29 Nov 2011

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

US soldiers see Iraq convoys safe to Kuwait

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MUHARRAM 4, 1432 AH

Deadly violence erupts as DR Congo goes to polls

Divergent views signal tough climate talks ahead

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Tebow leads Broncos to OT win over Chargers

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Amir accepts government resignation, oppn defiant Massive rally demands dissolving Assembly, freeing activists

Max 18º Min 09º Low Tide 08:53 & 20:44 High Tide 01:05 & 15:29

from the editor’s desk

My way or the highway politics

By Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan

myopinion@kuwaittimes.net

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fter several Cabinet resignations, HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah’s government has resigned and HH the Amir has accepted the resignation. What happens next is entirely up to the Amir. He can constitutionally dissolve parliament, call elections and appoint a new prime minister, which is highly unlikely as the Amir has elaborated on numerous occasions that this parliament will serve its full term. The second course of action is that this government will of course serve as a caretaker government until order is restored and everyone calms down. Then a new PM will be appointed to form a new government. Most likely it would be the reappointment of Sheikh Nasser as the Amir have shown his trust in Sheikh Nasser who has survived several grillings and votes of no confidence in parliament. This is the most likely scenario unless the current PM is fed up with this fiasco and refuses reappointment.

After the resignation, hundreds of opposition supporters rallied as planned at Irada Square.

Claiming that they are the voice of Kuwait, they welcomed the resignation of the government and stated their demands. They had three main demands the first was the resignation of the Cabinet; the second was for the current parliament to be dissolved and for everyone who has broken the law to be prosecuted “because no one is above the law”; and the third demand was a hypocritical call to release those who were caught and arrested for attacking security forces and breaking into the parliament!

Let’s stick to the second demand and not shoot yourself in the foot by saying that nobody is above the law except for those who supported the opposition and broke the law by attacking Kuwaitis in uniform guarding the parliament. Those people are criminals and have to pay for their actions. This is Kuwait and not a war zone.

The other demands, which I found ridiculous, were the dissolution of the parliament - of course this comes in complete disregard to the majority of the MPs who are pro-government and were elected by the people. I see that this is a democracy of my way or the highway. Perhaps it is time for a government that speaks the same language as the opposition and that is not afraid to attack and implement the law on everyone whether they are in opposition or not.

God bless Kuwait and protect it from all those who seek to harm its unity.

KUWAIT: A picture taken with a fisheye lens shows opposition demonstrators protesting opposite the National Assembly late yesterday. (Inset) Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi speaks to the press at the Assembly earlier after the government resigned. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

UAE president pardons jailed Internet activists DUBAI: Five Emirati Internet activists, jailed for up to three years on charges including insulting the Gulf state’s leaders, have been pardoned, state news agency WAM and their lawyer said yesterday. The United Arab Emirates president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, “ordered the release of the five detainees”, a day after their conviction, WAM quoted an official in the presidency as saying. The five were included in a presidential amnesty for the 40th anniversary of UAE National Day to be celebrated on Dec 2, it said.

Their lawyer Mohammed Al-Roken told AFP earlier that “an official has informed me that a presidential pardon has been issued to release them”, after they were sentenced by the Federal Supreme Court on Sunday. “The order has been delivered to Al-Wathba prison and it is being processed to release them,” he said, adding that he hoped they would be freed by the end of yesterday. “I hope the case is completely closed now so that they can go back and serve their nation,” Roken said.

The UAE’s top court handed blogger Ahmed Mansoor a three-year prison sentence, while four others arrested with him in April received two years each.

Mansoor was convicted along with Nasser bin Gaith, who lectures at the Abu Dhabi branch of the Sorbonne University, and activists Fahid Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq. The five were accused of using the Internet to insult UAE leaders, of calling for a boycott of September’s Federal National Council elections and in connection with anti-government demonstrations.

Their trial was criticised as “grossly unfair” by a coalition of seven rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which called for the five to be freed. The five defendants, described by sympathisers as reformists, refused to show up in court on Sunday, saying through a police officer that the court did not allow them to defend themselves.

The defendants were said on Sunday to be still on a hunger strike which they started earlier this month.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah yesterday accepted the resignation of the government and asked the prime minister and other Cabinet members to run urgent affairs until a new government is formed. Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah submitted his government’s resignation during an emergency Cabinet meeting chaired by the Amir to discuss the political dilemma that has hit the country due to a bitter dispute between the government and the opposition.

The opposition meanwhile staged the largest rally so far with organizers claiming the crowds reached 90,000, the biggest ever in Kuwait’s history, with speakers demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly and the release of 24 activists detained for storming the Assembly.

In his resignation letter to the Amir, Sheikh Nasser blamed political instability in Kuwait and inability of the government to perform on opposition MPs without naming them. He said that negative practices that some people have insisted to continue at the expense of national interests have disrupted the functioning of the government and negatively impacted the aspired cooperation between the Assembly and the government.

Opposition MPs immediately welcomed the resignation of the Cabinet but called for appointing a new prime minister and for forming a transitional government that should oversee the next elections after the Continued on Page 13

Egyptians flock to polls

CAIRO: An Egyptian woman casts her ballot at a polling station in the Manial neighbourhood yesterday. (Inset) Egyptian women show their inked fingers after voting. — AFP/AP

CAIRO: Egyptians flocked to the polls yesterday for a first post-revolution election, making a mostly orderly and joyous start to their transition to democracy after a week of violence and political crisis. Ten months since the end of 30 years of autocratic rule by Hosni Mubarak, ousted by popular protests in one of the seminal events of the Arab Spring, up to 40 million voters are being asked to choose a new parliament. “It was no use to vote before. Our voices were completely irrelevant,” Mona Abdel Moneim, one of several women who said they were voting for the first time, told AFP in the Shubra district of Cairo.

Voting for the lower house of parliament takes place in three stages beginning on Monday in the main cities of Cairo, Alexandria and other areas, with the moderate Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood expected to triumph. The highly complex procedure to elect a full assembly will end in March. The backdrop was ominous after a week of protests calling for the resignation of the interim military rulers who stepped in after Mubarak’s fall. Forty-two people were killed and more than 3,000 injured.

Voting passed off peacefully and the opening hours of polling booths were extended to 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) to enable the thousands who waited for hours in long queues to cast their ballots. “We were surprised that people turned out to vote in large numbers, thank God,” Abdel Moez Ibrahim, who heads the High Judicial Continued on Page 13

DAMASCUS: A giant portrait of embattled Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is carried in a sea of thousands of Syrian demonstrators in the capital yesterday. — AFP

Syria lashes Arabs, but accused of atrocities DAMASCUS: Damascus yesterday lashed out at the Arab League for ignoring “terrorists” on Syrian territory in its decision to impose crippling sanctions, which it said marked a declaration of “economic war”. The comments came even as UNappointed investigators accused Syrian forces of crimes against humanity, while rights groups said at least eight more civilians were killed across the country.

“Arab sanctions are a declaration of economic war on Syria,” Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said at a news conference during which gruesome video footage was shown of what was described as a “mass grave of security force martyrs” discovered by the authorities.

“I apologise for these horrific images, but at the same time I offer them to the Continued on Page 13

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

LOCAL

Municipality welcomes non-Arabic speakers to register complaints No language barrier

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Many expatriates in Kuwait, especially non-Arabic speakers, are reluctant to report problems, negative experiences with official authorities owing to a language barrier and the perception that they are unapproachable. Osama Al-Duaij, deputy director general of the Hawally and Mubarak AlKabeer governorates of the Kuwait Municipality welcomed citizens and expatriates to submit complaints concerning the municipality’s duties. “Our doors are open from 7:30 in the morning to accept any complaint from any person, regardless of nationality. And I do speak English as well, so they don’t have to worry about the language barrier,” he said.

Al-Duaij also blamed the English language media for failing to provide more information to non-Arabic speaking expats. He believes many are not aware of important issues. “I think that this community comprises about 30 percent of the population. I also think that the media plays a key role in spreading awareness to the public. For instance, there is the issue of public cleanliness. Many people think that Kuwait is not clean enough and it can beautified. Who should we blame?”he asked.

Three parties are responsible for the abovementioned issue. “The cleaning company, which I grade as being good, the control authority (Municipality) which works in accordance with available resources, I grade it as being good, and finally the individuals

who are on top of the pyramid. I grade them with an F for preserving tidiness. We need more inspectors at the Municipality, and we are training new recruits to join the team to improve their performance. We hope to see the country cleaner,” he added.

“People do not respect the rules of cleanli-

Osama Al-Duaij ness although we have strict laws. I think that this law should be implemented although it is not widely applied on violators. I think that the main reason lies in the way we are raised.

So here for instance, when children are used to housemaids cleaning after them, they behave the same way in the street. The clean-

ers should clean it. On the other hand, there are some westerners that preserve tidiness and environment as if this is their own country,” observed Al-Duaij.

According to law number 9/1987 entitled Forbidding Acts Harming Public Cleanliness and Plants, the fine for throwing trash in public places falls between KD 5 to 200. This also includes spitting, urinating and excreting in public places. This law also includes damaging plants, trees, and flowers in public places.

Al-Duaij encouraged the public to inform if inedible food stuffs are found. “We at the Municipality are aware of both restaurant owners and customers. The owners should know the rules of the Municipality as it applies to his work. On the other hand, the customer should also be aware of the rules, so if he saw or found spoiled food stuffs, he should inform the Municipality. We ask citizens and expatriates to submit their complaints without any fear,” he pointed out.

The branch of the Municipality is responsible for Salmiya, which is the commercial hub of Kuwait, and Mubarak Al Kabeer, where Sabhan, the biggest industrial area is located.

“This puts great responsibility on our department. The safety of food products is our priority, and we are very strict in terms of human and health safety. People should inform us about any violations.” He added.

Al-Duaij concluded that in the West, the employees are called civil ‘servants.’ “I was the first to practically apply it because I feel that we serve the public. We will receive complaints from them,” he concluded.

KUWAIT: Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah, Kuwait Ambassador to the United States, in a group photo with NBK PR representatives Abdulmohsen Al-Rushaid and Talal Al-Turk in NBK booth.

NBK hosts dinner banquet for Kuwaiti students in US KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) hosted a dinner banquet for the participants in the 28th annual conference of the National Union of Kuwaiti StudentsUSA held between Nov 24 and 27.

Surprises, cash rewards and luxurious gifts for Kuwaiti students studying in the States were given at the banquet.

NBK Public Relations Manager Abdulmohsen Al-Rushaid said that Kuwaiti students studying abroad

deserve our utmost attention and support. NBK’s participation in this event contributes to the enhancement of NUKS cultural, syndicate, sports and patriotic awareness-raising activities.

“NBK’s support comes as part of the bank’s relentless efforts to shoulder its social responsibilities, including providing all means of encouragement and support for students and voluntary activities,” Alrushaid added.

‘Senior citizens in rally’ probe to begin next week

EQUATE honors employees’ children KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company hosted a ceremony to honor the educational achievements of over 90 of its employees’ children. During the event, EQUATE Senior Executive for Administration and Corporate Services Abeer Al-Omar said, “EQUATE devotes great attention to addressing and interacting with employees and their families within a social context in appreciation of their role in the company’s success.” Al-Omar added, “Such educational achieve-

ments by the employees’ children are sources of pride to everyone at EQUATE, a diverse family that groups employees hailing from over 25 countries across the globe.” In line with its ‘sharing success’ philosophy with all stakeholders, EQUATE hosts numerous activities for its employees and their families, which include Open Days, Girgian, Ghabqa, athletic competitions and others. Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between

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

KUWAIT: An air of confusion prevails at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) as investigations got underway into the alleged participation of senior citizens who were taken out from old age homes to attend in a pro-government rally held last Tuesday. Hamad Al-Medhadhi, the assistant undersecretary for Social Care Department was authorized by Minister Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi to form an investigation committee to conduct an internal probe into an incident that raised suspicion that it was governmental tactic to create the impression of inflated numeric strength.

According to a source, the committee comprises members from the ministry’s social care and legal departments, sched-

uled to begin work next week. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity hinted that senior citizens were moved to Iradah Square were the rally took place. It was led by a Ministry of Education (MoE) teacher who previously worked at the MSAL’s Social Care Department.

The official clarified that the ten-member team received verbal instructions to take senior citizens on three outdoor trips a week, since beginning voluntary work nearly two years ago. While adding that good intentions were behind the step taken, the insider still admitted that the participation of senior citizens in last Tuesday’s rally was a mistake because the atmosphere was politically-charged. — Al-Qabas

MOE rejects request for teachers to leave early KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education has rejected a proposal by MP Dr Mohammad Al-Hawailah to allow teachers to leave the premises of their school if they do not have any classes remaining on their schedule, in order

to reduce traffic congestion in front of schools. Public Education Ministry Undersecretary, Muna Al-Loughani, said it is important to have discipline in education and for educators to commit to official timings. — Al-watan

Emergency message for US citizens

KUWAIT: Kuwait Municipality raided food outlets located near Mirqab yesterday. Officials issued 29 citations to food stores and ordered that a restaurant and a bakery be shut down. The Public Cleanliness Department issued 11 citations for operating without proper Ministry of Health license, failing to comply to maintain proper hygiene, not wearing proper uniform and preparing food at unclean places. Tariq Al-Qattan Head of Emergency Department at Municipality said that campaigns will be held to safeguard consumers’ health. —Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Seven injured in car accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A 23-year-old citizen fractured his leg after his ATV(All Terrain Vehicle) flipped over in Julaiah. He was admitted to Adan Hospital. A 50-year-old Indian national and a 23-year-old citizen sustained several injuries in a car accident that took place along Fourth Ring Road before Damascus Street exit. They were admitted to Mubarak Hospital. In another incident, an 18-year-old citizen suffered lacerations to his face and a 26-year-old broke his right wrist in a car crash. Both were admitted to Adan Hospital.

A 40-year-old citizen suffered spinal injury in a car accident that took place along Jahra

Road. He was admitted to Sabah Hospital.

Also, a 41-year-old Indian complained of chest pain in a car accident at the gate of the Customs Department. He was admitted to Farwaniya Hospital.

Woman harassed A female citizen reported to Jahra police that she was harassed by an assailant after ignoring his advances. He allegedly hit her car on the road. The victim notified the car’s license plate number.

Boy molested An Egyptian filed a complaint with police stating that an Iranian grocer in Fahaheel

molested his son. The boy was sent to the medical examiner . Police arrested the Iranian national.

Minor girl assaulted In Jahra, a minor girl lodged a complaint stating that a young citizen forcibly took her to a camp and sexually assaulted her. The suspect was arrested and the girl was referred to the medical examiner.

Cables stolen Technicians who acted upon complaints received about power cuts in Ardiya, discovered that cables were stolen from the transformer that supplied electricity to the area.

According to press reports, anti-government demonstrations are planned this week at Determination Square and near the Parliament building in Kuwait City. An increased police and security presence is expected in and around the capital with traffic congestion.

Spontaneous and/or planned demonstrations do occur in Kuwait in response to global, regional, and local developments.

US citizens are advised to avoid areas where demonstrations are ongoing and exercise caution if within the vicinity of large gatherings. Please stay current with media coverage of local events, be aware of your surroundings, and continue to practice personal security awareness.

US citizens traveling and residing abroad should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at the following website: https://travelregistration.state.gov.

U.S. citizens without internet access may enroll directly at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate at their destination. By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.

Updated information on travel and security may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free

in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

These numbers are available from 8 am to 8 pm. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except US federal holidays). For further information, please consult the Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet website at http://travel.state.gov where the Worldwide Caution and Country Specific Information can be found. In addition, the Embassy encourages US citizens to review “A Safe Trip Abroad,” which includes valuable security information for those traveling or living in foreign countries. You can also follow the Bureau of Consular Affairs on Twitter and on Facebook.

The US Embassy is located at Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa Street, Block 6, Plot 14, Bayan, Kuwait. If you are a US citizen in need of emergency assistance in Kuwait, you may reach the U.S. Embassy by calling +9652259-1001 and requesting the duty officer.

US citizens in Kuwait who would like to receive future Emergency and Informational Messages from the Embassy directly by email may sign up for this service by sending an e-mail to the following address: join-wardenmessagekuwait@mh.databack.com

‘Oil revenue dependence stalling development’ KUWAIT: Kuwait’s development has been marred by its complete reliance on crude oil, in addition to unstudied hefty salaries paid to public sector employees.

The following observation was stated in the recently released State Audit Bureau’s annual report, which warns against the budget of public sector salaries that rise from KD 5.4 billion in 2009/2010 to KD 5.7 billion in 2010/2011. It accounts for 28 percent of the state’s income.

The Bureau warns that Kuwait might be

forced to halt execution of several development projects if capital expenditure of state departments remain at its current low level (11.4 percent), in light of rising current expenditure and the strong connection between public spending and oil revenue.

The report also calls for the execution of policies that can boost the state’s oil production and refinement capacity, as well as eliminate obstacles that delay projects that can be implemented. —Al-Rai

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

local

News

in brief

Duke of York arrives KUWAIT: The Duke of York Prince Andrew and his accompanying delegation arrived in the country yesterday for an official visit. The British Prince was received by head of the honorary mission, Al-Ahmadi Governor Sheikh Dr Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Ibrahim Al-Sabah.

Kuwaitis ‘not told to flee’ KUWAIT: Dr Rashid Al-Hamad, Kuwait’s Ambassador to Cairo, denied that any instructions were made to evacuate Kuwaiti citizens from Egypt. He said the situation is normal despite an emergency committee being formed to monitor the safety of Kuwaiti citizens and students. AlHamad added that the committee is monitoring the election situation in Egypt and will decide what to do based on their findings.

Health Ministry contracts KUWAIT: The Audit Bureau recently contacted the Health Ministry inquiring about the contract proposed by MOH to be signed with the Johns Hopkins University to run four public hospitals; Amiri, Adan, Jahra and Farwania, to develop health services, said informed sources noting that the bureau demanded adding extra provision to the contract. Notably, the Fatwa and Legislation department had requested some explanations and conditioned adjusting the contract condition though it had been already passed by the Central Tenders Committee. The Johns Hopkins five-year contract is worth $70 million.

Passengers grouse over extra fees charged on trolleys Airport official welcomes complaints

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Trolleys (push carts) are an absolutely necessity at any airport in the world. Trolleys are offered free of charge to passengers. But in Kuwait, a passenger is required to pay 500 fils for a service rendered by a porter involving the pushcart. Advisories on the 500 fils fees is plastered across every pushcart.

Recently, however, several passengers have complained of having to pay more than 500 fils for a trolley’s use.

A Syrian passenger who usually travels from Kuwait to Aleppo (vice versa) complained having been asked by a porter to remove his baggage [from the trolley) if he was not willing to pay 500 fils. Recalling his encounter with the porter, the man in his early fifties said that he had deliberately asked the porter to help him.”My point is that I paid 500 fils to a porter for helping me push my luggage from the departure terminal till the X-ray machine,” he said.

“But when I was transferred from the X-ray to the check-in counter, another porter asked me to pay an additional 500 fils. So, it means I have to pay KD 1. It was unnecessary because the check-in zone was just a few meters away. So, I told him I am not going to pay him,” he said. “But when I told him that I was not going to pay, he asked me to remove my baggage from the trolley. I did take the baggage but for me it was a form of extortion, harassment and inconvenience. So I told myself I don’t want to let

this incident go unsolved.”

Another passenger from the Philippines complained, “It has happened with me many times. In fact, I have to argue with the porter. I said, I will not pay because I handle my baggage alone, but he insisted and I paid 500 fils.”

An Indian passenger told this reporter that he paid 500 fils for a porter at the airport even though he did not help him load or unload his baggage. “I pay 500 fils because the trolley bears a clear advisory

stating that I have to pay the amount. I paid the porter immediately after I finished loading my baggage, even without their assistance. What is 500 fils anyway,” he commented.

Talal E. Bonashi, Kuwait International Airport’s Head of Follow Up and Commercial Contracts Department [Directorate General of Civil Aviation] said, passengers are not required to pay any amount as long as they use trolleys themselves. “The charge is applicable

KUWAIT: Passengers are seen using trolleys at the Kuwait International Airport.—Photo by Joseph Shagra

only if you use the porter’s services. If you use the trolley yourself, we are not required to pay any amount to anybody,” he asserted.

Bonashi said 500 fils is charged by a porter from the departure entrance [from a car] to the baggage check-in counter. “Charge for the use of the cart is illegal and we don’t tolerate that,” said Bonashi talking with the Kuwait Times yesterday.

“At the arrival area [customs], there are two types of trolleys stacked up. One is the trolley that can be used free of charge and another is a large trolley that can accommodate heavier luggage. This one can be used by an accompanying porter and users are charged KD 1 only.

“A small trolley can be used without a porter for free. If you wish a help from a porter, then you are required to pay 500 fils only,” he said.

According to Bonashi, a push cart can hold only up to four luggage pieces.

“More than four bags, means an additional cart is required. The large cart which is only available at the arrival section [customs] can carry up to eight luggage only. And the passenger should pay KD 1 for its use,” he said. Bonashi advised passengers to file complaints in case they are charged an extra amount. “To improve and serve our airport users/passengers properly, we always welcome comments and suggestions. All complaints will be treated confidentially and it will be referred to proper department for legal action,” he concluded.

Detained tweeter released on bail KUWAIT: Drugs Control General Department officials arrested a citizen who is an ex-convict for dealing in illicit drugs. Tips alerted the police that the citizen who lives in Ardiya had a large quantity of illicit drugs in his possession.

A warrant was issued and he was placed under surveillance for two days, after which he was searched and illegal tablets were found in a large black plastic bag.

— Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

By A Saleh

KUWAIT: The Public Prosecution Department (PPD) has released citizen Ali Al-Shatti on a KD 500 bail, announced lawyer Khalid Al-Shatti.

Ali Al-Shatti was arrested in connection with posting inflammatory tweets on Twitter, perceived as being defamatory and harmful to national unity. AlShatti earlier attacked the imam of

Ahmadi mosque who had allegedly declared visiting holy places in Karbala as an act performed by infidels.

In other news, the Criminal Court asked the PPD to ask the National Assembly to lift parliamentary immunity from MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae, so that he can be questioned for obstructing policemen during a rally held at Jamaan Al-Harbash’s diwaniya. The PPD already charged Al-Tabtabae of “insult-

‘No work permits till demographic imbalance rectified’ KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) will not completely ease restrictions on work visa issuance unless the country’s demographic structure is corrected, announced a senior state official on Sunday. “ The local [labor] market is already crowded with more than a million workers who cater to the needs of local companies,” said Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi Deputy Prime

Minister, Minister of Justice and M inister of S ocial Affairs and Labor.

Work permits are only issued when contracts are signed with public firms. However, for certain professions, only private companies can hire new staff members.

Meanwhile, Al-Afasi announced that the MSAL will allow limited number of visit visas to be converted to work visas as soon as the

ministry finalizes new conditions.

“The ministry will place strict conditions to put an end to residenc y trade, mak ing sure that employers will hire qualified personnel,” the minister said.

At least 15,000 expatriate workers obtained work visas in Kuwait this year. “The ministry has halt such transac tions temporarily until new preventive controls are placed,” Dr Al-Afasi said. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Fire Services Directorate’s Deputy Director General for Fire Fighting and Human Resources Development Brig Yousuf Al-Ansari, and Head of International and Military Airport Fire Center Col Khalid Salmeen received a delegation from Jazeera Airways.

The two sides discussed an agreement to train Jazeera’s 225 crew members on the usage of fire extinguishers. — Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Improvements to KG textbook project KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education(MoE) plans to implement its curriculum at more kindergartens. So far, only 12 kindergartens follow the ministry’s curriculum. Maryam AlWutaid Undersecretary Assistant for Curriculum and Educational Research Department added that the ministry’s Undersecretary Tamadher Al-Saidarawi has officially approved the decision after holding meetings with senior Ministry of Education officials.

The ministry introduced, at the start of the school year 2009/2010, a new curriculum that includes new textbooks in Arabic and English as well as the basics of mathematics.

As per the project’s program, the project will be applied gradually starting with 12 kindergartens. This gradual process helps the ministry assess the curriculum and make adjustments before the project is generalized.

Al-Wutaid noted that while no problems were detected in Arabic language and Maths textbooks, problems were faced drafting English books due to the lack of academically qualified teachers. Solutions discussed for this problem include using the help of first-grade teachers to organize training courses for KG teachers. — Al-Qabas

Budget increase for fire departments proposed KUWAIT: Khalid Al-Tarkait, Deputy General Director for Finance and Administration Affairs at Fire Department Brigade, said that the military systems committee has proposed to the Supreme Council of Defense to provide financial allowances to the leaders of military bureaus, Defense and Interior, National Guards and Fire Department, to motivate them to stay on top of their jobs, to make use of their experience, and to avoid resignation.

Al-Takait added that the suggestion includes raising the retirement salary for military leaders to KD 2000, and twoyears’ salary allowance instead of one year.

He further added that the fire department budget for the year 2012/2013 will be the largest since the beginning of the fire department: KD 100 million will be requested to meet the increase in salaries and allowances. In addition to contracting new fire departments, as well as updating those currently in use, part of the budget will be allocated for training both locally and abroad. — Al-Anbaa

ing and resisting policemen.”

The case goes back to last year when Al-Harbash had organized the rally, and police attempted to disperse the gathering. However, people defied police orders, and some, including MPs entered into an altercation with the police before special forces intervened.

National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi said that the session will be adjourned because of the Cabinet’s

decision to resign. About requests to lift parliamentary immunity from MPs who stormed the National Assembly AlKhorafi said, “we did not receive any such request. I did not know who the MPs are.” Meanwhile, the National Assembly will not hold any more sessions because the Cabinet has resigned.

This also implies that MPs who stormed the National Assembly will lose their immunity within a month.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

LOCAL

Local Spotlight

kuwait digest

The sheikh doesn’t represent me!

Is it really a goodbye?

By Dr Sajed Al-Abdeli

T

he conflict currently going on in Kuwait is purely politically-motivated rather than cover tly concealing a sectarian, tribal motive. It won’t even bother me to describe it as being ‘severe.’ Neither the Cabinet nor its chairman are competent enough to be dismissed. On one side there is the government, pro-government MPs. On the other side, there is government-controlled media.

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

The conflict is not a tribalurban one. It can fall between pro-government PM and the opposition; it’s not a SunniShiite one either. Although all Shiite MPs ( except Hassan Jouhar) opted to support the government. It’s not either an inter-class conflict as the opposition and anti-corruption fronts include citizens belonging to all classes. So, the wise people should keep it there.

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kuwait digest

Neglected adoption files It was a really disgusting move to push some tribe sheikhs (chiefs ) into such a political conflict in a rather showy move - declaring dedication and obedience to the regime as if pledging allegiance!

Such a frivolous move, that might have highly treacherous consequences, was meant to portray those opposing the PM as disloyal subjects, which is not true. If those people weren’t fully committed to the Constitution, loyal to HH the Amir, and devoted to this country and wish to fight corruption, they wouldn’t have been determined and ready to face consequences.

For me, my beloved father does not politically represent me, so what about the ‘sheikh’ of my tribe! A tribe has been and now will no longer be considered a social entity. It can never be a political one. Political affiliations are measured regardless of kinship.

I’d support an ‘unrelated’ politician whose ideas match with mine rather than a cousin or a brother with different beliefs. All tribes have a mixture of political beliefs and affiliations; these have their pros and cons.

Political beliefs are individual responsibilities and a tribe or a tribe’s ‘sheikh’ cannot mandate fellow tribesmen to follow certain paths. I respect sheikhs because I respect other citizens. Wisdom calls for separating categorical elements, tribalism and sectarianism will only make things worse.

Gentlemen, the conflict is not a tribal-urban one. It can fall between pro-government PM and the opposition; it’s not a Sunni-Shiite one either.

Although all Shiite MPs ( except Hassan Jouhar) opted to support the government.

It’s not either an inter-class conflict as the opposition and anti-corruption fronts include citizens belonging to all classes. So, the wise people should keep it there. The best is to avoid those who are only concerned with their own gains, glory and triumphs. — Aljarida

kuwait digest

New words in Kuwait’s dictionary

By Ahmad Al-Jassem

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redictions and attempted political forecasts cannot foresee the unknown future which awaits our countries, after the ‘earthquakes’ of the ‘Arab Autumn’ which spread in the Arab countries starting from Tunis to Syria with others yet to come. It’s hard to understand how MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae can tell us that Arab Spring breeze is coming to Kuwait next. We have not yet seen flowers and roses in the fields, nor have we seen the fruits on the trees in those countries, which they call ‘Arab Spring’. I think the name is wrong.

