforms to make the poor growth prospects for some time to economy more competitive, the minister come while the deleveraging both in the said. “The result (of the evaluation) was posi- public and the private sector runs its course.”

Reflecting those concerns, Portuguese tive despite unfavorable conditions,” Gaspar told journalists. “The mission (of officials) bonds have failed to fully benefit from the rally in other European confirmed the fulfillment peripheral government of the criteria demanded bonds in recent weeks. by the terms.”

Portuguese 10-year bond But Gaspar changed yields rose slightly yesterthe government’s outlook day to 13 percent. Gaspar for this year’s economic ruled out any possibility of slump - the deepest since seeking more funding.“We the 1970s - to a contracwill not ask for more time tion of 3.3 percent from a or money,” Gaspar said, previously forecast 3 peradding there was no cent decline. discussion of that during He also said unemthe IMF/EU team’s evaluaployment, which is LISBON: Portugal’s Finance tion of the economy. already at record highs, would worsen both this Minister Vitor Gaspar talks to “There will be no signal year and next. The job- journalists during a news con- coming from the governless rate will now reach ference at the Portuguese ment other than meeting 14.5 percent, up from the Finance Ministry in Lisbon the terms of the program.”

Portugal’s centre-right government’s previous yesterday. —AP estimate of 13.7 percent. European officials government has raced ahead with reforms have been eager to distance the euro zone’s of the uncompetitive economy in recent second most risky country from troubled weeks, especially of its rigid labor market, in Greece. Butmany economists say the country an effort to win approval from creditors and may have to seek more emergency funding ensure the country can ride out its debt crior even be forced to restructure its debts like sis.

Under the bailout, Portugal must cut its Athens.

“We are currently working on an assump- budget deficit to 4.5 percent of gross tion that they will need a second bailout domestic product this year from 5.9 perbefore the end of the year due to a combina- cent last year - a goal that was only met tion of the recession and the fact that bond thanks to a one-off transfer of banks’ penyields remain high,” said Diego Iscaro, econo- sion funds to the state. The lenders are expected to issue a statement on the mist at IHS Global Insight.

“Portugal has the lowest rating in the review later in the day. —Reuters

24

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

business

Kuwait stocks edge up GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) stocks ended on a positive note yesterday, as investors decided to take a breather from the recent bearish mood and tracking other GCC stock markets that witnessed remarkable gains this month so far. All major indices notched modest gains. Global General Index (GGI) ended the day up by 0.18 percent, at 181.01 point.

Market capitalization was up for the day, reaching KD29.50bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 6,116.6 point, adding 24.8 points (0.41 percent) from its previous close.

Market breadth Market breadth was clearly positive yesterday.

On the broader market for equities, advancers outpaced decliners by a 68 to 30 margin in the KSE. The advance was accompanied by growing trading activity. The market as a whole saw 699.27mn shares traded, up by 16.8 percent from the previous trading day’s level. The investment groups accounted for almost 34.24 percent of the total volume traded, with 239.42mn shares exchanged. The sector index grew by 0.41 percent.

Trading was intense on the counter of Abyaar Real Estate Development Co, with 62.08mn shares changing hands. The company’s stock saw a 6.17 percent improvement. But it was Kuwait Real Estate Company that lifted the Global Real Estate index with its 0.40 percent share value appreciation.

In terms of top gainers, Al-Safwa Holding Group were the top gainers for the day, adding 9.30 percent. On the other side, Future Communications Co. Global was the biggest loser, as its share price fell by 8.62 percent to close at KD0.265.

by an 4.42 percent gain in the equity prices of National Industries Group (Holding). Boubyan Petrochemical Co, and Boubyan International Industries Holding too were up by 3.45 percent and 1.35 percent respectively.

The non Kuwaiti sector followed, clocking 0.78 percent in gains. Gulf Finance House was the major gainer in the sector, adding 4.35 percent. Al-Masar Leasing & Investment Co, was out with its earnings report this morning. The company saw its 1H2011 losses reached KD1.51mn during 1H2011. However, investors did not react in the scrip, as it saw no activity yesterday.

On the other side of the spectrum, banking and food stocks performed poorly during the day, with

their sectoral indices recoiling by 0.15 percent and 3.04 percent respectively. A 10fils withdrawal in the Kuwait Finance House stock price sent the Global Banking Index lower, whilst a 10fils decline in Kuwait Insurance Co.’s equity price saw the Global Insurance Index end in negative territory.

Oil news Brent crude oil futures fell over $1 yesterday as worries grew that high energy prices would hinder economic growth and affect future demand. The price of OPEC basket of 12 crudes stood at $123.25pb on Monday, compared with $122.86pb the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Sectors Yesterday’s gains were bolstered by an outstanding 1.26 percent climb in the Global Industrial Index. The sector’s performance was highlighted

Sri Lanka rupee hits record low COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s rupee yesterday tumbled to a record low against the US dollar on investor worry about the country’s massive external trade deficit, economists said. The rupee slipped to 123.00 to the dollar early in the day-its lowest level ever against the US unit, a central bank official said. But intervention through a state-owned bank halted the rupee’s slide as the institution sold

dollars and bought rupees to shore up the local currency. “The state bank intervened and sold dollars,” a dealer, who could not be named, told AFP. The intervention pushed the Sri Lankan currency up to 121.00 rupees against the US dollar by the close.

“The currency is under pressure because Sri Lanka is facing a very wide trade deficit that can’t be filled by foreign remittances,” said W A

Wijewardene, economist and former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. “ There is voracious demand in the foreign currency markets for dollars from importers, putting pressure on the rupee.” Imports have surged with Sri Lanka’s economy emerging from decades of ethnic strife after the crushing of Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in 2009. Analysts say Sri Lanka is facing a balance of pay-

ments crisis with the trade deficit ballooning to a record $9.74 billion in 2011, nearly double a deficit of $5.2 billion in 2010. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka earlier in the month stopped intervening in the market, and has allowed the rupee to shed nearly eight percent of its value against the dollar. The intervention yesterday was in apparent breech of this new policy.— AFP

Oil slips below $124 on demand concerns LONDON: Oil prices slipped below $124 a barrel yesterday as investors worried about high prices hurting demand, but ongoing supply concerns and the expectation of further liquidity injections from the ECB helped underpin prices at elevated levels. Front-month Brent was down 69 cents to $123.48 a barrel by 0925 GMT, after settling more than $1 lower on Monday. US crude was down 10 cents at $108.46 a barrel.

Analysts and traders said that the rise in oil prices to near 10-month highs last week had led to worries about the impact on the struggling economies of Europe, especially as the euro remains weak against the dollar. “ There is some concern growing that high oil prices may impac t the economy and oil demand in future,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

“That is leading to profit-taking, which is not surprising given the huge build in speculative net long positions in recent weeks.” He pointed to data from the CFTC showing that net long positions in US crude futures had reached the highest levels since May 2011.

“Whilst the oil price acceleration has been a direct result of Iran tensions, a slowdown in rising tensions is a reason to take profits and assess,” said Ben Taylor, a sales trader at CMC Markets. “ Talk of demand destruction is also weighing on oil at these levels.” The surge in prices an increase of more than 14 percent for Brent crude futures since the start of the year - has prompted the International Monetary Fund to flag oil as a rising threat to the global economy.

Brent will average $110.30 a barrel this year, according to a Reuters monthly oil poll, up from January’s

estimate of $107.30 due to fears of a loss of Iranian supplies.

Apart from Iran, oil markets are already coping with a disruption in shipments from smaller producers such as S outh Sudan and Syria.

More than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of supply is estimated to be offline - 1.1 percent of daily world demand - including Libyan output yet to return after the virtual shutdown of its oil sector during its 2011 civil war.

“There are more upside risks than downside risks to oil prices because of supply concerns,” said Vic tor Shum, senior partner at oil consultancy Purvin & Gertz. Investors are worried that higher oil prices will hammer demand in the euro-zone as it struggles to emerge from the sovereign debt crisis.

On M onday, ratings agenc y Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s longterm ratings to ‘selective default’ in a widely expec ted move.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has also temporarily suspended the eligibility of Greek bonds for use as collateral in its funding operations.

The market is now looking to a second tranche of liquidity from the ECB today as part of its Long-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO).

Analysts and traders said the extra liquidity from the LTRO was helping to keep oil markets buoyant. “I don’t see a sharp correction given the supply side risks and the huge amount of liquidity in the market,” said Commerzbank’s Fritsch.

The market is estimating that about 500 billion euros will be injected into the market by the ECB, but Fritsch said some estimates ranged up to 1 trillion euros. “If some of that money flows into commodity markets, that will push up prices,” he said. — Reuters

25

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

BUSINESS

S&P says Greece in ‘selective default’ on bonds NEW YORK: Ratings firm Standard & Poor’s declared Greece in “selective default” after banks agreed to write off more than half of their Greek debt holdings in a second EU bailout of the country.

The rating was lowered from S&P’s already junk-level “CC” grade for Greece, which has been seeking to avoid an outright default on its massive debt by negotiating a “voluntary” debt exchange with creditors. But S&P said the terms Greece put in the tentative deal agreed last Tuesday, which amounts to a 53.5 percent writedown, forced the downgrade. It cited Greece’s move following the February 21 debt deal to amend its sovereign bond documentation with collective action clauses (CACs).

A CAC binds all bondholders of a

certain series to amended payment terms in the event that a certain quorum of creditors has agreed to the terms, S&P explained.

“In our opinion, Greece’s retroactive insertion of CACs materially changes the original terms of the affected debt and constitutes the launch of what we consider to be a distressed debt restructuring.”

“We believe that the retroactive insertion of CACs will diminish bondholders’ bargaining power in an upcoming debt exchange.” In the 237 billion euro ($320 billion) bailout deal last Tuesday, the European Union agreed to provide Greece with 130 billion in new financing while representatives of private investors, mostly banks, agreed to write off 107 billion euros worth of Greek debt via a bond swap.

The government hopes that nearly all of its private creditors will sign up to the bond swap deal, allowing Athens to impose the collective action clause to force hold-outs to accept the swap and losses as well. The bond swap was launched on Friday, and is scheduled to be completed about March 12. S&P said that if the exchange is consummated, “we will likely consider the selective default to be cured and raise the sovereign credit rating on Greece to the ‘CCC’ category, reflecting our forward-looking assessment of Greece’s creditworthiness.”

Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker “took note of ” the move by S&P late Monday, adding: “I look forward to a high participation of private creditors in the PSI (Private Sector

Involvement) operation and take note of S&P’s intention to upgrade the lower ratings following the settlement of the bond exchange.”

UBS analyst Geoffrey Yu noted that “the ratings should be revised back to CCC after the debt exchange. “There was no market impact as this was expected,” he said. Under the Greek legislation approved Thursday, the debt exchange becomes binding for bonds governed by Greek law “if at least two thirds by face amount of a quorum of these bonds... approve the proposed amendments.”

At issue is whether the debt swap can be deemed ‘voluntary’ if just twothirds of creditors sign up.

If it cannot be classed as voluntary, then creditors could invoke their credit default swaps-insurance claims

against investment losses on the bonds which would not only lead to heavy costs for the counterparties of the swaps, but could also possibly cause the entire Greek debt deal to unravel. Earlier Monday Moody ’s Investors Service warned that despite the February 21 deal, “the risk of a default even after this distressed exchange (of bonds) is completed remains high.”

“Greece’s debt burden will remain large for many years, and the country is unlikely to be able to access the private market after the second assistance package runs out,” warned senior analyst Sarah Carlson.

“The outcome of elections, expected in April, also constitutes a source of political and implementation risk,” she added. —AFP

WB protest highlights China reform tension Protesters denounce Zoellick prescriptions

BEIJING: World Bank president Robert Zoellick answers a question from media during a press conference at the World Bank's Beijing office yesterday. —AFP

Barclays faces $800m UK tax avoidance action LONDON: Barclays PLC revealed yesterday that it is the bank targeted by the British Treasury’s action to shut down two methods of avoiding tax, a change in the law that could cost the bank up to 500 million pounds ($800 million).

Insisting that its methods complied with existing law, Barclays said it had voluntarily informed tax officials that it had repurchased some of its debt “in a taxefficient manner.”

“Barclays also disclosed its participation in an authorized investment fund which is also legal and compliant with the tax code,” the bank said. Announcing the legislation on Monday, the Treasury described the two methods as “highly abusive” and intended to circumvent previous legislation to block tax avoidance.

It is drafting legislation to bar these arrangements retrospective to Dec. 1.

“We do not take today’s action lightly, but the potential tax loss from this scheme and the history of previous abuse in this area mean that this is a circumstance where the decision to change the law with full retrospective effect is justified,” David Gauke, a senior Treasury official, said Monday. The British govern-

ment has said it could charge the bank more than 500 million pounds ($800 million) to make up for the unpaid tax, but the bank reportedly disputes the amount.

“Barclays respects the decision ... to adjust the tax laws and will, of course, comply with the modified law once it is in place,” the bank said, adding that the change would not have a material impact on profit and would not require amendment of its preliminary results released on Feb. 10.

Barclays shares were fractionally lower at 243.35 pence in late morning trading. Barclays’ statement came a day after another British bank, HSBC, disclosed in its annual report that it is involved in a dispute with UK tax authorities which could cost the bank $4.9 billion plus interest.

HSBC said the issue, covering the years from 2002 to 2009, involves shares in its Asian and certain European subsidiaries which are held by holding companies registered in the Netherlands.

British tax authorities contend that dividends paid by the subsidiaries are subject to UK tax. —AP

BEIJING: A Chinese protester denounced World Bank policy prescriptions as poison and briefly disrupted a news conference yesterday by bank President Robert Zoellick, highlighting tensions over its call for Beijing to reduce the dominance of state companies.

Zoellick had just begun speaking in the bank’s Beijing office about a report urging free-market reforms in China when a man in a pinstriped business suit stood up and shouted that state industry should not be privatized.

He handed out leaflets criticizing the proposed changes before bank staff ushered him out. After the man left, Zoellick said the proposals in the report released Monday by the bank and a Chinese Cabinet think tank have provoked debate in China and this was “the point of any good research report.”

The report calls for China to adopt a new economic strategy after three decades of rapid growth driven by exports and investment. It includes opening markets further and reducing the dominance of state companies that control industries from energy to banking - changes that Zoellick acknowledged will likely provoke opposition. “Will some of the vested interests that benefit from the current structure resist? I suspect they will,” he said. “But the Chinese leadership’s interests are that of all the Chinese people, not just specific groups.”

The protester identified himself as Du Jianguo and said he was independent scholar of politics and economics. His leaflet titled “ World Bank, Take Your Poison and Go Back to the United States” - complains the policy changes urged by the bank for China have hurt the public in Latin America and elsewhere.

“ The World Bank report won’t give any benefit to the Chinese economy and people,” Du said at the news conference, after apologizing to Zoellick for the disruption. “ We have no reason to accept their poison. After they ruin China, they will ruin the

suming massive subsidies while private companies create most of China’s new jobs and wealth.

Zoellick said Chinese leaders supported the work on the report, co-authored with the Cabinet’s Development Research Center. It comes amid a debate

BEIJING: Protester Du Jianguo (center) is held by an official after disrupting a press conference by the World Bank President Robert Zoellick in Beijing yesterday.—AFP whole world. China’s state-owned enterprises should not be privatized.”

Du’s comments reflect sentiments among nationalists in China who see state-owned industry as a source of strength for the country. Zoellick was unfazed by the disruption and said he would have Du’s pamphlet translated and read it. He said the bank was “pretty comfortable with an open debate” and he had

tions clash with Beijing’s strategy over the past decade of building up government-owned champions in industries from banking to steel to energy.

Officials say such entities, supported by low-cost credit from state banks and shielded from foreign and private competitors, are helping to drive economic and technological development.

Independent analysts say, however, that state companies are con-

over the future direction of reform as a younger generation of leaders prepare to take office this year in a once-a-decade handover of power. “I believe there is a momentum building behind reform in China,” Zoellick said. He said that based on conversations his Chinese colleagues had with officials, “I’ve gotten the sense there is a hope that with the next generation of leaders, these will move forward.” —AP

Premium car demand drives GKN profit

Saras Q4 hit by weak demand, Iran tension MILAN: Saras, one of Italy’s leading refiners, said yesterday its core earnings in the fourth quarter fell 31 percent on weak demand due to the eurozone debt crisis and high oil prices fuelled by the growing tension over Iran. Saras, which currently uses about 10 percent of Iranian crude oils in its refinery mix, reiterated its position that if the EU embargo on oil imports from Iran is enforced it will take all necessary actions to procure alternative crude oils.

In January the European Union decided to establish a total crude oil embargo against Iran, effective as of July 1. Saras said its fourth-quarter comparable earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at 55.6 million euros ($74.48 million), above an average analyst forecast provided by the company of 39 million euros.

It said planned maintenance at its Sarroch refinery in Sardinia this year is expected to cut core earnings by $70-85 million. Overcapacity and a weak economic climate have cut refining margins, especially for the smaller operators across Europe.

Italy’s oil and gas major Eni said earlier in February European refining margins will remain at unprofitable levels due to high costs of oil supplies, sluggish demand and excess capacity.

Saras said its refining margin in the quarter stood at $1.7 per barrel, down from the $4.1 per barrel the previous year but above the EMC Benchmark which was a negative $1.5 per barrel, thanks in part to the resumption of Libyan crude supplies. Saras, which has traditionally taken about 30 percent of its crude supplies from Libya, saw supplies interrupted by the Libyan conflict. The resumption of Libyan crude exports was expected to have an impact in the beginning of 2012. The adjusted net profit in the fourth quarter was 10.3 million euros compared to a loss of 3.5 million euros a year ago. —Reuters

dealt with “demonstrations and worse” as a former US trade negotiator.

“Indeed, one of the key ideas in this report is, to be successful with changes of this nature, one has to involve public participation,” he said. The reform recommenda-

LEVERKUSEN: The plant of German pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant Bayer in Leverkusen, western Germany. Bayer, maker of Aspirin, said yesterday it was confident for the current year after nearly doubling profits in 2011. —AFP

Bayer confident after doubling profits in ’11 FRANKFURT: German pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant Bayer, maker of Aspirin, said yesterday it was confident for the current year after nearly doubling profits in 2011.

