29 Mar 2012

CR IP TI ON BS SU

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

NO: 15402

150 FILS

Kuwait National & Liberation Days

40 PAGES

www.kuwaittimes.net

JAMADI ALAWAAL 6, 1433 AH

The last day of receiving entries for Photography Competition is on April 2, 2012

In first ever public quiz, PM defends govt actions Ashour’s grilling ends without non-cooperation motion conspiracy theories

I love it and hate it!

Max 30º Min 17º High Tide 03:41 & 14:38 Low Tide 08:35 & 21:32

Ban urges Iraq to fulfil commitments to Kuwait UN chief hails Amir’s visit to Iraq

By Lisa Conrad and Agencies

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

I

love it. I can’t live without it. I am attached to it day and night. We have such bonding that it became a very big part of my life. At the same time I hate it. It can ruin my life. It is malicious if something goes wrong. I guess by now you reckon what I am talking about. Don’t get carried away guys. I am not talking about a love affair.

I am talking about computers, Internet, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc, etc. This is the virtual reality today.

Seriously speaking, many of us spend so much time on a computer. It is such an important part of our life - to book a hotel, to rent a car, to do shopping, to check grades, to read the news and to share pictures with friends around the world. I can watch movies on my iPad, visit museums and roam the world from the sofa. I can easily jump from New York to London, London to Cape Town and come back to my sofa in Kuwait within an hour.

On a serious note, this technology is brilliant and marvelous. I can’t describe it. On the other hand, if somebody hacks into the system, it becomes a disaster. For instance, Hamad Al-Naqi, the guy who was arrested the other night for posting blasphemous comments on Twitter claims that his account was hacked and he was not responsible for the comments made online. The guy is now behind bars and God help him if he is innocent to come and to tell the people in Irada who demonstrated and demanded his head.

I am sure all of you have heard about identity theft and its modus operandi. It involves computer geeks with a lot of free time who can ruin your life and bankrupt you. It could be dangerous if some terrorist hacks into your system and you can’t prove your innocence. They can turn you into a criminal or a predator of young kids selling child porn online simply by using your account.

A few months ago, a serious similar story happened in Kuwait with a government employee whose account was hacked and everyone on his email list received a letter of plea for help and financial assistance. The poor guy was in Kuwait not suspecting that his relatives and friends were worried until they called him and asked him: “Are you seriously in trouble and what’s the nearest Western Union where we can wire you money.” The guy was flabbergasted. He said: “I’m in Kuwait.”

There are many other similar stories. Some are worse, so don’t blame me if I say I love it and hate it. It is a blessing and a curse at the same time. The problem is that the curse is not up to you. It is if you are not lucky and become a victim. I wish all of you have the blessing side of it.

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah meets UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday. — KUNA

KUWAIT: UN chief Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that HH the Amir will attend the Arab summit in Iraq, hailing progress in ties and urging Baghdad to fulfil longstanding obligations for its 1990 invasion of the state. “The relationship between Iraq and Kuwait has always been very sensitive, and there are many pending issues that have not yet been resolved. I urge Iraq to fulfil its longstanding obligations to Kuwait...especially in regards with the missing people, Kuwaiti property, compensation” and maintenance of border marks between the two nations, Ban said at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The UN chief welcomed the “progress in the normalisation of relations between Iraq and Kuwait”, adding that the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to Kuwait earlier this month was a positive step.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: MP Saleh Ashour’s grilling of the prime minister yesterday ended as expected without a non-cooperation motion because the griller did not have the required 10 MPs to sign the motion. Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah, who became the first Kuwaiti premier to be grilled in public, strongly defended his government’s actions after insisting that the grilling violated the constitution, but said he decided to face it out of respect and appreciation of the new National Assembly.

Continued on Page 13

Kuwait frees 44 Iraqi fishermen • Iraq accepts Saudi envoy

KUWAIT: Children hold up placards in honour of the Prophet (PBUH) at a demonstration opposite the National Assembly late yesterday. Authorities arrested a Kuwaiti on Tuesday for insulting the Prophet (PBUH), his companions and his wife on his Twitter account. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

SITRA, Bahrain: A Bahraini anti-government protester wearing a shirt that reads ‘No to Formula’ faces off against armored vehicles during clashes in this March 24, 2011 photo. — AP

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By B Izzak

Syria looms large over summit

Bahrain reassures F1 teams, fans of safety

Weak Kuwait government caves in to wage pressures

KUWAIT: Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah (left) and MP Saleh Ashour smile before the starting of a grilling session of the premier filed by Ashour at the National Assembly yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

DUBAI: All measures will be taken to ensure the safety of Formula One teams and fans during the grand prix in Bahrain next month, the chief executive of the Bahrain International Circuit said yesterday. Bahrain has been in political turmoil for a year. The 2011 Bahrain GP was canceled due to a wave of anti-government protests and punishing government crackdowns. At least 50 people have been killed in the unrest. Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al-Khalifa told AP that Bahrain was now safe. He said the country was ready to stage the F1 race the Gulf island nation has

Leaked letter reveals India’s military weaknesses

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been hosting since 2004.

“The country has moved on and we are on the path of reconciliation,” Sheikh Salman said in a phone interview. A “global event with so much exposure” will benefit Bahrain economically and politically, he added. “There will be so much good with Formula One back in Bahrain. I am confident that all measures will be taken to ensure the safety of the teams and fans.” He added no additional security measures will be in place for the race on April 22 despite the ongoing political strife in Bahrain.

Continued on Page 13

US plane in emergency landing after pilot rant

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BAGHDAD: Arab foreign ministers met yesterday in Baghdad to debate a draft resolution calling on Damascus to end violence and hold talks with the opposition, on the eve of a landmark summit in Iraq. The Syria crisis, in which monitors say almost 10,000 people have died in a bloody crackdown on a year-long revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad, has loomed large over the first such Arab meetings to be held in Baghdad in over 20 years, which officials insist will tackle a wide range of regional issues.

Kuwait meanwhile returned to Iraq 44 fishermen and six vessels seized for crossing into its territorial waters, the interior ministry said. After HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah pardoned the men and ordered their repatriation, the fishermen and vessels were handed over to Iraqi authorities, it said in a statement.

Sheikh Sabah is due to travel to Baghdad today to attend the Arab summit, in the first visit by a Kuwaiti ruler since Iraqi forces invaded the state in August 1990. Seizing Iraqi fishing boats and arresting fishermen for crossing into Kuwaiti waters has become commonplace in past few months.

Twelve foreign ministers arrived in the Iraqi capital for the talks, which were attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri AlMaliki and were to tackle events in the Palestinian territories, Yemen and Somalia, but have centred around neighbouring Syria. “Our brothers in Syria are continuing to suffer from the regime there,” Libyan Foreign Minister Ashur bin Khayyal said, opening the meeting held in the Jerusalem room of the former Republican Palace in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his country rejects foreign intervention in Syria, but supports the rights of Syrians to determine their future. “We reject any outside interference in the Syrian

crisis,” Zebari told the meeting. “We support the legitimate ambitions of the Syrian people for freedom and democracy and their right to determine their future and choose its rulers,” he said. “And we insist on a political solution.” After opening remarks, the session was closed to the media.

Syria, a member of the 22-member Arab League, was not invited to the summit and has been suspended from the pan-Arab

BAGHDAD: Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah attends a meeting of Arab foreign ministers yesterday. — AFP body. Damascus said yesterday that it would reject any initiative from the Arab League. Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh told journalists that Iraq was proposing the Syrian authorities and opposition choose a consensus figure to whom the power to negotiate internally and externally would be transferred.

Continued on Page 13

Milan hold Barca to goalless stalemate

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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

LOCAL

Weak Kuwait govt caves in to wage pressures Economic stability could be threatened KUWAIT: In most countries, a 25 percent pay rise would buy peace from labor unions, at least temporarily. When Kuwait’s Cabinet announced such a rise for government employees this month, customs workers responded by going on strike, followed by staff at the state airline. The oil-rich emirate escaped the kind of violent anti-government protests seen elsewhere in the Middle East last year’s ‘Arab Spring’ uprising. It is paying a price in the form of relentlessly, escalating wage demands which a weak Cabinet is proving unable to resist.

Labor unions, emboldened by populist sentiment stemming from the Arab Spring are pressing their case with industrial action. Meanwhile, the Cabinet has been undermined politically by a snap election last month that saw the Islamistled opposition win control of Parliament.

The result is an upward spiral of wage settlements which can be absorbed in the short term, thanks to the country’s oil wealth, but which could threaten economic stability in the long term, officials said.

“It is like dealing with a child. When he cries you give him chocolate to stop crying. This is a disaster; this is not a professional way to manage a country,” said Naser Al-Nafisi of the Al-Joman Centre, an independent economic consultancy based in Kuwait.

“The pay rises should happen in a reasonable way, not by giving a rise to one group and not to another. There should be for example a raise every year or every three years in line with inflation, not 50 percent or 100 percent or 25 percent without any economic consideration,” he said.

Buying social peace with public sector wage hikes and government handouts is a tradition in the Arab Gulf. Last year, Kuwait’s government gave a cash transfer of about $3,600 and free food to each of the country’ s roughly 1 million citizens; around 2 million foreign workers in Kuwait were excluded. Earlier this year, the government offered newlywed Kuwaitis a $7,200 ‘gift’ and an interestfree loan of $21,500 to help them set up house.

The resulting increase in state spending infuriated Kuwait’s last central bank governor, who resigned in February after 25 years in the post, complaining about high expenditure. The finance minister warned last year that rising public sector wages were ‘a real danger ’ to state finances.

Lavish government spending has not succeeded in placating the population as well as it has in most other Gulf countries. This month saw Kuwait’s second nationwide wave of industrial unrest in five months.

Around 3,000 Kuwaiti customs workers went on a week-long strike, disrupting traffic at ports, although delays to oil exports were apparently avoided.

Employees at national carrier Kuwait Airways grounded planes for three days during a walkout. They got a 30 percent pay rise last year but are demanding a further 30 percent.

By the standards of most countries, Kuwaiti workers are fortunate. As per government’s latest salary plans, customs inspectors will receive a basic starting salary of KD 1,200 a month tax-free, while a junior law clerk will make around KD 840.

But representatives of major unions, which essentially represent Kuwaitis rather than foreign workers, say pay increases are not being distributed fairly and that wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living for several years.

Inflation reached a three-year high of 4.8 percent last year, although it is far below levels of over 10 percent hit in 2008.

The Cabinet, which is appointed by a prime minister hand-picked by the ruling family, is not in a good position to resist union pressure because it has been weakened by the election results.

Opposition lawmakers have endorsed strikers’ call for better pay and criticized economic policy.

Wage disparities have “led to inequality...and therefore a lack of justice, which is forbidden by the Constitution”, Speaker Ahmed Al-Saadoun, a prominent opposition figure, wrote on his Twitter feed last week.

Last month’s snap election was called

after protesters encouraged by opposition lawmakers stormed Parliament, accusing the premier of corruption and demanding his resignation. To some in the Cabinet, giving in to wage demands clearly seems wiser than risking fresh chaos at Kuwait’s Parliament, which is the most democratic and independent legislative body in the Gulf.

Some commentators in local media have suggested deploying the army at border points or taking striking workers to court in order to end the labor disputes, rather than offering wage increases. Another proposal, which seems unlikely to be implemented among Kuwait’s pampered citizenry, is to set up a force of volunteer workers including retired people.

“The government should not put the country in this sort of position. It has to confront the strikers,” said economist Jassem Al-Saadoun, Director of the independent Al-Shall Centre in Kuwait. “There has to be a minimal level of respect, otherwise the situation will become very critical.”

By putting pressure on private sector companies to match state pay hikes, the government’s liberal spending on wages undermines Kuwait’s stated goal of encouraging private business and diversifying its economy away from oil.

“Pushing up public sector wages hurts the private sector in an already difficult environment and may lead to inflation,” said Liz Martins, senior Middle East economist at HSBC in Dubai.

“It is not a long-term way of stimulating growth, it is a short-term fix,” she said, adding that Kuwait already attracted the lowest amount of foreign investment among the Gulf oil exporters because of its unstable politics and unfavorable business environment.

A longer-term issue is whether the government can afford the higher spending. For now, it has plenty of money; because of high global oil prices, it posted a budget surplus of $47 billion in the first nine months of 2011, nearly double the surplus in 2010.

But its rising expenditure on wages is pushing up the ‘break-even’ oil price

which it needs to balance its budget. In 2011, that price was around $82 per barrel, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

Acting Finance Minister Nayef AlHajraf was quoted by local media as telling Parliament last week the breakeven price had jumped to $109.50 for the next fiscal year starting on April 1.

That may well have been an exaggeration for political effect; most analysts do not think the break-even price is nearly that high. But Hajraf’s basic point was correct: rapidly rising wages mean any sharp fall of oil prices in future - Brent crude is currently around $125, not far from a record high - could start to pressure Kuwait’s state finances.

The extent of this pressure is unclear partly because the government is not releasing detailed data on its plans; a draft of next fiscal year ’s budget, revealed last week, envisaged a 13 percent rise in total spending to about 22 billion dinars but did not include all of the 25 percent public sector pay hike.

In a public discussion at an economic conference this week, Bassam Ramadan, country manager for Kuwait at the World Bank, said government spending might be unsustainable in coming years since oil prices could fall.

“The medium-term fiscal framework is not looking good if they continue at this rate of spending without putting much more systemic process into such salaries and compensations,” he said, adding that bureaucratic red tape and inefficiency were hurting the economy by driving away investors.

Saadoun at the al-Shall Centre said the government needed to break out of the cycle of rising wage demands and settlements by tackling the root causes of workers’ complaints, such as inequality and corruption, rather than by handing out subsidies and awarding fresh pay increases.

“You are ultimately buying political loyalty...and this is not treating (the problem). The way to combat corruption is to tackle those who are getting their hands on that money.” — Reuters

News

in brief

Sons of Kuwaiti women KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior has agreed to accept a new group of sons of Kuwaiti women who are married to GCC nationals to join a new course to be announced shortly. Sources said there are hundreds of applications, which will be reviewed and new applicants are still welcome to register. The ministry is seeking to admit the largest possible number of sons of Kuwaiti women married to GCC nationals to make use of them, especially as they are born in Kuwait and have studied in its schools. Sources said about 300 GCC soldiers were accepted and the ministry is looking for a similar number.

KAC managing director resigns?

KUWAIT: Mohammad Al-Helal, Managing Director of Kuwait Airways Corporation, resigned from his office on Tuesday according to news reports quoting sources with knowledge of the issue. Minister of Communications, Salem Al-Othaina, is yet to accept the resignation and has requested that the resignation is postponed. The main reason behind Al-Helal’s resignation remains unclear but, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, his decision is “in the best interest of KAC”.

Brotherhood seeking reform KUWAIT: Former MP Mubarak Al-Duwailah said the Muslim brotherhood is not working to rule in the Gulf, or in Arab countries, but they are seeking reform and participation in the democratic process. Al-Duwailah said he expects the military council in Egypt will nominate former Deputy President, Omar Sulaiman, as a presidential candidate, while the Muslim Brotherhood will nominate another personality more popular and acceptable to Egyptian voters.

KPC internal auditing KUWAIT: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation central bureau for internal auditing is to check its main computer systems to ensure the availability of a suitable level of checking tools. It will document those systems in order to achieve the goals of users and to evaluate the suitable use of available resources. It has been noted it is not controlling the information systems for the Managing Director for administration and financial affairs. Sources revealed that the central bureau reported a lack of cooperation by the information system and human resources administration with internal auditing.

KD1.2 million water experiment KUWAIT: Dr Mohammad Al-Rashid, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research Director of water resources, announced a tender amounting to KD 1.2 million. The tender is to dig pipes to carry treated water from Sulaibiya station to an underground well at Kabad in an attempt to store water instead of using storage tanks. Al-Rashid said the project will be run by Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and will be implemented generally as a strategic reserve for treated water if the experiment is successful.

Building construction mess renders 79-year-old bed-ridden

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Her day typically started with preparing her grandson to school, sipping some tea or a cup of coffee in the balcony. Not anymore. Seventy nine year old Temina M, is now bedridden following an accidental fall from a building that has become a construction mess. She blames her accident on the building owner’s total disregard for residents’ safety. The almost-fatal incident took place after the owner of the building decided to extend the original five storey building located in Salmiya.

It was Kuwait’s National Day, February 26 when she slipped on construction material and fell, fracturing her left leg. In fact, she was about to attend national day celebrations, but had to be taken by her family to Sabah’s Al-Razi Hospital.

“When the accident happened, I was wearing a hat modeled on Kuwait’s flag, and was ready to celebrate with my friends at the Golden Era Club. I was trying to avoid a slab of wood lying on the floor. But, because the floor is generally messy, it was really hard to avoid such an accident. At my age, I cannot do a tug of war game with construction materials and rubbish strewn on the ground,” Tamina said.

Temina’s son, Hassan Iqbal was furious about the total disregard to safety and convenience of building tenants.

“The construction began in November. They initially told us that it would only take two months for extensions to be completed. However, four months have passed, and it is far from over. So, just imagine four months of suffering from messy work and noise, most importantly my mother’s accidental trip which affected her daily life. Now she cannot move. She cannot even perform her daily chores,” he said.

Besides total disregard to safety, the building has also stopped lift service from day one of the construction. “Our flat is located on the fifth floor. Imagine carrying my mother from the ground floor to the fifth floor , I was left with no choice. During a case of emergency, we cannot easily move out here. If you see the mess from the ground to the upper floor, you can see that they really do not care,” Iqbal complained.

Also, on the fifth floor , lives a very sick seven-year-old child who needs medical attention and so does a pregnant woman. “I have to carry my seven-year-old son every day to allow him to get an early morning sun. Besides this, I also have to carry him on a weekly basis to the hospital. I remember one time, when descending from my flat carrying my son, I was almost hit by a huge slab of concrete.

They do not care,” the father of the sick child told Kuwait Times. Another tenant complained, “I also have to carry my wife from the ground floor to my flat in the fifth level.

When we complained about it, the building owner told us to move out of the flat instead. All we want is to just observe safety and at least give us some space to walk about freely without worrying about our safety.”

The building tenants also complained of a frequent water supply interruption, poor building maintenance and the unending excavations with manholes left uncovered, inviting accidents.” What we know is that if you are going to construct a building, it has to be properly checked; they need to have a permit and they should secure the safety of people residing there. None of it is followed in this building,” a frustrated tenant said.

No representative from the company that owns the building was available for comment yesterday.

Temina M at her accommodation bed

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

LOCAL

Bedoons’ ‘instigator’ arrested KUWAIT: Police arrested a man who has been accused of organizing demonstrations staged by stateless residents in Taima last Monday. According to sources, the prime suspect is being held pending investigations.

The man was reportedly among few ‘bedoons’ detained on Monday during a quarrel that took place as police tried to forcibly disperse a demonstration.

Police identified him as the ‘leader of Al-Najashi street’ - in reference to the main street in the area where stateless residents have been staging protests.

The suspect is being investigated in connection with being accused of directing protestors to attack police officers who follow orders to disperse illegal demonstrations. Following his

arrest, the man was taken to the Criminal Investigations Department, before being taken to the Public Prosecution Department where he was charged with holding unlicensed mass gatherings, attacking police officers on duty, threatening national security and other charges.

Meanwhile, sources who spoke to Al-Rai on condition of anonymity indicated that police are attempting to resolve the mystery behind the suspect’s influence among protestors, especially youngsters ‘who followed his every direction.’ So far, investigations revealed that the suspect possesses full information about decisions regulating the work of the Central Agency for Illegal Residents. — Al-Rai

Economic downturn key factor for increase in suicide rate

By Lisa Conrad KUWAIT: Official statistics from the General Department of Criminal Investigations revealed that the suicide rate rose by 40 percent between 2010 and 2011. Whilst there were 52 reported suicides in 2010, the figure rose to 73 in 2011. Many, the report found, were cases of domestic workers committing suicide, especially housemaids.

“Mistreated housemaids can come under a barrage of abuse, from mental to physical and even sexual. It can become too much, especially when there is no recourse or support,” an insider at Kuwait’s Psychiatric Hospital said.

The insider noted that the stigma attached to mental health issues continues to be a boundary to those with the option of seeking help from doing so, “There is little encouragement for those suffering from depression and other mental health issues to seek help. They end up dealing

alone with severe problems, and some just cannot cope under such pressure.”

Despite the considerable increase, he added that rates may be even higher, “I don’t know if the numbers are really accurate; they may be higher.

Some may be downplayed as accidental as there is also a stigma surrounding suicide, because the difficulties those who resort to it face are often misunderstood.”

Dr Vincenza Tiberia, Psychologist at Kuwait’s Al-Razi Clinic, said that the concerning increase is certainly not an issue exclusive to domestic workers, “There has been a notable suicide increase in Kuwaitis and higher level employees. The global economic downturn has affected Kuwait in many ways.” She added that such financial difficulties can have a knock-on effect later for domestic workers, “If people are losing their jobs, then the first person to not get paid is the maid. This may also be a contributing factor: it’s a trickledown

effect.” Tiberia noted that the economic downturn may well be a key factor in the increasing rate of suicide. She explained, “Before, there was little accountability because companies could just keep borrowing. But when the banks stopped loaning money, the influx of money stopped and investors took a closer look at their investments.”

She added, “Many inquiries were launched and some companies were found to be underperforming and many employees lost their jobs. The unemployment rate is high.” However, she added that it’s not just the economic downturn fuelling hopelessness, “To make matters worse, around the very same time, psychological services delivery in Kuwait was seriously debased by an unprecedented influx of substandard service providers who were not trained to assess suicide risk nor to provide adequate treatment, and the patient suicide rate most likely went up as well as a result,” warned Tiberia.

MP voices concern at country’s stability, stresses firmness on suspicious accounts KUWAIT: MP Saleh Ashour yesterday affirmed the need for political stability in the country in order to boost development. However, he stressed that decisive action must be taken to resolve the crisis that broke out four months ago over suspicious accounts of decision makers. Ashour, in his presentation to the National Assembly as part of the scheduled interpellation of His Highness the Prime Minister, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Shiite Muslim member of Parliament Saleh Ashour gestures as he speaks during a grilling session at the Kuwait’s National Assembly yesterday.

Al-Sabah, expressed gratitude to HH the Premier for ascending to the platform to face questions on topics of the grilling.

The interpellation is aimed at “correcting the course and tackling defects,” Ashour said, arguing that all the items of the grilling “address public issues that fall within jurisdictions of the prime minister, who is responsible for implementing the general policy of the state.”

Ashour expressed his belief that Abdullah Al-Salem Hall will witness other such interpellations, due to “internal and external changes ... and the next phase will be a stage of interpellations.”

He then addressed his number-one topic, purported and suspiciously large accounts of decision makers. The MP accused the Government of being inactive towards this case, which has preoccupied the public for four months. It was the Central Bank of Kuwait that took action and referred some cases to the public prosecution department.

“Why did the Government, in case it had information about the deposits and accounts that became too large between 2006 and 2011, not refer a number of ministers and former MPs (to legal authorities)? And where is financial scrutiny?”

Delving into the heart of the truth about political finances warrant Government cooperation, and decisive action must be taken to resolve this ongoing issue as its negligence is tantamount to a crime. This “is a responsibility that we all share,” he said in his interpellation address. Ashour spoke shortly after HH the Prime Minister stood on the stand, facing the inquiry.

On issue of stateless residents (known as bedoon),

KUWAIT: A general view of the National Assembly during a requesting session filed by Kuwaiti Shiite Muslim Member of Parliament Saleh Ashour regarding corruption charges against the new prime minister in parliament over corruption allegations which led to the collapse of the last government and dissolution of the house. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Ashour expressed his belief that the condition of this segment of the population was much better 20 years ago than it is now, describing their current status as “painful and tragic.”

Despite the participation and ‘martyrdom’ of many of these residents in wars to defend the country, they have remained without certificates of birth, marriage or demise.

He urged the Government to resolve this 50-year-old problem, hinting that greater external powers might eventually intervene and seek to dictate settlements on Kuwait. Kuwaiti law concerning foreigners’ residency allows the bedoon to acquire Kuwaiti citizenship, partic-

ularly those with a record of great services for the country, he said. He argued that tens of thousands of nonKuwaitis married to Kuwaiti men have been granted citizenship at the expense of some bedoon who are eligible for citizenship. He also said officials had affirmed Government desire to resolve the status of those who possessed official documents.

Bedoon should be granted other rights, such the right to employment, education and health care.

Ashour called on the Government to present a platform, rather than a work plan, and urged it to adopt a new approach to overcome obstacles and press ahead with its tasks. — KUNA

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

LOCAL kuwait digest

Letters to Badrya Darwish Dear Badrya, I am Hagar Mahmoud and work with Jazeera Airways. I would like to thank you for mentioning Jazeera Airways in your article, as it has triggered our interest. I read your article that appeared in Kuwait Times on March 9, 2012. It is a great article with beneficial information that summarizes the entire situation. In addition, Jazeera Airways still welcomes all passengers who are willing to fly to Dubai during weekends. Seats are still available and none of our flights have been influenced by the KAC strike.

Regards Hagar Mahmoud, Social Media Specialist

Numbers never lie

By Mohammad Al-Abduljader

N

umbers never lie. No one can use real statistics to argue and present another party in an unflattering light. It is why official numbers and statistics are important to make us realize how good or bad our real situation is like.

Several shocking figures appeared last year which exposed serious problems that the country has been facing, given the significant fields they address. First of all, the Central Statistical Office released early results of the 2011 census, pointing out population growth estimated at 30 percent in the Kuwaiti community and 70 percent in the expatriate community, compared to the 2005 census.

Several shocking figures appeared last year which exposed serious problems that the country has been facing, given the significant fields they address. First of all, the Central Statistical Office released early results of the 2011 census, pointing out population growth estimated at 30 percent in the Kuwaiti community and 70 percent in the expatriate community, compared to the 2005 census.

The results indicate that Kuwaitis are outnumbered in their own country by nearly one million and a half, and that Kuwait has a sizable population of menial workers.

During Parliament’s session last week, the government explained that KD19.5 billion are allocated in the 2012/2013 state budget as expenses, while KD 10 billion are allocated for the public sector’s payroll which consume 73 percent of oil revenues.

The state further indicates that oil prices need to reach $107 per barrel in order to be able to achieve surplus following the recent 25 percent base salary increase to the public sector which has a total cost of KD 650 million.

This session took place in the wake of labor strikes that exposed the state’s inability to secure enough local products to prevent price rise as a result of shortage in imported goods. Other notable statistics released last week includes figures which indicate that Kuwait suffers a KD 3 billion annual losses as a result of traffic accidents. The average number of vehicles in the state reaches 10.

In addition to losses estimated at millions of dinars, the strike carried out by customs personnel and Kuwait Airways employees caused a lot of damage to Kuwait’s reputation. All statistics mentioned above are serious enough to warrant prompt efforts that can prevent Kuwait reaching a deadlock.

Do state officials realize that a slight drop in oil prices or any serious problem in the region could have disastrous economic and social effects on the country? The Cabinet and Parliament need to engage in serious dialogue to devise solutions based on official statistics to solve many of the alarming problems that plague the society such as employment, housing, demographic structure and deteriorating public services. — Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

Law enforcement is the solution

By Ibrahim Al-Awadhi

T

he sad reality of Kuwaiti society was exposed by the recent incident where Scope TV’s headquarters was stormed by angr y tribesmen after MP Husain Al-Qallaf allegedly offended Awazem tribe’s leader Falah bin Jamea. The reality is that the Kuwaiti society is no longer recognized by the spirit of ‘one family’ which always preserved the country’s security throughout its history.

It is evident today that the government needs to take action, instead of simply appealing to warring sides to maintain calm when the media viscously spreads sectarianism. Kuwait is in dire need of a strong government that can take bold decisions so that the society can overcome its current problems.

Worrying about national unity and fighting recurring problems has distracted the Cabinet and Parliament. This could have been avoided if the law was enforced on all, and serious efforts were taken to curb all forms of violations.

Bin Jamea did the right thing when he publically announced to place the crisis behind him “for the best interest of Kuwait, as this step helped avoid a crisis of serious repercussions.”

The government should perform its duty by enforcing the law against every individual who contributes to raising sectarian or tribal tensions in Kuwaiti society. This is so that they can lead by example. In my opinion, the government already took the first step by pressing charges against Scope TV, which proves the government’s seriousness about taking actions to tackle sectarianism.

In order to be objective, the government needs to take legal action against those who stormed the Scope TV building, as well as those who attacked Al-Watan TV building. Doing that will ensure that the government can regain people’s trust. When this trust is regained, people will no longer feel the need to take matters into their own hands. — Al-Rai

Dear Badrya, I read your article that appeared in Thursday’s issue and fully support your comments. I am an expat and I feel for Kuwait. This experiment with democracy is a futile waste of time and money, and it is Kuwait that is suffering. We all know what needs to happen but I guess we are not allowed to say it. Keep up the pressure.

Best regards, Mike Buist

kuwait digest

Mother of benevolence

By Ahmed Mohammed Al-Fahad

F

our years ago, I visited Oman on a business trip and I really liked the hotels built in Jassa, overlooking the Arabian Sea. I also liked Metreh, which is an old public market where small boats sail in and out to load and unload goods. It has been entirely remodeled with the intention of preserving the city’s heritage and traditional sites.

Two years ago, I visited Qatar and everybody recommended that I visit the Wajef market, which is a very traditional old market that has also been renovated and became a favorite spot for families, tourists and Qatari youth. Unfortunately, I could not visit it because of other commitments I had owing to my short visit.

In UAE, both citizens and tourists, visit heritage and traditional sites like the Global Village, the Family Forum and a traditional market near the Festival City.

I think people are increasingly visiting these places because they are fed up with the identical modern shopping malls that are spread everywhere. This has made people long for memories of the good old days.

There were no traditional markets or cafes in Kuwait until Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmed refurbished the Bin Bahar yard Mubarak Kiosk in Mubarakiya, and is planning to do the same to the Al-Mulla Hafeez (office) and the Women’s Market. I realize that writing an article will not do her due justice, but let us all admit that all work done could not have been accomplished if it were not for her, especially if things were left to ministries and the National Council For Culture, Arts and Letters dominated by bureaucracy, envy and

interfering Parliament’s hotshots.

We all know that if it had not been for the efforts of ‘The Mother of Benevolence’ and her army of volunteers, we would not have seen any of these historical traditional sites visited by citizens, tourists and residents. I also know that I would not be exaggerating when I say that we need more of the likes of Sheikha Amthal to retain Kuwait’s reputation as the ‘Pearl of the Gulf’. So, I would like extend my complete gratitude to Sheikha Amthal and every honest citizen for her efforts. — Al-Watan

There were no traditional markets or cafes in Kuwait until Sheikha Amthal AlAhmed refurbished the Bin Bahar yard Mubarak Kiosk in Mubarakiya, and is planning to do the same to the Al-Mulla Hafeez (office) and the Women’s Market.

kuwait digest

The rocky road to Syria

By Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar

M

y last visit to Northern Lebanon was of a new kind. It was in 2006 to look for refugees and help them following the Israeli aggression on southern Lebanon, as part of a Kuwaiti popular campaign in solidarity with the Lebanese people.

So, north or south there is no difference as the same goes for a Syrian refugee who escaped to Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey. The result is a human suffering and the movement of thousands of people non-stop.

Statistics say that the flow of refugees is at a rate of 250 daily, as there are 90,000 in Jordan, 16,000 in Turkey and 14,000 in Lebanon. It is expected that if the Syrian regime opens its borders or relaxes its grip, the number may increase to half a million, especially in Lebanon.

If that happens, then we are facing a horrifying tragedy because the situation now is miserable, so how will it be with a significant increase of refugees?

The road from Beirut to Akar is full of war memories from this year or that, the latest of which is Nahr Al-Barid refugee camp, and even Jabal Mohsen and Bab Al-Tabbana, or the bridge which the Israelis bombed seven times. Even the old Musailha castle, that was used by the Syrian forces as a prison before withdrawing from Lebanon. The war will look at you between one step and another, behind every hill, and

forces you to deal with what was a normal situation in that country. It hardly gets out of a war, before it enters another.

The story of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is not known by people yet, especially in the north as its indicators point to the economic break down and inability. I went around looking for the truth. I found it easily, without any effort, in the faces of children, women and the elderly. A repeated image I saw in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinian camps and others. They are the same eyes looking for hope that never comes. Rather it gets repeated in the paths of caved-in eyes, lost in the contradiction of others that never get renewed.

There are thousands of kilometers between Russia and Syria, but coincidentally similar in alphabet, only in arrangement of letters, and killing interests as all know.

But Syria and Lebanon are separated by several meters, and nothing similar in the letters. Rather it is a joint destiny in an era of eternal pain, pain that is far from human dignity and close to naked truth that cannot be hidden.

We will be there again very soon, with the hope to somewhat reduce the pain, but the larger image is led and executed by the cruel who do not have an iota of feeling. — Al-Jarida

Dear Badrya Darwish, The photograph on page 12 of the Friday Times should be emblazoned on every front page of every newspaper worldwide. A simple group of five ladies worshiping God through His prophet Daniel; a simple group of Iranian Jewish and Muslim women with no inter-faith animosity.

Best regards, A lesson in tolerance for all mankind.

David Woods Holiday Inn Salmiya Dear Badrya, I read your article entitled ‘Veiled Dictators.’

The words are so thoughtful. Even though I am not a citizen, I feel very comfortable and free in this country.

Kuwait has never compelled anyone to follow anything. The new suggestion on the compulsory use of hijab for women is an indicator of Kuwait’s changing face. But people like you are advocating against it. It is nice to be able to read such good articles.

Long Live liberal and progressive Kuwait.

Looking forward to reading more articles from you on public issues.

Thank you, Sandeep Thomas Jleeb Al- Shuwaikh Salaam Badrya, I regularly read your articles that appear in Kuwait Times. I am writing to you with the hope that you will address this issue that has happened with non-Arabs.

You had previously written that Kuwaitis or Arabs do not discriminate against non-Arabs. I just want to bring to your notice how non-Arabs are discriminated against during sports meets.

Local companies have begun conducting such events of late. I work with one such contracting company. On 20 March, it held a walkathon and we were invited to participate. The rules stated that participants can only walk but not run.

Kuwaitis were judging the event. Unfortunately, I saw that If an Arab ran (thereby violating the law) it was acceptable, but not a non-Arab! Such prejudice is uncalled for. I was disqualified for ‘running’ instead of walking.

I was not the only one. Only non-Arab participants were disqualified from the competition.

And especially that non-Arab is disqualified who is in winning position. Why is that the same rule is not applied equally on everyone? You can verify my claims using your sources. I hope you can write about the injustice going on.

Thanks Anonymous Dear Madam, Your article entitled ‘Let’s walk’ that appeared in Kuwait Times was very informative and carried a social message targeting those who do no physical activity, even those who have stopped walking altogether.

Thanks Shaikh Jahangeer

kuwait digest

Khalfan and Islamic Brotherhood phobia!

By Nassar Al-Abdul Jaleel

T

he media recently quoted statements and tweets posted by Lieut General Dhahi AlKhalfan Dubai Police Commander, about the Islamic Brotherhood’s conspiracy to topple all GCC countries’ regimes, which was described as ‘nonsense’ by the Brotherhood.

These statements were described as ‘Ikhwanophobia’ by a top security official. I am not a Islamic Brotherhood affiliate though I was accused of being phobic of it because I had written some articles about them.

Well, brother Al-Khalfan and others, the time of staging coups is over, and what happened in the Arab Spring countries is not referred to as coups; it is rather described as public upheavals and revolution against tyranny. Yes, those revolutions were supported by the West, USA and the Middle East, in

addition to some GCC satellite TV channels like AlJazeera and Al-Arabiya.

Don’t forget, dear brother Khalfan, some GCC states have spiritually and financially supported the demonstrations in the Arab Spring countries until some regimes willingly stepped down like the case in Tunis, Egypt and Yemen. Others caused a lot of blood-shed in Libya. We also hope that the Syrian regime will give way when all powers of the East and West unite with regional countries on an alternative favored by all concerned parties. The best change that willingly happened was that in Morocco, which is likely to happen in the GCC states, with cabinets and premiers being elected from among the people. I also predict that this will start in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the rest of the GCC states.

It is also likely that the Islamic Brotherhood will win Cabinet premierships in the GCC states as well.

After all, they have worked hard for over 70 years to achieve this dream.

It might not contradict with Western plans for two reasons: First, the West might wish to see more division in the Arab world such as the case in Sudan and the second is that the West would, then, succeed in changing our current constitutions into a more secular Islamic one like that of Tunisia or even worse, like that of Turkey. However, signs of change are starting to be evident and some people are frankly declaring that freedom is more important than Sharia laws. Finally, I would like to stress that I personally do not care who takes over as long as the Islamic Sharia is used as the constitution! — Al-Watan

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

local

Sexual assaults doubled in Kuwait last year 48 homicides, 73 suicides KUWAIT: Forty eight homicides took place in Kuwait in 2011, according to official statistics released recently by the Criminal Investigations General Department, which also show a significant increase in suicides last year. The statistics showed that nine of the homicide cases last year were ruled as manslaughter, while the remaining 39 were ruled as first or second degree murder. The number of murder cases in Kuwait last year remained similar to the previous year, which saw 49 homicides.

Suicide cases jumped from 52 in 2010 to 73 a year later. These suicides were committed by Kuwaiti, Arab and Asian nationals, most of whom were domestic workers according to security sources with knowledge of the statistics. The majority of the suicide cases in 2011 were committed by hanging, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The statistics indicated that evidence of foul play was found in 144 death cases reported in Kuwait last

year. That number includes the 73 suicide cases in addition to 37 fatalities from drug overdoses, while the remaining 34 were killed in other felony cases. Natural causes resulted in 1,859 fatalities in 2011, according to the statistics. Overdose cases dropped slightly from 41 cases in 2010.

The 24 attempted murder cases filed last year was up compared to only 16 the year before.

Another notable increase was cases of possession of unlicensed firearms which increased from 17 in 2010 to 24 in 2011. Last year also saw eight cases of human injury as a result of shootings, and 16 arson cases.

The Criminal Investigations General Department probed 10 kidnap cases last year, in addition to 15 sexual assault cases which doubled from the year before.

Robbery by force increased from 88 in 2011 compared to 75 in 2010.

Breaking into homes also increased from 9 in 2010 to 14 the following year, but battery charges

dropped from 20 in 2010 to 12 in 2011. The largest number of crimes recorded last year were alcohol consumption and thefts at 4,283 and 3,193 respectively. Both crimes saw an increase from a year before, which saw 2,420 thefts and 4,155 alcohol consumption cases.

In total, crimes investigated by the Criminal Investigations General Department increased from 7,083 in 2010 to 7,588 a year later.

In a breakdown of crimes per governorate, the statistics show that Farwaniya remained top, with 1,626 despite a drop from the 1,807 recorded in 2010. Hawally came second with 1,583, up from 1237 recorded a year before. Jahra saw a drop in crimes with 1,444 in 2011 while 1,541 were recorded in 2010, whereas Ahmadi Governorate saw a slight increase with 1,195 last year compared to 1,110 the year before.

The Capital Governorate saw 1,014 crimes last year compared to 1,046 the year before, while Mubarak AlKabeer saw 726 crimes compared to only 342 in 2010. —Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressing a news conference at the Foreign Ministry building in Kuwait City yesterday. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah held talks with Ban on bilateral ties and regional developments, as the UN chief was visiting the Gulf state on his way to Baghdad to attend the Arab summit. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Youth Council convenes, votes on national project motto KUWAIT: The Youth Council for Preparation of a National Youth Project held its third meeting at Martyr Office yesterday, and the members voted on a motto for the national project, said Council Executive Office Chairman Dr Jassem Faisal AlRubaiaan.

In remarks after the meeting, Al-Rubaiaan said the members had divided themselves into three groups in a previous meeting, and finalized the list of priority issues to be tackled to meet the expectations and needs of Kuwaiti youth. He said this prepares for inclusion of a list of issues in the national document on youth, which would be approved during the National Conference on Youth in November under the sponsorship of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah.

The eight issues selected in the meeting are: strategic planning related to housing, healthcare, and the environment, and so on; culture, arts, literature, hobbies, volunteer work, and care for the talented; educational reform; economic development and small projects; promotion of pride in national identity and accountable citizenship and bolstering social security; administrative, legal, and judicial reform; sports reform; and human development, with emphasis on creating leadership and employment.

These items were selected after lengthy discussion among the members from an overall 32 topics, he said.

As to the executive office plans and programs, Al-Rubaiaan remarked that the members would be offered numerous training courses and activities that would whet their skills and enable them to achieve better communication and interaction quality as they engage with society as a whole and youth in particular.

The official urged all young Kuwaitis who have ideas and initiatives to share them with the members via the project’s website “www.youth.org.ke” or the email “youth.org.kw@info”, or by dialing the phone number “55558035”.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had on February 15, during inauguration of the National Assembly’s first session of the 14th legislative term, urged more care for the young and more effort at job creation and engagement of youth in all aspects of life in Kuwait.

His Highness had then revealed giving instructions to the Amiri Diwan to prepare for holding a national conference on youth that takes into account young Kuwaitis’ initiatives and proposals and support their drafting of a national document in this regard.

The diwan accordingly named a supervisory panel of advisors at the Amiri Diwan and Premier’s Diwan to supervise this process and project.

This panel then formed the executive office which is in charge of coordinating and co-organizing with the youth council to yield a final document of recommendations that would be presented to His Highness the Amir, who would then refer what he sees fit to the cabinet for consideration and action. — KUNA

Kuwaiti voluntary work from the heart: Al-Furaij BEIRUT: Researcher Suad Al-Furaij, member of the Voluntary Work Center, asserted yesterday the importance of charity and voluntary work coming from the hearts of Kuwaiti citizens.

Al-Furaij, currently participating in the Third Conference on culture and voluntary work in the Arab world, said Kuwait was and still is the frontrunner in charity and voluntary work locally, regionally and internationally.

The official said Kuwait is keen to join such gatherings and similar conferences to exchange views and expertise in the field, and to benefit from members new experiences.

Al-Furaij also affirmed the importance of voluntary work in Kuwait, which allows people to contribute to society out of affection for helping people in need.

Based in Doha, the Arab federation for voluntary work was established in 2003 and aims to spread the culture of volunteering in the Arab world. —KUNA

Bedoons hiring on hold pending govt approval KUWAIT: A Civil Service Commission (CSC) official confirmed on Tuesday that state bodies have not received government approval to accept job applications from stateless residents. However, he said that necessary preparations have been made to hire them. “Departments can accept applications from bedoon candidates who are eligible to be employed in the public sector. They can be sent to the CSC to take follow up action,” said the source. He explained that these procedures will remain on hold until a written notice is received from the government.

In order to be eligible for applying to work in the public sector, a stateless resident must be registered

as holder of the 1965 Census in the database of the Central Agency for Illegal Residents. Applying for work does not automatically guarantee a job in the public sector for a bedoon applicant.

Speaking to Al-Qabas on condition of anonymity, arguing that the same mechanism is not applied when it comes to hiring expatriates in the public sector, reported Al-Qabas. While the government indicates that Kuwaitis have a priority in employment in the public sector, ahead of expatriates. Source argue that the government is actually following this rule, only 73,066 out of 27,9964 in state departments are expats (26 percent).

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

LOCAL

Kuwaiti visa trafficker in police custody ‘Stare’ lands youth in hospital

Al-Sayer launches joint traffic safety campaign KUWAIT: Al-Sayer Group launched its first traffic safety awareness campaign in cooperation with Kuwait Oil Company and Hawally Educational Department of the Ministry of Education. Senior officials from all three parties announced the campaign during a ceremony held at Salah Al-Deen High School in Zahra.

“Kuwait has the highest rate of accidents worldwide compared to its population and size”, said Ibrahim Al-Fouzan, AlSayer Group Services Manager.

He said official statistics indicate that “traffic accidents claimed 242 lives in the first half of last year against 186 in the same period of 2010”.

“We share this view with Kuwait Oil Company and appreciate the time and

effort they have invested in equipment and human resources for the past two years to promote defensive driving”, AlFouzan said. “Hawally Education Department is just as dedicated in supporting any efforts and initiatives towards the safety of our future generations and their key role in building a promising future”, he added.

The safety awareness campaign will occur simultaneously with Al-Sayer’s Best Environmental Performance Award, which the group is organizing for the fourth year in a row. “The competition aims at enhancing environment awareness of students and their recognition of environmental responsibilities in the future”, Al-Fouzan said.

KUWAIT: A visa trafficker tried to trick police officers by claiming that he was unaware of how three workers were registered under his sponsorship. However, a detailed investigation revealed his criminal activities. The case was brought to light after a 21-year-old citizen approached General Department for Immigration to report that he is the legal sponsor of three Asian men despite being unemployed. He claimed that his signature was forged on legal documents to issue work permits for workers who in return paid money to the individual who allegedly forged the signature. Following investigations, police apprehended the three workers who denied the man’s claims. They insisted on having paid money to the citizen in order to issue work permits. The so-called company has only been registered as per state records but does not function in reality. The workers eventually agreed to assist police in setting up a decoy. Undercover agents posing as customers contacted the citizen stating that three men were willing to pay him KD 1,000 each for a visa. The man was arrested while trying to conduct the transaction, and eventually confessed that he had been doing this with the assistance of a Ministry of Interior employee in exchange for money. A search is currently underway for the second suspect who disappeared after realizing that his accomplice has been arrested.

Youth assaulted A young man was hospitalized in a critical condition after being brutally assaulted by a group of fifteen men at a shopping mall in Farwaniya. Police arrested five suspects, and are on the hunt for the remaining ones. According to eyewitness report, the suspects were dressed in

‘strange clothing and earrings,’ and attacked the victim without any apparent provocation.

Investigations reveal that suspects gathered around the victim after he shot them a glance that was interpreted as being disrespectful. The victim was left bleeding profusely. Police obtained information about one of the suspects who was identified by an eyewitness. Following his arrest, the suspect divulged information about four other accomplices. The victim was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Farwaniya Hospital.

Colleagues’ quarrel Two men were hospitalized while six others were arrested after a vicious quarrel broke out between colleagues of a company situated in Abdullah Port. Police reached the scene as soon as the incident was reported. Paramedics admitted eight Asian men who sustained injuries. The injured workers were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Adan Hospital. Investigations revealed that the fight was sparked by longstanding disputes.

Fugitive caught A fugitive sentenced to serve life in prison was arrested in Farwaniya after being pulled over by police for committing a traffic violation. The suspect, a citizen in his twenties, reportedly tried to escape when patrol police officers asked him to pull over after he was spotted driving in a haphazard manner. He was forced to halt and was detained after police deduced that he is wanted in connection with a kidnap and sexual assault case. He was referred to higher authorities.

Attempted murder

Police are on the hunt for four teenagers who face attempted murder charges after reportedly knocking down their adversary using their car. Police and paramedics rushed to the scene in Dhahar in response to a report that a man was hit by a car following a heated argument with four teenagers. The man was admitted to Adan Hospital where he was treated for a fractured hand and fatal injuries. Police are using descriptions of the suspects’ car to trace the suspects.

Pedestrian knocked down A man was severely injured after being run over by a car as he ran away from stray dogs in Amghara. The Bangladeshi man was walking in the area on Tuesday when a pack of dogs began following him. in an attempt to escape, he broke into a run until he reached a street and tried to cross without paying much attention to passing vehicles. A Syrian driver accidently knocked him down unconscious. Paramedics reached the scene shortly and admitted the victim to Jahra Hospital. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. The Syrian driver was taken into custody.

Suicide attempt foiled An Ethiopian woman attempted to end her life at her sponsor ’s home in Rumaithiya.

However, her co-worker saved her. Her co-worker saw her tying a rope around her neck, preparing to hang herself. She immediately informed her sponsor who quickly inter vened and stopped her. Police arrived after an emergency call was made, and investigations revealed that the woman suffered from psychological stress which prompted her to take the step. — Al-

$46 million sewage loan to Lebanon BEIRUT: Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) will sign a USD 46 million loan for sewage projects in some parts of Lebanon.

Nawaf Al-Dabbous, KFAED representative in Lebanon, said yesterday, that the total cost of the project will be $68 million, with 65 percent contributed by KFAED. The Lebanese government will throw 35 percent into the four-year project.

These developmental projects have positive manifestations on national economy, Al-Dabbous noted. He said

the two countries’ leaderships are always keen on promoting bilateral ties.

The signing of the loan will be in the presence of Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib M ik ati, Direc tor of KFAED, Abdulwahab Al-Bader, and KFAED Regional Director, Marwan Al-Ghanim.

Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic and Development has offered 17 loans to Lebanon since 1996, at a total cost of $500 million.

These loans included projects in health, agriculture, transportation and reconstruction. — KUNA

Ice Skating Rink to reopen on April 1 KUWAIT: The Ice Skating Rink will reopen on Sunday, April 1, 2012 following the conclusion of maintenance operations that were being conducted for nearly a month.

An entertainment program will be held specially for this occasion in which several activities will be held. Omar AlSamaraei, Ice Skating Rink and Fountain Park Super visor at the Touristic Enterprises Company, said in a press statement that the activities will continue to be held throughout the year.

The Ice Skating Rink opens everyday from 8:30 am to 10:00 pm, divided into seven periods that are separated by intermission periods. The period between 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm on Tuesdays is allocated exclusively for female visitors. Moreover, the facility

Omar Al-Samaraei

offers discounted tickets during this period. The management also offers training courses at a KD 10 monthly fee.

More surprises from VIVA in ‘Win a car every week’ campaign KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s newest and most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider, announced the winners in its hugely successful “Win a Car Every Week” campaign.

Budour Al-Abdan, Shakir Eid Al-Jumaili, Nuna Jareena Mohamed Sally and Carolini Ortez Yabut were the lucky winners of a new Mercedes Benz C180 2012 in the campaign.

The winners expressed their happiness at being the lucky winners of the new Mercedes Benz C180 as it is a dream come true and has been made possible by VIVA. VIVA congratulated the winners and invited customers to participate in the ongoing campaign to become one of the many winners in the upcoming weekly draws. VIVA also reiterated its commitment to continuously provide unique and tailor-made offers designed to better serve and reward its customers.

For every 500 fils spent, the customer is entitled to one chance to enter the draw. The offer is only applicable to prepaid customers, who can enter the draw through two options. The first option is to subscribe with 500 fils per day, which gives them unlimited minutes and text messages within the VIVA network.