Seeing the incidents of Black Wednesday was not only painful but also frightening. We have seen the Kuwaiti youths as if they were Libyan revolutionaries raiding the gates of the Council. I can understand the revolt of the Libyan people and the Egyptians, Syrians, Tunisians, and Yemenis seeking change. But a nation which leads a luxurious life like the Kuwaitis who are being served by the government from the time of birth till death have nothing to complain. The revolt of such people cannot be understood.

Kuwait is the last communist country in the world.

What moves MPs to push our youth to perform such acts? Has the NA been closed and the MPs dismissed? Has the constitution stopped working? Have the courts been closed, and marshal law been declared?

Oppositions in civilized countries have a project and specific program but in Kuwait, it’s a mixture of all kinds of people, and they gather with the single intention of toppling the Prime Minister and encouraging demonstrations and approval of cadres, and canceling loans, even if it is at the expense of the state.

But we must say that they have enriched the wealth of Kuwaiti language, by adding some revolutionary terms. — Al-Anbaa

By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

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he commitment level of a government in providing care to disabled and abandoned children reflect its humanity. Societies can progress by helping the underprivileged; not by raising salaries of employees.

Giving abandoned children up for adoption is not an impossible task when foster parents are eager to do so in Kuwait. But for one reason or other, this process wrought with obstacles locally as adoption applications usually take years before being finalized, after which the children reach a certain age, making them unsuitable for adoption.

According to Family Care Directorate statistics, the number of approved adoption applica-

tions has experienced a steep decline in Kuwait despite the rising number of citizens interested in adopting children.

Since adoption is allowed in Kuwait, I don’t understand why the procedure takes so long when there are only about 30 children lodged in care homes, compared to the many families that are willing to take them under their wing.

I realize that the spotlight on Kuwait has been taken over by political struggles. I don’t see the reason why these children should wait forever when their dilemma can easily be fixed by a short visit to the relevant undersecretary assistant in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

As civilized countries pay more attention to boost adoption efforts, it’s sad that officials at social care homes are more concerned about seeking more financial privileges than finalizing adoption applications depriving children and foster parents of great joy.

For the record, official statistics indicate that the number of adopted children in Kuwait dropped from 12 between 1970 and 1990 to only five between 2000 and 2010. I hope that Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi reads this article and acts promptly to eliminate the injustice that both children and foster parents are subjected to. — Al-Qabas

Op-Ed

One group against the other

By Thaar Al-Rashidi

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new concept has evolved in Kuwait. Instead of “one opinion and the other,” it is now “one group against the other.” There is no way to separate what is happening in the state these days without talking about reasons that created havoc in the first place.

Political upheaval is a very sensitive issue that is largely manipulated by ‘key players’ behind the scenes. The ‘pro’ TV channels are not all in the government’s pocket. But definitely, businessmen and sheikhs did find a place there. It is in their interest to remain pro ‘government’ during devastating wars. Also, some of the oppositionist MPs have ‘left’ influential figures who are against the government or its PM. It is in their interest to remain with the oppositionist blocs . Not all the 19 MPs are against the government are motivated by pure national interests. Some of them are directed to attack the Prime Minister. From here, the sparkle of all political ‘wars’ begin. This poses a problem to the country.

The cash deposits issue is not new. It is as we know, ‘political money’ that is nothing new to us.

The new thing is the manner in which rhetoric is used to reveal an old case. Wasta and corruption are also not new. The only novelty lies is the way in which different languages are used in different circumstances caused by political wars.

The victim here is the state and the citizen is the major loser. We have nothing to do with ‘your wars because it is not our war.’ This is a country where not a single hospital has been built since 1983, and there has been one government university for the past 20 years! What has changed is the circumstances and the manner in which changes can be dealt with easily.

The ‘knights’ are MPs and the arms are political activists. Some of them know what has been happening, and some unfortunately follow the style of football fans. This war, which some see as a sacred one, will not come to an end without proper solution. This will not happen if the main player continues to remain in that position.

Note: What kind of political legacy are we leaving for our future generations? — Al-Anbaa

kuwait digest

Public funds are at risk

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah

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very civilized country formulates development plans on the basis of precise calculations for each year’s income and spending rates, while taking into account potential changes that can affect the state’s economy and people’s living conditions. For example, many countries focus more on future calculation than they do on short-term needs so that they can be prepared to confront unexpected situations like natural disasters or wars.

Kuwait has a personal experience with such cases when the 1990/91 Iraqi Invasion took place. The very high surplus in financial resources amassed before the war couldn’t save the country from borrowing money to compensate for rebuilding expenses.

Today, the prospect of taking

care and improving the state’s financial resources is unfortunately overlooked in favor of overspending in multiple ways, perhaps the most notable of which is paying inflated salaries to public sector employees.

The problem takes place when the government gives into workers’ demands without properly studying the situation. The future scenarios and state’s financial resources are not taken into account. It should be protected and future generations should have the opportunity to live a decent life.

Enforcing pay raises and allowances without assessment eats into public funds because they are usually paid to local employees, parallel to their level of performance and the nature of work duties.

Fur thermore, the process

gives the impression that anyone can take a share of the state’s wealth which they believe places pressure on the government. I am only hoping that more restraint will be practiced while appeasing the financial demands of labor forces. It’s the government’s duty to find ways to prevent problems before they happen.

This means restructuring the public sector’s payroll and devising a system through which allowances and pay raises are obtained in an organized manner without hurting the growth of the state’s financial resources.

Until that happens, the government might find itself forced to cut salaries of public sector employees, or even worse, fail to pay them in the event of an economic downturn and drop in oil prices. — Al-Rai

re we witnessing the end of peace in the Arab World ? Should we say good bye to all peaceful, welfare initiatives ? Is it time to say goodbye to all those who spent several years of their life and time promoting peace to build organizations and agencies to stop human bloodshed? If this is the case, then we do not need a United Nations or any other organization. Are we saying goodbye to freedom of speech in fear of opposition?

The Arab World is in a completely disastrous state these days. Civilians are being killed, jailed for no cause. Many claim that this is the price to be paid to usher in change, a better future. What kind of change costs human life? Dead bodies are strewn across the streets like homeless, abandoned animals.

The situation in Syria is a matter of concern.

Although I’m opposed to the Syrian oppressive regime, I agree that sanctions will dr y out resources and toughen living conditions, this may take years to take full effect. The people don’t have so much time, their lives are at stake. By the time sanctions bring in results, many innocent Syrians would have perished. The end of this ruling system will bring a quick end to many others next door.

Good wishes are not enough.

The situation in Bahrain , Saudi Arabia are also bothersome although it is under control now.

Unpleasant surprises can spring up if the situation is not monitored carefully.

As for us in Kuwait, the circumstances are not getting any better. In the last few years , this small, rich country has confronted many crises and the National Assembly changed its own agenda to create more chaos. I don’t claim that cabinet members are angels.

The fact is that the National Assembly has wasted our hopes. Some legislators wanted to lead the country like herding cattle. That won’t happen.

Now, these questions may seem trivial: Where are our development plans? Where are all the projects? What has the National Assembly done for the youth and the future, how much of a development have we achieved in our educational system, besides the fact that cheap flash memory sticks were distributed to Kuwaiti students without being instructed on their usage. Where are the laptops?

The truth is, few powers in this country have their own agendas and will go to any lengths to achieve them.

Our future is at stake and our survival may turn out to be very difficult. Should we say good bye to that? Time will tells us how our end is met and who will lead us out of this.

kuwait digest

Kuwait’s low morale

By Dr Ahmad Al-Duaij

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uwait’s morale is low, and their moods are disturbed thanks to the ‘hot’ events unfolding in Kuwait’s political arena in particular.

The weather is great in Kuwait. Rain falls during the ‘wasm’ season that will continue for 52 days to help boost the morale of many worshippers that suffered a battering after many years of dryness owing to a lack of rainfall coupled with terrible political situations.

So we advise many people, especially the youth to go out to open areas six times a week. It is better than spending all week in the square. If it is a must, then let there be one day where every one gathers at Al-Irada square without causing any problems.

In many cases, even if one of us wants to “stay away from evil,” and go far away in the desert to enjoy nature, still God’s will cannot be challenged.

A large tent was pitched in a desert. The young camel herder was alerted when the pen that sheltered the animals was struck by a strong bolt, leaving a light-colored camel in a pool of blood.

The herder was only three meters away, but the strength of the bolt overpowered him. Although the camel that was killed was worth KD 10,000, our friends were very happy that the herder who was hospitalized recovered.

I went along with my brother, who is a doctor, to congratulate my friends that they recovered.

Hot discussions were exchanged on the reasons behind the death of the camel, and why it was targeted by the bolt. Another group of young men in the vicinity were following the events taking place in the Irada Square via smart phones.

Some friends said that the camel was targeted because it was tethered to rope connected to an iron rod (do you see how educated we are?) Did animal’s veins rupture or did its heart fail? I directed the question to my doctor brother.

While the guys were busy analyzing the horrible event, their reason and loss of camel, Mubarak, a friend who was following the Irada square events on his smart phone said that the number reached 13,000. So I thought to myself that the bright youth are not bothered about rain, the beautiful weather. — Al-Watan

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Local

Illegal residents arrested at citizen’s farm in Wafra Child killed in road accident

KUWAIT: A Kuwait Journalists Association team led by Secretary General Faisal Al-Qanaei arrived in Kiev yesterday, the first visit by a Kuwaiti press delegation to Ukraine. An agreement is expected to be signed with the Ukrainian Journalists Union. The Kuwaiti team was welcomed at the Kiev International Airport by Yousuf Al-Qabandi, Kuwait’s Ambassador to Ukraine.

Chilly weather forecast in Kuwait KUWAIT: Kuwait’s skies are expected to turn cloudy after sunset today with chances of light rain during night hours, said Mohammad Karam, Director of Kuwaiti Meteorological Center. “Seasonal depression that has been prevailing in northeastern regions of the Arabian Peninsula, since few days ago, is due to move to the Kuwaiti skies, raising chances of rain,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Incoming clouds are forecast to thicken, in the late hours of the night and early tomorrow, to be coupled with thun-

derous rain. However, intensity of the rainfalls is expected to vary from one region to another. Heavy rain is also forecast in the southern region of the country, as well as in northeastern areas of neighboring Saudi Arabia.

As of tomorrow night, dry northwesterly winds are due to blow, to be coupled with cold weather, Karam said, adding that the temperature would drop below 16 degrees during the day tomorrow, and might fall as low as five degrees at night time in the coming days. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Security officers arrested 23 illegal residents during an inspection mission to a citizen’s farm in Wafra. Police learned about the violation after a person who received treatment at the area’s polyclinic told officers that his attacker and a group of friends were illegally employed at a nearby farm. The detainees were referred to the proper authorities for further action. Investigations were begun with the farm owner who was arrested.

Phone harassers to be nabbed At the emergency operators department (112), a female detective has been assigned to investigate complaints from female employees on being verbally abused by unidentified callers.

According to a news report, the detective will work three days a week to trace the offenders’ whereabouts and take appropriate legal remedies. Suspects are expected to face punitive measures, said the source who requested anonymity.

Fatal car crash A Kuwaiti family’s trip to Abdaly desert ended tragically when their child died in an accident that took place while they were returning home. Police and paramedics rushed to the location where the car accident was reported. The four-year-old child was pronounced dead on the scene. His parents were rushed to the Jahra Hospital in a critical condition. An investigation was opened into the case.

Child’s play Investigation is currently ongoing into a case involving a teenager who was accidently gunned down by his friend while playing. A citizen filed a complaint with Sabah Al-Salem police station stating that his son had been accidentally shot with a rifle. Later in the day, another citizen approached the police station and turned his son in, explaining that the boy had panicked and went into hiding after

firing his father’s hunting rifle.

The boy was remains in custody.

Irate traveler A citizen was arrested at Nuwaiseeb border checkpoint in connection with verbally assaulting an immigration officer who refused to let him exit after informing him that he was blacklisted. The suspect reportedly turned irate when he learnt that a travel ban has been issued against him, and insulted the officer. He was handcuffed and taken into custody after the officer insisted that verbal assault charges be pressed against him.

The man was referred to higher authorities.

Child rescued from manhole Rescue workers saved a child who accidently fell into a manhole in Sulaibiya. The child was rushed to the Farwaniya Hospital to be treated for a foot injury as well as complications that arose in connection with exposure to toxic gases. A

report about the incident was filed.

Bad cop Investigations are ongoing into a case where a dismissed serviceman has been accused of committing multiple thefts while serving in the police. The suspect was arrested at a seaside parking space where several cell phones and perfumes were seized from his possession. During interrogation, he admitted to committing 50 thefts.

Multiple charges A drug addict was arrested after being caught speeding along a highway. Loaded weapons were also seized from his possession.

The Saudi man was detained after police intercepted him driving at 200 kilometers/hour along King Fahad Highway. Drugs were found in the car in addition two unlicensed AK47 machineguns.

He was referred to higher authorities.

—Al-Watan, Al-Rai, Al-Anbaa

Al-Shaibani holds talks with Australian mufti KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwait’s Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand Khalid AlShaibani met yesterday with the Grand Mufti of Australia Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohamed and discussed with him issues and challenges Muslims face in Australia.

Ambassador Al-Shaibani said that the meeting reviewed the conditions of Muslims in Australia and praised efforts

by Australian Muslim clerics toward the Muslim minority despite their cultural and ethnic differences.

Also, Al-Shibani expressed satisfaction with the freedom of religious practice, tolerance, and beliefs that the Australian government provides to all residents, noting that Kuwait had and will always support Muslims in the Australian continent and around the world.

The Grand Mufti of Australia has been invited to visit Kuwait and meet with officials at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, continued Ambassador AlShibani. —KUNA

KUALA LUMPUR: Ambassador Khalid Al-Shaibani pictured with the Grand Mufti of Australia Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed yesterday.

AUB announces results of weekly draws KUWAIT: Ahli United Bank (AUB) has announced the results of the weekly draws of its Al-Hassad Islamic savings scheme. The lucky customers winning the Grand Weekly prize worth KD 25,000 each at the draws held on Nov 2 are Ahmad Harfan Hezam Al-Herfah AlAzmi, Awatif Yousef Abdullah Al-Baghlei and Mohd Abdulnabi Ghuloom Ibrhaim. The following Al-Hassad Islamic customers won cash prizes of KD 1000 each: Ouda Hadi Ali Hlayel Al Shemeri, Mohammed Khalifa, Manzour Ahmad Bati Bota, Mageda Mohamed Hashem, Khaled Saleh Hussain Al-Fadhel, Hashem Salman Ahmed, Jaffar Hassan Hussain Ashiri, Mousa Eissa Ahmed, Fawziah Al-Shaqat, Meshaal Salman Shaher Kerede, Ahmad Mostafa Yaqoub Hussain, Mariam Ahamed Mohamed Al-Khunji, Rahman Yousuf Badar, Rachana Nileshkumar Lalwala, Mohammed Bhuiyan, Abdullah Waher Motlaq A Hajrei, Abdulaziz Ahmade Mohd Al Bglei, Waleed Fahad Al-Mana, Hassan Mohd Al-Muhanna, Ahmed A.Mosen Mohamed Al-Mousa, Eltahir Mohamed Babiker Nimir, Suaad Mohd Ahmad Meraj, Mohammed Kadhim A.Mohsin Hussain, Khalid A.Rahman Yusuf Al-Salais, Fay Ahmed Mejbil Mohammed Faraj. With the new Al-Hassad Islamic 2011 scheme, customers have a lot more to look forward to. With 28 weekly prizes totaling KD 100,000 each week and “Salary for Life” prizes every month, the chances to win bigger prizes more often couldn’t get any better.

The most attractive feature of the new scheme is the chance to win bigger prizes, more frequently with 3 grand prizes of KD 25,000 each, week on week plus 25 other weekly prizes of KD 1,000.

Chances to win big prizes on a weekly basis, offer instant rewards to both existing as well as new Investors in Investment Saving Account (Al Hassad Islamic). With the introduction of a “Salary for Life” Prize of KD 250,000 every month, the grand prize is also now more frequent and customers do not need to wait for a quarter or more to qualify for the grand prize. The “Salary for Life” has been a core feature for the Al Hassad Islamic scheme with prizes paid out to date exceeding KD 10 Million. The monthly “Salary for Life” prize has enabled winners to afford better homes, ensure better education for their children and enjoy an improved quality of life, with the assurance that the rewards will continue to come month after month for 250 months. Al Hassad Islamic is the only scheme to offer high value weekly and monthly prizes that are significantly higher than the total outlay of other prize schemes in Kuwait. In addition to the attractive prize pool, customers with high balances can opt for other unique features such as Investment savings plan, cheque facility linked to their investment savings account and state of the art e-banking and 24 x 7 Contact Center support.

KUWAIT: Abdulla Al-Faris pictured with members of Gulf Bank’s senior management team.

Gulf Bank opens branch in Maidan Hawally KUWAIT: Gulf Bank has celebrated the opening of its latest branch located in Maidan Hawally, extending the bank’s offer of premium financial services to a new area of the city as part of its continued focus on customer service.

The Maidan Hawally branch will provide local residents with the chance to experience the difference and convenience of banking with Gulf Bank in their area of residence.

The branch opening was attended by Lt Gen (rtd) Abdulla Al-Faris, in addition to Gulf Bank senior officials Fawzy AlThunayan (General ManagerBoard Affairs), Aly Shalaby (General Manager-Consumer Banking Group), Subhi Faraj (Deputy General ManagerConsumer Banking Group),

alongside other management and a number of clients in the area.

Gulf Bank now has branches located in various locations across Kuwait. Yesterday’s opening highlights the success of Gulf Bank’s strategic approach in offering the best possible customer experience to customers, and marks a further strengthening of the Gulf Bank offer. The branch will be open from Sundays to Thursdays 8:30 am- 3:30 pm.

For further information on any of Gulf Bank’s products and services and its regular promotions and offers, visit one of Gulf Bank’s conveniently located branches or call the Telebanking service on 1805805. Customers can also log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank’s bilingual website, for more information

KUWAIT: Fawzy Al-Thunayan and Abdulla Al-Faris cut the ribbon at the opening of the branch.

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Princess Astrid of Belgium visits Kuwait KUWAIT: On her second advocacy trip to the Gulf as special representative to the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, Princess Astrid of Belgium will visit Kuwait City today and tomorrow. Joined by RBM Executive Director Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck and Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Prof Michel Kazatchkine, the Princess will advocate stronger regional investment in global malaria control efforts. “Malaria is important to me because of its burden on the most vulnerable - pregnant women and children,” says Princess Astrid. “In my work with the RBM Partnership, I’ve seen first-hand the complete devastation malaria imposes on communities. I’ve also seen the incredible hope provided by simple, cost-effective tools that prevent and treat infection and advance other development goals that will lift communities out of poverty.”

Malaria control efforts in the past decade have

resulted in a 38 percent decrease in global malaria deaths, and at least ten of the most endemic countries in Africa have reported declines in new malaria cases and steep falls in child mortality of 50 to 80 percent. But more work remains. Despite advancements, malaria continues to infect 247 million people each year and kill more young children than any other single disease, claiming the life of a child in Africa every 45 seconds.

“Our projects and policies are working, but the successes remain partial and fragile,” says Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck. “Despite advances in diagnostics, prevention and treatment, malaria continues to kill approximately 780,000 people annually. Our successes must be replicated across all regions affected by malaria, and they need to be expanded to prevent the disease. This will require a concerted effort and sustained commitment to proven, cost-effective tools and continued scientific advancement.”

The fight against malaria has forged one of the most effective initiatives in global public health, under the leadership of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, which has been highly successful in coordinating efforts and directing resources to where the need is greatest. The Global Fund provides two-thirds of international funding in the global effort to control the disease, and to date programs supported by the Global Fund have distributed 190 million insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria. Despite remarkable progress in the past few years, any reduction in the flow of funding to fight the disease could put recent achievements at risk.

“Investments in malaria prevention and control have been among the best investments in global health, resulting in a dramatic decrease in malaria deaths and illness. If adequate financial resources are secured, we could further scale up our efforts and malaria could be eliminated as a public health problem in most malaria-

endemic countries by 2015. It can be done.” said Prof Michel Kazatchkine.

Prior to arriving in Kuwait, the delegation will travel throughout the region to meet with influencers and government officials to advance conversations around the internationally agreed-upon Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) specifically MDG 6, which calls for a reduction in HIV, malaria and other neglected diseases by 2015. Established at the Millennium Summit in New York in 2000, the eight MDGs range in scope - from poverty to education to prevention of diseases like HIV, TB and malaria - and form a roadmap to meet the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, through the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD), has been a critical supporter of RBM’s efforts to reverse the incidence of malaria in some of the most burdened areas of the world.

Steps to encourage investment in global malaria control efforts

Princess Astrid of Belgium Q: What is the purpose of your visit to the region?

Princess Astrid: As the Special Representative to the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, I’m here with colleagues from RBM and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria to encourage regional investment in global malaria control efforts.

Throughout the course of the next week, we’ll be traveling throughout the region to meet with officials and elevate conversations around malaria control and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), specifically MDG 6, which calls for a reduction in neglected diseases like HIV and malaria.

Q: Why did you decide to work with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership?

Princess Astrid: I became the Special Representative for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership because I was angered by the tragic notion that so many people suffer and die from such a preventable and treatable disease as malaria.

In my work with RBM, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Zambia and Tanzania, where I’ve seen first-hand the devastation of malaria on communities - mothers walking hours with their frail children to seek malaria treatment often unavailable or too expensive, classrooms empty of young minds to teach and fathers burying their children far too young.

I’ve also seen the incredible hope that simple, cost-effective solutions - like insecticide-treated nets, indoor spraying with insecticides, accurate diagnostic tests and appropriate treatment - can have. These tools are proven, they are effective, and they are inexpensive investments that could change the course of history for generations.

I work with RBM because my vision for the future includes pregnant mothers giving birth to healthy children, who live to reach their fifth birthdays and complete school uninterrupted by malaria. I believe we can achieve that future, but it will take the investment and commitment of many. It’s our responsibility to ensure adequate resources are available so all can live healthy, productive lives, free from malaria.

Q: Why do you care so passionately about malaria?

Princess Astrid: Malaria is especially important to me, because of its particular effect on the world’s most vulnerable - pregnant women and children. Despite incredible advances in recent years, this preventable illness continues to kill a child in Africa every 45 seconds. Each of those deaths is not just a number; it is a precious life with great potential not realized. And these deaths have incredible economic impact on already struggling communities - in Africa, where 90 percent of malaria deaths occur, the disease costs an estimated USD 12 million in lost productivity per year. Malaria is simple to prevent and treat, yet it continues to plunge developing countries further into poverty.

Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director, The Roll Back Malaria Partnership Q: What is the current status of global malaria control efforts?

Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck: In the past couple of years, we’ve seen significant progress against malaria. We’ve decreased by 38 percent the number of global malaria deaths, and 11 African countries have reduced their malaria cases or deaths by 50 percent.

And, enough insecticide-treated nets have been distributed to cover nearly 80 percent of the population at risk in sub-Saharan Africa.

But still, our successes are partial and fragile. Almost half of the world’s population remains at risk from malaria. Despite unprecedented advances in prevention, diagnostics and treatment, malaria continues to infect 247 million people each year, killing 780,000.

Malaria continues to kill more young children than any other single disease. Our successes are many, but they are partial and fragile. They need to be replicated across all regions affect-

ed by malaria, and they need to be sustained and expanded to prevent malaria from coming back in areas where we’ve eliminated it.

Q: What is the Roll Back Malaria Partnership?

Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck: The Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) is the global framework for coordinated action against malaria.

Founded in 1998 by UNICEF, WHO, UNDP and the World Bank and strengthened by the expertise, resources and commitment of more than 500 partner organizations, RBM is a public-private partnership that facilitates the incubation of new ideas, lends support to innovative approaches, promotes high-level political commitment and keeps malaria high on the global agenda by enabling, harmonizing and amplifying partner-driven advocacy initiatives. RBM secures policy guidance and financial and technical support for control efforts in countries and monitors progress towards universal goals. The RBM Secretariat is hosted at WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.

Q: The Roll Back Malaria Partnership hopes to achieve a malaria-free future what will it take to achieve this?

Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck:At this critical stage, we must intensify our efforts to work together to support malaria endemic countries as they strive to wipe out malaria from their countries and regions. No single organization or government can defeat malaria.

There are many actors in the global fight against malaria, but we have one global plan the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) - and a solid coordinating mechanism in the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. These two elements are the foundation of our progress and success they provide a roadmap for success and evidence that our goals are feasible given the right resources and commitment.

Close cooperation by all partners is required to reach our goal of providing effective and affordable protection and treatment to all people at risk of malaria. And we must maintain our financial commitments to these efforts, even in the face of economic difficulty.

Investment in malaria will only foster greater economic development for us all.

Q: Why is it so important to invest in global malaria control efforts?

Prof Awa Marie Coll-Seck: To best understand the importance of investment in any given health intervention, It’s important to study the return on that investment. With malaria, we know that the return is high and the cost is low. The simple, proven tools we have to prevent and treat malaria account for some of the most cost-effective health interventions of our time, and they have the potential to lift entire generations around the globe out of poverty. Our malaria control efforts will not only help achieve UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6, they will also help to advance progress against several other MDGs across the board. When we prevent malaria infection or death, we not only save lives, we accelerate progress in other health and development areas as well, including reducing school absenteeism, fighting poverty, and improving maternal and child health.

Prof Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria Q: What will increased financial commitments mean to the fight against malaria?

Prof Kazatchkine: Investments in malaria prevention and control have been among the best investments in global health, resulting in a dramatic decrease in malaria deaths and illness. If adequate financial resources are secured, we could further scale up our efforts and malaria could be eliminated as a public health problem in most malaria-endemic countries by 2015. It can be done.

Q: What is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria?

Prof Kazatchkine: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a unique, public-private partnership and international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents an innovative approach to international health financing. The Global Fund’s model is based on the concepts of country ownership and performance-based funding, which means that people in countries implement their own programs based on their priorities and the Global Fund provides financing on the condition that verifiable results are achieved.

Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main financier of programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, with approved funding of US$ 22.4 billion for more than 600 programs in 150 countries.

The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts in dealing with the three diseases.

BAGHDAD: (Left) A US soldier waves as he stands with comrades next to trucks loaded with military vehicles and equipment as part of preparations to leave their military base at Camp Victory. (Right) US soldiers chat next to trucks loaded with military vehicles and equipment as part of preparations to leave their military base at Camp Victory on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad and head to neighboring Kuwait recently.— AFP Photos

US soldiers escort Iraq convoys safe to Kuwait Mission to continue until withdrawal is completed VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq: US soldiers put on body armor and check vehicles and weapons at a base near Baghdad, preparing for 10-plus hours on the lookout for danger as they escort a convoy to Kuwait. Final checks complete, the soldiers climb aboard their MRAP (Mine -Resistant, Ambush Protected) armored vehicles, falling into a long line of white-cabbed trucks carrying equipment south from the sprawling Victory Base Complex (VBC) on Baghdad’s outskirts.

US President Barack Obama announced on Oct 21 that all US soldiers would depart Iraq by year’s end, and much of the equipment they are taking with them travels by road to Kuwait.

“We’re a brigade out of Kuwait, and what we do is we’re the gun truck portion ... we escort, approximately four military semi-trucks and then approximately, anywhere from 30 to 40” civilian-driven trucks, First Lieutenant Andy Krochalk said before the convoy departed.

“We provide the local security for ‘em,” said Krochalk, a platoon leader in the 1st combined arms battalion, 1st brigade combat team, 34th infantry division.

“Usually once a week or so we’ll head up somewhere in Iraq, one of

the bases, we’ll show up here, and they’ll get loads of stuff pulling out ... and then essentially we escort ‘em back down to Kuwait,” Krochalk said.

This will be followed by a break ranging from a few days to over a week, and “then we’ll turn around and come back” to do it all over again. With “no problems, you’re looking at about 10 hours” from the Baghdad area to Kuwait, he said.

But “that trip can turn into 20plus, depending on break-downs,” he said, adding that there are sometimes stops at bases in between, but not always.

For the first two months after his unit arrived in July, the focus was on escorting supply convoys up to bases in Iraq, but “we got switched half-way through because there was a little bit more of a push to get the equipment out,” he said.