Bayer booked net profit of 2.47 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in 2011, an increase of 89.9 percent over the year-earlier figure.

Underlying profit, as measured by earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), was up 52 percent at 4.149 billion euros and revenues advanced by 4.1 percent to 36.528 billion euros. “We got off to a solid start in 2012,” said chief executive Marijn Dekkers. “We are confident for the company’s future development.” Last year was “a very successful year for Bayer, both strategically and operationally,” and the group achieved record levels of sales and underlying profits, the chief executive boasted.

“We exceeded the sales record set in 2010,” with business driven primarily by a

strong 9.0-percent increase in sales in emerging markets, Bayer said. By division, sales in the healthcare subgroup increased by 1.5 percent to 17.169 billion euros last year. “One of our strengths continues to be our well-stocked development pipeline in pharmaceuticals. We were particularly successful here in 2011,” said CEO Dekkers. In the agrochemicals or crop science division, sales rose by 6.2 percent to 7.255 billion euros, with all regions contributing to growth. Only the material science division failed to meet expectations, Dekkers said.

Looking ahead, Bayer said it expected group sales to rise by around 3.0 percent to some 37 billion euros this year with a slight improvement in underlying earnings.

Investors appeared unimpressed and Bayer shares were the biggest losers on the Frankfurt stock exchange, shedding 0.79 percent in a generally firmer market. —AFP

LONDON: Car and plane parts maker GKN said a strong performance from its autos business was behind a 15 percent rise in 2011 profit, as sales of luxury cars rose and demand in China remained strong.

GKN yesterday reported pretax profit of 417 million pounds ($660.57 million) on revenue 13 percent higher at 6.11 billion pounds.

“Demand for premium autos remains strong and we feel that will be the case in 2012 — China is the biggest driver of that but North America has come back strongly too,” GKN Chief Executive Nigel Stein told reporters. “Global car production should rise about 5 percent this year and we expect to deliver more growth on the back of that.”

GKN’s auto unit makes products such as driveshafts, chassis, axles and lighter auto components.

Revenue at the automotive business, which makes up almost two-thirds of group sales, rose 10 percent to 2.68 billion pounds in 2011.

BMW, Audi and Volkswagen, who are among GKN’s biggest customers, said 2011 sales were boosted by demand for luxury cars in China and expect this trend to continue.

BMW expects the global market for premium cars to grow at more than 8 percent this year, more than twice as fast as the overall car market.

Shares in GKN, which have risen 13 percent in the last month, were 3 percent lower at 223 pence by 0840 GMT, valuing the company at around 3.5 billion pounds.

Jefferies analyst Sandy Morris said “there may well continue to be quite different assumptions made about global light vehicle production “ in 2012 but added that “sales growth in its automotive businesses exceeded that in global light vehicle production (3 percent) last year, which should continue to work in GKN’s favor in 2012.”

GKN, which also makes airframes for planemakers Airbus and Boeing, said its aerospace unit delivered a 4 percent rise in annual sales.

Analysts expect GKN will benefit in the long term now deliveries of Boeing’s new 787, in which GKN is heavily involved, have started, while production of the Airbus A350 has also kicked off. “ The overall aerospace market remained positive in 2011 driven by a recovering civil aircraft market and a generally stable defence sector,” said Stein. GKN was expected to report an average 2011 pretax profit of 412 m i l l i o n p o u n d s, a cco rd i n g to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 12 analysts. The company increased the total dividend by a fifth to 6 pence per share. —Reuters

26

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

business

Innovation and elegance: The BMW Gran Turismo KUWAIT: Once again defining a brand new segment in the market, the BMW Gran Turismo Is an embodiment of the leading premium automotive manufacturer’s commitment to innovation.

The BMW Gran Turismo combines the characteristic features of a prestigious sedan, the functionality and space of an SAV and elements of a traditional grand touring car.

The exterior of the car combines the proportions so typical of a BMW, an elegantly stretched silhouette and a coupÈ-like roofline, as well as four

doors with frameless windows to create one complete, harmonious unit.

The front view of the car animates powerful dynamism through the sheer presence of the upright BMW kidney grille, large air intakes and dual round headlights slanted back at an attractive angle. For the first time the daytime driving light function is provided by corona rings with LED technology, while the rear end is enhanced by Lshaped rear light clusters with homogenously illuminated rows of lights in LED technology and a two-

Al-Tijari announces winners of mega draw, Najma Account KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al-Najma Account draw yesterday.

The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry represented by Abdulaziz Ashkanani.

on the 19th of June which is the date of the bank’s establishment.

With a minimum balance of KD 500, customers will be eligible for the daily draw provided that the money is in the account one week prior to the daily draw or 2 months prior to the mega draw. In

The winner of the mega draw:Abdullah Yousef Dashti General Trading Cont Est

KD 100,000

The winners of the Al-Najma daily draw are: Ashraf Sayed Ali Sayed EhsanAllah Safir Allah Omar Fathi Abdul Elati Sayed Ahmed Shuja’a Haseen Al-Mutairi Jehad Dawoud Sulaiman Al-Qurashi

KD 7000 KD 7000 KD 7000 KD 7000 KD 7000

The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces the biggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of the new Najma account. Customers of the bank can now enjoy a KD 7,000 daily prize which is the highest in the country and another 4 mega prizes during the year worth KD 100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al Adha and

addition, for each KD 25 a customer can get one chance for winning instead of KD 50. Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all lucky winners and also extends appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their effective supervision of the draws which were conducted in an orderly and organized manner.

Gold inches up on weak dollar with eyes on ECB SINGAPORE: Gold inched higher yesterday after two sessions of straight losses, ahead of a major cash injection by the European Central Bank expected later this week, and a weaker dollar lent support.

Gold prices climbed about 3 percent last week, as the Greece bailout deal and expectations of more monetary easing by key economies inspired gold bugs, but the momentum fizzled after gold hit a three-month high and failed to breach a key technical level. The expectations of another batch of three-year, ultra-cheap loans offered by the ECB on Wednesday, which could fuel risk appetite, warmed market sentiment to a quiet simmer, helping Asian equities as well as the euro. The greenback inched down against a basket of currencies , drawing buyers holding other currencies to dollar-denominated commodities. “As long as central banks around the world lean towards further easing, gold will rise further, although $1,800 will be a key resistance level for the time being,” said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.

Li said gold could face short-term correction after the attempt to breach the $1,800 level failed, but $1,750 should provide firm support. Spot gold edged up 0.3 percent to $1,771.96 an ounce by 0643 GMT, off a three-month high of $1,787.11 hit last week. US gold was little

changed at $1,773.80. Technical analysis suggested that spot gold could rise towards $1,797 an ounce during the day, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.

The gold-silver ratio, a gauge of how many ounces of silver can buy an ounce of gold, dropped to just above 49, its lowest in about four months, as silver led the precious metals complex with a dazzling 28-percent year-to-date rally, compared with gold’s 13-percent gain. Spot silver gained 0.4 percent to $35.49 an ounce, and has the potential to rise further if risk appetite continues to improve, traders said.

Oil prices dipped for a second straight session, snapping a recent surge that aided gold prices, while concerns over supply from the Middle East are expected to stem the slide. Bullion prices have been supported by inflation concerns triggered by higher oil prices, but an analyst at INTL FCStone, Edward Meir, warned that rising crude could also hurt precious metals by nipping the fragile global recovery. “The soaring cost of energy, while not necessarily being bearish for gold on the surface, has the potential to hurt the precious metals group should it start to destabilize other markets, like US equities,” he said in a research note. In Asia’s physical gold market, buying interest remained sluggish out of China, while some scrap flow continued in Southeast Asia, dealers said. — Reuters

piece tailgate. The luxurious interior of the BMW Gran Turismo enables the driver and passengers to vary the generous space inside the car as they wish to their individual, personal requirements. This superior feeling of comfort is further enhanced by the large window areas, the optional panorama glass roof, as well as exquisite materials and supreme quality of finish.

Commenting on the BMW Gran Turismo, Yousef Al-Qatami, General Manager of Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive, the exclusive importer of the BMW Group in Kuwait, said: “BMW has a proud history of pioneering automotive innovations, and the success of the BMW X6 proved that there is a healthy demand for a completely new segment of innovative and aesthetic vehicles. The BMW Gran Turismo is the only vehicle of its kind in the market right now The Gran Turismo is available in the Kuwaiti market with eight-speed automatic transmission and two engine variants - the in-line six cylinder 535i and the V8 550i - both with twin-turbo technology. The BMW 535i Gran Turismo has a maximum output of 306 hp with a top speed of 250 km/hr and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 6.3 seconds. The top-of-the-range engine, the BMW 550i Gran Turismo has a

maximum output of 407 hp with a top speed of 250 km/hr and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 5.5 seconds.

such as the Lane Departure Warning ensures that the driver stays within lane limits. The BMW Gran Turismo

A host of safety and comfort options are available on the model, including Driving Dynamic Control for variable drive settings depending on road conditions and Adaptive Headlights - a function that varies the angle of the headlight beam when it detects a change in direction. An active and passive warning system

also comes with a wide range of comfort touches and innovative entertainment options, including telecommunication and navigation systems, a multi-channel audio system, USB port, 80 GB Hard Disk, DVD entertainment system in the rear, four-zone automatic air conditioning, and a panorama glass roof.

Brand Finance rates Burgan Bank brand as AA with positive outlook Bank second among most valuable brands in Kuwait KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday that ‘Brand Finance’ - the international brand valuation company- rated Burgan Bank brand as AA with positive outlook. The rating places Burgan Bank Brand at 2nd amongst the most valuable banking brands in Kuwait. The brand ratings and values were recently published in “The Banker” magazine featuring the Brand Finance’s annual report on the world’s most valuable 500 banking brands.

Burgan Bank brand has climbed to the 500 global banking brands list and ranked as 397 globally and 19th across the GCC. Bashir Jaber, Burgan Bank’s Assistant General Manager Corporate Communications said: “We are pleased with our latest brand ratings, and ranking 2nd amongst other banking brands within Kuwait. This achievement echoes the deep levels of trust

amongst our stakeholders to whom we are thankful.”

“In modern business conditions, the brand is essentially important for business strategy success. Therefore, strategic

brand management is a vital component of Burgan Bank’s corporate strategy, which guides us in communicating the overarching brand message vividly, create customer loyalty, motivate staff,

Bashir Jaber, Burgan Bank’s Assistant General Manager Corporate Communications

secure business partners while also reassuring financial markets,” added Jaber There is an increased desire from leading organizations to fully understand brand equity as well as brand value when making strategic decisions. Burgan Bank brand has been created on a solid platform of trust and partnership, and one that ensures the delivery of international best practices across our operations,” added Jaber.

The global 500 banking brands, is an annual report published by “Brand Finance” in association with “ The Banker ” - a “financial times publication”.

Each brand is rated on the basis of a benchmarking study of the brand’s strength, risk and future potential relative to its competitors and a summary measure of the business’s financial strength and delivery.

Siemens, Volkswagen team up to drive environmental consciousness in Mideast DUBAI: Two world-class German brands, Siemens and Volkswagen, have created a partnership in the Middle East that will provide mobility solutions for employees that help further drive environmental awareness and behavioral change to help shape the future of mobility in the UAE. Through this collaboration, Siemens and

Volkswagen will roll-out a phased initiative in the UAE that will gradually upgrade Siemens’ entire car fleet across the GCC to be more environmentally friendly. The first phase will see an initial twelve standard and hybrid Volkswagen Touareg models handed over to Siemens for their use in the UAE. This will then be followed by a gradual

upgrade to fuel-efficient cars across the entire GCC. Commenting on the collaboration, Stefan Mecha, Managing Director, Volkswagen Middle East said: “Siemens and Volkswagen have had a long history of collaboration working on developing parts, technology and processes, and now we have this ecofriendly initiative. We look forward to providing cars and training for fuel efficient driving to Siemens employees in the UAE.” Given both companies’ commitment to innovation, the environment, responsible corporate behavior and value for its customers, this effort to reduce CO2 emissions makes complete sense for the companies to align on. The initiative also includes actions to educate employees on efficient driving skills to reduce fuel usage and get more economical benefit from the vehicles.

“This regional partnership is in line with Siemens’ global aim to help reduce CO2 emissions by 300 million tons” commented Dietmar Siersdorfer, CEO Energy Sector, Siemens Middle East. “But the cost savings that will come from more efficient fuel use also make this a smart thing to do from a business perspective,” explained Siersdorfer.

The Siemens and Volkswagen collaboration is also in line with the UAE government’s own efforts to promote environmentally friendly car fleets.

27

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft unveils Windows 8 test version Microsoft’s next Steve: Windows boss faces biggest test SEATTLE: For Steven Sinofsky, the stern but creative engineering manager who runs Microsoft Corp’s flagship Windows division, today is showtime. Today, in Barcelona, Sinofsky will preside over the public test release of the Windows 8 operating system, the most important new version of Microsoft’s cornerstone product in a decade. Optimized for touch computing and lowpower microprocessors, Windows 8 will run on tablets as well as desktops and laptops - and maybe even on phones in the future.

If it takes off, it could extend one of the most lucrative franchises in business history and restore some cachet to the fading Microsoft brand. It could also propel Sinofsky to the top job at the company when CEO Steve Ballmer eventually steps down. Frank Artale, managing director at Seattle-based venture capital firm Ignition, which was founded by a group of former Microsoft executives, said Sinofsky has both “the tech chops” and the “panache and showmanship” needed for the

job. Supporters credit Sinofsky with bringing order to the sometimes-chaotic software development process at Microsoft - partly by cutting layers of management through what is now referred to internally as “Sinofskyization” - and getting products out the door.

Critics say he lacks the necessary charisma for the top job, and question whether he has the technical brilliance of Gates or the incisive analytical ability and forceful personality of Ballmer. Most agree, though, that a strong performance for Windows 8 would all but make him the heir apparent.

Microsoft declined to make Sinofsky available for interview.

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will be the biggest stage yet for Sinofsky, 46, who is largely unknown outside of tech circles. Born in New York but raised in Florida, where his father ran a sports goods store, Sinofsky joined Microsoft as a software design engineer straight out of graduate school in 1989. He quickly caught the eye of then-chief executive Gates, who took him on as his

technical assistant. It was in that role that Sinofsky, while visiting his alma mater Cornell in early 1994, wrote to Gates to recount how the students and teachers had already come to see email and the Internet as “ubiquitous and expected as regular phone service.”

Gates credits Sinofsky, and his contemporary J Allard - the force behind the Xbox - for helping him to see the full extent of the Internet revolution. Following his stint in Gates’ office, Sinofsky was assigned to the Office team, which rivals Windows as the company’s most profitable product.

He was elevated to vice president in 1998, and after successfully driving the development of Office 2003 and Office 2007, he established a reputation as a “shipper,” a high honor at the company which values getting finished products into the market more than anything else.

He was moved over to the Windows unit in 2006, taking charge of it in 2009. Despite his powerful position, Windows

colleagues say Sinofsky known by his internal e-mail handle as ‘SteveSi’ - still takes the time to reply to emails personally and is usually chatty in the hallways, though he may

agement class at Harvard Business School. Some of his best blogs were used as the basis for a book called ‘One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision

Steven Sinofsky not always be the figure that Making,’ published by Wiley in people want to see coming the 2010, which he co-authored other way. Meetings with with a Harvard academic.

Sinofsky can be tough, col- Sinofsky stresses balancing leagues say, but he doesn’t what he calls “bottom-up” swear like Gates or scream like ideas from coders on the frontBallmer. line with the “top-down” needs Sinofsky has blogged at of managers who have to make length about his management sure the product matches the ideas, and even taught a man- strategy. “It’s a bottom-up plan

that is built and locked in a systematic way,” said a former senior executive, who worked with Sinofsky in the Windows unit.

“Everyone gets input on the plan, but once the plan is set, it’s set.”

Sinofsky is no longer involved in the day-to-day minutiae of coding: “My code was always nice and orderly, but I probably couldn’t write enough code fast enough to really be the very best at programming,” he wrote in 2005.

But he has the knowledge needed to crack the whip on those who are.

“The techs know they can’t sandbag him,” said one current staffer in the Windows unit.

Sinofsky joined the Windows unit at the tail end of 2006, just after the ill-fated Vista was released to PC manufacturers and being prepared for its full public launch in January 2007.

His first job was to develop a more ordered process for the next release.

That work came to fruition three years later with Windows 7, which has now sold 525 million copies. — Reuters

HP launches world’s 1st all-in-one workstation Device allows professionals to unleash creativity

PASADENA: NASA administrator Charles Bolden (third from left) listens to engineer Matt Robinson, during a tour of a replica of the Mars Science Laboratory rover at NASA’ Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. — AP

Scientists see red on NASA’s budget cuts WASHINGTON: NASA said Monday it’s not giving up on Mars, but it’ll have to get there later and at a lower price. Earlier this month, the president’s budget canceled joint US-European robotic missions to Mars in 2016 and 2018. Now top science officials say they are scrambling to come up with a plan by the end of the summer for a cut-rate journey to the red planet in 2018. NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld said he thinks there’s a better than even chance that NASA will not miss the 2018 opportunity. That’s when Mars passes closest to Earth, something that only happens once every 15 years. It offers a chance at fuel cost-savings and the ability to send up more equipment.

Agency officials who met with upset scientists on Monday seemed intent on salvaging a program that took some of the deepest science spending hits in the president’s budget. Until this month, NASA had been ramping up its Martian ambitions. Meanwhile, this summer, the most high-tech rover ever, Curiosity, will land near the Martian equator in search of the chemical building blocks of life.

The more scientists study Mars, the closer they get to answering whether microbial life once existed there, a clue to the ultimate question: Are we alone?

Two years ago, President Barack Obama stood at Kennedy Space Center and said it was more of a priority than going to the moon. He wanted astronauts there by the mid-2030s. But the two upcoming missions were then canceled along with the most ambitious Mars flight yet - one the National Academy of Sciences endorsed as the No 1 solar system priority. That was a plan to grab Martian rocks and soil and bring them back to Earth. Now that’s “not an option” given the current budget,

Grunsfeld said.