The second option for prepaid customers is to subscribe to BlackBerry KD7 which gives them full and unlimited BlackBerry Services and 15 points.

Customers are able to subscribe to both options to enter the draw to win a luxurious car. Their points will accumulate and carry on to the next draw if they did not win. To increase their chances to win a new car every week, prepaid customers can subscribe to ‘Flavor of the Week’ which is a special service for that week allowing more opportunities to win. To subscribe to the ‘Infinite Calls and SMS’ offer, send ‘1’ in an SMS to 535. Prepaid customers interested in the full, unlimited local KD 7 BlackBerry offer can send ‘2’ in an SMS to 535. For the full menu of prepaid offers, send an SMS with the word “GO” to number 535.

VIVA is the newest, most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider in Kuwait. Launched in December 2008, VIVA makes things possible for our customers by transforming communication, information and entertainment experiences. The company has rapidly established an unrivalled position in the market through our customer and employee centric approach. VIVA’s quest is to be the mobile brand of choice for Kuwait by being transparent, engaging, energetic and fulfilling.

VIVA continues to take a considerable share of the market by offering an innovative range of best value products, services and content propositions; a state-of-the-art nationwide network and world-class service. VIVA offers Internet speed up to 42.2Mbps due to the implementation of the most advanced third generation (3G and HSDPA) network in Kuwait resulting in superior coverage, performance and reliability. For more information, visit VIVA at one of our store locations or on www.viva.com.kw or Abdulrazzaq Al-Essa, Marketing Communications Senior Manager, at Abdulrazzaq.Essa@viva.com.kw

‘Kuwait in Dubai’ festival begins DUBAI: The “Kuwait in Dubai” festival was launched under the sponsorship of Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, Sheikh Hamadan Bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, and is sponsored by the Kuwaiti General Consulate.

Organized by Al-Jabriya Exhibition Group, 50 Kuwaiti public and private establishments will participate in the activity until Thursday.

The UAE was represented by Khaled AlShamsi, Deputy Director General of the Dubai health department, and Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Advisor of Ancient Sites in the department of tourism and commercial marketing.

Kuwait was represented at the inauguration of

the workshop, late on Tuesday, by Tareq AlHamad, Kuwaiti General Consul in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Al-Hamad said the festival will contribute to further cement the special ties between the peoples of Kuwait and the UAE. “The logo of the occasion, Kuwait in Dubai, reflects the deep sentiments of Kuwait and its people towards the people of the UAE,” the consul affirmed. Ahmad Ismail Behbehani, Chairman of Al-Jabriya Exhibition Group, said the Kuwaiti week in Dubai will include diverse media, cultural, economic and investment activities.

Several authorities are participating in the activity including Kuwait News Agency represent-

ed by Khaled Al-Shemmari, head of marketing, and Suad Al-Marzoug of the news agency public relations department.

A delegation from Kuwait Journalists Association met with officials of Dubai Press Club.

Mariam Bin Fahad, executive manager, briefed the Kuwaiti delegation about preparations for the 11th Arab Media Forum, due to be held on May 8 and 9. Fahad and other leading club figures presented the guests with a published report about the development of the media in 17 Arab countries. It included some studies on consumption patterns in four Arab countries and the impact of the internet on consumer tendencies. — KUNA

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

Leaked letter reveals India army weakness

Forced conversions hike Pakistan minorities’ fears Page 11

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ADEN: Yemeni security forces secure a main road in the southern port of Aden following the seizure of Saudi Arabia’s deputy consul by unknown gunmen outside his home in the southern city yesterday. — AFP

Gunmen kidnap Saudi diplomat in Yemen Iran, Qaeda exploit Yemen uncertainty ADEN: Saudi Arabia’s deputy consul in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden was seized by unknown gunmen outside his home yesterday, a police official said. “Abdullah Al-Khalidi was kidnapped while leaving his home in the Mansoura neighborhood of Aden,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said police have launched an investigation into the kidnapping and are actively searching for the diplomat. “He was taken to an unknown location and we are searching for him,” the official added.

Insecurity has plagued Yemen’s mostly lawless southern region in the past year, with Al-Qaeda-linked militants overrunning several towns in Aden’s neighboring Abyan province in May, and the abduction of foreigners is common. A Saudi official in Riyadh said the news of the kidnapping was “likely” to be true, adding that the “deputy consul left his home this morning and disappeared but his car is still in front of the house.” The official, also requesting anonymity, said the “Saudi embassy in Yemen is in touch with Yemeni officials at the highest levels... But so far the search (for Khalidi) has yielded no results.”

Another Yemeni police official told AFP that Khalidi’s kidnapping was not politically motivated. “He has some personal conflicts with people in Aden,” the official said, adding that in recent months, the deputy consul had been threatened and unknown assailants had even “thrown a grenade at his home in Aden.” He did not give further details. Late last year, unknown gunmen stopped the diplomat while he was driving in Aden, pulled him from his car and then stole it. He was unharmed. Khalidi is the third Saudi

national to be kidnapped in Yemen in as many years. In April 2011, tribesmen kidnapped a Saudi diplomat in the capital Sanaa in an apparent bid to settle a trade dispute involving a Saudi businessman.

Saeed Al-Maliki, a Second Secretary at the Saudi embassy, was released nine days later. In November 2010, gunmen kidnapped a Saudi doctor in north Yemen and demanded the release of nine jailed members of AlQaeda. Dhafer Al-Shihri, the 48-yearold acting head of Al-Salam Hospital in Saada city was released the same day after tribal mediation. Saudi Arabia has played a crucial role in the power-transition deal that forced former president Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power after a year-long uprising against his rule. The kingdom is also a key donor to the impoverished country. On Tuesday, King Abdullah ordered the donation of petroleum products to Yemen, enough to cover the needs for two months. The kingdom is also expected to host a donor conference in May to organize the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian relief.

Militants with ties to Al-Qaeda have exploited the weakening central government in Sanaa to strengthen their presence in Yemen, launching deadly attacks against security forces especially across the restive south and southeast. Aden itself is also a separatist stronghold, with militants there disrupting the referendum-like presidential election last month saying the vote failed to meet their aspirations of autonomy or outright independence for the south.

The top US diplomat for the Middle East said yesterday that Iran and AlQaeda are exploiting political uncer-

tainty in Yemen and the region as a whole to expand their influence. “Iran operations are similar to those (of) AlQaeda,” Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told reporters in Sanaa, a day after talks with Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. “Iran tries to exploit uncertainty and unhappiness in countries of the region,” he said, adding that Al-Qaeda was also trying to “exploit opportunities where there is political chaos.”

Feltman said the US views “with concern reports of rising Iranian influence in parts of Yemen,” and that Washington was working with Sanaa and “partners elsewhere in the region to push back against Iranian interference where it occurs.” Earlier this month, US Central Command chief General James Mattis warned that Iran was “providing more (material support) to include weapons, not just money” to Huthi rebels in northern Yemen, and trying to “influence the non-Huthi tribes” as well.

Feltman acknowledged Al-Qaeda’s expansion in Yemen’s mostly lawless southern and eastern provinces, saying he was aware of the “challenges” it posed to the Arabian Peninsula country. But he added he remains “convinced in the long term, a managed transition plan to a democratic election in February 2014... is the best long-term policy against Al-Qaeda.”

Feltman also met Yemeni government officials, activists and foreign diplomats during his visit, just days after a top US counter-terrorism official raised concerns that members of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime were disrupting the country’s political transition.— Agencies

Islamists trying to weaken UAE DUBAI: Dubai’s top security official accused supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday of using social media to stir up opposition to the Gulf’s ruling elite. Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan said sympathizers of the organization, which has moved to the heart of public life in Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year, sought to weaken the UAE by defaming its institutions. His remarks are likely to deepen a bitter public row between the Brotherhood and the UAE, which has in the past stripped citizenship from critics affiliated with Islamist organizations.

“Tweets by the Muslim Brothers have political goals,” he said during a lecture to lawyers. “They belittle the symbols of the state and question the integrity of the judiciary... they want to stir the streets against us.” The UAE has avoided the kind of pro-democra-

cy uprisings that shook other countries in the region. It has tolerated little dissent during the upheaval that resulted in the ouster of rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. It has moved swiftly against those voicing anti-government sentiments, including those who have taken to Twitter to fault the UAE leadership.

Last December, it revoked the citizenship of seven activists with ties to Islamist groups on the grounds that they posed a threat to national security. Five other political activists were also convicted and then pardoned in 2011 on charges of insulting the UAE’s leaders, inciting protests and disrupting public order. Khalfan’s row with the Brotherhood broke out in February, after the UAE decided not to renew residence permits of Syrians who had taken part in protests in Dubai against the rule of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The move was criticized by an Egyptian cleric based in Qatar, which took him in during a crackdown against Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. Qaradawi also denounced the move to pull citizenship from Emirati Islamists. Khalfan lashed out at Qaradawi, threatening to arrest him if he set foot in Dubai, and on Tuesday said the Brotherhood was plotting to seize power in Gulf countries. “Western intelligence services leaked to me a piece of information that says that between 2012 and 2016 the (Muslim Brotherhood) aims at creating governments in the Gulf that pay allegiance to them,” he told reporters. He said those who compare the UAE government to Egypt and Tunisia under autocratic rule should be prosecuted. “They demand the ruler should be from amongst the people. Did we bring ours from Mars?” he said.—Reuters

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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

In Baghdad’s scars, a warning to Arab leaders BAGHDAD: The eerie quiet enveloping the road from the airport to the Saddam Husseinera palace where Arab leaders will meet this week cannot conceal Baghdad’s grim realities.

Behind the freshly planted palm trees and lawns are concrete walls closing off nearby neighborhoods and troops in full combat gear deployed to prevent any attacks. For Arab leaders who seek military intervention in Syria, the Iraqi capital provides a cautionary tale, with violence and sectarian hatreds persisting nearly a decade after the US invasion.

Gulf Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been pushing behind

the scenes for more assertive action to end the year-old conflict in Syria. Privately, they see little benefit in the Arab League’s efforts to reach a peaceful settlement and prefer instead to see a small core of nations pooling together to act on their own. Among the options they are considering are arming the rebels and creating a safe haven for the opposition alongside the Turkish-Syrian border to serve as a humanitarian sphere or staging ground for anti-regime forces.

The summit, gathering the members of the 22-nation Arab League, is likely to take a less dramatic step, issuing a condemnation

BAGHDAD: The seat of the Syrian representative remains empty as other delegates arrive to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the framework of the Arab summit in Baghdad yesterday. — AFP

of civilian deaths in Syria’s crackdown on the uprising and a call for President Bashar Assad to stop all violence and allow street protests. But Gulf nations apparently believe Assad won’t abide by those demands and that, if he defies the League, they will have diplomatic cover to take stronger action.

Their bullish approach has its roots in their hopes that by forcing Assad’s fall they can pull Sunni-majority Syria out of its alliance with Iran and break the belt of Tehran’s influence that stretches through Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean.

Like Iraq, Syria has its own dangerous sectarian divide, between the majority Sunnis who largely back the opposition, and the Alawite minority, a Shiite offshoot that dominates power. A Sunni-ruled Syria would give the US-allied Gulf Arabs a significant victory in their long-running power struggle with nonArab, mainly Shiite Iran. But that prospect worries Iraq, with its sectarian divides between a Shiite majority that now holds power and a Sunni minority that resents its sidelining. “A Sunni regime in Damascus will encourage Iraq’s Sunni provinces to push for autonomy and maybe even secession,” warned Iraqi political analyst Hassan Kamil.

“That will in turn add more problems for Iraqi Shiites and draw more Iranian and Saudi interference in Iraq’s affairs.”

Hosting an Arab summit that demands Assad stop violence places Iraq in a delicate position, because of the Baghdad government’s close ties to Iran. The preliminary meetings began Tuesday, and the leaders arrive for their summit Thursday. On the other hand, hosting the summit gives its guests an

opportunity to see first hand what foreign military intervention can do to a nation. The 14-mile stretch of road linking the airport to the city is about all the Arab leaders will see in Baghdad when they jet in for their one-day summit. It is where Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s government spent a big chunk of the $500 million it has splashed on sprucing up the city for the occasion.

The six neighborhoods alongside the road - Al-Furat, Al-Jihad, Al-Amel, Al-Amriyah, AlQadissiyah and Al-Yarmouk - remain walled off nearly five years after sectarian violence peaked in 2006-2007. They are majority Sunni areas, serving as strongholds for extremists who waged an insurgency against US forces and their Shiite allies after the US-led invasion.

The neighborhoods bore the brunt of near continuous crackdowns by Iraqi security forces and attacks blamed on Shiite militiamen. That the walls remain in place to this day is testimony to the persistent security concerns as well as the distrust between the newly empowered Shiites and the once-powerful Sunni minority.

The sectarian strife has eased since its near-civil war heights. But there is a constant fear another bout may not be far off, given occasional attacks targeting Shiites, flare-ups between politicians from the two sides and a growing desire among Sunni provinces to gain autonomy. “War breeds war,” said Hassan Raheem Al-Saadi, a 43-year-old owner of a cosmetics store in Baghdad’s Karradah district. “We still fear going out on the streets and we are worried when we do that we may never return home,” said AlSaadi, a Shiite father of two who insists he

Ex-defense chief ousts Livni Hawkish ex-general lead Israel’s Kadima JERUSALEM: Former defense Chief Shaul Mofaz has unseated former diplomat Tsipi Livni as head of Kadima, Israel’s largest opposition party, results of a leadership vote showed on Wednesday. A final count gave Mofaz 61.7 percent of the vote, while former foreign minister Livni polled 37.2 percent, in a stunning defeat seen as punishment for a recent popularity nosedive that threatened to derail the party. “I called Shaul Mofaz and wished him good luck.

These are the results,” Livni, flashing a flustered smile, said in a rushed statement at her Tel Aviv headquarters, conceding the poll of Kadima’s 100,000 members. While opinion polls have shown Mofaz as unlikely to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next Israeli election expected by next year, some pundits feel the new Kadima head’s security credentials may enhance the party’s electoral chances.

The Iranian-born Mofaz, a tough military chief of staff and later defense minister during a Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000, called in his victory speech for party unity behind a new bid to defeat Netanyahu. He vowed to “lead a new social order” to fight for the nation’s poor, seek a renewal of moribund Middle East diplomacy and “campaign for Israel’s image and its future”. A grandfather of three and father of four, Mofaz, who chairs a prestigious parliamentary panel on defense affairs, has backed now-deadlocked peace talks with the

Egyptians of all stripes target presidential seat CAIRO: Adel Abdeen says he is the secret son of Farouk, the last king of Egypt, who was overthrown in a 1952 coup and succeeded by military leaders who, he says, don’t have a clue. Secure in the belief that he can do a better job, Adel aims to throw the illustrious name into the running in Egypt’s first democratic presidential election in 7,000 years of Pharaohs, monarchs and army strongmen. He joins nearly 1,000 other Egyptians of all stripes and backgrounds - electricians, office workers, journalists and even an undertaker - who have queued for election papers in a bid to replace Hosni Mubarak, the former air force commander whose three decades in power ended last year in a popular uprising.

“The revolution started because the army can’t run the country. This was never their job. They have nothing to do with politics,” Adel, who is using the Farouk name in his campaign said, holding the green flag of the monarchy. “Those who turned on the king were the army.” Adel says his actress mother, who died when he was a child, had an affair with King Farouk. The clean-cut 66-year-old, whose Facebook page has 130 members and who calls himself the “King of Egypt and Sudan”, promises to revive the monarchy if he wins. Although Adel may be mocked by many and laughed off by the media, his concerns are real. Like many Egyptians, he speaks of frustrations at how the country has been led and of disappointment that a military council is managing the transition to democracy.

Few will secure the 30,000 registered supporters needed to contest the election, which will be held in May and June. But their determination to get involved speaks volumes about the change in Egyptians, who until last year’s Arab Spring seemed frozen in a passive cynicism bred by autocratic rule. While they are unlikely to stand a chance against the dozen heavy-weight politicians who have declared their intention to run, like former Arab League chief Amr Moussa and former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, their humble backgrounds haven’t stopped them having a vision for their country.

In front of election committee headquarters, wouldbe candidates try to win a bit of media attention. One tells Reuters he wants to restore the rule of the Pharaohs.

Another says he is just following his destiny. A third, who shows up in slippers and a torn garment stained with mud and says he is a rag-and-bone collector, says the poor will relate to him better than they ever could to suit-and-tie politicians. Election committee secretary general Judge Hatem Begato said they have been overwhelmed by the number of applications, which are free, and have had to print out more forms. “Some of those who withdraw the applications want to test if there is democracy, while others believe that if given the opportunity, they can do something,” he told Reuters. He admitted that some of the hopefuls seemed to have delusions of grandeur, however. — Reuters

Palestinians and shown a readiness for compromise.

HOPES TO REVITALISE The results of centrist Kadima’s contest showed he owed his victory in part to overwhelming support from Israeli Arab citizens among Kadima’s rank-and-file. Some Kadima members hope Mofaz may revitalise their former ruling party, founded by former prime minister Ariel Sharon when he bolted from the right-wing Likud party now headed by Netanyahu, after a 2005 Gaza pullout. Kadima won more parliamentary seats than Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party in Israel’s last national ballot in 2009. But Livni failed to put together a coalition government that would have given her party real power.

Netanyahu instead joined forces with nationalist and religious parties to form a coalition government; Kadima’s popularity has plummeted ever since. Though Israel’s biggest opposition party, recent opinion polls showed Kadima was on course to lose more than half its seats in Israel’s 120-member parliament and could end up with just 12 seats, down from 28 now. Ruhama Avraham, a Kadima parliament member and longtime supporter of Mofaz, said after his victory: “Kadima will be judged by its ability to present a social economic programme and also a diplomatic plan to the table. This is something Shaul Mofaz can do.”— Reuters

JERUSALEM: Israel’s former defense minister Shaul Mofaz visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City yesterday after roundly defeating his rival Tzipi Livni for the leadership of the country’s opposition party Kadima. — AFP

Power crisis leaves Gazans in the dark GAZA: In a small room in Gaza City, Lisa Masharawi reads by candlelight, dreaming of being able to study for her upcoming exams by the light that even a small generator could provide.

But for now, as Gaza struggles through the worst power crisis residents can remember, the flickering light of a candle is all that is available. “The generator is noisy and the smoke it produces stinks, but it’s a thousand times better than studying by candlelight,” she says. “I hate the dark.” “How am I supposed to read by candlelight? How will I do well in my exams?” Gaza has long been plagued by power outages, but an unusual interruption in the flow of smuggled fuel into the territory has exacerbated the situation, leading to blackouts of up to 18 hours.

Lisa’s father, Abdul Sattar, used to use a generator, but there is no longer any fuel for it. “I bought a small generator but there is no fuel because of the crisis,” he said. “The situation right now is disastrous. We live on the fifth floor and it’s always dark, so we’re always worried about the children and about how they will be able to read or even climb the stairs.” Generators have become the norm across Gaza over the past few years, their din and exhaust fumes filling the air as locals run them to keep the lights on. “A generator has become something essential in the lives of people in Gaza,” says Mohammed, an employee at Mustafa Mortaji, the strip’s largest importer of generators.

“About 80 percent of homes in Gaza have a generator... not to mention the companies, ministries and hospitals,” he said. On Omar Al-Mukhtar street, shopkeepers conduct their business over the whirr of their generators. Fadi Shakeek, who owns a shoe shop in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City, says shopkeepers “are suffering economically and psychologically” because of the electricity outages and fuel shortages.

“It’s a financial burden that we have to bear,” he says. “We are forced to run the generators from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm instead of until 11:00 pm and this has a negative effect on us and on the

economic situation.” The smell of the fumes and the noise the generators produce “reduces the number of customers and increases tension. We don’t know when the electricity will be on and when it will be cut,” he says. “Instead of talking about bread, people are talking about fuel and diesel and electricity. This is not a life.” Psychiatrist Samir Zaqut says the situation has piled further stress on Gaza’s population of 1.5 million people.

“People in Gaza live under the Israeli blockade and under the weight of waiting for the next trauma,” he said. “This pressure puts an economic strain on people, in terms of additional costsand a social strain as well.”

Children “are affected more than adults,” he added. “This increases violent behavior, which increases tension in the family, in a sort of cycle.” But some are looking at creative ways of overcoming the crisis. At Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, the largest health facility in the territory, they have found a partial solution by installing solar panels on the roof of the building. And taxi driver Mohammed al-Assi, 27, whose job becomes impossible with no petrol, has found another way to keep his wheels on the road-by using cooking oil. “Cooking oil is expensive, but for a number of drivers, at least it’s a solution,” Assi said.

The frustration has brought out a sense of black humor in many Gazans. The situation has become so bad that brides are insisting on putting: “Access to a generator” into their wedding contracts, jokes a 29-year-old woman who gave her name only as Sawsan. Haj Abu Ahmed from Shati refugee camp has posted a sign on his house: “They cut the electricity: okay, we bought a petrol generator. They cut the petrol: okay, we bought a diesel generator. Now they’ve cut the diesel and there’s nothing left for us but buy a generator that works on water!” Others would rather not discuss the issue at all. “Please do not talk about politics or electricity,” reads a sign plastered on a taxi. — AFP

only offers credit to fellow Shiites and vows never to allow his sisters to marry Sunnis.

Sunni militants continue to show muscle.

Last week, they staged near simultaneous attacks on eight cities that killed 46 and wounded more than 200. They also feel confident enough to intimidate residents into paying protection money in some Sunni areas, like Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city. The owner of an aluminum factory there says he pays up to $300 every month to armed militants.

Failure to pay, he claims, can mean forced closure of his business or death. “It seems like we are living in a country run by the mafia,” said the businessman, who refused to give his name because he feared reprisals. “We don’t know who’s running the country. Is it the government or Al-Qaeda?”

In Baghdad, away from the airport and the summit venue on the west bank of the Tigris River, concrete barriers surround government buildings, hospitals and schools. Iraqi security forces continue to conduct door-to-door searches across most of the city. According to the UN refugee agency, more than 1.3 million Iraqis remain internally displaced until today, unable or unwilling to return to their areas of origin because of sectarian tensions. Services in this potentially oil-rich nation remain erratic at best, with most of the population relying on private power generators for electricity.

Many neighborhoods have sewage running in open canals in the street and seeping into drinking water. Because of fears of violence, Al-Maliki’s government sets aside heavy resources - nearly $15.5 billion this year, around 15 percent of the entire budget - for security and defense. — AP

News

in brief

Filipina punished over Facebook bikini photo CEBU: A Philippine teenager is suing her exclusive Catholic girls school after it punished the student for posting a Facebook picture of herself reportedly in a bikini, a court said yesterday. Saint Theresa’s College in the central city of Cebu said the 16-yearold had broken a rule which bans posting Internet pictures that show “ample body exposure”, and barred the student from her graduation ceremony.

The girl’s family on Tuesday filed a civil suit at a Cebu court, which said the teenager had “suffered sleepless nights” since being punished, court officials said. The Philippines is about 80-percent Catholic and the church is hugely influential, regularly campaigning against divorce and birth control. The family’s suit asked the court to rule that the school must allow the girl to take part in the graduation ceremony tomorrow, and sought unspecified damages. It also argued the photo of the girl, in which newspaper reports said she was wearing a bikini at a party, was not lewd and said her Facebook account was private with access limited only to friends.

Twins seek sex change SHANGHAI: Two young Chinese women undergoing sex-change surgery at a Shanghai hospital are hoping to be the first twins in the country to change their gender, a state-backed newspaper said yesterday. The 25-year-old sisters from the southwestern province of Yunnan have already undergone preliminary surgery at a military hospital in the commercial hub, the Shanghai Daily reported. “The operations on both the twins are successful,” their surgeon, Zhao Yede, was quoted as saying. “They said they would continue to save up (money) from hard work so they can return for their respective last phases of surgery,” he said. A spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Number 411 Hospital declined to comment to AFP, saying military units could not speak to foreign media. The paper quoted one of the twins as saying they did not want any publicity, fearing they would lose their jobs. The two sisters dress in male clothing, never wearing skirts or growing their hair long, the newspaper said. They both attended the same schools and university.

Inmate arranged jail break on net MOSCOW: A Russian prisoner who last week fled his penal colony in a helicopter had freely arranged his jail break over the Internet and using mobile phones, investigators said yesterday. Alexei Shestakov had been in prison in the northern Vologda region for murder when he was lifted from the colony by a Mi-2 helicopter hijacked by two accomplices last Thursday. Investigators found “flagrant violations in the work of the employees” at the penal colony, which allowed Shestakov freedom to live separately from other convicts and communicate unsupervised with the outside world. Shestakov used “mobile phones, with several SIM-cards, uncontrollably using them to hold conversations and accessing the Internet,” which was how he was able to arrange his helicopter rescue and find his partners in crime. The prisoner also enjoyed an “income, by selling various objects in the colony,” such as the banned lighters and mobile phones. He used the money to partly finance his escape, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

5 rebels killed in Kashmir SRINAGAR: A top police officer in Indian-controlled Kashmir says five suspected rebels have been killed in two gunbattles with government forces. Inspector General of Police Shiv Murari Sahai says the fighting erupted yesterday after government troops acted on a tip and surrounded two militant hideouts in Handwara region. It happened about 75 miles west of Srinagar, Indian Kashmir’s main city, and near the highly militarized Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Sahai says an Indian soldier was wounded in the fighting. While militants in the Himalayan territory have been fighting Indian troops since 1989, violence has tapered over the last few years.

GAZA: Palestinian school children do their homework on candle light during a power cut in Gaza City. — AFP

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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

Piracy claims heap pressure on Murdoch empire LONDON: Pressure is building in Britain and Australia for fresh probes into Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, already under siege over phone-hacking claims, after allegations that it ran a secret unit that promoted pirating of pay-TV rivals. The Australian Financial Review yesterday alleged that News Corp had used a special unit, Operational Security, set up in the mid1990s, to sabotage its competitors, reinforcing claims in a BBC Panorama documentary aired earlier this week.

“These are serious allegations, and any allegations of criminal activity should be referred to the AFP (Australian Federal police) for investigation,” a spokeswoman for Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said.

Operational Security was a unit of News Corp’s secure-encryption subsidiary NDS, which has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the Panorama claims. News Corp, which this month sold NDS to Cisco Systems for $5 billion, said it accepted those assurances. Its Australian arm, News Limited, denied the claims in the Australian Financial Review. “The story is full of factual inaccuracies, flawed references, fanciful conclusions and baseless accusations which have been

disproved in overseas courts,” News Limited said. NDS has faced several lawsuits over alleged piracy: one was dropped and the firm was largely cleared in the others, which News Limited highlighted in its statement.

NDS’s Operational Security unit, staffed by former police and intelligence officers, used hackers to crack the codes of smartcards issued to customers of rival pay-TV services. The hackers then sold black-market smartcards using those codes to give viewers free access to those services, the Review said.

This cost News Corp’s rivals millions of dollars, it added. The Operational Security unit had originally been set up to hunt pirates targeting Murdoch’s own operations but later turned into a dirty-tricks campaign to undermine competitors, it said. The BBC Panorama documentary broadcast on Monday alleged that NDS hired a consultant to post the encryption codes of IT V Digital, a rival of Murdoch’s then Sky TV, on his website.

UK regulator Ofcom is already investigating News Corp and a senior executive, James Murdoch, youngest son of Rupert, in the light of new evidence emerging from probes into phone and computer hacking and bribery at the News of the World tabloid, which News

Corp shut down last July.

“These allegations, if true, are the most serious yet and I am referring the matter to Ofcom, who have a duty to investigate as part of their fit and proper test,” lawmaker Tom Watson said of the claims made in the BBC’s Panorama program. “If what Panorama says is true, it suggests a global conspiracy to undermine a great British company, ITV Digital,” a member of parliament said. An Ofcom spokesman declined to comment on the specific allegations but said the regulator would consider “all relevant evidence” as part of its duty to be satisfied that the owner of the licence was fit and proper.

James Murdoch has also served as an NDS director. NDS said in a statement: “It is wrong to claim that NDS has ever been in the possession of any codes for the purpose of promoting hacking or piracy.” News Corp said: “NDS has consistently denied any wrongdoing to Panorama and we fully accept their assurances.” The Australian Financial Review, citing a four-year investigation and a trove of internal NDS emails, said the piracy undermined the value of competitors like DirecT V in the United States and Telepiu in Italy, and helped News Corp to take them over cheaply.

ECOWAS threatens force to reverse Malian coup Pressure mounting on junta to restore civilian rule ABIDJAN: Mali’s neighbors have threatened to use sanctions and a readiness to use military force to dislodge the army leaders behind last week’s coup, urging them to quickly hand back power to civilian rulers. A summit of the West African ECOWAS bloc agreed to send a team of heads of state to confront the putschists in the next 48 hours, a sign of the region’s growing resolve to end the instability that has dogged it for decades.

“Dialogue and consultation will be our primar y instruments in the

said, which also threatened possible travel bans and financial and diplomatic sanctions on junta members. The statement did not any include indications of possible army action on the ground and ECOWAS - which does not have its own standing army - would have to go through potentially lengthy processes to raise sufficient troops from member states. The one-day meeting in the Ivorian economic hub Abidjan suspended Mali from all decision-making bodies of the ECOWAS bloc in a widely expected

BAMAKO: Thousands march in Bamako in support of Mali’s coup leaders yesterday. — AFP search for a solution but we shall not hesitate to use any other option dictated by circumstances,” said Ivor y Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who won a 2010 election but only came to power after a four-month civil war.

“The summit authorizes preparations for a force under stand-by for ECOWAS to deal with any eventuality,” a closing summit statement

diplomatic gesture to isolate soldiers behind last Wednesday ’s coup. Current ECOWAS head Ouattara plus five other leaders Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaore, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou and Benin’s Yayi Boni - will travel to Mali to seek “the re-establishment of constitutional order”, a statement

said. Aside from Ouattara, a former top IMF official, the delegation has in Johnson-Sirleaf a Nobel Peace laureate, in Issoufou one of Washington’s new regional favorites, and in Compaore, a former coup leader turned regional power broker.

Nigeria is the regional military and economic power. Earlier, the French Foreign Ministry said its ambassador in Mali had been in contact with Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, who gave reassurances he was safe. Toure’s whereabouts are unknown since he fled his palace on Wednesday last week.

Mostly mid-ranking soldiers ousted Toure last Wednesday after a mutiny sparked by soaring frustration in the army over his handling of a Tuareg rebellion in the desert north, where the military has faced a series of setbacks. The army has complained it lacks the supplies and equipment needed to beat back the rebels, who have been reinforced by fighters and weapons from Libya’s war. The ECOWAS move is the latest sign of mounting domestic and international pressure to reverse a coup in Africa’s third largest gold miner, a country which was one of the most stable democracies of the region.

One ECOWAS source said leaders could in future also apply travel bans, asset freezes and other measures specifically targeting the coup leaders as individuals. “We want them to see that the age of coups is over and this has to be put back in the box,” one diplomat in the region said. “We want to target the people who are responsible for this, punish them and still not hurt the average Malian.” — Reuters

Schools, jobs key to prevent English riot LONDON: Schools that fail to teach children to read and write should face fines to improve an inadequate education system, a panel set up to draw lessons from riots that swept England’s cities last year said yesterday. The panel’s report, presented to Prime Minister David Cameron, said there were half a million “forgotten families” who “bump along the bottom” of society and urged the government to develop a strategy to help them turn their lives around.

The panel identified a series of problems facing inner cities, ranging from poor parenting and education to high joblessness that left many people with no stake in society and nothing to lose if they joined the riots. “When people don’t feel they have a reason to stay out of trouble, the consequences for communities can be devastating - as we saw last August,” panel chair Darra Singh said. The Riots Communities and Victims Panel, set up by the government last year but working independently of it, spoke to riot victims and communities across the country to see what people affected by the riots believed led to them.

It said that up to 15,000 people took part in the riots, which broke out in north London but spread to other major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol,

leaving a trail of torched buildings and looted shops in their wake. Five people died in England’s worst disturbances for decades which cost an estimated 500 million pounds ($800 million), the panel said. More than 3,800 people have been arrested in London alone in connection with

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron smashes the shuttlecock as he plays badminton in the garden of 10 Downing central London yesterday with youth ambassadors of the School Games. — AFP

the riots and cases are still being heard by the courts. The security situation in London will be under international scrutiny in July and August this year when tourists and sports fans flood to the British capital for the Olympics.

Many young people the panel met expressed a “sense of hopelessness” and saw no clear path to work in an era of record youth unemployment. Noting that a fifth of school leavers can only read at the level expected of an 11-year-old, the panel said schools that fail to teach children to read and write should face fines that would be used to pay for another school to bring them up to the required standard. The government should guarantee to find jobs for young people who have been out of work for two years, it said. Youth unemployment is at a record high of more than one million in Britain, or 22 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds.

Many of the committee’s recommendations would require taxpayer funding at a time when the government is slashing public services to rein in a big budget deficit. But Singh urged politicians to pay heed to the panel’s message, saying: “Should disturbances happen again, victims and communities will ask our leaders why we failed to respond effectively in 2012.” — Reuters

“NDS sabotaged business rivals, fabricated legal actions and obtained telephone records illegally,” said the newspaper, which is owned by Fairfax Media, a rival of News Corp in Australia.

A spokesman for News Limited, the Australian arm of News Corp, was not immediately available for comment on the newspaper’s claims. News Corp owns 25 percent of Australia’s top payTV firm, Foxtel, which is looking to take over rival Austar. Austar declined to comment on the report. Foxtel said NDS was one of many service suppliers it had used, and the pay-TV company had worked hard to combat piracy.

“Foxtel notes that there are no allegations of wrongdoing by Foxtel,” a spokesman said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

The Australian Financial Review’s investigation involved 14,400 emails from a hard drive in a laptop used by Ray Adams, who was the European chief for NDS Operational Security from January 1996 to May 2002. The newspaper said Adams plotted a legal campaign in an attempt to ruin the reputation of a Swiss hacker, Jan Saggiori, who had evidence that NDS had sabotaged the products of News Corp’s rivals. Emails between Adams and News executives raised “questions

about whether News was involved in an abuse of process of the US court system”, it said.

News Limited said the only NDS lawsuit against Saggiori was an action taken with DirecTV, designed to protect their intellectual property and stop piracy. “Saggiori admitted, under cross examination, hacking several NDS pay-T V card systems,” News Limited said. The BBC’s Panorama interviewed Lee Gibling, owner of a satellite hacking website, who said NDS funded the expansion of his site and had him distribute ITV Digital’s codes. NDS said it had never used or intended to use the site for any illegal purpose, and said it had paid Gibling for his expertise so that information from the site could be used to track and catch hackers and pirates.

NDS also said it was common for companies in the pay-TV industry to discover one another’s encryption codes - a view endorsed by Adam Laurie, a security researcher with UKbased Aperture Labs, which specializes in access control. “It’s possible they cracked them themselves in order to test the security of the algorithms,” he said. “To compare yours against others, you have to test them and there’s a chance you’ll succeed.” — Reuters

Senate panel to vote on Russian rights bill WASHINGTON: Human rights legislation named after an anti-graft lawyer who died in a Russian jail is likely to be considered by a US Senate committee this spring, the panel’s chairman Senator John Kerry said on Tuesday. The Sergei Magnitsky bill would require the United States to deny visas and freeze the assets of Russians or others with links to his detention and death, as well as those who commit human rights violations against other whistle-blowers like him. The 2009 death of the 37-year-old Magnitsky, who worked for equity fund Hermitage Capital and died after a year in Russian jails, spooked investors and tarnished Russia’s image. The Kremlin human rights council says he was probably beaten to death. Before his arrest, he had testified against Russian interior ministry officials during a tax evasion case against Hermitage.

Senator Benjamin Cardin introduced the Magnitsky bill in May of last year. A companion bill by Representative James McGovern, who like Cardin is a Democrat, was introduced in the House of

Representatives. But the Obama administration did not embrace the legislation, and no action has been taken in Congress. US envoy to Russia Michael McFaul recently noted that the United States had already imposed visa restrictions on some Russian officials believed to be involved in Magnitsky’s death. This made the Magnitsky bill “redundant,” McFaul said.

“I’d like to try to put it (the bill) on a business meeting for when we return (from spring recess in midApril), and we should aim to do it,” Kerry said on Tuesday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting after the panel’s ranking Republican, Richard Lugar, urged the committee to finally take up and vote on the legislation. Cardin, who is also a member of the committee, said he was trying to work out differences with the Obama administration on the bill.

Cardin thought the best opportunity for passing it would be in conjunction with legislation on trade relations with Russia that is expected to come before Congress in the coming months. — Reuters

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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

Passengers recount scare after pilot outburst LAS VEGAS: Passengers aboard an early morning flight bound from New York to Las Vegas first noticed something wrong when the plane’s top pilot came out of the cockpit, didn’t close the door and tried to force his way into an occupied bathroom. The JetBlue captain’s co-workers tried to calm him as he became more jittery, coaxing him to the back of the plane while making sure - above all - that he didn’t get back near the plane’s controls. Then, he sprinted up the cabin’s aisle - ranting about a bomb, screaming “They’re going to take us down!” and urging confused passengers to pray.

“Nobody knew what to do because he is the captain of the plane,” said Don Davis, the owner of a Ronkonkoma, NYbased wireless broadband manufacturer who was traveling to Sin City for a security industry conference. “You’re not just going to jump up and attack the captain,” Davis said. But four men did tackle the pilot, pinning him to the floor for more than 20 minutes while the co pilot and an off-duty pilot who was aboard landed the plane in Amarillo, Texas. “Clearly, he had an emotional or mental type of breakdown,” said Tony Antolino, a security executive who sat in the 10th row of the plane and tackled the pilot when he tried to re-enter the cockpit.

“He became almost delusional,” Antolino said after arriving in Las Vegas from Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport some six hours after schedule.

Josh Redick, who was sitting near the middle of the plane, said the captain seemed “irate” and was “spouting off about Afghanistan and souls and Al-Qaeda.” The airline described the incident as a “medical situation” involving the captain of JetBlue Airways Flight 191 from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport. Airline officials said he was taken to a hospital.

“It was a scary situation,” said Charlie Restivo, an employee of Davis’ who traveled with him and sat in the plane’s fourth row. “It was like a movie, it really was,” he said. “It just didn’t look real.”

The outburst came weeks after an American Airlines flight attendant was taken off a plane for rambling about 9/11 and her fears the plane would crash. An aviation expert could recall only two or three cases in 40 years where a pilot had become mentally incapacitated during a flight. Gabriel Schonzeit, who was sitting in the third row, said the captain said there could be a bomb onboard the flight. “He started screaming about al-Qaida and possibly a bomb on the plane and Iraq and Iran and about how we were all

going down,” Schonzeit told the Amarillo Globe-News. “A group of us just jumped up instinctually and grabbed him and put him to the ground,” Antolino said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the co-pilot had locked the cockpit. An off-duty airline captain who was a passenger on the flight entered the flight deck and took over the duties of the ill captain before landing in Amarillo, the airline said in a state-

ment. Shane Helton, 39, of Quinlan, Okla, said he saw emergency and security personnel coming on and off the plane as it sat on the tarmac in Amarillo. “They pulled one guy out on a stretcher and put him in an ambulance,” said Helton, who went to the airport with his fiancÈe to see one of her sons off as he joined the Navy.

Authorities interviewed each of the passengers once they had landed and left the plane, said 22-year-old passen-

TEXAS: Officials remove baggage from JetBlue flight 191 and begin searching for explosives at Amarillo Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Texas after an unruly pilot caused the flight to make an emergency landing. — AP

ger Grant Heppes, of New York City. “I had no idea it was an employee until it really started happening,” Heppes said.

“I just assumed it was a passenger who flipped out.”

The FBI was coordinating an investigation with the airport police, Amarillo police, the FAA and the Transportation Safety Administration, said agency spokeswoman Lydia Maese in Dallas.

She declined to comment on arrests.

The flight left New York around 7 a.m. and was in the air for 31/2 hours before landing in Texas.

The passengers boarded another plane for Las Vegas several hours later.

That plane arrived in Las Vegas about two hours later. John Cox, an aviation safety consultant and former airline pilot, said incidents in which pilots become mentally incapacitated during a flight are “pretty rare.” He said he could only recall two or three other examples in the more than 40 years he has been following commercial aviation. Airlines and the FAA strongly encourage pilots to assert themselves if they think safety is being jeopardized, even if it means contradicting a captain’s orders, Cox said. Aviation safety experts have studied several cases where first officers deferred to more experienced captains with tragic results. — AP

Racism ‘alive and well’ in US: Police detective Blacks are not given ‘benefit of the doubt’

OTTAWA: Canadian Minister of National Defense Peter MacKay (center) and United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (right) listen as Mexican Secretary of National Defense General Guillermo Galvan Galvain speaks during a news conference following meetings in Ottawa, Ontario. — AP

North American countries launch joint security forum OTTAWA: North America’s three defense ministers declared their first-ever dialogue on common security threats on Tuesday an “historic occasion,” even though their main accomplishment was to agree to continue regular discussions.

Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, who hosted the gathering in Ottawa, said he and his counterparts from Mexico and the United States decided to develop a common assessment of threats facing the continent and to cooperate to address them.

Key among the common security concerns are illegal drug trafficking, organized crime, disaster response and cyber security - a growing concern in a region where officials say critical infrastructure like electrical grids often do not stop at the borders.

“Through our discussions today we were able to identify a number of opportunities to better coordinate our efforts on issues related to national defense,” MacKay told a news conference. “We discussed the need to advance a common understanding of the threats facing North America,” he added. “We will work together to develop a trilateral threat assessment for the continent that will provide the basis for common understanding and approach as we work to address these challenges.”

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the gathering had provided an “unprecedented opportunity to try to bring together our nations in a common approach to continental security.” “All of us have been part of what I think has

been a very historic occasion,” he told a news conference. “This is the first trilateral meeting of defense ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico.”

Panetta and MacKay held bilateral talks with each other and also with Mexico’s defense and navy secretaries, General Guillermo Galvan Galvan and Admiral Francisco Saynaz Mendoza, before all the ministers met together.

“For Mexico,” Galvan told the news conference, “fighting organized crime and narco-trafficking represents our highest priority.” More than 50,000 people have been killed in clashes between drug cartels and Mexico’s government over the past five years. Panetta said he and his Mexican counterparts had “a great discussion about the effort against the cartels and how we can continue to improve our efforts against them.” He said they also discussed improving the military response to disaster relief, as well as military training and exchange programs.

Senior US defense officials, speaking ahead of the meeting, said they thought its main accomplishment would be to agree to institutionalize the forum as a way to address hemispheric security issues. Once accomplished, they said, the three sides could begin developing a common assessment of the threats they agree on. “What I’m hoping to do is to establish with them a format, a forum here where we can have regular sessions that focus on an agenda and we do this on a regular basis,” Panetta told reporters ahead of the meeting. — Reuters

Watchdog warns US nuke plant over mystery glitch LOS ANGELES: The US nuclear energy watchdog has ordered a Californian atomic plant y to remain shut down until the cause of a mystery glitch is found, raising questions about high-season power supplies. The San Onofre nuclear plant north of San Diego-one of only two in the populous western state-has been offline since January, when one of its units suffered a leak in a steam generator tube.

The incident triggered checks which found unexpected decay on tubing which carries radioactive water-and on Tuesday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) told its operators to fix the problem fully before re-starting the plant. Power company Southern California Edison must “ensure that the cause of the tube wear in both steam generators is understood and appropriately addressed in order to ensure safe operation,” said NRC official Elmo E. Collins. “Until we are satisfied that has been done, the plant will not be permitted to re-start,” he added, in an NRC statement. The power firm pledged to

comply fully with the regulators’ demands. “We welcome the NRC’s letter, which is a formal step in the process of restarting Units 2 and 3,” said Edison chief Ron Litzinger.

“Our number one priority is, and always has been, the health and safety of the public and our employees. The utility will only bring the units on line when we and the NRC are satisfied that it is safe to do so.” It is unclear how long it will take to resolve the problem, but questions have been raised about the impact if it continues into the summer, when power demand is highest as Californians turn on their air-conditioners.

In a major heat wave or transmission line outage in the peak season, southern California could face energy shortages without the 2,200 megawatts of power generated by San Onofre, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported.

California has one other nuclear power plant, the Diabolo Canyon facility between Los Angeles and San Francisco, operated by Pacific Gas and Electric. — AFP

MIAMI: A black veteran Miami police officer has admitted that “racism is alive and well” in the United States and is evident in the case of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African American teenager gunned down by a neighborhood watch volunteer in central Florida last month. George Zimmerman, the white Hispanic crime watch volunteer, has managed to avoid arrest under Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law because he said he shot and killed Martin in self-defense. But Miami Police Department homicide detective Sergeant Ervens Ford, who has joined in public protests to demand justice for Martin, said in an interview that the law does not apply in the racially tinged case. “He (Martin) would have had a better ‘Stand Your Ground’ (case) than Zimmerman,” Ford said.

“It does not apply when you chase after a person, when you, essentially, are the aggressor,” he said. He was referring to the fact that Zimmerman, 28, said in a 911 call that he was chasing the 17-year-old Martin shortly before the shooting because he looked to be “up to no good” and was dressed in a “hoodie” hooded sweatshirt. On the call, Zimmerman had also identified Martin as a black youth. The “Stand Your Ground” law, passed in 2005, greatly expanded the legal definition of selfdefense in Florida. Similar laws have since been adopted by 23 other states, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

EVENTS STILL IN DISPUTE Events leading up to the killing of Martin in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, on Feb. 26 are still open to dispute. Whatever actually happened, Ford said, Martin undoubtedly would have been arrested if he had killed the fair-skinned Zimmerman. Instead, he wound up on the wrong end of the 9mm semi-automatic handgun that Zimmerman carried concealed in his waistband. “I’ve been working homicide since ‘96 and that’s my personal opinion,” said Ford. “You’re not going to give a

black person the benefit of the doubt. And it’s unfortunate, but that’s just a fact.”

“It’s unfair, racism is alive and well,” he added. “I have some colleagues who disagree with me wholeheartedly, and of course I have to remind them that I was a black man way before I started carrying a badge,” Ford said.

Zimmerman’s lawyer, Craig Sonner, has said his client acted out of self-defense, not racial bigotry. “This was not a racially motivated situation,” Sonner said. Ford, 46, said he drove more than four hours north from Miami to Sanford on Monday to participate along with thousands of other people in a protest against the authorities’ handling of the Martin case.

As a black father, he acknowledged having strong personal feelings about the shooting in

the Orlando suburb because one of his three children looks just like Martin and “easily, easily” could have been Zimmerman’s victim.

“That’s a fear of reality,” Ford said. “I didn’t give up my constitutional rights when I became a cop. If anything, I became a cop because I wanted to ensure mine and everybody else’s constitutional rights,” he said.

“Those who have called and are telling me it’s unprofessional to protest and take a position on this, they’re the morons.” Ford said his advice to his own children was to try to avoid any sign of conflict, especially with law enforcement officials. “It’s not a conflict that young black males are going to win. They’re going to lose every time, unfortunately,” he said. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Sybrina Fulton (2nd right) and Tracy Martin (2nd left), the parents of Trayvon Martin, are flanked by their attorney Benjamin Crump (left) and The National Bar Association President Daryl Parks during a House Judiciary Committee briefing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. — AFP

State bill would punish student-teacher dating SACRAMENTO: A 41-year-old high school teacher exchanges thousands of text messages with his student, then leaves his wife and three children to date her.

The couple then goes on national TV, saying their relationship didn’t become physical until she turned 18. In California, there’s nothing illegal about what they did.

Now, a lawmaker is hoping to change that with a bill rolled out Monday that would make such relationships a felony, even if the student is 18, and strip teachers of their pensions and retiree health care if they are convicted.

To prevent teachers from “grooming” students for relationships when they become adults, the bill would also criminalize seductive communication, such as sexual text messages. “Our hope is that that will be a pretty strong and painful deterrent and will cause someone to think twice before starting an inappropriate, unethical relationship with a student,” said Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, the bill’s sponsor.

Olsen is from Modesto, a city about 75 miles south of Sacramento where teacher James Hooker and student Jordan Powers struck up their relationship at Enochs High School. Powers has dropped out, but Hooker’s 17year-old daughter still attends. The announcement of their relationship made national headlines. In interviews for the “Dr Phil” show and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the couple can be seen holding hands and exchanging smiles. On “Dr Phil,” they were confronted

by Powers’ mother, Tammie. Online, they have also been criticized.

The couple maintains that, while they exchanged thousands of text messages, their relationship did not become physical until she was 18, meaning that it is completely permissible under current laws. Hooker and Powers could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Powers moved out of her house, and Hooker’s phone is disconnected. — AP

Democrats, Republicans woo unmarried women STERLING: As a married woman, Marisa Hannum had her family’s conservatism in mind when she backed Republicans in the 2008 and 2004 presidential elections.

Now divorced, she is putting her own interests first as she weighs whether to vote for Democratic President Barack Obama or his Republican challenger this fall. She’s an abortion opponent, worried about her finances and concerned for friends who can’t find jobs. She’s dumbfounded that anyone is questioning birth control access in 2012. And she has only a glimmer of an idea of how she’ll vote in November.

“Now I am a little bit better informed.

But I am really on the fence,” says Hannum, 30, an assistant restaurant manager, as she stops by the post office in this Washington suburb - a region filled with single women that Democrats and Republicans alike are targeting. In an election year heavily focused on social issues and the economy, Democrats are trying to energize unmarried females who overwhelmingly vote for their candidates while Republicans work to peel them away.

Political math tells the story of the socalled marriage gap: exit polls show that women are a majority of voters in presidential election years and about four in 10 female voters don’t have a spouse.

They lean more heavily Democratic than their married counterparts. But the US census says about 22 percent of them are

unregistered, a rich pool of potential new voters for both parties competing for the presidency and the majorities in Congress. Though single women are among the most Democratic groups in the electorate, recent political history gives Republicans hope: In the 2010 elections, Republican House candidates grabbed their highest share of women’s votes in decades, at 49 percent. Single women also were hit harder than others by the recession Obama inherited.

So in both parties, the race is on to woo single women, register them to vote and inspire them to show up at the polls.

“There is a group of women who are up for grabs,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who describes a majority of these voters as older, white and blue collar. In research she’s done for the Voter Participation Center, a nonpartisan research group. Lake estimates that the share of unregistered single women could be as high as 40 percent, or 55 million people, when the group that did not answer that question on the Census is counted. Whatever the share, “their support cannot be assumed,” she says.