His unit will continue with this mission until the withdrawal is completed, he said.

“To be a part of this pullout is pretty neat, it’s pretty rewarding,” he said. Asked if the long journeys through potentially hostile territory were nerve-racking, Krochalk said “yes and no.”

“A lot of guys that have been here before, you know, we know

our little areas where historically stuff had happened, so you do get a little nervous in certain areas,” he said. But “you definitely see the Iraqis being a lot more proactive than (when) I was here last time” in 2005-2006, he said, so “that’s definitely obviously a plus to see that.”

“There’s only a handful of times where I think I’ve actually felt very nervous out here.”

Specialist Kyle BeaulieuSanders, who is on his first overseas deployment, is a gunner on one of the MRAPs. The “whole time, I’m up in the turret,” he said. “The whole trip, I sit up top.” His job “is to provide overwatch, I’m the eyes on the road, as far as marking debris and stuff in the road for the rest of the convoy ... just making sure that all the trucks are aware of what’s coming ahead, since we are the front truck.”

“It’s just constant suspense, you could say, because you never know what’s out there,” he said. “You’re always eyes open, eyes on the road, trying to make sure that you don’t miss something.”

“For the most part, that keeps you on your toes, that keeps the adrenaline going-making sure that you don’t miss anything, for your sake and for the rest of the convoy behind you.”

Private First Class Joseph Arens,

who is also on his first deployment, is the driver of another MRAP. “After a while, it gets a little long, sitting in the truck. We’re always on the lookout ... just making sure we’re picking the right path to drive through, following the trucks in front of you, making sure nobody comes up behind you,” he said.

“At first it was pretty stressful, but then you kind of get used to the stress. But you’re still always on top of things, keeping a good lookout,” Arens said.

“I don’t mind driving,” he said.

“I’d rather drive instead of sitting up in the top in the elements, gunning.” There are usually one or two convoys leaving VBC per day, though not all are escorted by Kuwait-based soldiers, said Captain Andrea Hahn, the VBC garrison command public affairs officer. The convoys carry a mix of military and civilian equipment, she said. “It’s really good to see this kind of movement going on because it just shows that VBC is finally closing down and we’re getting out of here,” Hahn said. As of Nov 20, 2.1 million pieces of equipment had been taken out of Iraq, while 400,000 remained to be removed, according to Major Kim Rey, a spokeswoman for United States Forces - Iraq. — AFP

Kuwaiti students advised to deliver e-applications for health insurance LONDON: Kuwait’s Health Office in the United Kingdom has activated a special electronic website to guide students of the Gulf state apply for medical insurance, said the director of the bureau.

The special website is functioning as of today, said Dr Yaaqoub Al-Tammar, addressing a seminar, on sidelines of a the 47th convention of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students (branch of the United Kingdom and Ireland), held late on Saturday. The symposium involved a representative of Bupa Health Insurance Limited.

Dr. Al-Tammar called on all Kuwaiti male and female students to post applications on the website, ahead of the middle of next month, indicating that an ill student must first seek advice of a doctor at a public hospital before being referred to a private hospital.

Emergency cases are exempted from this process, for seeking an appointment with a doctor at a private clinic or hospital may require some time, possibly two-three days, he said, affirming that the insurance company would cover all expenses for such cases.

Students who paid treatment dues as of the day the deal became effective, could seek compensation, except for plastic surgeries, births or infertility treatment.

He praised all figures and leaders, namely HH Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, for supporting this program.

Kuwait’s Health Minister Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer signed the deal last July, furnishing some 2,000 students in the UK with health insurance. The deal was estimated at 1.9 million pounds. One British pound equals 0.439 Kuwaiti dinar.— KUNA

Assemblies of students abroad of great importance LONDON: Meetings and assemblies of our students abroad are of great importance as they enable discussion on their issues and voicing of their problems so that authorities concerned may address them, said Head of Kuwait’s Cultural Bureau in London Dr Mohammad Al-Hajri.

Al-Hajri was speaking following a banquet Sunday night hosting the guests of the 47th assembly of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students, United Kingdom and Ireland Branch.

The official said the students met office staff and Higher Education officials who are here specifically for this purpose, and added the staff showed all due cooperation towards the students.

With some 2,300 Kuwaiti students in the UK at present, he stressed the bureau is keen on fostering unique cultural and educational relationships with universities, research institutions, and other educational institutions, so that students benefit from best service possible.

He noted the main problems which sometimes impede students progress during their study in the UK are topped by meeting requirements for acceptance at British education institutions. The language requirements are topmost in this category,

and our students are now sent on a full-year scholarship to improve their English language proficiency before they start to pursue their desired academic specialization.

“High absence rate is another major problem among our students,” he said, in addition to failure to apply for study at the desired institutions within the required period of at least six months before start of classes. “Some apply a mere fortnight before start of classes and expect to receive admission, which is, of course, impossible.”

As for the student allowance recently approved by the Ministry of Higher Education, he said, “We have asked for an increase of allowance due to high tax rates in the UK, and the raise we received is ‘somewhat’ satisfactory, and most specifically to those beyond London.” The transfer of sums is no problem, he said, and the money is electronically wired to the students’ accounts on a set date each month, provided the office has a valid account number on file. To give our students more chances of admission at UK institutions, the office maintains interaction and coordination, as well as seek to create new connections to secure more scholarships. Many agreements have to be honored and implemented as part of this effort. —KUNA

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Harara, blind hero of Egypt’s revolution

Pakistan denies border fire provoked NATO raid Page 11

Page 8 BAGHDAD: Security forces gather at the scene of a suicide car bomb explosion in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, yesterday.—AP

Car bomber kills 19 outside Iraq prison Senior official warns more attacks to come BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber slammed a car packed with explosives into the gate of a prison nor th of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 19 people, Iraqi officials said.

Also, a rare explosion inside Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone killed one person, officials said. The prison bombing in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of the capital, is the third major attack in about a week in Iraq, and raises questions about the ability of the nation’s security forces to protect the country after US troops leave in just over a month.

A senior Iraqi security official warned that even more attacks may be in the offing ahead of the American withdrawal. The attacker struck the main gate of Al-Hout prison at 8:00 am local time, when many

employees and guards were on their way to work, said a police officer. Ten policemen were among the dead and the rest were civilians, he added. At least 22 people were wounded. Two health officials in nearby hospitals confirmed the causality figures.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Guards and policemen fired into the air to disperse the crowds after the explosion, fearing a second blast, said policeman Hisham Ahmed.

“Our patrol rushed to the explosion site.

There was smoke and fire all around the place. I saw bodies of four policemen on the ground and scattered flesh,” he said.

“Women were among the wounded.”

Security forces set up a cordon around

the prison to prevent any escape attempt by the inmates, Ahmed said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the prison attack, but suicide bombings are a hallmark of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The military spokesman for Baghdad, Qassim alMoussawi, said that the aim of the latest attacks across the country was to “negatively affect the morale” of the Iraqi security forces. He said he was expecting more attacks by insurgents ahead of the US withdrawal. “We have information that terrorist groups are planning to intensify their activities, and they are mobilizing all their capabilities to increase attacks for the rest of the year,” he said. In Baghdad, one person was killed and two wounded during an explosion inside the Green Zone, alMoussawi said. The vast area in central

Baghdad is the most protected area in Iraq and houses the US Embassy and the Iraqi parliament. Al-Moussawi said he did not know the cause of the blast. Shiite militants often launch mortars and rockets into the Green Zone, usually in an attempt to hit the US Embassy or American military facilities located there. Another Iraqi security official said one of the wounded was an Iraqi lawmaker who was getting into his car at the time of the blast. The official did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Meanwhile, two civilian bystanders were killed and five others wounded by a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in western Baghdad, police officials said. Violence has ebbed across Iraq since the height of the fighting, but deadly bombings and shootings still occur

Trial of Bahrain’s 20 medics adjourned DUBAI: A Bahraini court yesterday adjourned to January the hearing in the trial of 20 medics held for their role during anti-regime protests that rocked the kingdom earlier this year, a rights activist said. “The H igh Criminal Cour t adjourned the hearing to Januar y 9,” Mohammed Al-Mask ati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said.

“The public prosecution presented to the court a group of guns and swords which it said were found in Salmaniya Medical Complex” where the doctors worked, saying they were “proof ” against the detainees, Maskati said. The medics have been handed down long jail terms for their role during antiregime protests. The doctors, nurses, and paramedics were initially tried and convicted in the military-run National Safety Court on September 28 on a raft of charges, including incitement to over throw the regime.

They were given sentences ranging from five to 15 years each. But in a dramatic reversal, the prosecutor told the court it was dropping confessions from the defendants, after medics had protested that the statements were extracted under duress, and a new trial began on Oc tober 23. Most of the medics worked at or volunteered at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama that was stormed by security forces in mid-March after they drove protesters out of nearby Pearl Square. An independent inquiry commission that has investigated a month of unrest in the Sunni-ruled kingdom had put the death toll at 35, including five security personnel and five

detainees who were tortured to death while in custody. Its report, released last week, said that 11 other people were killed later, and concluded that a total of 2,929 people were detained during the p ro te s t m ove m e n t a n d a t l e a s t 7 0 0 re m a i n i n prison. King Hamad vowed reforms following the commission’s findings, but tensions have remained high.—AFP

MANAMA: Bahraini nurse Ibrahim Al-Dumistani gestures at the Manama, Bahrain, courthouse yesterday, while doctors and other medical workers leave their trial session. —AP

Yemen army kills 9 Al-Qaeda suspects ADEN: Yemen’s army shelled suspected Al-Qaeda positions in the capital of the troubled Abyan province, killing nine militants in its battle to win control of the city, a local official told AFP yesterday.

An army unit commanded by dissident General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar “shelled parts of Zinjibar killing nine members of Al-Qaeda,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that five of the militants were foreigners, including “two Somalis, a Mauritanian, an Algerian and a Saudi.”

The deaths, late Sunday, were the latest in a string of casualties in Abyan, where government troops are struggling to wrest control of at least three provincial cities, including Zinjibar, that since May have fallen to Al-Qaeda linked militants known as the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law). A tribal source said on Sunday that four other extremists were killed in an ambush by tribal fighters allied to the military in Abyan. AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the global network’s deadliest and most active branch, and its local affiliates, have taken advantage of the government’s distraction with 10 months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh to strengthen their hold on the country’s southern region. Despite months of clashes, government troops have so far been unable to win back full control of Abyan.— AFP

almost daily as US troops prepare to leave.

Last Saturday a string of explosions hit a market in Baghdad and an area on the city’s western outskirts, killing at least 15 people.

Three days earlier, a triple bombing in the southern city of Basra killed 19 people.

Iraqi security officials maintain that they are fully prepared for the American withdrawal, which is required under a 2008 security pact between the US and Iraq.

About 15,000 US troops are still in the country, down from a one-time high of about 170,000. All of those troops will be out of the countr y by the end of December. But many Iraqis are concerned that insurgents may use the transition period to launch more attacks in a bid to regain their former prominence and destabilize the country.— AP

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

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

Libyan Islamist commander endorses new government TRIPOLI: The Islamist who commands one of Libya’s most powerful militias, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, said yesterday he will back the interim national government despite his supporters being overlooked for top posts. But he would not commit to a date for the forces under his control to hand over their weapons to the government, a crucial test of whether Libya after the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi can form a cohesive state.

Some analysts had warned that caretaker Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib risked sparking a confrontation with Belhadj’s Islamists after he handed the defence minister’s post in the new government to the head of a rival militia.

Speaking at the luxury hotel overlooking Tripoli’s port where he has his headquarters, Belhadj said he had not put his name forward for any cabinet post, and had been consulted about appointments for the most powerful jobs. “I hope that it (the new government) will be granted all the support needed for it to carry out its tasks. I am aware of certain opinions accusing it of being imbalanced in terms of representing all regions,

but we hope that it would be allowed to carry out its duties to render the country stable and secure,” he said.

“As revolutionaries, we are concerned with supporting this government and all the ministers including the defence minister. We will coordinate and cooperate with the defence ministry ...

Our relationship with the defence minister is good.”

Belhadj is a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which waged an insurgency against Gaddafi in the 1990s. He spent time with Islamist militants in Afghanistan, though he said he was not allied with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda. He was captured, detained by British and US intelligence services, and sent to Libya in 2004, where he was jailed. He was given an amnesty last year after renouncing violence.

Belhadj heads the Tripoli Military Council, a heavily-armed force of about 25,000 men. It is one of dozens of competing groups which Western states backing Libya’s new leaders want to see brought under one command. Tensions between the rival groups surfaced last week

when Belhadj was briefly detained at Tripoli International Airport as he set off on a trip abroad. Airport officials said there was a problem with his passport.

Security at the airport is controlled by fighters from Zintan, the stronghold of another powerful militia southwest of Tripoli that is also the power base of the new defence minister, Osama alJuwali. An aide said Belhadj refused to answer questions about the airport incident in the interview. Asked about tensions between rival groups, he did not answer directly, saying only that opposing views were “very normal in ... (the) democratic atmosphere that the Libyans are living in nowadays.” He said he will work with the defence and interior ministries on a mechanism for his forces to hand over their weapons and amalgamate into new government institutions.

“You can see that the military presence has receded and this is a positive sign,” said Belhadj.

But he said it was too early to give a timetable for the handover, and that it was down to the government to create the right conditions for this to happen. “It is not on our agenda right

now. This is a two-sided solution ... We call on the government to recruit the revolutionaries into the ministries and public institutions.” “We have to wait for the plans and programs of the relevant ministries and the corresponding plans and programs to be initiated by the revolutionaries,” he said. “When the two reach a meeting point (we need) to draft a comprehensive plan, then it would be done.” Belhadj was dressed yesterday in a carefully-pressed suit and open-necked shirt instead of his more customary camouflage fatigues. He said this symbolised Libya’s transition from a war footing to civilian authority.

Libyans close to the new government speculate that Belhadj is planning to form an Islamist political party which will compete for power in the elections scheduled to take place around the middle of next year.

He did not give details about what he was planning but said: “Of course I am also interested in the coming elections just like any other Libyan who is interested in and follows Libyan affairs. We are preparing and are getting ready for the future political project.” — Reuters

Moroccan Islamist party prepares to govern after win

CAIRO: Egyptian activist Ahmed Harara (C), twice blinded during protests, is escorted by friends along a street leading to Tahrir Square in Cairo on November 26, 2011. —AFP

Harara, blind hero of Egypt’s revolution CAIRO: Ahmed Harara lost one eye in the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak, only to lose the other during protests to oust the military rulers who took power after the fall of the veteran strongman.

Photos of Harara’s chiselled face-a patch on each eye-were quickly circulated on social networking sites, galvanising opinion against security forces’ brutal methods to quell the mass protests that left 42 people dead.

In spite of himself, Harara has become the latest hero of Egypt’s revolution. “I don’t want to be a symbol. The real symbol is Tahrir Square and the protesters there,” said the 31-year-old dentist.

Surrounded by friends, an emotional Harara carved a path through the thick crowd of Tahrir Square-the symbolic heart of rallies that ousted Mubarakwhich he can no longer see.

Everywhere he goes, he is applauded, congratulated, cheered, kissed. Behind him, a banner reads “We are all your eyes, Ahmed Harara.” On January 25, Harara joined hundreds of thousands of Egyptians calling for political and economic reforms in efforts to end Mubarak’s 30-year-rule. Three days later, during fierce clashes between protesters and security forces, a police shot claimed his eye.

“I was hit by birdshot in the head, the neck and the right eye. Shrapnel damaged my retina,” Harara said. He was also hit in the chest, causing internal bleeding which plunged him into a three-day coma. “I was treated at the Cairo International Eye hospital. Then I stayed home for two months,” he said. But even after losing his eye-and his job-Harara insisted on joining protesters 10 months later, this time in a bid to bring down the

military council that took over when Mubarak was chased from power in February.

On November 19, when the latest round of clashes erupted between protesters and police, Harara headed into Mohammed Mahmud, the flashpoint street leading from Tahrir to the heavily fortified interior ministry.

This time, a rubber bullet took out his second eye. Harara is by no means the only one to suffer eye injuries during the protest. A shocking video of Egyptian police aiming rubber bullets directly at protesters’ eyes sent shockwaves across the country, propelling the trial of police accused of abuse to the forefront of protesters’ demands.

“In his eye! It was in his eye! Bravo, my friend!” an officer told his colleague in the footage, which showed the shooter’s face. Activists have been distributing leaflets with a picture of police officer Mahmud al-Shinnawi, promising a reward of 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($833) for anyone who provides information about him. Having lost an eye in both revolutionary waves, Harara has become “a living martyr” of the revolution that led to the elections that begin yesterday, says his friend, artist Mohamed al-Jbeili.

“I did much less than others during this revolution,” insisted Harara. “They are all heroes, the protesters in Suez, Mansura, Assiut, Damietta... they all want the ouster of the military,” he said.

Pages in his honour were set up on Facebook: “We are all the hero Ahmed Harara” and “Let’s rename Mohammed Mahmud to Ahmed Harara Street.” Harara says he has no regrets about joining the protests. “I prefer to live blind but with my head held high.”— AFP

Saudi Arabia security forces withdraw from Shiite villages RIYADH: Saudi security forces have withdrawn from Shiite villages in Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia following unrest last week in which four people were killed, witnesses said yesterday.

The move appears aimed at reducing friction with the kingdom’s minority Shiites on the first day of Ashura, a 10day commemoration of the 7th-century killing of the highly revered Imam Hussein.

Security forces pulled out overnight Sunday from Shweika and Awamiya villages in the Eastern Province, scene of intense clashes between protesters and security forces of the Sunni-dominated kingdom, witnesses and rights activists said. “Armored vehicles transpor ting anti-riot forces towards Dammam city have pulled out and checkpoints have been lifted,” said one witness, af ter those forces were brought in as reinforcements during demonstrations. Three Shiites were shot dead last week during protests

triggered by the suspicious death of a fourth Shiite near a government security checkpoint.

The interior ministry said security forces had come under fire from gunmen operating on “foreign orders,” hinting at involvement by Saudi’s arch rival Iran. The ministry said two policemen were wounded in the clashes.

Saudi’s Eastern province is home to the majority of the kingdom’s Shiite population of around two million, who represent around 10 percent of Saudis.

I n M arch, Shiites in the oil-rich Eastern Province demonstrated in sympathy with fellow Shiites in neighbouring Bahrain, af ter securit y forces clamped down on pro - democrac y protests led by that country’s majority Shiite community. Qatif protesters were back on the street in October demanding the release of those arrested in March. Last week, they demonstrated demanding the release of prisoners.—AFP

RABAT: Morocco waited yesterday for King Mohammed VI to appoint the country’s first-ever prime minister from a moderate Islamist party after it won the most seats in a landmark parliamentary election. The vote was the first since the approval of a new constitution in a July referendum that transferred some of the monarch’s near absolute powers to parliament and the prime minister.

Under the new constitution the king, the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the north African country for 350 years, must now choose a prime minister from the winning party instead of naming whoever he pleases, as in the past. The Justice and Development Party (PJD) captured 107 seats in the 395seat assembly in Friday’s polls, according to final results released by the interior ministr y on Sunday.

“The results are better than we expected,” PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane told cheering supporters at the party’s headquarters in Rabat, Morocco’s seaside capital, after the results were announced.

Benkirane may meet with the king on Tuesday to be nominated prime minister, said PJD parliamentary bloc leader Lahcen Daoudi. “Abdelilah Benkirane could be received at the palace tomorrow (Tuesday) to be officially nominated,” he told AFP. “Benkirane will then start talks with the parties that should make up the coalition.” The monarch proposed changes to the constitution as autocratic regimes were toppled in nearby Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya as part of the Arab Spring uprisings and pro-democracy protests brewed at home.

The PJD election victory comes less than a month after a moderate Islamist party won Tunisia’s first free election and ahead of a predicted Islamist surge in Egyptian polls that got underway yesterday. “The PJD ready to govern,” said business daily L’Economiste said on its front page yesterday. “The test of power,” said free daily newspaper Aufait, under a photo of Benkirane with a broad smile.

An Islamist party has never been allowed in the government.

Since the PJD will have to govern in a coalition with several other parties, it is not expected to make radical changes to policy. The 57year-old Benkirane, who sports close-cropped white hair and matching beard, has acknowledged that his party would have to tailor its programme to appease its coalition partners.

“But the nub of our programme and of those who will govern with us will have a double axis, democracy and good governance,” he told France 24 television on Saturday after partial results showed his party had won the biggest block of seats.

The PJD captured just eight seats in the first election it contested in 1997, but has since surged in popularity. It scooped 42 seats in the 2002 election, the first of Mohamed VI’s reign, and then increased its share in 2007 when it finished second with 47 seats. The party initially focused on social issues, such as opposition to summer music festivals and the sale of alcohol, but has shifted to topics with broader voter appeal like the fight against corruption and high unemployment. In the latest campaign, it promised to cut poverty in half

RABAT: A Moroccan looks yesterday at the frontpage of the Assabah newspaper at a newsstand in Rabat, focusing on the victory of the moderate Islamist party Justice and Development Party (PJD) in the November 25 parliamentary election.—AFP and raise the minimum wage by 50 percent. The election was originally planned for September 2012 but the king brought the vote forward to create a new government that could put in place the constitutional reforms. Voter turnout was 45.4 percent, up from 37 percent from the last parliamentary election in 2007, but

lower than the 51.6 percent turnout recorded in 2002.

Morocco’s pro-reform February 20 protest movement, responsible for protests held just before the king announced plans to change the constitution, had called on voters to boycott the election. It argues the reforms do not go far enough.— AFP

Israel delays bridge razing at holy site JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed demolition of a footbridge at Jerusalem’s holiest and most volatile religious site, fearing the work could spark Muslim anger, government officials said yesterday. The wooden ramp, now deemed unsafe by engineers, was erected by Israeli authorities as a stopgap after a snowstorm and earthquake in 2004 damaged the stone bridge leading up from Judaism’s Western Wall to the sacred compound where the alAqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine stand.

During Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister, his opening in 1996 of a new entrance to an archaeological tunnel for tourists near the compound touched off Muslim protests and gun battles in which 60 Palestinians and 15 Israelis were killed. The footbridge was to have been torn down on Saturday but Netanyahu postponed the demolition on the advice of Israeli diplomats and security officials, the government officials said. Netanyahu was cautioned that removing the structure and building a new bridge could enrage Muslims-especially in turbulent Egyptwho might wrongly believe the work could damage Al-Aqsa, the officials said. “There were reports in the Egyptian media that if Israel were to undertake unilateral steps, that the hate at Tahrir Square would be turned against (Israel),” one of the officials said, referring to Cairo’s main public protest site.

“This is a sensitive time and due to the elections in Egypt it was decided to postpone the work for now.” The officials gave no new date for the demolition and construction, a project expected to take up to 72 hours. Israel says no harm would come to the mosque and that it was imperative to ensure the safety of

JARUSALEM: A wooden bridge leading to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known by the Jews as the Temple Mount is seen in Jerusalem’s Old city yesterday.—AP visitors to the compound by razing the wooden ramp and constructing a more sturdy bridge. Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem, said Muslim religious authorities opposed the project and that the Palestinian leadership, as well as Jordan and Egypt, had made their concerns known to Israel.

The holy compound is in the old walled city of Jerusalem, an area Israel captured along with the West Bank in a 1967 war and annexed in a step that has not won international recognition. Palestinians want the area to be part of a state they intend to create in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “I think that this is a very sensitive issue and therefore maybe

the Israeli government thought about the consequences of this demolition, which harms al-Aqsa mosque directly and affects the path (to it),” Hussein told Reuters.

Hussein, the most senior Muslim religious official in Jerusalem, said the demolition could have led to “widespread tensions” in the city and elsewhere. The holy compound has been the site of violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the past. A Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the complex revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.—Reuters

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

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

Mexico’s early frontrunner formalizes presidential bid Opposition PRI candidate holds wide lead in early polls MEXICO CITY: The frontrunner in Mexico’s 2012 presidential race pledged on Sunday to break past decades of political paralysis and deliver the country from a deepening spiral of drug violence and sluggish economic growth.

Thousands of cheering supporters rallied around Enrique Pena Nieto, the charismatic young ex-governor of Mexico’s most populous state, after he registered in Mexico City as the official presidential candidate of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

With a 20-point lead in national polls, Pena Nieto, 45, is the

in Mexico there is fear, anxiety, discouragement. But at the same time there is a growing force, optimistic, and sure that better times are coming,” Pena Nieto told the crowd gathered at the par ty ’s headquar ters. He promised to make the country safer, reduce social inequality and create more jobs. Following its defeat in 2000, the PRI fractured. But the party’s massive machine of unions, civil groups and farmers have rallied behind Pena Nieto. His good looks and message of change have captured wide support beyond the PRI’s base. “Unless the Virgin of

the PRI’s sway over the country’s biggest unions.

While Pena Nieto’s victory may seem likely, the PRI could falter in congressional races, which would hamper Pena Nieto’s agenda.

Rivalries between parties have scuttled major reforms ever since the PRI lost its congressional majority in 1997.

Three candidates are vying for the nomination of President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party (PAN), with former education minister Josefina Vazquez Mota in the lead. The leftist Par ty of the Democratic

MEXICO CITY: Enrique Pena Nieto, former governor of Mexico State and the unopposed presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, delivers a sppech to supporters during a rally in Mexico City, Sunday.—AP strongest candidate fielded by the PRI since the par ty that ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century lost power in 2000. After two conservative administrations and growing frustration with rising crime and economic inequality, Pena Nieto is offering a message of hope, backed by the PRI’s long experience in government. “Today

Guadalupe intervenes, he will win the election in a landslide,” said George Grayson, a professor at the College of William & Mar y in Virginia. Pena Nieto is seen by analysts and investors as Mexico’s best chance to pass key economic reforms, such as opening the state oil company to private investment and reforming labor laws, due to

Revolution (PRD) is backing Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who nearly won in 2006 but is now in a distant third place in the polls. Mexicans will not vote until next July, leaving plenty of time for a reversal in Pena Nieto’s fortune. Calderon came from far behind to win in 2006.

Pena Nieto has benefited from a cozy relationship with dominant

broadcaster Televisa. Its adulatory coverage of his campaign and his wedding to one of its soap stars has been reviled by critics as a throwback to the days of Mexico’s authoritarian past. Rivals paint him as a puppet of the PRI’s old party bosses. Vazquez Mota said the PRI’s lack of a primary showed it was the same old par ty, which defined its rule by imposing a candidate who triumphed in sham elections.

“In the PAN we are seeing a democratic process, in other parties we see the traditions and customs they historically have had,” Vazquez Mota told daily newspaper El Universal. By the end of its 71 years of rule, the PRI was synonymous with rampant corruption that undercut Mexico’s economy and allowed the country’s powerful criminal gangs to flourish. PAN candidates are trying to tar Pena Nieto’s image by suggesting the PRI is still in the pockets of drug cartels.

But those charges may not stick.

Pena Nieto has given the party a new face after a term as a wildly popular governor of Mexico State, where he won support by building roads and schools and steered clear of any major scandals. “In 70 years the PRI made mistakes, got lost and tripped up, but we have been learning and we won’t let it happen again,” said Emilio Gamboa, who leads the PRI’s popular front. During the PAN’s two administrations, the economy has grown at about a third of the pace it needs to create enough good jobs for all the young Mexicans entering the workforce.

Meanwhile, more than 45,000 people have died in Calderon’s military-led offensive against drug cartels. Many backed the move to challenge the gangs, but doubts are now growing. “People think security has gotten out of the PAN’s control,” said Jose Antonio Crespo from graduate school CIDE. “While they think there was corruption under the PRI, at least there was order and more effective governance.” — Reuters

Chavez accuses Parmalat of hoarding Venezuela milk CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused Italy’s Parmalat of “monopolizing” milk supplies and threatened it with expropriation after 210 tons of powdered milk were found in a warehouse. The threat came less than a week after Venezuela introduced a new law governing goods and services that put into place a system of blanket price controls to combat soaring inflation.

“We have identified a private company, Parmalat, which is monopolizing milk supplies,” Chavez said during a cabinet meeting broadcast on state television. “Procedures for inter-

vention and expropriation are in place,” he added, warning that he would not allow his government to be taken for “fools.” Authorities have uncovered a stash of 210 tons of powdered milk in a Parmalat warehouse in northwest Merida state.