Mars researcher Steve Squyres of Cornell University, who headed the national academy panel said if NASA couldn’t make progress on a Mars sample return, the space agency should think about moving on to the next priorities, such as visiting Jupiter’s moon Europa.

“We’re really at a crossroads,” NASA planetary sciences chief Jim Green said. NASA said it doesn’t quite know what a reconfigured 2018 mission would look like, but it would be cost-capped at $700 million and it won’t be landing. If it’s lucky, it may orbit Mars.

After Curiosity lands in August, the next NASA Mars surface mission is probably close to a decade away, Grunsfeld said. To scientists, the message from the White House seems simple: Bye-bye, Mars. If Obama’s budget sails through as outlined, “in essence, it is the end of the Mars program,” said Phil Christensen, a Mars researcher at Arizona State University. It’s like “we’ve just flown Apollo 10 and now we’re going to cancel the Apollo program when we’re one step from landing,” he said. Stanford University professor Scott Hubbard, who used to run NASA’s Mars programs, said Mars researchers at the Monday meeting “were just sitting there sort of stunned and depressed.”

It’s not that NASA officials don’t think Mars is worth exploring further; it’s just that they don’t think they can afford it anymore. Obama has proposed cutting 10 other federal agency budgets this year including Defense, Homeland Security and Education. NASA’s 0.3 percent budget cut was among the smallest. In fact, the $28.3 billion cuts to the Defense Department dwarf NASA’s entire $17.7 spending plan for 2013. — AP

Yahoo! pokes Facebook NEW YORK: Yahoo! has accused Facebook of infringing on 10 to 20 patents and warned the social network to pay licensing fees or prepare for a possible lawsuit, the New York Times reported. The two companies discussed the matter on Monday, the Times said, citing unnamed individuals with knowledge of the matter. “Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property,” the Times quoted a Yahoo spokesman as saying.

“We must insist that Facebook either enter into a licensing agreement or we will be compelled to move forward uni-

laterally to protect our rights.” The Times quoted Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman, as saying: “Yahoo contacted us the same time they called The New York Times and so we haven’t had the opportunity to fully evaluate their claims.” Neither company could immediately be reached for comment. Patent disputes are common in Silicon Valley, but this one comes as Facebook is preparing to go public in a bid to raise $5 billion in the largest-ever flotation by an Internet company. Yahoo!, an Internet pioneer that has been struggling to reinvent itself in recent years, holds over 1,000 patents. — AFP

KUWAIT: HP yesterday unveiled the world’s first all-in-one workstation with a 68.6 cm (27”) diagonal display. Designed like no other, the display of the new HP Z1 Workstation snaps open so users can easily swap out parts and make upgrades without any tools required. (1) The HP Z1 combines a sleek industrial design with accelerated performance featuring Intel Xeon processors,(2) NVIDIA Quadro graphics, support for more than 1 billion colors(3) and HP’s world-class reliability.

Built for computer-aided design, digital media, entertainment, architects, education and independent professionals, the HP Z1 provides blazingly fast rendering and performance. It offers a full range of workstation-class graphics cards and processors, and is thoroughly tested and certified to work with today’s leading industry applications.

Whether it’s an engineer creating 3-D components, an architect designing buildings, a videographer editing event footage or photographer finishing photo shots, the HP Z1 gives creative professionals the power they need to bring ideas to life faster.

“The revolutionary HP Z1 creates a new category of workstations elevating the standard for design, performance, upgradability and

serviceability,” said Kobi Elbaz, director, Commercial Solutions, HP Personal Systems Group EMEA. “With its game-changing design and an experience that optimizes visual and computing

WORKSTATION PERFORMANCE- Features professional NVIDIA Quadro graphics, ECC memory, quad-core Intel Xeon processors,(2) independent software vendor solutions and whis-

performance, the HP Z1 will help attract new customers and expand our market leadership.”

Workstation performance

per-quiet acoustics.

TOOL-LESS CHASSIS - Users can easily add a hard drive, upgrade memory or access the

graphics card by snapping open the chassis to swap out parts.

WORKSTATION-CLASS STORAGE - Users can choose from a variety of storage types, including 7.2K and 10K SATA, SSD, optional RAID configurations, a multiformat media card reader and optical drives.(5) PROFESSIONAL DISPLAY The 68.6 cm (27”) white LED display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 supports more than 1 billion colors(3) and features a wide, 178-degree viewing angle and an in-plane switching (IPS) panel.

HIGH-FIDELITY AUDIO - Front-facing dual-cone speakers and SRS Premium Sound offer high-fidelity audio.

HD WEBCAM - Have face-toface meetings and see every detail right down to the twinkle of an eye. Also captures HD-quality video.(5) HP REMOTE GRAPHICS SOFTWARE - Users can work remotely while still accessing the high-performance 2-D, 3-D, video and media-rich applications they count on. HP PERFORMANCE ADVISOR - Reduces the time spent troubleshooting by providing a consolidated report of the workstation’s hardware and software configuration that can be used to tune the workstation for specifically professional application workloads with just one click.

Mozilla goes after Android and Apple LG and Hitachi name senior executives for joint venture KUWAIT: LG Electronics (LG) and Hitachi Plant Technologies, Ltd named two senior executives to run its joint venture water treatment company, which began operations on February 1, this year. The two companies named Young-ha Lee Chief Executive Officer and Hidenao Kawai Chief Operating Officer for the new joint venture. The new company, LG-Hitachi Water Solutions Co, Ltd, will be based in Seoul and is expected to play a significant role in the rapidly growing water treatment industry.

Lee, a 33-year veteran of LG Electronics, is currently an LG Electronics president and the company’s Business Support Officer. Lee served in various positions during his notable career, most recently as president and CEO of LG’s Home Appliance Company. He is quite familiar with Japanese corporate culture, having been stationed in Tokyo from 1986 to 1990.

“Human use of water has increased more than 30fold over the past three centuries but less than 1 percent of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for human use,” said Young-ha Lee, CEO of LG-Hitachi Water Solutions Co, Ltd. “LG and the Hitachi -two of the most diversified companies in the world-will combine their resources to developing innovative solutions for the world’s water problems.”

By combining LG’s strength in manufacturing and technology with Hitachi Plant Technologies’ advanced R&D and expertise in water-related industries, LGHitachi Water Solutions is well positioned for a strong entrance into the Korean and global market. The company will initially focus on manufacturing and sales of water treatment equipment, EPC1 for water treatment systems and O&M2 for water treatment facilities.

BARCELONA: Mozilla, which brought the free web browser Firefox to the masses, now wants to do the same for mobile users, with a new open source operating system that could drastically slash smartphone prices. The non-profit group’s so-called Boot to Gecko project will go after Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS, to create an alternative which could generate smartphones that are “10 times cheaper” than an iPhone while offering similar experiences to those running on other platforms.

“We want to pioneer a category,” Brendan Eich, who is Mozilla’s chief technology officer, told AFP at the world’s biggest mobile fair in Barcelona. “We see the mobile world recreating the wall of gardens in the 1990s that AOL had,” lamented Eich, referring to restrictions imposed by the Internet provider two decades ago.

Mozilla therefore wants to “disrupt” the closed system, and open it up to competition for greater innovation.

The idea is for a platform that is completely reliant on the web, meaning that all of the phones capabilities, including calls, messaging, and browsing functions, would be web-based.

Being on the web removes the need for much of the intermediary software that requires large memory or speedy processors-both of which are expensive. As a result, it is able to cut costs dramatically. The group has partnered with Telefonica on the project, with the Spanish giant aiming to ship phones running on the new OS this

year. For Carlos Domingo, Telefonica Digital director of product development, the development spells massive opportunities in Latin America, where smartphones are not catching on because of their prohibitive prices. A new phone on the Mozilla platform, could be “more than 10 times cheaper” than an iPhone, Domingo said.

It could even be competitive compared to the cheapest phone on Finnish giant Nokia’s Lumia line, which runs on the Windows platform and will begin shipping this year at 189 euros.

“We can probably do two to three times cheaper than that,” said Domingo, who aims to have the phones commercialized in six to eight months. Brazil is a typical target market for Telefonica because it has 75 percent mobile penetration rate, but just five percent on smartphones.

Nevertheless, Mozilla will face stiff challenges from Android and Apple, the runaway smartphone leaders.

Microsoft too, will be launching its new Windows 8 at the Mobile World Congress tomorrow, as it seeks to claw back some market share in the rapidly growing smartphone industry.

But Eich, who invented the popular programming language JavaScript, believes the new system could hold its own against competitors. “If you believe that iOS and Android have about 70 or 80 percent of the market and if you believe that the remaining 20 percent will not be fragmented, ...we would hope to be 80 percent of that 20 percent,” he said. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

Common sleeping pills linked with higher risk Pills associated with 320,000—507,000 deaths

ISHINOMAKI: This file photo shows a cemetery littered with cars deposited by the tsunami in Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture. — AFP

Scientists discuss latest tsunami debris forecast HONOLULU: Tsunamis generated by the magnitude-9 earthquake in Japan last March dragged 3 million to 4 million tons of debris into the ocean after tearing up Japanese harbors and homes. Scientists believe ocean currents are carrying some of the lumber, refrigerators, fishing boats and other objects across the Pacific toward the United States. One to 5 percent of the 1 million to 2 million tons of debris still in the ocean may reach Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington and British Columbia, said University of Hawaii senior researcher and ocean current exper t Nikolai Maximenko.

That’s only a portion of the 20 million to 25 million tons of debris the tsunamis generated altogether, including what was left on land. Maximenko is planning to discuss his latest estimates for where the debris is and when it may wash ashore at a news conference yesterday. Last year, his team estimated debris could arrive in Hawaii in early 2013. Some debris appears to have already arrived in the US, like a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from

Japanese oyster farms found in Alaska late last year. Nicholas Mallos, conservation biologist and marine debris specialist for the Ocean Conservancy, said many of the objects are expected to be from Japan’s fishing industry. The conservancy is hosting the news conference.

Fishing gear could harm wildlife - like endangered Hawaiian monk seals - if it washes up on coral reefs or beaches. “The major question is how much of that material has sank since last year, and how much of that remains afloat or still in the water column,” Mallos said. It’s unclear whether items like refrigerators will make it across because there’s little precedent for such things in the ocean. Computer models created by the University of Hawaii indicate the debris is spread far apart across thousands of miles from the eastern coast of Japan to an area some 1,000 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands. “The debris field is largely dispersed over a large area. And because of that dispersion, we can no longer rely on satellite imagery to track the debris,” Mallos said.— AP

PARIS: Commonly-prescribed sleeping pills are linked to a more-than fourfold risk of premature death, according to an American study published in the journal BMJ Open on Monday.

These medications were also associated at higher doses with a 35-percent increased risk of cancer as compared with non-users, but the reason for this is unclear.

Doctors led by Daniel Kripke of the Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, looked at the medical records of more than 10,500 adults living in Pennsylvania who were taking prescribed sleeping aids.

These were compared against more than 23,600 counterparts, matched for age, health and background, who did not take these drugs. The study ranged over two and a half years, and looked at widely-prescribed sleeping pills, including benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepines, barbiturates and sedatives. The overall number of deaths that

occurred during this period was small in both groups, being less than a thousand in total. But there was a striking difference in mortality, the researchers found.

those who took less than 18 annual doses were more than 3.5 times likelier to die. “Rough orderof-magnitude estimates... suggest that in 2010, hypnotics (sleeping

Those who took between 18 and 132 doses of the pills per year were 4.6 times likelier to die than the “control” group. Even

pills) may have been associated with 320,000 to 507,000 excess deaths in the USA alone,” says the study. Details of how individuals

Wii games ‘don’t mean’ that kids exercise more

Still hungry? Have ‘second breakfast’ NEW YORK: Sometimes one breakfast isn’t enough. So why not sneak in a second or a third? On-the-go Americans increasingly are consuming their morning calories over several hours instead of sitting down to devour a plate of pancakes, bacon and eggs in one sitting.

The case of the morning munchies is being fueled by the belief that it’s healthier to eat several smaller meals instead of three squares a day. What qualifies as a snack or a meal is a matter of perspective, of course. But food companies are rolling out smaller bites that feed the growing appetite for morning snacks.

General Mills, Quaker Oats and others are adding to their lineup of breakfast bars and yogurts. Sara Lee’s Jimmy Dean this summer introduced mini breakfast sandwiches. And fast food chains like McDonald’s in recent years have expanded their breakfast menus to include morning snacks like smoothies and a fruit-and-walnut pack. “It’s breakfast in stages,” says Liz Sloan, president of Sloan Trends, a food industry consulting group. “They’ll eat something at home, then stop at Starbucks or a convenience store for coffee and maybe a little snack.” The deconstruction of breakfast is happening as more Americans eat their meals outside of the home. After all, it’s easier and less time-consuming to pop a few snacks in your purse or backpack for later rather than to sit down for a big meal.

Market researcher The NPD Group estimates that the number of times people snack in the mornings will jump 23 percent between 2008 and 2018. That’s compared with a 20 and 15 percent increase in afternoon and evening snacking, respectively. Of course, marketers have tried before to get people to eat outside of typical meal times. For instance, Taco Bell launched the “Fourthmeal” ad campaign in 2006 to tap into customers’ late-night cravings with menu items such as the 980-calorie “Volcano Nachos.”

Marketing morning snacks is trickier, though. That’s because mornings are a time when people generally want to feel virtuous about their eating habits. So to make the idea of tearing into a snack before noon easier to swallow, food companies are touting nutritional benefits of their packaged goodies. That means products that are less than 300 calories and have more fiber, whole grains or antioxidants. The idea is that such snacks will help people stay energized or feel full longer.

That healthy halo is important for Monalissa Paredes, who eats several smaller meals throughout the day to control her weight. She starts out with a handful of almonds on the way to work. Once at the office, she nukes a bowl of instant oatmeal.

Then she has a cup of yogurt a few hours later.

“I don’t really feel like I eat breakfast anymore,” says the 27-year-old New York City resident who works in communications. “It’s just a bunch of snacks and then dinner.”

There’s no definitive ruling on whether spreading calories over multiple smaller meals is better than three square meals a day. But experts say all the extra snacking throughout the day could lead to expanding waistlines.

David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University, says the problem is that people often wind up consuming more calories when they switch to eating smaller meals throughout the day. “If you reduce everything, that’s fine. But that’s not what we do,” Levitsky says. “When you add in snacks, you’re usually just adding calories.”

Food companies nevertheless are betting on Americans’ willingness to take their snacking habit into the morning hours. Kraft this month is launching an advertising campaign for its MilkBite granola bars, which the company says provide the same amount of calcium as a glass of milk. General Mills introduced its 140-calorie Fiber One bars in just two flavors in 2007. Since then, the company has introduced three new flavors as well as 90-calorie versions of the bars. Last year, the company added a Fiber One brownie. Additionally, General Mills rolled out Yoplait Greek yogurts multipacks a year ago in honey vanilla and strawberry; coconut and cherry pomegranate were added this fall. The company says the Greek yogurts have twice the amount of protein as regular yogurt and offers “a great, convenient snack to help satisfy midmorning hunger.” And earlier this year, Quaker Oats began selling a softbaked banana nut bar that it says combines “the taste of your favorite baked goods with healthy ingredients.” The bar has 140 calories, 5 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein. “If you have a lull at 10 am, it’s going to help you get through to lunch,” says Candace Mueller Medina, a spokeswoman for Quaker Oats, which is owned by PepsiCo. “It’s a perfect midmorning snack for people who crave something sweet before lunch.”— AP

WSHINGTON: Virtual boxing, tennis and dancing along with video game systems may not be helping children meet daily exercise requirements, according to a US study. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas found that children who were given so-called active video games to play on a Nintendo Wii didn’t end up logging any more moderate or vigorous physical activity than those given games they could play sitting on the couch. Some public health researchers have hoped that active video games might be an alternative to outdoor play and sports for at least some of the physical activity children need, especially for those who live in unsafe neighborhoods where playing outside isn’t always an option.

“We expected that playing the video games would in fact lead to a substantial increase in physical activity in the children,” said Tom Baranowski and colleagues at Baylor. “Frankly, we were shocked by the complete lack of difference.” For the study, they passed out Wii consoles to 78 children who didn’t already have one. Half were given their choice of an active game, such as Wii Spor ts or Dance Dance RevolutionHottest Party 3, and the other half their choice of inactive game, such as Disney Sing-It Pop Hits or Super Mario Galaxy.

Halfway through the study, which was published in Pediatrics, the children-all 9 to 12-years-old and above average weight-got their choice of a second game from the same category as their first.

Baranowski and his colleagues tracked the children for 13 weeks, testing their physical activity levels with a motion-measuring device called an accelerometer. Participants wore the devices on a belt during four different

week-long periods throughout the study, which allowed the research team to determine when they were sedentary, lightly exercising, or engaged in moderate-to-vigorous exercise. Accelerometer logs showed that throughout the study period, children with the active games didn’t get any more exercise than those given inactive video games.

At weeks one, six, seven and 12, children in the active game group got an average of 25 to 28 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity each day, compared to between 26 and 29 minutes for those in the inactive video game group. There was also no difference in the time spent doing light physical activity or being sedentary during any week the researchers monitored. Baranowski said his team couldn’t tell if children just didn’t exert much energy playing the active games, or if they compensated for exercise they got playing Wii with less exercise at other points in the day.

Nintendo was not available for comment and other researchers said that while the games were no substitute for the real thing, they might be better than no exercise at all. It’s possible that children playing active Wii games burned a few extra calories that the movement device didn’t pick up on-for instance, if they were moving their arms a lot in a boxing game, said Jacob Barkley, an exercise scientist from Kent State University in Ohio who didn’t take part in the study. “Maybe the Wii isn’t going to increase physical activity a whole heck of a lot,” Barkley told Reuters Health. “But it might increase caloric expenditure a bit more than a traditional sedentary video game, and if you do that on a daily basis that could have a cumulative effect that might be beneficial.” — Reuters

died were not disclosed, and the authors stress that they have found a statistical link but not a cause. But they sound the alarm, given the vast number of people who take these drugs. “We estimate that approximately six to 10 percent of US adults used these drugs in 2010 and the percentages may be higher in parts of Europe,” they write.