As much as 75 percent of single women vote for Democrats, so registering them to vote en masse is more beneficial for Democrats than Republicans.

And, said GOP pollster Ed Goeas, single working women tend to show up to vote at some of the lowest rates of any demographic. — AP

THUSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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

Forced conversions hike Pakistan minorities’ fears LAHORE: It was barely 4 am when 19year-old Rinkal Kumari disappeared from her home in a small village in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. When her parents awoke they found only her slippers and a scarf outside the door. A few hours later her father got a call telling him his daughter, a Hindu, had converted to Islam to marry a Muslim boy. Only days later, Seema Bibi, a Christian woman in the province of Punjab, was kidnapped along with her four children after her husband couldn’t repay a loan to a large landlord.

Within hours, her husband was told his wife had converted to Islam and wouldn’t be coming home. Seema Bibi escaped, fled the village and has gone underground with her husband and children. Hindu and Christian representatives say forced conversions to Islam have become the latest weapon of Islamic extremists in what they call a growing campaign against Pakistan’s religious minorities, on top of assassinations and mob intimidation of houses of worship. The groups are increasingly wondering if they still have a place in Pakistan.

“It is a conspiracy that Hindus and Christians and other minorities should leave Pakistan,” says Amar Lal, the lawyer representing Kumari in the Supreme Court. “As a minority, we feel more and more insecure. It is getting worse day by day.” In the last four months, Lal said, 51 Hindu girls have been forcibly converted to Islam in southern Sindh province, where most of Pakistan’s minority Hindu

population lives. After Kumari disappeared from her home on Feb 24, Azra Fazal Pachuho, a lawmaker and the sister of Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari,

LAHORE: A Pakistani girl with her hands painted with henna, prays at a shrine of famous Sufi Madhu Lal Shah Hussain during an annual festival in Lahore. — AP told Parliament that Hindus in southern Sindh were under attack by Islamic extremists.

Kumari’s family has gone to the Supreme Court to get their daughter back. But the case is hotly contested by the Muslim family, who say Kumari’s con-

Prominent Pakistani acid victim commits suicide ISLAMABAD: Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living. The 33-year-old former dancing girl - who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-parliamentarian and son of a political powerhouse jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.

Her March 17 suicide and the return of her body to Pakistan on Sunday reignited furor over the case, which received significant international attention at the time of the attack. Her death came less than a month after a Pakistani filmmaker won the country’s first Oscar for a documentary about acid attack victims. Younus’ story not only drives home the woeful plight of many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, it is also a reminder of how the country’s rich and powerful operate with impunity. Younus’ ex-husband, Bilal Khar, was eventually acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to escape the law’s grip - a common occurrence in Pakistan.

More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is likely an undercount. “The saddest part is that she realized that the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy,” Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, an activist at The Aurat Foundation, said of Younus. “She was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her.”

Younus was a teenage dancing girl working in the red light district of the southern city of Karachi when she met her future husband, the son of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a former governor of Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab. The unusual pairing was the younger Khar’s third marriage. He was in his mid-30s at the time. The couple was married for

version was voluntary. They say the couple had known each other and exchanged Facebook messages and phone calls before she converted and

three years, but Younus eventually left him because he allegedly physically and verbally abused her. She claimed that he came to her mother’s house while she was sleeping in May 2000 and poured acid all over her in the presence of her 5year-old son from a different man.

Tehmina Du4rrani, Ghulam Mustafa Khar’s ex-wife and his son’s stepmother, became an advocate for Younus after the attack, drawing international attention to the case. She said that Younus’ injuries were the worst she had ever seen on an acid attack victim. “So many times we thought she would die in the night because her nose was melted and she couldn’t breathe,” said Durrani, who wrote a book about her own allegedly abusive relationship with the elder Khar.

“We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left because the rest was all melted together.”

She said Younus, whose life had always been hard, became a liability to her family, for whom she was once a source of income. “Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed,” Durrani wrote in a column in The News after Younus’ suicide. Younus’ ex-husband grew up in starkly different circumstances, amid the wealth and power of the country’s feudal elite, and counts Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as a cousin.

Bilal Khar once again denied carrying out the acid attack in a TV interview following her suicide, suggesting a different man with the same name committed the crime. He claimed Younus killed herself because she didn’t have enough money, not because of her horrific injuries, and criticized the media for hounding him about the issue. “You people should be a little considerate,” said Khar. “I have three daughters and when they go to school people tease them.” In February, Younus said in one of her last interviews that powerful Pakistanis brutally treat ordinary citizens and “don’t know how painful they make others’ lives.” “I want such people to be treated in the same way” as they treat people whose lives they ruin, she told Geo TV over the telephone from Rome. —AP

they married. On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered Kumari kept in a women’s shelter in southern Karachi until it resumes hearing the case on April 18.

“Christian and Hindu girls are targeted more and more,” says Father Emmanuel Yousaf, who heads the National

Commission for Justice and Peace, an organization born out of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference.

Yousaf, in the Punjabi capital of Lahore, said his group was helping Seema Bibi and a number of other Christians who had to leave their villages because of threats from extremists. Some of them were girls who were forcibly converted and others, he said, were falsely accused of acting against Islam for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad or abusing the Quran.

There are dozens of cases of minorities being accused of insulting Islam under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws. Often the cases are rooted in disputes with Muslim neighbors or as coercion to convert, and judges often feel intimidated by extremists into convicting accused blasphemers, said Yousaf.

“They know where you live and where your children go to school,” he said.

Roughly five percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people belong to minority religions, which include Hindu, Christian, Shiite Muslims and Ahmadis, according to the CIA World Factbook. Ahmadis are reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics. Over recent years, violence against the minorities has increased, as Islamic hard-liners’ influence over the country has strengthened. In May 2010 gunmen rampaged through an Ahmadi place of worship in Lahore, killing 93. In February this year, gunmen stopped four buses in northern Pakistan, picked out those with Shiite-sounding names and shot them to death, killing 18.

Leaked letter reveals India army weakness No ammunition; Air defenses ‘97% obsolete’ NEW DELHI: India’s tank fleet lacks ammunition, its air defenses are “97 percent obsolete” and its elite forces need essential weapons, the country’s army chief wrote in an explosive letter leaked yesterday. The letter to the prime minister dated March 12 - widely reported by the Indian media-lists shortcomings of the armed forces in embarrassing detail in a serious blow to the government and the Asian giant’s military prestige.

Its publication also ups the stakes in a public battle between army Chief General V K Singh and the government which began with a dispute over Singh’s retirement earlier this year.

“The state of the major (fighting) arms ie mechanized forces, artillery, air defense, infantry and special forces, as well as the engineers and signals, is indeed alarming,” Singh wrote in the letter, DNA newspaper reported. The army’s entire tank fleet is “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks”, while the air defense system is “97% obsolete and it doesn’t give the deemed confidence to protect... from the air,” he wrote.

The infantry is crippled with “deficiencies” and lacks night fighting equipment, while the elite special forces are “woefully short” of “essential weapons.” Singh also told The Hindu newspaper this week that he had informed Defense Minister A K Antony of a $2.8 million bribe offered to him in 2010, leading to questions as to why the government had not ordered an enquiry. Antony has since scrambled to quell the controversy and has ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation police force. He also attempted to shift the blame to General Singh, saying he had not made a written complaint.

Speaking amid an uproar in parliament over the leaked letter, Antony said that the government had made efforts to ensure transparency in India’s notoriously corrupt defense procurement processes. “We have equally taken care to speed up the modernization of the armed forces. By doing that only we can assure national security and we can protect every inch of our motherland,” he told lawmakers. India remains concerned over China’s military build-up along the countries’ disputed border-the trigger for a brief war between the Asian giants in 1962 and

NEW DELHI: Indian police personnel detain a Tibetan activist protesting outside the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi yesterday. — AFP faces arch-foe Pakistan to its west.

In the letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, General Singh reportedly blames the slow procurement process and lack of urgency among bureaucrats for the “hollowness” of the 1.13-million-strong military, the fourth largest in the world. Senior opposition leader Arun Jaitley from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) complained of the “alarming situation” in which “letters which are otherwise intended to be secret and meant to be kept secret find their way into the media.” “The fact that they can be leaked and come into the public domain itself is a matter of serious concern,” he told parliament.

The letter is likely to lead to a further deterioration in relations between General Singh and his civilian bosses. The army chief, who faces mandatory retirement this May at the age of 62, was angered after losing a bid to stay in office an extra year by changing his birth date registered in army records. He claimed the birth date was

Jail awaits Afghan women fleeing abuse Despite gains, women still face uphill battle KABUL: For Afghan women, the act of fleeing domestic abuse, forced prostitution or even being stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver by an abusive husband, may land them in jail while their abusers walk free, Human Rights Watch said. Running away is considered a “moral crime” for women in Afghanistan while some rape victims are also imprisoned, because sex outside marriage even when the woman is forced is considered adultery, another “moral crime”.

“From the first time I came to this world my destiny was destroyed,” 17-year-old Amina, who has spent months in jail after being forced into prostitution, told researchers from Human Rights Watch in a report published yesterday. Despite progress in women’s rights and freedom since the fall of the Taleban a decade ago, women throughout the country are at risk of abduction, rape, forced marriage and being traded as commodities.

It can be hard for women to

escape violence at home because of huge social pressure and legal risks to stay in marriages. “ The treatment of women and girls accused of ‘moral crimes’ is a black eye on the face of the post-Taleban Afghan government and its international backers, all of whom promised that respect for women’s rights would distinguish the new government from the Taleban,” the New York-based group said. “This situation has been further undermined by President (Hamid) Karzai’s frequently changing position on women’s rights. Unwilling or unable to take a consistent line against conservative forces within the country, he has often made compromises that have negatively impacted women’s rights.”

The influential rights organization said that there were about 400 women and girls being held in Afghanistan for “moral crimes”, and they rarely found support from authorities in a “dysfunctional criminal justice system”. The plight of a woman called Nilofar illustrates the problem. She was

Last year, a provincial governor who criticized the blasphemy laws was killed by his own bodyguard, and the government’s only Christian Cabinet minister also an opponent of the laws - was gunned down by militants. “In Pakistan one’s religious faith, or lack of one, has become sufficient to warrant execution and murder,” Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist and peace activist wrote in a column earlier this month. “The killers do their job fearlessly and frequently.”

The violence has cowed Pakistan’s liberals and frightens even many Muslims. “Extremism is a problem that is not just targeting the minorities. It is now a general problem in our society,” said Ijaz Haider, whose Jinnah Institute’s website carries an Extremism Watch documenting cases of attacks and intimidation by militants. “The liberal mindset has had a severe setback and the government has no strategy. It tries to do damage control, and damage control is to placate these groups.” Critics say the government is too afraid and weak to respond or in some cases is even complicit as it panders to extremist groups for votes.

A repor t released last week by Yousaf’s justice and peace commission laid out a series of grim statistics about minority women in Pakistan. The study surveyed 1,000 women, three-quarters of whom said they had been sexually harassed at the workplace, discriminated against in schools or pressed by teachers to convert to Islam. Yet they rarely complained. —AP

stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver in the head, chest, and arms by her husband who accused her of adultery for inviting a man into the house, the rights group said.

But afterwards, she was arrested, he was not. “The way he beat her wasn’t bad enough to keep him in jail. She wasn’t near death, so he didn’t need to be in prison,” the prosecutor of the case told Human Rights Watch.

HE WILL KILL ME The dire treatment of women was the main reason Western countries gave for refusing to recognize the Taleban government as legitimate when it was in power.

As Afghan and Western leaders seek a negotiated end to more than 10 years of war, the future for women is uncertain. The United States and NATO - who are fighting an unpopular war as they prepare to pull out most combat troops by the end of 2014 - have stressed that any settlement must ensure the constitution, which says the two sexes are equal, is

upheld. A law, passed in August 2009, suppor ts equality for women, including criminalizing child and forced marriage, selling and buying women for marriage or for settling disputes, as well as forced self-immolation, among other acts.

But women, especially in rural areas, lack shelters to flee abuse while only one percent of police are female, according to the report based on interviews from Oc tober to November with 58 women and girls as well as prosecutors, judges, government officials and civil society. The ordeal for women does not stop with jail though. Once leaving prison, women and girls face strong social stigma in the conservative country and may be killed in so- called “honor k illings”. “I just want a divorce. I can’t go back to my father because he will kill me. All my family has left me behind,” 20year- old Aisha, who was sentenced to three years for fleeing an abusive husband she was forced to marry, told researchers.— Reuters

wrongly recorded. His complaints of poor equipment and operational difficulties also run contrary to government defense spending announcements and recent studies showing India as the world’s biggest military hardware importer.

The government this month announced a 17percent rise in defense spending to $40 billion in its budget for 2012/13 — following a 12-percent increase in the previous budget. Between 2007 and 2011, India overtook China to be the biggest arms importer, accounting for 10 percent of the global arms market, according to recent data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India’s military is also negotiating to acquire a slew of new equipment from combat aircraft to submarines and artillery. It is currently finalizing a deal with France’s Dassault Aviation to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets in a contract worth an estimated $12 billion.—AFP

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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

NEWS

KUWAIT: MPs are seen at a demonstration in honour of the Prophet (PBUH) opposite the National Assembly late yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Bombing Iran to push it to build the Bomb?

VIENNA: Pre-emptive military strikes aimed at forcing Iran to abandon its nuclear activities may end up having the opposite effect: convincing the Islamic Republic’s leaders they need an atomic arsenal to secure their hold on power.

That is the argument from those in the West and elsewhere who say the negative impact of an Israeli or US attack would eventually outweigh any gains - pushing Iran towards a decision that Western intelligence services believe it has not yet taken. “It is difficult to see a single action more likely to drive Iran into taking the final decision to acquire nuclear weapons than an attack on the country,” the foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland said in an opinion piece in the New York Times. “And once such a decision was made, it would only be a matter of time before a nuclear-armed Iran became a reality,” Carl Bildt and Erkki Tuomioja added.

Israel says Iran’s nuclear ambitions are a threat to the Jewish state’s very existence and that time is running short to stop Tehran taking the irreversible step of acquiring the bomb. But an attack may delay Iran’s nuclear drive only by a few years and would probably lead to an acceleration of the atomic program, the expulsion of UN inspectors and the Iranian people rallying around their leaders, the International Crisis Group think-tank said in a report citing unnamed US officials. “Once UN inspectors are expelled, Iran could reconstitute its nuclear infrastructure, this time unambiguously geared to producing a bomb,” ICG analyst Ali Vaez told Reuters.

A similar message came from former CIA director Michael Hayden, who said the George W Bush administration had concluded that a strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites was a bad idea, according to a Foreign Policy magazine blog. An attack would guarantee the very thing that the West was trying to prevent - “an Iran that will spare nothing to build a nuclear weapon and that would build it in secret”, Hayden was quoted as telling reporters and experts in January.

Iran is relatively weak in conventional weaponry, compared to Israel and other Middle Eastern states, and may

feel it has little choice but to develop nuclear bombs if “pushed into a corner”, said military researcher Pieter Wezeman. “If Israel or the US would try to attack Iran and its strategic centres and its industry, Iran basically does not have the conventional means to defend itself,” Wezeman, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told Reuters. “Based on that weakness they are likely to find nuclear arms an interesting option. They don’t want to be seen as losers, not internationally and not within Iran.”

Any such feeling of military vulnerability in Iran - which often accuses adversaries of plotting to overturn its Islamic Revolution - would be compounded by Israel’s assumed nuclear arsenal and the still strong presence of US armed forces in the volatile Gulf region.

There is general agreement among Western powers that Iran has already taken steps that would give it the option of becoming a nuclear-armed power, if it so decided. It has ramped up its uranium enrichment, the UN nuclear watchdog said last month, voicing “serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions” to the nuclear activities. Western experts say Iran now has enough refined uranium - material which can yield energy or weapons, depending on the level of enrichment - for four bombs if processed much further.

Crucially, however, the US administration has concluded that Iranian leaders have not decided whether to actively construct a nuclear weapon, current and former officials have told Reuters. “The US intel community says with high confidence that Iran has made a capability decision, not a bomb decision,” said Jim Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “Bombing them will produce a bomb decision, and that will be very difficult to stop.”

Iran expert Trita Parsi said: “You can’t convince a country that it doesn’t need a nuclear deterrence by bombing it.”

But Bruno Tertrais of the Strategic Research Foundation, a French think-tank, said nobody could claim to know the impact of an attack and he suggested it could be difficult for Iran to launch a nuclear weapons bid afterwards. “Iran

Syria looms large over summit Continued from Page 1 The proposal suggests that “the powers be transferred to someone the opposition and the authorities in Syria think can negotiate and manage a mature dialogue,” Dabbagh said.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi earlier said “the Syrian subject will have a significant place in discussions” between foreign ministers. “I think that the ministers’ meeting ... and the Arab summit will support” a sixpoint plan put forward by UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan and reportedly accepted by Damascus on Tuesday, Arabi said. Annan’s deputy Nasser Al-Qudwa was due in Baghdad yesterday to brief ministers on the ex-UN secretary general’s talks over the past week in Beijing and Moscow. Both powers have been criticised for blocking UN Security Council resolutions condemning Assad’s crackdown. A draft resolution to be debated in Baghdad urges the “Syrian government and all opposition factions to deal positively with the envoy (Annan) by starting serious national dialogue,” according to a copy of the text obtained by AFP. It also says that “the Syrian government should immediately stop all actions of violence and killing, protect Syrian civilians and guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations for achieving the demands of the Syrian people.”

Zebari has said he expects a resolution on Syria, but added he did not think Arab leaders would call on Assad to

step down. The fallout from other Arab uprisings - which toppled dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and put pressure for reform on other autocratic regimes in the region - are also being discussed in the three days of talks in Iraq. More than 100,000 members of Iraq’s forces are providing security in Baghdad, and Iraq has spent upwards of $500 million to refurbish major hotels, summit venues and infrastructure. Despite the dramatically tighter measures, a suicide bomber at a police checkpoint in west Baghdad killed one policeman and wounded two others on Tuesday, officials said. A week ago, Al-Qaeda attacks nationwide killed 50 people, including three in a car bombing opposite the foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the credentials of the first Saudi ambassador to Baghdad since Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the president’s office said yesterday. “Iraq is keen to build the best relations with the kingdom, which will benefit and be in the best interests of the two countries and the two peoples,” Talabani said, according to a statement which also said that the credentials were presented Tuesday evening.

The appointment of Fahd bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Zaid as non-resident ambassador to Iraq comes ahead of a landmark Arab summit in Baghdad, the first regional meeting to be held here since 1990. Zaid told Talabani that Saudi Arabia wants to “improve economic and political relations with Iraq,” according to the statement from the president’s office. —AFP

Ban urges Iraq to fulfil commitments...

Continued from Page 1 Regarding the Arab summit, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah said “Iraq insisted on having the summit in Baghdad, which we supported.

Their persistence confirms Iraq’s sincerity to contribute actively in the work of the summit.” He added, “The relationship between Kuwait and Iraq is important, and is based on mutual understanding.” Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah is to attend the summit today in Baghdad, in the first visit by a Kuwaiti head of state since Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Aug 1990, Ban said following talks. Earlier, Ban and Sheikh Sabah held talks on the crisis in Syria, relations with Iraq and the Arab summit, the UN chief told a press conference in the Kuwaiti capital on his way to also attending the summit.

Ban insisted yesterday that Syria implement Kofi Annan’s six point peace as soon as possible, “I urge Assad to put these commitments into action immediately;

there is no time to waste.” Syria will be the focus of the summit, set to take place today in Baghdad, “I will meet with key leaders in Baghdad to discuss how the UN can further efforts to implement the six-point peace plan,” said Ban. “This is an important step that could bring an end to the bloodshed and violence,” he added. The plan includes calls for the cessation of armed violence, for humanitarian assistance to be provided to affected areas and better media access and freedom of movement.

“The Arab summit is taking place at a crucial time and will discuss various issues of importance in the region,” said Ban, adding, “the leaders of the League of Arab States will have an important opportunity to take stock of what has happened in the region, especially in the wake of the Arab Spring.” Whilst regarding the acceptance of the six-point peace plan as promising, Ban noted “the Middle East peace process is at a dangerous impasse”.” There are still huge challenges for the Arab League to take a lead in,” he said.

would be closely monitored and would then take the risk to be bombed again, before it actually produces deliverable weapons,” Tertrais said. “One needs to differentiate between an Israeli and a US operation: the latter would be bigger, leave few stones unturned, and might very well shake up the foundations of the regime.”

Israel has threatened Tehran with pre-emptive strikes if diplomacy fails to stop its nuclear progress. US President Barack Obama says all options are on the table, including possible military action, in dealing with Tehran. Israel worries that Iran will soon have moved enough of its nuclear program underground as to make it virtually impervious to a unilateral Israeli attack, creating what Defence Minister Ehud Barak has referred to as a “zone of immunity”.

But Obama - who has accused US Republican presidential candidates of “beating the drums of war” while failing to consider the consequences - is also encouraging Israel to give sanctions against Iran more time to have an effect.

The Jewish state this week played down the prospect of an imminent attack, saying Iran’s nuclear program could still be set back by sanctions and sabotage. Six world powers and Iran are in mid-April expected to resume long-stalled

negotiations aimed at finding a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear dispute, a dialogue which may for now cool speculation of imminent war. “I’m not optimistic on the talks, but I do think they could at the very least open a temporary breathing space for all sides,” said Gala Riani of risk consultancy Control Risks.

If Israel in the end decides to strike, Vaez of the International Crisis Group said “it was easy to imagine” that Iran would withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT ), a 1970 pact to prevent the spread of atomic weapons. Iran’s envoy to the UN nuclear agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, warned this month that any attack by a non-NPT member - Israel - on the nuclear sites of a country that is party to the treaty would inevitably lead to the pact’s “collapse”. MIT’s Walsh said Iran might need years to recover from an attack but it would not destroy its know-how and would “present a window of opportunity for pro-bomb advocates” in the country. Short of a full-scale war or occupation, “most military options are oversold as to their ability to end or even significantly delay Iran’s nuclear program,” the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said. —Reuters

In first ever public quiz, PM defends govt Continued from Page 1 The five-hour debate passed off without major incidents and after two MPs spoke in support of the grilling and two others against it and in defense of the prime minister. Crowds applauded the griller and the prime minister on a few occasions but the prompt management of speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun kept the situation well under control.

In his arguments, Ashour stressed that the prime minister is directly responsible for the failure of the government to take the necessary legal action against two major alleged corruption scandals that happened under the previous government and led to the resignation of former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah. Detailing the errors, Ashour, incidentally a staunch backer of the former premier, said the government has not lived up to expectations because it failed to act on the corruption scandals that “have shaken the country and the regime”.

He was referring to allegations that millions of dinars were deposited into the accounts of 12 former MPs and Ashour himself, over a short period of time with the source of the funds totally unknown. The public prosecutor has investigated the 13 politicians and freed them on bail pending further investigation. Ashour said that the referral of the 12 former MPs and himself was “selective and unfair”, as all “former and current MPs and ministers under investigation since 2006 should have been referred to the public prosecution for investigation”. He also questioned if any action had been taken against the banks that allowed the huge cash deposits without knowing the source, a clear violation of the anti-money laundering law.

In the second scandal, the former prime minister allegedly ordered the transfer of millions of dollars of public funds into his overseas bank accounts. Ashour said the government’s action on the issue has been lacking since as many as 485 such transfers were made since 2006, adding that the government’s action should have been comprehensive.

On the issue of stateless people, known as bedoons, Ashour showed footage of the way riot police mistreated protesters who demonstrated for their basic human rights which have been ignored for over a half century. Ashour said that although the government acknowledged that 34,000 of the 105,000 bedoons qualify for Kuwaiti citizenship, nothing has been done and all bedoons are still denied many basic rights including the right to obtain birth and death certificates, marriage contracts, jobs, and others.

He exhibited several specific cases of bedoon people who made sacrifices for Kuwait, including servicemen in the army, but are still denied basic rights. Ashour called for immediately resolving the issue of the bedoons by first granting the 34,000 people the citizenship which they deserve and then studying the cases of the others. The lawmaker vowed he will grill the prime minister again within six months if the government’s policy of denying the basic rights of bedoons continues.

In his response, the prime minister explained in length why the grilling is unconstitutional. He stressed that most of the elements of the grilling breach several articles of the constitution which were emphasized by the constitutional courts in two famous rulings in 2004 and 2011. He said that the grilling “aims at him in person” since it was filed just 20 days after the formation of the government, which means the lawmaker did not even wait for the government to settle down or take any action.

The prime minister reiterated the actions taken by the government on the two alleged scandals including its decision to ask the Audit Bureau to investigate the allegations of foreign transfers. He also wondered why the lawmaker did not raise the same issues under the previous government when the alleged violations had taken place, an indication that he “is aiming at the person of the prime minister” and not for the protection of public funds.

Shiite MPs Adnan Al-Mutawa and Abdulhameed Dashti spoke in support of the grilling, with Mutawa warning that there will be other grillings against this government, saying that the defense of the prime minister appeared to pave the way for referring future grillings to the constitutional court in a bid to stifle accountability. Liberal MPs Mohammad Al-Sager and Abdullah Al-Turaiji spoke in defense of the premier, with Sager insisting that the quiz was untimely, especially after the Assembly two weeks ago formed two panels to investigate the alleged corruption scandals.

In another development, 24 MPs demanded an urgent debate in today’s session over insults made by a Kuwaiti citizen against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his wife Ayesha and some companions on his Twitter account. The man was arrested late Tuesday night after MPs and activists warned to take action against the interior minister if he does not bring the man to justice. At the same time, five MPs submitted amendments to the penal code in which they proposed that people who insult the Prophet (PBUH) face the death penalty instead of long jail terms. The amendment must be approved by the Assembly’s legal and legislative committee, passed by the Assembly and then accepted by the government.

Bahrain reassures F1 teams, fans of safety Continued from Page 1 “To be honest, every year the standard of security is high, not just in the Formula One race, but for any sporting event like this,” Salman said. “Our country has always handled well events of this nature.”

Last week, F1 world champions Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher backed the decision to go ahead with the Bahrain GP despite opposition to the race and almost daily street confrontations between security forces and opposition supporters. Human rights groups have criticized the decision of the world racing body to reinstate the Bahrain race this year. Bahrain’s Shiite majority is demanding more rights and opportunities, equal to the Sunni

minority that rules Bahrain. In February, an opposition group that has been the driving force of the yearlong uprising wrote to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone demanding that the race be canceled. The letter by the Coalition Youth of the 14 Feb Revolution said “organizing an F1 race in Bahrain at a time when children are being killed in the streets at the hands of the regime mercenaries will haunt the F1 reputation forever and will imprint it with the image of death and human rights violations.” Formula One remains committed to staging next month’s Bahrain GP. Ecclestone has repeatedly said the race will go ahead. “There are always people threatening. I don’t believe the (organizers) would take a risk if they thought there was a risk. Let’s see,” he was quoted as saying in England’s Daily Telegraph this month. — AP

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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

ANALYSIS

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Issues

A weighty phone call

By Rukmini Callimachi he moment that crystallized this nation’s reputation as one of Africa’s established democracies came the morning after the presidential election 12 years ago.

In the neoclassical presidential palace, Senegal’s leader stayed awake all night, counting and re-counting the results that showed in no uncertain terms that he had lost.

President Abdou Diouf could have rigged the election from the start, as his neighbor to the north in Mauritania had the habit of doing. He could have stacked the court in charge of validating the election with supporters, the strategy his neighbor to the south in Ivory Coast would one day put to good use.

Or he could have deployed the army to keep his grasp on power like in nearby Guinea, Gambia and GuineaBissau all of which share a border with Senegal, a nation of 12.4 million on Africa’s western edge. Instead the 64-yearold president emerged from his office, told his aides to draft a statement conceding defeat and picked up the phone to congratulate the man who had beaten him, Abdoulaye Wade. At 9:27 pm this Sunday, Wade followed his predecessor’s lead, picked up the phone and for the second time in the history of this coastal nation, he called to congratulate his rival.

To the world, these events 12 years apart are mirror images of each other, reinforcing Senegal’s standing as one of the few mature democracies in a troubled neighborhood of the world. The coup last week in neighboring Mali which overturned over 20 years of democratic rule, underscores how fragile Africa’s democratic roots are and how easily they are upended. Only the Senegalese, however, know how close their own country came to veering off course. Before that phone call, the 85-year-old Wade had attempted to gerrymander the constitution to make it possible to put his son in office. He stubbornly insisted on running for a third term, despite his age and the fact that he had himself revised the constitution to impose a twoterm limit. And weeks of protesters clashing with police had residents calling a downtown roundabout their Tahrir Square. The sea air that normally wafts across this capital perched on the Atlantic Ocean became acrid with tear gas.

“In these last few years, these last few months and these last few days, Wade inflicted great harm on the people of Senegal. You can’t erase that with one democratic gesture,” said historian Ibrahima Thioub, the chair of the history department at Cheikh Ante Diop University in Dakar. “His phone call can’t be considered to be the same as the phone call Diouf made. His back was to the wall. He had no means whatsoever to hang on to power.” The early results that came in after runoff polls closed Sunday showed that Wade had been trounced. Even in his home polling station in the Point E neighborhood of the capital, preliminary results gave Wade only 454 votes to rival Macky Sall’s 1,589.

While Wade’s quick concession was welcomed by the opposition, and praised by the White House, the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations, some say it as an effort by the veteran politician to regain his standing after a violent election season which marred his reputation as well as that of his country. “It shows that he still had an eensy teensy bit of lucidity. But this lucidity was only awakened by the immensity of his defeat,” said Thioub, considered the country’s leading historian.

An official privy to how the events unfolded said that the head of the national TV station made three trips to the presidential palace late Sunday to bring Wade the results as they came in. On the third visit to the palace, Babacar Diagne, the director of the Radio Television Senegal station, delivered the news: All was lost. Wade was not just losing by a three- or four- or five-point margin. Macky Sall was beating him 60 to 40 and maybe even 70 to 30. The provisional results issued Tuesday showed that Wade had lost, with just 34.2 percent.

The official, who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said that when Wade was informed, he didn’t try to fight it. The news of his defeat ran on a ticker on state TV. Presidential spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye issued a one-paragraph statement: “On this day, the 25th of March 2012, at 9:27 p.m., President Abdoulaye Wade, a candidate in the presidential election, called President Macky Sall to congratulate him for having won the election and to wish him good luck in his mission at the head of Senegal in the hopes that he will render the Senegalese happy. In this way, Senegal, through a transparent election, has once again proven that she remains a great democracy - a great

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

Arab revolts bring Islamist regional vision closer

By Edmund Blair and Tom Perry he Muslim Brotherhood has quietly spread its influence far beyond Egypt in its 84-year history, but Arab revolts have opened broad new political horizons the group hopes will reflect its founder’s vision for the Arab and Islamic world. “There is no doubt that Hassan Al-Banna believed in Islamic unity and not just Arab unity. But with such a vision we must consider reality and what is possible,” said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a member of the Brotherhood’s executive bureau. Interviewed at the group’s new headquarters in Cairo, he called such unity a “long-term objective”, but seemed alive to the possibilities thrown up by a ferment in which Islamists are driving mainstream politics across North Africa and beyond. “This region is in a period of deeprooted change,” the 64-year-old said.

“Starting from Tunisia and ending with Syria, the nature of the region and alliances will change.”

The Brotherhood, banned and repressed under President Hosni Mubarak, did not instigate the uprising against him, but like Islamist parties elsewhere it has been the main beneficiary, using free elections to sweep to the brink of power. Its success, along with election wins by Islamists in Tunisia and Morocco, and the emergence of powerful Islamist players in Libya and inside Syria’s opposition, is forcing the world to rethink how it deals with political Islam. The Brotherhood, the oldest and most established contemporary Islamist movement, could find itself at the centre of a Sunni arc of influence from the Atlantic to the eastern Mediterranean.

“We can start to talk of an emerging Sunni Islamist bloc from North Africa all the way potentially to Syria. I think the Brotherhood is the most important part of that,” said Shadi Hamid, research director at the Doha Brookings Center in Qatar. “They are part of a broader movement, and it is that movement that is going to reshape the regional architecture.” The extent of the transformation may yet depend on how Islamists perform in office as they grapple with dysfunctional economies and exaggerated expectations, but change is afoot. The rise of Egypt’s Brotherhood, the inspiration for Islamist groups throughout the region, is helping to redraw political alliances across the Middle East in a historic shift that is eroding the influence of Shiite Iran in the Arab world.

Spurred on by an uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, the Brotherhood’s emergence has helped draw Sunni Palestinian group Hamas out of the orbit of Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, splintering an axis that has been a defining feature of regional politics and conflicts for more than a decade. “The stronger the Sunni Islamists are, the worse it is for the Iran-Hezbollah axis,” said Hamid. Western states with longheld suspicions about Islamist influence are nevertheless meeting the new players.

Conservative Gulf monarchies, some of them wary that regional unrest may be contagious, are cautiously assessing their new interlocutors.

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Changing Allegiances Turkey, outside the Arab fold but part of the Muslim world, may engage more directly. Turkey’s AK Party, with its Islamist roots, has delivered stellar economic growth that Arab states faced with sky-high popular aspirations are keen to emulate. “Turkey will have more soft power than in the past and Turkey will exercise that power in a positive way,” said Turkish Ambassador Husseyin Avni Botsali in Cairo, adding that Egypt and Turkey could become an “axis of moderation and dialogue”. At the heart of the flux is Egypt’s Brotherhood, which grew Libyan, Syrian, Palestinian and other offshoots over

which it has no formal control. However, Ghozlan said they do see Egypt as “the mother state, where the (Islamic) call first sprang up”.

The Brotherhood has shunned some of its more radical outgrowths, such as the Egyptian militants who turned to global jihad after Mubarak crushed their armed uprising in the 1980s. And it faces new challenges from hard-line Salafis impatient to install Islamic sharia law and eradicate Western influence. Nevertheless, the Brotherhood is headed for power in Egypt, with likeminded parties also dominant in some of its neighbours.

It has been a long haul for the group founded by Banna in 1928. Born in 1906, he fumed at colonial interference in Egypt and particularly Ismailia, a city where he taught, next to the Suez Canal that was then under British control. Starting in mosques and coffee houses, his message spread to the rest of Egypt and, by the time he was assassinated in 1949, the group had followers beyond its borders. By then Egypt’s authorities also began seeing the group as a threat and a

Haniya was allowed to endorse the Syrian revolt in a speech in February at Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar mosque. Hamas and the Brotherhood want Egypt to fully open its border with Gaza to alleviate a blockade imposed by Israel with Egyptian cooperation, but Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters it was too soon to talk of new allies.

The Brotherhood’s focus for now, as it plans for government, is local. It needs to stabilise Egypt’s shattered economy and stave off a currency crisis. And for that it needs outside help. Gulf states have promised Egypt $10 billion to $15 billion in aid and investment. Yet just $1 billion has arrived. “The Brotherhood understands that better relationships with the Gulf countries are absolutely necessary now because they are going to be among Egypt’s major donors,” said Brookings’ Hamid.

But the Brotherhood’s attempts to woo Gulf states have got off to a rocky start, as Ghozlan recounts. “We told them ‘Come and get to know us ... If you have concerns, we will eliminate them. If you don’t come to us,

Saud family, an arrangement that some Saudi officials fear the Brotherhood’s brand of political Islam could upset.

Saudi analyst Jamal Khashoggi said some of the Saudi elite are worried that “the Brotherhood will be intoxicated by the victory of their fellow movements in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia and they might be hoping to do the same thing in Saudi Arabia”. But he dismissed such fears, saying the Brotherhood’s pragmatism had less appeal to Saudi society than Salafis, whose yearning for a return to early Islamic teachings lies at the heart of the kingdom’s Wahhabist creed.

Nevertheless, Hamid of the Brookings Center said the Brotherhood had affiliates in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which “are seen to be a threat to the regime”.

The Brotherhood has already had a spat with the UAE over the expulsion of a group of Syrians who staged a protest there. The Dubai police chief accused the Brotherhood of fomenting unrest. “There have been restrictions placed on Egyptians coming to the UAE to work and this happened after the Brotherhood took power (in Egypt’s parlia-

Hundreds of protesters demonstrate outside the Egyptian parliament building against the current Constitution Drafting Committee on March 28, 2012 in Cairo. Liberal and leftist parties have pulled out of a panel drafting Egypt's new constitution, they announced on March 27, accusing Islamists of monopolising the process that will deliver the country's post-revolution charter. —AFP cycle of crackdowns began. It was a similar story in other countries.

One group the Brotherhood inspired was Palestinian Hamas, which emerged in the 1980s and now controls Gaza on Egypt’s border. Isolated by Egypt under Mubarak, as well as by other Gulf and Arab states and the West, Hamas was embraced by Iran, Hezbollah and Syria in an alliance built on hostility to Israel. Yet Hamas was the Sunni odd man out in a Shiite-dominated axis. The Palestinian group had its headquarters in Damascus, where the ruling Assad family, members of a minority Alawite sect, had long repressed Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Ditching Assad A year after an anti-Assad revolt erupted, Hamas publicly turned against its Syrian hosts, perhaps encouraged by the Brotherhood’s political gains now shifting Egypt’s outlook. In a mark of the change from the Mubarak era, Hamas leader Ismail

send an invitation and we’ll come to you’ ...

But they haven’t taken that step,” he said, adding that only Bahrain’s envoy to Egypt had met the group so far. The Brotherhood even delayed a meeting requested by Iran’s envoy for fear of upsetting Gulf states, who see Tehran as a rival that meddles in their affairs. “If he (the Iranian) comes before them, it will increase their fears,” Ghozlan said.

‘Different Approach’ Some Gulf states, who counted Egypt’s Mubarak and Tunisia’s Zine Abdedine Ben Ali as close allies, fret that regional turmoil will unsettle their own realms. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are notably wary of the Brotherhood. “The Brotherhood have a different approach to politics and this is what causes concern, mixing politics with religion when they are two separate issues,” said one Saudi source. In the religiously conservative kingdom, clerics of the strict Wahhabi school of Islam have always backed the ruling Al-

ment). There is a fear that they might stir trouble in the region,” said one UAE official.

Qatar, a tiny Gulf nation with huge gas reserves, engaged with Islamists in Libya, but a Foreign Ministry official said there had been no “official” talks with Egypt’s Brotherhood yet.

Ghozlan said the Gulf had no reason to fear the Brotherhood. “We want to see the Gulf stable given that it is in a very sensitive region,” he said, predicting that tensions would dissipate once the Brotherhood forms a coalition government. “I think these obstacles will disappear and the rulers of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states will work with it and this crisis will end, God willing.” Hassan Al-Banna may have dreamed of Arab and Islamic unity, but his movement has, in Egypt at least, long been a cautious practitioner of the politically possible. Nevertheless, like other Islamists in an Arab world where uprisings have toppled four autocrats so far, it senses it has the wind in its sails. —Reuters

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

sp orts

Clarke to play for Pune

Athens champion retires

MUMBAI: Australia captain Michael Clarke has signed for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Pune Warriors and will make his debut in the fifth edition of the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament.

Clarke, who leads the Australian test and one-day teams, quit international Twenty20 in January 2011. He will play in the IPL under former India captain Sourav Ganguly. “We are thrilled to have Michael Clarke on board. The reigning Australian skipper is one of the world’s best cricketers,” Sushanto Roy, an owner of the franchise, said in a statement.

“His presence in the side, and cricketing proficiency, will boost the prospects of Pune Warriors India in the IPL 2012.”

The right-handed batsman, who turns 31 on Monday, will be unavailable for the initial part of the tournament as Australia are playing a three-test series in the West Indies, the final test starting on April 23.

“He is a very popular cricketer in India, and followers of the sport are eagerly looking forward to his participation in the IPL 2012,” Rajeev Shukla, the chairman of the IPL, said.

Clarke had made himself unavailable for previous editions of the tournament, citing his busy schedule with the Australian team. —Reuters

NEW YORK: Paul Hamm, the only American man to win the Olympic all-round gold medal, announced his retirement from gymnastics on Tuesday.

Plagued by injuries for the past few years, the 29-year-old, whose victory at the 2004 Athens Olympics was shrouded in controversy, said he decided to quit even though the London Olympics are just four months away.

“I have decided to stop training in competitive gymnastics and end my efforts as a potential member of the 2012 Olympic men’s gymnastics team,” Hamm said in a statement.

“My career has far exceeded my expectations. I hope I am remembered for my gymnastic accomplishments, and as a kind person.” Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, paid a rich tribute to Hamm, who also won the all-round world championship in 2003. “Becoming the World and Olympic all-around champion was an unprecedented accomplishment for our country,” said Penny.

“Not only did he enjoy individual success, but he also was a force in our team’s success and raised the bar for men’s gymnastics in the United States.” —Reuters

Pressure mounts on Massa ITALY: Ferrari’s Felipe Massa ripped up his travel plans and headed to his team’s Maranello factory instead of home to Brazil after failing to score any points in the first two races of the Formula One season.

Massa, who has not stood on the podium since 2010, finished 15th in Sunday’s rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix won by Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso.

In the Australian season-opener the weekend before in Melbourne he had retired. Speculation has mounted that Massa could be replaced at Ferrari well before the season is out but team boss Stefano Domenicali has been publicly supportive.

“I well remember that, four years ago, in fact right after a Malaysian Grand Prix, which was won for us by Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe was more or less in the same situation as today,” the Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com) quoted him as saying. “The papers were demanding his immediate replacement and he managed to react in the best way possible, thanks to support from the team, which saw him win two of the next three races. —AP

Blues top Preds, Rangers roll ST. LOUIS: Brian Elliott made 24 saves for his third straight shutout and Jamie Langenbrunner broke a scoreless tie in the second period to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

St. Louis, which improved to 30-4-4 at home, has an NHL-leading 105 points - two ahead of the New York Rangers in the battle for the President’s Trophy. St. Louis leads Vancouver by four points in the Western Conference standings.

Elliott improved to 23-9-3 with his leagueleading ninth shutout. He has not allowed a goal in a franchise-record 186:33, eclipsing the old mark of 186:15 set by Manny Legace from Dec.28, 2007 to Jan. 28, 2008.

Nashville, which needs one point to earn a playoff spot, snapped a two-game winning streak. David Perron and T.J. Oshie added third-period goals for the Blues.

CARLSBAD: Yani Tseng of Taiwan reacts after chipping in for birdie on the fifth hole during the final round of the Kia Classic LPGA golf tournament in a file photo. — AP

Tseng in a league of her own JACKSONVILLE: Yani Tseng is starting to draw comparisons with Tiger Woods when he was at his absolute best.

Coming off a year in which she won 12 times around the world, Tseng started a new season by winning three of the opening five tournaments on the LPGA Tour schedule. In the other two, she missed a playoff by two shots in Australia and one shot in Singapore.

Her points total atop the women’s world ranking is nearly double that of Na Yeon Choi at No. 2. Tseng already has $792,186, more than the next two players combined and the equivalent of No. 27 on the PGA Tour, astounding when you consider the disparity of prize money.

Heading into the first LPGA major of the year, Tseng is the overwhelming favorite. If she were to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship this week, Tseng already would have six majors. And if she were to pick off the US Women’s Open this summer, she would have the career Grand Slam.

Not bad for someone who turned 23 just two months ago, and who is starting her fifth year on tour.

More than adding to her collection of majors, a win this week would put Tseng on the cusp of meeting the performance criteria for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Either way, she would appear to be a shoo-in to get the required 27 points this year.

And that’s where the comparisons with Woods take shape. Is she that good?

Or is her competition lacking? These are the questions that Woods faced when he won seven out of 11 majors in one stretch early in his career, and then backed it up by winning six out of 14.

Jack Nicklaus was among those who lamented the lack of multiple major winners like what Nicklaus faced in his day.

Tom Watson was among those suggesting that history might prove Woods was simply that much better.

Comparisons tend to be as pointless between generations as they are between genders. The LPGA Tour, however, has been getting the short shrift for years.

Years ago, Karrie Webb pointed out that if a woman won a major at 19-under par, then the course was said to be too easy. And if a woman won a major at 6over par, then they just weren’t very good.

That’s how the LPGA Hall of Fame is perceived, and Tseng is sure to add to the debate. Tseng would become the fifth woman to reach the performance standards in seven years or fewer. The others were Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak and Lorena Ochoa.

Is Tseng that good? Or has the bar been set too low? The LPGA Tour used to have the most stringent criteria for any Hall of Fame. It used a sliding performance scale - 30 wins and five majors, 35 wins and one major or 40 wins and no majors. Small wonder that only 14 women were in the Hall of Fame.

A committee worked years to finally change it in 1999. Since then, 10 players from the LPGA Tour have been inducted, all deserving.

Now the measure is 27 points - two points for a major, one point for an LPGA

win, one point for player of the year, one point for winning the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. Players also must be on tour for 10 years before they can be inducted.

Webb needed only five years to get her 27 points, during a time in her career when she won the career Grand Slam in a span of eight majors, the quickest of anyone. Webb and Sorenstam were so good they would have qualified under the old system. Ditto for Juli Inkster, whose career was interrupted to raise two daughters.

Meg Mallon was part of the committee that changed the Hall of Fame criteria, and she has no qualms with players qualifying so quickly.

“We were looking at a Hall of Fame where nobody was going in,” Mallon said Tuesday. “We still wanted it to be for players who separated themselves in their generation. Yani has separated herself. She deserves the Hall of Fame. We’ve had players go in at both ages, and we still think it reflects who was the best.” As for the competition? That’s difficult to measure.

Making it even more peculiar in women’s golf is the recent passing of the torch. Sorenstam looked unbeatable until Ochoa came along, ended the Swede’s dominance and then was in a league of her own until she, too, abruptly retired.

Ochoa was going for her third straight major at the 2008 LPGA Championship, leading through 36 holes, when a 19year-old rookie from Taiwan came along and beat her. That was Tseng, who went on to win the Nabisco and the Women’s British Open in 2010, and then the LPGA Championship and the Women’s British last year. Now, it’s Tseng who rules her sport. Missing from the LPGA Tour is what Nicklaus once rued about the PGA Tour - a half-dozen players who seemed to be in the hunt at majors just about every year.

That group featured Pat Bradley, Amy Alcott, Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel, Patty Sheehan and Betsy King. During the 1980s alone, they combined to win 15 out of the 40 majors, and collectively they had 54 finishes in the top five. Alcott was the only one from that group who did not win player of the year during that decade.

“It was hard to have that singular dominance,” Mallon said. “They all had player-of-the-year seasons. They all wanted to beat each other. Can you imagine if we still had Annika and Lorena playing, what that would have been like?” As it is, it looks at times as though Tseng is playing alone.

Her greatest competition comes from the legacy of Woods. Tseng reached five majors and 15 tour wins at a younger age than Woods. And like most of the other women before her, she’ll have to do even more to get attention.

“I feel it’s kind of my honor to be compared with him,” Tseng said after winning the Kia Classic on Sunday.

Just her luck, she won at La Costa shortly before Woods returned to winning on the PGA Tour at Bay Hill. “He’s probably going to be on the cover,” she said. —AP

Rangers 3, Wild 2 At St. Paul, Minnesota, Ruslan Fedotenko scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as New York beat Minnesota for some more space in the tightened Eastern Conference playoff race.

Marian Gaborik also scored, frustrating the fans of his former team, and Brian Boyle had a goal for the Rangers, who won for the third time in their last nine road games. They’re now 6-6 in their last 12 games and lead Pittsburgh by three points in the Atlantic Division. Kyle Brodziak and M ik ko Koivu scored power-play goals for the Wild.

Islanders 5, Penguins 3 At Pittsburgh, Frans Nielsen scored twice as the New York Islanders won in Pittsburgh for the first time in more than four years.

Michael Grabner, David Ullstrom and Kyle Okposo also scored, and Josh Bailey had three assists to help the Islanders end Pittsburgh’s 10-game home winning streak.

James Neal scored twice for the Penguins who outshot the Islanders 54-25 - and Tyler Kennedy added a goal. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 18 shots before being replaced in the third by Brad Thiessen and Evgeni Malkin had two assists to boost his NHL-leading point total to 99. The Penguins trail the R angers by three points in the Atlantic Division.

Bruins 5, Lightning 2 At Boston, Benoit Pouliot scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Zdeno Chara had three assists as Boston beat Tampa Bay. The Bruins won their third straight game despite two goals by Steven Stamkos, who leads the NHL with 55. Tampa Bay’s threegame winning streak ended.

The Bruins moved five points ahead of the second-place O ttawa in the Nor theast Division with 93 points and a game in hand.

Shawn Thornton and Brad Marchand also had goals, and Rich Peverley added an emptynetter with 7 seconds remaining.

Devils 2, Blackhawks 1 At Newark, New Jersey, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias scored in a shootout, and Martin Brodeur made 37 saves as to lead New Jersey over Chicago.

Brodeur made a sprawling stop on Andrew Shaw to end the contest and give New Jersey a four-point lead on Ottawa in the race for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Zajac, who returned to the lineup Sunday after sitting out with an Achilles’ tendon injury, snapped a shot over Corey Crawford for

PITTSBURGH: Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin (71) can’t get a shot past New York Islanders goalie Al Montoya (35) in the third period of an NHL hockey game. — AP

NHL results/standings Carolina 3, Toronto 0; New Jersey 2, Chicago 1 (SO); NY Islanders 5, Pittsburgh 3; Buffalo 5, Washington 1.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF NY Rangers 48 21 7 209 Pittsburgh 47 23 6 256 Philadelphia 44 24 8 241 New Jersey 43 28 6 208 NY Islanders 32 33 11 185

GA 170 200 213 201 227

PTS 103 100 96 92 75

Boston Ottawa Buffalo Toronto Montreal

Northeast Division 45 28 3 249 39 28 10 236 38 29 10 202 33 35 9 217 29 34 14 199

186 227 210 242 214

93 88 86 75 72

Florida Washington Winnipeg Tampa Bay Carolina

Southeast Division 37 24 15 189 38 31 8 206 35 33 8 205 35 34 7 216 31 31 15 205

208 219 223 260 228

89 84 78 77 77

the winner in the shootout.

Brent Seabrook scored for Chicago midway through the third period to tie it after Petr Sykora gave the Devils the lead with 4:18 left in the opening period.

Panthers 3, Canadiens 2 At Montreal, Wojtek Wolski scored in regulation and added the only goal of the shootout to help Florida boost its playoff hopes with a win over Montreal.