The company, which is controlled by France’s Lactalis, said in a statement carried Sunday in the Venezuelan press that the powdered milk stock was actually given to it by the government, in case of eventual shortages. But Chavez angrily denied that, and said Parmalat would be the subject of an in-depth investiga-

tion. On Friday, Chavez threatened to nationalize and take over any businesses that do not obey his government’s new law on goods and services, especially retailers he claimed were “hoarding” basic foods to drive up prices. “ The bourgeois, the middlemen... the hoarders had best cooperate or we are going to enforce the law,” Chavez said. “I will be leading the people who do it, and we are going to come in and occupy these businesses’ plants, and we will nationalize whatever we have to, but they are not going to get away with it.”— AFP

News

in brief

Woman gives birth to boy on floor of US restroom LINTHICUM: Officials say a woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy in a restroom at a Maryland airport shortly after getting off her flight. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport spokesman Jonathan Dean says an officer helped the woman deliver the child Sunday afternoon on the floor of a restroom in Concourse D. Dean says Maryland Transpiration Authority Police and the airport’s fire and rescue department responded to a call of a woman in labor around 2:20 pm. The woman and baby were taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The woman’s name was not released.

Suspect in East Coast rapes challenges extradition NEW HAVEN: A man suspected in rapes along the East Coast is challenging his extradition from Connecticut to Virginia. Attorneys for Aaron Thomas are expected to fight the move to another jurisdiction yesterday in New Haven Superior Court. Thomas was arrested in March in his hometown of New Haven. Authorities say DNA confirmed that he is responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women from Virginia to Connecticut over the span of a decade. Virginia prosecutors petitioned to have Thomas face trial first in their state, and Connecticut officials said last week they had agreed to the extradition request. Thomas pleaded not guilty in March to a charge of raping a woman in New Haven in 2007.

Ecuador volcano spews red-hot rocks, billows ash QUITO: The Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador is spewing out red-hot rocks and billowing coarse ash. The South American country’s Geophysical Institute says the increased activity began Sunday afternoon. It says the volcano has thrown pyroclastic boulders up to a mile from the crater, and there have been at least four earthquakes in the area.

Colombian survivor: ‘I ran the other way’ BOGOTA: The Colombian police sergeant who saved himself when leftist rebels killed his four companions says he survived by running away from the guerrillas while the others ran toward them. Luis Alberto Erazo says the commander of his guerrilla captors had always told the five captives that if government troops surprised the group the rebels would protect them. But when a firefight broke out nearby on Saturday, on Erazo turned and ran for the jungle.

PETERBOROUGH: In this Nov 19, 2011, file photo Republican presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney, right, greets a young supporter during a town hall event in Peterborough, NH. —AP

DNC ad targets Romney over flip-flops WASHINGTON : Democrats are using humor to try to undermine Republican Mitt Romney, pushing a movie trailerstyle ad that portrays his candidacy as a “the story of two men trapped in one body.” The new ad released yesterday is part of an aggressive effort by Democrats to portray Romney as being inconsistent on a number of issues important to conservative voters as he seeks to challenge President Barack Obama nex t year.

Democrats are trying to slow the former Massachusetts governor’s progress with six weeks remaining before Republican primary voters begin picking their nominee.

The Democratic National Committee ad, called “Mitt versus Mitt,” argues that Romney has changed his views on health care and abortion rights, showing contradictory clips of Romney on the issues.

“From the creator of ‘I’m running for office for Pete’s sake,’ comes the story of two men trapped in one body,” the ad says.

The DNC is airing the advertisement in

Albuquerque, NM, R aleigh, NC, Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Washington. It directs viewers to a website, w w w.M itt vM itt.com, with a longer version. Romney has blasted Obama’s handling of the economy and his campaign has accused the president of saying anything to hold onto power.

Romney has tried to position himself as the Republican best positioned to take on Obama. Last week, his campaign aired an ad in New Hampshire challenging the president on the economy.

Democrats are tr ying to undercut Romney’s standing in the GOP primary as he tries to fend off a large field of his fellow Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and businessman Herman Cain. Democratic party leaders plan to make Romney’s character and consistency core parts of their campaign against him. The DNC ran advertising in Arizona last month hitting Romney on comments he made to a Las Vegas newspaper, saying the housing crisis needed to run its course and hit bottom.—AP

Gov Susana Martinez

GOP Latinos queried over immigrant pasts ALBUQUERQUE: New Mexico Gov Susana Martinez is forced to research and clarify her late grandfather’s immigration status.

Marco Rubio, Florida’s GOP senator, is accused of embellishing his family’s immigrant story. A Republican congressional candidate in California puts on his website that he is the great-grandson of an illegal immigrant. As more Latino Republicans seek and win elected office, their families’ backgrounds are becoming subject to increased scrutiny from some Latino activists, a reaction experts say is a result of Latino Republicans’ conservative views on immigration. It’s a new phenomenon that experts say Latino Democrats rarely faced, and could be a recurring feature in elections as the Republican Party seeks to recruit more Latino candidates.

“It’s a trend and we are seeing more of it,” said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. For years, most Latino elected officials were largely Democrats, except in Florida, where Cuban Americans tended to vote Republican. But recently, a new generation of Latino Republicans has won seats in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, California and even Idaho. Those politicians have come under fire from some Latino activists for pushing for laws targeting illegal immigrants and for opposing efforts for comprehensive immigration reform - views that are in line with most Republicans.

And the immigrant advocates are pointing to the GOP Latino elected leaders’ own family histories in an effort to paint them as hypocrites. Ignacio Garcia, a history professor at Brigham Young University, said it comes from a long tradition by liberal activists of portraying Latino Republicans as “vendidos”, or sellouts, since the majority of Latino voters tend to vote Democratic.

For example, Martinez tried twice in the New Mexico state legislature to overturn a state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain state drivers’ licenses. Then earlier this year, various media outlets reported that a grandfather of Martinez may have been an illegal immigrant. The reports sparked immigrant advocates to protests outside the state Capitol with poster-size photos of Martinez on drivers’ licenses.

Martinez, a Republican and the nation’s only Latina governor, ordered her political organization to research her family’s background and found documents that suggested that her grandfather legally entered the country and had various work permits.

The episode drew criticism, even from those who opposed Martinez’ efforts on state driver’s licenses. “This has nothing to do with her views and how she governs,” said Michael A Olivas, an immigration law professor at the University of Houston who

Sen Marco Rubio also is aiding in a lawsuit against a Martinez’s administration probe over the license fight. “I don’t think it’s fair for people to dig around in her family’s past.”

In Florida, Rubio’s official Senate website until recently described his parents as having fled Cuba following Fidel Castro’s takeover. But media organizations reported last month that Rubio’s parents and his maternal grandfather emigrated for economic reasons more than two years before the Cuban Revolution. Somos Republicans, a group dedicated to increasing Latino Republican voting numbers, immediately attacked Rubio over the discrepancy and for holding harsh views on immigration.

“We believe it is time to find out the complete history of his parents’ immigration history,” the group said in a statement. “It is also time for Rubio to be a leader and help Senator Bob Menendez fix the broken immigration system.”

Patricia Montes, executive director of Centro Presente, an immigrant advocacy group in Somerville, Mass., said voters need to know a politician’s family background for clues on how they will respond to people with similar stories. “It’s very important to voters,” said Montes. Montes said most Latino and immigrant voters don’t simply view Latino Republicans as “vendidos” but rather as politician leaders who don’t share their views. “I don’t care if someone is Latina or not,” said Montes. “I care if they believe in the same things I do, and if their policies will affect the immigrant community.”

Garcia said the current tension also is a result of a new breed of Latino Republicans finally winning high profile seats after years of being largely ignored or dismissed. Garcia said there have always been Hispanic Republicans, through their numbers have been typically small and they have often faced heat from the largely Democratic Latino population. — AP

Held twelve years by FARC, Colombian soldier gets home BOGOTA: Colombian army Sergeant Luis Alberto Erazo returned to Bogota Sunday from 12 years of captivity by FARC rebels, a day after managing to escape during a battle as four other hostages were executed.

Erazo, 40, who had been held by the Marxist rebels since December 9, 1999, arrived in the capital by helicopter and was taken in an ambulance to a hospital for treatment, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. The soldier, who suffered shrapnel wounds to the face as rebels in hot pursuit tossed a grenade at him, made no comment to the media. He was reunited with his girlfriend, his 16-year-old daughter and other family members. Erazo escaped from a rebel encampment in southern Colombia on Saturday where army forces were hunting for possible hostages. During the clash, FARC rebels executed four hostages but Erazo was later found alive.

President Juan Manual Santos visited Erazo on Sunday, saying it was “really moving to see this national hero” but also hailing the “heroism” of the four hostages killed “in cold blood.” Santos also said he had “mixed feelings, seeing the happiness of this sergeant and his family, while at the same time understanding the pain of the other four families.” The hostages had been held at a FARC encampment in the remote Solano region of southern Colombia. Those

who died were identified as Colonel Edgar Yesid Duarte, Lieutenants Elkin Hernandez and Alvaro Moreno, and Sergeant Jose Libio Martinez, the FARC’s longest-held hostage who was abducted nearly 14 years ago in a rebel ambush.

After the latest executions, 14 police and soldiers remain in FARC hands. Some have spent more than a decade in captivity.

The Revolutionar y Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), believed to have 8,000 members, has been at war with the government since 1964. It began a campaign of kidnappings in the mid-1980s, seizing army hostages to serve as bargaining chips for FARC prisoners. By the late 1990s, civilians and political leaders were also being snatched, winning the group greater notoriety. New FARC chief Timoleon Jimenez has taken a hard line since taking over from Alfonso Cano, gunned down in a November 4 firefight with Colombian government forces. Several citizen groups meanwhile called for a march December 6 to protest the violence and call for the release of all FARC hostages. Separately, a representative for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia denounced the killings of the hostages and said that the FARC could face charges of crimes against humanity for such offenses. —AFP

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Somali Islamist rebels order 16 agencies shut MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Islamist Shebab rebels ordered 16 international aid agencies shut yesterday in areas they control after armed raids on several offices, and warned more would follow if they did not toe the line. “Any organisation found to be supporting or actively engaged in activities deemed detrimental to the attainment of an Islamic State, or performing duties other than that which it formally proclaims, will be banned immediately without prior warning,” the Shebab said in a statement.

Witnesses and aid workers reported that Shebab gunmen stormed the offices of several agencies in apparent coordinated raids in rebel-controlled regions in Somalia, an area gripped by what the United Nations says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“Three armoured vehicles with gun-

men surrounded the offices, including the office of UNICEF,” said Adulahi Idle, a resident in the city of Baidoa. “I saw many militiamen go inside the places and force the people there to leave and the men took control.” The AlQaeda-linked group accused the agencies of “lacking complete political detachment and neutrality... thereby intensifying the instability and insecurity gripping the nation as a whole.”

The Shehab also said the groups were working to “foster secularism, immorality and the degrading values of democracy in an Islamic country,” and accused them of “amplifying the refugee crisis.” The United Nations has warned that nearly 250,000 people face imminent starvation in southern Somalia, the main base for the hardline Shebab, with several areas under famine or emergency conditions.

Six UN organisations were ordered closed by the Shebab, including the agencies for refugees (UNHCR) and children (UNICEF), as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). It also barred the UN Office for Project Ser vices (UNOPS) and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU). A regional security source said the raids in south and central Somalia were well planned and coordinated, with gunmen seizing computers, telephones and other equipment from aid workers. No arrests were reported.

“It was a surprise, but something that was clearly planned,” said an aid agency official working in Somalia.

Other aid agencies affected include the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Danish Refugee Council (DRC),

Concern, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and the Italian Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI). The Sehbab also shut down the Swedish African Welfare Alliance (SAWA), the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ), Action Contre la Faim (ACF), Solidarity and Saacid. “ They came with guns into the offices of two aid agencies and ordered all the staff to go home, and have taken control of the offices,” said a local resident working for an international aid agency in Dinsor, in Bay region. The extremist Shebab imposes draconian rules on humanitarian workers and has blocked international staff working for aid agencies in its areas, but has allowed limited operations by Somali nationals.

However, some agencies are reported to have been spared, including the

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Medecins Sans Frontieres. Regional powers have been increasing military pressure on the Shebab, with Kenyan forces in the far south, Ugandan and Burundian African Union forces in Mogadishu, and Ethiopian troops arriving earlier this month from the west.

Meanwhile a suspected bomb blast rocked the main hospital in the wartorn capital, the latest in a string of attacks in Mogadishu since the Shebab abandoned fixed positions there in August and switched to guerrilla tactics. Three people were wounded by the blast late Sunday in the hospital, which provides life-saving care for severely malnourished children struggling from ongoing famine in the city’s crowded camps for displaced people.— AFP

Five dead in election clashes as Congolese vote Experts, opposition urged govt to delay vote

WASHINGTON: A file photo taken on October 13, 1989 shows Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Markovic (L) meeting with US President George Bush in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. Markovic, the last prime minister of socialist Yugoslavia before it collapsed in a series of 1990s wars, died in Croatia yesterday at the age of 87. —AFP

Yugoslavia’s last PM dies aged 87 ZAGREB: Former Yugoslavia’s last Prime Minister Ante Markovic, who tried to prevent the country’s bloody breakup in the 1990s, has died. He was 87.

Croatia’s state HINA news agency, quoting unnamed family sources, said Markovic died early yesterday in Croatia’s capital Zagreb. It did not provide the cause of his death.

Dzevad Haznadar, his business partner in Bosnia’s capital Sarajevo, said Markovic suddenly died in his apartment in Zagreb of yet unknown causes after suffering “minor cold” symptoms.

Markovic, a Croat born in Bosnia, became Yugoslavia’s prime minister in March 1989, two years before the former communist country started unraveling along ethnic lines.

During his tenure, Markovic launched an ambitious program of proWestern economic reforms, including privatization of state-run companies and stabilization of Yugoslavia’s currency dinar. The result of his monetary reform was a halt to soaring inflation and temporary rise in the country’s living standards.

Markovic was popular among Yugoslavia’s liberals because of his reforms which brought the country to the threshold of the European Union.

But he was hated by nationalists for his unifying stands and efforts to mediate between increasingly hostile leaderships of the six former Yugoslav republics.

In July 1990, Markovic formed a

political party supporting a reformed Yugoslav federation. He was defeated in the elections by nationalist and separatist parties. Before he resigned in December 1991 under the pressure from nationalists, Markovic tried to find a compromise between Slovenia and Croatia, the republics seeking to secede and Serbia which insisted that Yugoslavia remain a single entity. His efforts failed and the country plunged into a series of ethnic wars.

“He was always against war, against the breakup of the countr y,” Bogic Bogicevic, the Bosnian member of Yugoslavia’s collective presidency at the time of Markovic’s tenure, said. “The others who wanted war and were for the breakup of the country were obviously more successful than him.”

In 2003, he appeared as a prosecution witness at the war crimes trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic at a tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. He testified that Milosevic and former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman both told him that they made an agreement on the eve of the war in Bosnia in 1991 to divide the former Yugoslav republic between Serbia and Croatia. After the wars, Markovic dedicated himself to a business career and consulting for governments and banks. He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter. Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and Sabina Niksic in Sarajevo, Bosnia, contributed to this report. —AP

Italian volunteer, Croatian nun killed in Burundi attack ROME: Gunmen killed an Italian volunteer and a Croatian nun in an attack on a religious mission in Burundi which left another nun wounded, Italy’s foreign ministry and the Misna missionary agency said yesterday. The armed men burst into a convent near Ngozi, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of the capital Bujumbura near the border with Rwanda on Sunday and killed the Croatian nun before kidnapping the volunteer and an Italian nun.

Father Michel Tognazzi, a Catholic missionary in nearby Kiremba, told Misna news agency that the victims were Francesco Bazzani, from a medical charity based near Verona in northern Italy, and Croatian nun Lukrecija Mamic. The convent was next to a hospital where Bazzani worked as an administrator. “Two armed men went into the Ancelle della Carita welfare house, to which the two nuns belonged, with the aim of robbing them, and they killed the Croatian nun straight away,” Tognazzi

said. They then stole a car and fled, taking Bazzani and an Italian nun named Carla Brianza hostage. The gunmen stopped after around eight kilometres and made the pair get out of the car before shooting Bazzani at point blank range. “Carla managed to grab the gun, which helped save her life” and the attacker stabbed her in the hand before fleeing with his accomplice, the priest added.

The gunmen managed to evade police, Misna reported. The injured nun has been operated on but her condition “is not worrying,” the ministry said in a statement. There has been a wave of attacks in Burundi in recent months that are officially blamed on “armed bandits”. The popular view is that these attacks are part of a nascent rebellion that is gathering pace. The attacks have raised fears of a resumption of largescale hostilities in a country still reeling from a civil war that killed 300,000 people between 1993 and 2006. — AFP

KINSHASA: Armed men attacked voting centers and a truck carrying ballots yesterday, leaving at least five people dead in this massive nation long pummeled by war as Congo went ahead with an election that could drag the countr y back into conflict. Countr y experts and opposition leaders had urged the government to delay the vote due to massive logistical problems, arguing that a delayed election was better than a botched one.

Voting materials arrived late - or not at all - in many parts of this nation of jungle forests with few paved roads.

Yesterday’s vote comes after a weekend of violence that left at least four dead. Early yesterday gunmen opened fire on a truck transporting ballots and an attack on a voting center in the southeastern town of Lubumbashi, in clashes that killed five more, according to Dikanga Kazadi, the provincial minister of the interior. Eleven candidates are vying for president in the election, only the second since the end of Congo’s last war and the first to be organized by the government instead of the international community. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila is widely expected to win another term because of the splintered opposition. As of yesterday afternoon, polling stations had still not opened in the Kenya neighborhood of Kinshasa because voting materials had not been delivered. In Massina, another poor district near Kinshasa’s airport, anger was beginning to boil over as voters continued to wait outside of still-unopened polling stations. In the eastern city of Goma, Cindy McCain said that observers had stumbled upon what may be a case of ballot stuffing. The wife of US Sen John McCain is part of a team of independent observers.

Ballots boxes already had been partly filled when the observers arrived before the 6 am opening time at the Farajada polling station. “I

don’t know exactly what we were looking at,” said McCain, who explained that when they asked poll workers about the partially filled boxes, they were told the ballots belonged to election officials who voted first. But she said “there were significantly more” ballots inside than poll workers, and the officials were unwilling to further discuss the matter. “The one for the presidential race was maybe a

LUBUMBASHI: A Congolese man holds a ballot paper burned in an attack on two pick-up trucks carrying ballot papers to polling stations in Lubumbashi yesterday. —AFP third of the way full,” McCain said.

The early light voter turnout yesterday was a contrast with 2006, when people trudged in the dark to line up outside polling stations before dawn. Long queues built up even

Russian whistle-blower beaten to death in jail MOSCOW: Moscow prison guards used rubber batons to beat to death a Western investment fund lawyer who alleged mass embezzlement by Russian officials, a Kremlin rights panel said yesterday. The case of Sergei Magnitsky-a whistle-blowing attorney who was jailed shortly after making his accusations-has been highlighted by the West as one of the most flagrant abuses of human rights in Russia in recent years.

The 37-year-old’s death in 2009 also raised alarm over the Russian justice system’s impartiality and the ability of the police to manipulate the courts.

Magnitsky’s Hermitage Capital firm campaigned to prove that the lawyer was killed for accusing top interior ministry officials of embezzling $230 million by obtaining false tax returns on payments made by the fund. Hermitage Capital published a 75-page report yesterday featuring what it said was a photocopy of an internal Moscow prison document authorising the use of handcuffs and batons against Magnitsky the day he died. “A rubber baton was used against the suspect,” the standard form prison document said. It then had Magnitsky’s name written down in pen in the space provided for the inmate’s identification and was dated November 16, 2009.

Magnitsky died later that evening. In a separate news conference, members of a Kremlin rights panel for the first time stated that physical harm rather than negligence appeared to have been the direct cause of his death, based on the same documents.

The panel, which was mandated by President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate the death, said the documents came from Magnitsky’s case material that authorities had tried to cover up for two years. “I do not think that (prison officials) wanted to kill him, but I do think that they beat him in order to force him to admit guilt” to false charges that led to Magnitsky’s arrest, said panel member Valery Borshchyov. “But either way, he died as a result of the beating, that is my opinion,” said the rights official. “They

before balloting stations opened. About 70 percent of registered voters participated in that election. The United Nations organized those elections and newly trained police, U.N peacekeepers and African and European rapid reaction forces provided security. In this vote, Kabila belatedly asked South African troops to help distribute ballot papers.

In 2006, all leading presidential candidates

tried to keep this hushed up for two years.” Borshchyov said eight people were present at the time of Magnitsky’s death. Hermitage Capital also published a separate document showing an investigator urging his superiors three days after the incident to open an official murder investigation. That request was denied and subsequent state reports concluded that Magnitsky had died from complications of medical ailments he had prior to being jailed.

Investigators have charged two prison doctors with neglect. But Hermitage Capital-founded by the US-born investor William Browder and now based in London-said the state was only trying to cover up its crimes. “It is really shocking.

You have the situation where Sergei Magnitsky was beaten by eight guards at 8:00 pm and he was dead at 9:00 pm,” Browder said in a telephone interview from London. — AFP

MOSCOW: This Monday, Nov 30, 2009 file photo shows a portrait of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in jail, held by his mother Nataliya Magnitskaya, as she speaks during an exclusive interview with the AP in Moscow. —AP

were former warlords commanding armed militias. All those have been integrated into the national army, though militias and Ugandan and Rwandan rebels continue to wreak havoc in the east of the country. —AP

News

in brief

Spain busts gang that used child drug mules MADRID: Police busted a drug gang that used babies and small children to smuggle cocaine from South America through European airports, Spanish officials said yesterday. Police in Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands arrested 20 suspects including traffickers who arrived on flights with large amounts of cocaine hidden about them while travelling with children to avert suspicion. “They used minors as a cover so as not to raise suspicion and also to hide the drugs among their nappies” in their baggage, the statement said. “They were flying from South America with quantities of narcotics varying from one to five kilograms.” Police arrested 16 people at various airports in Spain, and two each in Belgium and the Netherlands and seized 11 kilograms of cocaine, the statement said. One Spanish couple arrested in The Netherlands were carrying 1.5 kilos of cocaine attached to their bodies and hidden among their baby’s nappies in their luggage.

The smuggling ring involved members in Zaragoza, nor thern Spain and flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and Madrid’s Barajas airport.

French father charged after boy killed in washing machine PARIS: Police in France have charged a 33-yearold father with murder after he allegedly killed his three-year-old son by stuffing him into a washing machine and turning it on. The man was charged with “murder of a minor ” late Sunday in the city of Meaux near Paris, court sources said, while the boy ’s mother was charged with failing to prevent a crime and failing to assist a person in danger. Both were held without bail. Newspaper Le Parisien quoted neighbors as saying that the boy, Bastien, died on Friday after his father put him naked in the washing machine to punish him for getting into trouble at nursery school. Neighbor Alice told the newspaper that the boy’s mother had rushed to her door carrying the boy’s body after the incident, claiming Bastien had fallen down the stairs. “He felt like a limp doll,” Alice said.

Neighbors told the newspaper the boy had been repeatedly abused, including by being locked up for hours in a cupboard.

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Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan to fight opium smuggling KABUL: Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan yesterday agreed to bolster regional cooperation to combat drug smuggling at a time when the cultivation of illicit opium poppy is increasing. Afghanistan provides about 90 percent of the world’s opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin, and the UN and Afghan government have long tried to wean the country off the lucrative crop.

Money from the sale of opium is also used to fuel the insurgency, helping to buy weapons and

equipment for the Taliban.

The largest areas of opium poppy cultivation are in the violent south of the country, where it can be hard to make money on legal crops and where criminal networks exist to buy and sell the poppy crop. “Despite a decade of initiatives by the Afghans and international community, opium production is increasing,” said Yuri Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“This situation can’t continue.”

Most of the opium from

Afghanistan is shipped through Iran and Pakistan, and the three countries have for the past four years been involved in a UN -sponsored initiative to set up joint planning cells in each country to coordinate their efforts. They pledged to bolster joint operations targeting smugglers and the networks they use to get the drug to the international marketplace. “Iran is a transit route and the production of drugs in Afghanistan is on the increase,” said Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najar, who

heads the country’s counter-narcotics department. “The reason is high demand.”

Ministers in charge of counternarcotics for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran met in Kabul yesterday at a UN organized gathering. The UN has said that insecurity and rising opium prices have driven Afghan farmers to increase cultivation of the illicit opium poppy by 7 percent in 2011, despite a major push by the Afghan government and international allies. Production in Afghanistan had dropped signifi-

cantly in 2010 because of a plant disease that killed off much of the crop.

Revenue from the drug has helped fund insurgents, and the number of people invested in the underground opium economy has made it difficult for the Afghan government to establish its presence in opium-heavy regions. Other countries in the region have also expressed worries about increasing production. The Russian government recently said about 2 million of its citizens are addicted to opium

and heroin - most of which comes from Afghanistan. It has repeatedly called on NATO forces to do more to stop Afghan production.

A report last month showed that opium cultivation is spreading to new parts Afghanistan, a troubling trend as international troops are trying to stabilize the country so that they can hand over security responsibilities to the government by the end of 2014. Much of this is attributed to soaring prices. Dry opium costs about 43 percent more than it did a year ago. —AP

Pakistan denies border fire provoked NATO raid NATO, US seek to limit fallout

NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Par ty (BJP) activists raise slogans as they sit with placards at a protest in New Delhi, India yesterday.—AP

India invite to foreign retailers stirs backlash MUMBAI: A broad and fiery backlash against India’s new open-door policy for foreign retailers sparked fresh investor fears yesterday about political risk and the stability of the Congress Party’s coalition government. The new regulations don’t require Parliamentary approval, but to set up shop, foreign retailers such as Wal-M ar t and Carrefour must be approved by the government of the state where stores will be located.

Five state leaders made clear over the weekend their unwillingness to let in foreign companies. Leaders from two of Congress’ main coalition allies oppose the policy. Parliament adjourned yesterday in an uproar over the issue and Communist Party-controlled trade unions have pledged to strike Thursday. Some politicians even threatened to burn down foreign stores that open under the new rules.

The fury of opposition is adding to foreign investor fears about the political risks of doing business in India. Some analysts say the Cabinet may have to backtrack on its bold new rules, which would be a political embarrassment for a government straining to reassert its leadership in the face of corruption scandals, high inflation and flagging growth.

“We are waiting for clarification of the rules related to FDI,” Jean-Noel Bironneau, the managing director of Carrefour India, said yesterday. “We prefer to assess the situation.” The new rules would allow big retailers such as Wal-M ar t to set up supermarkets in India’s major cities and will likely herald the entrance of companies like Swedish retailer Ikea, which has been keen to come for years, but only if it can maintain control of its operations.

In a letter to political leaders, Minister of Commerce Anand Sharma cast the change as a boon for consumers and farmers - who constitute large sections of the voting public - rather than a threat to small traders. “A complex chain of middlemen have a cascading impact on supply inefficiencies and prices,” he wrote. “(F)armers are unable to secure remunerative price for their produce, while consumer ends up paying more than 5 times the price secured by the farmers.”

He said that in other emerging economies where foreign direct investment is permitted in retail, like China, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, local retailers have not been put out of business. He has said that states like Punjab, Har yana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra - home to India’s financial capital, Mumbai - support the policy. The changes could also help domestic players who have struggled to succeed on their own. Stocks of Indian retailers got hammered yesterday amid the storm of criticism. Pantaloon Retail closed down 4.6 percent and Trent lost 3.2 percent, in defiance of a 3 percent rise in the benchmark Sensex index.

Future Group Chief Executive Kishore Biyani, who has been likened in India to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club founder Sam Walton, welcomed the entry of foreign chains. “This policy is a win-win-win,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s a win for consumers, a win for retailers, a win for suppliers and a win for farm producers.

Ninety percent of India should benefit.”

Biyani would not discuss details of his negotiations with foreign partners, but said he’s open to forging joint ventures, par ticularly in consumer electronics, where he’d like to become the market leader.

The debt-laden Future Group has 16 million square feet of retail space and is growing by 2 to 2.5 million square feet a year, he said. “We can now grow faster,”

he said. The central government has taken out advertisements to quell critics, championing the new rules as a way to make food cheaper for everyone, eliminate waste that claims up to 40 percent of all fresh produce, and create millions of jobs. The leaders of the states of Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Orissa and West Bengal have all publicly opposed the ruling Congress Party’s move to let foreign retailers own up to 51 percent of supermarkets and 100 percent of singlebrand stores, according to the Press Trust of India.