The average age of the people in the study was 54. The researchers say they took into account factors that could skew the comparison between the two groups, such as whether an individual smoked or had a pre-existing health condition. However, they were unable to take depression, anxiety and other emotional factors into account, as these diagnoses are kept secret under Pennsylvania law. Previous research into sleeping pills has found a link with car accidents and serious falls, “night-eating syndromes” of bingeing on food, regurgitation in the oesophagus and peptic ulcer disease.— AFP

Illegal drugs sold via social media VIENNA: Illegal Internet pharmacies are selling illicit drugs and prescription medicines online and are increasingly targeting young people, a UN drug agency warned yesterday. The International Narcotics Control Board also described North America as continuing to be “the world’s largest illicit drug market” in 2010; parts of Europe as the homes of industrial scale cannabis factories; and growing poppy cultivation in West Asia.

Focusing on Internet pharmacies as a growing threat, a summary of the agency’s 2011 report cited the agency’s head, Hamid Ghodse, as saying such use of social media “can put large, and especially young, audiences at risk of dangerous products.”

The Vienna-based board urged governments to close down illegal Internet pharmacies. It also called on them to seize substances that have been illicitly ordered on the Internet and smuggled through the mail.

The organization noted “high levels of illicit drug production manufacture, trade and consumption,” with “vast amounts produced in all three countries” in North America - the United States, Canada and Mexico. About 90 percent of the cocaine reaching the United States is transited through Mexico, even as an increasingly harsh crackdown by Mexican authorities is forcing some drug cartels to move their operations to Central America, the agency said. It identified Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua as achieving the status of “major transit countries for smuggling drugs primarily destined for the United States” in 2010.

Cannabis was a major problem in Western and Central Europe, with plants “increasingly cultivated on an industrial scale, mainly indoors, and with the involvement of organized criminal groups,” the agency said. “Europe accounts for the largest proportion of the global opiate market, and the abuse of heroin is the biggest drug problem in Europe in terms of morbidity and mortality,” according to the summary. The agency noted “significant increases in opium production” in West Asia last year and warned that higher prices for crop growers in Afghanistan and planned cutbacks in international troops in the country “could lead to even further increases in production beyond 2011.”

It identified parts of Africa as representing a growing problem, both in terms of drug transit routes and of opiate consumption. Cocaine trafficking from South America through Africa and into Europe “has emerged as a major threat in recent years,” the agency said, with criminals increasingly shipping the drugs in containers and commercial aircraft. “Heroin enters the continent through East Africa and is smuggled, either directly or via West Africa, into Europe and other regions,” said the summary noting that authorities made “record seizures” of heroin in Kenya and Tanzania last year.— AP

Indonesia releases orangutans into the wild JAKARTA: Four orangutans were released into the wild on Indonesia’s Borneo Island yesterday, an official said, as the country ramps up efforts to protect the animals from extinction. They were the first among 40 orangutans planned to be released by t h e end o f t he year, M eg a Hariyanto, the forestr y ministr y ’s conser vation chief for Ce ntral K alimantan province said. “ The orangutans were flown from the rehabilitation centre to a town near the Bukit Batikap forest on Monday.

A team of vets took them to the forest this morning by helicopter,” he said. The release was a collaborative effort between the Forestry Ministry and non-profit organization Borneo Orangutan Sur vival (BOS)

Foundation, Hariyanto said. “ There are still more than 600 individual orangutans at the Central K alimantan Orangutan Rein troduc tion Proj ec t wh o are waiting to be released back to their natural habitat,” the organization said in a press statement. A dozen more orangutans are expected to be set free by end of next month, it added. Experts say there are about 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia.

They are faced with extinction from poaching and the rapid destruction of their forest habitat, driven largely by palm oil and paper plantations.

Conser vationists in the region have been raising awareness about

the plight of the endangered primates in various ways. “Born to be Wild”, a documentar y by Warner Bros an d IMAX wh ic h ha s b e e n screening worldwide since last year, shows primate exper t and Orangutan Foundation International founder Birute Mary Galdikas rescue, rehabilitate and return orphaned orangutans into the wild. The film’s producers last week screened the film in the jungle where, according to the crew, at least four orangutans watched themselves on screen. “ Their reac tion was great.

Orangutans have shor t attention span and it is incredible to have them sit 10 to 15 minutes to watch the movie,” crew member Frederick Galdikas said.— AFP

PALANGKARAYA: Photo shows Monic, a female orangutan who was released in Bukit Batikap Conservation forest yesterday. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

H E A LT H

Pills as good as stents for stable heart patients Analysis finds stents have no advantage over drugs CHIC AGO: Treating stable hear t patients with a handful of pills works just as well as propping open blocked heart arteries with a stent, US researchers said on M onday, adding to evidence that less-invasive, less- costly drug treatment works as well as implanting a medical device in such patients. Stents, made by companies such as Boston Scientific Corp, Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic Inc, are still the preferred treatment for opening up blocked heart arteries in patients rushed to the hospital with an acute heart attack.

But several studies have shown the heart devices are no better than drugs in patients with stable heart disease, in which heart arteries have narrowed and may be causing chest pain. The latest analysis by Dr K athleen Stergiopoulous and Dr David Brown of Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, published in the Archives of I nte r n a l M edicine, at temp t s to knock down lingering arguments that earlier results were based on outdated technology. Older analyses had included data from trials comparing drug treatments with

balloon angioplasty, in which a balloon-tipped catheter is inserted and the balloon is inflated to open the narrowed passage.

For the latest so - called metaanalysis, the team pooled data only from newer studies that compared drug treatments with stents - a wiremesh tube used to prop open the artery and prevent it from reclosing.

“The question was is there any benefit to stenting the block ages in these patients as an initial therapy procedure over treating them with optimal medical therapy and referring them to get a stent if necessar y,” Brown said in a telephone interview.

The analysis included results on more than 7,200 patients enrolled in eight studies between 1997 and 2005 comparing stents with medical therapy in stable heart patients with narrowed sections in their hear t arteries.

“The result showed quite clearly there was no benefit of stenting as far as reducing death, heart attack, repeat procedures and even reducing symptomatic angina (chest pain),” Brown said. He added that his analysis was the first to include only

studies that used stents, and the results offered the most up-to-date comparison of the benefits of stenting procedures with modern medical therapy, which includes aspirin, a variety of blood pressure medicines such as beta-blockers, ACEinhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers and cholesterol-lowering statins.

‘MISSES THE MARK’ Still, some doctors were not satisfied. “The meta-analysis published in Archives of Internal Medicine uses old data, from 1995 to 2005, which offer little, if any, new information to guide clinical care,” Dr. Theodore Bass, vice president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, a group of heart doctors that specialize in stenting procedures. Bass said in an email that the study “misses the mark” on the quality-of-life concerns for patients and that stenting procedures helped relieve chest pain, or angina, in stable patients. Dr William Boden of the Samuel S. Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany, New York, who wrote a commentary in the journal, said relieving angina appeared to be

the “last remaining sacred cow” for doctors who argue in favor of stents over drugs.

Boden is the lead author of a large study called COURAGE published in 2007 in the New England Journal of Medicine that was one of the first to challenge the value of stents and angioplasty over drug treatment. In that study, patients with chest pain did get slightly more pain relief with stenting, but those benefits only lasted one to three years. “ They are not durable,” he said. More recent studies could not show stents were any better than drugs at relieving angina, he contended. Boden and Brown attribute the changes to improvements in medications, and given that most of them are generic, getting more doctors to choose drugs first could save a lot in health costs.

“In the context of controlling rising health care costs in the United States, this study suggests that up to 76 percent of patients with stable coronary artery disease could avoid percutaneous coronary intervention (such as stenting) altogether if treated with optimal medical therapy,” Brown and Stergiopoulous wrote.

But fewer than half of Americans with stable coronary artery disease who get a stent have been treated with drugs first, Dr Rita Redberg, editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, said in an editorial. She said more than 1 million stents were implanted each year to treat coronary artery disease in the hopes that s te nt s woul d wor k b e t te r t ha n drugs, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

Brown said par t of the reason doctors ignored those studies was that there was a big financial incentive to use stents versus drugs. “If I put a stent in you, I submit a bill for my fee, which could be $1,000 to $2,000. The hospital submits another bill for using the hospital, the stent, the equipment and nursing time,” he said. The whole thing could add up to $20,000 or $30,000. Brown therefore doubts the study will sway too many doctors, but said it may influence insurance companies. “A few prac titioners might change their behavior, but third-party payers will be influenced by it and they will start by making stricter criteria for reimbursing these procedures,” he said.— Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N The 7th annual PAWS dog show

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egistration is now open for entry into the 2012 ‘PAWS for the Cause’ Kuwait Dog Show. The show will take place in the beautiful gardens of the British Embassy on Friday March 9th from 11 - 4pm.

Join us for a variety of lighthearted dog shows, Best junior Handler, Most Mysterious Heritage and the Pet Pageant, (to name but a few). Shop for pet products, visit a variety of stalls, strut your mutt for others to admire or enjoy a tasty lunch in the gardens.

PAWS’ Dog Show is always a fun filled event for all the family, whether or not you own a pet’ If you wish to enter your dog into the show, or attend without pets, download the registration form from the PAWS’ website www.paws-kuwait.org This is strictly a pre registered event and no ‘walk-ins’ by un registered guests can be permitted.

Full names of all attendees must be submitted in advance via the show registration form (on website). All participating dogs must be pre registered and adult Civil ID (or passport) must be shown on entrance.

Completed registration forms can be left at drop off points on certain days, details of these will be found on our website. Please ensure you bring your form with correct admission fee to one of these venues. Registration closes March 3rd. It is not necessary to own or bring a dog in order to enjoy a fun-filled family day out. Entry is strictly by pre-registration of pets and people. Please read show rules and regulations on the Registration Form carefully. No mobile phones or cameras will be allowed into the embassy.

It’s a small world after all

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ot wanting to be left behind, the LKGs of Carmel School displayed their talents on the 16th of Feb 2012 at their annual day “We are the world” a week after the UKGs. Once again the kids proved beyond a doubt that they are not to be under estimated because they learn quickly and copy their role model to the letter. The program began with a prayer song “Peace and Harmony” wherein the little ones thanked God for their parents and teachers.

The chief guest for the evening was Rita Mathur, who was delighted with the children’s performance and stressed the need for parents and teachers alike to recognize and appreciate the individuality of every child in all its uniqueness. The children put up a variety entertainment for their parents of recitation, song, skit and dance like Chamak Chalo, the Value of Zero and Tail House Rock to mention a few.

The curtain came down on an appropriate finale “We are the world” in which the tiny tots represented different countries through their costumes and dances and sent home the message - “We are the ones who make a brighter day tomorrow”.

Announcements Kuwait Improv Fun lovers of Kuwait unite. A get together by people who love to surprise, be surprised and just be about at anything are welcome to Kuwait Improv, a gathering, reminiscent of the famous American TV program Whose Line is it Anyway, informally organized by American School of Kuwait teacher Brad Manker. No histrionic talent required, but a willingness to share. Please contact: mankerb@ask.edu Tulu speaking classes Here’s a great opportunity for parents who always wished their children could learn Tulu. Tulu Koota Kuwait, in its objective towards promoting Tulu language and culture, is pleased to announce the opening of Tutu Speaking Classes “Tulu Siri” at Indian Public School Salmiya @ 11:30 am. For more details kindly contact Ramesh Kidiyoor97204716/99596457,Shalini Vijay 66502369,Tharendra P. Shettigar 66757979,Jayalaxmi Karkal - 66958848, Sathyanarayana Salian - 66585077,Vanitha Dias94996459. And our Website: www.tulukootakuwait.org Email: info@tulukootakuwait.org Music festival On March 1, 2012, the “Blend Music Festival,” a mellow acoustic get-together of several local musicians, will take place in Bayt Lothan, the official sponsor, host, and curator of the event. This event will be FREE of charge and open to everyone to attend. We hope to see you all there, and here’s to a great start to 2012! The “Blend Music Festival” will be the first of many concerts to be held; there are a handful of musicians on board, and more will be added to the sets at a later stage. Here is the program for March 1st: 1- Ali Sleeq with Gary Ruston & Kevin Owen = JAZZ; 2- Hadi Sarieddine, Bader Nana, & Sarj = ROCK; 3- Lewis Chapman - FOLK / ROCK. Free Arabic language course IPC and all its branches are opening free Arabic language course for ladies accessible in beginners and advanced levels. Class will commence on March 2, 2012. Islamic and Quran courses are also presented in different languages. Registration is on! Call the nearest IPC branch: Rawdah: 22512257 / 97290278; Salmiyah: 25733263 / 97533263; Mangaf: 23723002 ext. 124/123; Jahra: 24558830 / 97533948; Khaithan: 24730137.

Balakrishna to visit Kuwait Prominent Telugu film Hero Nandamuri Balakrishna coming to Kuwait on 5th April 2012 for 2 days upon the invitation of Pravasaandhra Telugu Desam, NBK seva samithi. Nadamuri Balakrishna is popularly known as “Balayya” and “NBK” by his fans and admirers. He is the son of the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu film legend Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. He then starred in many critical and commercial films and established himself as one of the leading contemporary actors of Telugu Cinema. In addition to films, Balakrishna is associated with several philanthropic and social organizations activities.

Kuwait Mar Thoma Parish celebrates Parish Festival

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he Kuwait Mar Thoma Parish enthusiastically and successfully celebrated their 10th Parish Festival at the Indian Central School, Abbassiya. The climate was not favorable and the participation of the members as well as the well wishers of

Kuwait Mar Thoma Parish, was very high. The highlight of the inaugural ceremony was a beautiful and energetic presentation performed by Kuwait Mar Thoma Sunday School students. The inaugural function was presided by Vice President of the Parish, Adv

John Thomas. The Chaplain of Vellore Christian College, Dr Sunny Philip inaugurated the function. The chief guests lighted the traditional lamp. The highlight of this year’s Parish Festival was an orchestra by famous playback singer K G Markose. Parish mem-

bers enjoyed a variety of entertainment programs such as ‘Katha Prasangam’, instrumental music fusion, Munshi, flash mob, etc while kids participated in painting and other games. Several food counters were arranged including ‘Tattu Kada’.

Kala-Kuwait conducts free medical camp

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erala Art Lovers Association (KalaKuwait) conducted free medical camp in association with Indian Doctors Forum (IDF) on February 17th, Friday at Carmel School, Khaitan. Indian Embassy First Secretary Sri Vidhu P Nair inaugurated the camp. Out of the 1500 applicants who registered their names at

Kala office and at various units of Kala, 650 applicants were screened and were selected to utilize this free medical camp facility.

These included a large crowd of men and women - mainly working as domestic servants. Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Philipines, Egyptians and Indonesians also effectively utilized the camp.

39 expertise doctors in the fields of general medicine, dermatology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, gynecology and much more provided medical guidance and screening to the patients.

Suitable arrangements were also made at the camp for checking the blood sugar and blood pressure. Under the leadership

of Kala, 39 paramedical staff and 150 volunteers relentlessly offered their dedicated efforts for the success of the medical camp. Kala and IDF have also taken necessary measures to provide future medical treatments to those patients who require it immediately in addition to the checkups conducted at the camp.

EDA organizes farewell party for Ajumon

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rnakulum District Association (EDA) bid a very warm farewell on Feb 25th, 2012 for Ajumon, who is leaving to Kerala for good, after 10 years of his service in Kuwait. He has been a sincere and active member of EDA from the Hassavi Unit, ever since the organization was formed. His dynamic personality, adorned with distinguished diligence and dedication, made him very dear to everyone. EDA Vice President Capt Johnson, presented a gift to Ajumon, and wished him all the best in all his future endeavors.

The EDA General Secretary, Madhu Warrier thanked Ajumon for all his prolific and persistent efforts that were sin-

cerely executed for the success of all EDA’s activities in the past. Madhu Warrier honored Ajumon by presenting a Memento and expressed all best wishes to him and his family. The EDA Unit conveners and all the Central Committee Members appreciated the past active participation and cooperation of Ajumon, and assured him that it will be remembered by everyone in EDA. Later the Hassavi Unit of Ernakulam District Association also arranged a separate Farewell Party for Ajumon with music and dinner. He was presented a gift by the Unit Convener, Sunil Kumar on behalf of the Unit members.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

Marriott Hotels celebrate national festivities in style

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n lieu of the Kuwait National Day and Liberation Day, the JW Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott Kuwait Hotels recently launched the Peace Flag Competition at the Peace Garden, in front of the palace of Sheikh Nasser AlMohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah. The Peace Flag competition is part of Marriott’s “spirit to serve” initiative and is aimed at celebrating the country’s national festivities with Marriott’s associates and their family members.

The event is consisted of a spray painting competition of the 20 meter Kuwaiti flag. Four participating groups of 10- 12 associates and school children between 510 years helped spray paint the flag for each color - red, black, green and white which symbolized the national flag. Each group spray painted the part of the flag they were responsible for and assembled it together to reveal a remarkably beautiful flag.

The flag, when completed, was project-

ed using a large crane, and the national anthem was played in the background while white pigeons were freed into the

air to add to the country’s festive mood.

The 50 associates received tokens of appreciation, and the winning team

received a lunch /dinner voucher to dine at one of the Marriot’s renowned restaurants. George Aoun, General Manager of JW Marriott and the Courtyard by Marriott Kuwait said, “It was thrilling to watch the children and associates partake in an event of such great pride for the country.

Their efforts were a sheer display of team spirit adding to the patriotism Kuwait has showcased over the decades while enjoying the spirit of community engagement, one of Marriott’s bedrock corporate social responsibility pillars. I would to thank Dr Yacoub Al-Shatti Director of Government Relations at the Courtyard by Marriott, for this initiative and innovative idea”. Believing that strong neighborhoods, towns, and cities are vital to the well-being of the society and economy, Marriott feels the special responsibility and role to play in helping communities thrive, aiming to make every Marriott community a better place to live and work.