Mikael Samuelsson also scored in regulation for Florida, which outshot Montreal 3629. The Panthers ended a three-game winless streak and completed a four-game sweep of the season series with Montreal. The win, combined with Washington’s 5-1 loss at Buffalo, gave the Panthers a five-point lead over the Capitals for first place in the Southeast Division, with a game in hand. Erik Cole and Louis Leblanc scored for the already-eliminated Canadiens.

Sabres 5, Capitals 1 At Washington, Ryan Miller stopped 44 shots and Drew Stafford scored two goals as Buffalo beat Washington to climb into the

Western Conference Central Division St Louis 48 20 9 199 Detroit 46 25 5 237 Nashville 44 25 8 219 Chicago 42 26 9 231 Columbus 24 45 7 177

147 187 202 222 250

105 97 96 93 55

Northwest Division 46 21 9 230 40 32 6 201 35 27 15 191 31 35 10 161 31 36 9 206

187 207 212 210 223

101 86 85 72 71

Vancouver Colorado Calgary Minnesota Edmonton

Pacific Division San Jose 39 27 10 210 196 88 Dallas 41 30 5 202 203 87 Phoenix 37 27 13 200 202 87 Los Angeles 37 27 12 175 165 86 Anaheim 32 33 11 191 212 75 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

It was the fifth straight win for the Sabres, their longest streak since a six-game run in 2009-2010. Buffalo was in 14th place on Feb. 17 before going on a 14-2-4 tear.

Cody McCormick, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres, and Miller improved 14-1-3 over his last 18 games, allowing only 32 goals in that span. Alexander Semin scored for Washington.

Hurricanes 3, Maple Leafs 0 At Toronto, Cam Ward stopped 32 shots for his 21st shutout as Carolina eliminated Toronto from playoff contention with the win.

Jussi Jokinen, Tim Brent and Jay Harrison scored goals for Carolina, which kept its slim playoff hopes alive for one more day. The Hurricanes are nine points out of the playoff cutoff with only six games remaining.

The Maple Leafs fell to 33-35-9 after being shut out for the seventh time this season. Four of those have come in the past 10 games.

After its last home victory Feb. 6, the Maple Leafs were sixth in the conference but they’ve gone 5-16-3 since. — AP

AUB lead KBC Bowling League KUWAIT: The Ahli United Bank (AUB) maintained its lead for the KBC Bowling League after defeating the Commercial Bank of Kuwait 7-1 during week six competitions that ended recently.

With this win, the AUK increased its total points to 33, leading the standings ahead of the Kuwait Finance House which has 28 points. Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait remained in third place with 26 points after defeating Burgan Bank 5-2, and with only one point ahead of the National Bank of Kuwait who defeated the Gulf Bank 4-3.

Week seven matches take place this Saturday, March 31, 2012, as the AUB faces the Gulf Bank, while the KFH squares off against the Central Bank of Kuwait. Al-Ahli Bank is set to take on Boubyan Bank while the Commercial Bank of Kuwait goes against the Burgan Bank. The tournament is organized by the Kuwait Banks Club at the Cozmo Bowling Hall in Salmiya.

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

sp orts

Mott returns to Dubai with Cigar on his mind DUBAI: Bill Mott will be looking for another first when his filly Royal Delta runs in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday.

The US Hall of Fame trainer won the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996 with two-time US horse of the year Cigar.

Now, Mott has the chance to make Royal Delta the first filly to win the world’s richest horse race. He says the distance and track surface suited Royal Delta and welcomed the chance to test the four-year-old against favorites So You Think, Game On Dude and Smart Falcon.

“Coming back, it’s a big challenge,” Mott said. “It’s the biggest prize in racing right now. Naturally if you like competition, that is where you want to be.”

Mott said returning to Dubai came down to “having a horse in the barn good enough to come,” noting Royal Delta had a strong last year, including a win in the Ladies’ Classic at the Breeders’ Cup in November.

“She sort of earned her way into it,” he said. “It is not something that we imagined, that she is good enough.

She’s done what we asked to do at home. The challenge is how she matches

up with an international field. That is what this is all about.”

Asked about the prospects of a filly winning, Mott joked that “the first time we came no horse had won,” so all he saw was another obstacle to overcome in his illustrious career.

“Coming over here, we know they will bring the best of the best, and we’re going to have some very good horses in the race,” he said. “The only thing we can hope for is that our own does very well.”

Cigar proved a worthy entrant in the inaugural Dubai World Cup when he won by half a length over Soul of the Matter in a memorable race worth $4 million at the time. That was Cigar’s 14th straight win, and he’d add two more in his streak. Mott, who favors a New York Yankees baseball cap and is known for his understated manner, said Cigar’s triumph back in the US. “It was a huge win personally,” Mott said. “For America, anyone who was interested in horse racing was watching it on TV. At that time, you had to go to a betting facility or race track where they were simulcasting the race. People probably gathered in those spots where they were able to see it and it drew quite a

crowd.” Mott admitted the first-ever trip to the Middle East wasn’t without risks.

Urged on by owner Allen E. Paulson, Mott traveled the 6,800 miles (10,900

kilometers) despite the fact that Cigar had never raced over a deep sandy surface, or encountered such a long home straight, 3/8ths of a mile (600 meters).

DUBAI: Royal Delta from US gallops during an early morning training session at Meydan horse race track three days ahead of world’s richest horse race. —AP

His preparations were also disrupted, Mott said, after the horse developed an abscess on one of its hoofs which forced him to condense the training. And then there was Dubai which, at the time, was still a dusty trading center, nothing like today’s glitzy metropolis with miles of skyscrapers and the $2 billion Meydan Racing which will host the Dubai World Cup. “The first time we came over with Cigar, there were so many unknowns,” Mott said. “We had no idea coming to this part of the world. We didn’t know what we would run into.”

Mott’s willingness to bring Cigar here in 1996 opened the door for other top American horses to make the trip to the United Arab Emirates, although that has dropped off some since Meydan opened. The track features an all-weather surface known as tapeta that is not liked by those whose horses normally run on dirt tracks. Sending a horse, too, has become much easier as transport has been streamlined with many traveling in first-class luxury paid for by race organizers. Royal Delta made the trip in good shape, Mott said, and was “just floating over the ground” when she got out on the track on Wednesday. —AP

England set out on historic Test chase

GROS ISLET: Australia’s opening batsman David Warner (left) is clean bowled by West Indies’ Krishmar’ Santokie for a duck as the wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh looks on during their first Twenty20 international cricket match. —AP

Australia beat Windies by 8 wkts in T20 match CASTRIES: Australia romped to an eightwicket victory over West Indies in the first Twenty20 cricket international on Tuesday, led by allrounder Shane Watson slamming 69 off 43 balls and taking 1-16 from four overs.

Watson lashed five boundaries and six sixes at Beausejour Stadium to guide Australia to 153-2 from 18.1 overs after West Indies had been restricted to 150-7.

Michael Hussey contributed an unbeaten 59 off 45 deliveries, adding 107 runs with Watson after David Warner went for a duck on the fifth ball of the innings with Australia yet to score.

Earlier, Kieron Pollard cracked five sixes and two fours in an undefeated 54 off 39 balls.

Watson’s misersly spell with the ball backed up the good work from Daniel Christian (3-27) and Brett Lee (2-30).

The second and final match in the series is in Barbados on Friday. Australia’s pursuit made a horrid start when Warner was bowled playing across the line when facing Krishmar Santokie.

But Watson, Australia’s one-day international captain, quickly put the pressure back on West Indies with some superb strokes all around the ground. He raced to 50 off 38 balls to silence a big crowd of

close to 11,000 people.

Hussey played the anchor role, only flourishing after Watson fell to ensure West Indies didn’t gain any momentum. He reached his 50 off 40 deliveries, and finished with four fours and two sixes.

Captain George Bailey struck the winning runs, helping himself to an unbeaten 21 off 17 balls. In West Indies’ innings, Pollard’s big hitting lifted what looked like being a pedestrian total to respectability.

His 50 came off only 20 deliveries and he shared a partnership of 62 off 29 balls with Dwayne Bravo, who contributed 14.

Johnson Charles and Nkrumah Bonner had earlier both scored 24.

West Indies’ innings had been stuttering at 72-4 in the 13th over. Lee removed Dwayne Smith for 10 and Watson added the scalp of Charles to stall the hosts. Smith edged to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and Charles was plumb leg before playing across the line.

Christian added to the pressure with the wickets of Bonner and Darren Bravo.

Bonner tried to up the tempo and was bowled, while Bravo, in a slump, miscued a pull to deep midwicket.

Pollard’s late hitting ensured he beat the previous record for the fastest 50 by a West Indian of 23 balls, set by Chris Gayle. —AP

SCOREBOARD GROS ISLET: Scoreboard of the first Twenty20 international between West Indies and Australia at Beausejour Cricket Ground here yesterday: West Indies innings J. Charles lbw b Watson 24 D. Smith c Wade b Lee 10 N. Bonner b Christian 24 DBravo c Pattinson b Christian 12 K. Pollard not out 54 D Bravo c D. Hussey b Christian 14 D. Sammy c D. Hussey b Lee 7 C. Baug run out (Watson) 1 G. Mathurin not out 1 Extras (lb1, w2) 3 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 150 Did not bat: K. Santokie, S. Narine Fall of wickets 1-19 (Smith), 2-38 (Charles), 3-66 (Darren Bravo), 4-72 (Bonner), 5-134 (Dwayne Bravo), 6-144 (Sammy), 7-148 (Baugh) Bowling: Lee 4-0-30-2 (1w), Pattinson 30-21-0 (1w), McKay 3-0-21-0, Watson 4-0-16-1, Doherty 3-0-34-0, Christian 30-27-3

Australia (target: 151 runs from 20 overs) D Warner b Santokie 0 S Watson c Pollard b Mathurin 69 M Hussey not out 59 G Bailey not out 21 Extras (lb1, w2, nb1) 4 Total (2 wickets; 18.1 overs) 153 Did not bat: M Wade, D Hussey, D Christian, C McKay, X Doherty, B Lee, J Pattinson Fall of wickets: 1-0 ( Warner), 2-108 (Watson) Bowling: Santokie 3-0-27-1 (1w), Mathurin 4-0-33-1 (1nb, 1w), Narine 4-0-21-0, Sammy 2.1-0-22-0, Bravo 3-021-0, Pollard 1-0-16-0, Smith 1-0-12-0 Result: Australia won by 8 wickets (with 11 balls remaining Series: Australia lead the 2-match series 1-0

GALLE: England recovered from two crucial blows to stay afloat in their tough run chase to win the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka in Galle yesterday.

The tourists, set a history-defying target of 340, reached 111 for two by stumps on the third day on a dry pitch that has made batting progressively difficult.

The world number one Test side lost openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook cheaply, before Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen repaired the damage by adding 63 for the unbroken third wicket.

Trott was unbeaten on 40 and Pietersen was on 29, with England still needing 229 runs with eight wickets in hand to win the Test and take the lead in the two-match series.

England, who will slip to number two behind South Africa if they lose the series, have never chased down such a big fourth-innings target before in their Test history.

Their highest successful chase is 332-7 against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground way back in 1928. In Asia, it is 209-1 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in March, 2010.

England’s task has been made tougher since 253 is the highest fourth-innings total made at the Galle International Stadium.

England off-spinner Graeme Swann, who claimed six wickets in Sri Lanka’s second inings total of 214, dismissed suggestions that history was not on his team’s side.

“History is meant to be re-written,” said Swann. “This is 2012. It does not matter what happened years ago. “I would say we are the favourites. We just need a bit of old fashioned grit to win from here. Keep out the good balls and wait for the loose ones.

“It’s a good pitch to bowl on, its also a good pitch to bat on. If people apply themselves and put their heads down, they will be hard to dismiss.”

Cook, who scored 14, was given out caught at the wicket off Rangana Herath through the Decision Review System after on-field umpire Rod Tucker had negated the appeal.

Herath, whose left-arm spin fetched him six wickets in the first innings, dismissed Strauss for 27 when the England captain failed to keep an on-drive down and was caught at short midwicket.

Pietersen was lucky to be still there at stumps after being dropped by Kumar Sangakkara at backward short-leg off Suraj Randiv when he was on 12.

The hosts had been reduced to 127-8 just before lunch, a lead of 252 runs, when wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene stepped in to hit an unbeaten 61 in the company of tailenders.

Jayawardene, who was caught off a Stuart Broad no-ball when on 29, put on 40 for the ninth wicket with Chanaka Welegedara (13) and 47 for the 10th with Suranga Lakmal (13).

The wicket-keeper said Sri Lanka will fancy their chances of winning since England still had a long way to go. “The psychological pressure is on them (England),” said Jayawardene. “They still

GALLE: England’s batsman Jonathan Trott bats as Sri Lankan fielders (from left) Thilan Samaraweera, Mahela Jayawardene, and wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene look on during the third day of the first Test cricket match. —AP have more than 200 runs to make and it won’t be easy because the wicket is turning quite a bit.

“But we have to be patient and do the basics right. We have the bowlers to win this match, so I am not worried at all.”

The overnight pair of Dinesh Chandimal and Suraj Randiv took their sixth-wicket partnership to 42, before both batsmen fell in the space of one run.

Chandimal, who made 31, gifted his wicket

for the second time in the match when he attempted a big shot off Monty Panesar and only managed to sky a catch to Pietersen at midoff.

Randiv was declared leg-before by TV official Bruce Oxenford after he challenged on-field umpire Asad Rauf’s decision, giving Swann his fifth wicket in the innings. Herath became Swann’s sixth victim when he was bowled trying to sweep the off-spinner. —AFP

SCOREBOARD GALLE: Scoreboard at the close of the third day of the first test between Sri Lanka and England yesterday: Sri Lanka first innings 318 (M. Jayawardene 180; J.Anderson 5-72) England first innings 193 (I. Bell 52; R. Herath 6-74) Sri Lanka second innings (overnight 84-5) L. Thirimanne b Swann 6 T. Dilshan b Broad 0 K. Sangakkara c Bell b Swann 14 M. Jayawardene c Anderson b Swann 5 T. Samaraweera st Prior b Swann 36 D. Chandimal c Pietersen b Panesar 31 S. Randiv lbw b Swann 18 P. Jayawardene not out 61 R. Herath b Swann 7 C. Welegedara c Strauss b Panesar 13 S. Lakmal run out 13 Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-4, w-1) 10 Total (all out, 84.3 overs) 214

Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-8 3-14 4-41 5-72 6-114 7-115 8-127 9-167 10-214 Bowling: Anderson 10.3-2-26-0, Broad 11-233-1 (nb-4, w-1), Swann 30-5-82-6, Panesar 24-6-59-2, Patel 9-4-9-0.

England second innings A. Strauss c Dilshan b Herath 27 A. Cook c P Jayawardene b Herath 14 J. Trott not out 40 K. Pietersen not out 29 Extras:(lb-1) 1 Total (two wickets, 40 overs) 111 Fall of wickets: 1-31 2-48 Bowling: Welegedara 5-2-16-0, Lakmal 3-19-0, Herath 15-3-52-2, Dilshan 9-1-14-0, Randiv 8-1-19-0.

Fletcher: ‘No middle road’ in India’s performances JOHANNESBURG: There’s been “no middle road” with India’s performances since winning the cricket World Cup, coach Duncan Fletcher said yesterday as his Twenty20 squad flew in for a rapid visit to South Africa.

Giving youngsters experience away from home was now one of the keys to finding consistency, he said, in the hope that trips away will “pay dividends in the future.”

India plays the Proteas in a one-off T20 on Friday and despite the game falling just days before the start of the Indian Premier League, Fletcher said it would help. “We’re trying to develop a young one -day squad and Twenty20 squad,” he said. “These blokes have played well on the subcontinent and any game they play out of it must be good from an experience point of view. “(We want to) expose them to

different pressures and different conditions. From my point of view there is a lot of talent around, we just need to make sure we give them that experience they require.” India has been notoriously up and down since lifting the World Cup a year ago, falling to heavy test series defeats in England and Australia but also whitewashing the English in an ODI contest at home.

It’s a regular problem for the Indians, who have often dominated at home and struggled on tour, and was highlighted again after Fletcher took over from World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten - who is now in charge of South Africa.

“Well, so far there’s been no middle road,” Fletcher said at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo Airport. “We’ve played some very good cricket ... then we went to England and had a few problems

and didn’t play as well as we could.” The inconvenient timing of Friday’s game at the Wanderers also hasn’t worried Fletcher or captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

It was organized by Cricket South Africa as a tribute for allrounder Jacques Kallis, but has required the busy Indian players to fly nine hours overnight from Mumbai for a two-hour game before returning for the IPL, which starts next Wednesday.

“I don’t think fatigue will be a real factor,” Dhoni said. “We all enjoy playing IPL. That’s one format where you’re not representing the country and the span of the tournament is slightly longer, you play quite a few games.

“I won’t say you have the liberty but even if you lose a few games it doesn’t really matter by the end of the league stage if you have qualified for the last four.”

Dhoni also identified T20 crick-

et as the “ideal platform” to develop a new breed of young players and the IPL as useful preparation for India’s campaign at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September and October.

Virat Kohli, who has been one of India’s outstanding batsmen in all formats recently, first emerged in 20-over cricket, proving its value in developing young talent.

The 23-year-old Kohli made 116 in his last test and three centuries and a half-century in his last four ODIs. “As of now, yes, you can say he’s one of the best-performing youngsters that we’ve got,” Dhoni said of Kohli, who is vice-captain in South Africa. “He’s doing it quite consistently which is very good for the side, irrespective of the format. Test matches, ODIs, 20 overs. He is someone who loves to go on the field and express himself.” —AP

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

S P ORT S

Olympic security review after France attacks LONDON: Britain has planned for a dizzying array of security nightmares surrounding the Olympics, including a coordinated attack like the London transit bombings, a dirty bomb or a cyberattack.

In the wake of France’s deadly shootings, one scenario weighing heavily on the minds of security officials is the selfstarter operating with little or no help from others. And, they admit, there are limits to what security personnel can do. “You cannot exclude something similar,” said Denis Oswald, head of the International Olympic Committee’s coordination commission for the London Games.

“Every Olympic venue will be specially protected, but of course, when you are in the street, people waiting for the bus waiting to go to an Olympic venue could be a target.” Mohamed Merah - a 23-year-old Muslim extremist who says he trained in Afghanistan - claimed responsibility for killing paratroopers, Jewish children and a rabbi in a weeklong shooting rampage in the French city of Toulouse. Police shot him dead last week after a 32-hour standoff.

French politicians have painted him as a “lone wolf” killer. But police are looking for possible accomplices, and suspicions grew that he had help when it turned out an apparent video of the attacks sent to the Al-Jazeera news network was not sent by Merah.

French officials say Merah moved in extremist Muslim circles in France and had been to Afghanistan twice. He told police he had trained in the Pakistani militant stronghold of Waziristan. He also had a long criminal record and a brother who had been suspected in a 2007 network that sent militant fighters to Iraq.

But French officials say there wasn’t enough evidence of a threat to put Mohamed Merah under regular surveillance.

Olympic security officials face a similar problem with some Islamic radicals in Britain ahead of the games. “The reality is that there are hosts of people like this and most of them will never do anything,” said a British government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP because of the sensitivity of his work. “You can’t follow everyone around.”

That doesn’t mean Britain isn’t one of the most high-security nations in the Western world.

Since British suicide bombers killed 52 people during rushhour attacks on July 7, 2005, MI5 and police counterterrorism units have vastly boosted their intelligence network. The country’s surveillance agency, known as GCHQ, has the capability to listen in on people’s telephone conversations and monitor their online communications. Surveillance units have also been attached to troops serving in places such as Afghanistan, specifically to gather intelligence that may lead back to Britain.

There are also special teams to look at suspect financial trans-

Preview

Sebastain Loeb in action in this file photo

Loeb, Hirvonen hopeful of keeping Ford at bay LISBON: Citroen’s all-conquering French driver Sebastien Loeb lines today for the start of the Rally of Portugal in search of his third win of the new season and his 70th overall.

Rarely has one man dominated his sport to such an extent as the eighttime champion, who with wins in the season-opening rally in Monte Carlo and Mexico leads the 2012 standings by 16 points from his new teammate, Mikko Hirvonen.

Citroen are gunning for their fifth successive victory on the gravel of Portugal and despite the evident pace shown by arch rivals Ford this term Loeb is optimistic.

He reflected: “In Mexico, we saw that our rivals had made a significant step forward performance-wise at an event where they had not previously done that well.

“If the same is true in Portugal, then we’re going to have a very close fight on our hands.

“But as far as we’re concerned, our preparations for this rally have gone well. Our DS3 WRC has been quick on all surfaces since the start of the season and I think it will be no different in Portugal.”

Hirvonen has elected to go first in the opening night time stage from Lisbon after taking third in yesterday’s qualifying run.

In contrast Ford ace Jari-Matti Latvala, successful in the second rally

of the year in Sweden, chose to start in 17th after having first pick when emerging quickest in the qualifying session.

Explaining the gamble the Finn said: “We are counting more on the cleaning effect, that it will be cleaner with more grip.

“The organisers have promised there is no dust on the (night) stages so we are also counting on that and the information in our team that we are confident the cleaning effect is bigger than the dust problem.”

Hirvonen is happy to be able to lead the field into battle. Latvala’s fellow Finn said: “Maybe there’s dust, maybe not. Even if there’s dust or rain it’s better to be first car on the road. “ The road cleaning might be a problem but there are only three short stages and if we lose something with that it shouldn’t be too much and we should be able to fight back from that.”

Hirvonen echoed Loeb’s optimistic mood for Portugal but added: “It’s going to be interesting where we are compared to the Fords.

“We spoke about it together as a team and as you can see Sebastien took the second place so that was our goal.” This fourth leg of the 13-race season features three night stages in a route which has as its hub Faro, the capital of the Algarve region in the south of the country. — AFP

actions - an aspect of anti-terror strategy that gained more attention following last year’s terror attacks in Norway. Rightist extremist Anders Behring Breivik’s set off a 2,100-pound (950kilogram) fertilizer bomb in the heart of Oslo that killed eight people before going on a shooting rampage at youth camp that left 69 dead. Breivik’s name came up on a list of people who had transferred money to Polish chemical firm under scrutiny in an international anti-terror initiative - but Norwegian authorities didn’t investigate further because his order was so small.

“The profile of these loners is different to what we saw with the four suicide bombers in 2005,” said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida who still maintains contacts within the jihadist community. “Many of them have some training, a strong conviction and they manage to stay off the radar for the most part.”

Although the 8,000-mile torch relay starts in May - more than two months ahead of the games - security and law enforcement officials are bracing for a number of potential threats as the torch snakes though Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and parts of the U.K. Inside Britain’s domestic spy agency of MI5, a clock counts down the minutes before the torch arrives in England. “To terrorists, the Olympics present a golden opportunity because they know they will get the world’s attention,” said Benotman, who now works as an analyst for the London-based

Quilliam Foundation. “It doesn’t really matter whether they kill seven or 70.”

Although there is no intelligence to suggest a credible and specific threat to the games, officials have spent years taking precautions for the Olympics since London won the bid the day before the 2005 attacks.

Britain is already known as a leader in ‘Big Brother’ surveillance - there are nearly 30 CCTV cameras near George Orwell’s house alone in North London. The author of “1984” warned more than six decades ago of a time when it would be nearly impossible to escape from the watchful eyes of the state.

For the games, more cameras will be added to Britain’s 4.3 million, and some will be used in conjunction with advanced facial recognition software and databases that can match vehicle registration numbers to names. Olympic venues have also been designed with security threats in mind - special shatterproof glass has been installed, structures have been built with advice from explosives experts and pathways have been laden with curves and gaps deliberately meant to slow down a potential attacker.

“If you look at the Internet, there are web sites calling exactly for these types of lone-wolf attacks,” said Rob Wainwright, head of The Hague-based Europol, which will be sharing databases with law enforcement officials during the Olympics.—AP

Pistorius certain to qualify for London 400 metres DURBAN: Double amputee Oscar Pistorius says he is confident of qualifying to run the 400 metres at the London Olympic Games.

“I’ve never been much of an optimist; I’m a realist and I’m realistic in knowing what I have to do and I’m confident in knowing that I can achieve that,” the South African told reporters on Tuesday.

“In athletics it is not about working hard and achieving a goal, it’s about working hard every single day and we’ve still got 122 days until the Games and every day has been planned and calculated.”

Pistorius, who uses carbon fibre prosthetic running blades, ran a 45.20second 400 metre race on March 17 in South Africa to dip under the qualification time of 45.30. However, he still needs to run the qualifying time in an international meeting before he will be considered for South Africa’s Olympic team.

Last year, Pistorius became the first amputee to compete at the athletics world championships when he ran in Daegu, South Korea, though he failed to qualify for the 400 final. If he qualifies for London, he would be the first amputee athlete to compete at the Olympics.

“It’s nice being able to run the times, or close to the times, that you need for the 400m now but there is a long season ahead of us still,” he said.

“Hopefully I will start the European season off with the same confidence that I have now, and between now and then get some proper training done.”

The 25-year-old Pistorius, who has a best 400m time of 45.07, is competing in the National Championships for the Physically Disabled in the coastal city of Durban and said running in the hot and humid conditions at sea level had been a worthwhile exercise.

“We used this week as a good training week and running in air this dense is a challenge but you get the same challenges when you are in Europe,” he said.

His coach Ampie Louw said Pistorius was in fine form ahead of his European season which starts on May 25 in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

“He is in good shape. We are only starting with our real speed work next week.

“I think that a 4x400 relay qualification is a certainty but his personal goal is to make the final (in the 400m) at the Olympic Games,” said Louw.Reuters

Indonesian lifters shun camp to practise at home JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Olympic weightlifting hopefuls are staying away from the national camp in Jakarta and training instead in their home towns under their personal coaches in the belief this will give them a better chance at the London Games.

Five male weightlifters have qualified for London and the Indonesian Weightlifting, Bodybuilding and Powerlifting Association (PABBSI) expects others to join the team.

Jadi Setiadi will shoulder the nation’s hope in the 56 kg category and the 27-year-old lifter said he would rather practise at his native Gajah Lampung weightlifting club, in Pringsewu, Lampung province.

“I am ready for the Games. My coach...has created a training programme for me. I have enough food, supplement and rest here. I think I don’t need to go to Jakarta,” Setiadi told Reuters television.

Imron Rosadi, who owns the club where some 30 athletes train, said he had designed special programmes of techniques and skill for

Setiadi and claimed attending the training camp in Jakarta would ruin them.

“I have asked PABBSI to let my athletes to be trained here because they have their own coach. We groom them, know them better. I asked them (PABBSI) to respect us,” said Rosadi.

The PABBSI seemed unconcerned. “What can we do? If they prefer to stay at their home town and be trained there, it is up to them, as long as they win the medals,” the head of PABBSI’s development and performance division Sukandi said.

Indonesia’s weightlifters carry the nation’s Olympic hopes. Raema Lisa Rumbewas won the women’s 48 kg silver in 2000 while her team mates Sri Indriyani (48 kg) and Winarni Binti Slamet (53 kg) claimed bronze.

Four years later, Rumbewas took silver in the 53 kg category in Athens while male lifters Eko Yuli Irawan (56 kg) and Triyatno (62 kg) colleced bronze medals in Beijing four years ago. — Reuters

Germans lead pairs at worlds

NICE: Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China perform during their Pairs Short program at the ISU 2012 World Figure Skating Championships yesterday. — AP

NICE: Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy opened their bid for a fourth pairs title at the world figure skating championships here yesterday by leading the short programme. Despite errors in their routine to Hans Zimmer’s Angels and Demons soundtrack, the pair scored 68.63 points to put them ahead of Olympic silver medallists Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China, who achieved 67.10.

Japan’s Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran are sitting third with 65.37 ahead of Friday’s free skating final. Last year’s silver medallists Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia are struggling in eighth after Trankov fell on his bottom towards the end of their 2min 50sec routine to Alex Goldshtein’s “Bring Me Back to Life”.

The Germans won the Grand Prix Final ahead of Volosozhar and Trankov by 0.18 points. But the Russians took the European title as the Germans were absent through injury.

Three-time world junior champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China are a disappointing sixth after 16-year-old Sui fell on a triple toe jump during their American Country Dance programme.

“We were a little nervous because we are competing in our first world championship,” she said. “This is a big senior event.

Maybe nerves played a role but overall we didn’t skate so well today.” Ri Ji Hyang and Thae Won Hyok, the first North Koreans to compete at the world championships, failed to advance to the free skate final as they finished last in the 20-team event with 36.23 points with the top 16 advancing.

“It’s our first worlds and we’re very excited about that,” said Thae. Ri added: “I fell twice in the warm up but I landed everything in the programme so we’re happy with it.”—AFP

Oscar Pistorius seen in this file photo

Cameron: Assad regime not welcome at Olympics LONDON: Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed yesterday that dozens of members of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime will be stopped from attending the London Olympics, as he pledged to make the event “the greatest show on Earth.”

Cameron said that those subject to international travel bans and asset freezes would not be able to attend the sporting spectacle, which takes place from July 27Aug. 12.

“I don’t think we should punish the athletes for the sins of the regime, so Syria will be taking part in the games and that is right,” Cameron told reporters, as he held talks with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, amid the organization’s final inspection visit before the games.

“But let’s be absolutely clear, Britain has led efforts within the European Union and elsewhere to institute asset bans, travel freezes and punishing sanctions against this despicable regime. Anyone covered by one of those travel bans will not be welcome in London,” he said.

A total of 41 organizations and 127 individuals have had European Union sanctions imposed upon them, including Assad’s Britishborn wife, Asma. Diplomats have conceded they could not prevent her from entering Britain, but insist they do not expect Asma to make any attempt to travel to the U.K. Cameron said he, Rogge and London organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe had used their talks to discuss transport, security planning and attempts to make sure ordinary people benefit from the legacy of the London

Olympics.

The British leader - who said he runs once a week and plays tennis once a week - insisted a key goal was to raise public participation in sports, particularly among young people.

A key benefit from the Olympics would be “the inspiration people will feel when they see great British athletes, whether rowing in a race, riding on a bicycle or running on the track,” Cameron said.

“It’s well-known that this has a transformational effect ... the sight of Chris Hoy or someone like that has people in the shops saying ‘I want to buy a bicycle, I want to get on my bike’,” Cameron said, referring to the British cycling champion.

“That’s the bit you can’t touch, but it is very, very powerful and I think can bring the country together,” he said. Rogge also met with former British Olympic stars Denise Lewis, Darren Campbell and Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, who competed in equestrian events at the 1976 Olympics.

“London has raised the bar on how to deliver a lasting legacy. We can already see tangible results in the remarkable regeneration of east London,” Rogge said.

The IOC delegation are meeting with London organizers through Friday to make checks on preparations, the 10th and final visit by the full coordination group since the British capital was awarded the games in July 2005.

“We are happy at the IOC,” Rogge told reporters, when asked on London’s readiness to host the events. Coe told Cameron he was so happy with preparations so far that he “was delirious.”— AP

LONDON: Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron plays badminton in the garden of 10 Downing Street in London yesterday. Cameron is meeting with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and officials, amid the final inspection visit before the games by the IOC coordination commission. — AP

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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

S P ORT S

Thunder roll over Blazers PORTLAND: Russell Westbrook had 32 points and eight assists, and Kevin Durant scored 25 points as the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder won their fourth straight with a 109-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

Reserve James Harden added 21 points for the Thunder, who built a 65-47 lead by halftime and led by as many as 20 points.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and eight

rebounds as Portland fell to 3-4 under Kaleb Canales, who took over as interim coach when the Blazers fired Nate McMillan at the NBA trade deadline.

Lakers 104, Warriors 101 At Oakland, California, Kobe Bryant made a pair of jump shots in the final 64 seconds, finishing with 30 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past Golden State. is back to being the

closer.

Two days after getting benched late in a home loss to Memphis, Bryant missed his first two shots in the final period before twice rising over a pair of defenders for difficult fall-away jumpers from the corner. The first tied the game and the second put the Lakers ahead by two - and for good - with 32 seconds remaining.

Former Warriors forward Matt Barnes had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Pau Gasol added 19 points and 17 rebounds to give Los Angeles its third win in four games.

Spurs 107, Suns 100 At Phoenix, Tony Parker scored eight points in a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to help San Antonio win its fifth straight and eighth in nine games with a victory over Phoenix.

Tim Duncan scored 17 of his 26 points in the first half and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Spurs, winners of 12 of their last 14 road games. Parker scored half of his 24 in the fourth quarter.

Shannon Brown, starting because Grant Hill was a late scratch with right knee inflammation, scored a career-high 32 points for the Suns. Marcin Gortat added 21 points and 14 rebounds in just the second home loss for the Suns in 10 games since the All-Star break.

Mavericks 90, Rockets 81 At Dallas, Jason Terry scored seven consecutive points in a minute to start a game-turning run for Dallas, finishing with 12 points and four assists in a win over Houston.

Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points despite shooting 5 of 17, Rodrigue Beaubois had 14 points and Brandan Wright added 13.

Luis Scola had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets, while Goran Dragic scored 17 points. Chandler Parsons had 15 points and nine rebounds.

PORTLAND: Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (0) shoots as Portland Trail Blazers’ Jonny Flynn (right) defends in the second half during an NBA basketball game. —AP

NBA results/standings Philadelphia 103, Cleveland 85; Memphis 93, Minnesota 86; Milwaukee 108, Atlanta 101; Dallas 90, Houston 81; San Antonio 107, Phoenix 100; Oklahoma City 109, Portland 95; LA Lakers 104, Golden State 101.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT 28 22 .560 27 22 .551 25 25 .500 16 34 .320 16 35 .314

GB .5 3 12 12.5

Chicago Indiana Milwaukee Cleveland Detroit

Central Division 40 11 .784 29 19 .604 23 27 .460 17 30 .362 17 32 .347

9.5 16.5 21 22

Miami Orlando Atlanta Washington Charlotte

Southeast Division 35 13 .729 32 18 .640 30 21 .588 11 38 .224 7 40 .149

4 6.5 24.5 27.5

Philadelphia Boston NY Knicks Toronto New Jersey

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 38 12 .760 Utah 27 23 .540 Denver 27 23 .540 Minnesota 24 27 .471 Portland 23 27 .460

11 11 14.5 15

LA Lakers LA Clippers Phoenix Golden State Sacramento

Pacific Division 31 19 .620 28 21 .571 25 25 .500 20 28 .417 17 32 .347

2.5 6 10 13.5

San Antonio Dallas Memphis Houston New Orleans

Southwest Division 34 14 .708 29 22 .569 27 21 .563 27 24 .529 12 37 .245

6.5 7 8.5 22.5

76ers 103, Cavaliers 85 At Phoenix, Jodie Meeks scored a careerhigh 31 points and Jrue Holiday had 19 to lead Philadelphia over Cleveland.

Evan Turner scored 12 points for the Sixers, who moved a half-game ahead of Boston and back into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division. The Sixers have held the top spot in the Atlantic for all but a few days early in the season.

The Sixers romped without Andre Iguodala, who missed his second straight game because of left patella tendinitis. Meeks started in his place and was 7 of 10 from 3-point range.

Anthony Parker scored 14 points and Kyrie Irving had 12 for the Cavaliers.

Bucks 108, Hawks 101 At Milwaukee, Monta Ellis scored 33 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and had eight assists to lead Milwaukee to a win over Atlanta.

Brandon Jennings added 18 points for the Bucks, who moved within two games of the idle New York Knicks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Josh Smith led the Hawks with 30 points and 18 rebounds.

Grizzlies 93, T’wolves 86 At Memphis, Tennessee, Rudy Gay scored 21 points, and Dante Cunningham added season highs of 13 points and 14 rebounds to lead Memphis over Minnesota.

Cunningham, inserted into the starting lineup after All-Star center Marc Gasol sat out with a sprained right ankle, was 6 of 9 from the field as all five Memphis starters finished in double figures.

Marreese Speights had 18 points, Tony Allen finished with 13, and Mike Conley had 12 points and eight assists as the Grizzlies won their second straight. Kevin Love led Minnesota with 28 points and 11 rebounds. —AP

Mariners beat Athletics in Tokyo TOKYO: Ichiro Suzuki had four hits in his return to Japan, Dustin Ackley homered and then singled in the go-ahead run in the 11th inning, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 3-1 yesterday in baseball’s season-opener.

Felix Hernandez combined with two relievers on a six-hitter as Major League Baseball opened its season in Tokyo for the fourth time.

Seattle and Oakland complete their two-game series today. The rest of the big league teams start to get going April 4, when the renamed Miami Marlins open their new ballpark against the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Ackley homered in the fourth off Brandon McCarthy, and Oakland’s Kurt Suzuki doubled in a run in the bottom half. The score remained 1-1 until the 11th, when Brendan Ryan doubled against Andrew Carignan (0-1), Chone Figgins sacrificed and Ackley singled to center.

“I was able to put a good swing on that one,” Ackley said of his 11th inning hit. “Our team is off to a good start, and that’s all that matters.”

Jerry Blevins relieved, Ackley stole second and Ichiro Suzuki singled for a two-run lead. Brandon League closed it out for the save.

Tom Wilhelmsen (1-0) got the win with two hitless innings.

Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, who signed a $36 million, four-year

contract with Oakland, was 1 for 3 with a seventh-inning double and two strikeouts in his major league debut.

A capacity crowd of 44,227 at Tokyo Dome was a sea of flashbulbs every time Ichiro Suzuki came to bat. He got a standing ovation when he took his position in right field in the final inning.

Ichiro Suzuki, dropped from leadoff to third in the batting order as he started his 12th big league season, singled in the first when be beat shortstop Cliff Pennington’s throw after his grounder over the mound was deflected by McCarthy.

Suzuki singled on a grounder to shortstop in the fourth and singled to center in the sixth.

Hernandez, coming off a 14-14 season, allowed five hits in eight innings, struck out six and walked none, throwing 104 pitches.

McCarthy gave up one run and six hits in seven innings with three strikeouts and no walks. While Oakland threatened repeatedly, the A’s were 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. —AP

TOKYO: Oakland Athletics shortstop Cliff Pennington throws to make a double play as Seattle Mariners’ Miguel Olivo slides in the fifth inning of their American League season opening MLB baseball game. —AP

BEIJING: In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, John Higgins of Scotland competes during the first round match against Rory McLeod of England at the Snooker China Open. Higgins won 5-1. —AP

Barcelona reach Final Four BELGRADE: Barcelona became the first team to reach this season’s Euroleague Final Four when Tuesday’s 67-56 win at Unics Kazan put them 3-0 up against the Russian side in their best-of-five playoff series.

Last year’s runners-up Maccabi Tel Aviv took a 2-1 lead against holders Panathinaikos Athens after grinding out a 65-62 home win over the Greek side in front of a fervent crowd in the Nokia Arena.

Barcelona, the 2010 winners, had won the opening two games in their Palau Blaugrana last week. They trailed throughout the first half in Kazan on Tuesday before playmaker Juan Carlos Navarro inspired them to an impressive comeback.

The all-time leading scorer in Europe’s premier club competition buried four three-pointers to top the charts with 21 points, finishing as Barcelona’s only player in double scoring digits.

“We expected a difficult road game against Unics since we played two tough matches in Barcelona and we won after playing much better in the second half,”

Navarro told the competition’s official website (www.euroleague.com).

“Unics have had a fantastic first season in the Euroleague, they reached the top eight and played well all season long,” added Barcelona coach Xavier Pascual.

Maccabi, beaten by six-time Euroleague winners Panathinaikos in last year’s final, seemed to be cruising after carving out a 41-28 lead at halftime.

Long-range efforts by Panathinaikos forward Stratos Perperoglu forced a dramatic finale and his team mate Nick Calathes missed a chance to send the game into overtime when his threepoint attempt on the buzzer came off the rim. Playmaker Yogev Ohayon led the winners with 12 points, one more than shooting guard Devin Smith who also had nine rebounds.

CSKA Moscow, who are 2-0 up against Euroleague debutants Bilbao, can seal their own Final Four berth when they visit the Spanish side on Wednesday while Italians Montepaschi Siena head to Olympiakos Piraeus tied 1-1 with the 1997 winners. —Reuters

Hayes leads UConn back into Final Four KINGSTON: The chalkboard in the UConn locker room after the Huskies’ victory over Kentucky had two words written across it: Final Four. Even though that destination is expected every year for Geno Auriemma’s teams, this season felt different.

Before it started, Auriemma figured his team wouldn’t be good enough to make it to the Final Four. But a funny thing happened along the way: His starless team jelled and now UConn is back in the national semifinals for a fifth straight season.

“We like to go to the Final Four every year,” Auriemma said. “I think we’re also realistic, some years it’s going to be easier than others. Expectations are always there, regardless of the probability. This year was less than other years. Makes it more worthwhile. Last year we went as a team led by Maya Moore. This year there isn’t any of that.

The University of Connecticut is going to the Final Four and I think that’s pretty cool once in a while.”

Tiffany Hayes scored 22 points and topseed Connecticut beat Kentucky 80-65 Tuesday night in the Kingston regional final.

“We’re not a team with superstars, we didn’t have any preseason All-Americans, so no one really expected us to be as dominant as we have been this year,” said UConn guard Bria Hartley.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 18 for UConn (33-4), which will play Notre Dame on Sunday in Denver.

Hayes, who was selected most outstanding player of the regional, has been to a Final Four in all four of her seasons. Getting there this time was special to the senior.

“It’s even sweeter because this is a team effort, it wasn’t one or two people getting us there,” she said. “We all had our part in it.

Everyone had their way of helping us get there. Glad to be back for the fourth time.”

The Huskies matched their own school mark of five straight trips to the national semifinals set from 2000-04. LSU and Stanford also have accomplished the feat.

Unlike their previous four trips to the regional finals, which were quick blowouts, the Huskies had to work to pull away from the Wildcats.

UConn led 48-47 early in the second half before turning up its defense and taking command with a 21-5 spurt. Hayes, the lone senior on the team, was the catalyst, scoring seven points during the run. She got it started with a lay-in. Then the Huskies started a parade to the free throw line, with whistle after whistle. The Huskies converted 12 free throws during the game-changing run.

While the Huskies were scoring points, their vaunted defense was stymieing the Wildcats, who torched UConn for 39 points before the break, the most the Huskies have allowed in the first half this season.

The Wildcats found it much tougher to score in the second half. During UConn’s burst, Kentucky could only get two field goals over a span of 9 minutes.

Mosqueda-Lewis’ 3-pointer with 7:26 left capped UConn’s burst and made it 69-52.

Kentucky (28-7) could get no closer than 15 the rest of the way. Samarie Walker scored 14 to lead the Wildcats.

It’s been a strange season for UConn.

Despite running through the early part of

the schedule, Auriemma knew it was just a matter of time before the team’s shortcomings were exposed. Losses to Baylor and Notre Dame on the road were understandable, but it wasn’t until the end of February that UConn really came to a crossroads.

The Huskies lost to St. John’s at home on senior night, snapping a 99-game home winning streak. Nine days later the Huskies fell to Notre Dame. Those two defeats got the Huskies refocused and they’ve been unstoppable since. The Huskies cruised to the Big East tournament championship and rolled through their first three NCAA tournament games.

Now the Huskies are back in the Final Four for the 13th time in the last 18 years.

The Kentucky women were trying to join the school’s men’s team in the Final Four. It would have been the eighth time that a school had both programs in the national semifinals. Connecticut has done it three times, including last season. The Huskies are still the only school to win both the men’s and women’s championship in the same season, in 2004.

It’s the second time in three seasons that the Wildcats had reached the regional finals.

They lost to Oklahoma two seasons ago.

“It’s hard to get to where we got to tonight and they’ve been here so many times, it’s difficult,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We need to stay at it and keep showing up and one day we’ll punch through.”

Kentucky is headed in the right direction.

The Wildcats won their first regular-season SEC championship since 1982 and tied the school record for victories in a season.

“We had an incredible season,” Walker said. “It’s disappointing but we have a really good group coming back and we will be really good again.”

Mitchell will have most of his team back next season. The Wildcats’ coach put the Denver Final Four logo in front of the locker room before the year started as motivation for his squad. Now they can look toward to next season and making it to New Orleans.

“We’ll keep knocking on the door and hopefully one day we’ll get to the Final Four,” Mitchell said. “Four or five years ago when these kids thought of coming to Kentucky, they weren’t thinking about winning an SEC championship. I’m really proud of them, and what they’ve accomplished.”

UConn raced out to a 9-0 lead and looked poised for another blowout. A quick timeout by Mitchell settled his team down and the Wildcats rallied to close within 23-21 on two free throws by Bria Goss. A jumper

by Stefanie Dolson and 3-pointer by Hayes gave the Huskies a 28-21 advantage with 8:19 left.

Kentucky was unfazed. The Wildcats, who were constantly subbing fresh players, then went on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes as fouls started piling up on the Huskies. A layup by Goss and two free throws by Keyla Snowden gave the Wildcats a 33-30 advantage with 5:01 left.

The teams exchanged baskets and free throws the rest of the half. The two schools combined to take 27 foul shots in the first half with the Wildcats making all 14 of their attempts. —AP

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

S P ORT S

UEFA considers snubbing goal-line technology MANCHESTER: UEFA is considering not using goal-line technology in future Champions League and European Championship matches, even if such a system is introduced in world football.

UEFA General Secretar y Gianni Infantino said yesterday that the European governing body may opt to stick with its idea of having extra assistant referees next to the goals.

Football’s rule-making body will decide in July whether to approve high-tech aids for referees, with two systems now undergoing final tests.

But using such technology will not be compulsory even if they are approved.

“If the technology is approved on July 2 we have to see what is

approved, how it will work, how complicated or not it will be ... and then it will go to our executive committee,” Infantino said on the sidelines of the SoccerEx convention.

UEFA President Michel Platini has led the opposition to technology being used in games while championing the use of two additional officials in matches to help rule on disputed goals.

Successful trials have already been conducted in continental matches and the International Football Association Board will also decide on July 2 whether to give all competition organizers the option of using five officials.

“What we have at the moment is

two additional referees, with which we are very happy,” Infantino said.

“And if the two additional referees are approved by the IFAB on July 2, then it’s likely we will use that. Certainly that (system), then we will see about goal line technology.”

Infantino said using extra officials has an added benefit as they can help the referee rule on more situations than just disputed goals.

“On goal-line technology you can see whether a goal has been scored or not,” Infantino said. “An additional assistant next to the goal can see this, but also some other things.”

In either case, goal-line technology will not be approved in time to be implemented at this summer’s Euro

2012. When it comes to the 2016 tournament, UEFA is more worried about how to cope with the event expanding from 16 to 24 teams.

“It is 24 teams and that is a problem,” Infantino said. “If it turns out it is boring because everyone qualifies, we will change the qualifying format for the next time (for Euro 2020).”

Broadcast rights to the qualifiers for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup will be the first to be centrally sold by UEFA. All UEFA members agreed last year to a deal that ended the system where national federations sell rights to their own home matches and keep the revenue.

But Infantino revealed that England is the only one of 53 UEFA members

that has not signed a final agreement with UEFA. “ The sticking points are minor rights details, radio rights and so on, and it is a matter of sitting around the table and discussing that,” Infantino said. “We have reached agreements with 52 out of the 53 countries so there is no reason why we should not reach it with England. We still have a couple of days and there are just a couple of minor points. It will have a seismic effect on the football landscape across Europe.”

The new deal will give countries guaranteed income to prevent them losing out if they are drawn to play less glamorous opponents in qualifying groups.—AP

Preview

Bilbao in decline ahead of Schalke Europa League test

CHILE: Uruguay’s Penarol’s Marcelo Zalayeta (left) fights for the ball with Chile’s Universidad de Chile’s Marcelo Diaz during a Copa Libertadores soccer match. —AP

Nacional of Uruguay picks up 1-0 victory MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay ’s Nacional earned an important 1-0 victory over Alianza Lima of Peru to remain in contention in Group 5 of the Copa Libertadores on Tuesday.

In other group matches, Tachira of Venezuela drew 0-0 with Nacional of Paraguay in Group 6, while in Group 8, Universidad de Chile defeated Penarol of Uruguay drew 2-1 with a goal in secondhalf stoppage time by Matias Rodriguez.

The top two teams in each group advance to the round of 16. Most teams in the tournament have played four of six group matches.

Tabare Viudez’s close-range goal in the 68th minute, chipping in a shot off a pass from Vicente Sanchez, was the winner in Nacional’s victory. Nacional improved to six points in four matches.

Alianza has three points in four. Vasco da Gama of Brazil and Libertad of Paraguay lead the group with seven points in four

matches. In Santiago, Chile, Rodriguez scored the winner for Universidad de Chile, and also scored his club’s other goals in the second minute. Carlos Adrian Valdez leveled for Penarol with a header in the 51st.

In Group 6 in San Cristobal, Venezuela, Tachira of Venezuela played a scoreless draw with Nacional of Paraguay. Tachira has two points in four matches and Nacional had four in four. Corinthians of Brazil lead Group 6 with eight points in four games and Cruz Azul of Mexico has seven in four.

Universidad de Chile improved to seven points from four matches in Group 8.

Atletico Nacional of Colombia leads with eight in four games and Godoy Cruz of Argentina has five in four games. Penarol, the runners-up last season, have only one point in four matches and has been eliminated from reaching the second round.—AP

LONDON: The hangover from its surprise elimination of Manchester United is threatening to jeopardize Athletic Bilbao’s hopes of winning the Europa League ahead of the Spanish club’s visit to Schalke in the first leg of the quarterfinals today.

Athletic attracted comparisons with the mighty Barcelona by producing two legs of mesmerizing football to oust the favorites in the last 16, but hasn’t won in four La Liga games since.

Schalke, the competition winner in 1996 and in fine form in the Bundesliga, will look to take full advantage in one of two quarterfinals between Spanish and German teams.

“They are a very good unit and when their attack starts rolling, it’s difficult for any team to stop Bilbao,” said Sergio Escudero, one of three Spaniards in Schalke’s squad.

“But I think we have a good chance of reaching the semifinals.”

With United and Premier League title rival Manchester City surprisingly knocked out in the last round, Europe’s second-tier club competition looks wide open this year. Atletico Madrid, the 2010 winner, hosts Hannover in the first leg of their quarterfinal while Valencia - the third Spanish team through to the last eight - travels to AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.

Sporting Lisbon’s reward for ousting City is a two-legged match against Metalist Kharkiv, arguably the underdog among the remaining teams.