India’s main opposition BJP party as well as the Congress Party’s coalition ally, the Trinamool Congress, have also voiced opposition. Of the 53 cities where retailers could set up under the new rules, 28 are in states controlled by political parties opposed to the regulations, according to Standard Chartered. Some say the wave of opposition won’t scuttle the changes, which foreign retailers have been pushing for a decade. “There are enough states which would be positively inclined,” said Saloni Nangia, head of retail and consumer produc ts at Technopak Advisors, a New Delhi based consulting company. “Retailers will take some time before they start implementing. By then things would settle down.”

Other analysts say global economic uncertainty may prove a stronger immediate disincentive. Tamil Nadu’s chief minister J. Jayalalithaa in a letter Sunday to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said she wouldn’t let retailers into her state, describing the central government ’s move as a “wrong decision, taken under pressure from a few retail giants starved for capital infusion for their future survival,” according to the Press Trust of India.

Mayawati, the fiery leader of Uttar Pradesh, said foreign investment in retail would make her state “bankrupt.” She is locked in a battle with the Congress Party over upcoming state elections. The chief minister of Kerala, which is controlled by the Congress Party, also came out against the changes. Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, has been silent on the issue. Though he is renowned for being business friendly and actively seeking foreign investment, a major constituency of his BJP party are the small traders and mom and pop shops that many fear will be put out of business if companies such as are allowed greater access.

The government tried to design the new retail policy so that the price of entry into India’s 1.2 billion-strong consumer market would be improving the nation’s food distribution and bolstering local businesses. Under the new regulations, retailers must put at least half their investment into back-end infrastructure such as refrigerated storage, with 30 percent of procurement from small companies, and they can only open outlets in cities with a population of more than 1 million. Technopak says the new rules could attract $5 billion in investment over the next five years. The work facing new arrivals is formidable. Besides navigating political uncertainty, they must develop supply chains from scratch, improve supplier efficiency, set up logistics in a nation which needs better roads, train an uncomprehending work force and find appropriate, affordable retail locations in urban centers. Wal-Mar t, Tesco, Carrefour and Germany’s Metro may have an advantage over other foreign retailers if they decide to expand their India operations as they already have wholesale businesses in the country. —AP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday denied provoking NATO air strikes that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead, raising tensions over the lethal cross-border attack that has plunged US-Pakistani relations to a new low. NATO and the United States have sought to limit the fallout from Saturday’s attack, which has seen Pakistan close vital supply routes to the 140,000 foreign troops serving in Afghanistan and order a review of its US alliance.

Washington has backed a full inquiry and expressed condolences. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has spoken of regret over the “tragic, unintended” killings, but stopped shor t Sunday of issuing a full apology.

The crisis erupted months after the fraught US-Pakistan alliance was plunged to its lowest point in years by the killing in May of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden north of Islamabad by US special forces.

But few questions have been answered about what exactly happened at the dead of night in some of the most hostile terrain on Earth, following reports that Pakistani soldiers opened fire first on US and Afghan forces. The Wall Street Journal, following a similar repor t by Britain’s Guardian newspaper, cited three Afghan officials and one Western official as saying the air raid was called in to shield allied forces targeting Taleban fighters.

NATO and Afghan forces “were fired on from a Pakistani army base”, the unnamed Western official told the Journal. “It was a defensive action.” An Afghan official said the government in Kabul believes the fire came from the Pakistani military base-and not from insurgents in the area. An Afghan border police commander, speaking on condition of anonymity because officials have been told not to speak to media before an investigation is completed, said NATO troops hardly ever open fire unless they are attacked.

“To me it’s almost clear that they (ISAF) came under fire from that area. Without that they

would have not returned fire,” he told AFP. He said Taliban, Afghan security forces as well Pakistani security forces have posts very close to each other due to the rugged, mountainous terrain.

Pakistan insists the attack was “unprovoked”. There has been no official US response to the report.

“This is not true. They are making up excuses. And by the way, what are their losses, casualties?” Major General Athar Abbas, Pakistan’s chief military spokesman, wrote

Afghanistan, ordered a review of its alliance with the US and is mulling whether to boycott a key conference on Afghanistan next month. NATO says that for now its troops would not be affected by the disruption to supply routes.

Hundreds of enraged Pakistanis took to the streets for a third day yesterday, blocking roads to demand that Pakistan end its troubled alliance with the US. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar telephoned US

Islamabad cooperate with the United States in order to maintain billions of dollars in financial aid.

Senator Dick Durbin, a top Democrat, offered condolences but said US troops were caught in a “diplomatic morass between the incompetence and corruption in Afghanistan, and complicity in parts of Pakistan”. But John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, laid bare the dilemma for Washington in

MULTAN: Supporters of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) burn a US flag during a protest in Multan yesterday against a NATO strike on Pakistan troops. —AFP to AFP in a text message.

British newspaper The Daily Telegraph yesterday quoted wounded survivors of the raid, who insisted they were victims of an unprovoked attack. Amirzeb Khan, 23, was quoted as saying that the area around the checkpoints, about three kilometres (two miles) from the border, had been cleared of militants and the night had been quiet before the attack early Saturday. In retaliation, Islamabad has blocked NATO convoys from crossing into

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday to convey a “deep sense of rage” as a joint funeral was held for the dead soldiers, their coffins draped in the national flag. Key Pakistan ally China, seen as a crucial counterweight to American influence in Islamabad, said it was “deeply shocked” by the incident and called for an investigation. On the Fox News Sunday talk show, US lawmakers vented frustration over Pakistan, with Republican Senator Jon Kyl demanding

US envoy says Bangladesh needs fair war crimes trial DHAKA: A special US envoy said yesterday Bangladesh needs to do more to ensure justice in the country’s first war crimes trial of a suspected collaborator in the 1971 war of independence which opened last week.

Delawar Hossain Sayedee, now a senior opposition figure, has been charged with

DHAKA: German President Christian Wulff (L) shakes hand with Bangladesh’s President Zillur Rahman at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka yesterday. —AFP leading a pro-Islamabad militia in the war with Pakistan and committing crimes against humanity such as genocide and rape.

Stephen Rapp, US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, regretted the court, which is set to hear the first witness against Sayedee next week, had not incorporated “many” suggestions he made. “Much can still

be accomplished to ensure that justice is done and is seen to be done in these historic proceedings,” Rapp said.

“First, it is important that the judges, at the first opportunity, define what ‘crimes against humanity’ means. The term ‘crimes against humanity’ has been defined in the statutes and cases of international courts,” he said. “It has not been defined in Bangladesh,” he added. “Second, it is important that the same rights be accorded to these accused as are guaranteed to Bangladeshi citizens who are charged with other violent crimes,” he said and called for a system to protect witnesses. It was Rapp’s third visit to Bangladesh after Dhaka set up its International Crimes Tribunal last year to try people suspected of atrocities during the nine-month war. The court is domestic and is not endorsed by the UN. Bangladesh’s government claims some three million people were killed during the war of independence for the then state of East Pakistan. Sayedee is being held in detention along with four other suspects from his Jamaat-e-Islami party and two more from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Both parties have dismissed the tribunal as a “show trial”, while Human Rights Watch has said legal procedures fall short of international standards.

John Cammegh, a British lawyer recruited

by Jamaat, wrote in the New York Times this month the court was “a terrible warning of the way in which the ideals of universal justice and accountability can be abused”. He said suspects were denied access to legal advice, local defence lawyers and witnesses had been harassed, and that prosecutors were already boasting that a guilty verdict was guaranteed by the end of the year. —AFP

handling nuclear-armed Pakistan. “While it is tempting for many people to say we ought to throw the Pakistanis over the side... as long as that country has nuclear weapons that could fall into the hands of radicals and be a threat worldwide, they have incredible leverage,” he said. The United States in 2009 approved a huge five-year, $7.5 billion civilian assistance package for Pakistan, but some US lawmakers want to cut civilian aid due to concerns over extremism. —AFP

Murky border war won’t rupture Pakistan-US alliance ISLAMABAD: The deaths of 24 Pakistani troops spotlights the explosive 10-year war on the Afghan border, but is unlikely to rupture the unhappy marriage of convenience between Islamabad and Washington, analysts say. Forced into partnership by 9/11 and the war on Al-Qaeda, the two governments are totally reliant on one another, yet lurch from crisis to crisis given a prevailing climate of distrust.

It is typical that just as relations began to recover from the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the shadow of Pakistan’s military academy in May, the NATO attack has put the alliance back on the brink. Islamabad sealed the Afghan border to NATO supplies-a time-honoured responseagain gave Americans notice to leave a shadowy air base believed to be used in the CIA drone war, and ordered a review of the alliance.

But Islamabad and Washington have little wiggle room.

With Pakistan eyeing a general election by February 2013, the government cannot afford to be seen accepting the perceived breach of sovereignty, with the opposition only too happy to exploit a very real sense of anger. “I think we’re one step short of a strategic crisis,” retired US general turned NBC News military analyst Barry McCaffrey told the TV network.

Estimating that up to 50 percent of supplies for Afghanistan are routed through Pakistan he said: “we’ve got to talk to them, we’ve got to pay them, we’ve got to apologize for this strike. We have no option, literally.” At the crux of the problem are accusations of complicity. Afghan and US officers routinely complain that Pakistani soldiers do nothing to prevent Taleban opening fire from Pakistani soil or infiltrating the border-including in Mohmand, the district where the soldiers were killed.

At other times, they accuse Pakistani troops of firing on their positions. Very often, Taleban , Afghan and Pakistani posts are very close to one another. The border, disputed by ethnic Pashtuns living on both sides, is in many places unmarked and straddles some of the most hostile terrain in the world. “Insurgents repeatedly use the border area in their favour to hide, to operate across it and to fire on both sides,” said Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. —AFP

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Hotel bomb kills three, wounds 27 in Philippines Investigators believe blast a terrorist strike MANILA: Suspected Islamic militants detonated a powerful bomb that killed at least three people and wounded 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests in the southern Philippines, officials said yester-

forced the wedding to be postponed, Zamboanga Mayor Celso Lobregat said. “We should not show that we’re panicking because that is what these troublemakers relish to see,” Lobregat told The Associated Press by tele-

kilograms) of TNT powder, was one of the most high-profile bombings this year blamed on the Abu Sayyaf, which has been weakened by years of battle setbacks.

The blast was so powerful it

ZAMBOANGA: Policemen carry a body that was recovered under the ruins of the damaged Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga city, southern Philippines yesterday. —AP day. Investigators believe the blast and ensuing fire that gutted the two-story Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga City late Sunday was a terrorist strike and that it was not linked to the wedding, city police director Edwin de Ocampo said.

Still, many of the victims were from a group of more than 20 people who occupied six of the hotel’s 35 rooms for a planned ceremony yesterday. The tragedy

phone. “We have good leads. We will get all of them.”

The blast was believed to be one of two simultaneous bombings planned by al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaff militants. The other would have been on nearby Basilan island, where two explosives were separately found and safely defused by authorities in Isabela city on Sunday, de Ocampo said. The hotel blast, caused by about 22 pounds (10

‘Serious abuses’ in Myanmar despite reforms: Relief group BANGKOK: Myanmar soldiers are committing serious human rights abuses including extra-judicial killing and rape in a campaign against guerrillas in the north of the country despite reforms aimed at ending harsh military rule, a relief group said yesterday. The abuses could amount to war crimes and Hillary Clinton should bring up the issue in talks this week when she becomes the first US secretar y of state to visit Myanmar in five decades, the group Partners Relief and Development said.

Representatives of the aid group visited Kachin state in the far north of Myanmar, also known as Burma, where in June fighting broke out when a 17-year-old ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) guerrilla group broke down. “While the political situation in lowland Burma is being interpreted as a major breakthrough, the situation for millions in the ethnic areas is worse than it’s been in two decades,” the group’s co-founder, Oddny Gumaer, told a news conference in Bangkok.

“I would want Hillary Clinton to bring this up.” Ethnic minority guerrillas have been fighting for self-rule in Myanmar since shortly after independence from Britain in 1948. For decades, the military justified its tight grip on power by citing the fear the country might break apart. The military officially stepped back from its leadership role after an election a year ago. A civilian government which took over in March, though dominated by retired military men, has introduced a string of reforms. Clinton’s three-day visit beginning tomorrow marks international recognition of the changes by a long-isolated country keen to reduce reliance on China and end Western sanctions imposed because of rights abuses and suppression of democracy.

But a member of the aid group who made an unofficial fact-finding visit to Kachin state last month said there was no sign of reform in the conflict zone, where about 30,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. “The situation is dire and they are in need of immediate assistance,” group member Bryan Erikson told the news conference, referring to civilians in the area.

“There’s very little sign of improvement and the expectation of future hostility is high,” said Erikson, the author of a report on the situation in the area drawn from interviews with at least 200 people affected by the conflict.

Hkawng Seng Pan of the Thailand-based Kachin Women’s Association said her group had evidence of 32 cases of rape by government soldiers in the recent conflict and some of the victims had been killed. “When we say ‘reform in Burma’, or ‘reconciliation in Burma’, we cannot separate democracy from ethnic rights,” she said.

The Myanmar army dismisses accusations of rape and other human rights abuses by its soldiers. The civilian government, led by President Thein Sein, says it wants to end the country’s minority conflicts and has reached out to guerrilla factions, including the KIO. A KIO representative, James Lum Dau, said more talks were due today in a Chinese border town. He said the Myanmar army should pull out of the Kachin areas they had moved into since the ceasefire broke down in June.

“Then automatically there will be a ceasefire then we can talk about politics,” Lum Dau told Reuters. About a third of Myanmar’s estimated 50 million people are members of ethnic minorities, such as the Kachin, who have traditionally inhabited the hills above the central I rrawaddy river basin. M any K achin conver ted to Christianity during colonial rule and Kachin fighters helped British and US forces fighting the Japanese army during the Second World War. The Kachin guerrilla force went to war against the central government demanding autonomy soon after the military seized power in an 1962 coup. The ceasefire broke down this year after the army ordered the KIO, and other minority forces, to fold their men into a government border security force. —Reuters

caused much of the second floor to collapse, blew off the hotel roof and shattered glass panes and windows from nearby buildings, Zamboanga city Mayor Celso Lobregat said. Two of the wounded were in serious condition and more than a dozen others remained confined in a hospital, he said. Zamboanga city, a predominantly Christian trading hub 540 miles (860 kilometers) south of Manila, is located in a

volatile region long troubled by a decades-long Muslim insurgency, extortion gangs and kidnap for ransom syndicates.

The blast occurred in room 226 on the second floor of the hotel, instantly killing two people staying in two adjacent rooms, which were devastated by the blast. A third body was found yesterday on the ground floor, pinned by the cement slabs that collapsed from above, Lobregat said. De Ocampo said investigators were trying to determine how the TNT bomb was detonated, adding its design resembled those used by the Abu Sayyaf in past attacks on Basilan island, the group’s birthplace.

Police Senior Inspector Cesar Memoracion said his local bomb squad recently informed the hotel owner to be on guard for a possible bomb attack, citing intelligence, which did not identify the source of the threat. In January 2000, the hotel was rocked by a blast that killed three suspected Muslim militants assembling a bomb in a room, officials said. The Abu Sayyaf was founded on Basilan in the early 1990s as an offshoot of a violent Muslim insurgency that has been raging for decades. U.S.-backed offensives have weakened the group, which is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, but it remains a key security threat.

It has about 380 armed fighters and survives mostly on extortion and kidnappings for ransom. Abu Sayyaf militants are believed to be holding an American, an Indian, a Malaysian and a Japanese convert to Islam, along with a number of Filipino hostages in Basilan and nearby Jolo island.—AP

Thai police to question ex-PM over protest deaths BANGKOK: Thai police said yesterday they had summoned former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy in connection with deaths during a crackdown on opposition protests in Bangkok last year. More than 90 people, mostly civilians, were killed and nearly 1,900 were wounded during the two months of rallies, which drew about 100,000 “Red Shirt” demonstrators at their peak, calling for immediate elections.

The justice ministry’s department of special investigation (DSI) in September said government troops were involved in the deaths of a Japanese cameraman and 12 other civilians and sent the case back to police to probe. “Our investigators have contacted Abhisit and Suthep (Thaugsuban) for questioning as witnesses as part of investigations into the deaths of 13 people killed during the protest, including the Japanese and Italian photographers,” said Lieutenant General Vinai Thongsong of the Crime Suppression

Division. “We initially set the date for this Friday, but it depends on them if they’re available or not.”

The DSI is still investigating the other deaths. Police initially insisted that soldiers were not behind the killing of Reuters cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto, who was shot during clashes between troops and protesters, as was Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi. It is the first time that Abhisit has been summoned for questioning over his government’s handling of the protests, which ended when army troops firing live rounds stormed the fortified rally site.

Suthep, then deputy prime minister, oversaw national security during the crackdown and became a figure of hate among the Red Shirts. The kingdom remains deeply divided by the bloodshed.

Thailand now has a new government allied to the Red Shirts’ hero, fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, whose sister Yingluck is prime minister. —AFP

KALIMANTAN: Rescuers carry the body of a victim as the ruin of Kutai Kartanegara bridge is seen in the background in Tenggarong, East Kalimantan, Indonesia yesterday.—AP

Twelve dead, dozens missing in Indonesia bridge collapse TENGGARONG: Twelve bodies have been recovered from a river after a bridge collapse in Indonesian Borneo sent dozens of vehicles plunging into the water, officials said yesterday as authorities probed the disaster. Around 30 people are believed to be missing after the 720-metre-long bridge built to resemble San Francisco’s Golden Gate-over the Mahakam river collapsed on Saturday.

Divers were temporarily forced to abandon their search for victims because of poor visibility in the murky water and strong currents.

“One more body has been found, bringing the death toll to 12,” East Kalimantan province’s search and rescue agency head Harmoni Adi hurriedly told reporters between meetings. National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho confirmed the updated death toll, saying that bodies were washing up on the river banks. “Fourteen people are still in hospital,” he told AFP, adding there was “zero visibility” in the river which is up to 40 metres (yards) deep. “Based on reports by the community, at least 33 are missing.

It’s difficult to know exactly how many are missing because we don’t know how many vehicles and people fell when the bridge collapsed.”

He had earlier said 39 people were injured. Divers, who have waited for two days for currents to ease and visibility to improve, would try to enter the water again Tuesday morning, Adi said. “We will send the divers first thing tomorrow morning. The weather so far has been good,” he told AFP. Nugroho said rescue teams would use echo-sounding to analyse the position of the bridge’s underwater metal frame to ensure it is safe to start removing the debris.

Witnesses reportedly heard a loud crash as the structure buckled, sending a public bus, cars and motorc ycles plunging into the broad river in Kutai Kartanegara district. Survivors desperately swam to the shore, screaming in

panic, while others were trapped underwater beneath the debris. The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear but Nugroho said on Sunday that a steel support cable for the bridge, finished in 2002, snapped as workers were repairing it.

The Jakarta Post daily quoted Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto as saying the bridge had been weakened after being struck by boats several times. “A pillar almost collapsed last year because it was hit by a cargo barge that carried coal,” Kirmanto told the daily. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered an investigation into the cause of the accident. Indonesia is setting a blistering pace of growth, expected to top six percent this year, but investors complain infrastructure is hopelessly inadequate and that the nation is mired in corruption and red tape.

“Around ten to 20 percent of project funds usually go to corruption. The consequence is that building materials are of low quality,” said Sri Adiningsih, an economics lecturer at the Gadjah Mada University in Jogjakarta. The government last year announced plans to spend $140 billion on infrastructure until 2014, more than half of which would have to come from the private sector. There have been a string of bridge disasters in Indonesia in recent years, including two others this year, according to local newspapers.

Last month, a bridge in South Sumatra province collapsed under the weight of a trailer-truck loaded with construction materials, and in September two workers were killed and four injured when a bridge under construction collapsed in the same province. Also on Sumatra island, 12 children died in October last year when a suspension bridge collapsed as they were taking part in a traditional ceremony to dispel bad luck. And in April 2009, one person died and two others were injured when a bridge collapsed in Central Kalimantan province. —AFP

Taiwan man probed over robbery amputation claim

NONTHABURI: A Thai woman carry her dog on a flooded street in Nonthaburi province of Bangkok, Thailand yesterday. Since July, more than a fifth of the country’s 64 million people have been affected by the worst flooding in more than 50 years. —AP

Australia eyes water cuts, new fight looms for PM CANBERRA: Australian farmers faced deep cuts to irrigation water use under proposals unveiled yesterday to help drought-proof the country’s vast food bowl, a plan set to spark a new fight for Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s beleaguered Labor government. After angry farmers last year staged protests and burned copies of a government water plan, officials released a new, scaled-back proposal to cut water use by 25 percent across the Murray-Darling river basin, an area the size of France and Spain that produces 90 percent of Australia’s fresh food.

The draft plan would restore the health of the Murray-Darling basin against climate change that is expected to bring more droughts like one which ravaged the country for over a decade until 2009, Environment Minister Tony Burke said.

However, Burke acknowledged many farmers and affected states would be unhappy. “There will be arguments up and down the Basin. That’s why we’ve gone (110 years) since Federation without having sensible reform and getting this right,” Burke said. —Reuters

TAIPEI: A Taiwanese man who said his hand had to be amputated after a savage robbery in China was questioned yesterday by the island’s police amid allegations the injuries were self-inflicted.

Taiwan police said that 59-year-old Hu Chi-yang’s insurance company had requested an investigation into the case, and cited Chinese police as saying he had taken out a million-dollar policy on himself prior to the accident.

Hu, with his left arm ending in a stump, was shown on television on his way to the police interrogation. The case emerged early this month when Hu, a retired businessman, told Taiwanese media that he was attacked by three men in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian. He said they robbed him of about $600 in cash and nearly cut his left hand off to get at his ring and Rolex watch, forcing him to have it amputated after Chinese doctors told him it was too badly damaged to save.

Hu then complained that Chinese police refused to allow him to take the severed hand back to Taiwan, preventing him from using it as evidence. At a news conference yesterday, police in Fujian reportedly said they believed Hu’s injuries were self-inflicted, saying the

cuts were precise and that blood collected at the alleged crime scene contained traces of anaesthetic.

According to the state-owned China News Service, the police said they also found Hu’s fingerprints on a knife dumped nearby, and evidence that he bought it from a local shop. Police and prosecutors in Taipei said yesterday they were opening a case on Hu. “ We’ve received a request from a local insurance company calling for an investigation into the case,” Yang Yuan-ming, deputy chief of Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, told reporters. Yang cited Chinese investigators as saying that Hu had bought insurance policies worth Tw$31 million ($1 million) before travelling to mainland China.

Hu’s daughter denied the allegations, according to Taiwan’s state-controlled Central News Agency. In an interview with AFP earlier this month, Hu insisted he was attacked by robbers and objected to the Chinese authorities refusing to give him the amputated hand, which he said he wanted to keep as evidence.”I am the victim in this case but they treated me as if I were the robber. I never want to go to China again,” he said at the time. —AFP

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AUGSBURG. Germany: A man rides his bicycle yesterday morning. Weather forecasters expect foggy weather to continue in southern Germany. — AP

Iran to expel UK envoy TEHRAN: Iran’s Guardians Council yesterday approved a parliamentary bill demanding Britain’s ambassador to Tehran be expelled within two weeks, making it law, state television’s website reported. The confirmation by the council, whose jurists and clerics vet parliamentary texts to ensure they adhere to Islamic and constitutional rules, means Iran’s foreign ministry now has to apply the measure. Britain has threatened to act “robustly” if the expulsion is carried out.

Iranian lawmakers on Sunday passed the bill in retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme, in particular Britain’s announcement it was “ceasing all contact” between its financial system and that of Iran. The law calls for diplomatic ties between Iran and Britain to be downgraded to the more junior charge d’affaires level, and for trade and financial ties to be reduced to a minimum. It also contains a clause warning that other countries could also be punished if they followed Britain’s lead. “After discussions, members of the Guardians Council have passed the law unanimously,” Guardians Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei said, as quoted by the television’s website.

Britain unveiled its new sanctions on Iran on November 14, in conjunction with similar measures by the United States and

Canada. They based their step on a report by the UN atomic energy watchdog a week earlier that strongly suggested Tehran was researching nuclear weapons. EU nations were expected to unveil more sanctions against Iran at a foreign ministers’ meeting on Thursday. France has called for a freeze on Iranian central bank assets and an embargo on Iranian oil.

Britain and Canada have embassies in Tehran. The United States does not, having closed it after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Canada’s mission is already headed only by a charge d’affaires. Britain on Sunday described the vote to expel its ambassador, Dominick Chilcott, as “regrettable”. “If the Iranian government acts on this, we will respond robustly in consultation with our international partners,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. “This unwarranted move will do nothing to help the regime address their growing isolation or international concerns about their nuclear program and human rights record,” the spokesman added.

Chilcott only took up his position last month. Previously, Britain’s mission was headed by the charge d’affaires. A protest against the new Western sanctions is planned for today in front of the British embassy, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. — AFP

Egyptians flock to polls Continued from Page 1 Elections Commission (HJEC), told reporters, adding that there had been no security problems. “If you have waited for 30 years, can’t you wait now for another hour?” an army officer yelled at hundreds of women restless over the wait at one center in Cairo. The poll was endangered last week as unrest gripped the country, but military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi stuck defiantly to the schedule and called for a large turnout. Much remains unclear about how the new parliament will function and whether it will be able to resolve a standoff with the armed forces over how much power they will retain under a new constitution to be written next year.

The formerly banned Muslim Brotherhood, a moderate Islamist group, is widely expected to emerge as the largest power but without an outright majority when results for the lower parliament are published on Jan 13. Hardline Islamists, secular parties and groups representing the interests of the former Mubarak regime are all expected to win seats, raising the prospect of a highly fragmented and ideologically split parliament. “I’m voting for the future of Egypt,” declared Yussuf, a 25-year-old software engineer in the Al-Raml district of Alexandria, Egypt’s second-biggest city and a major port on the Mediterranean. “This is the first free election in our country. I hope it will be the first fair election,” he told AFP. “I am voting for freedom. We lived in slavery. Now we want justice in freedom,” said 50-year-old Iris Nawar at a polling station in Maadi, a Cairo suburb. “We are afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we lived for 30 years under Mubarak, we will live with them, too,” said Nawar, a first-time voter. Waiting for hours, people joked,

squabbled, and bought sandwiches from delivery men who saw an eager, captive market. Some hoped their vote would help eventually push the generals out. “We are fed up with the military,” said Salah Radwan, waiting outside a polling center in Cairo’s middle -class Abdeen neighborhood.

“They should go to protect our borders and leave us to rule ourselves.

Even if we don’t get it right this time, we will get it right next time.”

Under a heavy rain in Alexandria, a women’s line showed Egypt’s religious spectrum - Christians, Muslims with their head bared, others in conservative headscarves, still others blanketed in the most radical garb, the black robes that cover a woman’s entire body, leaving only her eyes exposed.

At a nearby station, one soldier shouted through a megaphone, “Choose freely, choose whomever you want to vote for.” “The Muslim Brotherhood are the people who have stood by us when times were difficult,” said Ragya El-Said, a 47-year-old lawyer in Alexandria, a stronghold for the Brotherhood. “We have a lot of confidence in them.”

The stakes could not be higher for Egypt, the cultural leader of the Arab world, but the conduct and results of the election will also have repercussions for the entire Middle East at a time of wrenching change. “For most Arabs, the primary examples of democratic processes in the Arab world are in Iraq and Lebanon,” said Bruce Rutherford, a Middle East specialist and author on Egypt at the US-based Colgate University. “In both cases, elections produced weak, fragmented, and largely ineffectual governments. If Egypt produces the same result, then the appeal of democracy in the region may be weakened.

However, if the Egyptian experience is positive... the effect could be very powerful.”

Egypt, with a fast-growing population of more than 80 million, is a former British protectorate ruled by military leaders for most of its history since independence in 1922. The fresh protests last week stemmed from fears that Tantawi and his fellow generals, initially welcomed as a source of stability in the days after Mubarak’s fall, were looking to consolidate their power. Critics say they have also been too quick to resort to the repressive techniques of the Mubarak regime, jailing dissidents and unleashing deadly violence on protesters.