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the Embassy. The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, AlMutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 A.M until 12:00 P.M on Sunday through Wednesday. Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home.

The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.uae.gc.ca. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies. Registration information can be emailed to cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227 or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine). nnnnnnn

GUST Historical Archaeology class visits National Museum

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o mark the Kuwait National and Liberation Days, the class of Historical Archaeology at the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), decided to take a trip to the Kuwait National Museum where the students visited the main sections: Archaeological Artifacts, Kuwaiti Heritage, the Planetarium and separately, the Sadu House.

“Museums are a reflection of any nation’s culture. They show the different historical stages the nation has gone through. A person can travel back centuries through the history of their country. This can enable any nation to learn from their past to avoid making the same mistakes their ancestors made,” Abdullah Al-Najdi said. Visiting the Archaeological Artifacts, most students were really surprised that some of artifacts date back to 3000 BC. There was a big variety from each time period; some of from the Neolithic period, others from the Bronze Age, the Hellenistic Age and even the Islamic Age.

Seeing the items in the Kuwaiti Heritage section, students came to a better understanding of how their forefathers lived. The behavior of some of their still-living grandfathers

now made more sense to them, which will lead to a stronger bond between the two generations. They were amazed to see the pictures of the old Kuwait cities with all the stores and

figures of the community like the “Tawwash,” the “Kharraz,” the Herbalist...etc. In the Planetarium dome, the show was projected on the ceiling. The projector released a full documentary about theories of how the universe was created. This atmosphere took the students into an imaginative trip in their minds in which they realized how small they are in comparison to the huge universe. In the Sadu House, students learnt about a very important traditional craft performed by older women. One could differentiate between the styles which belonged to different parts of society.

The Bedouin style was more colorful and overly detailed, while the city people made cleaner items with one or two colors; although both were made of sheep wool. The trip was an eye-opening experience to different aspects of history and it was definitely enjoyable. It will take a lot of time to absorb what was seen there and take full advantage of it.

McDonald’s Kuwait celebrates Annual Party

EMBASSY OF KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref.

New Address: Embassy of the Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturdays to Thursday Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy will move its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location from 26 January, 2012. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, e-mail:myankuwait11@gmai1.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF RUSSIA Embassy of the Russian Federation will hold the elections of the President of the Russian Federation on March 3, 2012 between 8 am and 8 pm in the Embassy’s premises by the address: Kuwait City, Daiya, Block 5, Diplomatic campus, Plot 17. All Russians are invited to participate. They are requested to present valid Russian passports. nnnnnnn

M

cDonald’s Kuwait recently held its Annual Party at Crowne Plaza Hotel. The five nights of festivities brought together the crew, restaurant management and senior management which served as a stage for presenting awards to employees who contributed to the success of McDonald’s throughout the year. All attendees were treated to a fun night of live entertainment and exciting activities where numerous prizes and giveaways were handed out.

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” (+ 965) 972-79-206. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF VENEZUELA Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, request Venezuelan citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy, This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Venezuelan citizens in cases os emergencies. Registration Information 25324367 or by email: embavenez@gmail.com. Our time is from Sunday to Thursday from 8.30am till 2 pm. nnnnnnn

P Jayachandran to perform in Kuwait

P

Kuwait Kerala Muslim Cultural Center (KKMCC) held a rally to mark Kuwait National and Liberation days.

aliyath Jayachandran, popularly known as P Jayachandran, who has won India’s national award, four Kerala state awards and four Tamil Nadu state awards will perform in Kuwait on March 23, 2012. The musical event is being organized by Kalanjali Kuwait. He has recorded songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi languages. Jayachandran is also affectionately called the ‘Bhava Gayakan’. Jayachandran has carved his own niche in the South Indian music and till now has over 10,000 recorded songs to his credit in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. Jayachandran with his sweet and romantic voice has made light film music memorable with his immortal love songs which always tingle young hearts.

The intensity of this mellifluous voice could do such justice to love and romantic songs that Jayachandran is considered to be the most suited and god-gifted singer of love songs. For Jayachandran, age too has not

been a barrier over the years of singing.

Indeed his voice is getting younger with the passing of time just as love and music are ageless and love songs are an immortal creation of god.

Major Ravi, a well known Malayalam film director will be an added attraction of the event. Major A K Ravindran, (alias) Major Ravi is the recipient of the President’s medal. After working for around two decades for the Indian Army, he became a military consultant for Indian films. He has worked with the likes of Priyadarshan, Rajkumar Santhoshi (Pukar), Kamal Haasan (Aalavandan), Mani Ratnam (Kannathil Muthamittal), He has earlier made a children’s film but his first feature film is Keertichakra, a film on Kashmir militancy and is multilingual. He has also made a movie “Kandahar” featuring Mohan Lal and Amitabh Bachchan. Major Ravi has been associated with many Hindi and Malayalam films before directing on his own.

EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 25317531, Ext: 14.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Years

00:50 Animal Cops Specials 2009 01:45 Untamed & Uncut 02:40 Crime Scene Wild 03:35 World Wild Vet 04:30 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 05:25 Amba The Russian Tiger 06:20 Escape To Chimp Eden 06:45 In Too Deep 07:10 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 07:35 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 08:00 Orangutan Island 08:25 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 08:50 Talk To The Animals 09:15 The Really Wild Show 09:40 Cats Of Claw Hill 10:10 Dogs 101 11:05 Amba The Russian Tiger 12:00 New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin 12:55 RSPCA: On The Frontline 13:20 Wildlife SOS International 13:50 K9 Cops 14:45 Animal Cops Phoenix 15:40 Amba The Russian Tiger 16:30 Shamwari: A Wild Life 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Animal Planet’s Most Outrageous 18:25 Cats 101 19:20 Dogs 101: Specials 20:15 Orangutan Island 20:40 Wildlife SOS International 21:10 Escape To Chimp Eden 21:35 In Too Deep 22:05 League Of Monkeys 23:00 Wild France 23:55 Wildest Africa

00:45 01:15 01:45 02:35 03:05 03:35 04:00 04:20 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:05 05:25 05:36 05:50 06:10 06:20 06:30 06:45 06:50 07:10 07:20 07:35 08:05 08:35 09:20 09:50 10:20 11:10 11:40 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:45 14:15 14:45 15:35 16:05 16:25 17:10 17:40 18:10 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:50 21:20 21:50 Tests 22:40 23:10 23:55

Eastenders Doctors Red Cap 2 Point 4 Children After You’ve Gone Keeping Up Appearances Me Too! Charlie and Lola Gigglebiz Bobinogs Poetry Pie Fimbles 3rd & Bird Forget Me Not Farm Me Too! Charlie and Lola Gigglebiz Bobinogs Poetry Pie Fimbles 3rd & Bird Forget Me Not Farm 2 Point 4 Children After You’ve Gone The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Holby City Mastermind Doctor Who Confidential Keeping Up Appearances 2 Point 4 Children The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Holby City Mastermind Doctor Who Confidential The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Casualty 2 Point 4 Children One Foot In The Grave Lark Rise to Candleford dinnerladies My Family The World’s Toughest Driving One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link Casualty

00:15 01:55 02:25 03:10 03:35 04:20 05:10 05:55 06:45 07:35 08:00 08:50 10:25 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 15:20 16:10 16:55 17:45 18:35 19:00 19:25 19:50 20:45 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Indian Food Made Easy Indian Food Made Easy James Martin’s Brittany James Martin’s Brittany 10 Years Younger Celebrity Fantasy Homes Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Indian Food Made Easy Indian Food Made Easy Antiques Roadshow Masterchef Australia Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me 10 Years Younger What Not To Wear What Not To Wear Celebrity Fantasy Homes House Swap Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA James Martin’s Brittany James Martin’s Brittany What To Eat Now - Summer What To Eat Now - Summer 10 Years Younger What Not To Wear What Not To Wear Bargain Hunt

00:00 00:20 00:45 01:10 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:15 03:40 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:00 06:25 06:50 07:00 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:15 10:40 11:05 11:25 11:50 12:15 12:40 13:00 13:15 13:40 13:55 14:45 15:10 Doo 15:35 16:00 16:50 17:15 17:40 18:05 18:20 19:10 19:35 Doo 20:00 20:15 20:40 21:05 21:30 21:55 22:20 22:45 23:10 23:35

Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley New Yogi Bear Show Duck Dodgers The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Jetsons Puppy In My Pocket Popeye Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races The Flintstones A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Popeye Classics The Garfield Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Puppy In My Pocket The Scooby Doo Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Duck Dodgers Tom & Jerry Kids Pink Panther And Pals Wacky Races Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Garfield Show A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Scooby-Doo And ScrappyLooney Tunes Puppy In My Pocket Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show The Scooby Doo Show Scooby-Doo And ScrappyJelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones

TV PROGRAMS

00:40 Samurai Jack 01:05 Samurai Jack 01:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 02:20 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:45 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 03:10 Best Ed 04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:25 Adventure Time 04:50 Generator Rex 05:15 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 05:40 Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy 05:55 I Am Weasel 06:55 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 07:20 Powerpuff Girls 07:45 Angelo Rules 08:00 Casper’s Scare School 08:30 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:45 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 09:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 09:40 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:05 Angelo Rules 10:30 Chowder 10:55 Adventure Time 11:20 Eliot Kid 11:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 12:00 Ben 10 12:25 Sym-Bionic Titan 12:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog 13:15 I Am Weasel 13:40 Best Ed 14:05 Cow & Chicken 14:30 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:50 Eliot Kid 15:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 15:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 16:05 Courage The Cowardly Dog 16:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 16:55 Gumball 17:10 Adventure Time 17:35 Regular Show 18:00 Cow & Chicken 18:25 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 18:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 19:15 Angelo Rules 19:30 Total Drama World Tour 19:55 Hero 108 20:25 Sym-Bionic Titan 20:50 Adventure Time 21:25 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 21:50 Courage 22:25 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 22:50 Cow And Chicken 23:00 Ben 10 23:25 Ben 10 23:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog

00:15 Destroyed In Seconds 00:40 Blueprint For Disaster 01:35 Dirty Jobs 02:30 Overhaulin’ 03:25 Ultimate Survival 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How Does It Work 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Mythbusters 07:50 Igenius: How Steve Jobs Changed The...

08:45 Mythbusters 09:40 How Does It Work 10:05 Cake Boss 10:30 Border Security 10:55 Auction Kings 11:25 Wheeler Dealers 16:00 Overhaulin’ 16:55 Ultimate Survival 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 Cash Cab Us 19:10 Border Security 19:40 Auction Kings 20:05 How It’s Made 20:35 How Does It Work 21:00 Cake Boss 21:30 The Future Of...

22:25 Mythbusters 23:20 Deception With Keith Barry

THE WARRIORʼS WAY ON OSN ACTION HD

00:40 Space Pioneer 01:35 Weird or What?

02:25 The Tech Show 02:50 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman 03:40 Meteorite Men 04:35 How Does That Work?

05:00 How Stuff’s Made 05:25 Mega Builders 06:20 Thunder Races 07:10 Space Pioneer 08:00 The Gadget Show 08:25 The Gadget Show 08:50 How Does That Work?

09:15 How Stuff’s Made 09:40 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman 10:35 Meteorite Men 11:25 Mega Builders 12:20 Thunder Races 13:15 Space Pioneer 14:05 Weird or What?

14:55 How Does That Work?

15:20 How Stuff’s Made 15:50 The Gadget Show 16:15 The Gadget Show 16:40 The Tech Show 17:05 Thunder Races 18:00 Space Pioneer 18:50 Under New York 19:40 Sci-Fi Science 20:05 Sci-Fi Science 20:30 Sci-Fi Science 20:55 Sci-Fi Science 21:20 Thunder Races 22:10 The Gadget Show 22:35 The Gadget Show 23:00 Sci-Fi Science 23:25 Sci-Fi Science 23:50 Sci-Fi Science

00:00 KIM POSSIBLE 00:25 Fairly Odd Parents 00:50 Fairly Odd Parents 01:15 STITCH 01:35 STITCH 02:00 REPLACEMENTS 02:25 REPLACEMENTS 02:50 EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL 03:15 EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL 03:35 STITCH 04:00 STITCH 04:25 REPLACEMENTS 04:50 REPLACEMENTS 05:15 Fairly Odd Parents 05:35 Fairly Odd Parents 06:00 HANNAH MONTANA FOREVER 06:20 RECESS 06:45 TIMON AND PUMBAA 07:05 PHINEAS AND FERB 07:30 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE 07:55 PHINEAS AND FERB 08:10 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 08:35 MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE 09:00 JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES 09:15 JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES 09:25 HANDY MANNY 09:40 THE HIVE 09:47 MINI ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH 09:50 RECESS 10:15 SO RANDOM 10:40 HAVE A LAUGH 10:45 HANNAH MONTANA 11:10 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 11:35 JAKE & BLAKE 12:00 SONNY WITH A CHANCE 12:25 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 12:45 PHINEAS AND FERB 13:10 SO RANDOM 13:30 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 13:55 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 14:20 HAVE A LAUGH 14:30 A.N.T. FARM 14:55 A.N.T. FARM 15:20 MY BABYSITTER’S A VAMPIRE 15:45 MY BABYSITTER’S A VAMPIRE 16:10 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE 16:40 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE 17:05 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 17:30 GEEK CHARMING 19:10 TIMON AND PUMBAA 19:35 TIMON AND PUMBAA 20:00 SHAKE IT UP 20:25 SHAKE IT UP 20:50 SO RANDOM 21:15 MY BABYSITTER’S A VAMPIRE 21:35 MY BABYSITTER’S A VAMPIRE 22:00 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 22:25 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 22:50 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 23:15 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 23:35 FISH HOOKS

00:00 00:25 00:40 00:55 01:20 01:30 01:45 01:55 02:20 02:35 02:50 03:05 03:15 03:40 03:55 04:10 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:15 05:25 05:50 06:05 06:20 06:40 06:55 07:10 07:25 07:35 08:00 08:15 08:30 08:50 09:00 09:15 09:30 09:45 10:00 10:15 10:30 10:45 11:10 11:20 11:35 11:50 12:05

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Timmy Time Jungle Junction Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Higglytown Heroes Higglytown Heroes Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Hive Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive

12:15 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 12:20 Mouk (Cema) 12:35 Mouk (Cema) 12:45 The Hive 12:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:20 Imagination Movers 13:45 Art Attack (Cema) 14:10 Imagination Movers 14:35 Special Agent Oso 14:45 Lazytown 15:10 Handy Manny 15:25 Jungle Junction 15:40 Imagination Movers 16:05 The Hive 16:15 Special Agent Oso 16:25 Little Einsteins 16:50 Lazytown 17:15 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 17:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 17:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:05 Mouk (Cema) 18:20 Handy Manny 18:30 The Hive 18:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:55 Imagination Movers 19:20 Lazytown 19:45 Art Attack (Cema) 20:10 The Hive 20:20 Special Agent Oso 20:30 Jungle Junction 20:45 Handy Manny 20:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:10 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:25 The Hive 21:35 Little Einsteins 22:00 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 22:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 101 Dalmatians 22:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 23:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 23:20 The Hive 23:30 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:35 A Poem Is...

23:40 Animated Stories 23:45 Mouk (Cema)

00:55 Style Star 01:25 E!es 02:20 THS 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 30 Best & Worst Beach Bodies 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Bridalplasty 10:15 25 Hottest Hollywood Cougar Tales 12:05 E! News 13:05 Ice Loves Coco 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Dirty Soap 17:55 E! News 18:55 THS 19:55 Fashion Police 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:15 00:40 01:30 02:15 03:05 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:25 06:15 07:10 08:00 08:50 09:40 10:25 11:10 11:35 11:55 12:40 13:25 14:15 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:35 17:20 18:10 19:00 19:45 20:10 20:55 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50

Deadly Women: Face To Face Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted A Haunting Couples Who Kill Deadly Women: Face To Face Deadly Women: Face To Face Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted A Haunting Mystery Diagnosis CSU Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared CSU Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared I Almost Got Away With It Cuff Me If You Can

00:00 Inside: The Tiger Trade 01:00 Ultimate Predator 01:55 Hooked 02:50 Clouded Leopard 03:45 Predator CSI 04:40 Wild Detectives 05:05 Wild Detectives 05:35 Triumph of Life 06:30 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 07:25 Monster Fish 08:20 Jaguar: Catching the Cat (aka Hunt for the Shadow 09:15 Hooked 10:10 Clouded Leopard 11:05 Predator CSI 12:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 13:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 14:00 Fish Warrior 15:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 16:00 Hooked 17:00 Built For The Kill 18:00 Predator CSI 19:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 20:00 Fish Warrior 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 Hooked 23:00 Built For The Kill

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00

Deadtime Stories 2-PG15 Sanctum-18 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 Fighting-PG15

THE ART OF GETTING BY ON OSN CINEMA 08:00 Shanghai Knights-PG15 10:00 Blank Slate-PG15 12:00 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within-PG 14:00 Shanghai Knights-PG15 16:00 Snake In The Eagle’s ShadowPG15 18:00 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within-PG 20:00 The Siege-18 22:00 Windtalkers-PG15

01:00 City Rats-18 03:00 My Dog Tulip-PG15 05:00 The Spy Next Door-PG 07:00 Certified Copy-PG15 09:00 The Nanny Express-PG15 11:00 Love N’ Dancing-PG15 13:00 The Spy Next Door-PG 15:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 17:00 Love The Beast-PG 19:00 Leap Year-PG15 21:00 Love And Other Drugs-R 23:00 The Art Of Getting By-PG15

03:00 The Simpsons 03:30 Mr. Sunshine 04:00 Dharma And Greg 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 08:30 The Simpsons 12:30 Dharma And Greg 14:00 Mr. Sunshine 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 Mr. Sunshine 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 Hot In Cleveland 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Angry Boys 22:30 American Dad 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Private Practice Royal Pains Justified Grey’s Anatomy Bones Good Morning America Tower Prep Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Private Practice Grey’s Anatomy Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Once Upon A Time Falling Skies Strike Back Justified Bones