Fatigue seems to have caught up with Bilbao, one of the hardest-working teams in Europe, and its thin bench has also finally been revealed, just when qualification for the Champions League through a top-four finish in La

GERMANY: Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of the Netherlands and Schalke’s Raul of Spain (from left) exercise during the last training session prior to the Europa League quarterfinal, 1st leg soccer match against Athletic Bilbao.—AP Liga seemed possible.

Spain striker Fernando Llorente doesn’t look fully fit from the left leg injury he sustained in the second leg match against United, while midfielder David Lopez is a doubt after injuring his right ankle in training on Monday.

“If we play the type of game we know how to play, we’ve got a chance of getting a good result and then, back here at the San Mames, of going through,” midfielder Markel Susaeta said.

Bilbao has reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1977, when it went on to lose to Juventus on away goals in the two-legged final.

Schalke, which beat FC Twente in the last 16, is third in the Bundesliga after three straight wins and can call on a strikeforce

that contains Netherlands international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the Europa League’s top scorer with nine goals, and former Spain forward Raul Gonzalez.

“Raul has already told us a few things about Bilbao. That’s why we know that we can expect a real tough job,” Schalke defender Christian Fuchs said.

Atletico has come back to earth after a long honeymoon under coach Diego Simeone, losing two of three domestically after just one loss in the former Argentina international’s first 10 games in charge.

Still, the 2010 champions have won all four European games under Simeone and midfielder Thiago has recovered from a leg muscle injury, with Brazilian playmaker Diego also likely to be

available against Hannover after recovering from a right thigh injury.

Midtable Bundesliga side Hannover is the least experienced team in the quarterfinals, with only one previous European campaign - in the now-defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup - in its history.

Two straight losses in the Spanish league have left Valencia coach Unai Emery under pressure and his future looking uncertain ahead of the trip to Alkmaar. “ The team is not in great shape,” midfielder David Albelda said. “But the situation isn’t as critical as you all would like to make it seem. We’ve been in much worse situations.” Valencia beat another Dutch team, PSV Eindhoven, in the last 16.—AP

Djokovic and Nadal in q-finals

KEY BISCAYNE: Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns to Serena Williams of the United States during the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament.—AP

Wozniacki sinks Serena KEY BISCAYNE: Caroline Wozniacki enjoyed her first victory over Serena Williams, winning 6-4 6-4 at the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday to set up a semi-final clash with Maria Sharapova.

Wozniacki had lost all of her three previous meetings with the American but was on top early, breaking in the third game of the first set. The Dane broke at the same stage of the second set, with a brilliant forehand winner down the line, and she looked set to run away with the match as she went 4-1 up with another break.

Williams, a five-times winner of this event, broke back to trail 5-3, but Wozniacki kept her focus at the end to wrap the game up. “I think she definitely served the best she served in her career,” said Williams, who was critical of her own mistakes.

“I just made a lot of errors. I just made a tremendous amount of errors. There’s no reason for that,” she said. “I’m older and I shouldn’t do that. There’s no excuse. I’ve just got to stop that. It’s silly.”

Wozniacki said the victory would give her a major boost as she tries to work her way back to number one. “It definitely gives you confidence. Hard work always pays off, so,

you know, I just need to keep going, keep working hard, and there’s always room for improvements,” she said.

Second seed Sharapova eased into the semi-finals after ending her jinx against China’s Li Na with a convincing 6-3 6-0 win.

The Russian had lost her previous four meetings with Li in straight sets, including the semi-finals of last year’s French Open, but needed just 68 minutes to seal victory on Tuesday.

“I came into this match having lost to her the last few times. I just really wanted to change that, so I was extremely focused and looking forward to the match,” said Sharapova. “I was just really consistent today in those conditions where, you know, it’s a little gusty and blowing around and I was facing a tough opponent.”

It was a scrappy start to the encounter with the first five games all being broken before Sharapova eased into her baseline game and won eight consecutive games to emerge victorious.

Venus Williams will play fifth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska on Wednesday, while top seed Victoria Azarenka faces France’s Marion Bartoli.—Reuters

KEY BISCAYNE: World number one Novak Djokovic and second ranked Rafa Nadal moved into the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open with straight set victories on Tuesday.

Djokovic, a 7-5 6-3 winner against Richard Gasquet, had a game on his hands in the opening set when he was broken in the fourth game by a fine backhand winner from the Frenchman.

The Serb, the defending champion, broke back in the sixth only to face break point in the ninth game, but three times he held firm and was able to emerge with the set.

The Frenchman’s determination faded in the second set as Djokovic broke in the fourth and sixth games to run out winner in one hour 40 minutes.

Djokovic will play Spain’s David Ferrer who beat Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 6-3. Nadal, a threetime finalist at the Miami Masters series event, beat 16th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4 6-4.

The Spaniard made a sluggish start but Nishikori missed out on six of seven break point chances in the opening three games.

A forehand smash allowed Nadal to break and wrap up the first set and then it was easier going in the second set for Nadal despite a late push by Nishikori.

“The beginning was very tough for me. I think I started playing more aggressively, I started playing shorter and so I suffered a lot with my serves the beginning of the match,” said Nadal.

“But later, at the end of the first set, I felt that I was starting to win my serves more easily than him. So the last couple of games of the end of the first set, I believe that I had more the control of the game.”

Nadal will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the quarter-finals, after he defeated Florian Meyer of Germany 6-3 6-2. Andy Murray beat Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4 to set up a quarter-finals matchup with Janko Tipsarevic, who earlier beat unseeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 6-2.

In other fourth round action, American Mardy Fish fought past Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-7 6-3 and will face Argentine Juan Monaco.

Monaco beat Andy Roddick 7-5 6-0, the American failing to build on his surprise victory over world number three Roger Federer on Monday.—Reuters

KEY BISCAYNE: Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates in this file photo. —AP

Mott returns to Dubai with Cigar on his mind

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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

Thunder roll over Blazers

18

England set out on historic Test chase Page 16

MILAN: Barcelona’s forward Alexis Alejandro Sanchez (right) fights for the ball with AC Milan’s defender Daniele Bonera during the Champions League quarter-finals first leg football match. — AFP

Barca, Milan fire blanks in first leg MILAN: AC Milan and holders Barcelona played out a tight and nervy 0-0 draw at the San Siro yesterday to leave their Champions League quarter-final finely in the balance ahead of next week’s second leg at the Camp Nou. Chances were at a premium as the two sides adopted a largely safety-first policy to ensure they would go into the return match with everything still to play for.

Barcelona enjoyed their usual twothirds majority of possession but Milan played in a controlled and calm manner, and even created the best chances on the counter-attack.

There were times during the first period in which they looked capable of repeating Inter Milan’s famous 3-1 semifinal, home leg victory over Barca in the same stadium two years ago.

But by the second half Milan’s attacking threat had all but dried up and Barca seemed unable or unwilling to commit enough men forward to break down their stubborn hosts.

Instead a close second leg awaits in Spain next Tuesday where Milan will feel confident that progress could hinge on the scoring of an away goal, which Barca failed to do here.

Champions League q-finals Milan almost got off to a dream start following a Barcelona mistake but KevinPrince Boateng hestitated a moment too long, allowing Gerard Pique to block his shot. The ball spooned up and Zlatan Ibrahimovic teed up Robinho but he skied his finish.

Barcelona had plenty of possession but Milan were playing intelligently, sitting back and waiting as Barca knocked the ball around while pressing hard when the Catalans were short in numbers

around the ball.

The hosts created the next chance as Clarence Seedorf played in Ibrahimovic, who took a touch and tried to slip the ball past Victor Valdes but the goalkeeper got down well to save.

Barcelona were sturggling to get in behind Milan’s disciplined backline but after one slick passing move Xavi played a one-two with Lionel Messi only for Christian Abbiati to save low to his right.

Another nice move seemed to come

allowing Barca to attack but when the ball came to substitute Tello, the youngster shifted his feet to beat Daniele Bonera but snatched his shot into the side-netting.

Messi was given half a sniff at goal but Ambrosini steamed in to deflect the ball behind. From the resulting corner Barca captain Carles Puyol darted onto Xavi’s ball but his glancing header bounced just beyond the far upright. The best chance of the match came in the final minutes as Djamel Mesbah slipped allowing Messi a clear sight of goal but Abbiati made a full length stop before Antonini blocked Tello’s follow-up. — AFP

Gomez and Robben sink Marseille 2-0

Benitez pitches Premier League clubs for new job MANCHESTER: Lecturing football executives on the art of management, Rafa Benitez made a public pitch yesterday to be given the chance to work in the Premier League again.

Despite being out of work for 15 months, however, the former Liverpool manager made it clear he will only accept an offer from an English club that has enough money available to potentially become title winners.

Benitez had been a contender to replace Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea last month, but no formal offer was made. Roberto Di Matteo was promoted to manage the team until the end of the season.

“At this moment my priority is to stay in the Premier League, and I know that I can win. With my people and with my team, we can win trophies,” Benitez said at the SoccerEx convention. “When you have been at the top winning trophies, you have a lot of people working with you and you have a methodology - you think you can be successful again.”

Benitez has been out of work since being fired by Inter Milan in December 2010, only six months after the end of a six-year reign at Liverpool in which he won the Champions League and FA Cup. “I am not desperate because I have had a lot of offers,” Benitez said. “But I am looking for a new job.”

Liverpool has struggled since Benitez left after the 2009-10 season, with current manager Kenny Dalglish under pressure despite winning the League Cup last month as his team is seventh in the Premier League. Benitez still lives in the Liverpool area, adding to suggestions he could return to Anfield one day. “There is no rush and if Kenny retires in 10 years’ time and I am available, I will be really pleased,” Benitez said. “Not now because they have a manager with the support of the owners.”

For now, Benitez is promoting his coaching aid application for smart phones and computers. His SoccerEx presentation veered from being a sales pitch to reminding executives in the audience about his managerial credentials. — AP

unstuck when Alexis Sanchez played a silly flick but Luca Antonini was sleeping and Xavi punced to shoot, but Milan blocked it.

Sanchez burst beyond the Milan defence but Antonini doggedly stuck to the task, chased him down and blocked the Chilean’s shot.

Chances were few and far between but Messi was handed a free-kick opportunity from 25 yards after Alessandro Nesta unceremoniously hacked him down, but the Argentine magician curled his effort over.

Seedorf gave the ball away in midfield

MARSEILLE: Bayern Munich’s French midfielder Franck Ribery (right) vies with Marseille’s French defender Jerémy Morel (left) during the UEFA Champions League quarter final football match. — AFP

MARSEILLE: Bayern Munich took control of their Champions League quarter-final against Marseille with a 2-0 win at Stade Velodrome yesterday that condemned OM to an eighth defeat in nine matches.

With Steve Mandanda suspended, Marseille coach Didier Deschamps chose to field third-choice goalkeeper Elinton Andrade but the move backfired in the 44th minute when the Brazilian allowed Mario Gomez’s shot to slip beneath him.

The 32-year-old was making his first appearance since January 2011 and he was beaten again by Arjen Robben in the 69th minute as Bayern took a commanding grip on the tie ahead of next Tuesday’s return leg.

It was a sixth consecutive success for Jupp Heynckes’ side, whose thoughts may already be turning to a likely semi-final showdown with Real Madrid for the right to reach the May 19 final at their own Allianz Arena stadium.

Having seen their team beaten seven times in succession prior to Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Nice, OM’s fans unfurled several protest banners ahead of kick-off, including one that read: “Deschamps and your players, get lost!”

Deschamps had proclaimed Bayern “favourites” in Tuesday’s pre-game press conference but it was his side who threatened first, with Loic Remy grazing the post after Manuel Neuer did well to parry Rod Fanni’s header.

However, with former OM favorite Franck Ribery roundly jeered every time his bright orange boots touched the ball, Bayern began to boss possession and thread dangerous passes into the hosts’ 18yard area.

OM managed to keep their opponents at arm’s length, but in his haste to prevent one raid by

Gomez, Alou Diarra picked up a booking that rules him out of the return leg.

Remy tested Neuer with a low drive in the 42nd minute but with half-time in sight, Bayern made the breakthrough amid controversial circumstances.

An apparent handball by Philipp Lahm went unpunished and Bayern broke forward, culminating in a powerful strike by Gomez from the edge of the box that slipped beneath Andrade and into the net.

It was Gomez’s 11th goal in this season’s competition, taking him to within one goal of top scorer Lionel Messi. In response, Andre Ayew saw a tame header fielded by Neuer, before a quick-fire exchange of opportunities at both ends in the 59th minute.

After Andrade had blocked with his legs from Gomez, Remy picked Jerome Boateng’s pocket on the edge of the Bayern box and prodded a shot towards goal that Neuer diverted wide with his left foot.

Deschamps bolstered his attack by introducing striker Brandao in place of attacking midfielder Morgan Amalfitano but moments later Bayern doubled their lead.

After OM made a mess of a quick free-kick, play switched to Bayern’s right flank and Robben played a neat one-two with Thomas Muller before steering the ball past Andrade to claim his eighth goal in six games.

An air of resignation descended upon the Velodrome thereafter, with Bayern’s supporters chanting in unison through the closing stages and Marseille’s players seemingly resigned to their fate. — AFP

UAE plans oil pipeline leak tests in late April Page 22

Stocks flat as investors in ‘wait-and-see’ mode Page 24

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

US trade upgrade may worsen Russia relations Page 25

Monti blames Germany, France for euro crisis Page 23

Saudi Arabia targets record oil drilling More than 1m Saudis on unemployment benefit KHOBAR/DUBAI: Top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia is set to use a record number of drilling rigs this year as it ramps up production, in the face of possible supply shortages due to Western sanctions on Iran.

With oil exports by Iran, OPEC’s second largest producer under threat, Saudi Arabia is expected to have a record 140 oil and gas rigs by the end of the year, industry sources said.

“Aramco is following an ambitious program to add rigs to accelerate field development in oil and gas,” said an industr y source in Saudi Arabia. State -run Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

The number of rigs operating in the world’s second largest oil producer after Russia is already back to levels seen in the early 2008 oil boom at around 130, up from 100 at the end of the third quarter last year.

Most are being used for oil drilling but others are probing for gas, being used for maintenance, or drilling for water needed to reinject into oilfields to boost production.

Last year, industry sources said that Aramco planned to raise the number of drilling rigs it operates to prefinancial crisis levels of up to 135 by the second quarter of 2012.

Many of the additional rigs will be allocated to Manifa, as Aramco expedited plans to bring the 900,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil field on line in two phases from 2013. Aramco sharply reduced its rig count from 130 to 104 as the global economic crisis hit demand in 2009.

Once Manifa is fully online by 2014, Aramco plans to boost production at offshore oilfields Safaniya,

Zuluf, Marjan, and other onshore projects, Saudi industry sources said.

Aramco is already implementing a project to maintain maximum production capacity at its huge Safaniya offshore oilfield. Plans to re-open the countr y ’s first oilfield, Dammam, which could add an extra 40,000 bpd are still under study. Dammam still accounts for 0.5 billion barrels of Aramco’s proven reserves, Aramco’s CEO Khalid al-Falih has said.

“The re-opening of Dammam is now under study and a decision is expected to be reached soon,” said an industry source in the kingdom.

“For the time being Saudi has sufficient resources to bring online with ease.” More than 1 million Saudi Arabians are now receiving unemployment benefit, the labor ministry said yesterday, underlining a source of potential discontent that the rulers of the world’s top oil exporter are keen to contain.

The “Hafiz” program, which pays unemployed Saudis 2,000 riyals ($533) a month for up to one year, was announced by King Abdullah during the Arab uprisings last spring and introduced in late 2011. “ The number of beneficiaries this month rose by 40 percent from last month and by 170 percent from December when the program started to pay the monthly subsidy,” said the official Saudi Press Agency, quoting Khaled Al-Ajmi, the Labor Ministry official in charge of Hafiz.

Thanks to a decades-long population boom, the Saudi government can no longer afford to reduce unemployment by creating public sector jobs. Last year’s revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and

Syria were blamed by some on high youth unemployment.

Officially the kingdom’s unemployment rate is 10.5 percent, but that figure does not include the large numbers of work ing-age Saudis not counted as part of the labor force.

Recent government figures show the labor force participation rate, meaning people who are in jobs or who say they are looking for work, is 36.4 percent, about half the global average, say economists.Jeddahbased Arab News repor ted on Wednesday that the head of a parallel unemployment program run by the Labor Ministry said joblessness cost the government 5.5 billion riyals a year.

Around 90 percent of Saudis in work are employed by the government, while 90 percent of jobs in private companies are filled by around 8 million foreigners.

Expatriates tend to fill higher-paying technical roles for which many Saudis lack the experience, and very low-paying jobs that many Saudis see as menial.

More than 80 percent of people receiving unemployment benefit are women, said SPA. Despite opposition from powerful religious conservatives, the government is pushing for more Saudi women to enter the job market. It has designated womenonly working environments including lingerie and cosmetics shops.

Some government critics say the Hafiz program might discourage Saudis from looking for jobs in the private sector, where salaries are sometimes lower than the unemployment benefit. — Reuters

MADRID: A man looks for food in a trash bin in Madrid yesterday. Many stores throw out food when they close every night and people often gather to look through the garbage bins as economic crisis deepens. — AP

Qatar economy grows 14% in 2011, likely to slow DUBAI: Qatar’s economy expanded 14 percent in inflation-adjusted terms last year as energy exports gave it one of the highest growth rates in the world, although the pace was slower than analysts had expected, preliminary data from the Statistics Authority showed yesterday.

Real gross domestic product of the world’s top liquefied natural gas exporter grew 4.4 percent quarter-on-

quarter in the final three months of 2011, and 14.7 percent on an annual basis, the data revealed. Last year’s growth was below a consensus estimate of 17.5 percent given by a Reuters poll of analysts, and below the International Monetary Fund’s latest estimate of 18.7 percent. A statement from the statistics authority did not explain the discrepancy. Qatar’s economy relies on hydrocarbons for over half

of its output, making growth rates volatile. The economy expanded 16.6 percent in 2010, according to an IMF estimate. Growth is expected to slow to 6.6 percent this year as the impact of two decades of gas output expansion fades, largely because Qatar has put a self-imposed moratorium on new hydrocarbon projects to conserve resources, according to the latest Reuters poll of analysts. —Reuters

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

BUSINESS

Qatari, Egyptian bidders to buy jeweler Damas DUBAI: Damas International, a prominent Mideast jeweler involved in a multimillion-dollar bookkeeping scandal, agreed yesterday to be taken over in a deal that values it at $445 million.

A consortium led by Qatari conglomerate Mannai Corp said Damas’ board has accepted the bid of 45 cents a share.

The deal appears all but certain to go through because the bidders have already secured binding commitments from more than three-quarters of Damas shareholders. The purchase price repre-

sents a 45 percent premium over Damas’ share price before Mannai confirmed its interest in January. Under the terms of the deal, Mannai will hold a controlling stake of 66 percent in Damas. Its takeover partner, EFG Hermes, Egypt’s biggest investment bank, will get a 19 percent share.

In 2009, Damas ousted then-CEO Tawhid Abdullah - a grandson of the company’s founder - after he made what the company described as “unauthorized transactions” worth as much as $165 mil-

lion. At the time, his brother Tawfique served as chairman of the company’s board, which also included a third brother, Tamjid.

The three brothers were later penalized by a stock market watchdog in Dubai for a series of improper financial dealings involving more than two tons of gold and nearly $100 million in cash.

They signed a pact with lenders last year laying out repayment terms for at least some of the missing funds.

In the wake of the scandal, the com-

pany was forced to seek new repayment terms with lenders on $872 million in debt. Mannai’s takeover deal calls for the Abdullah brothers, who remain Damas shareholders, to hold a 15 percent stake in the company to satisfy their deal with creditors.

Mannai CEO Alekh Grewal said the jeweler remains an “attractive retail brand with a highly successful regional business” despite the negative publicity brought by the accounting scandal.

“Our bid to acquire Damas is testa-

ment to its sound business model and promising growth potential,” he said in a statement.

Damas traces its history to 1907, when the Abdullah brothers’ grandfather began working as a goldsmith in Syria. It operates nearly 300 stores selling jewelry and watches, mostly in the Arab world.

It was one of the few family businesses that dominate commerce in the Gulf to sell shares to the public.

The deal is expected to close in the next two weeks. — AP

UAE plans oil pipeline leak tests in late April Alternative route to bypass Hormuz faces delays DUBAI/ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates should know within weeks if its strategic oil pipeline for bypassing the Strait of Hormuz leaks after tests planned for late April, industry sources told Reuters.

The 1.5 million barrel per day (bpd) pipeline should offer the UAE an alternative route to exporting by ship out of the narrow strait which Iran has threatened to block as western pressure to limit its oil revenues has intensified. The project already faces lengthy delays over a quality dispute with the Chinese company that built it and the UAE’s oil escape route could be blocked for much longer.

“The commissioning of the pipeline will not take place anytime before December and there maybe further delays if there are leaks during the water test which will take place by the last week of April,” said a UAE-based industry source directly involved in the project.

During the testing phase, water mixed with colored dye will be pumped into the 370-km (231-mile) Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline buried in the desert. “Once it’s been checked for leaks and pressure, the pipeline will be dried and filled with nitrogen then about four months later the pipe can be filled with oil,” said another UAE engineering source.

The pipeline links the Habshan oilfields to the port of Fujairah - an increasingly important oil storage terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz on the Gulf of Oman.

Once any leak is found and fixed the commissioning phase can finally begin. This stage may require a small and temporary increase in oil production to keep UAE exports steady as the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ’s onshore unit ADCO pumps oil into the pipeline until it is full. “The pipe will be filled with about one million barrels then will go up

to 1.5 (million barrels) gradually,” the engineering source said.

“ADCO now needs to come up with a plan to store oil from the current production for the commissioning phase,” he said.

The UAE’s current output is around 2.6 million bpd and has a production capacity of around 2.7 million bpd.

“So roughly ADNOC needs to store around 40,000 barrels for a month so it could be used for (commissioning) the pipeline,” the industry source close to the project said.

The oil flowing through the pipe from Abu Dhabi will be mainly exported by ship but a portion will be used by a refinery at Fujairah.

Other companies working on the project are the International Petroleum Investment Company, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, and China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation. — Reuters

Dubai Feb airport passengers jump 19%

Diar eyes emerging market investments

DUBAI: Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport jumped 19 percent from a year earlier in February, the fastest increase in 16 months, while cargo volume also rose, Dubai Airports said yesterday. The airport, one of the world’s busiest, handled 4.56 million passengers last month, up from 3.83 million at the same time last year.

“February marks the 12th consecutive month with passenger traffic exceeding the 4 million mark, and with the growth expected to maintain momentum in the coming months we are well on track to achieve the targeted 56.5 million passenger traffic for 2012,” Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said. February freight volume climbed 6.5 percent from a year earlier to 157,492 tons after falling slightly in January.

The airport operator attributed last month’s growth partly to the timing of the Chinese New Year - the long holidays were in February 2011 but in January 2012 and to the 2012 leap year, which added an extra day to last month. But it also cited expansion of the route network of Dubai’s Emirates airline.

The airport plans to open an Airbus A380-only facility by next year to increase annual capacity to 75 million passengers, it said. Currently, annual capacity is 60 million. Dubai International also said aircraft movements grew 9.8 percent from a year earlier to 27,058 in February. The largest increase in passenger growth continued to come from the Gulf region, followed by the Indian subcontinent. — Reuters

DUBAI: Qatari Diar, the property arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, is eyeing investments in emerging markets this year, the company’s chief executive said yesterday.

The property firm, whose worldwide portfolio includes 49 projects valued at over $39 billion, has been on a buying spree in Europe as part of the Gulf Arab state’s strategy of employing its natural gas riches to diversify its income flows.

“We are always looking for opportunities around the world....I can say that we are now looking into the emerging markets,” said Mohammed Hedfa, the group CEO for Qatari Diar told reporters in the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.

He declined to name which specific countries. Qatari Diar pushed aggressively into Europe last year, most recently buying the athletes’ village in London’s Olympic park for $906 million along with UK developer Delancey Estates.

Other investments include funding the redevelopment of London’s Chelsea Barracks and the building of the Shard skyscraper. In the UK, it also invested in the Harrods department store and the US embassy site in Grosvenor Square. Diar has no plans to issue a bond this year and will not need any external sources of funding for its projects, Hedfa said.

“For our projects, we are part of the sovereign fund....so we don’t need to raise any money from external sources,” he said.

Qatari Diar made its first significant investment in the US property market last April with a $700 million deal to build a development in Washington DC. Hedfa said it was actively looking at other opportunities in the United States. The company cut staff and reduced costs last year in a strategy shift, as it began a process to decide whether to be a property developer or an investment company. “”We are concentrating now on real estate development,” said Hedfa, adding that all the company’s recent investments have been in the real estate sector. Hedfa said the company will be hiring more staff this year following the cuts seen in 2011. “We start to be selective with our projects and definitely we need to be more selective with our team. Hopefully we’ll start to recruit soon because we have more projects coming.”— Reuters

Kraft gave CEO $15.7m; 17% pay bump NEW YORK: Kraft Foods Inc. gave its CEO a pay package worth $15.7 million in 2011, which represents a 17 percent raise from the previous year. The compensation for Irene Rosenfeld included a salary of $1.5 million, stock and option awards worth $9.7 million and incentive-based compensation of $4.2 million.

All other compensation came to $276,000 and covered costs for use of the company aircraft, car expenses and retirement plan contributions. The pay bump for Rosenfeld was largely the result of her incentive-based pay, which Kraft determines with a formula based on total returns to shareholders and growth in net revenue and operating earnings per share. Rosenfeld, 58, took over as CEO in 2006.

In its past fiscal year, the Northfield, Ill.-based company reported revenue of $54.37 billion, up 11 percent from $49.21 billion the previous year. However, net income fell 14 percent to $3.55 billion, or $1.99 per share, due to a gain on the sale of the companyís frozen pizza business in 2010 and integration costs related to the companyís acquisition of Cadbury and other special items in 2011.

Kraft is also in the process of slashing 1,600 jobs as it readies to split its business into two publicly-traded companies. — AP

MANILA: Rodolfo Arpon (centre), 66, repairs a shoe on a street in Manila yesterday.

The Philippines will hit or top its growth target of 5-6 percent this year despite rising oil prices and China’s forecast of slightly slower economic expansion, officials said. — AFP

Emirates NBD appoints new CEO for Dubai Bank DUBAI: Dubai lender Emirates NBD will merge the management teams of its two Islamic subsidiaries, which will be led by Jamal bin Ghalaita, the bank said in a statement yesterday. Dubai’s largest bank took over struggling Dubai Bank last year as part of a broader push to support statelinked institutions saddled with bad debts.

Bin Ghalaita will also continue his current role as the chief executive of ENBD’s other Islamic unit Emirates Islamic Bank, the bank said.

“The new phase aims at unifying the management teams within our two Islamic arms,” Rick Pudner, group CEO of Emirates NBD, said in a statement.

Emirates NBD has been actively reorganizing its management and businesses in recent months.

However, the lender has given little indication so far on how the two Islamic institutions - now part of Emirates NBD -

will be operated. Analysts are expecting them to eventually be merged.

ENBD, created in a 2007 merger between Emirates International Bank and National Bank of Dubai at the behest of Dubai’s ruler, has suffered due to its role as lender of last resort to Dubai state-linked firms.

The lender, 55.6 percent state-owned through the Investment Corporation of Dubai, was ordered by Dubai’s ruler in October to take over loss-making Dubai Bank, which had been rescued by the emirate’s government earlier in 2011.

The bank which has been grappling with impairments, plans to lay off up to 15 percent of its workforce, sources told Reuters earlier this month.

Emirates NBD also announced the appointment of Douwe Oppedijk, formerly the interim CEO of Dubai Bank, as advisor to the Ghalaita. — Reuters

Dubai’s Drydocks expects debt agreement by April 2 DUBAI: Dubai’s ship building unit Drydocks World will ask its syndicated lenders to sign a lock-up agreement over the coming days and is confident it can secure their support

by April 2, the company said in a statement yesterday.

The Dubai World unit is in negotiations to restructure a $2.2 billion loan facility in an effort to put an end to long-drawn and complex debt talks. Earlier this month, Drydocks proposed repaying creditors in five years and said it was seeking more working capital.

“Over the coming days the Group’s syndicated facility lenders will be asked to sign up to the lock-up agreement and hence

formally confirm their support for the Group’s proposals,” Khamis Juma Buamim, chairman of Drydocks World said in the statement.

Drydocks World’s debt restructuring, initially expected to be completed by April last year, has dragged on as the presence of hedge funds and a lack of government support curbed prospects of an amicable deal.

The firm’s debts stem from a multibillion-dollar loan it took out to fund expansion in Singapore. Its major ship and rig building facilities are in southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Indonesia. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2730000 .4400000 .3670000 .3040000 .2760000 .2870000 .0040000 .0020000 .0752280 .7329220 .3830000 .0730000 .7184970 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2771000 GB Pound/KD .4422520 Euro .3693740 Swiss francs .3063740 Canadian dollars .2781990 Danish Kroner .0496800 Swedish Kroner .0415320 Australian dlr .2890010 Hong Kong dlr .0356940 Singapore dlr .2203930 Japanese yen .0033410 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0754730 Bahraini dinars .7353060 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0739130 Omani riyals .7200210 Philippine Peso .0000000

.2805000 .4490000 .3750000 .3140000 .2870000 .2980000 .0070000 .0035000 .0759840 .7402880 .4000000 .0760000 .7257190 .0072000 .0500000 .2792000 .4456030 .3721740 .3086960 .2803070 .0500560 .0418470 .2911920 .0359640 .2220630 .0033660 .0055110 .0021540 .0030870 .0034270 .0760450 .7408780 .3949080 .0744730 .7254770 .0065340

US Dollar Pak Rupees

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

278.300 3.063

Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

5.480 2.145 3.404 6.520 75.875 74.370 739.900 46.075 449.800 3.190 1.550 377.300 286.700 3.510

Rate for Transfer

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

277.950 374.600 446.800 282.400 3.390 5.490 46.055 2.138 3.400 6.470 3.065 740.150 75.700 74.250

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka

5.457 2.145 3.426 3.067 75.72 740.27 46.07 395.93 723.28 76.74 74.31

5.700 2.600 4.000 3.195 76.30 740.05 47.45 394.50 725.00 77.15 74.85

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

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

Selling Rate

279.050 282.725 443.005 367.850 304.965 738.960 76.950 76.595 74.375 392.800 46.252 2.226 5.556 3.081 3.412 6.502 684.499 4.340 9.165 5.875 3.555 92.335

SELL DRAFT SELL CASH

293.64 283.24 312.64 374.35 446.68 3.43 3.398

297.00 285.00 312.00 374.00 447.00 3.70 3.650

Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Bahrain Exchange Company 10 Tola COUNTRY

SELL CASH

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka

293.800 740.270 3.660

283.000 546.700 45.400 51.100 167.800 47.420 375.000 36.550 5.770 0.032 0.159 0.238 3.450 394.480 0.188 92.780 45.700 4.280 231.300 1.803 50.000 723.020 3.120 6.790 77.000 74.320 222.680 38.670 2.652 447.900 42.600 311.300 4.000 9.410 198.263 75.890 278.700 1.340 GOLD 1,752.870

SELL DRAFT

292.300 740.270 3.398

Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 445.900 278.300

281.500

222.700 46.128 373.500 36.400 5.465 0.031

394.430 0.187 92.780 3.430 229.800 722.840 3.065 6.475 76.570 74.320 222.680 38.670 2.140 445.900 309.800 4.000 9.250 75.790 278.300

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

BUSINESS

British economy shrank worse than expected LONDON: Britain’s economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, revised official data showed yesterday, raising the prospect of another recession.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) contracted slightly more than its previous estimate of minus 0.2 percent owing to a decline in the services sector and a larger drop in household spending.

A further official contraction of GDP in the first quarter of 2012 would place Britain back in recession, defined as

two successive negative quarters.

“The latest GDP data ... shows weaker momentum heading into 2012,” said Schroders economist Azad Zangana.

“Our view is that the weakness highlighted in this release, in combination with the poor production and retail sales data, it is more likely than not that the economy also contracted in the first three months of this year, which would put the UK in a technical recession.”

The ONS also lowered its growth estimate for the whole of 2011, to 0.7 percent from a previous forecast of 0.8

percent expansion. “Overall, the economy has been broadly flat over the period since autumn 2010 with some temporary ups and downs,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers chief economist John Hawksworth.

“Downside risks from the euro-zone crisis have moderated since last December, but rising oil prices have emerged as a concern that could prolong the inflationary squeeze on consumers.”

Although not a member of the euro-zone, Britain relies heavily on the neighboring bloc for much of its trade.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said the latest ONS data “validated” recent moves by the Bank of England to pump billions of pounds of cash into the British economy in a bid to bolster growth.

BOE governor Mer vyn King on Tuesday warned that an extra day’s public holiday later this year to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee, or 60 years on the throne, could in fact hinder economic growth.

King said it was “quite possible” that the economy would shrink over the next three months, or second quarter.

“We do expect quite possibly a fall in output in the second quarter, followed by a rise in the third quarter, as we will lose an extra day’s work,” the governor told a panel of deputies.

Britain’s coalition government meanwhile last week predicted that the country’s economy would expand by 0.8 percent this year, which marked a slight upgrade from its prior forecast of 0.7 percent.

Economic activity has also been held back in Britain by a government austerity drive aimed at averting a Greek-style debt crisis. — AFP

Monti blames Germany, France for euro crisis Berlin, Paris set bad example for continent

NEW DELHI: The trade ministers from BRICS countries (left to right) Fernando Pimentel of Brazil, Elvira Nabiullina of Russia, Anand Sharma of India, Chen Deming of China, and Rob Davies of South Africa attend the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi yesterday. —AFP

Euro-zone woes make BRICS look inwards NEW DELHI: Trade ministers from the BRICS group of emerging world economies spoke yesterday of the need to strengthen the bloc’s internal trade as an antidote to problems in Europe. The ministers were meeting in New Delhi ahead of a summit Wednesday to be attended by the leaders of all five BRICS nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Although trade between them is booming, Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said it was nowhere near the levels one might expect from a grouping that comprises 40 percent of humanity. “There is a large untapped growth potential for intra-BRICS trade and investments... that would facilitate economic growth at a time when the global economy is hobbled by uncertainty,” Sharma said.

“There has been a decline of demand in European markets. Despite this we have to sustain a high level of growth.”

The BRICS group, which held its first summit in 2009, was initially Brazil, Russia, India and China, but was enlarged last year to include South Africa.

While their combined economic clout is impressive on paper, geographical distance, political disparities and even-in the case of India and China-territorial disputes, have hampered unity and the search for common policies. In an effort to draw their economies closer together, today’s summit is expected to discuss the establishment of a joint development bank, providing a common investment fund for infrastructure and development projects.

“It would be a very powerful financial tool to improve trade opportunities and maybe a major step to support the EU to overcome its financial crisis,” said Brazilian Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel.

“Even if Europe manages to solve the big issues. We are clear that relations are going to increase among ourselves,” added his South African counterpart Rob Davies. The summit will bring together presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Hu Jintao of China and Jacob Zuma of South Africa, as well as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. — AFP

Spain budget due amid EU pressure, strikes MADRID: Spain’s conservative government unveils its 2012 budget tomorrow, under pressure from European leaders fearful of financial contagion and growing protests by its own citizens.

Friday’s announcement by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy comes a day after a general strike-the first such action since he took power in December, in anger at reforms he says will create jobs and stabilise the public finances. “It will be a very austere budget,” Rajoy warned, speaking in Seoul. “Last year we spent 90 billion euros more than we received. We cannot go on like that.” The same day, eurozone finance ministers will be meeting in Copenhagen with a focus on Spain’s plans to rein in its public deficit to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product under a target Rajoy agreed to in Brussels this month.

“Everything indicates that Brussels is is going to be watching our economy very closely to see that these forecasts are met,” said Jose Antonio Herce, an analyst at Spanish consultancy AFI. European leaders are concerned over Spain’s deficit, fearing it may become the biggest victim of a eurozone debt crisis that has already driven Greece, Ireland and Portugal to accept international bailouts. The 2011 deficit figure was 8.5 percent of GDP, high above the 6.0 percent target. Rajoy tried to get away with a target of 5.8 percent this year, above the 4.4 percent demanded by the EU, before reaching the 5.3 percent compromise.

“While the revised fiscal target for 2012 is more realistic than the previous one, the government will still need to implement a substantial fiscal adjustment,” credit rater Moody’s warned. It calculated that Spain will have to make a huge 41.5 billion euros ($55.5 billion) in budget cuts this year to meet the target, while other economists offer even higher estimates.

“To reduce the deficit to 5.3 percent of GDP in 2012 it will be necessary to cut spending and/or raise revenues by

some 55 billion euros” taking into account all the effects of the current recession, said Angel Laborda, head of the Savings Banks Foundation, a research group.

Figures from the Bank of Spain on Tuesday showed that Spain is in recession with two quarters of economic contraction in a row. Spain’s economy is expected to shrink by 1.7 percent in 2012 overall. Rajoy ’s government, which came to power in December after a huge election victory the previous month, has so far this year confirmed 8.9 billion euros’ worth of spending cuts and 6.3 billion euros in tax rises. The cuts have hit public services including schools and hospitals and brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets in protest.

Unions have called a general strike on Thursday. About a third of local trains are expected to run, with one in four buses, one in 10 domestic and one in five European flights.

The leading unions UGT and CCOO have called for mass demonstrations in defense of public services and against labor reforms-another plank of Rajoy’s economic program.

Rajoy says the labor reform will help boost the economy eventually. “It is going to create jobs with time,” he said Tuesday. “In 2012 we cannot have the labor relations we had in 1980.”

Despite the protests, economists see little option for the government but to push through the cuts in order to convince the investors that lend money to Spain that it can pay its debts.

“There is no other option but to make cuts,” said Eduardo MartinezAbascal, an economist at Madrid’s IESE university. “Spain urgently needs to improve its image abroad in the markets.”

Before Rajoy ’s showdown with European leaders over the deficit this month, market tension over Spain had relaxed for several months, with its borrowing costs and the risk premium on its bonds easing. — AFP

TOKYO: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti yesterday said the root of the euro-zone’s debt woes lay partly in the irresponsible parenting of Germany and France during the bloc’s infancy. Monti told reporters in Tokyo that because the euro-zone’s two largest players had not abided by fiscal rules, they had set a bad example for the rest of the continent.

“The story goes back to 2003 (and) the still almost infant life of the euro,” Monti said.

“It was in fact Germany and France that were loose concerning the public deficits and debts.”

The widely-respected technocrat, who replaced billionaire media magnate Silvio Berlusconi in November as head of the eurozone’s third largest economy, said the flouting of rules allowing for an annual budget deficit of no more than three percent of GDP was the issue.

He said despite recommendations, a meeting of ministers from European Union governments had decided not to punish France and Germany for going beyond the deficit limit.

“So the two largest countries in the euro-zone had the (deficit) with complicity of Italy, which was then chairing under the rotation system the council of prime ministers of European Union.

“Of course if the father and mother of the euro-zone are violating the rules, you could not expect... (countries such as) Greece to be compliant.”

Monti, who was speaking during a visit to Japan, was a member of the European Commission in the early 2000s when it recommended sanctions be levied against countries that were running over-the-top deficits.

The European Council-comprising elected politicians-vetoed the move. Monti’s visit to Japan comes as Europe continues to stagger under the weight of runaway sovereign debt,

with Greece at the forefront.

The euro-zone is under pressure to boost the firepower of its debt rescue fund, with the 34-nation OECD on Tuesday pressing for a safety net of at least 1.0 trillion euros ($1.33 trillion).

Euro-zone finance ministers are meeting tomorrow and Saturday in Copenhagen to decide whether to increase the size of their debt rescue mechanism amid resurgent concerns about the financial health of Spain. The OECD said the refinancing needs of vulnerable euro-zone nations could top 1.0 trillion euros over the coming two years, on top of

TOKYO: Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti gives a lecture during his visit to Tokyo yesterday. Monti is on a four-day visit to Japan to meet with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and others. — AFP

S&P downgrades S Africa outlook, rand falls JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s rand weakened against the dollar yesterday after ratings agency S&P downgraded the country’s outlook to negative from stable, citing structural economic and social problems.

The agency said South Africa’s near-term political pressures had eased and the Treasury remained committed to fiscal consolidation, but added that problems such as high unemployment and a structural current account deficit persisted. “The negative outlook reflects the potential for a downgrade if economic and social problems feed into the political debate in the run-up to the 2014 elections and consequently further put pressure on the policy framework,” S&P said.

It reaffirmed South Africa’s foreign and local currency ratings at ‘BBB2’ and ‘A/A-1’.

The rand weakened to 7.6650 to the dollar from 7.6430 just before the S&P release. However, it recouped some of those losses to trade at 7.6482 by 1200 GMT. The currency, which had been weakening in earlier trading, was down some 0.7 percent after the announcement. — Reuters

cash needed to recapitalize banks.

Italy alone needs some 750 billion euros to finance its debt, while Spain requires around 370 billion euros over the next three years.

Asked about the size of the hike in the eurozone firewall, Monti declined to give a specific figure but said: “I’m confident that the compact is solidly in place, the time for a conclusive and adequate decision on the firewalls has come.”

The premier said he believed Europe now had a handle on its debt crisis and Italy was unlikely to suffer at the hands of the markets the way that Spain had. “I think contagion (is) certainly not from Spain. Spain is I’m sure on a steady course of budgetary consolidation,” he said.

“And contagion as a whole I hope will soon belong to the past, now that more discipline is being adhered to by most member states and now that the firewalls are in the process of being fortified.”

The Copenhagen meeting will also focus on Spain’s plans to rein in its public deficit to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product.

European leaders are concerned over Spain’s deficit, fearing it may become the biggest victim of a euro-zone debt crisis that has already driven Greece, Ireland and Portugal to accept international bailouts.

During a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda, the two men agreed to drive forwards Japan-EU free trade talks, but stopped well short of any specifics.

Noda told a joint press conference he would work towards the necessary deregulation required for an agreement. “We shared the recognition that the two sides will make an effort to begin... negotiations between Japan and the EU early for the sake of economic growth through trade and investment,” Noda said. — AFP

Lloyd’s Of London swings to second-worst loss LONDON: The Lloyd’s of London insurance market swung to its secondbiggest loss last year after absorbing record claims from natural catastrophes including Japan’s Tohoku earthquake and floods in Thailand. Lloyd’s, which traces its origins back 324 years to a London coffee house where merchants met to insure ships, made a loss of 516 million pounds ($824 million), it said yesterday, compared with a 2.2 billion profit in 2010.

The loss, reflecting the aggregate financial performance of 80 competing insurance syndicates that make up the Lloyd’s market, was second only to the 3.11 billion pound deficit it reported for 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Make no mistake, 2011 was a difficult year for the insurance industry,” chief executive Richard Ward said in a statement.

“Given the scale of the claims, a loss is unsurprising.” Lloyd’s incurred 4.6 billion pounds of natural disaster-related claims during 2011, the highest on record, taking total payouts for the year to 12.9 billion. Last year was the insurance industry’s second-costliest for catastrophes, with earthquakes, floods and tornadoes generating total claims of $116 billion, according to Swiss Re, the world’s No 2 reinsurer.

That was surpassed only by an insured loss of $123 billion in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated

New Orleans. Ward said he was disappointed that insurance prices, which have been declining or stagnant across much of the market since 2008, had not risen more convincingly in response to last year.

Insurance prices typically climb in the wake of large payouts by the industry as financially weaker players retrench, easing competitive pressures and freeing those still in the market to charge more.

However, significant increases this year have been confined to directly catastrophe-related lines of business, with prices across the broader market rising only moderately, insurers and brokers have said.

Lloyd’s finance chief Luke Savage said a steady influx of capital into the industry from investors looking for a safe haven amid depressed financial markets had suppressed the market’s traditional pricing mechanism.

“In an environment where investment returns are at record lows, even with the soft rates we are currently seeing in the insurance industry, it is still an attractive place to park your capital,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Weak investment yields, reflecting rock-bottom interest rates and strong demand for high-quality government bonds, also took their toll on Lloyd’s last year, with total returns on its portfolio falling 24 percent to 955 million pounds. — Reuters

Air India ‘losing nearly $2m a day’

YANGON: Illegal money changers exchanging Myanmar kyat bank notes into US dollars in a back alley of the country’s main city and former capital Yangon. Myanmar announced yesterday an overhaul of its antiquated currency system as part of burgeoning reforms to modernize an economy left in disarray by decades of military rule and international isolation. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s debt-laden national carrier Air India makes a loss of nearly 100 million rupees ($1.9 million) every day, the country’s civil aviation minister told parliament yesterday.

The country’s fourth-largest airline by market share has been hit hard by rising fuel prices and fierce competition which have added to its legacy of labor problems, crushing debts and a costly merger in 2007. “The total loss of Air India everyday on its operations is approximately rupees 10 crores ($1.9 million),” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

The Indian government has pumped about 12 billion rupees ($230 million) into the airline in the financial year 201011 and expects another 67 billion rupees for the fiscal year ending March 2012. Air

India has been in the red since 2007 when it merged with domestic carrier Indian Airlines and has seen its overall share of passenger traffic fall due to competition from private, domestic low-cost airlines.

In a bid to help the distressed state carrier, the finance ministry in 2009 asked all government officials to use Air India for all their domestic and international travels. Singh said the airline is yet to collect over five billion rupees owed by several federal ministries. The employees of Air India are threatening to go on strike on April 2 if the debt-laden company is unable to clear money owed to staff in unpaid salaries. The national carrier has not paid salaries to its employees for the past four months, the Press Trust of India reported. — AFP

24

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

BUSINESS

Stocks flat as investors in ‘wait-and-see’ mode GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: The sideways pattern highlighted yesterday’s session with KSE stocks ending near unchanged. Investors are in pause status right now after KSE announced that it will suspend more than 44 companies starting April 01, 2012 if they failed to release their FY2011 results.

The Global General Index rose marginally by 0.14 points (or 0.08 percent) and closed at 183.68 points. The market benchmark, KSE Price Index closed unchanged at 6,186.7 points.

Trading activity slowed down on the KSE yesterday.

Volume of shares traded was down 20.3 percent, reaching 263.75mn shares.

Subsequently, value of shares exchanged on the KSE declined by 7.61 percent, reaching KD32.87mn. Investors took special interest in Gulf Petroleum Investment stocks, with 27.8mn shares traded, at an aggregate value of KD2.03mn. Selling pressure pushed the scrip 1.37 percent lower, to close at KD0.072.

In terms of top gainers, Equipment Holding Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 10 percent. On the other side, National International Co (Holding) was the biggest loser, as its share price fell by 8.77 percent to close at KD0.052.

Sector-wise Among sectoral indices, Global Services Index witnessed the highest advance adding 0.59 percent in daily gains. Jeeran Holding Co topped yesterday’s gainers’ list in the sector gaining 6.02 percent, to reach KD0.088.

Stock price of Palms Agro Production and Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting (KCPC) was up 3.70 percent and 3.57 percent respectively. In sector related news, AREF Energy Holding Company announced that it has received a purchase offer to sell its entire

64.25 percent stake in Higleig Petroleum Services and Investment Company Limited (Sudan) for a total value of USD25mn. The scrip rose 1.82 percent in yesterday’s trading and closed at KD0.112.

Food stocks too were notable advancers, adding 0.59 percent.

Kout Food Group was among the biggest gainer list, edging 8.93 percent higher. Global Non Kuwaiti Index led the decliners with a daily loss of 1.75 percent.

Heavy weight Ahli United Bank registered a decline of 3.19 percent to close at KD0.182, while

Inovest Company lost 7.94 percent to end the day at KD0.580.

Oil news Price of Kuwaiti crude increased 28 cents to settle at $122.86pb on Tuesday, in comparison to $122.58pb on the day before, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said yesterday. Oil prices have been on the rise for the past three days due to an increase in oil demands. This hike was also the result of the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that interest fees would remain low to support the US economy growth.

Brent continues to slip, stock report pressures LONDON: Brent crude fell for a second session yesterday, weighed by the possibility of a release of strategic oil reser ves by the United States and European nations.

However, oil remained supported by supply concerns on rising tensions between Iran and the West, production problems in the North Sea and repor ted attacks on oil-producing areas in South Sudan. Brent May crude had fallen $1.110 to $124.44 a barrel by 1038 GMT. It was up almost 16 percent since the start of the year, heading for its strongest quarter in four. US crude was down 96 cents to $106.37.

France is in contact with Britain and the United States on a possible release of strategic oil stocks to push fuel prices down, Le Monde daily said yesterday, citing presidential sources.

A release of strategic oil stocks “is a matter of weeks,” the French newspaper said. French President Nicholas Sarkozy will face an election in May. “If that gets on the agenda, people will not be inclined to be bullish,” said Rob Montefusco, at Sucden Financial.

He added that disappointing Chinese corporate results had added to a slightly more bearish tone.

Traders have been monitoring the possibility of a strategic release of oil since its price spiked on worries about sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. The sanctions are due to be fully implemented in July.

However, some analysts say an imminent strategic oil release is unlikely.

“They’ll wait until closer to the July deadline, as at the moment shortages are not that acute,” said Filip Petersson, commodity strategist at SEB in Stockholm.

The United States has not changed its stance on tapping its emergency oil reserves, keeping “all options on the table” regarding its response to high oil prices, a government official said.

Investors were also watching crude

inventories to determine how tight supply is. US crude stocks rose 3.6 m i l l i o n b a r re l s l a s t we e k , t h e American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday, against analysts’ expectations for a 2.6 million barrels rise.

Investors were awaiting the Energy Information Administration data due at 1430 GMT. US commercial crude oil stock piles were forecast to have increased last week due to greater imports, an extended Reuters poll of analysts showed on Tuesday.

Worries about the health of the US economy also kept gains in check.

Federal Reser ve Chairman Ben Bernanke told ABC News on Tuesday that it is too soon to declare victory in the US economic recovery.

Data on Tuesday showed Americans were more worried about inflation in March than at any time in the last 10 months and consumer confidence waned in the wake of higher gasoline prices.

US average gasoline demand fell 1.5 percent in the week to March 23, from the previous week, MasterCard said in its separate weekly Spending Pulse report. Demand was off 7 percent from the year-ago period, the report said. A reduction in Forties crude supply and reports that South Sudan’s oil fields were bombed pushed up oil prices on Tuesday.