The leading new civilian powers - a pro-democracy movement in iconic Tahrir Square, the Muslim Brotherhood and future presidential hopefuls Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa - have been caught in the uncertainty. The Tahrir movement, named after the square where protests began against Mubarak, is deeply divided over whether to take part in the elections and lend legitimacy to the military rulers. By contrast, the Muslim Brotherhood has supported a poll from which it expects to capitalise. “We expect to win. We’ve been working with the people for a long time,” one volunteer, Fayiz Mohammed Shaarawi, told AFP outside a polling station in the Manian district of Cairo.

After two days of voting in the first stage of the elections for the lower parliament, other cities and regions will follow on Dec 14 and Jan 3. After these, another round of voting will take place from Jan 29 for the upper house of parliament, and presidential elections are to be held by no later than the end of June next year.

Mubarak, who is on trial for murder and corruption in Cairo along with his two sons, is expected to be following events from a military hospital in the capital where he is reportedly being treated for cancer. — Agencies

UAE president pardons jailed Internet...

Continued from Page 1 A relative of bin Ghaith welcomed the decision to release the five and hoped they would walk free within hours.

“Hopefully they will be out today,” Khalifa Al-Nuaimi told AFP. Human Rights Watch UAE researcher Samer Muscati said the pardon was a “positive step” although it was not immediately clear if the sentences were being commuted or wiped clean. The trial had had a “chilling effect on free speech” in the federation of hereditary sheikhdoms, he said. “People are less likely to speak out ... That can’t be undone.”

Muscati also warned that the safety of the five was at risk.

“Their security is still an issue because of a smear campaign on blogs and Facebook. No one has been investigated over the threats,” he said, pointing out that 15 cases were reported to police. Dozens of UAE nationals were gathered outside the federal court for Sunday’s verdict, hailing the jail sentences and pledging the allegiance of their tribes to the leaders of the desert state. The oil-rich southern Gulf nation, which in September held limited polls to elect half the members of its toothless FNC, does not face strong calls for political change. It provides cradle-to-grave care to its nationals who represent just over 10 percent of the expat-dominated society. — Agencies

Syria lashes Arabs, but accused...

Continued from Page 1 Arab League ministerial committee members who still continue to refuse the presence of these armed groups,” said Muallem. “The Arabs don’t want to admit the presence in Syria of groups of armed terrorists who are committing these crimes, abductions and attacks on public places,” he said after tens of thousands of regime supporters rallied against the pan-Arab bloc. In an apparent political concession, which protesters have been demanding for months, Muallem said Syria planned to drop a constitutional clause which designates Assad’s Baath Party as the leading party. The revised constitution foresees “multi-party” politics with “no place for discrimination between parties”, he said.

Muallem told reporters that his government had opened all avenues in talks with the Arab League to end bloodshed in his country, but said that “they have closed all these windows” of opportunity. He called for dialogue to bring about national reconciliation, saying that Syria was ready to accept Russia, its traditional ally, as a mediator to end the crisis. “The Arab League’s position is clear: they want a dialogue in Cairo, a national unity government... and this is rejected. “But a real dialogue must lead to national reconciliation. If Russia wishes, we welcome it. We think that a dialogue is a solution to the crisis.”

The Arab League voted Sunday to slap sweeping sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad over its crackdown on anti-regime protests - the first time the bloc has enforced punitive measures of such magnitude on one of its own members. The sanctions include an immediate ban on transactions with the Damascus government and central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Arab countries. They also bar Syrian officials from visiting any Arab country and call for a suspension of all flights to Arab states to be implemented on a date to be fixed at a meeting next week. An Arab League official in Cairo said later yesterday that its chief Nabil Al-Arabi offered to “review all measures” against Syria if it agreed to a plan to send in observers. Arabi also indicated, in a letter to Muallem, that the organisation would be willing to modify the observers’ mission. In earlier measures over its bloody crackdown, Assad’s regime has also been subjected to a raft of Western sanctions, led by the

United States and European Union.

And diplomats in Brussels said yesterday the EU was set to tighten its measures even further, targeting Syria’s oil and financial sectors to deprive the regime of more sources of funding. EU foreign ministers meeting on Thursday would ban exports of energy industry equipment, trading in Syrian bonds and selling of software that could be used to monitor dissidents, among other financial measures.

But Muallem said Syria would weather sanctions thanks to counter-measures it had already taken. “I reassure you that we have withdrawn 95 or 96 percent of Syrian assets (from Arab countries),” Muallem told reporters. “We must protect the interests of our people.” His remarks came after protesters waving Syrian flags and the colours of Russia and China - which vetoed a UN Security Council resolution against Assad’s regime last month - thronged Sabaa Bahrat Square in Damascus. “The people want Bashar Al-Assad... We are your people, Bashar,” sang the protesters. “We love you, we love you.”

Piling the pressure on Damascus, however, UN-appointed investigators said yesterday that Syria’s military and security forces have committed crimes against humanity in the crackdown. Forces have murdered, raped and tortured demonstrators since the protests erupted in March, according to evidence gathered by the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which interviewed 223 victims and witnesses. “The commission is gravely concerned that crimes against humanity have been committed in different locations in the Syrian Arab Republic,” it said in its report released in Geneva. The panel said it “believes that orders to shoot and otherwise mistreat civilians originated from policies and directives issued at the highest levels of the armed forces and the government.”

A Britain-based rights group reported that security forces and Shabiha militiamen loyal to Assad killed seven more civilians across the country yesterday. Among the dead were five civilians killed in the flashpoint province of Homs, one in Hama and two cut down by powerful machineguns in Rankuss near Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UN estimates that more than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence that has shaken Syrian since mid-March. — Agencies

Amir accepts government resignation, oppn...

Continued from Page 1 dissolution of the Assembly. “We are awaiting the appointment of a new prime minister and a government to oversee the elections after the Assembly is dissolved,” Islamist opposition MP Khaled Al-Sultan told reporters. “I hope the Amir will please the Kuwaiti people by dissolving parliament... and forming a transitional cabinet to supervise the elections,” said another opposition MP, Falah AlSawwagh.

Sheikh Nasser, 71, has so far resigned seven times since he was appointed prime minister in Feb 2006.

This period has been characterized as one of the most unstable periods in Kuwait’s modern history during which the Assembly was also dissolved three times. The resignation came just one day before the Assembly was due to debate a grilling against the prime minister over allegations of corruption and transferring of public funds into his private overseas accounts, both of which were categorically denied by the government.

Tension escalated between the opposition and the government after it was reported that about 16 progovernment MPs received around KD 100 million in illegal deposits into their bank accounts and the opposition claimed they were given in the form of bribes to win their votes on crucial issues. Opposition MP Musallam Al-Barrak also claimed that the prime minister transferred public funds into his foreign bank accounts, a charge that was vehemently denied by the government.

Assembly Speaker Jassem AlKhorafi denied that the Assembly was dissolved but announced that since the government has resigned, Assembly sessions will be suspended until the new government is formed.

Opposition MPs also called for the need to dissolve the Assembly because a quarter of its 50 members are accused of corruption. MP Dhaifallah Buramia said that the Assembly should be dissolved after appointing a new transitional government and then fresh elections should be held because “a quarter of the Assembly members are accused of corruption”.

The Islamist Ummah Party welcomed the government’s resignation but insisted that the political crisis will continue in the country as long as the root cause of the problem is not resolved. The party demanded in a statement to adopt true democracy by resorting to the elected popular government system instead of the current one. The liberal Progressive Movement called on the government to stop interfering in elections and called for major constitutional and democratic reforms towards a true democratic system. It also called on the ruling family to stop monopolizing the so-called sovereign ministries like defense, interior and foreign affairs.

The same demands echoed loudly at the massive rally which lasted several hours with highly enthusiastic crowds chanting slogans in support of the opposition. Waving Kuwaiti flags, the protesters called for dissolving the Assembly and releasing the detained activists. “The resignation of the government is not enough. The Assembly must be dissolved and corrupt MPs should be referred to the public prosecution and our sons must be freed,” said Islamist MP Mohammad Hayef.

MP Jamaan Al-Harbash warned that the opposition will grill the next prime minister if he fails to fight against corruption and urged the ruling family to end internal disputes that affect the Kuwaiti people.

Al-Harbash also vowed that a national campaign will be launched against corruption and that “we will clean the National Assembly of corrupt MPs”. MP Al-Barrak warned that he will reveal the names and the bank accounts of MPs who have allegedly accepted bribes for votes. Al-Barrak said that an account of an MP who is a member of the Assembly ’s office received KD 1.2 million and another account KD 4 million, adding that those accounts increased only during grillings. Barrak also criticized AlKhorafi for filing a lawsuit against the activists who stormed the Assembly, of which 24 are still detained.

Abdulrahman Al-Qashaan, a representative for 26 student and youth groups, called for the prime minister and all the 15 members of his Cabinet to be tried in court. Speakers also called on the Amir to put an end to what they described as infighting within members of the Al-Sabah ruling family that has been in power in the state for more than 250 years.

“Your Highness, disputes within members of the ruling family constitutes a threat to Kuwait,” said independent MP Saifi Al-Saifi, urging the Amir to step in to end the row. “We tell the ruling family that regimes (in the region) are falling but we only want you... You should unify your ranks so the Kuwaiti people are not affected by these disputes,” Al-Harbash said.

A stalled economy - despite 12 consecutive years of multibillion dollar budget surpluses - has left many frustrated as Kuwait has been overshadowed by fast-growing Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the past 20 years. “It’s becoming difficult, almost impossible, to reach a compromise that will put our country back on the right track to achieving its aspirations,” wrote columnist Sherida AlMaousherji in the daily Al Jarida.

14

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

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Issues

Myanmar riven by corruption, ethnic conflicts

By Matthew Pennington hen Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visits Myanmar this week, she’ll see a country that has made some progress on democracy, but has even farther to go to fix the corrupted economy and ethnic conflicts that stem from decades of military rule. After staging elections last November, Myanmar has begun to release political prisoners and work with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. That has earned political rewards, such as Clinton’s visit starting late tomorrow, the first by the top US diplomat in 56 years.

But the new government, still dominated by the military, has scarcely begun to fix the mistakes made since it took power in 1962, and fighting between the army and ethnic minorities who want more autonomy has intensified since the elections. While Myanmar’s nascent political reforms hold promise, economic changes will be just as important to arrest the decline of what was one of Southeast Asia’s most prosperous countries but now rated on a key UN index as the region’s least developed. The military began opening the economy in the 1990s, after the 26-year socialist rule of the late dictator Ne Win, but the investment it has attracted has mostly been for its own benefit - including to build a remote and opulent new capital city where the government relocated to in 2005. Ne Win’s eccentricities extended to issuing currency notes divisible by the supposedly auspicious number nine, and Myanmar retains a Byzantine exchange rate system. The official rate of the kyat currency is about 12,000 percent over market value.

That has helped a kleptocracy to flourish. By accounting exports of natural gas and other resources at that rate - which is largely ignored in day-to-day transactions - the government is believed to have underreported billions of dollars in revenues. In the past two years, the government has accelerated its privatization of state enterprises and assets, but liberalization has not translated into a level playing field. Buyers of key holdings have been military-run corporations and government cronies.

Transparency International, a Germany-based private group that campaigns against corruption, ranked Myanmar 176 out of 178 countries in its 2010 global index on graft - equal with Afghanistan and one place above last-placed, lawless Somalia. In his inaugural speech in March, President Thein Sein, promised tax and financial reforms to promote small and medium-size enterprises and to narrow the gap between rich and poor. There has been little substantive change so far, but a team of International Monetary Fund advisers visited in November, to discuss plans to unify the exchange rate regime and lift restrictions on current international payments and transfers. A follow-up mission is expected early next year.

Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmar’s economy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, said adopting the market exchange rate as the sole rate would have profound implications for the country by making the foreign exchange earnings of state-owned enterprises transparent. “It is not just a technical issue, but could be seen as a fundamental reform of the country’s political economy,” he said. Implementing such reforms would be a complex business and would likely require support from international financial institutions, currently blocked by Western sanctions. But solving Myanmar’s economic problems could pale next to the challenge of its ethnic conflicts. Minorities scattered around Myanmar’s western, northern and eastern frontiers make up nearly one-third of the 55 million people. Various splinter groups representing an array of ethnicities - the Karen, Shan, Kachin, Mon, Chin, Arakanese, Wa, Karenni, Paluang, Pa-O and Lahu - have all taken up arms at some point.

Some of the rebellions have endured even longer than military rule. Some the groups have reached ceasefires with the military, but none have won political power.

Last year’s elections offered a glimmer of hope. Myanmar now has local assemblies, and ethnic parties are represented in them and to a small degree in the federal parliament. But a ham-fisted attempt to get ethnic armies to become government-led border guards led to the collapse this year of long-standing ceasefires with two key groups, the Shan State Army-North and the Kachin Independence Army. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people. Clashes continue in Kachin State in the country’s far north.—AP

W

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Syria neighbours may soften sanctions blow

By Dominic Evans and Suleiman AlKhalidi rab states have landed a hefty blow on Syria’s crisis-hit economy by stopping deals with its central bank and halting investment, but unease among Syria’s neighbours about the impact of sanctions on their own economies may weaken the impact. At their meeting in Cairo on Sunday, Arab League foreign ministers also agreed to freeze assets related to President Bashar Al-Assad’s government and impose a travel ban on top Syrian officials in response to Assad’s crackdown on eight months of protests.

Syria’s economy is already expected to contract up to 6 percent this year. The unrest has halted tourism - a major source of foreign revenue - hit foreign investment and trade and started eating into the country’s foreign reserves. European Union sanctions on Syrian crude oil, announced in September, have all but wiped out exports worth up to $400 million a month, at least until Syria finds other customers for its oil.

Sunday ’s announcement by the Arab League fell short of a full trade embargo on Syria, and ministers have made clear they sought to avoid measures which would hurt ordinary Syrians.

“But boycotting the Central Bank of

A

Syria, which used to offer credit notes (for trade), would make imports and exports very difficult for Syrian traders,” said Chris Phillips of the Economic Intelligence Unit.

However he added it was difficult to see Lebanon or Iraq implementing sanctions.

Lebanon, which has close political and business ties with Syria, voted against them, as did Iraq. Baghdad had said before the meeting that it would not impose sanctions. “Iraq has reservations about this decision. For us, this decision ... will harm the interests of our country and our people as we have a large community in Syria,” Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labeed Abbawi said.

Lebanon has sent mixed messages about whether it would participate in sanctions. Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said last week Beirut would not take steps against Syria, but Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday his government would implement Arab League decisions, whatever its misgivings. Bankers in Jordan and Lebanon said it would take time to assess the impact of Sunday’s decision, as details were sketchy and states might implement the measures differently.

“The picture is not clear but it could really make doing business with Syria very difficult,” said one Jordanian banker. A leading Lebanese banker declined to comment

on Sunday until he had discussed the implications with other banks. Several Lebanese banks have units in Syria, set up in recent years after Assad lifted restrictions on private banking operations. Most of the larger Syrian private banks have already been hit by sharp falls in customer deposits.

In a sign of the tumbling regional confidence over Syria, a Saudi bank said on Saturday it planned to sell its stakes in two Syrian and Lebanese banks because financial risks no longer allowed it to continue as a partner there. Banque Saudi Fransi said it will sell its 27 percent stake in Bemo Saudi Fransi Syria and its 10 percent share in Bemo Lebanon. While the bank said its decision was a financial one, Gulf states have taken the lead in acting against Assad, in contrast to some of Syria’s Arab neighbours.

Phillips said 25 percent of Syria’s exports go to Iraq, while RBS economist Raza Agha said 30 percent of Lebanon’s exports head for Syria - the only country with which Lebanon has an open land border - illustrating how intertwined their economic fates are. “Lebanon is very hostile to closing down that avenue (to Syria),” Phillips said.

“Iraq certainly benefits from the relationship and they aren’t keen to implement anything.”

A banker in Jordan whose bank also

operates in Syria also suggested some countries might drag their feet. “If every country starts saying it has special considerations then I expect the move will be more symbolic than practical. Countries will try to find a way out of it,” he said. “It will be a step by step approach, but will no doubt have a negative impact on both the Syrian and Jordanian economies.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah is the only Arab leader so far to have called for Assad to step down and a Jordanian official said economic losses were a price that had to be paid for increasing the pressure on Assad.

“Of course there will be economic pain in the short term and some Jordanian importers and exporters will suffer because of the cut of ties with Syria,” he said. “But political considerations outweigh the economic losses.”

Turkey, which is Syria’s largest trading partner with bilateral trade worth $2.5 billion last year, also attended Sunday’s Arab League meeting, and Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said Ankara would act in unison with Arabs. Ankara has said it is weighing new transport routes to other Middle East markets that would bypass Syria. But an official said last week it had decided against cutting electricity supplies to Syria because of the impact it would have on ordinary Syrians. —Reuters

Attack hands Pak chance to squeeze US

By Chris Allbritton akistan’s military has been handed a rare oppor tunity to press its strategic ambitions in neighbouring Afghanistan after a cross-border NATO attack that killed 24 of its soldiers over the weekend. Fury over the incident at home, where anti-American sentiment runs high, makes it likely that both the army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, and the civilian government will play hardball with their ostensible ally, the United States. “ The Pakistan military is clearly very angry at the turn of events and the army’s top leadership is under tremendous pressure from middle-ranking offices and junior officers to react,” said Hasan Abbas at the US National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs.

That pressure will spur the military to flex its muscles in diplomatic manoeuvring with Washington in the run-up to the exit of US combat troops from Afghanistan in 2014. Indeed, on Monday, the military’s spokesman threatened to drastically reduce cooperation on peace efforts in Afghanistan, which could complicate US President Barack Obama’s plans to bring the war there to an end.

Analysts said Pakistan will seek concessions from the United States as its price for Saturday’s attack, in which NATO helicopters and fighter jets strafed two military outposts in northwest Pakistan, close to the Afghan border.

The Pakistani military said 24 soldiers were killed and 13 wounded. NATO called it a tragic, unintended incident.

The concessions are likely to include giving Pakistan a greater say in the political settlement to end the war that would cement a role for Islamabad’s allies in a future Kabul government.

“From the military’s point of view, here is a perfect opportunity to try to go on the offensive for a change,” said Kamran Bokhari, vice president for Middle Eastern and South Asian affairs at

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STRATFOR, a US-based intelligence consultancy. “The Pakistanis are going to lay their terms out,” Bokhari said. “They’re going to say ... whatever you’re doing on that side of the border, we need more input into that and you need us to get you out of there and provide a safe exit.”

The border incident is the latest in a year of bust-ups between Islamabad and Washington - uneasily allied in the war on militancy since the September 11 attacks on the United States a decade

port. “Pakistan is in no position to do something that might lead to open hostilities, to war with the US,” said Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier general and analyst. But this time Islamabad feels justly aggrieved and has several options to pressure the United States.

Already since Saturday’s incident it has announced that it will review all military and diplomatic ties as well as intelligence sharing, and it has demanded the vacation of Shamsi air base in

Pakistani lawyers burn an effigy of US President Obama to condemn NATO strikes on Pakistani posts in Peshawar yesterday. — AP ago. First there was the jailing of a CIA contractor for shooting dead two Pakistanis in the city of Lahore. Then there was the secret US commando raid inside Pakistan that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and then came US accusations that Pakistan was involved in attacks on American targets in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s room for manoeuvre is usually limited by its mutually dependent relationship with Washington, on which it depends for financial and military sup-

Baluchistan, where some CIA drones used against militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan are reportedly based. It has also shut down supply routes through Pakistan that account for almost half of the provisions shipped overland to US allied troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Following a similar incident in Sept 2010 that killed two Pakistani troops, the routes were shut for 10 days. However, NATO has since pushed to expand a northern route into Afghanistan through Russia and the central Asian countries,

which reduces the impact of a blockade through Pakistan.

Pakistan’s ultimate leverage lies in its influence over militant groups, especially the Taleban-linked Haqqani network, which pioneered suicide bombing in Afghanistan and has become one of the most serious threats to NATO troops there.

Pakistan has long-standing ties with the Haqqanis stretching back to the war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and - despite official denials - it is widely suspected that it still supports them.

After an attack on the US embassy in Kabul in September, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, called the Haqqani network a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s intelligence service. Despite that, in October, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly called on Pakistan to help include the Haqqanis in peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

Emboldened by the latest events, Pakistan might actually start leaning more heavily on the network as a proxy guerilla force to further its own interests in a post-US Afghanistan. It almost certainly won’t be trying to bring them to the negotiating table. “I think the message has been conveyed loud and clear,” Qadir said. “We’re not going to do anything to facilitate anything until this problem is solved.”

But there’s only so far Pakistan can lean on the Haqqanis. Any attack in the near term by the group against targets in Afghanistan will be seen as retaliation, even if Pakistan didn’t have anything to do with it. Pakistan’s been here before. In the 1990s, it was almost labelled by the United States as a state-sponsor of terrorism for its support of militant groups.

Such a declaration today would immediately trigger sanctions Pakistan can’t afford. “Right now, the Pakistanis are playing victims,” Bokhari said. “Do they want to go from being victims to being accused of sponsoring a terrorist attack on US forces?” — Reuters

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

Kumar out of first one-dayer CUTTACK: India paceman Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of today’s first one-day international (ODI) against West Indies through injury.

Stand-in captain Virender Sehwag, who will lead the hosts in the five-match series while Mahendra Singh Dhoni is rested, did not disclose Kumar’s injury but said he was expected to return for Friday’s second game in Visakhapatnam.

“Praveen Kumar has a niggle so he is not available for the first ODI,” Sehwag told reporters in Cuttack yesterday. “ We expec t him to join the squad tomorrow and be fit for the second match.”

Kumar, 25, has been battling against a recurring elbow problem which kept him out of India’s successful 50-over World Cup campaign earlier this year. R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron are the other fast bowlers in the ODI squad.

India, who won the three -match test series between the sides 2-0, also host West Indies in one - dayers in Ahmedabad (Dec. 5), Indore (Dec. 8) and Chennai (Dec. 11). —Reuters

NHL results/standings Ottawa 4, Carolina 3; St. Louis 2, Columbus 1; Calgary 5, Minnesota 2; Toronto 5, Anaheim 2.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF Pittsburgh 14 6 4 77 Philadelphia 13 7 3 80 NY Rangers 12 5 3 56 New Jersey 12 9 1 57 NY Islanders 6 11 4 41

GA 59 68 43 58 68

PTS 32 29 27 25 16

Toronto Boston Buffalo Ottawa Montreal

Northeast Division 14 8 2 79 14 7 1 75 13 9 1 67 11 10 2 69 10 10 4 61

75 47 61 79 60

30 29 27 24 24

Florida Washington Tampa Bay Winnipeg Carolina

Southeast Division 12 7 4 64 12 9 1 70 11 9 2 62 9 10 4 66 8 13 4 60

59 73 69 74 83

28 25 24 22 20

Chicago Detroit St. Louis Nashville Columbus

Western Conference Central Division 14 7 3 79 14 7 1 65 13 8 2 57 10 8 4 58 6 14 3 54

74 49 49 61 75

31 29 28 24 15

Minnesota Vancouver Edmonton Colorado Calgary

Northwest Division 13 7 3 54 13 9 1 69 12 9 2 64 10 12 1 61 9 12 1 50

52 59 58 70 60

29 27 26 21 19

San Jose Phoenix Dallas Los Angeles Anaheim

Pacific Division 13 6 1 60 12 7 3 61 13 9 1 59 11 8 4 55 6 13 4 50

46 56 64 55 76

27 27 27 26 16

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

sp orts

Pic to partner Glock

Head ends F1 role SAO PAULO: Williams co-founder Patrick Head has called time on his active involvement in the Formula One team after their worst season in the sport. “I am not going to be directly part of the Williams Formula One programme next year,” Head, 65, told Reuters while ruling out complete retirement.

The former world champions ended the season in Brazil on Sunday ninth overall in the constructors’ standings and with just five points to their credit from 19 races. That was Williams’ lowest position since 1978, when points were awarded only to the top six finishers in a race and they scored 11. Two years later, they were champions. Had this season’s tally been calculated under that system, or even the one in force up until last year rewarding the top eight,

they would have ended up with nothing. Head, who set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering with principal Frank Williams in 1977 and designed a series of world-beating cars, said he would focus on work for Williams Hybrid Power, which deals with flywheel technology for broader commercial use in buses and trains.

“I certainly didn’t have an ambition to stop my involvement in Formula One with a season like this last one we’ve had behind us,” said the Briton. “But when I have a look at what specifically I can do to assist (technical director) Mike Coughlan and (Chief Operations Officer) Mark Gillan and (Head of Aerodynamics) Jason Somerville, I came to the conclusion that it isn’t really enough to justify me carrying on doing the same thing. — Reuters

SAO PAULO: French youngster Charles Pic will partner Germany’s Timo Glock at Marussia next year in place of Belgian Jerome d’Ambrosio, the renamed Virgin Racing Formula One team said on Sunday. The 21-year-old Pic, who has been competing in the GP2 feeder series for the past two seasons, did his first laps in a Formula One car at a test in Abu Dhabi last week.

“As a driver you always feel you are ready for the next opportunity but in Abu Dhabi last week it was a tough test,” he said in a statement released after the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. “The team gave me some fantastic opportunities to learn new things but I also knew I had to impress them and show them I was ready to do a good job. “I was pleased with my performance and obviously the team were too so a very good start but this is just the beginning and I know a lot of hard work is ahead of me to reward this chance,” added Pic. France has no existing Formula One driver but is likely to have two next season with Romain Grosjean, this yearís GP2 champion, strongly tipped for a place at Renault instead of Brazilian Bruno Senna. — Reuters

Flames destroy Wild ST. PAUL: Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla had third-period goals to pad Calgary’s lead and help stop a threegame losing streak for the Flames with a 5-2 win on Sunday over the Minnesota Wild.

Matt Giordano, Lee Stempniak and T.J. Brodie scored during a furious first period, and Mikka Kiprusoff steadied himself after the early barrage to make 19 saves for the Flames. He improved to 26-15-5 in his career against the Wild.

Cal Clutterbuck and Nick Johnson had goals in those first 9 minutes for the Wild, but goalie Niklas Backstrom was pulled for Josh Harding after the Flames took a 3-2 lead.

Backstrom was in the net for the first time in four games - he was tending to a personal matter this week - and was yanked from a home game for the first time in nearly two years.

Zack Smith also scored and Craig Anderson made 34 saves for Ottawa, which is on a 4-1-1 run.

Eric Staal and Alexei Ponikarovsky scored in the third as Carolina twice closed to within one. Patrick Dwyer also had a goal for the Hurricanes and Cam Ward made 21 saves.

Blues 2, Blue Jackets 1 At Columbus, Ohio, David Backes scored in the third period to lift St. Louis to the win over Columbus in coach Ken Hitchcock’s first game against his former club.

Kris Russell, who was traded from Columbus earlier in the month, also

scored for St. Louis, which is 7-1-2 since Hitchcock replaced Davis Payne on Nov. 6. Brian Elliott made 23 saves for the Blues to improve to 10-1-0 this season.

Derek Dorsett scored and Curtis Sanford made 27 saves for Columbus, which had its five-game points streak snapped. —AP

Maple Leafs 5, Ducks 2 At Anaheim, Tyler Bozak scored twice to lead Toronto past Anaheim. Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored 19 seconds apart in the first period for Toronto, which reclaimed first place in the Northeast Division and sent the spiraling Ducks to their seventh consecutive loss.

Joffrey Lupul had two assists for Toronto against his former team, Joey Crabb also scored and Luke Schenn added an empty-netter from in front of his own goal with 12 seconds left.

Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin scored for the Ducks, who have only 16 points - the NHL’s second-lowest total.

Senators 4, Hurricanes 3 At Ottawa, Jason Spezza scored twice, including his 200th regular-season goal, and David Runblad got his first NHL goal to lead Ottawa past Carolina.

Spezza reached the milestone with his second goal of the game on a power play late in the first period. His first tally 55 seconds in ended a personal 11-game goal drought.

ANAHEIM: Mikhail Grabovski No. 84 of the Toronto Maple Leafs is pursued by Sheldon Brookbank No. 21 of the Anaheim Ducks for the puck in the second period at Honda Center. —AFP

WCup winner Woodland dreaming of Ryder debut

Red Bull laugh off gearbox suspicions

HAIKOU: Gary Woodland is targeting a United States Ryder Cup debut in Illinois next September after combining with Matt Kuchar to win the World Cup team competition.