00:00 01:00 02:00 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 23:10

Smallville Hawthorne Royal Pains Private Practice Switched At Birth Smallville Parks And Recreation Coronation Street Parenthood Hawthorne Grey’s Anatomy Royal Pains Parks And Recreation Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Parenthood Smallville Parks And Recreation Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Parenthood Once Upon A Time Falling Skies Strike Back Luck Sons Of Anarchy

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Largo Winch 2-PG15 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 They Wait-18 Freight-PG15 Dick Tracy-PG15 Ip Man-PG15 X2-PG Dick Tracy-PG15 Fatal Secrets-PG15 Walled In-PG15 Wild Things: Foursome -18 The Morgue-18

00:00 The Prince And Me 4: The Elephant Adventure-PG15 02:00 You Again-PG15 04:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 06:00 One Hot Summer-PG15 08:00 What’s The Worst That Could Happen?-PG15 10:00 Last Of The Living-PG15 12:00 Nativity!-PG 14:00 Coming & Going-PG15 16:00 The Prince And Me 4: The Elephant Adventure-PG15 18:00 Tooth Fairy-PG 20:00 How To Be A Player-18 22:00 French And Saunders Still Alive-18

01:15 03:15 05:15 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Deliverance-R Me And Orson Welles-PG Blind Mountain-PG15 Shipwrecked-PG The Associate-PG15 Little Man Tate-PG Oceans - Into The Deep-PG Soapdish-PG The Wronged Man-PG15 Nine-PG15 Blame It On Mum-18 Double Cross-18

01:00 Adaptation-18 03:00 My Sassy Girl-PG15 05:00 A Christmas Carol-PG 07:00 Prom-PG15 09:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 11:00 The Tempest-PG15 13:00 Open Season 3-FAM 15:00 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song-PG15 17:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 19:00 Lies In Plain Sight-PG15 21:00 Love And Other Drugs-R 23:00 Resident Evil 4: Afterlife-PG15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 PG 10:15 12:15 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 21:45 PG

Christmas In New York-PG The Nimbols: Part I-FAM Gladiators: The Conspiracy-PG Christmas In New York-PG Gladiators: The TournamentMarmaduke-PG The Nimbols: Part I-FAM Little Bee 2-PG15 Micropolis-FAM Marmaduke-PG The Nimbols: Part II-FAM Gladiators: The Tournament-

00:00 Cemetery Junction-PG15 02:00 Kick-Ass-18 04:15 Megamind-FAM 06:00 Tangled-FAM 08:00 The Lizzie McGuire Movie-PG 10:00 The Lightkeepers-PG15 12:00 Head Over Heels-PG15 14:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 16:00 The Lizzie McGuire Movie-PG 18:00 The Chaperone-PG15 20:00 Machete-18 22:00 Hereafter-18

01:00 02:00 02:30 03:30 07:00 07:30 09:30 11:30

Super Rugby Highlights Futbol Mundial Trans World Sport Premier League Darts Futbol Mundial Super Rugby Super Rugby Trans World Sport

12:30 13:00 16:30 17:30 18:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

ODI Crickert Highlights Premier League Darts Super Rugby Highlights Futbol Mundial Trans World Sport Scottish Premier League Super League Trans World Sport

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 23:00

UFC Unleashed V8 Supercars V8 Supercars Speedway Le Mans Series Highlights UFC Unleashed WWE Vintage Collection WWE NXT Speedway Intercontinental Le Mans Cup V8 Supercars WWE Smackdown Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Speedway Power Boats UIM WWE Bottom Line WWE Vintage Collection UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown

00:30 ICC Cricket World 01:00 Volvo Ocean Race 02:00 Sevens World Series 05:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 06:00 ICC Cricket World 06:30 ODI Cricket Highlights 07:00 Futbol Mundial 07:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 08:00 Scottish Premier League 10:00 World Cup Of Pool 10:00 World Pool Masters 11:00 Bass Fishing 12:00 ODI Cricket Highlights 12:30 Super League 14:30 Futbol Mundial 15:00 Golfing World 16:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 17:00 Trans World Sport 18:00 ODI Cricket Highlights 18:30 Top 14 Highlights 19:00 Super Rugby 21:00 Super Rugby 23:00 ODI Cricket Highlights 23:30 European Tour Weekly

03:00 World Cup of Pool 04:00 World Pool Masters 05:00 US Bass Fishing 06:00 FIVB Beach Volley Ball 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Futbol Mundial 08:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 09:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 10:00 Golfing World 11:00 Super Rugby 13:00 Top 14 Highlights 13:30 ODI Cricket Highlights 14:00 Golfing World 15:00 Asian Tour Highlights 16:00 Asian Tour Golf Show 16:30 Super League 18:30 Golfing World 19:30 Trans World Sport 20:30 Asian Tour Golf Show 21:00 European Tour Weekly 21:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 22:30 Futbol Mundial 23:00 ODI Cricket Highlights 23:30 Super League

01:20 03:25 05:00 07:30 08:00 PG 10:05 13:30 15:00 16:30 18:30 19:50 21:20 23:00

Cool Hand Luke Dream Wife-FAM Cimarron-FAM TCM Presents Under The...-PG Action In The North AtlanticBen-Hur-PG Lassie Come Home-FAM Spinout-FAM Never So Few-PG Bad Day At Black Rock-PG Gun Glory-FAM Casablanca-FAM Hotel-PG

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ACCOMMODATION Immediate sharing accommodation available for a decent Indian Christian couple or bachelor near Salmiya Garden. Contact: 25657832/ 66884273.

(C 3888) 29-2-2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines QTR JZR PIA JZR JZR QTR ETH THY UAE DHX QTR MSR FDB GFA RBG KAC THY ETD DHX FAH JZR JZR BAW KAC AFR KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR ETD FDB BAB GFA FCX IRA KNE JZR RBG RKM IRM MEA MSR JZR CLX KAC GFA MSR SYR FDB KAC UAL IRC QTR KNE SVA RJA ABY KAC QTR JZR IYE JZR ETD UAE KAC GFA SVA ABY JZR BAB ALK JZR FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC AIC KAC KAC KAC FDB JAI OMA AXB DHX GRF MEA GFA QTR UAE JZR SAI JZR UAL DLH

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 29/2/2012 Flt Route 138 DOHA 185 DUBAI 205 LAHORE 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 6130 DOHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 772 ISTANBUL 853 DUBAI 370 BAHRAIN 148 DOHA 612 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 211 BAHRAIN 3965 ALEXANDRIA 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 305 ABU DHABI 170 BAHRAIN 201 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 6702 PARIS 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 382 DELHI 352 COCHIN 302 MUMBAI 284 DHAKA 362 COLOMBO 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 301 ABU DHABI 55 DUBAI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 203 DUBAI 603 SHIRAZ 839 JEDDAH 165 DUBAI 3553 ALEXANDRIA 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 5066 MASHAD 404 BEIRUT 610 CAIRO 561 SOHAG 792 LUXEMBOURG 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 621 ASSIUT 341 DAMASCUS 57 DUBAI 790 MEDINAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 6791 MASHAD 140 DOHA 745 JEDDAH 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 123 SHARJAH 546 ALEXANDRIA 134 DOHA 1535 CAIRO 824 SANAA 213 DEIREZZOR 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 550 SHARM EL SHEIKH 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 127 SHARJAH 777 JEDDAH 437 BEIRUT 227 COLOMBO 177 DUBAI 63 DUBAI 542 CAIRO 618 DOHA 787 RIYADH 786 JEDDAH 614 BAHRAIN 674 DUBAI 975 CHENNAI 166 PARIS 102 NEW YORK 774 RIYADH 61 DUBAI 572 MUMBAI 647 MUSCAT 393 KOZHIKODE 372 BAHRAIN 81 BAGHDAD 402 BEIRUT 217 BAHRAIN 136 DOHA 859 DUBAI 135 BAHRAIN 441 LAHORE 239 AMMAN 981 BAHRAIN 636 FRANKFURT

Time 0:20 0:20 0:25 0:45 0:50 1:20 1:45 2:15 2:35 2:55 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:15 4:20 4:40 4:50 4:55 5:15 5:30 6:00 6:20 6:40 6:45 7:00 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:50 7:55 8:15 8:20 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:40 9:55 10:30 10:40 11:05 11:20 11:35 11:45 11:50 11:55 12:55 13:00 13:15 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:45 13:50 14:00 14:05 14:20 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:40 14:45 15:20 15:25 16:25 16:35 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:10 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:45 18:05 18:10 18:15 18:40 18:50 18:55 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:30 19:35 19:40 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:40 21:00 21:15 21:20 21:25 21:35 21:40 21:55 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:50

Airlines AXB UAL BBC AIC DLH PIA ETH QTR THY FDB UAE DHX MSR QTR RBG ETD QTR THY JZR JZR GFA FDB KAC BAW AFR KAC KAC JZR KAC JZR UAE ABY ETD KAC FDB QTR BAB KAC GFA IRA FCX KNE KAC RBG JZR KAC RKM MEA IRM KAC JZR MSR GFA MSR FDB CLX SYR KAC KNE UAL IRC ABY RJA KAC SVA JZR KAC KAC QTR JZR QTR IYE ETD JZR UAE GFA ABY KAC SVA JZR BAB JZR ALK FDB JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC DHX KAC JAI OMA KAC DHX MEA GFA KAC QTR KAC JZR UAE KAC JZR KAC

Departure Flights on Wednesday 29/2/2012 Flt Route 390 KOZHIKODE 981 WASHINGTON 44 DHAKA 982 AHMEDABAD 637 FRANKFURT 206 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 6131 DOHA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 3556 ALEXANDRIA 306 ABU DHABI 149 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 560 SOHAG 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 54 DUBAI 545 ALEXANDRIA 156 LONDON 6702 DUBAI 671 DUBAI 549 SHARM EL SHEIKH 1534 CAIRO 789 MADINAH 212 ALEPPO 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 302 ABU DHABI 117 NEW YORK 56 DUBAI 133 DOHA 436 BEIRUT 177 FRANKFURT 214 BAHRAIN 602 SHIRAZ 204 DUBAI 840 MADINAH 541 CAIRO 3554 ALEXANDRIA 776 JEDDAH 103 LONDON 311 RAS ALKHAIMAH 405 BEIRUT 5065 MASHHAD 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 220 BAHRAIN 622 ASSIUT 58 DUBAI 792 GIALAM 342 DAMASCUS 673 DUBAI 746 JEDDAH 982 BAHRAIN 6792 MASHHAD 124 SHARJAH 641 AMMAN 617 DOHA 503 MADINAH 786 RIYADH 613 BAHRAIN 773 RIYADH 141 DOHA 238 AMMAN 135 DOHA 824 SANAA 304 ABU DHABI 538 CAIRO 858 DUBAI 216 BAHRAIN 128 SHARJAH 153 ISTANBUL 511 RIYADH 266 BEIRUT 437 BAHRAIN 134 BAHRAIN 228 DUBAI 64 DUBAI 184 DUBAI 283 DHAKA 361 COLOMBO 62 DUBAI 331 TRIVANDRUM 171 BAHRAIN 351 KOCHI 571 MUMBAI 648 MUSCAT 543 CAIRO 373 BAHRAIN 403 BEIRUT 218 BAHRAIN 381 DELHI 137 DOHA 301 MUMBAI 554 ALEXANDRIA 860 DUBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 502 LUXOR 415 KUALA LUMPUR

Time 0:05 0:45 1:00 1:05 1:20 1:25 2:45 2:50 3:15 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:40 5:00 5:35 5:40 5:50 6:20 6:55 7:00 8:25 8:30 8:40 8:45 9:00 9:15 9:15 9:25 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:10 10:25 10:35 10:40 11:40 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:15 12:15 12:30 12:50 12:55 13:20 13:40 13:50 13:55 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45 14:45 15:05 15:10 15:20 15:20 15:25 15:35 15:40 15:45 15:50 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:15 17:25 17:35 17:35 17:40 18:10 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:45 18:55 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:55 20:15 20:20 20:40 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:55 22:00 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:35 23:45

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya near United Indian School, new building/ separate room/ toilet/ balcony for decent executive bachelor.

Contact: 97208351.

(C 3885) Sharing accommodation available in Khaitan, behind old Pakistani School, big room with separate bathroom for small family or two working ladies.

Contact: 55847242.

28-2-2012 Required sharing accommodation with separate toilet for a small Sri Lankan family, within Abbassiya or near Indian Central School.

Contact: 66552905.

(C 3883) 26-2-2012 Accommodation available with separate attached bathroom for couple, decent lady or decent bachelor with kitchen, drawing satellite facilities in C-A/C flat new building in Salmiya, Amman Street.

Contact: 99678634.

(C 3878) Room available in Salmiya near City Center for a decent bachelor. Rent KD 75/-. Contact: 99959140.

(C 3881) 25-2-2012

FOR SALE Toyota Prado 2006, golden color, 4 doors, 6 cylinder, 101000km done, full options, Price KD 5,250/-.

Contact: 66729295.

(C 3886) Mitsubishi Lancer 2009, golden color, GLX, 75000km, Price KD 1,900/-.

Contact: 50699345.

(C 3887) 28-2-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Eshfak Esmailbhai Huseiny, holder of Indian Passport No. U009826, have changed my name to MUSTAFA ESMAILBHAI HUSEINY. (C 3884) 28-2-2012

LOST I lost my State Life Insurance paper, with policy number 633000205 of M. Younas. Anyone who has found it, call: 60741774. (C 3882) 25-2-2012

SITUATION VACANT Wanted housemaid in Farwaniya area, full time.

Contact: 97514390.

22-2-2012

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited for a Keralite Marthoma boy 27/179, MCA, working in Kuwait as Software Engineer, seeks alliance from God fearing, well educated / Kuwait employed girls. Contact: proposal84kwt@gmail.com 29-2-2012

TUITION

Business management teacher with doctoral degree for universities, institutions, corporate & all student levels.

Over 10 years experience. Call 66495951. (C 3817)

Mathematics teacher, Intermediate and secondary Exams models, Easy method, Exams from past years with solutions. 97301901 English teacher (3) years experience, looking for a job and ready to start with all educational stages. 55963993 Mathematics teacher for Universities, Institutions, Foreign Schools, Administrative, American, English, Australian, Bahrain, Electric and Gulf Sciences, Algbra Prel, Mathematics, intermediate, gmat, sat college, math98, 110 pre calculus geometry.

97619261 A Syrian Arabic language teacher. Masters in methods of teaching and follow up of 10th grade and 11th grade students. 97934291 Islamic education teacher for elementary and intermediate stages. Experienced in Kuwait curricula. Easy explanation, and summary of the subject, training for exams. 66292985 Syrian Arabic language teacher for elementary and intermediate stages.

Experienced in following learning difficulties, and those weak in reading and writing. 97264100 Female senior Mathematics teacher with more that 30 years experience in Kuwait, to teach secondary, intermediate and elementary stages.

Religious and applied, communications and navigation institutions, special courses and secretariat institution.

97926737 Computer teacher for secondary and intermediate.

Practical on laptop, power point projects, front page, visual basic data, universities and applied institutions.

50603063

A Syrian Arabic language teacher. Masters in methods of teaching and follow up of 10th grade and 11th grade students. 97934291 Islamic education teacher for elementary and intermediate stages.

Experienced in Kuwait curricula. Easy explanation, and summary of the subject, training for exams.

66292985 Syrian Arabic language teacher for elementary and intermediate stages.

Experienced in following learning difficulties, and those weak in reading and writing. 97264100 Female senior Mathematics teacher with more that 30 years experience in Kuwait, to teach secondary, intermediate and elementary stages.

Religious and applied, communications and navigation institutions, special courses and secretariat institution. 97926737 Computer teacher for secondary and intermediate.

Practical on laptop, power point projects, front page, visual basic data, universities and applied institutions. 50603063

For rent in Hawalli a one bedroom (4x4m) and a 7x3.5 m reception+ terrace, fully equipped kitchen and bathroom. Tunis street, behind Al-Andalus pharmacy. Tel: 99683200 For rent a two storey villa and a basement in Mangaf including 8 rooms, laundry room, yard, parking. Rent value KD 1000. Tel: 97996900 A storey and half for rent in Mangaf including two 3 bedroom apartments with 2 baths, reception, kitchen, driver room each. Tel: 66989887 For rent a ground floor in Qurain comprising of four rooms, large reception, 5 baths, maid room, courtyard, parking. Rent value KD 550. Tel: 66989887 A fully central air-conditioned two room annex in Mangaf with separate exit and shaded car parking for rent to expatriates. Tel: 67753557 For rent in Ashbelia: two apartments with 3 bedrooms, bath, kitchen and maid room each plus a yard in between. Tel: 90001594 A 2005 Mini Cooper for sale. Tel: 99224855

TUITION

Business management teacher with doctoral degree for universities, institutions, corporate & all student levels. Over 10 years experience. Call 66495951. (C 3817) Mathematics teacher, Intermediate and secondary Exams models, Easy method, Exams from past years with solutions.

97301901 English teacher (3) years experience, looking for a job and ready to start with all educational stages.

55963993 Mathematics teacher for Universities, Institutions, Foreign Schools, Administra-tive, American, English, Australian, Bahrain, Electric and Gulf Sciences, Algbra Prel, Mathematics, intermediate, gmat, sat college, math98, 110 pre calculus geometry. 97619261

No: 15373

MISCELLANEOUS Original guaranteed Palestinian virgin olive oil, large black and green olives for sale. Tel: 66517417 Whole Floor or small villa needed for rent in Shaab, Mansoriya, Nozha, Abdullah Al-Salem or Shamiya. Direct contact with owner. Tel: 9989018-99169016 A camp for rent in Kabed including five tents with all services. Complete privacy + game arcade. Tel: 97177714 Size 36 air pressure gun for sale in addition to a scope, safety lock. Shooting range 350 meters +bag+25 shots.

Price KD 70. Tel: 97790478 A 3700 watt, 2012 model ASTRA generator for sale.

Japanese parts assembled in China with pressure and gas meters. Price KD 85. Tel: 60066891

A 2006 Lumina for sale with genuine factory paint.

Price KD 2100. Tel: 69945429 A 2009 Touareg for sale.