Hopes of a quick restart of South Sudan’s oil production, suspended in January after a row over payments, were dashed after Sudan and South Sudan accused each other of launching fresh attacks on oil-producing areas either side of their contested border on Tuesday. South Sudan produced about 350,000 barrels per day before the production halt.

Sudan said it hoped the conflict would not escalate into war. In the North Sea, oil flows through the Forties pipeline have been curbed by the shutdown of Total’s Elgin platform following a gas leak, oil traders said. —Reuters

25

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

business

US trade upgrade may worsen Russia relations Jackson-Vanik restrictions to remain

FRANKFURT: The Euro sculpture is photographed in front of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, central Germany. The European Central Bank says the flow of credit to businesses grew more slowly in February — a sign that the bank’s massive loans to the financial system have yet to kickstart a lagging euro-zone economy. — AP

ECB loans not yet boosting lending to private sector FRANKFURT: Euro-zone banks appear reluctant to lend out to the private sector the vast amounts of cheap cash they recently borrowed from the European Central Bank, data showed yesterday. The ECB calculated in regular monthly data that growth in loans to the private sector slowed to just 0.7 percent in February from 1.1 percent the previous month.

The development is of particular concern given that, in two special liquidity measures in December and February aimed at averting a credit squeeze in the 17 countries that share the euro, the ECB lent more than 1.0 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to banks at a rock-bottom rate of 1.0 percent for a period of three years. The slowdown in lending in February “fuels concern that the three-year unlimited tender in December has not-so far at least-fed through to boost lending to the private sector,” IHS Global Insight analyst Howard Archer said.

“At best, it can be said that lending to the private sector has essentially stabilized,” the analyst said.

The thinking behind the two unprecedented moves was that banks would lend it on to businesses and households and keep credit flowing in the debt-wracked eurozone economy. However, since then, daily ECB data show that banks have been parking record amounts of cash in the central bank’s overnight storage facility.

In normal times, banks shy away from depositing cash at the ECB, preferring to lend any overnight surplus to other banks where they earn a higher return, but the euro-zone debt crisis has spawned a lack of trust between banks.

And that means institutions are opting to park the money at the ultra-safe ECB rather than lending it to their peers. The February bank lending data only include the first so-called long-term refinancing operation or LTRO in December where 523 banks queued up to borrow 489.19 billion euros.

With the second LTRO not yet covered

by the February lending data, “it is still premature to judge to what extent the total 1.019 trillion euros leant by the ECB to banks is likely to support lending,” analyst Archer said. “But the signs so far are disappointing and tight credit conditions remain a concern for euro-zone growth prospects even allowing for limited demand for credit from the private sector,” Archer concluded.

Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy said that while ECB chief Mario Draghi has been insistent on the success of the LTROs, “the positive effects are far from being clear, so far, at least according to M3 statistics.” Christian Schulz at Berenberg Bank said that while the LTROs “may have averted the tail risk of euro-area banks collapsing due to liquidity shortages and stopped the spread of contagion on sovereign bond markets... they do not yet seem to have the desired effect on lending to the real economy.”

The ECB also calculated that growth of the euro-zone money supply, a key indicator of demand in the economy, picked up again in February, with the M3 indicator rising to 2.8 percent last month from 2.5 percent in January. The ECB regards the M3 figure as a key guide to inflation pressures and uses it to set interest rates accordingly.

The central bank seeks to keep eurozone inflation below but close to 2.0 percent but it stood at 2.7 percent in February.

The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.00 percent in December, arguing that future inflation is likely to slow as the euro-zone debt crisis puts the brakes on economic growth in the single currency area. The higher-than-expected M3 growth rate, plus the slowdown in growth in lending to the private sector will mean the ECB is likely to keep its interest rates at current levels for some time to come, analysts said.

The data “will provide the ECB with arguments to maintain its very expansive monetary policy,” said Postbank analyst Thilo Heidrich. — AFP

German, UK car plants in balance as Opel meets FRANKFURT: The board of European carmaker Opel met yesterday under pressure from US parent General Motors to put an end to years of steep losses, with thousands of workers in Germany and Britain fearing the closure of their plants. The 20-person board, which includes United Auto Workers boss Bob King for the first time, was scheduled to begin meeting at Opel’s headquarters in Ruesselsheim at around 0900 GMT. The gathering is expected to last into late afternoon. It is not clear whether management will submit a mid-term business plan, which would include plant closures, or focus on less sensitive issues such as the appointment of a new sales chief.

“All signs point towards escalation regardless,” said one source close to the board, who said plant closures would be the elephant in the room even if they weren’t discussed. GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson and Opel Chairman Steve Girsky are pushing Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke to lower the company’s breakeven point by shifting production from high-wage countries in western Europe to emerging markets.

Though Opel has said no plants will go before the end of 2014, most expect the 50year old factory at Bochum in western Germany will be earmarked for closure, along with one at Ellesmere Port, the company’s only remaining car plant in the UK, where the brand is known as Vauxhall.

“We’re not going to start trembling with fear just because everyone is saying Bochum will be closed,” said one source close to Bochum’s labor leaders, who was not authorized to speak to the press. “GM won’t announce any plant closure today anyway, since they’d be crazy to give up their trump card. The moment they say which plants are safe, they can no longer play them off against each other in the hopes of extracting concessions.”

Economic weakness has hit car sales in Europe, forcing makers to confront high fixed costs and a capacity overhang in the sector that GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson says equates to up to 10 plants.

Opel’s own Antwerp plant, Fiat’s woefully uneconomical Sicilian plant, and the Trollhattan factory of insolvent carmaker Saab were shut down in recent years, and Mitsubishi is ending car production in its Netherlands facility by year-end.

But Europe still has around 240 plants in 27 countries and political resistance to plant closures has been strong. In the United States, Detroit’s big three automakers - GM, Ford and Chrysler, now partnered with Fiat closed 13 plants between 2008 and 2012.

The works council in Bochum, where the Opel plant employs about 3,100 workers building the Zafira MPV, said a closure would cost 45,000 jobs in total when related services companies and suppliers are added in. “Opel Bochum’s employees are rightly asking themselves, ‘What happens after 2014?’ Plant closures have not been taken off the negotiating table, just the opposite,” a statement from the plant’s works council said on Tuesday.

Detlef Holzhauer, a 61-year old teacher from a school in Bochum who visited the plant with his class on Tuesday, said he had witnessed a steady erosion of jobs over decades. “We’ve been coming here since 1979,” he said. “Back in those days, Opel had 16,000 workers here. That shows the scale of the whole demise, and we’ve been watching it all happening.”

Ellesemere Port employs about 2,100 plus 700 contractors. Auto analysts expect a wave of plant closures across the continent at other beleaguered carmakers, such as PSA Peugeot Citroen, Renault and Fiat.

Action taken by Opel could be of particular significance for workers at Peugeot, which has agreed a cooperation deal with GM that is predicated upon each restructuring their European operations and sharing platforms to cut costs. Analysts estimate that Peugeot has an even greater need to close down factories than Opel, in part because GM already reduced its fixed costs by 20 percent during 2010 and 2011 with the closure of the Antwerp plant and downsizing elsewhere. —Reuters

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration wants Congress to remove Soviet-era trade restrictions that have been a sore point in USRussia relations for decades. But the conditions lawmakers are demanding to make the change may only worsen America’s increasingly shaky relations with Moscow.

Republicans and Democrats are trying to tie the easing of the so-called Jackson-Vanik restrictions to a measure imposing sanctions against Russian officials linked to human rights abuses.

That would infuriate Russia and would be the latest hitch in what administration officials consider a major foreign policy success: improved relations with Russia after a sharp downturn during the Bush administration. They call it the “reset.” Obama administration officials are trying to keep the rights and trade measures apart.

They are concerned about retaliation and do not want to aggravate relations further. Tensions have been growing over issues like missile defense and the international response to uprisings in Libya and Syria. But the US still hopes for a degree of cooperation with Russia on other matters, such as stopping Iran’s nuclear program. “We want to deal with trade issues in one sphere and democracy issues and human rights in another sphere,” said Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia. The administration first wants to deal with trade. It has powerful allies in the US business community supporting the repeal of Jackson-Vanik, including the US Chamber of Commerce, which calls the repeal its top trade priority this year. Russia soon will get more opportunities for international trade when it joins the World Trade Organization. If the US doesn’t repeal Jackson-Vanik, American companies could be at a competitive disadvantage.

But it’s a delicate matter in an election year.

Republicans are reluctant to offer Obama any perceived victory by unconditionally repealing

the restrictions. And President Barack Obama doesn’t want to appear too critical of the rights measure, which has support from both parties.

His likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has attacked Obama for signing a major nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

Obama’s handling of relations with Russia became a bigger political issue on Monday after he told outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have more flexibility to deal with the contentious issue of missile defense after the November election.

Obama apparently did not realize he was being recorded.

Republicans seized on the remarks, demanding an explanation. And on Tuesday, Obama denied having a hidden agenda. “I want to reduce our nuclear stockpiles. And one of the barriers to doing that is building trust and cooperation around missile defense issues,” he said.

Jackson-Vanik has long been a thorn in USRussian relations. It was introduced in 1974 to pressure the Soviet Union to allow Jews to emigrate. Named after its congressional sponsors, Jackson-Vanik denies normal trading relations with communist countries that restrict emigration or punish those trying to leave the country.

Russia calls it anachronistic, even though the legislation has had little practical effect since 1994, when the United States began waiving its application. Still, previous calls to repeal it have found little traction among lawmakers critical of Russia’s human rights record. Those rights concerns prompted two Democrats, Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts and Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, to propose the Magnitsky bill, which would make it difficult for Russians suspected of abuses from doing business, including using credit cards, outside their country. It also calls for publicly identifying Russians tied to abuses, a significant escalation that the adminis-

tration worries could rile relations. The measure also is backed by prominent Republicans, including Sen. John McCain.

The bill was named for lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, who died in a Russian jail in 2009, when the pancreatitis he developed was left untreated. Proponents of the bill say the death and allegations of torture highlight corruption in Russia’s judicial system.

Prospects were uncertain for getting the measure passed as a stand-alone bill. But with the administration and business groups pushing hard to get Jackson-Vanik repealed, senators saw an opportunity to boost its prospects by tying together the two measures, underscoring the link between trade with Russia and human rights. The administration tried to defuse the issue last year by issuing travel bans on 60 unnamed Russian officials believed to be responsible for Magnitsky’s imprisonment, torture and death. Russia later responded by saying it had banned unnamed US officials it claims were involved in abuses related to US counterterror policies.

If Congress insists on linking the two bills, the administration wants to drop the provision calling for the naming of rights abusers. They argue that such disclosure would be inconsistent with State Department practice and counterproductive, because it would remove the uncertainty that human rights violators already face about whether they are on a US blacklist.

Human rights advocates, though, fear the administration may go too far to avoid upsetting Moscow. “If the Russian leadership is going to throw US-Russian relations over the side because we are going after Russian officials who engage in gross human rights abuses, then the reset isn’t very solid to begin with,” says David Kramer, president of the human rights advocacy group Freedom House. — AP

Belarus CB makes third post-crisis rate cut

RIGA: Parex bank’s British chief executive Christopher Gwilliam (left) and Latvia’s Economy Minister Daniels Pavluts (right) shake hands after a press conference on the renaming of the company yesterday in Riga. — AFP

Latvia rebrands Parex bank for second time RIGA: Officials in European Union member state Latvia announced yesterday they were rebranding a bank whose notorious collapse during the global economic crisis dragged the country to the edge of bankruptcy.

Parex bank, which imploded spectacularly in 2008 and had to be bailed out by the state, will in future be known as Reverta, said Christopher Gwilliam, the company’s British chief executive, at the unveiling of a 15,000 lat (21,000 euro, $26,000) rebranding effort.

“It was important to move our team away from the legacy of the old Parex bank,” Gwilliam told AFP. “ We chose the name because it symbolizes the return of value to our assets, the return of money from borrowers and therefore the return of value to the state,” he said.

Economy Minister Daniels Pavluts told

reporters the name change was justified by the negative associations that the old Parex name still retains. “Parex is associated with words like ‘crash’, ‘crisis’ and ‘bad bank’,” Pavluts said. In August 2010, a new state-owned bank called Citadele was launched using Parex’s most valuable assets, with a rump bank retaining the old name. That is what will in future be known as Reverta.

Reverta has begun efforts to claw back as much money as possible for taxpayers following the billion-euro bailout of Parex. It has already managed to repay 248 million lats and expects to deliver another 50 million lats to state coffers in 2012. On March 15 Latvia’s financial watchdog agreed to withdraw Parex’s banking license at the company’s request, effectively turning Reverta into an asset management company. — AFP

MINSK: Belarus’ central bank cut its main interest rate for the third time this year yesterday, to 36 percent from 38 percent, reflecting an easing of pressure on its ruble and prices after a currency crisis last year. The cut takes effect from April 2.

“Inflationary processes continue to slow down, stable growth of the population’s ruble deposits is observed, the situation in foreign trade is improving,” the bank said in a statement.

The central bank had already cut the refinancing rate twice this year, by 200 basis points in February and by 500 from March 1, after hiking it to 45 percent in 2011 when annual inflation reached 110 percent due to a ruble devaluation.

Month-on-month inflation slowed to 1.5 percent in February from 1.9 percent in January. But the International Monetary Fund has said the March cut may have been premature and warned the former Soviet republic against trying to stimulate economic growth too aggressively. Belarus devalued the ruble by as much as 65 percent and tightened fiscal and monetary policy to curb price growth and stabilize foreign exchange trade last year.

The crisis was triggered by excessive government spending in 2010, when President Alexander Lukashenko raised public sector wages and adopted an aggressive economic stimulus package as he ran for a fourth term in office. But the ruble has stabilized since, bringing market rates back into line with official ones. yesterday it traded at 8,080 rubles per dollar compared to 8,350 at the start of the year. — Reuters

Domino’s Pizza eyes expansion plans LONDON: Domino’s Pizza UK & IRL, Britain’s biggest pizza delivery company, said it will press ahead with expansion plans in 2012 as it benefits from cash-strapped consumers eating its pizzas in their homes rather than dining out.

The company yesterday reported a 3.5 percent rise in first-quarter like-for-like sales at its 660 established stores, and said it was sticking to plans to open 72 new stores in 2012, including a dozen in Germany. Domino’s, which operates the British and Irish franchises of the global delivery brand, was helped by a recovery in Ireland, where sales rose 1.7 percent after a 10.5 percent fall in the same quarter last year. Like-for-like sales in Britain rose 3.6 percent, compared to 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011.

The company has performed well in Britain during the economic downturn as consumers shun eating out and instead order in from its range of pizzas. But Domino’s had found trading in Ireland tougher, after the former “Celtic Tiger” economy suffered the deepest recession in the industrialized world following the bursting of a housing bubble since 2007. “Although they are just part of the growth story, it is good to see our like-for-like sales continue to increase,” said Domino’s new chief executive Lance Batchelor, who took up the role late last year.

“It is especially pleasing to see sales in the Republic of Ireland return to positive territory.”

Domino’s reported growth in its online business in the first quarter, with a 44.5 percent increase in total online sales to 59.3 million pounds ($94.7 million). “The really interesting thing about this is that the company have now delivered 51 percent of (UK) orders online and that’s up from 43 percent for whole of 2011 so their online presence is really accelerating,” said Paul Hickman, an analyst at Peel Hunt. “We may have a softer comparative

for the second quarter of the year but we will not be taking our foot off the accelerator,” Batchelor said. “We have a number of marketing initiatives and other programs aimed at ensuring our franchisees can profitably grow their businesses.” The chain added six stores in the first quarter and is confident it will achieve its target of 72 new stores in 2012, of which 12 will be in Germany.

The company opened six stores in Germany in 2011, and plans a further 26 outlets by the end of 2013, with a view to growing the business to as much as twice the size of its British operation.

Shares in Domino’s were down 3.78 percent at 454 pence at 1008 GMT, having risen 6 percent since the beginning of March to close at 472 pence on Tuesday. “We’ve seen it accelerate recently. It’s just taking out some of those gains,” said Peel Hunt’s Hickman, who has a hold rating on the stock and a 480 pence price target.

“Domino’s is an absolutely firm medium-term buy but to be a short-term buy they need to bring some of their medium-term opportunities into the short-term and actually show an increase in the earnings rate.” — Reuters

PORTLAND: A shopper leaves Costco with a cart full of goods yesterday, in Portland, Oregon. Americans are holding onto a rosier view of the US economy as they focus on the good in a flood of mixed economic news. — AP

26

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

BUSINESS

Malabar Gold unveils global expansion plan Strategy to realize annual turnover of $6bn by 2015

Nissan-Al Babtain holds annual after sales customer seminar KUWAIT: AbdulMohsen AbdulAziz AlBabtain Co, the exclusive agent for Nissan cars in Kuwait, held its Annual After sales Customer Seminar at the Crowne Plaza Hotel- Farwaniya, on Tuesday March 27 2012 under the patronage of Ghazi Al-Babtain, Business Development Manager of AlBabtain Group, who welcomed the distinguished guests and extended the strong relationship that the company looks forward to build with its clients by providing them with continuous support. He also mentioned that the company tends to reinforce its relationship in order to achieve more accomplishments and to maintain and develop customer loyalty, which is considered as a major pillar of the company’s success.

A large gathering of customers and representatives attended the ceremony, including representatives of the government sector, insurance companies, and wholesale traders from all around the state of Kuwait.

It is worth mentioning that the ceremony was organized to celebrate Nissan-Al Babtain Co being ranked first in customer satisfaction. Compared with the 2010 ranking, the company made a clear improvement by winning first place among Japanese cars in the Kuwaiti market, and second place among all the cars participating in the survey during the year 2011.

The independent report clearly stated that Nissan-Al Babtain has been characterized with the highest standards by maintaining a client-focused organizational structure to improve customer satisfaction, and adopting easy-to-reach locations, as well as providing its customers with continuous support through its after-sales services.

Furthermore, the company has been distinguished by the quality of cars delivered, by ensuring all necessary information about its products is available at all NISSAN- Al Babtain outlets. It also stresses the efficiency of its sales and after sales teams in assisting customers and providing them with up-

to-the-minute information.

Furthermore, Nissan-Al Babtain after-sales services offer peace-ofmind motoring with economical maintenance packages and exclusive long term maintenance plans. Mohamed Shalaby, COO at Al-Babtain group stated during the ceremony: “We are committed to ensure that our customers receive high standard services and benefit from the special offers tailored to their specific budgets and lifestyle

needs.” He also added that the company is willing to increase its efforts in order to continuously achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction in sales operations and after-sales services.

Ruwan Wickramasinghe, National Parts Manager at AbdulMohsen AbdulAziz Al-Babtain Co, mentioned that Nissan- Al-Babtain aims at providing Nissan customers with automotive parts and accessories at affordable and competitive prices, thus earning the highest level of its customers’ loyalty.

During the ceremony, Nissan loyal customers from all different sectors were honored for their support and permanent cooperation with the company.

KUWAIT: Malabar Gold, a leading gold and diamond jewelry player in South India and the Middle East, and the flagship company of Malabar Group of Companies, a leading diversified Indian business conglomerate, announced a fouryear, Rs 35 billion ($700 million), expansion plan that will take the company’s retail network from its existing 64 outlets to 220, create 15,000 jobs and triple the company’s annual turnover to Rs. 300 billion (about $6 billion) by 2015, making it the world’s leading jewellery brand.

As a first step towards achieving these strategic milestones, MP Ahamed, Chairman of Malabar Group of Companies, launched the company’s new identity at a gala event held recently in Dubai.

The new identity of “Malabar Gold & Diamonds”, which envisages a growth in the diamond jewellery sector in the coming years, incorporates a contemporary look and feel that appeals to a globally diverse clientele.

At the launch ceremony, which was attended by a distinguished gathering of guests, including the Group’s brand managers, Hema Malini and Padmashri Mohanlal, Ahamed revealed the brand’s aggressive expansion plans saying, “Malabar Gold & Diamonds, in its endeavor to become the world’s leading retailer in value appreciating gift articles, is undergoing a brand transformation to blend with its future business vision. The objective of the overall re-branding and expansion program is to raise the international profile of Malabar Gold & Diamonds in line with its aspirations of becoming the world’s biggest and most valuable jewelry brand within the next few years,” Ahamed added, “We are undertaking this change to help scale our brand to greater heights and to better serve our discerning customers.”

For customers, the new Malabar Gold & Diamonds will remain grounded, accessible and prestigious, offering the best value for money as before, but with a service and product offering that is relevant to today’s global tastes.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds, whose annual turnover last year exceeded $2.4 billion (Rs 120 billion), is

currently ranked as the third largest jewelry retailer in the world in terms of business figures, after Hong Kong based CTF and Tiffany & Co of the United States. As part of its ambitious expansion plans, the company is investing about $100 million (Rs 5 billion) to roll out more than 20 retail outlets in 2012. This will raise the number of retail outlets in various parts of the GCC and India, to 84 outlets.

The company’s four-year

future and to capture a substantial market share and to make the brand more visible and accepted globally, Malabar Gold and Diamonds will be spending $100 million (Rs 5 billion) over the next 4 years.“ Apart from the existing sub brands like Era - uncut diamond jewelry, Ethnix - hand crafted designer jewelry, Divine- Indian heritage jewelry, Mine - diamonds unlimited, Precia - precious gem

to celebrate and be an integral part of celebrations that makes life beautiful and worth cherishing.

The new brand positioning to be the ‘Champions of Contemporary Tradition’ envisages a brand proud of its Indian beginnings and the country’s 5000 year old tradition in jewelry making. By crafting beautiful pieces of jewelry or value appreciating gift articles influenced by tradition but relevant to the tastes of today’s audience,

Padmashri Mohanlal, Hema Malini, EMKE Group Chairman Yusuffali M A, MP Ahamed and other guests during the unveiling of the brand’s aggressive expansion plans at the launch ceremony. expansion program will also see Malabar Gold & Diamonds’ global footprint expand to South Asia, other parts of Middle East, Far East, Europe and the Americas and nearly triple its cluster manufacturing units to 10 from the existing four. Besides this, the company also plans to strengthen the brand’s presence and offerings in the existing markets of India and Middle East and grow this segment by 15-25 percent.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds is also pursuing a massive brand and marketing initiative to accomplish its global brand and business vision. Shamlal Ahmed MP, Group Executive Director of Malabar Gold & Diamonds said, “We see a huge growth potential in the near

jewelry and Starlet - kids’ jewelry, the group is actively initiating the development of new brands to cater to discerning and varied global customer preferences.

Malabar Group is also partnering with Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode to initiate a program to develop a capable talent base for successfully carrying forth the expansion plan.

Dr Ibrahim Haji, Co-Chairman of Malabar Group of Companies said “The group has always been a front runner in its CSR initiatives and the association with IIM Kozhikode reaffirms our long term commitment to the cause and to contribute back to the society”.

The new brand promise of ‘Celebrate the Beauty of Life’ aims

Malabar Gold & Diamonds brings together the best of both worlds traditional and contemporary.

Established in 1993 in South Indian state of Kerala, Malabar Gold today has a strong retail network of 64 outlets spread across seven countries, four wholesale units in addition to offices, design centres and factories spread across India and the UAE. With cluster manufacturing units - four in India and GCC - the company currently has 5 jewelry brands to cater to the discerning needs of customers. With headquarters in Kerala, India and branches across India and GCC, Malabar Group is best known for its activities in the field of gold, diamond and precious metals.

Gulf Bank wins ‘International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Award’ The Asian Banker honor for second consecutive year

Burgan Bank enhances mobile banking services KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the launch of new and improved Mobile Banking SMS Service in its commitment to deliver the best and easy to use services to its customers. The new service offers a number of added value features that are exclusive to Burgan Bank as part of its continuing innova-

Muneera Al-Mukhaizeem tion to providing the fastest and most convenient responses to customer inquiries. With the exception of the bank’s Premier Banking Customers, an annual fee of KD10 will be applied to receive aler ts for credit updates, cheque clearances, and further debit alerts.

“The service will be made available for new and existing customers starting on 1st of March. Customers who wish to add this new enhancement to their services bouquet will need to

complete an application form, which is available at all branches and can be downloaded from Burgan Bank’s website (www.burgan.com).

Muneera Al-Mukhaizeem , Burgan Bank’s Chief Retail Banking Officer-GM said: “We are committed to delivering better and enhanced services for our customers, providing more flexibility when requesting any banking detail they wish to seek simply by using their mobile phone. We believe customers will be delighted with the ease of use and the convenience of this new service. The new and enhanced mobile banking service is available in Arabic or English.”

In mobile banking there are two types of alerts, the “Push” and “Pull”.

With “Push alerts”, customers receive Short Messaging Service (SMS) alerts for select transactions as and when they occur. These include salary credit alerts, account debits, account credits, credit card transactions, fixed deposit maturity, and cheque clearances. “Pull alerts”, on the other hand, is a service where specific and up-to-date details are requested, such as account balance, loan outstanding amount, and credit card outstanding balance. To find out more about Burgan Bank ’s mobile banking services as well as its latest promotions, customers are required to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch or contact the call center on 1804080. For more information, customers can visit the bank’s website on www.burgan.com.

KUWAIT: Gulf Bank has been awarded the ‘International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Award’ for the second consecutive year by The Asian Banker, one of Asia’s leading consultancies in financial services research, benchmarking and intelligence.

The awards ceremony was held on 23 March at the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore.

Aly Shalaby, Gulf Bank’s General Manager, Consumer Banking Group said: “Gulf Bank is truly proud to receive this prestigious recognition from The Asian Banker.

This is the second year in a row that our efforts to providing the best services and products to our customers have been recognized. At Gulf Bank, providing the best and

fastest customer service has become a fundamental principle, and by continually evolving our services we aim to consistently meet and exceed our customers’ expectations. There is no doubt that this award helps to further reinforce our reputation in Kuwait as a market leader in financial services, and we will continue to maintain our commitment towards our customers with energy and enthusiasm.”

Attending the event, and accepting the award on behalf of Gulf Bank was: Aly Shalaby, General Manager, Consumer Banking Group, Khaled Al-Mutawa, General Manager, International and Investments and Mark Magnacca, Chief Marketing Officer.

Gulf Bank’s Khaled Al-Mutawa, General Manager, International and Investments, Aly Shalaby, General Manager, Consumer Banking Group, Mark Magnacca, Chief Marketing Officer along with Emmanuel Daniel, CEO of The Asian Banker and Philippe Paillart, International Resource Director, The Asian Banker at the Asian Banker Awards Ceremony.

Kathem Sulimani NBK’s Al-Jawhara KD 250,000 quarterly winner Draw held during NBK walkathon KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), announces the lucky winner of the KD 250,000 Al-Jawhara quarterly prize, Kathem Mohammed Baqer Sulimani. The draw took place during NBK 18th Annual Walkathon on Saturday, 24 March, 2012 under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce.

Kathem Baqer, the first grand winner of the KD 250,000 draw, expressed his gratitude and appreciation, explaining that this gave him the chance to finally purse his dreams.

NBK recently re-launched AlJawhara account, by offering customers more chances to win bigger prizes. By offering a KD 5,000 weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and

a grand prize of KD 250,000 quarterly draw. Al-Jawhara account

offers numerous benefits to NBK customers. Not only is it an inter-

Kathem Mohammed Baqer Sulimani receiving his prize during the NBK Walkathon.

est-free account with regular deposit and withdrawal privileges, but also entitles account holders to enter the weekly, monthly and quarterly AlJawhara draws. Each KD 50 in an Al-Jawhara account entitles the customer to one chance in any of the draws.

All prizes are automatically credited to the winners’ accounts the day after the draw. The more money held in your Al-Jawhara account, the greater your chances of winning. Al-Jawhara accounts are available to both Kuwaitis and expats and can be opened at any one of NBK’s branches around Kuwait. For further information kindly visit www.nbk.com, or call Hala Watani at 1801801.

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Chinese buy paper iPads for ancestor worship BEIJING: Paper replicas of Apple’s iPad and iPhone are selling like hot cakes in China this year as millions prepare to honor their ancestors in an age-old annual festival that has taken on a modern twist.

Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on April 4 this year, sees families remember their ancestors by laying out food at their grave sites and burning paper replicas of daily necessities such as clothes, money, cars and houses.

The tradition-which dates back thousands of years-dictates that the paper goods can be used by their ancestors in the afterlife, and the offerings have evolved to fit in with modern life. As such, paper replicas of iPhones and iPads-which are hugely popular in China-have become all the rage.

“The paper iPhones and iPads sold are the same size as the real ones with a whole complete package of components like headphones,” an online

retailer known by his surname, Tang, told AFP. “I have run this online shop for four years, and started to sell paper iPhones and iPads two years ago. “These... are quite popular. Many people ask about them especially when Tomb Sweeping Day is approaching.” Another online retailer, who did not want to be named, also told AFP there has been an increase in orders for iPhone paper replicas ahead of the festival next week. Retailers said a paper iPad

sells for 538 yuan ($85) including delivery while an iPhone version costs around 22 yuan.

Apple products are extremely popular in China where people queue for hours to get their hands on the latest devices. Tomb Sweeping day-or Qing Ming-is also widely celebrated by ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia, where most of them consider it an important occasion to pay respect to their ancestors.— AFP

Apple offers to refund Australian iPad customers Customers feel misled by advertising

HONG KONG: Akie Koh, a stylist from Japan, makes final preparations on the face of Geminoid F (R), a female robot, in Hong Kong. The Geminoid F robot, developed by Ishiguro Laboratory in Osaka University and ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in 2010, will be on display with other robots at City Plaza’s “Robots in Motion 2012” exhibition from March 29 to April 15. —AFP

Taiwan: Woman kills self while on Facebook TAIPEI: A woman in Taiwan killed herself by inhaling poisonous fumes while chatting with friends on Facebook and none of them alerted authorities, police said. Claire Lin killed herself on her 31st birthday, March 18, and family members who reported her suicide were unaware of the Facebook conversations that accompanied it, Taipei police officer Hsieh Ku-ming said Tuesday.

Lin’s last Facebook entries show her chatting with nine friends, alerting them to her gradual asphyxiation. One picture uploaded from her mobile phone depicts a charcoal barbecue burning next to two stuffed animals. Another shows the room filled with fumes. One friend identified as Chung Hsin, told Lin, “Be calm, open the window, put out the charcoal fire, please, I beg you.” Lin replied: “The fumes are suffocating. They fill my eyes with tears. Don’t write me anymore.”

A few of the Facebook friends chatting with her tried to stop her and track her down on their own, but none called police.

Chung did not respond to attempts to reach him for comment. Lin’s last words, in Chinese, were: “Too late. My room is filled with fumes. I just posted another picture.

Even while I’m dying, I still want FB (Facebook). Must be FB poison. Haha.” Lin’s Facebook postings indicated she was

unhappy because her boyfriend was ignoring her, and had failed to return home to be with her on her birthday. Her boyfriend found her body the next morning and alerted her family, Hsieh said.

Hsieh said he regretted that none of her friends called police to help her during the 67-minute episode, but he added it may have been difficult for them to know her whereabouts because of the nature of social media. “It could be true that it would be hard to track down a Facebook friend without her address or phone contact,” Hsieh said.

Chai Ben-rei, a sociologist at Taiwan’s Feng Chia University, said the incident reflected social isolation in the Internet age. “People may have doubts about what they see on the Internet because of its virtual nature, and fail to take action on it,” he said. In a statement, Facebook said the company is deeply saddened by Lin’s death and that the case serves as a “painful reminder of how people can help others who are in distress or need assistance.”

Facebook’s help page has links to suicide prevention hotlines in about 20 countries, including Taiwan, where the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center’s phone number and website are listed. In the case of an emergency, however, Facebook urges users to call authorities immediately. — AP

CAPE TOWN: A Samsung Galaxy phone with an application which gives the user quick access to emergency services is displayed at the “Built for Africa” at the Samsung Forum 2012 in Cape Town. From solar powered lights to televisions that can withstand power blackouts, electronics mega-firms are wooing African consumers with products that target local, often challenging, environments. —AFP

Lulz Security ‘reborn’ with military dating site hack SAN FRANCISCO: A Lulz Security hacker group that bade farewell to the world last year appeared to make a comeback on Tuesday with a trove of data looted from a dating website for soldiers. Hackers referring to themselves as “LulzSec Reborn” made a cache of information evidently stolen from MilitarySingles.com website available at online file sharing service Pastebin.

The file included a note saying “laughing at your security since 2011” and a message claiming to have mined personal information from nearly 171,000 accounts at the website.

In a message at an Anonymous News account at Twitter on Tuesday, the hackers promised to soon divulge “the full database of military singles” including private messages. LulzSec, which was associated with loosely knit hacker collective Anonymous, announced in the middle of last year that it was dissolving the group after having caused 50 days of havoc as intended.

The farewell posted online came after sus-

pected members of the group were arrested.

“The original LulzSec gang had its summer of hacktivism brought to a swift end,” Graham Cluley said in a Sophos Internet security firm blog post on Tuesday.

“Of course, on the Internet, anyone can claim to be whatever they want and so it’s not particularly surprising to see that it was a group calling itself LulzSec Reborn” claiming credit for a hack of MilitarySingles.com. Cluley said that email address, real names and even home addresses of “romance-seeking members of the military” were in the trove of information posted on the Internet by the hackers.

“If you know anyone who has ever used the Military Singles website, it would be a good idea to tell them to change their password as a precaution - and to ensure that they are not using the same password anywhere else,” Cluley advised. ESingles Inc., which operates MilitarySingles.com, said in a public statement that it was investigating the hacking claim.— AFP

SYDNEY: Apple offered yesterday to refund Australian customers who felt misled by advertising about the 4G capability of its new iPad, which can only access the ultra-fast wireless network in North America. Apple’s problems in Australia could have wider repercussions in markets where the US company also advertises the iPad as featuring 4G, despite those countries having an incompatible network, or no 4G networks yet.

In those markets the new iPad reverts to a slower 3G speed, although that does not appear to have dented robust sales of the third-generation tablet computer outside North America.

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission has taken Apple to the Federal Court for false advertising over its “iPad with WiFi + 4G” promotion, because the popular device does not work on the local 4G frequency.

The US tech giant’s lawyers said Apple was prepared to publish a clarification about the tablet’s Australian capabilities, and refund any customers who felt they had been misled by the 4G reference. Paul Anastassiou, counsel for Apple, said in court in Melbourne that the company was confident very few people would apply for a refund. Anastassiou added that Apple was not prepared to put corrective stickers on iPad boxes, as sought by the ACCC, but would email customers to clarify that the device was not compatible with local carrier Telstra’s 4G network. It would also publish notices to that effect at the point of sale “for the sake of absolute clarity”.

However, Anastassiou said that when the matter came to full trial-set for May 2 — Apple would contest the ACCC’s claims that it had misled consumers because the third-generation iPad did work on other Telstra frequencies. “It will be contested by Apple there are in Australia networks that, according to international definitions, are 4G,” he told the court, according to The Age newspaper. “What Apple says is that other networks operated by Telstra are in fact properly described by international standards as 4G, even though Telstra itself does not so describe them.”

Anastassiou added that Apple had “at no point in any promotional material... said at any time” that the new iPad was compatible with Telstra’s 4G network. The ACCC is seeking an injunction to sales along with a financial penalty

Zuckerberg’s China trip sparks Facebook frenzy SHANGHAI: The sight of a vacationing Mark Zuckerberg in Shanghai has sparked a frenzy of online speculation over the possibility Facebook might return to China, even though the site remains firmly blocked. Excited Chinese bloggers posted photographs of the Facebook founder and his girlfriend at an Apple store and in Shanghai’s art gallery district on Tuesday, expressing hopes it might mean access to the popular social networking site.

“Does this mean... Facebook is preparing to be unblocked?” said Kelisisong on the popular Sina microblog service, a Chinese version of Twitter.

Facebook has more than 800 million users around the world and is the leading social network in all but six countries, notably Russia, where local rivals are preferred, and China, where it has been banned since 2009.

Last month the California-based company said it continued to “evaluate entering China”-the world’s largest Internet market-as it filed paperwork seeking to raise $5 billion on Wall Street. Analysts say Facebook’s chances of re-entering the market of half a billion Internet users are slim. Nonetheless, China’s Internet users speculated the billionaire Zuckerberg might be seeking to make inroads into the market during his time in China.

“China has always been the centre of attention (for foreign technology firms),” said blogger Qimeng Luosong. “Maybe tomorrow morning when we get up, we can open Facebook.” Beijing attempts to block content it deems politically sensitive through a censorship system known popularly as the “Great Firewall of China”. Web users can only access blocked sites through virtual private networks.

Zuckerberg said previously that he was “spending a lot of time” studying Chinese and visited the country in December 2010 with his girlfriend Priscilla Chan, when he met with the head of the country’s biggest search engine Baidu. Analysts believe Zuckerberg and Baidu were discussing a possible tie-up that could enable Facebook to enter China, but were forced to abandon the talks after the Arab Spring protests of early 2011 spooked Beijing.

Apple customers, who recognised Zuckerberg dressed in his trademark jeans, sneakers and hoodie asked to take photos with him but he declined.

“Zuckerberg introduces himself to mainland China in this way: ‘Hi, I am the founder of the website page not found,’” another blogger joked, referring to the message users see when trying to view a blocked site. — AFP

against Apple, corrective advertising and refunds to consumers. Judge Mordecai Bromberg said it was “more relevant” what an ordinary consumer understood from the term 4G, while ACCC lawyer Colin Golvan argued that the promotion was confusing.

“The iPad should not be sold as compatible with the 4G network or by reference to the terminology ‘plus 4G’,” Golvan said. “Apple does not have an iPad which would meet a consumer request for an iPad which operates using a sim card in the (Australian) 4G network.” Like in Australia, Apple’s websites in Britain, Hong Kong and Singapore promise “Ultra-fast wireless. Full speed ahead.” But a footnote spells out that the new iPad’s “4G LTE” capability is supported only on networks in the United States and Canada.

Customers at Apple’s store in Singapore, where the 4G’s incompatibility with local networks was widely publicised ahead of the launch, said they were not worried about the issue. “It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have 4G,

how fast do you want it to go?” said student Kamalina Mazlan, 22, who was buying her first iPad. Apple announced last week that it had sold three million iPads in its first weekend on the market after the new model went on sale in North America and selected foreign markets on March 16 — the strongest iPad launch yet.

It has adopted the “4G LTE” standard prevalent in the United States, promising unrivalled wireless speeds. But markets including Japan have a different standard for 4G, while some such as Britain do not yet have 4G. According to reports in the technology media, the European Union’s executive commission could follow Australia’s lead in taking action against Apple over the 4G marketing.

The latest case is not the first time Apple’s technology has landed in Australia’s courts. The firm is locked in a legal battle with rival Samsung over tablet patents, part of a wider global tussle over supremacy of the US$100 billion market. — AFP

MELBOURNE: An Apple iPad3 sits on display at a store in Melbourne yesterday. Apple on March 28 offered to refund Australian customers who felt misled by advertising about 4G capabilities on its new iPad, which can only access the ultra-fast wireless network in North America. —AFP

Aspiring Facebook investors warned of Yahoo! lawsuit SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook on Tuesday warned potential investors that a patent lawsuit against the company by Internet pioneer Yahoo! could deliver a significant blow to its business. The world’s leading online social network amended initial public offering (IPO) paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to include the Yahoo! case among risks to the company’s bottom line.

“This litigation is still in its early stages and the final outcome, including our liability, if any, with respect to these claims, is uncertain,” Facebook said in the updated SEC filing. “If an unfavorable outcome were to occur in this litigation, the impact could be material to our business, financial condition, or results of operations.” Yahoo! filed suit against Facebook in a US District Court in California court on March 12, accusing the startup of infringing on 10 of its patents in several areas including advertising, privacy and messaging.

Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo! asked the court to order Facebook to halt its alleged patentinfringing activities and to assess unspecified damages. “We are confident we will prevail,” Yahoo! said in a statement when the suit was filed.

Yahoo!’s lawsuit came about five weeks after

Facebook filed to go public on Wall Street with an estimated valuation of up to $100 billion. Patent suits are a frequent occurrence among smartphone and tablet computer makers, and the world’s best known brands are ensnared in a complex web of legal claims.

Such suits, however, have been rare among social media companies. Facebook, which was founded in 2004, a decade after Yahoo!, expressed disappointment with the Yahoo! move. In the suit, Yahoo! said that Facebook’s growth to approximately 850 million users “has been based in large part on Facebook’s use of Yahoo!’s patented technology.” Yahoo! said Facebook’s popular “News Feed” feature, for example, is “directly linked to Facebook’s infringement” of Yahoo! patents and its advertising model is based on advertising patents held by Yahoo!.

“We have not yet filed an answer or asserted any counterclaims with respect to this complaint,” Facebook said in the SEC filing. “We intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit.” Once seen as the Internet’s leading light, Yahoo! has struggled in recent years to build a strongly profitable, growing business out of its huge Web presence and global audience.— AFP

‘Tens of billions’ of habitable worlds in Milky Way LONDON: Astronomers hunting for rocky planets with the right temperature to support life estimate there may be tens of billions of them in our galaxy alone. A European team said yesterday that about 40 percent of red dwarf stars - the most common type in the Milky Way - have a so-called “superEarth” planet orbiting in a habitable zone that would allow water to flow on the surface. Since there are around 160 billion red dwarfs in the Milky Way, the number of worlds that are potentially warm enough and wet enough to support life is enormous.

Xavier Bonfils of the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics in Grenoble, the leader of the team, said the 40 percent figure was at the high end of what had been expected and the finding underscored the prevalence of small rocky planets. His team is the first to calculate the number of super-Earths - planets with a mass between one and 10 times the Earth - in such habitable zones, although previous research has found the Milky Way to be awash with planets. Red dwarfs, which

are faint and cool compared to the Sun, account for around 80 percent of the stars in the Milky Way. After studying 102 of these stars in the southern skies using a European Southern Observatory telescope in Chile, Bonfils and colleagues found rocky planets were far more common than massive gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. However, the rocky worlds spinning around red dwarfs are not necessarily cosy places for alien forms of life. Because reds dwarfs are much cooler than the sun, any planets with liquid water will need to be orbiting much closer to the star than the Earth is from the Sun. That may mean they are bathed in damaging X-ray and ultraviolet radiation.

Scientists aim to take a closer look at some of the Earth-like planets as they pass in front of nearby red dwarfs, which should yield information about their atmospheres and help in the search for possible signs of life. The research was presented in a paper to be published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics . — Reuters

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Idaho will not require ultrasound before abortion BOISE: Idaho’s Republican-controlled Legislature is backing away from a bill requiring women seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound first, capping weeks of Capitol demonstrations, a live Senate ultrasound exhibition on pregnant women and threats against at least one lawmaker. The legislation passed the Senate, but stalled in the state House after Rep. Tom Loertscher announced Tuesday he wouldn’t schedule a committee hearing.

Consequently, anti-abortion activists’ push to include Idaho among seven other states that require ultrasound procedures before an abortion will likely be put off until 2013. Proponents, including Right to Life of Idaho, asked for a chance to change the bill Tuesday morning, but Loertscher, R-Bone, decided there wasn’t time left in this session to resolve concerns among the House’s majority Republicans that the bill allowed government to intrude too deeply into women’s

private lives.

“They were still holding out some hope for amendments,” Loertscher said.

“They agreed it’s probably so late, they should step back and make another run at this next year.” Idaho is among eleven states that already require verbal counseling or written materials on abortion include information on ultrasound, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Supporters hoped adding a new mandate could help convince more women not to terminate their pregnancies. Jason Herring, president of Right to Life of Idaho, said misconceptions about Idaho’s measure - and lack of time - ultimately worked against his group’s efforts to convince a majority of representatives to get behind the bill.

Among amendments under consideration were the addition of an explicit exemption for medical emergencies and clarification that an invasive vaginal ultrasound couldn’t be forced on unwill-

ing women, as some lawmakers feared could have been required. Still, Herring said exceptions for rape or incest victims weren’t among concessions his group would have supported. “We don’t believe women need less information and less care when they are victims of crime. They need more care,” Herring said, adding his group would be back in 2013. “ The debate is far from over.”

If an ultrasound bill does return, the public outcry will be the same, predicted Monica Hopkins, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho.

“There’s a fierce sense of independence here,” Hopkins said. “Politicians and legislators saw this as government intrusion and had a problem with mandating something that was a clear overreach and didn’t adhere to the constitutional principles of equality and liberty.”

Throughout the debate, the passion from both sides was apparent. A live ultrasound exhibition in the Capitol last

week, billed as “Voices from the Womb,” featured six women who underwent abdominal ultrasounds before an audience of more than 150 people. One opponent after another was escorted from the room by Idaho State Police troopers after making their objections to the bill heard.

And the 100-year-old Statehouse’s front steps became a battle theater for sign- and American flag-carrying carrying advocates, including demonstrations from both sides that stretched into Monday evening. Heading into an election year, some Republicans got cold feet after hearing from women in their districts that the bill was a bad idea. Rep. Steve Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, described how he sent out 15 letters to women polling them on the bill. Twelve replied, and only one supported the measure.

“They (Republicans) recognized that when you kick the bee hive, bees come out,” said House Minority Leader John

Rusche, D-Lewiston, calling the measure “terrible medicine, terrible public policy and an assault on personal freedom.”

There was also turmoil surrounding the measure’s Senate sponsor, Chuck Winder, R-Boise, who became a lightning rod after comments he made on the Senate floor on March 19 that suggested a doctor should ask a woman who says she’s been raped if the pregnancy could have been “caused by normal relations in a marriage.”

Though Winder clarified he wasn’t questioning the truthfulness of rape victims or women, his email account, Facebook page and telephones were subsequently barraged with messages from foes of the bill. On Tuesday, Winder said he couldn’t repeat many of the comments, which he said included threats of violence against him and his family.

“Passion is great,” Winder said Tuesday.

“But disrespect devalues the opposition’s argument.”— AP

Virginia man injured in gun accident gets new face Most extensive face transplant ever performed

NAYPYIDAW: This picture shows a caretaker bathing a white elephant in Naypyidaw.

Kings and leaders in the predominantly Buddhist nation have traditionally treasured white elephants, whose rare appearances in the country are believed to herald good fortune, including power and political change. — AFP

Twins seek sex change in China SHANGHAI: Two young Chinese women undergoing sex-change surgery at a Shanghai hospital are hoping to be the first twins in the country to change their gender, a state-backed newspaper said yesterday. The 25-year-old sisters from the southwestern province of Yunnan have already undergone preliminary surgery at a military hospital in the commercial hub, the Shanghai Daily reported.

“The operations on both the twins are successful,” their surgeon, Zhao Yede, was quoted as saying. “They said they would continue to save up (money) from hard work so they can return for their respective last phases of surgery,” he said. A spokesman for the People’s Liberation

Army Number 411 Hospital declined to comment to AFP, saying military units could not speak to foreign media.

The paper quoted one of the twins as saying they did not want any publicity, fearing they would lose their jobs. The two sisters dress in male clothing, never wearing skirts or growing their hair long, the newspaper said. They both attended the same schools and university. The hospital put them through medical and psychological tests before agreeing to perform the surgeries, it said.

Under Chinese law, their legal gender will remain female until they complete the surgical procedures and apply for a change to their status, the newspaper said.— AFP

Some doctors still mistaken on IUD safety NEW YORK: Many US doctors and other health providers may have mistaken beliefs about the safety of IUD contraceptives, thinking they are less safe than they are - especially for women who have never given birth, according to a US government study.

Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed almost 2,000 health care providers and found that nearly one-third either thought IUDs were unsafe for women who had never given birth or were unsure of their safety.

IUDs, or intrauterine devices, are implanted in the uterus, where they release small amounts of either copper or the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy. When IUDs first came out, there were concerns that they might increase the risk of pelvic infection and jeopardize women’s future fertility. But it’s now known that IUDs do not carry that risk, said Crystal Tyler at the CDC, who led the study. What’s more, unlike condoms and birth control pills - both more popular in the United States - they are put in place and can be “forgotten.”

“IUDs are safe for ... women” who have not given birth, said Tyler. “And IUDs are as effective as sterilization, but they’re a reversible form of contraception.” The hormonal IUD, sold under the brand name Mirena, can prevent pregnancy for five years, while the copper version, sold as ParaGard, is effective for about 10 years. A separate recent study found that 0.8 percent of US women using a copper IUD had an unplanned pregnancy within a year, while the rate for those on the hormonal IUD was 0.2 percent.

By contrast, about nine of every 100 women on birth control pills can expect to

have an unintentional pregnancy in a year, owing largely to imperfect use. With condoms, about two percent of women will become pregnant, but that’s only if a couple uses them correctly every time they have sex.

Tyler and her colleagues, whose results are reported in Obstetrics and Gynecology, surveyed obstetrician/gynecologists and family doctors, as well as nurses and physician assistants working at family planning clinics.

Overall, about 30 percent thought the devices were unsafe for women who had never given birth or were unsure of their safety.

Not surprisingly, they were also less likely to implant IUDs - six times more likely to say they “infrequently” implanted the devices in women who had never had a baby than compared to other providers.

But IUDs were not a popular form of contraception in general. More than 60 percent of all providers in the survey said they only occasionally provided them, often because of “patient preference.” “Unfortunately, the US is a little behind other countries in IUD use,” said Tyler. “Many women don’t really know they’re out there.” With more health-provider education, that could change, she added. Groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) say IUDs are highly effective and more women should be aware of that. Like other contraceptives, IUDs can have unwanted side effects. The Mirena IUD may cause menstrual irregularities, but generally makes periods lighter and is also approved as a treatment for heavy bleeding.

The ParaGard IUD has the opposite effect: menstrual bleeding and cramping can increase, though that may go away over time.— Reuters

BALTIMORE: After 15 years of wearing a mask and living as a recluse, a 37-year-old Virginia man disfigured in a gun accident got a new face, nose, teeth and jaw in what University of Maryland physicians say is the most extensive face transplant ever performed. Richard Lee Norris of Hillsville is recovering well after last week’s surger y, beginning to feel his face and already brushing his teeth and shaving, University of Maryland Medical Center officials announced Tuesday. He’s also regained his sense of smell, which he had lost after the accident.

Norris, who was selected from among five possible candidates for the surgery, has been living as a recluse, doing his shopping at night. It’s hoped the transplant will give him his life back, said Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, the lead surgeon. “It’s a surreal experience to look at him. It’s hard not to stare.