“The Ryder Cup has always been a huge goal of mine and that goal is now much more important after Matt and I won the World Cup,” Woodland told Reuters in an interview.

“Ever since I turned professional I have dreamt about being in a US Ryder Cup team and it now seems a big step closer.

“I had the goal at the start of the year to make the Presidents Cup. That didn’t pan out but then Matt chose me to partner him in the World Cup and I could not have been happier.”

Sunday ’s victory in China means the U.S. now hold the Presidents Cup and World Cup trophies and the only professional team title no longer in their possession is the Ryder Cup. Woodland, who landed his first U.S. PGA Tour victory at the Transitions Championship in Florida in March, said his experiences at the Mission Hills resort last week would help him in his quest to qualify for the team that will be captained by Davis Love III next year. “Europe has kind of had the States’s number in most of the recent Ryder Cups but it would be nice to be in the team that win back the trophy on home turf,” said the 27-year-old.

“It’s been a long while since the States had the Ryder Cup, World Cup and Presidents Cup in the same trophy cabinet but for me winning the World Cup is going to be a big inspiration to make the Ryder Cup team.

“Any time you can prove you can play foursomes and fourballs in a team format it definitely helps. It helps my confidence and it further boosts Matt’s confidence given that he was also on the winning Presidents Cup side the week before,” added Woodland.

“Hopefully both he and I can play well enough in 2012 to make Davis’s side. I grew up watching the Ryder Cup and it would be an honor for me to play.” He said the fatherly approach that the likes of Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk adopted at the Presidents Cup in Australia could only bolster the chances of the American team.

“There are now a lot of younger players who could qualify for the next Ryder Cup side,” Woodland explained. “The strong aspect of the US team is there are guys like Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, who I heard were excellent in the Presidents Cup and were acting very much like coaches down there in Australia.

“They were very helpful to the younger members of the team and that’s something Matt undertook with me this week. He was always very positive, very encouraging and always very helpful in putting me at ease. “Now the likelihood the next Ryder Cup team is going to be much younger than we’ve seen in a long time, it’s great that players like Phil, Jim and Matt are taking on this fatherlike role.” Woodland, who is ranked 48th in the world, said he benefited hugely from combining with number 11 Kuchar at the World Cup. “I’ve learned so much from playing alongside Matt and that’s going to be a great springboard for me to take into 2012,” he said.

“I also hope Davis has taken some notes because I hope I’ve proved I can handle myself capably in a team format.” —Reuters

SAO PAULO: Formula One champions Red Bull scoffed at suggestions they manipulated Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix to hand Mark Webber a first victory of the season.

Team boss Christian Horner told reporters he was astonished that double world champion Sebastian Vettel finished the season-ending race, let alone in second place, after Red Bull advised him of a gearbox problem. The fact Vettel set a number of fastest laps after allowing Webber to go past 30 laps into the 71-lap race aroused suspicions in the media room but Horner said there had been no deception.

“Of course there will always be people that have theories but categorically there was an issue,” he said. “How on earth that gearbox got to the end of the race is beyond me. Thankfully it did and Mark ended up a deserving winner.

“If anybody thinks that was concocted in any way I can absolutely hand on heart guarantee you, based on the blood pressure that was on the pit wall ... it was a genuine issue,” added Horner.

Webber had started second on the grid, alongside Vettel who had taken his record 15th pole of the season and was chasing a 12th win of the year.

The Australian’s last victory was in Hungary in August 2010 and Red Bull were eager for him to end the year as overall runner-up but his chances looked dim until the gearbox problem surfaced.

Vettel said he made clear to the team on the radio he could not keep the lead with the problem, or even be sure of finishing, and was willing to let Webber through to ensure the team still won the race.

The 24-year-old said he felt like the late Brazilian great Ayrton Senna, who famously won at Interlagos in 1991 with a McLaren whose gearbox failed progressively so that he ended up negotiating tight corners in sixth gear.

At the end of that race Senna had to be lifted from the car suffering from exhaustion and Vettel recognised the comparison was somewhat exaggerated.

“Obviously it was totally different for him, he was Brazilian and he still managed to win the race,” he said.

“I was forced to push in areas where I was allowed to, in the corners, but as soon as I went on the straight I obviously had to shift earlier.”

Horner said that by the finish the gearbox was operating right on the limit. “There must be zero oil left in that gearbox because it literally went off the scale in those last five laps,” he said. “We were glued to the data to see if it was going to make it to the end.” —Reuters

SAO PAULO: German F-1 driver Sebastian Vettel leads a pack during the first lap of Brazilís GP in this file photo. —AFP

Vettel compares his drive to Senna’s run in 1991 SAO PAULO: Two-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel said he felt like the late Ayrton Senna at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday when he managed to finish second despite gearbox problems. Vettel had to allow Red Bull teammate Mark Webber pass him for the lead nearly halfway through the race because of the faulty gearbox, but was still able to hold on for second.

Like Senna did when he won in his McLaren at Interlagos in 1991, Vettel said he had to find ways to negotiate the challenging track without some of the gears in his Red Bull.

“It was getting worse throughout the race so I was using higher gears pretty much everywhere and that’s why the comparison came into my head,” Vettel said. In 1991, Senna started losing the gears with a few laps remaining and saw his 51second advantage over Williams’ Riccardo Patrese quickly diminish. The onboard camera showed the three-time world champion struggling with the car and not changing gears through most of the final lap, but he was still able to cross the finish line a few seconds in front of Patrese. It was an emotional victory for Senna at the time, his first ever in front of his home crowd.

In Sunday’s race, Vettel told his team over the radio that it felt like he was reliving Senna’s run.

The team’s answer was quick, “be proud.” “At some

stage I said that ‘I feel like Senna in 1991 when he had to manage the gearbox problem around here,’” Vettel said. “Obviously it was totally different for him, he was Brazilian and he still managed to win the race.”

Red Bull told Vettel early in the race that data from his car showed a gearbox problem and asked him to short shift when in second gear. The problem then got worse and the team later said Vettel had to short shift in every gear, considerably slowing his lap times. He let Webber get past him on lap 30, but then was able to regain a pace competitive enough to hold off Jenson Button for second place. “I hoped it would recover so I kept pushing, but it didn’t happen and then the target was to see the checkered flag,” Vettel said.

The 24-year-old Vettel had won his second consecutive Formula One title four races ago, at the Japanese GP. Last year’s winner in Brazil, Vettel dominated the 2012 season, winning 11 races and earning 15 pole positions to break the 19-year record set by Nigel Mansell with Williams in 1992.

“We had a great season,” Vettel said. “It’s really incredible, going into the season we thought we had a competitive car and that maybe we could win some races, but it has been phenomenal. The team has been faultless most of the time and raised their level massively compared to the last two years.” —AP

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Resurgent Federer excited by prospects for 2012 LONDON: Roger Federer says he is “very excited” about his prospects for next year after finishing 2011 riding a wave of optimism and with the mental scars of some painful defeats apparently healed.

The Swiss won his last grand slam title at the 2010 Australian Open and was overshadowed by Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and to a lesser degree Andy Murray this year but after winning a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title on Sunday, he looks primed for a new assault on major silverware.

Despite being the elder statesman of the “Big Four” at 30, Federer ended 2011 on a roll. He was unbeaten since the US Open, claimed a hat-trick of indoor titles and stretched his winning streak to 17 matches. His resurgence, he said, comes after having a long, hard look at himself in the wake of a series of shattering defeats.

He blew a big first-set lead in the French Open final against Nadal, squandered a two-set advantage against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Wimbledon quarter-finals and then snatched defeat from the

jaws of victory against Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals. “I think it was a mental thing,” Federer told reporters after fending off a Tsonga fightback to end the season on a high in London on Sunday.

“Sometimes it’s about the other player.

“Jo played better than me at Wimbledon. Maybe not much, but enough just to come through. Same as Rafa at the French Open in the finals, Novak in the semis of the US Open.

“It’s fine to respect that. But I feel when it happens maybe that often, I do have to question myself that maybe I did something wrong.

“For me it was important to step back and sort of have that bird’s eye view from up top and say, ‘where am I right now in my year? It’s been a good year. I know I’ve been playing well, I’ve been healthy.

When is all this hard work going to pay off?’

“I think I’m mentally good right now. There are a lot of times that goes by out on tour, during a match, you’re just trying to stay positive, but you can’t always be positive.

“It’s just too difficult. That’s where maybe the doubts were just a bit too strong during certain important moments. I think I didn’t have those doubts now for the remainder of the season, which is what I wanted to get out of my system.”

During his two-year grand slam drought, Federer’s impending slide has been widely predicted. Yet with a new season looming the doom-mongers may soon be eating their words.

After reversing a downward trend in the world rankings by reclaiming his place in the top three, it is not inconceivable that Federer could reclaim the No.1 ranking again in 2012.

It is the prospect of adding to his record 16 grand slam titles and an Olympic gold medal in London, not ranking points, which motivates the Swiss though.

“This was the strongest finish I’ve ever had in my career, which I’m very proud of,” he said. “I’m looking forward to next year. I’m really excited.

“To win grand slams would be nice (next year).

I’ve missed out on a few occasions now this year, and maybe also some last year. So I feel like it might be around the corner. Maybe not. But I think the prospects are good.”

While Nadal revealed a dip in “passion” at the end of a long season, Murray was injured and Djokovic looked jaded after his romp through the first three quarters of 2011, all three will be firing on all cylinders again in a month, Federer said.

However, Federer is ready to go toe-to-toe with them for the forseeable future with his hunger to improve and meet the challenges undiminished.

“I love this game more than anybody, so I’m not all of a sudden going to wake up in the morning and say I don’t like it anymore,” he said. Worryingly for his rivals, he thinks he can still get better.

“It’s interesting how you evolve as a tennis player.

For me it’s only logical to improve,” he said. “I have been amazed how long I’ve been able to keep it up.

But I’m happy my level is still very high and my body’s holding up.”— Reuters

Schild makes perfect start to slalom season

VANCOUVER: Game MVP Travis Lulay No. 14 of the BC Lions hoists the Grey Cup after BC beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to win the CFL 99th Grey Cup. — AFP

Lions defuse Blue Bombers to bag Canada’s Grey Cup TORONTO: The BC Lions defused the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 34-23 to capture their second Grey Cup in five years on Sunday and cap one of the greatest turnarounds ever seen in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Travis Lulay, the CFL’s most outstanding player in 2011, was named most valuable player of the championship game after completing 21-of-37 passes for 320 yards, including touchdowns to Kierre Johnson and Arland Bruce as the Lions became just the fourth team and first since 1994 to host and win the Grey Cup. “I missed a few throws that I hadn’t missed in awhile in the first half and unfortunately it ended some drives,” Lulay said during an on-field interview. “But in championship games you just have to keep fighting and in the end it feels pretty sweet.” The CFL’s version of the National Football League’s Super Bowl featured two unlikely teams. A year ago, Winnipeg had been the league’s worst team with just four wins while Vancouver opened the 2011 campaign with five straight losses.

But the Lions recovered to win 11 of their final 12 regular season contests and capped off the stunning turnaround with a sixth Grey Cup and first since 2006.

With most of the capacity crowd at BC Place-the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympicsbacking the hometown Lions, the Western conference champions jumped out to a 14-0 first half lead.

Andrew Harris opened the scoring on a 19-yard touchdown run while Paul McCallum added a pair of field goals and a 57-yard single for a 14-0 lead before Winnipeg responded with 30- and 15-yard field goals off the foot of Justin Palardy.

The Winnipeg kicker trimmed the Lions advantage to 14-9 with 33-yard field goal early in the third quarter but BC was quick to respond.

After McCallum settled for a single point on a wide field and connected on a 22-yard chip shot, the Lions seized control when Lulay hooked up with Johnson for a 66-yard touchdown on the final play of the third quarter and a 24-9 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Lulay found Bruce with a six-yard touchdown strike to take a 31-9 lead before the never-say-die Bombers mounted a stirring late comeback.

“We started out slow but kept our composure, took a deep breath the second half, came out, stuck together and put some drives together and we did it,” said Bruce. “I come to work every day, ready to play, ready to win and hoped that would rub off and it did.”

With under four minutes on the clock and Lions fans in full celebration mode, Buck Pierce tossed a 45-yard touchdown strike to Greg Carr and found Terrence Edwards for another 13-yard score to slice the Lions advantage to 31-23.

But the Winnipegers would get no closer, McCallum snuffing out the comeback with a 33-yard field with less than a minute to play to put the championship out of reach and earn coach Wally Buono a fifth Grey Cup. — Reuters

ASPEN: World champion Marlies Schild was a class above the rest of the field in Aspen on Sunday when she won the first slalom of the World Cup season. The Austrian was more than one second faster than her nearest rival over the two legs on the demanding Lower Ruthie’s run.

Schild bagged her 30th World Cup victory, the 28th in a slalom, in one minute 43.72 seconds, beating last year’s winner Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden by 1.19.

Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany made up for a disappointing start to the season with third place, nearly two seconds adrift at 1.96.

“It was not easy as you never know what to expect in the first slalom of the season,” Schild told reporters. “I knew I felt good but you always need to gauge yourself against the others.” Schild, like most of the leading contenders, had to adapt to changing light conditions, the weather being sunny in the morning while the piste was in the shade in the finishing stages of the second run.

Hoefl-Riesch made it clear her first podium of the season had come as a great relief as her World Cup title defence had begun with lacklustre performances in two giant slaloms. “With the changing light, I didn’t manage to execute everything right but I’m very happy with this solid third place,” she told reporters.

Her arch rival Lindsey Vonn, hampered by a back injury sustained in practice, decided not to start the race to rest ahead of next weekend’s trip to Lake Louise, where the American has won seven races in the past. Last season, Hoefl-Riesch humbled Vonn when she won both downhills in the Canadian resort. — Reuters

ASPEN: Marlies Schild of Austria competes in the first run of the slalom during the Women’s Audi FIS World Cup at the Aspen Winternational. — AFP

Svindal wins Lake Louise Super-G LAKE LOUISE: Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal went full circle when he won the Lake Louise Super-G for the third time on Sunday.

Canada has always inspired the Norwegian, whose first World Cup victory was a Super-G in Lake Louise six

years ago and he won Olympic gold in Whistler in 2010.

The 2007 and 2009 World Cup champion, who now has 15 World Cup victories, won the same event in 2007.

Tricky windy conditions forced organisers to lower the start and it was a

race for experienced skiers with Swiss Didier Cuche, winner of Saturday’s downhill, taking second place 0.23 seconds behind Svindal.

“It was tough, the course was very challenging with lots of ruts. I watched the others go down and see-

CANADA: Norwegian skier Aksel Lund Svindal (center) who finished first, Switzerland’s Didier Cuche (left) second place, and France’s Adrien Theaux third place, celebrate on the winner’s podium after the FIS Ski World Cup Men’s Super-G. — AFP

ing Cuche was in the lead, there was nothing else to do but fight,” Svindal told reporters.

“It was very emotional at the finish when I saw the number one come out.

I was looking for a good start after disappointing results in Soelden and in yesterday’s downhill.”

The last podium placing went to up-and-coming Frenchman Adrien Theaux, one of the fastest in practice, who trailed Cuche by 0.41 seconds.

At nearly 29, Svindal signalled he might be on the way back to his very best after winning only one race in each of the past two World Cup seasons even though the Nor wegian retained his super-combined world title in Garmisch-Partenkirchen this year.

But both he and Cuche stressed the season was only just starting and it was far too early to look ahead. “To leave Lake Louise with a win and a second place is most unexpected. But it’s going to be a long season,” Cuche told reporters. “The overall World Cup is something missing in my career, I came close before but you need to do well in at least three events like Svindal. I need to improve in giant slaloms.”

The men’s World Cup continues next weekend with three races in Beaver Creek, a place in which Svindal and Cuche will be eager to do well as they have mixed memories there.

Cuche has never won the downhill on the Birds of Prey piste, finishing second two years ago, while Svindal has three victories in the American resort, where he suffered a dreadful crash that nearly ended his career four years ago. — Reuters

NZ boycott threat showed top nations’ fear — O’Neill MELBOURNE: While extreme, New Zealand’s threat to boycott the 2015 World Cup was necessary to put top rugby nations’ “angst” over lost revenues into the public domain, Australia’s rugby boss John O’Neill told Reuters.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) is set to post an A$8 million ($7.80 million) loss for 2011 after the World Cup punched a A$16 million hole in the governing body’s budget, CEO O’Neill revealed in Melbourne on Monday.

During this year’s tournament, the New Zealand Rugby Union chief Steve Tew said the World Cup had led to a loss of more than NZ$13 million ($9.65 million) for the

union and that the All Blacks could pull out of the 2015 tournament if the International Rugby Board stuck to its guns over the current commercial arrangements.

With more than three years before England hosts the next tournament, O’Neill denied Tew’s threat was premature.

“I don’t think so... what hadn’t been in the public arena was how much angst and aggravation there had been behind the scenes,” he told Reuters in an interview yesterday. “It just hadn’t arrived in the public arena. “So, a fair bit of it was born out of frustration. And probably with all the rugby world media (in attendance) it probably wasn’t a bad time to say it straight up, par-

ticularly coming from the New Zealand Rugby Union. The All Blacks went on and won the title.

“You couldn’t foresee a World Cup happening without the All Blacks, indeed without the Wallabies or the Springboks.”

The IRB employ strict rules on advertising during the World Cup, forcing the curtailment of regular test matches and thus preventing teams from showcasing their regular sponsors.

Following the New Zealand threat, the IRB issued a statement to say they were committed to negotiating with teams to address financial issues, but IRB chief executive Mike Miller later ratcheted up the pub-

lic relations battle days later saying all teams were “replaceable”.

The ARU, which has struggled to gain headway against more dominant football codes of indigenous Australian Rules and the National Rugby League in the country’s crowded sports market, lost Tri-Nations tests and further matches against European sides for the Wallabies’ annual season-ending tour due to the World Cup. “One of the reasons why the Wallabies are over there playing two games now is to reduce the deficit,” O’Neill said, referring to the team’s two-match European tour against the invitational Barbarians and Wales.

O’Neill said a scheduled meeting between the bosses of the 10 top rugby nations and the IRB before Christmas had been pushed back to February, but said he remained confident of a positive confident.

“We’ve certainly had an indication that our concerns are being taken seriously,” O’Neill said. “Sitting here today we don’t have an answer but we expect to get one.”

“There’s an acceptance certainly by the 10 major nations that the formula is too much of a burden. “I think we’ll get a sympathetic outcome and so I don’t want to be suggesting any boycotts or anything like that. I’ve got faith that we’ll get a resolution.” — Reuters

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India not considering London boycott — official NEW DELHI: An Olympic boycott will not be on the agenda when the Indian Olympic Association meets next week, despite continuing outrage over Dow Chemical’s high-profile sponsorship of the London 2012 Games, the IOA’s acting president told Reuters yesterday.

Many victims and activists now hold Dow responsible for compensating victims of a gas leak disaster which killed thousands in 1984 and injured hundreds of thousands more.

At the time of the Bhopal disaster in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the pesticide plant was owned by Union Carbide, and that company settled its liabilities with the Indian government in

1989 by paying $470 million for Bhopal victims.

Dow bought Union Carbide a decade after the company had settled with the Indian government and now finds itself in the firing line for its sponsorship of a temporary decorative wrap over London’s Olympic Stadium.

The sponsorship has caused anger across India, but nowhere more so than Madhya Pradesh, where chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is urging the Indian government to boycott the sporting extravaganza.

Chauhan says that instead of sponsoring the Games, the company should spend that money on Bhopal survivors.

IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra attempted to cool the row on Monday, telling Reuters: “We are meeting next week but it’s not about boycotting the Games.

“Some people have raised a concern about the sponsorship issue and we will discuss that, along with some other issues,” he added.

“Some former Olympians are upset with the sponsorship deal and would like them (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) to reconsider it,” Malhotra, a leader of India’s main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), added.

A group of former and current Indian

Olympians organised a petition calling for athletes not to travel to London, British media reported last week.

Though India are not expected to dominate the medals table, the absence of the world’s second most populous nation, and one of its fastest growing economies, would be a major blow to the London Games.

The Indian government last year demanded more than $1 billion additional compensation for the victims of the gas leak. In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, around 40 metric tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked into the atmosphere and was carried by the wind to the surrounding slums.

Activists say 25,000 people died in the immediate aftermath of the accident and in ensuing years, and about 100,000 people who were exposed to the gas continue to suffer today from ailments that range from cancer, blindness to birth defects.

Every year, victims and their families stage demonstrations and Madhya Pradesh minister Chauhan led protests last week with a letter to Sports Minister Ajay Maken, requesting him to boycott the Games. “Liabilities related to the disaster have not been fully settled and are a subject of litigation to which the Indian government is a party,” Chauhan wrote.—Reuters

India bank on youth in Windies ODI series

DHAKA: Pakistani cricketers jog during a team training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. Pakistan cricket team will play two Tests, three One day Internationals and one T20 series against the hosts starting today.—AFP

N Zealand smell blood in Australian waters WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s hopes of recording their first victory over Australia in almost 20 years have been boosted after a raft of injuries forced their trans-Tasman neighbors to pick a rookie trio of pace bowlers and an opener untried in test cricket.

The first match in their two-test series begins on Thursday at the Gabba with Ross Taylor’s team brimming with confidence while Australia are dealing with the withdrawal of five players due to injuries sustained in South Africa.

Several of New Zealand’s players have also showed some good form in their warm-up match against Australia A, smashing almost 900 runs in their two innings off an attack that includes pace bowlers Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Ben Cutting, who were all named in the first test squad.

Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder all blasted centuries in the match, while medium pace bowler Doug Bracewell underlined his burgeoning all-round abilities with a swashbuckling 73 not out.

Kane Williamson and Dean Brownlie also posted big scores in first class cricket in New Zealand before the team went to Australia, with Williamson patiently compiling 284 not out against Wellington and the 21-year-old now seems to be comfortable with the rhythm of international cricket.

The batting lineup is likely to feature the same six that played against Australia A with the only real question mark over the number six position when former captain Daniel

Vettori comes back into the team for the test.

Vettori has developed into a competent batsman, averaging 38.92 with four centuries and 11 half-centuries in the past five years, compared to his career average of 30.27.

The 32-year-old could occupy the number six spot should New Zealand decide to play him as a spinner who can bat and go with a four-pace bowling battery on the traditionally fast Gabba pitch.

If they decide on the more balanced approach with Ryder taking the fourth seamer’s role, though he has been told to scale back his bowling to lessen the chance of recurring injuries, then the uncapped Trent Boult is likely to miss out.

New Zealand’s bowling attack remains an issue and they still lack an out and out strike weapon since Shane Bond was forced to retire after injuries curtailed his career.

Chris Martin will again lead the attack though medium-fast bowler Tim Southee could be the player to exploit the atmospheric conditions in Brisbane and extract swing against a batting lineup that still includes the vastly experienced Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin.

New Zealand fans will also keenly follow the captaincy of Taylor in his first major test since he was appointed to replace Vettori in June, to see if he can inspire his side to their first test win against Australia since 1993.

New Zealand have also not won across the Tasman since 1985, when they won their only series in Australia.—Reuters

QPR eye new recruits and stadium, says Fernandes SAO PAULO: Queens Park Rangers could be after three or more players in the January transfer window but are unlikely to revamp the squad at the end of the season if they stay in the Premier League, according to owner Tony Fernandes. The Malaysian aviation entrepreneur, who runs Team Lotus in Formula One, also told Reuters at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix that QPR were looking at sites in West London for a new stadium and training ground.

“We have to strengthen our squad. (On Saturday) we had so many injuries, we just don’t have a deep enough squad,” he declared.

“I was given 10 days to buy players (at the end of August) and we picked up six or seven in that period and did pretty well. We need to keep building the squad, and we also need to keep building the youth squads, which is important as well.”

Fernandes, previously a committed West Ham United fan who failed to buy that club, bought the West Londoners in August from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore.

He immediately brought in highly-rated men like Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Armand Traore, Luke Young and Anton Ferdinand.

Asked what he would be looking for, Fernandes replied: “That’s really (manager) Neil (Warnock)’s call, but we need to keep strengthening the back, we are short of ‘keepers for a start, and up front we could do with a bit more firepower.

“We’re having a meeting in the first week of December to discuss that with the shareholders,” he added when asked about the budget available. “It could be maybe three, four (players), I don’t know. You could end up with none if you don’t find anyone. We had six or seven in the last transfer window, which is way above what I thought we’d get. “It depends. At the last minute some things come up. It’s very hard to tell.”

A keen user of social network Twitter, Fernandes recently asked QPR fans to recommend potential transfer targets and he hailed his ‘mad Tony Fernandes moment’ as an inspired one.

“You effectively have 100,000 scouts out there for you, and there is no way QPR could

ever know every single player,” he said.

“Suddenly we have players we’ve never heard of and Neil is looking at videos and saying ‘not bad’.”

Come the end of the season, the club should be more settled. “I think you can see from my life in Formula One that I’m not a revamper,” smiled Fernandes, wearing his familiar red AirAsia cap. “I like stability. I don’t make decisions and chop and change. That’s bad.

“We’ve a great manager, we’ve the nucleus of a great team, so I don’t see a wholesale change.”

Loftus Road, hemmed in by residential streets in West London and with a capacity of around 18,500, is another matter.

“The key this year is to survive, but we would like a bigger ground and we are looking,” said Fernandes. “It has to be in the area. It makes no sense to move out of where you have spent most of your life, and where the fan base is. So West London is where we are and where we’d like to be.

“Building a stadium is not the easiest thing in the world but there are opportunities in West London.“The first building that we are going to do is a new training ground, and there are two sites we are looking at, also in West London, so hopefully that will be announced soon.”

How big a stadium is needed remains open to debate. “Some fans are saying ‘We don’t have a fan base bigger than 20,000’...My gut feel is 4045,000. That’s double where we are right now, but we’re in London and there’s a strong catchment area,” said Fernandes.

“We’ll do some studies on that. The beauty of Loftus Road is that it’s so intimidating.” The Malaysian also joined in criticism of FIFA president Sepp Blatter for recent comments on racism in soccer.

“His comments were said without a lot of thought, and with a little bit of nonchalance that shouldn’t be there for someone who is FIFA president,” said Fernandes, whose defender Ferdinand is at the centre of a police investigation after Chelsea’s John Terry was accused of racially abusing him.

“He (Blatter) probably didn’t mean it the way it came out, but he’s the president of FIFA so he’s got to be gooder than good. —Reuters

CUT TACK: World champions India will count on their young stars to deliver when they take on fast-improving West Indies in a one - day series star ting in Cuttack today.

The hosts have rested batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the five-match series, picking instead young batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.

Kohli scored half-centuries in each innings of the drawn third and final Test in Mumbai last week that helped India clinch the series 2-0.

India, with explosive opener Virender Sehwag as stand-in captain, will look to make a winning start in the day-night match at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack, in the eastern state of Orissa.

“It is great that young players are getting such opportunities,” said Sehwag. “ They have five matches to show their skills and secure their places in the side.

“We will go out there and do our best. There is no reason why we can’t win if each one plays to his potential. It’s a young side, but a very determined side.”

The man in the spotlight will be newcomer Ravichandran Ashwin, who grabbed 22 wickets with his off-spin in his debut Test series and also scored a century in Mumbai.

The West Indies were much improvement in the last two Tests at Kolkata and Mumbai, but skipper Darren Sammy wanted his side to be more consistent in the one-dayers.

The tourists scored 463 in their second innings at Kolkata and 590 in the first innings at Mumbai, with young Darren Bravo smashing centuries in both matches to announce his arrival on the big stage.

“As a team we are mak ing some strides, but we still need more consistency,” said Sammy.

“We did some good things earlier this year against Pakistan and India at home and we beat Bangladesh in Bangladesh last month. We came here and com-

peted in the Tests against India, but did not capitalise on the key moments.”

Hard-hitting all-rounder Kieron Pollard returns to the West Indies squad where batsman Jason Mohammed and offspinner Sunil Narine are the new faces. The remaining matches will be played in Visakhapatnam (December 2), Ahmedabad (Dec 5), Indore (Dec 8) and Chennai (Dec 11).

India (from): Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat

Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma.

West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Mar tin, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons.—AFP

CUTTACK: India’s cricket captain Virender Sehwag (left) and West Indies’ cricket captain Darren Sammy (right) pose for photographers with ODI trophy during a press conference at a hotel in Bhubaneswar.—AFP

Beckham leads tributes to Speed LONDON: David Beckham led the tributes to Gary Speed yesterday as the football world remained in mourning following the tragic death of the Wales manager.