Price 6350. Tel: 96670777 Senior English teacher for Pakistani, bilingual schools, T.M.A., Ielts, Toefl, IBT K.S.S., social studies and math. Tel: 99577430 For sale: a 375 square meter house in Omariya, fully rented for KD 600.

Price KD 185,000. Tel: 66815590 Transportation ser vice available. Payment in advanced conditioned for all areas. Tel: 66678633 The smallest and most up to date recording device (2012 model) for sale.

Finger size, voice activated, records up to 600 hrs, made in Japan. Free delivery. Tel: 99773818

34

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 602

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Your communicative abilities are accented. This is an excellent time to sway others to your cause through speeches or clever arguments—your thinking is most lucid and grasping. Your energy is high and your creative juices are successfully being applied to whatever needs accomplishing. You will enjoy considerable success at this time. You feel vital; you feel good; you feel in harmony with yourself, the entire world and everybody in it.

Others can feel this, so they in turn are drawn to you, making this a positive day for any kind of group endeavor. Companionship is most rewarding. Best of all, relations with the opposite sex are at a peak. This evening is a super time to go on a date, be married or to be in love!

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is an excellent time to get many things accomplished. You are inspired today—exploit it. If you have not decided what area you want to become involved with when it comes to volunteer work—do it now— nothing comes to you until you have given out to others. Travel and other contacts with faraway people and places will play a bigger role for you now. Such things bring love and gain in one way or another. Higher education or philosophical and religious contacts could have a part in making good things happen. Doing just about anything with friends or family later this evening will bring much joy. If you are unattached, you could be viewing the opposite sex with a renewed interest. Always find ways to network—good things will happen.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. (Scotland) A slope or hillside.

5. A shot in billiards made by hitting the cue ball with the cue held nearly vertically.

10. The syllable naming the first (tonic) note of any major scale in solmization.

13. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

14. Of a moderate orange-yellow color.

15. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

16. (archaic) Utterly cast down.

17. A member of a European people who occupied Britain and Spain and Gaul in pre-Roman times.

18. Goddess of the dead and queen of the underworld.

19. French physicist noted for research on magnetism (born in 1904).

20. Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty.

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

24. Jordan's port.

26. The month following March and preceding May. 27. Painter (born in Germany, resident of France and the United States) who was a cofounder of Dadaism.

31. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

33. A Russian river.

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

37. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

38. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

40. (Scotland) A small loaf or roll of soft bread.

41. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

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

43. Type genus of the Alaudidae.

47. A planet (usually Venus) seen just before sunrise in the eastern sky.

49. Lower in esteem.

52. An Indian side dish of yogurt and chopped cucumbers and spices.

56. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

60. The month following February and preceding April.

61. (usually followed by `to') Having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something.

62. Remove from memory or existence.

63. A Kwa language spoken by the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria.

64. Humble in spirit or manner.

65. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

66. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.

DOWN 1. Of a surface.

2. Tall perennial herb of tropical Asia with dark green leaves.

3. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion.

4. One of two flaps attached to a cap to keep the ears warm.

5. A polyvalent metallic element that resembles chromium and tungsten in its properties.

6. The capital and largest city of Ghana with a deep-water port.

7. The wife of a sheik.

8. A city in central Alabama on the Alabama river.

9. The universal time coordinated when an event is received on Earth.

10. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flat pods.

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

12. Goddess of the dead and queen of the underworld.

21. An association of people to promote the welfare of senior citizens.

23. Thick heavy expensive material with a raised pattern.

25. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.

28. (Babylonian) God of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools.

29. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

30. Thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus.

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

34. A small cake leavened with yeast.

36. Cry plaintively.

39. Being nine more than ninety.

44. Xerophytic evergreen shrubs.

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

46. A telegram sent abroad.

48. Desire strongly or persistently.

50. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

51. A branch of the Tai languages.

53. (Islam) The man who leads prayers in a mosque.

54. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.

55. Starch resembling sago that is obtained from cuckoopint root.

57. Relating to or characteristic of or occurring on the sea or ships.

58. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan.

59. Electronic warfare undertaken under direct control of an operational commander to locate sources of radiated electromagnetic energy for the purpose of immediate threat recognition.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Imagination soars! Exercising your initiative opens doors for you and your charisma wins the attention and support of others.

Begin new projects now. If you need help—all you have to do is ask! Awareness and insight into others’ minds and into spiritual matters is particularly acute. This is a most energetic time, filling you with a great desire to succeed in all spheres of your life. Working with partners in an open, honest environment can only bring good fortune to you. This is also a time when both you and your friends and loved ones will experience tremendous changes in your lives—changes that push you forward into better pay and better hours. This evening is a good time to just sit and reflect or perhaps, help others.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

You may find yourself serving to guide someone younger than you in matters of importance. There are favorable aspects for financial dealings. Later today you tend to involve yourself in cozy, instructive conversations with friends and especially loved ones. You will have a heightened appreciation of art, nature and music. You may feel that you are walking through a romantic fog, sensitizing your need to be surrounded by beauty. If possible this evening, find a pleasant spot in the country or gaze at a spectacular view from a hill, perhaps with your sweetheart. Your awareness of the needs of a loved one may become more acute. You may feel you finally have found a kindred spirit. Flow with it—and be thankful.

Leo (July 23-August 22) All that work piled up on your desk can really get to you— move forward one page at a time and you will eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Getting your material affairs in order can go a long way toward the advancement you have been looking for lately. You are apt to spend a great deal of time in quiet contemplation over some technical problem later today. You are original when it comes to solving problems and may find yourself distracted with co-workers coming to you for help. Whenever possible, encourage them to go back and think harder—you will be glad you did—and so will they. You are apt to enjoy considerable success at work. You also may enjoy reminiscing with old friends about pleasant memories.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Business dealings may be particularly fruitful now if you give one hundred percent. If there is something that you want or some problem that you want to solve—the time is right for detective work. This is not a time to act quickly—you could misconstrue a quote, a word or a vision. Think hard before making any life changing decisions. There are new friends in your life now that are beginning to take the front row seat. It is not that old friends are bad; it is that you seem to have moved in a different direction lately. You are well disposed to others at this time, but you should be careful of bending over backwards just to help someone or please someone—you could feel used. Watch your stress level—find ways to express yourself creatively.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

You may feel there is something missing from your professional life these days—no matter how well you have been progressing. It may be time to reassess the balance between your professional and personal goals and the progress you are making with each one. This must be the balance that is right for you—there are no correct answers—but neither side should monopolize your life at the expense of the other. Be attentive to all work you do today, for there may be a tendency to gloss over anything that needs to be done. This may include your own personal business dealings or purchases. You should make time for your family this evening . . . they model their lives by watching you. You enjoy your interaction with loved ones this evening.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Teaching, public speaking and writing can be enjoyed.

Communication comes easily. You make all details clear. No one should misunderstand anything you say. There may also be an opportunity for catching up on paying bills, cleaning up paperwork, writing letters and perhaps, making phone calls. Your phone will probably be ringing often. There is an air of seriousness to all your dealings with partners. Also, you are concerned more about the future of business and romantic associates now than at any other time.

You may experience many situations during this time when a new relationship may begin, particularly one of a physical, loving nature. Additionally, this is a time when your powers of creativity are great.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Whatever feelings underscore your life, will be felt strongly. If you are going through a particularly trying time, this period could produce low energy levels. If this is the case, take it easy for a while—otherwise, you should have a burst of energy that will keep you going! Careful—the planets present at this time may make it a difficult time for you to communicate. Technologies that change the way people live—not just one person, but many—are a major new focus in your life. This could involve testing new inventions or putting the finishing touch on some new communication systems. Involvement with ideals and idealistic groups enhance your sense of purpose. You want to improve the world. Relationships improve.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You are supersensitive today and this can be rewarding or damaging, depending on how you handle it. If you focus on others, your understanding will enable you to fit into any group. This ability is helpful in any job. If, however, you are caught up in your own feelings, you are likely to see only what you want to see. Save the decisions that require clear logic for another day. The clouds of difficult emotions do seem to clear away by the afternoon. A little bit of protein will help keep you in check the rest of the afternoon. You show a great deal of interest in all family matters this evening, particularly about the general living environment.

Further, you may wish to strengthen ties with your parents. There is a healing and a new understanding.

To

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Self-discipline and a sense of self-worth become important issues in your life at this time. A fear of asserting yourself can hold you back—as can coming on too strong. The trick is learning to make the most of your personal talents and abilities, working within your limitations. This should be one of those enjoyable days. You feel good about your friends, smoothing ruffled feathers, your love relationship—and if there is none, you may feel good about finding one.

The only thing you do not feel good about is perhaps self-discipline, so watch the finances! But you may as well go on feeling good about everything else! If you channel your energy well, you can be very influential. This is an excellent time to get to know someone better.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Concrete decisions regarding business may be hard to uncover at this time. Careful—a collision of powerful energies spills into your life in random ways. The decisions and actions today will have lasting effects. It is best to keep this energy in check and avoid entering into any relationship or conversation impulsively. Today puts a magnifying glass on relationships. Positive aspects will bring comfort, but hidden tensions will be exposed.

You could learn a lot about your feelings and how much you need from a close partner. There is time for imagination and creativity when it comes to ideas and thinking. You may want to break that routine and try something new or different this evening. Weather permitting, enjoy the night.

A

y

e niv rsar n

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Years

i n f o r m at i o n FIRE BRIGADE

112

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

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36

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

lifest yle M u s i c

&

M o v i e s

ran has hailed the country’s first Oscar-winning film as a triumph over arch-foe Israel after an Academy Award race with its own subplots: Iranian officials giving a grudging nod to cinema and Israeli audiences flocking to see a made-in-Tehran drama. On Monday, Iran’s state-spun praise for “A Separation,” which beat out an Israeli film and three others in the foreign language category, was mostly wrapped in patriotic boasting as a conquest for Iranian culture and a blow for Israel’s perceived outsized influence in America.

Yet the high-profile attention by the Islamic leadership also represented a rare stamp of approval for Iran’s movie industry. Iranian filmmakers have collected awards and accolades worldwide for decades, but Iranian hard-liners often denounce domestic cinema as dominated by Western-tainted liberals and political dissenters. Some directors and actors have faced arrest or fled the country. In January, a well-known independent film group in Tehran, the House of Cinema, was ordered closed. Iranian hard-liners had already taken pot shots at director Asghar Farhadi’s film even as it racked up international prizes and pre-Oscar buzz. The film explores troubles in Iranian society through the story of a collapsing marriage. Iranian conservatives were upset with the themes of domestic turmoil, gender inequality and the desire by many Iranians to leave the country.

The divide touches on much deeper fissures in Iran.

Iran’s young and highly educated population - nearly half born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution - feel increasingly estranged from a theocracy that allows no room for political opposition, has tried to muzzle the Internet and is growing more isolated by its defiant nuclear policies. Farhadi, in his acceptance speech Sunday in Los Angeles, said he hoped the Oscar would raise awareness of Iran’s sizable artistic achievements and rich culture that has been “hidden under the heavy dust of politics.”

That has been the case in of all places, Israel, which feels its very existence threatened by Iran. The Iranian film has drawn tens of thousands of Israeli movie-goers since it opened in mid-February. Some came to see the Oscar competition for Israeli director Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” the saga of a Talmudic scholar. But many were drawn by a chance to glimpse inside Iranian society. “It’s very well acted, exceptionally well written and very moving,” said Israeli film critic Yair Raveh.

“Ultimately you don’t think about nuclear bombs or dictators threatening world peace. You see them driving cars and going to movies and they look exactly like us.”

After a Sunday screening in Jerusalem, 70-year-old Rina Brick said she was surprised by the humanity of the Iranian bureaucrats portrayed in the film.

“Our image of how Iran works is less democratic than we see here,” she said. “The judge, the police, everyone behaves as if they are in a Western country.” Still, Iran’s nuclear program was on the minds of some. Israel has not ruled out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which the West fears could be used to develop weapons. Tehran insists they are for peaceful purposes like energy production. Moshe Amirav, a political science professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said he “didn’t stop thinking about the bomb the whole time” he was watching “A Separation.” “I said, what a con-

I

SN, the leading Pay TV network in the region has brought the popular TV host Doctor Fozia to the OSN network in a brand new show titled Doctor Foz & Friends.

The latest original production will air from OSN’s studios in Dubai and will focus on issues such as family; relationships and health led through discussions and live chats with viewers. The show broadcasts live every Wednesday at 21:30 KSA on OSN Yahala! HD and repeats on Fridays at 22:00 KSA and has taken Arabic live shows to a new dimension.

In each episode Dr Fozia, the specialist in emotional affairs hosts a group of specialists in

O

akistan’s first Oscar winner launched a campaign yesterday, hoping that her documentary about survivors of acid attacks can help eliminate a crime that disfigures hundreds of women each year. Pictures of 33-year-old Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy collecting her award in the short documentary category were splashed across newspapers as editors fell over themselves to praise the young woman. Her film “Saving Face” follows victims as they struggle to recover and bring their attackers to justice, and shows the work of British Pakistani plastic surgeon Mohammad Jawad, who helps restore their faces and lives.

Acid attacks are among the worst forms of domestic violence in Pakistan and mostly directed at women, who are too often classified as second-class citizens. Victims are disfigured for life and ostracized by society. The team behind the documentary are using their website to launch a campaign raising awareness about the attacks, inflicted on around 200 women each year in Pakistan, and to strengthen legislation against the violence. “The film must be more than an expose of horrendous crimes, it must be a recipe for addressing the problem and a hope for the future,” co-director Daniel Junge says on www.savingfacefilm.com. Pakistan’s parliament last year adopted tougher penalties for the crime, increasing the punishment to between 14 years and life, and a minimum fine of one million rupees ($11,000). The new law came into effect on December 28.

Obaid-Chinoy’s mother, Saba, told AFP that the campaign was launched formally after her daughter won the Oscar, which had “provided her with a unique opportunity and strength to strive for her goal more effectively”. “The campaign is mainly aimed at making our society more humane and better to live. It is to help and remedy those who are victims of such brutality and injustice,” she told AFP. The website said the film, which few have seen in Pakistan, was “uniquely positioned to advance awareness, education and prevention efforts”. “We’re consulting with surgeons, scholars, journalists, activists and other experts, some of whom have also agreed to join our emerging advisory team, in order to

P

different fields to cover all angles of a certain topic providing a wealth of information to the viewers and answering their questions through live calls. “We offer a wealth of information and different perspectives and our viewers are partners in the show.” says Dr Fozia.

The first episode had audiences captivated when it tackled the issues of relationships, affairs and dating. Dr Fozia who is not afraid to speak her mind and believes the only way to solve a problem is through honesty and openness was inundated with calls from viewers across the Middle East.

maximize the impact of our outreach work,” it adds.

The chairwoman of Acid Survivors Pakistan, a partner in the campaign, told AFP that the fight to eliminate the crime had only just started and that the campaign would increase awareness, partly by showing the film widely. Valerie Khan Yusufzai said eight acid attacks had been reported in Pakistan so far in 2012 and that all had been registered with police. “We now need to strengthen the momentum to get more legislation passed which will complement the law that got passed in May 2011,” Yusufzai told AFP. She said new efforts in 2012 needed to focus on overcoming challenges of investigation, difficulties at trial, helping the state provide rehabilitation services and establishing a board to develop funding and to act as monitors.

She praised the film for focusing not only on Pakistan’s struggle, but the achievements of citizens, survivors, lawyers, activists and parliamentarians in helping to curb the menace, which she said set an example to other countries. The need to do more was reflected in some of the press coverage, which was overwhelmingly jubilant about ObaidChinoy’s success.

“Although the award is a matter of personal and national pride, its content is a matter of national shame,” wrote English-language paper The News. “Pakistan is reportedly the third-most dangerous country in the world for women after Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” it said.

“What is more important is that Chinoy’s effort holds up a mirror to us for critical self-examination.” Urdulanguage newspaper Nawa-e-Waqt published a special, colour supplement to celebrate the win, seen as a welcome piece of good news in a country where news coverage usually focuses on Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, poverty and corruption. “It seems like a dream to a Pakistani film to get the Oscar but Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has made it possible,” it wrote. “She has done a wonderful job.”—AFP

Khulud abu Homus, Senior Vice President of Programing said: “We are very excited to bring Dr Foz & Friends to OSN viewers, she is hugely popular in the region and the first episode was inundated with live callers and positive reviews. The series will explore a wide range of topical issues and break new ground in this genre. Dr Foz & Friends is a key part of our strategy in making OSN Yahala! HD an incredible channel with premium Arabic content that you can’t get elsewhere.”

In a May 23, 1993 file photo, Johnny Cash performs at a benefit concert in Central Park in New York. — AP

diverse all-star lineup will celebrate the 80th birthday of Johnny Cash with an April concert. Kenny Chesney, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, Ray LaMontagne and Jamey Johnson are among the performers scheduled to appear in “We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash” on April 20 at the Austin City Limits Live venue in Austin, Texas.

Chris Cornell, Ronnie Dunn, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Amy Lee and Shooter Jennings also will per-

A

form. Tickets are on sale today.

Though Cash died in 2003 at 71, interest in his music and legacy continue. Several celebrations are planned. Members of the Cash family gathered Sunday in Dyess, Ark., on what would have been Cash’s 80th birthday for the groundbreaking on a museum at his boyhood home.

Online: http://www.johnnycash80.com.—AP

Dominican Republic’s singer Juan Luis Guerra performs during the 53nd Vina del Mar International Song Festival on February 27, 2012 in Vina del Mar, Chile. — AFP

television ratings for this year’s Oscars show were up 4 percent on last year, despite the absence of major blockbuster movies among films nominated, figures showed Monday. The increase came after veteran host Billy Crystal returned for his ninth turn presenting the Academy Awards, a year after a widely-criticized attempt to attract a younger audience with youthful presenters. The 84th Academy Awards show Sunday night, at which silent movie “The Artist” scooped five prizes including Best Picture, was watched by 39.3 million viewers on host broadcaster ABC. Last year the show was co-hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, in what was seen as a bid to bring in younger viewers, but which was panned, especially for Franco’s wooden performance. The 2011 show, where the main films included blockbuster Facebook movie “the Social Network,” drew in 37.9 million viewers, according to ratings analyst Nielsen, cited by the Variety industry daily. —AFP

US

Saba Obaid, the mother of Oscar award winner Sharmeen ObaidChinoy, arrives with her family members for a news conference in Karachi on February 27, 2012. — AFP

A picture shows newspapers bearing the picture of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who just won an Oscar for his film “A Separation”, is seen outside a bookshop in Tehran yesterday. — AFP trast that we see this Iranian film with such admiration, and then when we leave we think about how they want to kill us,” Amirav said. Iranian cinema has reaped praise and prizes at top festivals for decades. But while the government often highlights sporting achievements and technological leaps as a source of national pride, it is typically dismissive of international cultural and entertainment awards.