Before, people used to stare at Richard because he wore a mask and they wanted to see the deformity,” Rodriguez said. “Now, they have another reason to stare at him, and it’s really amazing.”

Rodriguez showed a 1993 prom photo of Norris, “as we all want to be remembered,” beside a pre transplant photo of Norris’ shortened face with a sunken mouth and flattened nose. He then revealed a photo of Norris taken on Monday, where his face appears ordinary, other than stiches along his hairline and neck and scarring around his eyelids. Although he now has the donor ’s face, he doesn’t resemble the donor, Rodriguez said.

“It’s a combination of two individuals, a true blend,” he said.

Norris’ vision was largely unaffected by the accident. Because of numerous reconstructive surgeries, his forehead and neck were mostly scar tissue. Norris had no teeth, no nose and only part of his tongue.

VIRGINIA: These photographs released March 27, 2012 by the University of Maryland Medical Center show before and after images of full face transplant recipient 37-year-old Richard Lee Norris of Hillsville, Virginia, who was injured in a 1997 gun accident. —AFP He was still able to taste but could was a bit of tongue and minimal amount of bone marrow with its not smell. “He could not smell for protection for his eyes. Rodriguez own blood supply saw fewer or no the past 15 years, and that was the called it the point of no return. “At rejections, transplant surgeon Dr. most dramatic thing - immediately, that point, we had to be successful,” Rolf Barth said. Norris will have to on day three, he could finally smell,” he said. Norris will require minor take immunosuppression drugs for revisions, but those will be outpa- the rest of his life to keep his body Rodriguez said. from rejecting the donated face, Doctors gave few details about tient procedures, he said.

It was the 23rd face transplant but the jaw transplant could mean the donor, citing the family’s desire for privacy. They said the donor’s since doctors began doing the pro- he will need less and may be able organs went to several people. But cedure seven years ago. The first to go off steroids, he said.

“This was the perfect patient to the donor’s family was consulted full face transplant was performed specifically about donating the in France in 2005 on a woman who put into practice what we had disface, said Charles Alexander, presi- was mauled by her dog. The covered in the laboratory,” Barth dent of the Living Legacy Cleveland Clinic performed the first said. Officials provided little detail Foundation. He said that consent- face transplant in the US in 2008. on Norris or the circumstances of ing to be an organ donor does not The Department of Defense has the accident that took his face. He automatically extend to face dona- been funding some face and hand graduated from high school in his tions. The 36-hour operation was surgeries with the goal of helping small southwest Virginia hometown the most extensive because it wounded soldiers. More than 1,000 in 1993 and was employed at the included transplantation of the troops have lost an arm or leg in time of the accident. Since then, he teeth, upper and lower jaw, a por- Afghanistan or Iraq, and the gov- has lived with his parents and has tion of the tongue and all facial tis- ernment estimates that 200 troops not had a full-time job, Rodriguez sue from the scalp to the base of might be eligible for face trans- said. “ This accidental injury just the neck, Rodriguez said. Because it plants.

The University of Maryland’s destroyed everything. The rest of included so much facial tissue, the incisions are farther back and less research on transplants was funded his friends and colleagues went on by a grant from the Office of Naval to start getting married, having visible, he said. owning homes,” The most dramatic moment Research, and doctors said they children, came when the team had finished hope to begin operating soon on Rodriguez told The Associated removing all the previous attempts military patients. Researchers found Press. “He wants to make up for all at reconstruction. All Norris had left that transplants involving large of that.”— AP

Study: Birds adjusting slowly to climate change

In this undated photo provided by Cornell University, an endangered red-cockaded woodpecker clings to a tree. While other birds adjusted their migration ranges northward in response to warming winters, the red-cockaded woodpecker hasn’t moved at all. —AP

Frosty night threatens early-budding fruit crops ALBANY: Anxious farmers in fruit-growing regions of the Great Lakes, Northeast and even parts of the South kept misters, smudge pots and helicopters in their arsenals as a cold front approached from Canada, threatening to freeze trees and vines overnight that had budded early amid record-setting warmth. At risk are this season’s harvests of wine grapes, apples, apricots, cherries, pears, peaches and possibly strawberries. If the freeze causes damage, consumers would likely notice it on a

regional scale at farm stands, farmers’ markets and other local outlets.

Cameron Hosmer was counting on a helicopter to mix warmer air with the cold at ground level Tuesday morning at his 60-acre vineyard in New York’s Finger Lakes region. He worried most about his French-American hybrid grape De Chaunac, which are farthest along with half-inch buds, but noted he and other growers were at nature’s mercy. “We’re not in charge,” he said. “We’re guests here. You’re going to have to be pre-

pared for disappointments.”

The National Weather Service has issued hard freeze and frost warnings and watches in a swath from the central Great Lakes to the East Coast.

Temperatures could drop as low as the mid-teens across a swath of states including Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia. “This is absolutely the earliest we’ve seen,” Cornell University horticulture professor Susan Brown said of

the combination of freezing weather and plants that have come alive early.

Most threatened overnight are apricots, which are already in full bloom. “They’re going to be toast,” she said. Seeds planted early in home gardens should be fine, experts said, but tender ornamentals and early-blooming flowers like tulips and daffodils can be covered with sheets or newspapers to give them a good chance of making it through the night. Containers should be brought indoors. — AP

ALBANY: A new study based on the National Audubon Society’s North American Christmas Bird Count finds birds have taken decades to adjust their ranges northward in response to warming winters. Frank La Sorte, a post-doctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, was lead author of the study published online this month by the Journal of Animal Ecology. He said animals adjust to rising minimum winter temperatures by shifting their ranges northward. Since birds are highly mobile and migrate north and south with the changing seasons, they’re better able to shift their ranges than less-mobile, nonmigrating species, like amphibians.

But the study of 59 bird species found it’s not all that easy or quick.

And some birds are better equipped to follow the changing climate than others. Take black vultures. While the minimum winter temperature increased from 1975 to 2009, it took black vultures 35 years to catch up with the trend.

Over that time, they have spread northward as far as Massachusetts, where winters now are similar to Baltimore’s in 1975.

On the other hand, the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker hasn’t moved at all. La Sorte said that could be because they have such specialized habitat needs, found only in the sandy longleaf pine forests of 11 southern states.

“It might be good to go in and look at how well they’re coping” with the rising temperature, La Sorte said Tuesday in an interview. “It

depends on their physiological tolerance, and changes in the prey base.”

La Sorte said species that don’t track climate changes may wind up in habitats that don’t suit them well. “When you think about it, it makes sense that species move slower than the rate at which climate is changing,” La Sorte said.

“They’re not just tracking temperature; many of them need to follow a prey base, a type of vegetation, or they need certain kinds of habitat that will create corridors for movement.”

There are also species, such as turkey vultures and ruby-throated hummingbirds, that moved north faster than the temperature warmed. “The take-home message is that as species are responding, they’re doing it under their own time frame,” La Sorte said.

“Understanding what that time frame might be is challenging. We have to give species the opportunity to respond by providing corridors for movement, and long-term maintenance of those corridors.

That would require cooperation across political boundaries.”

Such a corridor might be a swath of forest or grassland that extends northward so birds can gradually move north along it, rather than being stopped by a sprawling metropolitan region.

“There’s a lot of discussion about it, but it’s primarily academic,” La Sorte said. The study, co-authored

by Walter Jetz of Yale University, was supported by the National Science Foundation.—AP

H E A LT H

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

US Supreme Court reveals splits on health mandate WASHINGTON: A US Supreme Court justice seen as a key swing vote challenged landmark health care reforms Tuesday, as arguments focused on whether Americans can be forced to buy health insurance. On the second day of hearings likely to have a huge political impac t, Justice Anthony Kennedy appeared skeptical about the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s signature legislation.

“I understand that we must presume laws are constitutional, but, even so, when you are changing the relation of the individual to the government in this, what we can stipulate is, I think, a unique way, do you not have a heavy burden of justification to show authorization under the constitution?” Kennedy said.

He was quizzing Solicitor General D o n a l d Ve r r i l l i d e fe n d i n g t h e Affordable Care Act-a main plank of which will require all Americans to buy health insurance-raising doubts whether the key reforms would survive. The court’s conservative Chief J u s t i ce J o h n R o b e r t s h owe ve r appeared ambivalent in a nine-member cour t that other wise seemed divided along ideological lines that favor conservatives. The exchanges came on t he se con d o f th re e unprecedented days of oral arguments in what is perhaps the court’s biggest case since it had to decide on the Al Gore versus George W. Bush 2000 presidential election. The health care reform-signed into law in 2010 — has been touted as a Democratic dream of generations, ex tending health care coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

Republicans argue that it is an affront to the civil liberties and personal freedoms enshrined in the US Constitution. Obama meanwhile on Tuesday accused his Republican rivals

of wanting to turn back “decades of progress, particularly for women’s health.” The conser vative justices zeroed in on questions about the limits of whether the government can require individuals to buy health care insurance, or set penalties for failing to do so, with the chief justice making the point that the law could be “a slippery slope.” “Everybody has to buy

date. This is a law that regulates the method of paying for a service that t he c lass o f p eo p le to who m it applies are... consuming,” he said.

Kennedy asked why Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce would not mean allowing the government to order individuals to buy other goods and services.

Verrilli said the difference was that

WASHINGTON: Wearing what she calls “war paint,” Susan Clark of Santa Monica, CA rings a bell while demonstrating outside U.S. Supreme Court on the third day of oral arguments over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act yesterday in Washington, DC. —AFP food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli,” said Antonin Scalia, one of the cour t ’s most conservative justices.

Verrilli argued the insurance market was unique and different from the market for cars or cellphones, saying the failure of some to buy insurance shifts the cost of their health care to others. “This is not a purchase man-

in those cases “Congress would be moving to create commerce. Here Congress is regulating existing commerce, economic ac tivit y that is already going on.” More liberal justices insisted health care was different, and not like buying a car or broccoli. “We all suffer from the risk of getting sick ,” said Justice Steven Breyer. “And we all know we can’t predict when.” The justices debated the law for two hours before a packed

court that included Attorney General Eric Holder and a host of political luminaries from both sides of the aisle.

Paul Clement, a former solicitor general arguing for 26 states challenging the law, cla imed the s o called “individual mandate,” requiring the purchase of insurance, was an a s s a u lt on pers ona l freedoms.

Tuesday’s session followed oral arguments Monday in which the justices appeared to satisfy themselves they had jurisdiction to review the law even though it does not enter into full effect until 2014.

Opponents of what the law derided by critics as “Obamacare” said Tuesday they were encouraged by the proceedings so far. “We’ve been in the courtroom now for two days.

We feel very confident. We feel very pleased with the questions that the justices have been asking,” Florida attorney general Pam Bondi said. On Wednesday, the court will take up two other issues separately-whether the law as a whole can survive if the “individual mandate” is found to be unconstitutional and whether the government can require the states to extend Medicare-a federal program for lowincome Americans-to a larger pool. As the session got underway, protesters for and against the law held demonstrations on the steps of the court, reflecting the intense passions the law has aroused in an election year.

Abby Hoffman, 23, of North Carolina said she was there because “health care is a human right.” But acknowledged Tea Party loyalist Diana Reimer of Pennsylvania said the government should not be allowed to order people to buy health insurance. “I was raised to deal with my own problems, solve my own problems, and never did I go to the government to solve my problems,” she said.— AFP

Indonesia land clearance ‘wiping out’ orangutans JAKARTA: Critically-endangered orangutans in a protected area of Indonesia will be wiped out by the end of the year if land clearing is not stopped, a coalition of environmental groups warned yesterday. The government must immediately halt the clearance of forest in the 13,000-hectare (32,000 acres) peat swamps in Tripa, Aceh province, the groups, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth said.

They also called on the government to investigate the use of fire by palm oil companies for land clearing and reinforce existing laws protecting the ecosystem. Ian Singleton, conservation director of Swiss-based PanEco, one of the groups making up the Coalition for Protection of Tripa Swamp, said the roughly 200 orangutans left in the peat swamps will be gone in months if the fires continue.

“The speed of destruction, fires, burning and everything has gone up dramatically in the last few weeks, let alone in the last year, and this is obviously a deliberate drive by these companies to clear all the remaining forests,” he said. “If this is not stopped right now, then all those orangutans, all those forests, will be gone before the end of 2012.” Experts believe there are about 50,000 to 60,000 of the two species of 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.

Most of those left are the endangered Bornean orangutan species. And Singleton said that based on 2004 figures there are only 6,600 of the critically-endangered Sumatran oragutans left in North Sumatra and Aceh provinces. “We suspect that up to 100 orangutans may have perished in forest clearing and peat burning in the last few months in Tripa,” said Graham Usher of local group Foundation of a Sustainable Ecosystem.

Satellite monitoring found at least 87 fire hotspots between March 19 and 24 in three palm oil concessions. Footage and images captured large clouds of white smoke and patches of burnt peat. At least 2,800 hectares of peat were destroyed in the latest fires, and the number of animals, including Sumatran orangutans, Malayan sun bears and Sumatran tigers that perished was “immeasurable”, the local group added.

Palm oil is a key ingredient in soap and everyday foods ranging from peanut butter to sweets but its cultivation is considered one of the biggest threats to the world’s dwindling rainforests.— AFP

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THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N Greetings

To the little bundle of joy that fell from heaven a year ago, we love you!

Wishing you a very happy 1st birthday!

May God bless you Kripa. From Acha, Amma, Vinuchayan and Merlin Aunty.

Announcements Ambassadors of Comedy Dean-Obeidallah (The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour), Nitin Mirani (King Of UAE Comedy), Aron Kader (The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour). All of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the St. John Ambulance Brigade (India) and the Fazlani Foundation (India). Go out and have fun while supporting a wonderful cause When: April 27, 2012 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm at the American International School (Hamood Al-Naser Street, Dr. Kamil Al-Rayes Auditorium, Meidan Hawalli) Contact: Mohamed Kagdi or Minhaj Shikari 99788692 or 99710242 Ian Buchanan lecture Professor Ian Buchanan is the Director of the Institute for Social Transformation Research at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Prior to taking up this appointment he was Professor of Critical Theory at Cardiff University in the UK. He is the author of numerous books including Michel de Certeau: Cultural Theorist (2000), Deleuzism: A Metacommentary (2000), Fredric Jameson: Live Theory (2006), Deleuze and Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus (2008), and, most recently, the Dictionary of Critical Theory published by Oxford University Press (2010). He is founding editor of the journal Deleuze Studies; editor of two book series, “Deleuze Connections” (Edinburgh University Press) and “Deleuze Encounters” (Continuum); and co-editor of two additional book series, “Critical Connections” and “Plateaus” (both from Edinburgh University Press). Professor Buchanan has given papers at conferences all over the world. When: April 2, 2012 @ 10:45 am - April 4, 2012 @ 11:45 am

Kshatriya Seva Sangham - Ugadi celebrations

O

n the grand occasion of NANDANA - Telugu New Year, the Kshatriya Seva Sangham, Kuwait organized a Mega Cultural Program on Friday, 23rd March 2012, in the Indian Community School, Khaitan. The Ugadi Festival Program was inaugurated with Panchanga Sravanam highlighting the predictions for the coming twelve months and followed

by Bhagavat Geethaa Paaraayanam by the Srikrishna Chaitanya Seva Satsangam, Kuwait. The unique program was a mega success due its quality content and the presence of large audience, who remained till the end of the programs. Mega hero of

the Tollywood and Former Central Minister and Rebel Star UV Krishnamraju is the star attraction of the program, who attended along with his family members. Other important dignitaries who attended this program include Dr K. Ashok Raju, President of Kshatriya Seva Sangham, Tirupati, Gaddm Chengal Raju, President of Alluri Seetaramaraju Yuvajana Seva Sangham, and Yeddla Vijay Sagar besides several other key personalities. The cultural programs were inaugurated with the classical dance program by Jolitha Roshni Fernandes and followed by excellent performances by popular local performing

associations, which included Fusion Dance Academy, Sangam Dance, Break House, Harini Varma, Tanusha Chejerla & other dance groups as well as well known dance groups.

At the end of the cultural program, mementos were distributed to the Mega Sponsor, Chejerla Indra Kumar Raju and Ashok Raju to the associations which performed various events. The programs were compered by Revathy Chowdhary, famous film personality.The programs concluded with a lucky draw event and prizes were distributed to the winners by Ashok Raju. A dinner program was hosted on the previ-

ous night of 22nd March 2012 in honour of Krishnam Raju and was confined to close friends, well-wishers and associates of Kshatriya Seva Sangham and was wellattended by an appreciable gathering. The entire programs were well organized by the Kshatriya Seva Sangham Committee consisting of Balaraju Chendra Sekhar Raju, President, Durga Raju, Founder,R.K Raju,Honorary President, Kadimella Subramanyam Raju (Bala), Treasurer, R. Ramana Raju, General Secretary, Subba Raju, Vice President & Other Executive Committee Members as well as Kshatriya Seva Sangham well wishers.

KKIC to hold Islamic Conference for Indian Students Kuwait Kerala Islahi Centre (KKIC) will conduct an Islamic Students Conference (ISCON 2012, Kuwait) for Indian teenage students on May 4-5 at the Kuwait Grand Masjid premises. The conference, adopting the phrase ‘Knowledge for Salvation’ as its slogan, is aiming at invigorating the moral conscience of the student community. The core events will include workshops on value based character building, scientific personality assessment and self management techniques. Ashraf Ekarul, Education Secretary to KKIC informed that experienced trainers, academics, Islamic scholars and other dignitaries will attend the two day conference.

Family picnic Farooque College Old Student Association (FOSA) annual family picnic will be held tomorrow 30th March Friday in Mina Al Zour. The whole day program will start at 9am at the venue, accordingly, the buses will start from Salmiya and Farwaniya at 7:30 am and will gather at Fahaheel Al Kout Mall parking to start from there at 8am. Picnic which is meant for FOSA families and guests will have various entertainment and informative programs, and special games for children. A one hour General Body will be held in the morning at the same venue, to elect new office bearers. All alumni of Farooque College are requested to participate in the picnic. For details contact 66479132, 66503456, 66636112.

Fawzia Sultan International School hosts Sports Day

Diabetes aware seminar Diabetes aware seminar by The Indian Women’s Association on April 5, 2012 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Clover Medical Clinic (Jabriya, off the 4th Ring Road, near the Maghreb/40 Expressway). Following the seminar, attendees will also have the opportunity to have their queries answered by our experts. All attendees will also receive a free individualized and comprehensive risk assessment by appointment at Dr. Kashif’s diabetic clinic. This seminar is open to all and is free contact: iwa_kuwait@hotmail.com Grand Mosque Tour For a rewarding, spiritual and informative experience.

This is a 1 1/2 tour of one of Kuwait’s most famous landmarks. Ladies are required to cover (long sleeves and long ankle length skirt, otherwise the mosque will provide a cloak; If you have your own scarf you’re welcome to bring it). Cameras are allowed and children are welcome. This tour meets directly at the Grand Mosque at 9:15am on April 14, 2012 @ 9:15 am - 10:45 am at Grand Mosque. Contact: AWARE Center 2533-5280 Cricket team selection Kuwait Cricket will have the selection trials of Under 16 boys for forming the Kuwait National Cricket team which will participate in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2-13 May 2012. The age cut-off eligibility date is 1 May 1995 which will be later scientifically verified by ACC. Additionally, the player should be either Kuwait born or must be a resident since last 7 years. All interested youngsters satisfying these conditions should attend the selection trials at the KC Sulaibiya cricket grounds on Saturday 31 March 2012 between 8.30 am-12 Noon. Contact Asad Baig-Director General KC on Mob 97158856 for further details.

Easter services St Paul’s Anglican Church Easter Services times is as follows: 5 April - Maundy Thursday: 1830 Church House, Ahmadi; 6 April - Good Friday: 1030: Salwa Villa; 8 April: Easter Sunday: 0615 Easter Sunrise Service, British Embassy. If you wish to attend then please ensure that you register on the St Paul’s website: www.stpaulskuwait.com click on ‘Services’, then on Easter Sunrise Service and enter name and Civil ID card number. You will need to be at the Embassy in good time to get through security. 8 April: Easter Sunday: 1900 St Paul’s Church, Ahmadi.

R

ecently, Fawzia Sultan International School held its annual Sports Day at Shaab Sea Club. Middle and high school boys were divided into 4 house groups, Blue Green, Yellow and Red with the girls having their own individually colored teams also. Students had great fun and enjoyed playing basketball, soccer, dodge ball, obstacle course, suitcase relay, water relay and tug of war games. The middle school Yellow Team won the overall championship by scoring 2,550 points. The high school boys Green House, won the championship with 3100 points and the girls Green House won their competition.

Family Day at Amricani

T

he Dar al-Athar Al-lslamiyyah (DAI) is proud to announce that the first Family Day at Amricani will be held this Saturday, 31 March, from 12 noon to 6 PM at the Amricani Cultural Centre. All three exhibitions (Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughels; Story of Amricani; The Go/den Age of the Arab Sciences) will be open and special activities will be held for children and their parents throughout the day. This month we will be focusing on our latest exhibition: The Go/den Age of the Arab Sciences. Created and curated by the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and sponsored by Total, the multi-media exhibition highlights the contributions to science made by scholars and scientists from the Islamic world.

“The age of stuffy museums that require quiet and instilled boredom is over. Today’s museums are interactive tools that encourage guests to have fun while expanding their knowledge.

Family Day at Amricani will take things a step further, offering specific oppor-

tunities for children, from age 4 through secondary school, to work with their parents to solve puzzles, discover treasure and replicate an early experiment,” said DAI director Abdulkareem Al-Ghadban.

The first activity will begin at 12:30 and will be for 9- 12 year olds. This activity will be repeated at 5:30 PM. At 1:30 PM and again at 4:30 PM there will be activities for 6 - 8 year olds. 4- 6 year olds get their first DAI experience at 2:30 PM and the focus will be on secondary students at 3:30 PM. Each of the activities will take 20 - 30 minutes and involve both children and parents.

“All the activities are designed to allow families to have fun together while learning more about the art and culture of the Islamic world,” concluded al-Ghadban. I hope to see lots of families there enjoying themselves.”

The Amricani Cultural Centre is based in the historic American Hospital on the Gulf Road, near the National Assembly buildings. For more information, email info@darmuseum.org.kw

Writers forum launched Malayalam Kuwait, the platform for readers and writers among the Keralites in Kuwait was launched during a meeting held at United Indian School, Abbassiya. Sharing of reading and writing, debates and discussions, literary symposia and reinforcement of budding writing talents are the goals of the group. Bergman Thomas, John Mathew, Kaippattoor Thankachan, Sam Painummood, John Mathews, sathar Kunnil, Lissy Kuryakkose, Swapna Jacob, Bessy Kadavil, Unnimaya Nampoothiri, Shibu Philip, Dharmaraj Madappally, Uthaman Valathukadu, Rafeeq Thayath, Tiju Thankachan, Sunil K Cherian and Harikrishnan participated in the first ever meeting of Malayalam Kuwait. The group will hold its monthly discussion every last Friday at various locations, informed the group’s convener Bergman Thomas.

Malayalam members will gather tomorrow, March 30 at United Indian School, Abbassiya to discuss Bergman’s award winning novel, Puramkatal, recently serialized in Kalakaumudi Weekly. Anyone interested to join the group, please contact: 66556867 Earth Hour In Kuwait March 31, 2012 @ 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm.

Where: Kuwait Sahara Resort (6th Ring Road) Contact: KT4GW.org

TES 2012 Spring Carnival March 30, 2012 @ 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Where: TES-The English School (Salmiya, Block 12, Mousaed Al-Azmi Street) The much awaited Spring Carnival at The English School (TES) is coming up soon! Bring your family and friends and enjoy an afternoon of shopping and fun activities. Over 80 amazing stalls selling beautiful handicrafts and knick knacks! Bouncy castles, face painting, magic show and a large array of carnival games and activities for the kids. A fun day for all!

See you there!

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 Mega musical program in April Pravasaandhra Telugu Desam, Kuwait released publicity material and poster for prominent Telugu film hero Nandamuri Balakrishna’s Kuwait visit and upcoming mega musical program on April 6.

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W H AT ’ S O N

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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. � � � ��� � �

Knanaya Cultural Association holds Knanaya Sangamam

K

uwait Knanaya Cultural Association (KKCA) conducted “Knanaya Sangamam” on March 23 at Riggae garden; a day long picnic with full of fun and entertainment were organized. KKCA President Philip Kallarkaniyil inaugurated the picnic. Senior member Jose Alappattu welcomed the participants.

KKCA Secretary Vincent Kuruppanthara announced the program.

Varieties of games were organized for all ages. Fun games were coordinated by Thomas Eravimangalam, Roy Chacko, Titus Padappanmakil, Siby Kurumulloor, Mejit Chambakkra, Rino Uzhavoor, Jaison George

Nalannumpadavil, Maneesh kuriakose, Titty Kidangoor, Bobini Siby, Beneetta Jose, Bibina Baby, Salija Jose , Jilsy Philip, Joseph Kannankara, Aji Kallattu, Josekutty, Sency James, Elsamma Titus, Biji Thomas, Reni Biju, Jerrish Kattachira, Jayan onamthuruthu, Bobby Chunkom conducted the competition.

Picnic’s prime attraction was Tug of war and Volley ball, which were controlled by Baby Chacko Food and snacks were controlled by Martin Vattakkalam and Sunny Mathew. Prizes were distributed to all winners.

KKCA Treasurer Thomas Eravimangalam offered the vote of thanks.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 A.M until 12:00 P.M on Sunday through Wednesday.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.uae.gc.ca. � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy has moved. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies. Registration information can be emailed to cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227 or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine). � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on Thursday, April 5, 2012 on account of “Mahavir Jayanti”. � � � ��� � �

Natyalaya to celebrate 12th anniversary

N

atyalaya the renowned dance school in Abbasiya, Kuwait, which groomed hundreds of young budding talents to the world of dancing, will celebrate its 12th anniversary with ‘Natyalaya Festival 2012’ tomorrow, 30th March 2012 from 4 pm onwards at Carmel school auditorium at Khaitan with various cultural activities.

The festival will be inaugurated by the famous Odisi Artist Ayona Baduri,

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 � � � ��� � �

Kathak artist Sourav Royi and Kathakali Artist Kalamandalam Rajesh Kumr. In the event, students of Natyalaya will perform “BharathaNattiyam Arengettaom”, Mohiniyattam Aregettam, Kuchupudi Aregettam and Kerala Nadanam Aregattam.

During these years famous artists like Sharmila Biswas (Odissi), Debashree Bhatacharya (Kathak), Kaberi Sen (Odissi), Shashwati Garai (Odissi), Ritusri Chaudhuri (Kathak), and

Sanjenbam Karuna Devi (Manipuri), Kalamandaim Rajesh Kumar from Kerala, India were brought in order to perform in the Natyalaya Festival in Kuwait and also in some of the GCC countries.

This venture of Natyalaya will showcase the innovative creativity of this prestigious institution and the true dedication of “Director” and “Guru” most fabulous Krishna Prakesh and Assistant Director Shajan Kuniyil.

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.

Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk � � � ��� � �

EMBASSY OF 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. � � � ��� � �

On March 22, 2012 a farewell party was organized for George Sam by the Indian colleagues of Clinical Radiology department at Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital. Sam is leaving Kuwait after 34 years of service in Ministry of Health.

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. � � � ��� � �

Kozhikode District Association second anniversary on April 13

K

ozhikode District Association, Kuwait is celebrating its 2nd anniversary with variety entertainment programmes including music, dance, mimicry and other entertainment programmes by famous artists from Kozhikode at Touristic Park, Abbasiya on Friday, 13th April 2012 from 4 pm onwards.

Musical treat by a team led by Sindhu Premkumar (Playback Singer

and TV Artist, Judge Mylanchi-Asianet TV), Saleesh Shyam (Super Troupe, Amrita TV fame) and Faisal (Kalabhavan) is the highlight of the celebrations. Mimics by Siraj M., a talented artist from Kozhikode, dances, folk songs, etc. add colour to the programmes.

Association invites all to witness the mega programme that will provide a treat to eyes and ears.

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

John Mathew speaks during a function organized by Kerala Association in honor of late CPI leader CK Chandrappan at Rhythm Hall, Abbassiya, last Saturday.

upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

Classifieds THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR JZR ETH GFA UAE ETD DHX FDB MSR QTR JZR KAC THY RBG KAC DHX FCX JZR KAC BAW JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC ABY IRA QTR IRA FDB ETD BAB GFA MEA JZR MSR MSC KNE KAC MSR GFA KAC FDB OMA KNE QTR SVA RJA KAC JZR KAC QTR KNE RBG KAC JZR JZR ETD RKM UAE GFA KNE SVA UAL JZR TAR JZR KAC ABY KAC ALK KAC JZR KAC BAB KAC FDB MSR MSC KAC KAC JAI KAC AXB FDB OMA MEA KAC GFA KAC JZR UAE BBC ABY QTR JZR DHX AIC GFA UAL JZR DLH KLM THY

Arrival Flights on Thursday 29/3/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 539 CAIRO 267 BEIRUT 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 370 BAHRAIN 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 503 LUXOR 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 3553 ALEXANDRIA 154 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 201 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 529 ASSIUT 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 362 COLOMBO 125 SHARJAH 605 ISFAHAN 132 DOHA 617 AHWAZ 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 9621 ASSIUT 843 JEDDAH 616 DOHA 610 CAIRO 219 BAHRAIN 672 DUBAI 57 DUBAI 645 MUSCAT 789 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 546 ALEXANDRIA 134 DOHA 843 JEDDAH 3557 SOHAG 118 NEW YORK 535 CAIRO 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 857 DUBAI 215 BAHRAIN 745 JEDDAH 510 RIYADH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 177 DUBAI 328 TUNIS 777 JEDDAH 176 GENEVA 127 SHARJAH 502 BEIRUT 227 COLOMBO 542 CAIRO 125 BAHRAIN 786 JEDDAH 438 BEIRUT 104 LONDON 63 DUBAI 624 SOHAG 9623 SOHAG 618 DOHA 614 BAHRAIN 572 MUMBAI 562 AMMAN 389 KOZHIKODE 61 DUBAI 647 MUSCAT 402 BEIRUT 674 DUBAI 221 BAHRAIN 774 RIYADH 135 BAHRAIN 859 DUBAI 43 DHAKA 129 SHARJAH 136 DOHA 513 SHARM EL SHEIKH 372 BAHRAIN 981 CHENNAI 217 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 239 AMMAN 636 FRANKFURT 411 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL

Departure Flights on Thursday 29/3/2012 Time 0:15 0:20 0:30 0:50 1:45 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:55 3:10 3:20 3:25 3:55 4:10 4:35 4:40 4:55 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:15 6:30 6:40 7:15 7:30 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:15 8:20 8:30 8:35 9:00 9:15 9:20 9:30 9:35 10:00 10:55 11:05 11:25 11:45 12:30 13:30 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:45 14:00 14:15 14:25 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:05 15:15 15:35 15:55 16:00 16:00 16:20 16:35 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:20 17:25 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:45 18:00 18:00 18:15 18:30 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:45 18:55 19:00 19:20 19:30 19:35 19:50 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:35 20:35 20:45 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:40 23:40

Airlines AIC UAL DLH THY GFA ETH UAE FDB DHX ETD MSR QTR RBG QTR JZR GFA THY KAC BAW FDB JZR ABY JZR KAC KAC IRA QTR KAC KAC FDB ETD IRA BAB JZR GFA KAC KAC MEA KAC JZR MSR MSC KAC JZR KNE GFA FDB MSR KAC OMA KNE JZR KAC RJA JZR SVA QTR KAC KNE KAC RBG ETD KAC JZR JZR QTR RKM GRF UAE KNE GFA JZR TAR ABY SVA UAL JZR ALK FDB BAB MSR MSC JZR KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC KAC OMA MEA KAC GFA DHX ABY KAC UAE FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR DHX BBC AXB KAC KAC

Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON DC 637 FRANKFURT 773 ISTANBUL 218 BAHRAIN 621 ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 3558 SOHAG 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 545 ALEXANDRIA 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 126 SHARJAH 534 CAIRO 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 606 MASHHAD 133 DOHA 101 LONDON 615 DOHA 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 616 AHWAZ 437 BEIRUT 356 MASHHAD 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 405 BEIRUT 501 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 623 SOHAG 9622 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 844 JEDDAH 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 646 MUSCAT 790 JEDDAH 124 BAHRAIN 617 DOHA 641 AMMAN 512 SHARM EL SHEIKH 505 JEDDAH 135 DOHA 673 DUBAI 844 JEDDAH 613 BAHRAIN 3554 ALEXANDRIA 304 ABU DHABI 773 RIYADH 238 AMMAN 538 CAIRO 141 DOHA 311 RAS ALKHAIMAH 82 BAGHDAD 858 DUBAI 746 JEDDAH 216 BAHRAIN 134 BAHRAIN 328 TUNIS 128 SHARJAH 511 RIYADH 982 BAHRAIN 266 BEIRUT 228 DUBAI 64 DUBAI 439 BAHRAIN 607 LUXOR 9624 ASSIUT 184 DUBAI 283 DHAKA 571 MUMBAI 62 DUBAI 331 TRIVANDRUM 343 CHENNAI 351 KOCHI 648 MUSCAT 403 BEIRUT 543 CAIRO 222 BAHRAIN 171 BAHRAIN 120 SHARJAH 675 DUBAI 860 DUBAI 102 BAHRAIN 137 DOHA 301 MUMBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 554 ALEXANDRIA 373 BAHRAIN 44 DHAKA 390 MANGALORE 411 BANGKOK 415 KUALA LUMPUR

Time 0:05 0:25 0:30 2:15 2:30 2:45 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:20 5:40 6:55 7:05 7:10 8:10 8:25 8:25 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:20 9:35 9:35 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:05 10:15 10:15 10:25 10:30 10:45 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:15 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:20 13:25 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:40 15:00 15:05 15:30 15:45 15:50 15:55 16:00 16:15 16:15 16:25 16:30 16:35 17:20 17:30 17:30 17:40 17:45 17:55 18:00 18:05 18:10 18:15 18:20 18:25 18:25 18:35 18:40 18:50 19:10 19:25 19:30 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:15 20:35 20:40 20:50 20:55 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:50 22:10 22:10 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:40 23:50

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

TUITION

Sharing accommodation two bedroom flat in Abbassiya, two bachelors accommodation from April 1st. Rent KD 40. Contact: 99162583.

(C 3917)

Math teacher for secondary stage, language schools, bilingual schools and intermediate stage: Algebra, Gmath, Geometry, Statistics for arts and science branches. Tel: 66974020.

Accommodation in Farwaniya near Gulf Mart, big room for bachelor or couple, Filipino only, available April 21. Contact: 94418396.

20-3-2012

English language teacher specialized in starting elementary and intermediate, 10th and 11th experienced in starting functions, grammar, set book, vocabulary, notes and model exams available. Tel: 65791555.

FOR SALE Toyota Corolla 1.8 XLi, model 2010, color gray metallic, km done 25000, excellent condition, cash price KD 3,600. Contact: 60685504. (C 3926) 29-3-2012 Toyota Prado 2006, Golden color, 6 cylinder, excellent condition, price KD 5,200/-.

Contact: 50699345.

(C 3921) 25-3-2012 Household goods for sale, includes furniture, electronics, kitchen equipments, books, curtains, and other miscellaneous items. All at throw-away prices. Call 99510519 or 66210509.

(C 3919) 21-3-2012 Toyota Yaris model 2011 car, 4 cylinder strong engine km done 35000, registration March 2014, grey color, excellent condition, installment possible, cash price KD 2880, negotiable. Tel: 99105286.

(C 3916)

Arabic language teacher, masters in methods of teaching for secondary and intermediate students. Tel: 50644685.

Senior Arabic language teacher, elementary and intermediate, long experience in Kuwait curricula, explaining grammar rules and starting those weak in reading and writing. Tel: 99262948.

Senior chemistr y and physics teacher. Long experience for 10th, 11th and 12th stages. Intermediate science and applied institutions. Highly competent.

Tel: 99542922.

Mathematics and statistics female teacher for female students in the secondary, intermediate, university and applied institutions female students. Tel: 99410370.

Female Syrian Arabic language teacher for elementary and intermediate, and starting the weak using Halaby method in her house located in Abdallah Al-Mubarak area. Tel: 50513699.

SITUATION WANTED Qualified Chemical Engineer, extensive experience working at laboratory based research petroleum industries and industrial chemistry, more than 15 years in KISR Kuwait and Sydney-Australia, fluent in English and Arabic. Contact: 65151142, E-mail: salsafadi@hotmail.com (C 3927) 29-3-2012 Male Indian secretary B.Sc., 14 years experience, including 7 years in Kuwait, well versed in secretarial practices, computer operations & correspondence, conversant in English, Hindi, Malayalam & Tamil, Transferable residence.

Contact: 97667430.

(C 3924) 26-3-2012

SITUATION VACANT Housemaid wanted for a small family in Farwaniya.

Mob: 97514390 21-3-2012 Manager (Asian) in Maidan Hawally looking for a maid.

Part time. Good salary. Call 97263962 for details.

(C 3915) 17-3-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Shaik Bhan, holder of Indian passport No. E1093793 hereby change my name to SHAIK AMANULLA. (C 3925) 29-3-2012 I, Donga Hanumanthu Ram holder of Indian passport No. F2522828, son of Donga Swamy change has changed my name to DONGA HANUMANTHA RAO. (C 3923) 26-3-2012 I, Murugesan Uma Maheshwari, holder of Indian passport No. E2156446 have changed religion (embraced Islam).

Hence I will be known as Riyazudeen Safia Begum.

(C 3922) 25-3-2012

Senior biology and science teacher for 12th, 11th and 10th grades, and science for all intermediate classes, religious institutes, nursing, educational experience, simple explanation for fast understanding.

Tel: 66543474.

Senior Arabic language and Islamic studies teacher to help weak and slow learning students in a short time. 20 years experience, teaching all elementary subjects excep E. Arabic and Islamic studies for elementary and intermediate.

Tel: 66896088.

Senior mathematics and statistics teacher. Long experience in Kuwait curricula to teach secondary students both science and arts branches, and university admission exams. Tel: 97975096.

Senior chemistry teacher for secondary students and science for intermediate. All reviews and exams, and university qualification chemistry. Tel: 99560268.

Female senior mathematics teacher, 35 years experience in Kuwait for secondary, intermediate and elementary stages, applied, initial university, communications and navigation and

No: 15402

special courses.

97926737.

Tel:

Elementary stage teacher, 12 years experience, ready to give remedial lessons for all topics in the elementary stage in a simple method.

Tel: 66594901.

English teacher specialized in elementary and intermediate, experienced in grammar, book questions and synonyms. Highly experienced in Kuwait curricula.

Tel: 97373301.

French language teacher, specialized in 11th and 12th grades, languages schools, Pakistani and Indian schools. Long experience in Kuwait curricula.

Senior philosophy and logic teacher for the 12th stage, psychology for 11th grade, with notes and exams solutions. Tel: 99835421.

Senior mathematics and statistics teacher for the secondary and intermediate stages and fifth grade, clear and simple explanation for slow learners and exams method.

Tel: 99410112.

FOR RENT Flat in South Surra, 3 bedrooms, 2 of which are master + living room + kitchen + maid room, new, super deluxe. Tel: 97864628.

For rent, commercial flat in Hawally, can be used as workshop, large area. No middle men. Parking. Tel: 66043961.

Flat in Bneid Al-Gar, 2 rooms + 2 bathrooms + living room + kitchen + Gym + swimming pool overlooking the sea, central satellite + internet. For families, no middle men.

Tel: 66043961.

Flat in Salmiya 3 bedroom + 2 bathrooms + living room + kitchen + central satellite + internet. 4x4 rooms, 4x8 living room for expatriates only. Rent KD 330. No middle men. Tel: 66043961.

Flat in Salmiya 2 rooms + 2 bathrooms + living room + kitchen + central satellite + internet. Families only, no middle men. Tel: 66043961.

A commercial floor in Salmiya. Close to Blajat. Car parking. No middle men.

Tel: 66043961.

First floor in Shuhada, 4 rooms + living room + 5 bathrooms + maid room + balcony. Must be small family. Tel: 60308586.

Flat in Zahra, 2 rooms + liv-

ing room + kitchen + 3 bathrooms + laundry room + maid room. Tel: 60308586.

A floor in Zahra, 4 rooms + living room + kitchen + 3 bathrooms, second floor, elevator. Must be small family. Tel: 99719887.

Flat in west Jleeb, 3 rooms + living room + kitchen + 2 bathrooms first floor. No elevator. Must be newlyweds or one child only.

Tel:99719887.

Flat in Salam, 3 rooms + living room + kitchen + 3 bathrooms + maid room.

Must be newlyweds or two children only. 60308586.

First floor in Rumaithiya. 4 rooms + living room + kitchen + maid room + 6 bathrooms. Super deluxe.

Must be foreigners and expats only. Tel: 60308586, 99719887.

Large first floor with the roof in Firdous. No middle men. Tel: 99490502.

Fully furnished flat in Mahboula 2 rooms + 2 baths + living room + Gym + DSL, Satellite + full sea view. Rent starts from KD 450. Tel: 66060822.

Furished flat in a Salmiya resort 3 rooms + maid room + garden + swimming pool + children play room + DSL. Sea view + hotel service + car parking. Rent KD 800.

Tel: 66060299.

For rent or investment, medical clinics in Salmiya.

Good location licensed and unlicensed. No brokers. Tel: 66060299.

Flat in Salmiya, 3 bedrooms (2 master) + maid room + 3 bathrooms + 2 balconies + sea view + Gym. No brokers. Rent KD 550. Tel: 66060299.

Commercial floor in Salmiya, main street, sea view, good location. Can be used for saloon, clinics, lawyer office. Rent KD 1650.

Tel: 66297171.

Complete building in Salmiya, 55 flats. 2 rooms + 2 bathrooms + kitchen + living room. Good location + central satellite. Good for company residence. Tel: 55939470.

Ground floor in Jabriya.

Private entrance, 4 rooms (2 master) + living rooms (10x10) + saloon 11x10 + 5 bathrooms + very large kitchen + guest wash area + 2 maid rooms. Rent KD 950. Tel: 94463321.

Flat in Zahra, 3 rooms + 3 bathrooms + maid room + spacious living room + shaded parking + electricity and water + DSL, foreigners and expats, rent starts from KD 600. Tel: 66297171.

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Untamed & Uncut 01:40 Buggin’ With Ruud 02:35 Planet Earth 03:30 Wildest Africa 04:25 Wild France 05:20 Gorilla School 05:45 Xtremely Wild 06:10 K9 Cops 07:00 Orangutan Island 07:25 Breed All About It 07:50 Breed All About It 08:15 The Really Wild Show 08:40 Cats Of Claw Hill 09:10 Bad Dog 10:05 Wild France 11:00 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 11:55 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes?

12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin 13:45 Animal Cops Houston 14:40 Wild France 15:30 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Pandamonium 17:25 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 18:20 Extraordinary Dogs 18:45 Extraordinary Dogs 19:15 Orangutan Island 19:40 Wildlife SOS 20:10 Gorilla School 20:35 Xtremely Wild 21:05 Wild France 22:00 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 22:55 Nick Baker’s Beautiful Freaks 23:50 Pit Bulls And Parolees

00:00 Casualty 00:50 Eastenders 01:20 Doctors 01:50 Sport Relief: Little Britain’s Bog Swim 02:50 Doctor Who Confidential 03:10 Lark Rise to Candleford 04:00 Fimbles 04:20 Tellytales 04:35 Teletubbies 05:00 Buzz & Tell 05:05 Tikkabilla 05:35 The Large Family 05:45 Spot’s Musical Adventures 05:50 Fimbles 06:10 Tellytales 06:20 Teletubbies 06:45 Buzz & Tell 06:50 Tikkabilla 07:20 The Large Family 07:30 Spot’s Musical Adventures 07:35 Last Of The Summer Wine 08:05 Mastermind 08:35 The Weakest Link 09:20 Eastenders 09:50 Doctors 10:20 Casualty 11:10 Lark Rise to Candleford 12:00 Sport Relief: Little Britain’s Bog Swim 13:00 The Weakest Link 13:45 Eastenders 14:15 Doctors 14:45 Casualty 15:35 Lark Rise to Candleford 16:25 The Weakest Link 17:10 Eastenders 17:40 Doctors 18:30 Keeping Up Appearances 19:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 19:30 Orang-Utan Diary 20:00 Last Woman Standing 20:50 Sport Relief Special 22:20 Jekyll 23:10 The Weakest Link 23:55 Orang-Utan Diary

00:15 01:55 02:20 03:10 04:00

Glamour Puds Glamour Puds 10 Years Younger Fantasy Homes By The Sea Glamour Puds

05:40 06:05 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:35 09:20 10:05 11:00 11:50 12:40 13:35 14:00 14:25 15:10 16:00 16:45 17:35 18:00 18:25 19:35 20:00 20:50 21:40 22:10 22:35 23:20

Glamour Puds Antiques Roadshow Glamour Puds French Food At Home MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me 10 Years Younger The Restaurant UK Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant Fantasy Homes By The Sea Holmes On Homes Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA Glamour Puds French Food At Home French Food At Home 10 Years Younger The Restaurant UK Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow

00:00 BBC World News 00:30 World Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 BBC World News America 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News America 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 BBC World News 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Sport Today 04:00 Newsday 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Sport Today 05:00 Newsday 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 Newsday 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 Newsday 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 BBC World News 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 14:30 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 19:30 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50

Duck Dodgers The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Jetsons

02:15 02:40 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:00 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:40 12:00 12:15 12:40 12:55 13:45 14:10 Doo 14:35 15:00 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:05 17:20 18:10 18:35 Doo 19:00 19:15 19:40 20:05 20:30 20:55 21:20 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:20 23:45

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 Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley New Yogi Bear Show

00:00 Backstory 00:30 World Sport 01:00 The Situation Room 02:00 World Report 03:00 Anderson Cooper 360 04:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 05:00 Quest Means Business 06:00 Erin Burnett Outfront 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Talk Asia 08:00 World Report 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 The CNN Freedom Project 11:00 World Business Today 12:00 Backstory 12:30 Open Court 13:00 World One 14:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 18:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 19:00 World Sport 19:30 Open Court 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 21:45 CNN Marketplace Europe 22:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

00:15 00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 05:40

GOTHIKA ON OSN ACTION HD

Destroyed In Seconds When Disaster Strikes Dirty Jobs Overhaulin’ Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How Do They Do It? How It’s Made

06:05 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 15:05 16:00 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 22:25 22:50 23:20 23:45

Dirty Jobs Mythbusters Gold Rush Swamp Loggers How Do They Do It? Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings Prototype This Prototype This Prototype This Prototype This Prototype This Overhaulin’ Ultimate Survival Mythbusters Cash Cab Us Border Security Auction Kings How It’s Made How Do They Do It? Cake Boss Sons Of Guns I Escaped: Real Prison Breaks I Escaped: Real Prison Breaks Mobster Confessions Destroyed In Seconds

00:35 01:25 01:50 02:40 03:35 04:00 04:25 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:35 10:25 11:20 12:15 13:05 13:55 14:20 14:50 15:15 15:40 16:05 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:30 20:20 20:45 21:10 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:40

Cosmic Collisions The Tech Show Weird Or What?

What’s That About?

How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made The Future Of...

Da Vinci’s Machines Cosmic Collisions The Gadget Show The Gadget Show How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made Weird Or What?

What’s That About?

Mighty Ships Da Vinci’s Machines Cosmic Collisions The Future Of...

How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made The Gadget Show The Gadget Show The Tech Show Da Vinci’s Machines Mighty Ships Cosmic Collisions Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory Sci-Trek The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Da Vinci’s Machines Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory Sci-Trek Mighty Ships

00:15 00:40 01:05 01:30 01:55 02:20 02:45 03:10 03:35 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 Cody 09:35 10:00 11:25 11:40 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:05 17:30 18:47 19:10 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 23:30 23:45

Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Fish Hooks Recess Timon And Pumbaa Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Wizards Of Waverly Place So Random The Suite Life Of Zack And

00:15 00:40 00:55 01:10 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:05 03:20 03:40 03:55 04:10 04:35 05:00 05:15 05:30 05:50 06:15 06:30 06:45 07:00 07:15 07:30 07:45 08:10 08:20 08:35 08:50 09:05

Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Lazytown Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Lazytown Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Lazytown Jungle Junction Jungle Junction 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

A.N.T. Farm Gotta Kick It Up Phineas And Ferb Jake & Blake Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb So Random Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie A.N.T. Farm Phineas And Ferb Hannah Montana Shake It Up Jessie The Suite Life Movie Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Have A Laugh Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Forever Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Fish Hooks Recess Gotta Kick It Up Phineas And Ferb Kim Possible

09:15 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 09:20 Jungle Junction 09:35 Handy Manny 09:50 Cars Toons 09:55 Little Einsteins 10:20 Imagination Movers 10:45 Art Attack 11:10 Imagination Movers 11:35 Special Agent Oso 11:45 Lazytown 12:10 Handy Manny 12:25 Jungle Junction 12:40 Imagination Movers 13:05 The Hive 13:15 Special Agent Oso 13:25 Little Einsteins 13:50 Lazytown 14:15 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 14:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 15:05 Mouk 15:20 Handy Manny 15:35 Jungle Junction 15:50 Cars Toons 15:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 16:20 Lazytown 16:45 Art Attack 17:10 The Hive 17:20 Special Agent Oso 17:30 Jungle Junction 17:45 Handy Manny 17:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:10 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:25 The Hive 18:35 Little Einsteins 19:00 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 19:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:25 101 Dalmatians 19:40 101 Dalmatians 19:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:20 The Hive 20:30 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 20:35 A Poem Is...

20:40 Animated Stories 20:45 Mouk 21:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 21:25 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:40 Special Agent Oso 21:55 Little Einsteins 22:20 Timmy Time 22:30 Jungle Junction 22:45 Handy Manny 22:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 23:20 Special Agent Oso 23:35 Special Agent Oso 23:50 Lazytown

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kendra 09:45 Kendra 10:15 THS 12:05 E! News 13:05 Khloe And Lamar 13:35 Khloe And Lamar 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Ice Loves Coco 17:25 Ice Loves Coco 17:55 E! News 18:55 THS 19:55 Scouted 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Fashion Police 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:30 01:15 02:05 02:50 03:40 04:25 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:25 10:10 10:35 10:55 11:40 12:25 13:15 14:00 14:25 14:50 15:35 16:20 17:10 18:00 18:45 19:10 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Ghost Lab Psychic Witness I Almost Got Away With It I Faked My Own Death Extreme Forensics Ghost Lab Psychic Witness Mystery ER On The Run Forensic Detectives Fugitive Strike Force Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Fugitive Strike Force Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared On The Run Forensic Detectives Fugitive Strike Force Real Emergency Calls Mystery ER Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Kidnap And Rescue Fugitive Strike Force Extreme Forensics

00:00 Treks In A Wild World 00:30 Treks In A Wild World 01:00 On Surfari 01:30 Word of Mouth 02:00 Warrior Road Trip 03:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 04:00 Adventure Wanted 05:00 A World Apart 06:00 Treks In A Wild World 06:30 Treks In A Wild World 07:00 On Surfari 07:30 Word of Mouth 08:00 Warrior Road Trip 09:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 10:00 Adventure Wanted 11:00 A World Apart 12:00 Treks In A Wild World 12:30 Treks In A Wild World 13:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 13:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 14:00 One Man & His Campervan 14:30 One Man & His Campervan 15:00 Exploring The Vine

HOME ON OSN CINEMA 15:30 Market Values 16:00 Geo Sessions 16:30 Geo Sessions 17:00 Dive Detectives 18:00 Departures 19:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 19:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 20:00 One Man & His Campervan 20:30 One Man & His Campervan 21:00 Exploring The Vine 21:30 Market Values 22:00 Geo Sessions 22:30 Geo Sessions 23:00 Dive Detectives

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:45 14:30 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Wild Things: Foursome -18 Empire-18 Jason X-18 Fighting-PG15 All Star Superman-PG15 2012-PG15 Riddles Of The Sphinx-PG15 All Star Superman-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 Riddles Of The Sphinx-PG15 Gothika-18 Full Metal Jacket-18

01:00 Goodbye Baby-18 03:00 Home-PG15 05:00 Gasland-PG15 07:00 Alabama Moon-PG15 09:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 11:00 Home-PG15 13:00 The Eagle-PG15 15:00 Letters To Juliet-PG15 17:00 Despicable Me-FAM 19:00 West Is West-PG15 21:00 Priest-18 22:45 Jackass 3-R

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Angry Boys 02:30 Family Guy 03:00 Melissa And Joey 03:30 Mad Love 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 The Simpsons 06:30 Yes Dear 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:30 Melissa And Joey 09:00 The Simpsons 09:30 Raising Hope 10:00 Traffic Light 10:30 Yes Dear 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 13:00 The Simpsons 13:30 Yes Dear 14:00 Mad Love 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Melissa And Joey 18:30 Mad Love 19:00 Cougar Town 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The Big C 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00

Grimm The Glades Luck Justified Live Good Morning America C.S.I. Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Grimm Live Good Morning America C.S.I. The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Look-A-Like Psych American Idol

22:00 Necessary Roughness 23:00 Justified

19:45 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt.1-PG15 22:15 Personal Effects-18

00:00 01:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 22:00 23:00

Bones Luck One Tree Hill Bones Emmerdale Coronation Street Terra Nova Emmerdale Parks And Recreation The Ellen DeGeneres Show Terra Nova Bones Emmerdale Parks And Recreation The Ellen DeGeneres Show Terra Nova Psych Necessary Roughness Mildred Pierce

00:00 Cricket ODI Highlights 00:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 01:30 Super Rugby 03:30 Scottish Premier League 05:30 Super Rugby Highlights 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Premier League Darts 10:30 Trans World Sport 11:30 Super Rugby Highlights 12:30 Volvo Ocean Race 13:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 14:30 Trans World Sport 15:30 Live PGA European Tour 18:30 Futbol Mundial 19:00 WWE NXT 20:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 21:00 Live Premier League Darts

01:00 03:00 05:15 07:00 09:00 PG15 11:00 13:00 PG15 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

RoboCop 3-PG15 The Hurt Locker-18 The Final-18 The Front-PG15 Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost-

00:00 European Tour Weekly 00:30 Total Rugby 01:00 Premier League Darts 04:30 Futbol Mundial 05:00 European Tour Weekly 05:30 Top 14 Highlights 06:00 Super Rugby Highlights 07:00 Total Rugby 07:30 AFL Winners 08:30 NRL Full Time 09:00 Futbol Mundial 09:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 10:00 World Cup Of Pool 11:00 World Pool Masters 12:00 Ping Pong World Championship 13:00 Trans World Sport 14:00 Golfing World 15:00 European Tour Weekly 15:30 Super Rugby 17:30 AFL Winners 18:30 Golfing World 19:30 Trans World Sport 20:30 Super Rugby Highlights 21:00 Top 14 Highlights 21:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 22:00 Futbol Mundial 22:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 23:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 23:30 Total Rugby

Set It Off-PG15 A Lonely Place For DyingJesse Stone: Innocents LostShanghai Knights-PG15 The Collector-18 The Grudge 3-18 Survival Of The Dead-18

00:00 The Shape Of Things-PG15 02:00 Evan Almighty-PG15 04:00 Happy Ever Afters-PG15 06:00 The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle-FAM 08:00 Spud-PG15 10:00 Garfield-PG 12:00 Post Grad-PG15 14:00 A Guy Thing-PG15 16:00 Lost In Yonkers-PG 18:00 It’s Complicated-PG15 20:15 She’s Out Of My League-18 22:15 Cemetery Junction-PG15

01:15 03:00 05:00 07:00 PG15 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:15

The Dry Land-18 Talhotblond-PG15 No Escape-PG15 Mademoiselle ChambonA Simple Twist Of Fate-PG15 Greener Mountains-PG On Strike For Christmas-PG15 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 Veronica Guerin-PG15 Game Of Four-PG15 Mother And Child-18 American Son-PG15

01:00 Pretty Bird-18 03:00 I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry-PG15 05:00 That’s What I Am-PG15 07:00 Easy A-PG15 09:00 Prom-PG15 11:00 Paper Man-PG15 13:00 Everybody Wants To Be Italian-PG15 15:00 Glitter-PG15 17:00 Prom-PG15 19:00 Henry’s Crime-PG15 21:00 Priest-18 23:00 Winter’s Bone-18

00:00 Tyson-18 02:00 Scream 4-18 04:00 Napoleon Dynamite-PG 06:00 Lies In Plain Sight-PG15 08:00 Uncorked-PG15 10:00 Napoleon Dynamite-PG 12:00 Film Socialisme-PG15 14:00 Too Big To Fail-PG15 16:00 Uncorked-PG15 18:00 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore-PG

01:30 SPL Highlights 02:00 Total Rugby 02:30 European Tour Weekly 03:00 AFL Winners 04:00 World Cup of Pool 05:00 World Cup of Pool 06:00 Ping Pong World Championship 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Live Asian Tour Golf 12:00 European Tour Weekly 12:30 Golfing World 13:30 Super Rugby Highlights 14:30 Scottish Premier League 16:30 Futbol Mundial 17:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 17:30 NRL Full Time 18:00 Total Rugby 18:30 Super Rugby 20:30 European PGA Tour

01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

V8 Supercars Speedway UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown Speedway V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Highlights WWE Experience WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Highlights Speedway FIM World Power Boats Power Boats Power Boats Power Boats WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC UFC Unleashed

35

s ta rs CROSSWORD 631

CALVIN & HOBBES

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) Today is a good time to work out a difficult situation in the workplace. Your ability to respond in cooperative ways is one key to your success. You follow instructions well and can guide others in responsible ways. You may be on the phone part of this day, working out some technical difficulty. Learn to insert a sense of humor as you wade past any slowdowns. You have an appreciation for tasks and duties and if you are interrupted, you usually take a positive attitude.

You may find that several people will stop you for your advice and council regarding very personal and emotional issues as well as a few technical ones. The feeling of stability and permanence creates a deep emotional need. Music helps you relax tonight.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A bachelor's degree in theology.

4. Tropical American tree producing cacao beans.

9. (Islam) The man who leads prayers in a mosque.

13. An affirmative.

14. Squash bugs.

15. A rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders).

16. (football) Of advancing the ball by throwing it.

18. Voluntary contributions to aid the poor.

19. A nearly horizontal passage from the surface into a mine.

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

21. A health resort near a spring or at the seaside.

23. An associate degree in nursing.

25. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy palms or from fermented molasses.

27. A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch.

28. Plot of land belonging to an English parish church or an ecclesiastical office.

31. A bottle with a stopper.

33. 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 light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.

36. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

39. A state of Uganda and site of a former Bantu kingdom.

42. A small cake leavened with yeast.

44. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

45. (chemistry) Being or containing an acid.

47. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

50. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

52. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

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

55. Stain (furniture) black to make it look like ebony.

60. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

61. Of or relating to or affecting a lobe.

64. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

65. Wild and domestic cattle.

66. Any organic compound formed by adding alcohol molecules to aldehyde molecules.

68. Gone by.

69. Used of a single unit or thing.

70. A member of an agricultural people of southern India.

71. Range of what one can know or understand.

DOWN 1. A mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind.

2. A collection of objects laid on top of each other.

3. Serving as or forming a base.

4. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

5. Type genus of the Anatidae.

6. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

7. The capital of Eritrea.

8. An association of countries in the western hemisphere.

9. A republic in the Middle East in western Asia.

10. Title used for a married Frenchwoman.

11. (law) A defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question.

12. Containing or made of or resembling or characteristic of a metal.

17. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

22. A Kwa language spoken in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

24. The compass point that is one point north of northeast.

26. An anti-TNF compound (trade name Arava) that is given orally.

29. The basic unit of money in Romania.

30. A graphical recording of the cardiac cycle produced by an electrocardiograph.

32. Genus of South and Central American heathlike evergreen shrubs.

35. Tropical starchy tuberous root.

37. The law enforcement agency in the Justice Department.

38. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

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

41. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

43. A public promotion of some product or service.

46. The corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm.

48. Any of numerous fruits of the gourd family having a hard rind and sweet juicy flesh.

49. Lower in esteem.

51. A long noosed rope used to catch animals.

54. Divulge information or secrets.

56. (informal) Exceptionally good.

57. A republic in the Middle East in western Asia.

58. Having wisdom that comes with age and experience.

59. Very dark black.

62. South American wood sorrel cultivated for its edible tubers.

63. A piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep.

64. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

67. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

Yesterday’s Solution

This morning you may tend to judge others too harshly—careful, it works both ways. As usual, however, your kind and considerate actions will win out in any difficult communication. There tends to be quite a lot of communication energy today. A strong life is like a ship of war that has its own place in the fleet and can share its strength and discipline, but it can also sail alone. You might feel a bit rudderless today. Try to avoid making really important decisions for now. Stay out of uncharted waters—the course will become much clearer soon. If you are working with customers, remember they are your employers and need your respect. Calls from family members this evening are enjoyed and a young person may need your advice. Enjoy solitude.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Career strivings will meet with success. A business hunch of yours is right on the money. Communication with co-workers or business partners is successful and will gain you positive feedback. Mix-ups in banking or investments call for patience. Spending and earning bring you pleasure this month.

Your attention this afternoon may involve writing classes and conferring with close kin and neighbors. Draw a pie chart and make each section represent a piece of your divided time; as in pie pieces. Create a balance for yourself using this chart and try to keep a little time for rest and refurbishment. You feel a love of order and law—an appreciation for responsibilities. Problems are valued for the lessons they represent, rather than seen as obstacles.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Your personal charm is most impressive to others today. There is a key to increased earnings and dynamic social success—and it is charm. Your enthusiasm is high and the creative ideas are flowing, ready to be applied to the work at hand. If you give your best effort now, considerable success may follow and you may unconsciously help a close friend through your efforts.

Loved ones, children and other people or things dear to your heart are emphasized now as well. Being appreciated and admired for your gifts and talents are powerful needs and you enjoy the attention. Taking chances can bring big rewards. Don’t hurry today—you could forget your intentions of today. There will be entertainment tonight to lift your spirits.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

ZITS

A knack for knowing how to put people, ideas and things together profitably will be recognized now. This could mean a raise or promotion is in the forecast. The workplace is just that, a workplace . . . be wise in your thinking and do not sacrifice your best interest for someone else at work or you will find another taking your place. Create a presentation for your employee review and be ready to show off your skills. You are interested in adding to your skills and may find yourself signing up for a class in your chosen field of business. You are happy with the environment in which you have chosen to surround yourself and you enjoy shopping for additional items to beautify your surroundings. Friends and family enjoy visiting you.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Make sure you sign what you need to sign and that you write down what you need to remember—this could be a very busy day. This afternoon you may want to enroll in a short course or rejoin a club in order to study or refresh your knowledge or enjoy a previous interest. After work you may find yourself at a neighborhood library. Finally, a little time alone to research, read and enjoy some quiet time—perhaps you can borrow a new picture to hang on your wall for a special occasion. You may find yourself guiding a young person with their homework this evening. A very nice day that is perhaps filled with some renewed interest and appreciation for all that is beautiful and fine. A sense of value and valuing may find you lavishing affection on loved ones.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

You enjoy being around people in general. Work is definitely not on the back burner—you are inspired to be productive. There is encouragement from family and friends that may help you to make some changes in your professional life just now. You are destined to grow by leaps and bounds where the business world is concerned. This could mean putting in for an upgrade or change jobs. It could also mean merging, selling or creating your own business. The day does not escape a domestic problem but it is short-lived. You will do your best to keep the peace among the members of your family. Build on the good times and during the tough times you will have something over which to laugh and bring to mind. Positive things are happening.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) A secret admirer will slip and let his or her identity be known today.

This could happen in some group gathering such as the workplace or a club meeting. You could find that you are appreciated and valued for your feelings and ability to act and get things done. You will be dealing with all types of personalities today. You seem able to handle difficult situations and you create successful ways of communicating clearly with all you meet. Unusual ideas and novel ways of expressing them play a bigger than usual part in your life now. The ways you get around and stay in touch at the everyday level are changed by technology or social circumstances. This is a time when you discover new reasons to enjoy and appreciate life. Try a little exercise this afternoon.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Today you may find a perfect balance between your career needs and personal needs. This should bring about an inner peace that you rarely get a chance to enjoy. Professional decisions are on target. You have a super-sensitive awareness of the moods and needs of others, making this an excellent time to run seminars or work with groups. Take some time away at the noon break and if the weather is nice, get outside to walk. If the weather is messy, climb stairs or walk around inside the building for a way to focus your energies. There is a lot of enthusiasm for whatever you want to accomplish today. You and your family members may be talking about some travel this summer. Planning now will make a trip this summer successful.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Someone in your working environment sends confusing silent messages today. You may need to concentrate on the most intelligent way to handle a situation. You will want to be careful about any involvement with someone in the close work environment; even if you are in a position to enjoy a new relationship. You could find yourself volunteering to make deliveries this afternoon.

Lady Luck seems to be on your side where money is concerned. This is a good thing as you seem to spend it faster than it comes into your life. Others may find you especially witty and eccentric just now. Young people come to you when they need advice. You tend to give an unbiased opinion and others do not feel threatened. Let yourself dream this evening. Consider the stars.

Yesterday’s Solution Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Today is a good time to work out a difficult situation with a friend or associate. Cooperation and flexibility are the keys to successful communication. It is also a great day to clean up all those pesky little jobs that have been nagging at you for so long. Rest and reflection are important this afternoon.

Find a restaurant that delivers or take everyone out to eat this evening. You may be preoccupied with thoughts of how you will go about some future plans—let it go and enjoy the moment and the person or people you are with at this time. A walk after dinner with your loved one may put you in the mood to be the aggressive one in the romance department this evening. Taking chances can bring big rewards. This is the day for making positive changes.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

You may work extra hard today and feel that you are not making progress. However, by the end of this day, you will see much progress. You have developed a knack for organizing things and people. Work, achievement and ambition are things that mean a lot to you. A 1ong-term personal issue that has been on your mind recently may have you gathering new information and getting the benefit of sage advice to help you make the right decision. You may find that it is time to consider this long-term issue solved and move forward!

Forgiveness, compassion and understanding come naturally, especially when you look at life from an eternal perspective. Winning the hearts of others is a challenge but you are eager. A gift is coming your way.

36

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

lifestyle G O S S I P

First star bounced from new season of ‘Dancing’

Fonda to play Nancy Reagan in US film ctress Jane Fonda, a lightning rod for US conservatives since her controversial anti-Vietnam War activism, will be playing the wife of former US president Ronald Reagan, a Republican icon. Variety magazine reported this week that director Lee Daniels had tapped Fonda to play former first lady Nancy Reagan in an “all-star ensemble” being recruited for a film about a butler who served US presidents from 1952 to 1986. Forest Whitaker is reportedly close to signing a deal to play the butler and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is in talks to play his wife, Variety said.

Liam Neeson is being considered for the role of Vietnam-era president Lyndon Johnson, while John Cusak could play president Richard Nixon, it said.

Fonda, 74, was a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War, and in 1972 she visited Hanoi and was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery, sparking controversy and earning her the nickname “Hanoi Jane.” In recent years she has expressed regret over the incident, but many US conservatives still despise her, arguing she betrayed American troops. Conversely, president Reagan, who served from 1980-1988, has come to be seen as a paragon of conservatism, with the 2012 Republican presidential candidates repeatedly invoking his name on the campaign trail.

A artina Navratilova has done her last dance on “Dancing With the Stars.” The tennis champ was eliminated from the TV dance competition Tuesday and became the first star dismissed from the series’ new season. She

M

came into the results episode in last place and was disappointed, but apparently not surprised, at her dismissal. She said she gave it everything she had but confessed that she made mistakes during her jive routine Monday. Returning to compete

next week will be actors Jaleel White, Roshon Fagan, William Levy, Jack Wagner and Melissa Gilbert; singers Gladys Knight, Gavin DeGraw and Katherine Jenkins; TV personalities Maria Menounos and Sherri Shepherd; and football star Donald Driver.

First lady to salute Swift at Kids’ Choice Awards he first lady is making an appearance at The Kids’ Choice Awards to celebrate Taylor Swift for her charity work. Michelle Obama will give Swift The Big Help Award during Nickelodeon’s 25th annual awards show Saturday night in Los Angeles. The award recognizes individuals whose charitable efforts have made an impact and inspired children to do the same.

Obama was the 2010 winner of the The Big Help

T

Award. Swift, one of the world’s top pop stars, has been active in flood and storm relief, raising $750,000 when she opened her final “Speak Now” tour rehearsal to fans to benefit tornado victims in The South. She’s also active with charities like The Make -A-Wish Foundation, St Jude Medical Center and Habitat for Humanity.

Hathaway’s fun

engagement party nne Hathaway’s engagement party was “so fun”. The ‘Dark Knight Rises’ actress and fiance Adam Schulman threw a party in a New York book store to celebrate their impending nuptials - which are expected to take place in October 2013 - last month and delighted guests with the quirky celebration. Among the personal touches was a banquet of vegan food and decorations including bird-shaped vases filled with Anne’s favourite flowers, ranunculus and anemones. A source told Us Weekly magazine: “Everything so was fun, just like Annie.”

Although pals revealed Anne and Adam have already selected a New York venue for their wedding, they are not planning to reveal where until the last minute. A source

Fox is pregnant he 25-year-old actress is said to be expecting her first child with husband Brian Austin Green and the couple are thrilled with the happy news.

A source told America’s Star magazine: “They just found out and are incredibly excited.” Megan and Brian had kept the news to just close family and friends something they have found difficult because they are so excited about the baby. The source added: “It’s still early, so they are only telling close friends and family members.” The ‘Friends with Kids’ star has already had lots of parenting practice as she is stepmother to Brian’s nine-year-old son Kassius, his child with actress Vanessa Marcil. The source said: “Megan has become a great stepmom, and Brian knows she’ll be wonderful with the baby. She has really grown in the past couple of years ... her family comes first.”

T

Adele invites Robbie to haunted mansion

A

said: “But they’re keeping it a secret until right before!”

Anne and Adam - who started dating in 2008 following the actress’ split from Raffaello Follieri after he pled guilty to 14 counts of money laundering, conspiracy and wire fraud announced their engagement in November and Anne explained he “ruined” her plans to stay single. She said: “We hit if off immediately but it took us a pretty long time to get together. He thought that I had a boyfriend and I thought that he had a girlfriend, so I thought that I’d better keep my distance because I didn’t want to be that girl. “I am very much in love with him, [only] Adam totally ruined my plan. I was really actually looking forward to a little alone time, and then I fell in love like a fool!”

dele has invited Robbie Williams to stay at her haunted mansion.

The 23-year-old ‘Someone Like You’ singer reportedly believes her 10bedroom home Sussex, England, is being staked out by ghosts, and has invited super-natural enthusiast Robbie and his wife Ayda Field to come and experience the spooky goings-on. A source said: Adele’s often said she hates staying at home alone in the mansion because she’s sure it’s haunted and she gets spooked. She knows Robbie and Ayda are fascinated by the supernatural and has offered to have them to stay for a haunted weekend any time they like.

“Adele thinks they are both fantastic and would love to spend some time sharing ghost stories and witnessing paranormal activity. The Grammy Award-winning star left London and moved to the £7million house a few months ago after undergoing surgery on her vocal chords.

It is thought doctors advised her the clean, country air could aid her recovery.

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: Adele is a London girl through and through, but she’s never been particularly into the showbiz circuit so when it was suggested she move out of the city, she agreed immediately. The idea is for her to live in the countryside, away from the capital’s smog and pollution.

A

Moore feels sick over reports of Kutcher dating Rihanna

emi Moore reportedly feels ‘sick to her stomach’ over claims her estranged husband Ashton Kutcher is dating Rihanna. The troubled ‘Ghost’ actress who recently completed a stint in rehab for a reported eating disorder and addiction is said to be heartbroken after Rihanna was photographed making a late night visit to Ashton’s home last week. A source said: Demi is constantly keeping tabs on Ashton so when these pictures came up she was understandably devastated. Demi’s convinced something happened between them and said she felt ‘sick to her stomach’.

Demi’s been acting crazy ever since, trying to find out information about the pair. Demi is in such a fragile state, even the idea of them together has affected her quite badly. She’s in a terrible way but, at the end of the day, Ashton is a single man and free to do whatever he likes. The pair split last November following allegations the ‘Two and a Half Men’ actor had been unfaithful on the weekend of their sixth wedding anniversary, and according to a second report, she is struggling to come to terms with how quickly he has moved on. A source told Closer magazine: Demi can’t believe Ashton would do this. She’s really hurt by the rumors and feels humiliated he’s being linked to other celebrities just a few weeks after she got out of rehab.

She feels it cheapens their marriage even further.

D

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

lifestyle M U S I C

&

British actress Elaine Smith (second right) plays British singer Susan Boyle during a rehearsal of the musical “I Dreamed A Dream” at the Royal Theatre in Newcastle, north-east England. — AFP photos

M O V I E S

Susan Boyle sings during the musical “I Dreamed A Dream”.

Susan Boyle

takes to stage in new musical of her life S

cottish singer Susan Boyle made a triumphant return to the British stage Tuesday at the premiere of a musical charting her rise from humble church volunteer to global superstar. Wearing a glittering red dress, the 50-year-old received several standing ovations as she sang her signature tune, “I Dreamed A Dream”, at the opening night of the musical of the same name in Newcastle, northeastern England. “We love you,” shouted out a member of the audience.

“I love you too-see me outside,” replied Boyle, displaying the cheeky sense of humor that has won her millions of fans, some of whom had travelled from as far as Australia and the United States to attend the premiere.

Before this week, Boyle had not performed in public in Britain since singing for the pope in September 2010. Her two-song set after the musical ended left the Theatre Royal buzzing with excitement. “She was sensational,” said Cathy Garraway, a 49-year-old from Sydney. “I t was wor th coming half way around the world to see her tonight.” It is three years since Boyle, a devout Catholic, single and living on welfare in the small village of Blackburn, near the Scottish capital Edinburgh, became an overnight star. It started when footage of her audition for a British television talent show went viral on the

British actress Elaine Smith who plays British singer Susan Boyle is joined on stage by Susan Boyle.

Internet. In the video, the audience and the changed. The footage has since received judges snigger as Boyle, looking disheveled about 500 million hits on YouTube, according and more than a little eccentric steps on to to the musical’s producers.

And she has gone on to record three the stage. Then she opens her mouth to sing “I Dreamed A Dream”, the hit from “Les albums that have sold more than 16 million Miserables”-and that was when her life copies worldwide. The new musical is based

on Boyle’s autobiography, “The Woman I was Born to Be”. It follows her from birth, when she was deprived of oxygen, through school when she was bullied for her learning difficulties, to the years spent caring for her mother.

The scene of her breakthrough moment at the audition had the theatre audience cheering and whooping. But they fell quiet as the tale turned to the intrusion of the press and her near-breakdown when she lost the talent show final.

The story is told as if Boyle is narrating it, with her memories revealed like dreams, full of laughter, dancing, music and the love of her large family, as well as heartache at the deaths of her beloved parents and sister. “I felt that the world hadn’t really heard Susan’s voice,” said co-writer and actress Elaine C. Smith, who Boyle personally chose to play the role. Smith describes the singer’s life as a “fairytale” but told AFP: “I didn’t want it to be a sugary-sweet story.

“What fascinated me was that ordinary woman, and what she’d gone through in her life. “It is a very delicate balance that you play the truth and you play it honestly, and there is fun in the show but there is also great pathos.” The singer approved the script, which is interspersed with hits from her albums and classic songs she associates with

Lionel Richie goes country on new album

‘Tuskegee’

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f he hadn’t known better, Lionel Richie jokes that he might have felt insulted when initially sitting down with some of today’s top country stars to record his new album of duets, “Tuskegee.” “I pulled out the lyrics to the songs, and they were like, ‘what’s that?’ “I said, ‘here are the lyrics.’”

Richie says with a mock look of astonishment, then smiles. “They said, ‘Oh no, man. I know this. I’ve been singing it since 1983 or 1987,’. Someone even said, ‘I’ve been singing these songs since I was in elementary school.’ “I was like, ‘Thank you very much, I didn’t need to hear that,’” the 62-year-old told Reuters about re-recording some of his memorable songs with the likes of Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Willie Nelson and Little Big Town.

“Tuskegee,” which hit record stores on Monday, features Richie and 13 country stars singing some top hits of his heyday in the 1980s, including “Hello,” “Stuck On You” and “All Night Long.” Going country may seem out of place for the pop and R&B singer who gained stardom in the 1970s with the funk and soul group The Commodores, per fecting his brand of romantic ballads then embarking on a major solo career.

But the Alabama native is no stranger to country music, and several of his mega hits

led at the memory of Darius Rucker announcing in the studio that he would sing Richie’s part on “Stuck on You.” “He told me, ‘I’m doing your part and anything that goes up high you have it.’” Richie said.

“Those were my orders.”

have been covered with a twang. The late Conway Twitty recorded Richie’s “Three Times a Lady” and Kenny Rogers scored a hit with the Richie-penned “Lady.” “I’ve always felt right at home in country because I was raised just down the road from Nashville in Tuskegee, Alabama, where I was immersed in country, R&B, gospel and classical music,” Richie said.

He said recording his old favorites with country stars proved to be a surreal experience as he came to realize how many artists knew, and liked, his music. Some of those singers offered reinterpretations of his songs and many pushed him hard to perform at his peak level in the studio, Richie said. “Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland) came in and it took me a minute to wrap my head around what she wanted to do with ‘Hello.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I hold that note that long?’ And Billy Currington can go high with his voice, and you’d never know that. He did ‘Just for You’ and he just nailed it.” Richie also chuck-

Top 10 songs and albums on the iTunes Store Top Songs 1. “We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monae),” Fun 2. “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye 3. “Glad You Came,” The Wanted 4. “Eyes Open,” Taylor Swift 5. “Starships,” Nicki Minaj 6. “What Makes You Beautiful,” One Direction 7. “Wild Ones (feat. Sia),” Flo Rida 8. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” Kelly Clarkson 9. “Call Me Maybe,” Carly Rae Jepsen 10. “Drive By,” Train Top Albums 1. “The Hunger Games (Songs from District 12 and Beyond),” Various Artists 2. “Port of Morrow,” The Shins 3. ”21,” ADELE 4. “The Of Tape, Vol. 2,” Odd Future 5. “Up All Night,” One Direction 6. “Some Nights,” Fun. 7. “The MF Life,” Melanie Fiona 8. “Making Mirrors,” Gotye 9. “Project X (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack),” Various Artists 10. “Half Naked & Almost Famous,” MGK. — AP

Surprises and challenges A few people surprised him with their song choices. Instead of choosing “All Night Long,” as Richie anticipated, Kenny Chesney picked “My Love” which he said was his favorite. Tim McGraw wanted to perform “Sail On,” another choice that surprised Richie, though not after he sang it. “That caught me off guard,” Richie said. “But he was dead on the money with it.” Perhaps his biggest challenge was a duet with Shania Twain on “Endless Love.” It was the first time Twain had been in the recording studio since her long hiatus to deal with a crumbling marriage and voice condition. Richie became aware that she had lost her confidence as well.

Twain did not want to record in Nashville and rejected several locations Richie suggested. They finally settled on the studio at his beach house in the Bahamas. He was surprised to learn that a television crew from Oprah Winfrey’s cable channel, OWN, would film the session for a reality TV series,

“Why Not?” When Twain arrived, Richie asked her out of sight of the cameras when was the last time she had been on stage.

She told him it had been seven years. “I told her we both had something in common: We were both scared,” Richie recalled. “I told her we’re artists and all artists are egotistical maniacs with an inferiority complex. When we walk off stage, we’re always in doubt if we can walk back in front of a mic and sing again. “Then I told her, ‘When you walk back in front of that microphone, you’ll turn back into Shania Twain.’

Along with the album’s release, Richie will appear on the April 1 Academy of Country Music Awards TV show, and he further explores his country side in a CBS special, “ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends In Concert,” set to air on April 13. The special, which was pre-taped, features appearances by Jason Aldean, The Band Perry, Luke Bryan, Sara Evans, Lady Antebellum and others. Richie called it “a night that I will remember for the rest of my life.” “The ultimate compliment here is that you have these people telling you that something you wrote is their favorite song.

And then they want to sing it with me?

Come on, I mean, at a certain point you have to stop and realize your blessings,” he said.—Reuters

James Cameron back from the deep for ‘Titanic’ 3D launch

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itanic” director James Cameron hit the red carpet in London on Tuesday for the launch of the Oscar-winning film’s 3D version, as the 100th anniversary of the legendary ship’s sinking approaches.

The US filmmaker jetted into the British capital fresh from his seven-mile (11.2 kilometer) submarine dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the ocean’s deepest point. He was joined on the red carpet by the film’s British star Kate Winslet and US actor Billy Zane for the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall. “The 3D enriches all of Titanic’s most thrilling moments and its most emotional moments,” Cameron said on the red carpet.

“More than ever, you feel you’re right there going through all the jeopardy that Jack and Rose go through,” he added, referring to the film’s two main characters, played by Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Cameron dived the wreck 12 times before filming the original, saying it “had a huge impact” on the end result. “We shot the real wreck-we didn’t just build models of it,” he explained.

He said he had told set-builders: “It’s got to be exactly like you went back in a time machine and you were on the deck of the Titanic.” The director of smashhit sci-fi adventure “Avatar” completed his dive of the Mariana Trench, about 200 miles southwest of the Pacific island of Guam, on Sunday morning local time, and revealed it had given him fresh inspiration. —AFP

US director, James Cameron and his wife Suzie Amis attend the world premiere of Titanic 3D in central London. —AFP

key moments in her life. But she has yet to watch the musical in full, finding it too painful, Smith said. Boyle remains mentally fragile, although there was little sign of nerves when she took to the stage Tuesday, sending the audience into a frenzy of delight.

“It just took your heart away,” said 79-yearold Jeanette Mole. After a week in Newcastle, the musical goes on a tour of Britain, after which the producers hope to take it to other parts of Europe, to Canada, the United States and Australia-although many of Boyle’s fans couldn’t wait that long.

Maire Byrne, a white-haired 70-year-old from Dublin who was wearing an “I Love SuBo t-shirt”, was among about 100 international fans who met online and arranged to come to Newcastle together to see the show.

“It was beautifully done-this is what she wants the world to know about her,” Byrne told AFP. Meg Neiderer, a 52-year- old from Pennsylvania, added: “It’s not just her music, her voice-her story touches people. I can relate to her.”

Smith echoed this, saying: “For 20 years we’ve been living in a completely celebrityobsessed culture, where if you’re not tall, thin, blonde and gorgeous, particularly as a woman, you don’t count. “Susan has sort of put a bomb under that.” — AFP

India gets first Bollywood ‘walk of fame’

Indian conductor Zubin Mehta poses during the ceremony to unveil his Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. —AFP

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ften accused of ripping off plot lines from Hollywood, it was perhaps only a matter of time before India’s Bollywood launched its own “Walk of Fame” in the style of Los Angeles’ iconic boulevard. Indian cinema’s “Walk of the Stars” was launched last evening on a seaside promenade in the Bandra district of Mumbai, the country’s entertainment capital-the first of two competing projects under way in the city. “We thought it would be a good idea for us to create something as a tribute to the biggest superstars of the industry,” said Nikhil Gandhi, business head of the UTV Stars television channel, which has set up the walkway.

“The idea is to get fans closer to the superstars.” Like the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Mumbai’s new pathway will bear handprints and signatures of numerous actors-along with a handful of life-size brass statues depicting some of the industry’s best-known stars. The street will first pay homage to the Kapoor family, “because they’re technically the first family of Bollywood”, Gandhi said. Kareena Kapoor, currently one of the highest-paid actresses in the country, is the main guest at the launch, where statues of the late Raj and Shammi Kapoor, her legendary grandfather and great uncle, will be unveiled.

But not all of Bollywood’s biggest names are backing the project, with a rival walkway, initiated by actor and architect Ritesh Deshmukh, also in the works in the same part of the city. Deshmukh said he has signed up 20 stars for his own path of fame, including Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan, two of India’s favourite film stars. “I started collecting hand prints of actors over the past 10 months and these hand prints will be placed at Bandra promenade,” Deshmukh told AFP. “The place will be called ‘Legends Walk’.” Gandhi said he had heard about Deshmukh’s project but denied there was any rivalry.—AFP

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

lifestyle F a s h i o n

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A file picture taken on February 25, 2008 in Paris, shows French Perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris before being awarded as Knight in the French order of the Legion of Honor by French. — AFP

Paris court was to decide Thursday whether JeanPaul Guerlain, for decades the “nose” behind the world-famous perfume brand, was being racist when he said that he “worked like a negro.” Asked in an October 2010 television interview about how he had created the Samsara scent, Guerlain replied using a racial slurthe French term “negre” and implied that black people are lazy. “For once, I set to work like a negro. I don’t know if negroes have always worked like that, but anyway,” he said.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation, with anti-racism groups saying it highlighted deep prejudice in French society.

The 75-year-old heir to one of the world’s oldest perfume houses went on trial in February on charges of making “racist insults” during the interview on French public television. He faces up to six months in prison and a 22,500 euro ($30,000) fine if the court finds him guilty when it delivers its verdict on Thursday. And this month French police said they were probing additional accusations that Guerlain made an anti-immigrant rant against Eurostar workers. Three employees of the high-speed rail firm that links Paris and London made a complaint to police accus-

ing Guerlain of making remarks of a racist nature as they helped the wheelchair-bound pensioner board a train.

Guerlain missed the train because he arrived late at Paris Gare du Nord station and then allegedly launched into a tirade against the three, two of whom were black and the third of Asian origin.

His televised comments last October were quickly denounced, with France’s Movement Against Racism and for Friendship (MRAP) saying the remarks revealed “the state of ordinary racism that still permeates French society.”

Guerlain apologized but protests erupted outside the company’s boutique on the Champs Elysees in Paris and there were calls for a boycott of Guerlain and its owner, luxury brand giant Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH). “I offer my apologies to all those who might have been hurt by my shocking words,” Guerlain said in a statement after the interview. He said the comments “in no way reflect my true thinking, but were a slip of the tongue.”

The Guerlain company also distanced itself from the remarks, saying his words were “unacceptable” and noting that Guerlain had not been a shareholder in the company since 1996 or on salary since 2002. Guerlain took over the

family perfume house from his grandfather, Jacques, in 1959, by which time he could reportedly recognize 3,000 subtly different smells. The perfume house was run by the Guerlain family for five generations and created over 300 fragrances since doctor and chemist Pierre Francois Pascal Guerlain opened his first perfume boutique in Paris 183 years ago.

LVMH purchased the company in 1994 and Guerlain remained as master perfumer until he retired in 2002.

During his time at the company he was hailed as one of the great perfume “noses” of the 20th century and created famous scents including Samsara, Nahema and Jardins de Bagatelle.—AFP

Models present creations during the WSM 2012 China Knitwear Fashion Design Contest at China fashion week in Beijing yesterday. China fashion week features shows by 46 brands and 30 designers and runs until April 1. — AFP photos

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ischa Barton’s fashion range is reportedly selling out. Following in the footsteps of Nicole Richie, Jessica Simpson and Lauren Conrad, the former ‘O.C’ star unveiled her own boho-inspired clothing collection last week - and apparently it’s a huge success.

CocoPerez.com reported: “Some of the pieces are flying off the shelves! “So far the Mischa Signature Jacket is completely sold out and there’s only one Clara Sequin Dress left in a size small.” Created with help from her mother Nuala, Mischa’s Place features everything from tops and trousers, through to body butters, nail polishes and handbags all at the click of a button.

In a message on the site - which ships to America, Britain, Canada, France, Spain, Sweden and Germany, the 26-year-old actress says:

“Together with the help of my Mum Nuala, my inspirations are brought to life using elements of my personal style. “Our collection has grown and developed to reflect the consumer and myself over the seasons, whilst maintaining a consistent theme. I hope you enjoy my designs and have as much fun wearing them as I did designing them!” Mischa made a previous foray into the world of fashion with a handbag and accessories line in 2008. — BangShowbiz

indy Crawford teases her daughter about her modeling career - telling the youngster she “stole everything” from her. The 46-year-old supermodel’s 10-yearold daughter Kaia recently made her modeling debut for Versace and although Cindy is very “proud” of her child she couldn’t resist taking the genetic credit. She said of the shoot: “I thought she looked great. I was proud of her. I was there when she shot it, so I know what the experience was like for her.

She liked it, but she also saw that it’s hard work. When we left the shoot, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do that again,’ it was like, ‘That was kinda hard!’ “The first 10 snaps are really fun and then it’s work. There’s a reason they call it a job. I thought it was a really good introduction for her to understand a little bit what I do. It was a really great experience for her. “Other people see more of me in her than I do, but I just see her. I always tease her that she stole everything from me.

I’m like, ‘You have my old legs and I want them back!’” The brunette beauty also has a

12-year-old son Presley with husband Rande Gerber and while she and her spouse try and talk to them about life she doesn’t think either of her children listen to what they say.

Cindy added in an interview with Parade.com: “The thing that I have learned is that your kids don’t really listen to what you say, but they watch how you behave. “I think my husband and I are both pretty grounded and they see that. Their life is certainly different than my life was as a kid, but they don’t really want a lot. We live in Malibu, which to some people who have never been here, it sounds very fancy, but it’s actually like a small town. “They’re happy being outside, and my son is in the water every day after school. It’s not this decadent, luxurious lifestyle.”— Bang Showbiz

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

lifestyle F a s h i o n

Models parading creations by Chinese fashion house Magic Fur Wu Xuekai for their autumn/winter 2012-2013 collection during the bi-annual China Fashion Week in Beijing. The eight-day fashion extravaganza will highlight works of hundreds of designers from both domestic and international fashion houses. — AP/AFP photos

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ome Centre, the region’s leading home retailer, yesterday unveiled the second edition of its hugely successful ‘Room Makeover’ contest.

Previously hosted only across the UAE, the competition goes GCC-wide in the current season and invites entries from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

The contest will select 20 winners across the region that will each be given dramatic room makeovers for a chosen living space worth AED10,000 in the UAE; KD1,000 in Kuwait; BHD1,000 in Bahrain; OMR1,000 in Oman; SAR10,000 in Saudi Arabia; and QAR10,000 in Qatar.

Beginning on 2 April, the competition will run on a micro site hosted on the Home Centre website www.homecentrestores.com that will also be accessible

from the brand’s Facebook - www.facebook.com/homecentrestores. Participants can register through their Facebook accounts or personal email addresses until 21 April.

To engage a wider consumer base, the competition will be open to public voting allowing applicants to share their entries with family and friends in order to gain votes and increase their chances to win. The top 100 entries that receive the highest votes will be shortlisted for the next round and additionally win a limited edition Home Centre cookbook. An internal jury will also review the rest of the entries to select deserving candidates.

From the second round of selection 40 participants will be picked out as the shortlisted finalists. Experts from Home Centre will then examine each of the 40

shortlisted homes to select the 20 final winners from across the six GCC countries.

Aarti Jagtiani, General Manager, Home Centre, said: “The Home Centre team is excited about the second season of our highly successful Room Makeover contest, which offers an excellent opportunity to reach our customers across the region. Additionally, it allows us to understand customers’ aesthetic and functional needs, which will go a long way in creating an appropriate product portfolio. The beauty of the contest is that anyone can enter - it is not linked to purchase or transaction. The entire experience is very rewarding, at many levels.”

In 2011, Home Centre successfully organised the first-ever ‘Room Makeover’ contest attracting over 3,200 entries from the UAE. In addition to providing home

dÈcor expertise, the Home Centre design team made a distinct visual impact by matching colours, lighting, palettes and textures to reflect the personality of the winners. All products including furniture, painting and accessories for refurbishing the rooms were offered by Home Centre.

Voted a UAE ‘Superbrand’ in January 2012 for the third consecutive year, Home Centre offers a mix of contemporary and traditional designs across furniture, furnishings, home accessories, kitchenware and gift options at exceptional value.

India gets first Bollywood ‘walk of fame’

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012

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Tourists enjoy the Cherry blossoms in full bloom around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the cherry trees, which were originally a gift from Japan and were planted around the National Mall. — AFP

The empire smiles back: Taiwan’s

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aiwan loves cherry blossoms. In fact, it loves almost everything Japanese. For a nation that ruled the island for 50 years, often with an iron fist, Japan has left a very favorable impression. In the latest triumph of Japanese soft power in its former colony, tens of thousands of Taiwanese have taken up planting cherry trees to revel in their colorful bloom for a few precious moments each spring-just like in Japan. “When you see the flowers, you almost feel as if you’re in Japan,” 50-year-old businesswoman Susan Wu said as she walked up a hilly road flanked by white and pink cherry blossoms in Beitou, a Taipei suburb.

In an annual routine that has become increasingly popular over the past two to three years, Taiwanese flock to remote sightseeing spots at the risk of being trapped in huge traffic jams-only to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossoms, known as “sakura” in Japan. The mountainous Beitou area has become a particular visitor magnet after a local official started a campaign urging locals to plant cherry blossom trees, which has so far caught the imagination of more than 400 households.

“Not many people knew this place in the past, but now it’s famous because people associate it with cherry blossoms,” said Ching Rong-hui, an official who oversees the daily administration of Beitou’s cherry blossom area.

Japanese cherry blossom festival

Other parts of Taiwan have joined the trend, putting money in the pockets of farmers in Sanchih, a rural area outside Taipei that now supplies up to 600,000 cherry tree saplings a year. “Lots of our cherry tree farmers have benefited from the booming demand,” said Chou Zheng-nan, an official at the Sanchih Farmers Association, but declined to provide figures.

Japan is known to use cherry trees as a gesture of goodwill, and in Washington DC, one beneficiary of Tokyo’s flower power diplomacy, the blossom season is an annual party highlight.

But in Taiwan, it is more than that. Analysts say the obsession with sakura a key symbol of Japanese civilization-is a measure of the enormous cultural clout Japan wields on the island, second only to China in its impact. “Japan’s influence has been huge, ranging from infrastructure to local people’s mindsets and behavior,” said Lee Shiao-feng, a professor at the Taiwan culture graduate school of National Taipei University of Education.

They don’t think like the Japanese China’s last week imperial dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after a brief but disastrous war, and the island did not return to mainland rule until 1945 following the surrender of Japan at the end of the Second World War. The first years

Mayan documentary

under the Japanese around the turn of the last century were harsh, and scattered resistance was crushed brutally, but then the new pith-helmeted administrators went on to develop Taiwan economically. They built a railroad linking the south and north, constructed harbors and power plants, eradicated disease and boosted literacy rates, while also passing on their own cultural habits such as baseball.

“Japan’s development projects laid the foundation for Taiwan to move into a pre-modern society,” Lee said. “In the process, Taiwan people gradually learned to play baseball as well as appreciate cherry blossoms and revel in hot springs, as they tried to imitate their rulers.” Since 1945, the Japanese influence has gone on nearly unabated and has been embraced by Taiwan’s younger generations, exposed to Japanese soap operas, pop music and TV programs featuring Japanese cuisine and sightseeing spots, he said.

This is entirely different from the Korean peninsula, which was ruled as a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945 and is still haunted by memories of how brutal and harsh life was under the banner of the Rising Sun. The Japanese did promote cherry blossoms, too, and South Korea has kept that particular tradition, but in a telling twist, it has replaced the Japanese trees with indigenous ones. The contrast with Taiwan is obvious,

and yet academics on the island say it may take the island’s cherry blossom lovers some time to digest the philosophical connotation of the cherry blossoms in the Japanese culture.

“When Taiwanese people appreciate cherry blossoms, they are simply impressed by the beauty of the flowers. That’s it,” Maa Yaw-huei, the director of the Department of Japanese at Taipei’s Tamkang University. “But in the eyes of their Japanese counterparts, there’s a sense of sadness associated with the transient beauty. Watching the fading of such pretty flowers is associated with mortality.” The people of Taiwan may behave like the Japanese, but don’t think like them, according to observers. Chinese culture, first introduced from the mainland more than three centuries ago, survived Japan’s colonization despite policies aimed to turn the Taiwanese into loyal subjects of the Japanese emperor. “Although the Japanese have added new cultural elements to Taiwan, the structure of Chinese culture has remained intact,” Lee said. — AFP

Photo shows Beyonce next to a ruler.

to warn humans of impending catastrophe

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ayan writings do not predict the end of the world when the calendar cycle ends in December - but according to the producer of an upcoming documentary about the Central American civilization, they do make the sobering prediction that three-quarters of the earth’s population will be wiped out in the ensuing 15 to 20 years. And those who live, insisted producer Raul Julia-Levy, will need to quickly colonize outer space, just as he said the Mayans did.

“This is the most critical time in human history, and mankind is going to have to face the music,” said JuliaLevy, the son of the late actor Raul Julia and producer of “Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond.” In an exclusive interview with TheWrap, Julia-Levy claimed that his privately-financed documentary, which begins production this week in Mexico, will drop a series of bombshells that look to the future and draw connections between the Mayans and extra-terrestrials.

The revelations, he said, will be “every archaeologist’s nightmare.” Julia-Levy said that with the cooperation of the Mexican government, the film will reveal for the first time a chamber inside the Mayan pyramid at Calakmul - which, he added, Mexico has named “the Temple of the Mayan Extra-Terrestrial Inscriptions.” He also said that the National Mayan Council of Elders of Guatemala will bring together all 650 of its members for a scene in which they will expose their 3,750-yearold sacred books for the first time.

Inside those books, he said, is information about “the beginning of the collapse of the human race,” which will take place during the next two decades.

Obviously, claims of prophecies and extra-terrestrials will be greeted with some disdain by many in the archaeological community. “Anybody that [makes claims of extra-terrestrial/Mayan contact] is a phony and cannot be taken seriously,” said Dr. Richard D. Hansen, the director of the Mirador Basin Project in Guatemala and the Senior Scientist at the Institute for Mesoamerican Research in the Department of Anthropology at Idaho State University, when contacted by TheWrap.

“I understand people are skeptical, but I got news for you,” insisted Julia-Levy. “This is not going to be a movie for UFO aficionados. We’re introducing evidence, facts and the truth. “And according to the

Mayan Council, archaeologists have been lying to the world and covering things up. They don’t know how to read the Mayan codices, and they don’t know what the Mayan Council knows.” What the council knows, he said, is based on books that date back nearly 4,000 years. “I spoke to the president of the Mayan Council, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, who said that these may not be the best things to reveal, because some of them are very negative.

But he said that humans need to understand what’s going to happen in order to make changes, starting with our own environment. We’re sitting on a time bomb.” One big change that the Mayan books suggest, he said, is space travel. “This planet is not designed for seven billion people,” he said. “These sacred books will encourage humans to explore and colonize other planets, just like the Mayans did.” Julia-Levy will produce and also narrate the film; he compares the approach to the one Werner Herzog used in “Cave of Forgotten Dreams.”

He also claimed to have enlisted the participation of astronomers from the Vatican to be interviewed for the film. (The Vatican has not made any official comment on extra-terrestrial life, but in 2008 the director of the Vatican Observatory wrote that aliens could exist without contradicting the Catholic faith.) The film, which begins production on Friday and starts principal photography on April 5, was financed and will be executive produced by Elisabeth Thieriot, with Ed Elbert and Sheila McCarthy producing. Juan Diego Rodriguez and Eduardo Vertiz are executive producers in Guatemala and Mexico, respectively.

Shooting will take place for a month, and Julia-Levy promised to have a teaser within about six weeks and to release the film well before the December date on which the Mayan calendar cycle ends. “We have to hurry up to be out way before December,” he said. “People think that’ll be the end of the world, so we have to release it so that people know the world won’t be ending on December 21. “It won’t be the end of the world, but the real (deal) is going to happen in the next 15 to 20 years,” he said. “And I’m not interested in anything but the truth.” — Reuters

Tiny puppy in California could be world’s smallest

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puppy named after one of the world’s biggest pop stars could set the world’s record for tiniest dog. Animal rescuers in Northern California say the female Dachshund mix, named Beyonce, was so small at birth that she could fit into a spoon. At two weeks, she’s about the size of a business card.

The Grace Foundation, based in El Dorado County, says animal control picked up Beyonce’s pregnant mother, and she gave birth to a litter of five on March 8. Beyonce was the last one delivered, and was born without a heartbeat. Veterinarians managed to revive her through chest compressions and mouthto-mouth resuscitation. The foundation says she’ll be ready for adoption in about two weeks. Meanwhile, it has submitted an application to Guinness World Records for world’s smallest dog. — AP Photo shows Beyonce next to a cookie.