However, taking the Oscar over an Israeli rival was too powerful for state image builders to ignore. A state TV broadcast said the award succeeded in “leaving behind” a film from Israel. Javad Shamaghdari, head of the state Cinematic Agency, portrayed the Oscar win as the “beginning of the collapse” of Israeli influence that “beats the drum of war” in the US and elsewhere. Still, Iranian artists and many fans did not try to score any propaganda points and were simply delighted by the country’s first Oscar. Tahmineh Milani, director of the acclaimed 2005 film “Unwanted Woman,” said the Oscar was a source of “national pride” that “revived hope in the hearts of all Iranians.” “I feel fresh air in my lungs,” said Erfan Khazaei, an art student at Azad University, who watched the Oscar ceremony on satellite TV with four friends. “Now we are more hopeful about the future.”

The Academy Awards were not broadcast live on Iranian TV, and many Iranians watched via satellite dishes, which are illegal but widely used. Clips of Farhadi’s acceptance speech were later aired on state TV. “A Separation,” tells the story of a couple heading for divorce and dealing with domestic troubles, including a young child and an aging parent. It portrays a husband who is protective of his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. He is in conflict with his wife, who wishes to emigrate. Their daughter is torn between them. While its themes are not overtly political, ultra-conservatives denigrated the film as an indirect slap at the country.

Prominent hard-line sociologist Ebrahim Fayyaz called it a “black realistic film” that portrays the country as an old man, a symbol of tradition and the past who is afflicted with a mind-crippling disease. He said the movie suggests emigrating to the West as a solution. “The West awards movies that are in the direction of their policies,” he told the Nasim news agency. Iranian authorities have long had an uneasy relationship with the country’s filmmakers. The leadership gives latitude to explore many social topics, but draws a sharp line on works with clearly anti-establishment overtones. —AP

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

lifestyle F a s h i o n

S

ummertime looks are spilling onto Milan’s winter runway. Perhaps designers are taking a cue from the unpredictable and increasingly mild winters, filling their collections with looks once reserved for warmer weather. The February temperatures were decidedly springlike during Milan Fashion Week, which was in its fifth day Sunday - affirming designer’s choices .

Even functional daytime dresses can be sleeveless. Shorts are having their winter incarnation. Lightweight jackets are replacing bulky coats. Don’t even think about mountain parkas or ski wear - they are not for the well-heeled urban girl. Fur is more of an accent than a necessity, turning up as oversized collars, on shawls and as hats. Shoes are open toed, or even variations of sandals. Bare legs are perfectly acceptable. If the temperatures turn, however, there are plenty of layering options clearly a trend - from knitwear to coats to capes to long vests.

DOLCE&GABBANA Black velvet, black lace, black chiffon and more gold than even Midas could muster are the basic ingredients of the dramatic Dolce&Gabbana winter collection.

Dramatic, as well as theatric. Front row guest, British actress Helen Mirren, on her way to pay her compliments to the designing duo backstage, described the clothes as both “decadent and opulent” and said she loved “every bit” of the show. However, the actress best known for her role as Queen Elizabeth II, in “The Queen” which earned her an Oscar as best actress in 2007, did not dip into her theater closet for reference, but rather said the show “spoke to my Russian roots.” Mirren’s father was a Russian nobleman.

For another front-row guest, Italian actress Monica Bellucci, the show was “molto Siciliano,” a reference to the Dolce&Gabbana fashion vision. Either way, there was definitely an aristocratic feel to the collection, from the dainty gilded head dressings that framed the models’ demure hairdos, to the dainty little buttoned booties that adorned their feet. Styles ranged from coats to capes, from long sheaths to ballooned shorts, from pleated skirts to ruffled tops. But no matter the cut, gold - whether beaded, sequined, embroidered, or simply worn as jewelry - made the difference. To lighten the look, the designing duo interspersed white or pretty Victorian floral patterns into the basic black palette.

MISSONI Missoni’s look for next winter is urban nymph. In the woodland fairy sense. The silhouette of the collection was slim.

Tightly-fitting knit pants, figure-hugging dresses and wraps that button in back to a snug close all allow the Missoni heroine to nimbly navigate the concrete jungle. In the sleek vein, designer Angela Missoni intro-

duced a new texture to the Missoni look: latex. Gray latex gloves and corsets provide a protective layer for our adventurer. While the sleeveless dresses and lightweight wraps could easily transcend seasons, Missoni also fortified the collection with winter-ready items such as stole wraps that snake around the body, knitwear coats with fur collars and fur hats that swirl around the head. Missoni also glitzes up the collection with sequins - a trend on the Milan runways - reaching for more natural hues of copper and silver. The basic color scheme was graphite, evoking asphalt, set off by autumnal hues in browns and oranges and forest greens. Footwear included boots with decorative panels in the back extending down to the thick heel creating accents in gold, faux wood or the Missoni trademark knit - or similarly adorned high-heeled pumps.

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M issoni

Models display creations as part of Dolce&Gabbana Fall-winter 2012-2013 show on February 26, 2012 during the Women’s fashion week in Milan. —AFP/AP photos

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

lifestyle F a s h i o n FERRAGAMO Always hovering in the background during this round of Milan collections is a romance between an officer and a damsel, as in so many 19th century love stories only the woman is playing both roles. This is particularly evident at Ferragamo, whose winter collection starts with a parade of gold buttoned double-breasted military coats and ends in a waltz of romantic evening gowns. The Ferragamo collection was previewed by Massimiliano Giornetti, who also designs the label’s menswear. By day, the Ferragamo woman favors a crisp gray flannel double-breasted suit complete with epaulettes, or a lightweight Astrakhan fur skirt under a double-breasted jacket.

She will wear horsey boots, but prefers a high-heeled version in embroidered suede.

Her gold-buttoned military coat hides a fetching black wool lace dress or printed ruffled skirt underneath. Nighttime tells another story. Here our heroine shows her true feminine soul, in a bejeweled chiffon evening dress with spaghetti strapped Vneckline and ballerina skirt, or a transparent embroidered peasant blouse with matching shimmery silver silk skirt.

Footwear for the ballroom is an open-toed Victorian lace-up or a high-heeled Mary Jane. A pretty embroidered clutch bag reminiscent of a Faberge decorated egg complete the story.

seen in lightweight dresses, and the bold blocks of color on wool crepe dresses and suits - which showed off oversized pockets.

Marni’s palette was black, tobacco, yellow and red, often contrasted pastels.

Castiglioni paired, for example, a red belted coat with a dramatic cape effect with the palest blue cropped pants. Castiglioni’s silhouette was offbeat. Jackets flared slightly over cropped pants and knee-length skirts.

She created a fur shawl that finishes in wool crepe, giving the impression of a belted fur-collared coat from the front but in reality was completely open in the back.

Asian-inspired tops and pants in matching prints suggested both comfort and disciplined construction. For shoes, Marni offers Mary Jane sandals on flat platforms or thick high heels, often in gold. All the outfits were worn with white tights, and models’ long straight hair framed the face. — AP

MARNI Marni is getting decorative for next winter. Big brooches, beads and sequins were featured in the womenswear collection - accents that are cropping up all over the current runways. “Jewelry becomes an integral element of the garment,” the fashion house noted. Large white sequins and golden beads covered the front of a dress, a skirt and a clutch, creating the impression of an exotic flower garden. Round golden brooches mimicked buttons down the front of black jacket with short sleeves bedecked in golden sequins. Designer Consuelo Castiglioni’s collection carried a strong graphic element, both in the prints,

Salvatore Ferragamo

Marni

E

ven as the fashion world showed signs of upheaval, designers in Milan presented some of the most composed winter collections in many a season.

The looks in six days of Milan Fashion week were opulent - lavish velvet and brocade fabrics made even richer by beading, sequins, brooches and golden embroidery.

Many of the winter 2013 previews, which ended Monday, had the over-the-top feel of costumes, conveyed in detailing like feathers, fur trimming and silver mesh.

Military looks were the most prevalent, with nearly every designer featuring garments with golden buttons, epaulettes and double-breasted styles. That was finished off with military caps and equestrian boots.

There was lots of bare skin, but plenty of ways to cover it in layers. That included big fur collars, gauntlet gloves, thigh-high boots and shawl wraps of every style imaginable. The basics for the season are cropped pants, shorts, the pant suit and dresses topped with jackets. Hats made a comeback with plenty of styles: Gaucho hats, mod leather caps, fedoras, flapper cloches and furry Cossack headgear. Many designers showed their wears in spectacular Baroque settings, either in actual historic palaces or settings recreated on the runway, which only enhanced the richness of the clothing. Brooches and other ornaments were stitched onto garments, evoking a theatrical feel.

The palette was mainly black, offset by deep reds, blues, and the return of purple.

A few designers preferred a contrast with soft pastels, white and beige. The 2013 winter bag is average size, and usually carried by the handle. For night, the looks favored tiny clutches. Booties - military or Victorian - were a favorite. Heels were high, but not incredibly so, with the Mary Jane the prevalent style. Flourishes were added to shoes: sparkles, bows, buttons and golden accents. Several top fashion jobs were in flux. Raf Simons presented his final collection for the Jil Sander label, making way for the namesake designer to return to the fashion house she founded in the 1960s.

Simons’ triumphant farewell collection contrasted with the opulence of many of the runways: it was soft, feminine and minimalist. Yves Saint Laurent announced that designer Stefano Pilati would be leaving after his final show next week in Paris, while Dior is still looking for a new designer after last year’s disgraceful exit of John Galliano. So the fashion world moves on to Paris amid speculation of where all the talent will land.

ARMANI All it takes to be Armani stylish next winter is a pair of Bermudas. Chic ironcreased shorts were the centerpiece of the latest collection of the man who put “moda Milanese” on the fashion map more than 30 years ago. Worn on their own under a super-feminine blouse in a brightly colored print, paired with a tailored Armani jacket, or peeking out of the hem of a silk taffeta cocktail dress in coral and pink, they claimed the runway. The new Armani jacket, often styled in woven fabric, has no lapel and caresses the neckline. In addition to the Bermudas, it can be worn with a pair of tapered slacks. Flat shoes with sparkling tops and a Fedora hat with wide slanted brim spiff up the androgynous and yet feminine look. The Bermuda shorts, but now in luxurious silk, also claimed the evening, coupled with shimmering sequined evening jackets, or worn with a silk sheath with a bare back and an intricate obi sash waistline. The fur in the winter collection is strictly ecological and comes in multicolored and shaggy, or mink look-alike. The preferred styles are maxi pullover or ample cape.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

lifestyle F a s h i o n

A R MA N I CAVALLI Naomi Campbell sashayed down the Cavalli runway in a barebacked sequined maxi-dress that summed up the designer’s new look. Roberto Cavalli’s womenswear collection for next winter struck a balance between the soft silhouette of full maxi skirts and dresses in flowing fabrics and the more structured look of a brocade mini-dress. As usual, animal motifs played a central role, be it in the form of a leopard print or an alligator necklace.

Cavalli matched full dresses with tiered skirts with loose pajama pants, a coupling popular this season. Mixing materials, a mini-dress featured leather bodice reminiscent of armor, a look popular in Milan, that transitioned into a fur skirt. Mod leather caps finished many of the looks.

Short sleeves and bare arms are in for next winter, but Cavalli provided a hedge against the cold: long leather gloves.

DSQUARED2 The setting was high school, the music was 1960s rock and the clothes were perfect for a date with Fonzie. The DSquared2 womenswear winter collection by designing twins Dean and Dan Caten was all about “Happy Days” and carefree nights.

Teeny bopper models in sequined sneakers and pert caps sported tight cropped jeans or a hip-hugging skirt, paired with colorful leather jackets for a hot date at the movies. The high school dance calls for a switch to high-heeled sequined pumps and beehive hair styles. More sophisticated than her grandmother, our teenage queen prefers black to yesteryear pastels for her slit-up the side prom gown.

Her escort is in a traditional white tuxedo jacket with black lapel. This girl also has expensive tastes. She likes her denimwear trimmed in fur, her blouse covered in pearls and when she talks leather she means crocodile.

VERSUS Versace’s often bad-girl label, Versus, punctuated fashion week’s opulence with punk. Designed by Christopher Kane, the collection exuded vibrancy in both color fuchsia, acid green and peacock blue and repeating geometric prints. In an overall street-wise collection, Kane included romantic looks: empire-waisted minidresses or off-the-shoulder V-necks in tiedye fabrics. But the Versus girl wants to show her tough side. Mini-dresses, especially the more feminine ones, were paired with thigh-high boots, either in all black or matching geometric prints. Sheer black accents gave asymmetrical offshoulder dresses a rocker feel. And tough burgundy leather biker pants contrasted with a shaggy Mongolian sheepskin jacket. Kane mostly kept his models’ legs bare - a look gaining cold-weather currency, especially for younger lines. — AP

CAVALLI Designers Dean and Dan Caten acknowledge the audience at the end of the Dsquared2 Fall-winter 20122013 show during the Women’s fashion week in Milan.

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Dr Fozia found a new home on OSN

Years

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

36 Students are handed dead mice during Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class.

Students with their dead mice.

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here are mice and men and, thanks to a macabre hobby, there are also mice that look like men. Bent over tables in a room in an industrial corner of Brooklyn recently, about 20 New Yorkers used scalpels to slice into dead white mice, the first step in the animals’ unlikely journey toward an afterlife spent in human poses and dolls’ clothing.

Anthropomorphic taxidermy is an art form that became hugely popular in Britain in the 19th century, with Queen Victoria herself a fan. Now, as with many odd activities, it has found new life in Brooklyn. “It’s a little immortality,” the instructress, Susan Jeiven, 40, explained at the start of her latest sold-out class.

Students, paying $60 for the class at Morbid Anatomy, a quirky workshop and art gallery hidden in an alleyway, listened carefully to instructions from the heavily tattooed Jeiven and her 22-year-old, blackclad assistant Emily Hexe. “We’re leaving the skull, we’re leaving the leg bones and the arm bones. Everything else is going out,” Jeiven ordered. She added reassuringly: “There’s nothing gross. There’s no blood that’s gonna spurt up or anything.” The students, mostly hipsters around 30 years old, began by choosing from a selection of props. These ranged from dolls’ furniture and clothing to larger objects, like an old-fashioned lamp that could be used to house the mouse. When Hexe brought the dead mice in neat white rows on a tray, there were a few nervous faces.

Jeiven noted that the creatures had been saved from a far less glamorous fate when she purchased them: “They were originally meant to be food for lizards and snakes.” A few students prodded tentatively at the still chilled mice, which had pink feet.

Others immediately sliced down along the spine to the tail, in preparation for pulling out the innards and turning the hide into what Jeiven called a “mouse purse”. “Some people are really good. I’ve noticed the people who are chefs,” Jeiven said. High school history teacher David Edelman, 30, sprinkled Borax, a powdery detergent and all-purpose preserver, into the open body of his mouse. “This really doesn’t bother me a bit,” he said boldly. “The only thing that bothers me is the smell,” he said, more uncertainly. Then: “Ugh!” He’d just scissored through a sinewy elbow with an audible snip.

Scholar, singer, actress, mouse The most famous practitioner of anthropological taxidermy was late 19th century Englishman Walter Potter. Potter used birds, guinea pigs and larger animals including dogs and goats in extraordinarily detailed, richly imagined tableaux, like the kitten’s tea party where 37 stuffed kittens sit or play around a table laden with miniature cups and cakes.

Ambitions were lower for the firsttime taxidermists in Brooklyn, but Jeiven soon got their creative juices flowing. Edelman couldn’t wait to see his mouse strike an intellectual pose.

He’d selected a toy globe for the creature to peruse. “He’s going to be a scholar.” At another table, graphic designer Sara Stryjewski, 27, was planning to turn her victim into a

“country mouse”-a country and western singer complete with guitar, that is.

And in the back of Stryjewski’s mind was an altogether more taxing taxidermy challenge. “The reason I did this is because I’ve got a cat getting old and I was thinking maybe, a possibility,” she said, reluctant to spell out the potential plan to stuff and mount her ailing pet. Actor Jonathan Horvath, 31, said he and actress Kersti Bryan had come to the class on a date. “I think it’s going pretty well. I think it’s good to do things that are a little dangerous,” he said, as he puzzled over separating the mouse pelt from the sausage-like interior.

Bryan, 28, seemed to enjoy the power to transform her mutilated mouse into what she hoped would resemble an actress, “a young actress”. “I’m not saying I’m God, but maybe just a little bit,” she said.

Across the table, a woman working in advertising vowed to display her finished product at the office. “I’m going to show my dominance and authority,” she said. “They’re going to see my

mouse and approve my vacation.”

Daydreams couldn’t last long though. There were guts to remove, tails to pull from their outer sheathes, and brains to scrape.

Finally, students started the surprisingly tricky task of filling their now empty mouse skins with clay, then stiffening the floppy limbs with wire. Just as the miniature books, mirrors and sweet clothing, like the mini top hat, began to come out in earnest, Jeiven reminded the class that they still hadn’t plucked out the eyes. If anything, the growing carnage seemed to enliven Jeiven and her young assistant. “It’s a gorgeous thing,” the head instructress said of the steadily filling trash can labeled “guts only”. “Gorgeous,” Hexe said, scraping pink brains from a tiny skull.

Cheerful as ever, Jeiven said: “I think I would have been a serial killer if I wasn’t doing this.” — AFP

A student poses with his dressed up taxidermied mouse during an anthropomorphic mouse taxidermy class.