Speed, 42, was found dead at his home in Cheshire on Sunday, with police sources confirming the former Newcastle, Everton, Leeds and Bolton midfielder hanged himself in his garage.

The news stunned managers and players across the world, with tributes quickly pouring in for a man widely regarded as one of the good guys in a sport often fuelled by self-interest.

There were emotional scenes at Everton and Leeds, where fans paid their respects to Speed, who was married with two children, by laying shirts and scarves outside

their club’s stadiums.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given, a former Newcastle colleague of Speed’s, had been reduced to tears during a minute’s silence in Speed’s memory before his club’s Premier League match at Swansea on Sunday. And many more of Speed’s former team-mates, as well as those who met him during their time in the game, gave moving tributes to their old friend yesterday.

Former Manchester United midfielder Beckham saluted Speed’s achievements, which included winning the old First Division title with Leeds in 1992 and reaching two FA Cup finals with Newcastle.

“I think he was an amazing, tal-

ented player, a player that had such a glittering career and just began a great career in management as well,” Beckham told media in Jakarta, where his LA Galaxy team are playing this week. “On behalf of myself, the players, the manager and everybody at the Galaxy we’d like to send our love and thoughts to his wife, his children and his family. It is a sad time to lose a man like this.” Former Celtic and Southampton manager Gordon Strachan was a midfield colleague of Speed’s in the successful Leeds team of the early 1990s and he admitted he was proud to have known the Wales coach.

“People have problems in footy where you have an indication that something is wrong, but

BOLTON: Tributes are left to Wales manager Gary Speed at Bolton’s Reebok stadium in north-west England. Gary Speed, who played for Bolton in 2004-2007, was found hanged at his home Sunday at the age of 42.—AFP

this one is right out of the blue,” he said.

“I trained beside him for six years at Leeds and I was proud of Gary Speed every time I saw him play or train. I am going to miss his laugh. He had a child-like laugh. I’ll forget the goals but I will never forget his laugh. I said to Gar y McAllister, ‘I’m never going to hear that again’.”

Former Wales and Leicester midfielder Robbie Savage, who played alongside Speed on international duty, was still coming to terms with the news 24 hours after his friend’s death.

“I’m looking at the headlines and I still can’t believe it. My captain, my hero, my mate is gone and I can’t understand why,” Savage wrote in the Daily Mirror.

“He had the world at his feet and the ironic thing is that he was the guy you would always go to if you ever had a problem.

“I’d grown very close to him over the last year or so. He’d always been a friend. But in that time we’d become best friends.

“There are people in football who will drop you like a stone when you retire but that’s not Gary. He had time for everyone, always.”

Tottenham winger Gareth Bale was part of the Wales squad revitalised by Speed in recent months and he hopes they can honour their manager by mounting a strong challenge to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. “It is a tragedy, everyone still can’t get their head around it and all our condolences go out to his family and his kids,” Bale said. “We were on the up, he changed the way we play and the whole mentality of our game. “It is a massive loss, but we will try and carry on the best we can in his honor.”—AFP

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

SPORTS

FFA chief not convinced 22 will go ahead in Qatar SYDNEY: Australia’s football chief isn’t convinced the 2022 World Cup will go ahead as planned in Qatar.

Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy yesterday said the “last word hasn’t been heard yet” on the FIFA vote which awarded the event to Qatar in preference to bids from countries including the United States and Australia.

Lowy did not elaborate on how or why Qatar would lose the rights, but said it related to “the state of the FIFA executive committee.”

“I don’t know whether you recall when I came back from that fateful day (after losing the bid) and I said ‘this is not the last word about award-

ing the World Cup’,” Lowy said after he was formally re-elected as FFA chairman on Monday. “Well it wasn’t the last word.

“Don’t ask me to elaborate because I don’t have a crystal ball ... but the media all over the world talking is about that, the awarding particularly of ‘22, the state of the FIFA executive committee - all that stuff.

“It’s not over,” Lowy was quoted to say by Australian Associated Press. “I don’t exactly know where it will bounce. The only thing I know is it’s not over yet.”

Qatar’s successful bid became implicated in a broad-ranging corruption scandal that plagued FIFA this

year, with FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke saying in a leaked Email that they “bought the World Cup.” There were accusations of corruption in the bidding process and Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation and a campaigner for his native Qatar to host the World Cup, has since been banned for life from all football activities on charges of trying to bribe Caribbean voters in his quest to unseat Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA. Bin Hammam has denied the allegation and is appealing his ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, questions have been

raised about the feasibility of Qatar’s promise to air-condition stadiums to combat the searing heat in the Middle East during the World Cup window in June and July.

Lowy, the 81-year-old billionaire shopping center magnate, faced criticism in Australia after the failed bid, which cost an estimated $45 million including taxpayer money.

Lowy said the FFA’s focus was on strengthening Australia’s A-League and for a successful staging of the 2015 Asian Cup. The FFA posted a loss for the last financial year after having to bail out several struggling clubs, but remained confident domestic football

was on the rise. Australia switched to the Asian Football Confederation after the 2006 World Cup, to gain more access to higher caliber football than was offered in the tiny Oceania confederation.

“I am concerned that Australia’s expectations are a little bit too high and that they want us to win all the time and they don’t come and follow it as much as they used to,” Lowy said.

“The competition is hard. Asia has improved a lot, but we have a coach and a good team and I expect to be there (in 2014) but I expect to get a bit more enthusiasm from the country.”—AP

Juventus look to escape from pack

MADRID: Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (left) and forward David Villa gestures during the Spanish League football match in this file photo. —AFP

Alves confident of Barca cutting six-point deficit MADRID: Barcelona defender Dani Alves played down the significance of Real Madrid’s six-point lead at the top of La Liga, but admitted that there is pressure on the team not to drop more points.

Real continue to set the pace after a 41 derby win over Atletico Madrid at the weekend while Barcelona once again struggled away from home, losing 1-0 at Getafe.

The champions, who tackle Rayo Vallecano today, have recorded 5-0 and 4-0 wins in their last two home games against Mallorca and Zaragoza respectively. But away from the Nou Camp they drew their previous game at Athletic Bilbao and scraped 1-0 wins in their two matches before that.

Barca have lacked their usual fluid passing on their travels but perhaps the key difference is in the performances of star man Lionel Messi who has 14 goals to his name at home and just one away.

“At the moment a lot of people are awarding the league already and getting carried away but there is still a long way to go,” said Alves.

“As long as it is still possible to win then the championship is alive and this is a challenge which we are enjoying. One of the most important elements to this team is that we never give up,” added

Alves, who accepts that the first El Clasico on December 10 at the Bernabeu is now a crunch match.

“A nine-point difference-if we lose at the Bernabeu-would be tremendous but I am not thinking like that because we are going to bounce back. We will go and compete as we always do.

“Our margin for error is now over and we must get ourselves ready for the challenge. You cannot go from being a fantastic team to being nothing.

“While people tend to be extreme we need to be balanced. We will never change our way of playing due to results, we have a philosophy and if we are to die then we will die with that.”

Barcelona’s match with Rayo has been brought forward from next month as the Spanish and European champions are involved in the Club World Cup in Japan.

Rayo lost 2-1 to Valencia at the weekend but they have started the season well and although survival is their aim they currently have the European places in their sights.

“This is a special game for any footballer as Barca have a great stadium and they are a great team. It is the kind of match which had to come sooner or later and we will try and perform well,” said striker Raul Tamudo.—AFP

Last-gasp Vasco goal takes title race to wire RIO DE JANEIRO: Substitutes Alecsandro and Bernardo scored the late goals that gave Vasco da Gama a dramatic 2-1 victory over title holders Fluminense to take the Brazilian championship race to the wire on Sunday.

Leaders Corinthians won 1-0 at Figueirense and were preparing to celebrate their fifth national crown when Bernardo scored a last-minute winner at the Engenhao in the Rio derby.

Corinthians have 70 points and Vasco 68 going into next weekend’s final round of matches when a draw will be enough for the leaders if the two teams finish equal on points since they have won more matches than their rivals.

Both will play derbies next weekend when Corinthians meet Palmeiras in Sao Paulo and Vasco face arch-rivals Flamengo in Rio without their former Olympique Lyon midfielder Juninho and forward Diego Souza who will be suspended.

“It’s going to be a very, very long week. It’s tough. It’s an historic derby because of the greatness of Corinthians and Palmeiras,” Corinthians coach Tite told reporters.

Brazilian-born former Portugal striker Liedson scored the only goal at Figueirense midway through the second half, while all the goals at the Engenhao came in the final quarter of an hour.

Striker Alecsandro came off the bench in the 71st minute and within six minutes he had headed Vasco into the lead from a cross by Felipe Bastos.

Brazil striker Fred scored his eighth goal in three matches for outgoing

champions Fluminense who are six points behind Vasco in third.

With their nerves raw, Vasco had Leandro sent off from the bench for protesting and trying to attack the referee before Bernardo’s winning goal brought relief and kept their title dream alive.

“I’m so happy to have helped, to have come on... It was a decisive moment and I always dreamt of experiencing a moment like that,” said an emotional Bernardo.

Vasco, who won the Copa Brasil this season, are also in the semi-finals of the Copa Sudamericana, the region’s second club competition, travelling to face Universidad de Chile on Wednesday in the second leg in Santiago with the tie poised at 1-1.

Fourth-placed Flamengo need a draw against Vasco to secure their place in next year’s Copa Libertadores, South America’s elite club championship.

After a 1-0 win over Internacional secured with a goal from captain Ronaldinho ended a run of three matches without a win, they are three points ahead of three teams also vying for the fifth Copa Libertadores berth, Coritiba, Inter and Figueirense.

Twice Copa Libertadores winners Cruzeiro were held 2-2 at home by Ceara and remain in danger of relegation.

Cruzeiro are one point above the drop zone, a point ahead of Ceara and two in front of Atletico Paranaense, and next weekend face Belo Horizonte city rivals Atletico Mineiro, who would love to put the last nail in their coffin. —Reuters

ROME: League leaders Juventus will try to pull clear of the pack when they travel to Napoli today to play a game in hand over their nearest rivals. Juve are a point clear at the top of Serie A but have played one match fewer than the rest of the top four.

They are also the only unbeaten team remaining in the league but are facing a side that has been in great giant-killing form this season. Napoli have beaten champions AC Milan, Inter Milan and Manchester City as they have managed to raise their game when facing supposedly bigger teams. But it is against the minnows that they have struggled, losing to the likes of Parma, Catania and Chievo.

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri denies his side are aiming to compete for the title but if they do harbour such ambitions, or even aims of qualifying for the Champions League for a second successive season, then they will need to win this one.

They trail Juve by 10 points and have to start eating into that if they are to enjoy a season as successful as their last campaign when they finished third.

That put them straight into the Champions Leage group stages and Mazzarri believes the extra commitment is costing them in the league.

“If we weren’t playing in the Champions League we would have four or five points more now,” he said. “We’re paying because we can’t prepare properly for the league matches. “We’re having a great experience in the Champions League but we’re not used to the dual commitments.”

That is something Juve don’t have to worry about as they finished seventh last season, for the second year in a row, and missed out on European qualification altogether.

The club let Luigi Delneri leave and replaced him with Antonio Conte, for whom all has been going well to date. “Conte is doing very well, he’s influencing the team but also because they’re not in the cups,” added Mazzarri.

Juve won 1-0 at Lazio on Saturday, their third victory against a potential title rival this season having already beaten both Milans. One of their key players has been Italy midfielder Claudio Marchisio but he will be missing in Naples as he serves a suspension. But that doesn’t worry Conte who believes he has the squad to cope.

“I have some precious options in the squad, players who want to do something

ROME: Juventus’ Claudio Marchisio controls match in this file photo. —AFP important,” he said. “Against Lazio, (Marcelo) Estigarribia and (Emanuele) Giaccherini came on and showed the right impetus and made an excellent contribution. “Everyone’s replying in an excellent way and trying to make

the ball during the Italian Serie A football my choices difficult and I like that a lot.”

After this match both sides have four more games before the winter break and Juve’s appear harder on paper as they must travel to Udinese and Roma.—AFP

Boca close in on title BUENOS AIRES: Boca Juniors beat Godoy Cruz 2-1 on Sunday to move within one point of the Argentine Apertura championship with three matches still to play.

Striker Dario Cvitanich scored after nine minutes, then was brought down in the box in the 36th and central defender Rolando Schiavi converted the penalty.

“I’m more happy with the result than my goal, but we’re not there yet,” Cvitanich told broadcasters TV Publica at the end of the match at the Malvinas Argentinas stadium in the shadow of the Andes mountains.

Midfielder Ariel Rojas pulled one back for the Mendoza team four minutes from time with a brilliant shot from outside the box that went in off the underside of the bar.

Boca are nine points ahead of secondplaced Tigre whose only chance of the title is to win their three remaining matches and Boca lose theirs so they go into a playoff since goal difference is not taken into account.

Promoted Union are the only other side with an interest in the title. If they beat Independiente at home in Santa Fe yesterday they will be in the same position as Tigre, nine points behind Boca with three games to go.

Title holders Velez Sarsfield, winners of last season’s Clausura, fell too far behind when their reserves were held 1-1 at home by Colon. The first team were rested for their Copa Sudamericana semi-final second leg against Ecuador’s LDU Quito in mid-week.

Juan Sebastian Veron, set to retire at the end of the championship, scored 10 minutes from time to give Estudiantes a 2-1 win at Arsenal, only their third win in 15 matches in the Apertura which they won a year ago.

“These are the real fans,” Veron said of the

ARGENTINA: Boca Juniors’ forward Dario Cvitanich (left) and Godoy Cruz’s midfielder Nicolas Olmedo jump for head the ball during their Argentina First Division football match. —AFP travelling Estudiantes supporters after his angry verbal exchange with a group of hooligans who threw flares onto the pitch and caused yesterday’s home game against Banfield to be abandoned.

Racing Club, coached by Veron’s former Argentina team mate Diego Simeone, lost their unbeaten record in a 3-2 home defeat by nine-man Belgrano on Saturday and fell 11 points adrift of Boca.

Racing conceded almost as many goals in one match as the four they had in the previous 15 with Belgrano’s Cesar Pereyra on target twice.

Belgrano had Uruguayan midfielder Ribair Rodriguez sent off in the 66th minute and defender Juan Quiroga in the 88th along with Racing striker Gabriel Hauche after the pair kicked each other in an ill-tempered fight for the ball. —Reuters

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

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Balotelli, volatile? That is not a crime LONDON: When he fields Mario Balotelli, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has an excuse ready, in case things go wrong. Because even he seems unable to predict which Balotelli will show up to play: the nonchalant striker of impressive goals or the young man who can at times appear immature and as hard to manage as nitroglycerine.

This weekend, at Liverpool, it was the latter. Mancini played Balotelli as a second-half substitute, hoping his strength and hammer of a right foot would produce the second goal City needed to win and pull farther ahead of Manchester United at the top of the English Premier League.

But after only 18 minutes, Balotelli was trudging forlornly back to the dressing room, gently guided by a police officer in a fluorescent yellow coat who put a protective arm around him. Referee Martin Atkinson sent him off for two overzealous, but not malicious, tussles for the ball, first with Glen Johnson and then Martin Skrtel.

The Slovakia defender rolled like a hooked fish on the Anfield turf while his teammates claimed Balotelli had

elbowed him and bayed for punishment from Atkinson, who obliged.

With Balotelli gone, the score stayed 1-1 and the questions began for Mancini. He and Balotelli, two Italians earning a good living in the north of England, have something of a father-son relationship. Mancini is patient and tolerant with Balotelli and happily speaks about how much he likes him.

Balotelli, who previously played for tough drill sergeant Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan, has repaid Mancini with trust, gratitude and important goals this season when former captain Carlos Tevez has let down City so badly. Mancini said the second of Balotelli’s yellow cards on Sunday, for his coming-together with Skrtel, was not deserved. Mancini also used an excuse which is true but which has only a limited shelf-life: “Mario is young.” At 21, Balotelli should be entitled to make a young man’s mistakes.

It also is true that Balotelli’s mistakes often seem to garner a disproportionate amount of attention. Other players make clumsy tackles. Other players are shown yellow and red

cards. But they are not all described in newspaper reports as “volatile,” “unhinged,” “mad,” or variations on the theme that Balotelli is something of a fruit cake.

Balotelli shares some blame for that. Anyone who allows friends to set off fireworks in a bathroom and start a fire in their rented mansion or who pulls stunts like throwing a dart at a colleague is going to get bad publicity. Deservedly so. But less deserved are the reports that lampoon Balotelli’s fashion choices, that question how he spends his money and spare time or which portray him as a clown. When he scored first in City’s 61 spanking of United in October, Balotelli lifted up his jersey to reveal the words “Why always me?” written on a T-shirt underneath. It seemed funny at the time but it also is actually a serious question.

Balotelli’s fortune is also his misfortune: Football made him into a young millionaire but also means he is doing his growing up in public and in the blowtorch glare of the tabloids. How much of what we read about “mad Mario” is actually true? Certainly not all

of it. How much is myth? A fair chunk.

When he traveled to the Faeroe Islands with the Italian national team for a Euro 2012 qualifying match in September, Italian football journalist and author Luigi Garlando was struck by the fact that Balotelli was the only player to ask him why the islanders grow turf on the roofs off their houses (it’s to provide insulation and protect against storms). Garlondo, who writes for La Gazzetta dello Sport, described Balotelli as “very curious,” “sensible” and “not the guy that came from the tabloids.” With the beauty and purity of his football, Balotelli also has shamed racists in Italy who have showered him with slurs shouted from the stands.

They once wrote “You are not a true Italian, you are a black African” on the walls leading to the San Siro in Milan where he used to play. Balotelli says he has learned through experience that it is better to ignore the abuse. But he’s also been quoted as saying that he would prefer the Italian media spend more time debating racism in Italy and less time discussing his girlfriends.

Balotelli’s first goal for the national team, against Poland in a friendly

match this month, was a 35-yard, rightfooted work of art that looped over the head of sprawling goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Molto bello. He celebrated by kissing the Italian flag on his jersey. Italian media noted that Balotelli was the first black Italian to score for the Azzurri and hailed him as a symbol for Italy’s multiracial future, with La Gazetta using the phrase the “United Colors of Italy.”

“Since he’s young and very likely to play in the national side for a long time, the Italian people are going to become accustomed to seeing a black Italian player in the national team,” anti-racism campaigner Lilian Thuram, France’s most capped footballer, said in an interview. “Kids will grow up accepting that a black person can be Italian.”

So Balotelli is carrying a lot of expectation on those muscular but still young shoulders of his.

He is going to make mistakes. He may make a fool of himself at times.

But he is also going to score a lot of goals, too. Mancini knows which of those is more important. And he’s got the excuses ready to smooth things over just in case. —AP

Crunch time looms for League Cup elite LONDON: Fans of the six Premier League clubs still left in this season’s English League Cup will find out just how much the tournament means to their respective sides in this week’s quarter-finals.

In recent seasons the League Cup has lagged far behind in the pecking order of goals for leading top-flight clubs, who place a far greater emphasis on winning the Champions League, Premier League and even FA Cup competitions.

With Manchester City five points clear at the top of the Premier League table, and chasing their first domestic title for more than 4 years, there will be a strong temptation for manager Roberto Mancini to rest some of his star names against Arsenal.

Traditionally, that has been the course of action favored by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger. But

the Frenchman, whose side lost last season’s final to Birmingham, can no longer afford to be quite so disdainful of the tournament given it is six years since Arsenal last won a major trophy.

However, with both clubs still involved in the Champions League, the line -ups at the Emirates Stadium are set to have an unfamiliar look about them.

“I will have to change the team because some players are on the fringe, muscular-wise,” Wenger said. Both City and Arsenal go into the match on the back of 1-1 league draws against Liverpool and Fulham respectively. Another intriguing all top-flight clash sees Chelsea face a resurgent Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea stopped a losing streak with a 3- win over Wolves and an appearance in the first final of the season would help ease the pres-

sure on under-fire manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish won the League Cup several times as a player during his glittering career with the Anfield club.

Dalglish has hinted that he will give run-outs to fringe players and one of those, former Rangers defender Danny Wilson, said: “Chelsea will be an important game. All I can do is try to impress Kenny Dalglish in training and for the reserves.”

Tuesday’s other quarter-final will see Championship high-flyers Cardiff fancy their chances against a Blackburn Rovers team who are two points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League.

Top-flight survival is the priority for Steve Kean’s side but Rovers and Norway star Morten Gamst Pedersen said: “Everyone knows

our position in the Premier League but that doesn’t mean we do not want to do well in the cup.

“It’s a great carrot for us because winning can be a habit.”

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is again set to give his latest crop of up and coming players a League Cup run out when they face mid-table Championship side Crystal Palace in Wednesday’s quarter-final at Old Trafford. “ There will be complete change,” said Ferguson. “I think the League Cup has turned into quite a good tournament. Clubs like United are able to introduce young players and ones who have not been playing regularly in the first team and it’s been good to us over the years. “We’ve won two finals at Wembley with young players, which is good going.”—AFP

Ibrahimovic scores twice in Milan rout FRANCE: Marseille’s French forward Andre Ayew (center) celebrates with teammates after scoring next to Paris goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu during the French L1 football match. —AFP

Marseille blank PSG PARIS: Morgan Amalfitano scored one and set up another as Olympique Marseille handed big-spending Paris St Germain their second consecutive Ligue 1 defeat by beating their bitter rivals 3-0 at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday.

Goals by Loic Remy, Amalfitano and Andre Ayew gave Didier Deschamps’s side all three points as Marseille moved up to ninth in the standings on 21 points from 15 games while PSG, who spent over 80 million euros in the last transfer window, stayed second on 30 points.

They trail leaders Montpellier, who claimed a 3-1 win at Sochaux on Saturday, by three points.

Marseille, who lost 1-0 at home to Olympiakos Piraeus in the Champions League on Wednesday, had an unsettling week with Deschamps sending striker Andre-Pierre Gignac to train with the reserves after a disagreement.

“We are capable of playing well. There is no reason why it should stop,” Remy told French TV channel Canal Plus.

“We showed we can play great games.

I was upset on Wednesday (after the Olympiakos game). Tonight, we were good from the first to the last minute,” said defender Souleymane Diawara.

PSG general manager Leonardo tried to remain upbeat. “It’s hard to lose 3-0 but it does not change anything. We played 15 matches and there are 23 left.

We’re at the start of our project,” Leonardo told Canal Plus.

“There is always a tough moment in a season.” Marseille fans had decided not to cheer on their team after the French interior ministry banned away fans from OM v PSG clashes this season to avoid clashes between rival supporters.

A huge roar, however, broke out in the ninth minute when Remy headed home

from a fine long cross by Cesar Azpilicueta. Remy was replaced by Jordan Ayew in the 32nd minute with a possible ankle injury.

Ten minutes from the break, PSG went close as a Momo Sissoko 25-metre strike smashed Steve Mandanda’s left post.

Marseille pushed harder in the second half as PSG lacked creativity in midfield with Argentine sensation Javier Pastore, who joined from Palermo for a French record 42 million euros last summer, looking listless.

Pastore and France striker Kevin Gameiro, who failed to muster a single shot, were replaced shortly before the hour by Mathieu Bodmer and Mevlut Erding but it made little difference.

Marseille went 2-0 up in the 65th minute when Jordan Ayew set up Amalfitano nicely on the right flank for the midfielder to beat Salvatore Sirigu with an angled low shot.

Ghana striker Andre Ayew completed the scoring seven minutes from time, netting with a downward header from an Amalfitano cross.

Earlier, Lisandro Lopez signalled his return to form with two goals as Olympique Lyon got back to winning ways with a 3-0 victory at AJ Auxerre.

Lisandro, starting a Ligue 1 game for the first time since his 12-week injury layoff, scored in each half and Michel Bastos added a third in the closing stages as Lyon remained fifth in the table.

Remi Garde’s team, who have 26 points from 15 games, trail Montpellier by seven points after winning in the league for the first time in almost a month.

Elsewhere, Nice stayed second from bottom on 11 points after a 1-0 defeat at Lorient. —Reuters

ITALY: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice, including his 100th Serie A goal, in AC Milan’s embarrassingly one -sided 4-0 win over Chievo on Sunday.

The home team scored all their goals in the first half and then strolled through the second to go level on 24 points with Udinese, one behind leaders Juventus.

Nineteen-year-old Luc Castaignos claimed an 89th-minute winner to give lacklustre Inter Milan a lucky 1-0 triumph at Siena, his first league goal since his move from Feyenoord in the close season.

Inter’s second successive win lifted Claudio Ranieri’s injury-hit team to 12th with 14 points from 11 games as they continued their climb up the table following a terrible start to the campaign.

“We are aiming for the scudetto,” a confident Ranieri told reporters. “We’ve given ourselves the target of winning everything, we’re going well and we have to carry on.” Adrian Mutu grabbed both goals as lowly Cesena beat Genoa 2-0 to move off the bottom.

The Romanian converted a 70th-minute penalty and scored with a shot on the turn 10 minutes later as Cesena, who have nine points, climbed above Lecce.

Palermo maintained their 100 percent home record with a 2-0 victory over Fiorentina whose coach Delio Rossi had two spells in charge of the Sicilian team last season.

Goals by Fabrizio Miccoli and Josip Ilicic

gave Palermo their sixth straight home win, taking them to 19 points in fifth place.

Juventus, unbeaten after 11 matches and with a game in hand on their rivals, won 1-0 on Saturday at Lazio who are fourth with 22 points.

Ibrahimovic rattled the woodwork after 54 seconds, an early warning of what was to come, before Thiago Silva opened the scoring in the eighth minute by side-footing home a low shot from just outside the penalty area.

Eight minutes later the volatile Swede reached his milestone with a delicate chip from the edge of the box. Ibrahimovic totalled 23 goals in two seasons with Juventus, 57 in three campaigns with Inter and, before Sunday, 19 since joining Milan at the start of last season.

Brazilian Alexandre Pato added a third from close range before Ibrahimovic converted a penalty just before the break as Milan made it six wins and a draw in their last seven league games.

It was, however, a tame match apart from some crunching tackles by their Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel.

Bitter rivals Inter were far less impressive but snatched a win when Castaignos snapped up Thiago Motta’s incisive pass and placed his shot into the bottom corner.

Siena had enjoyed the better of the game and their frustration boiled over two minutes later when Franco Brienza was sent off, receiv-

ITALY: AC Milan’s Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic runs for the ball during the Italian Serie A football match between AC Milan and Chievo. —AFP

Hulk sparkles as Porto floor Braga

Kuwait Cup results KUWAIT: Results yesterday in the Kuwait PSA Cup (x denotes seeding): Semi-finals James Willstrop (ENG x3) bt Gregory Gaultier (FRA x5) 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 Karim Darwish (EGY x2) bt Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY x7) 11-4, 11-9, 5-11, 15-13. —AFP

ing a second yellow card for kicking and breaking the corner flag after a decision went against him. —Reuters

PORTO: Braga’s Brazilian defender Douglas Ferreira (left) heads the ball with FC Porto’s Uruguayan midfielder Cristian Rodriguez (right) during the Portuguese super league football match. —AFP

LISBON: Brazilian international Hulk notched two goals and set up another as Portuguese champions Porto beat Braga 3-2 on Sunday to go back to the top of the league and relieve the pressure on coach Vitor Pereira.

Hulk, traditionally a winger, played most of the Europa League final rematch as a striker to reprise the role he assumed in the 2-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

He scored Porto’s opener in midweek and was again on target on Sunday, heading the opener on 37 minutes. Hulk then made it 2-0 with a curling shot from outside the box in the second half before setting up substitute Kleber for the third goal.

Europa League winners Porto were given a late scare though as striker Lima grabbed two goals in quick succession for Braga.

Pereira was criticised after his team were knocked out of the Portuguese Cup a week ago. Porto and Benfica have 27 points from 11 games but Pereira’s men have a superior g o a l d i f fe re n ce. B ra g a a re f i f t h o n 1 9 points. —Reuters

Beckham leads tributes to Speed

Schild makes perfect start to slalom season

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FFA chief not convinced ’22 will go ahead in Qatar

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EAST RUTHERFORD: Buffalo Bills’ Justin Rogers (left) and Jairus Byrd (right) defend New York Jets wide receiver Patrick Turner (88) during the third quarter of an NFL football game. —AP

Broncos stop Chargers, Raiders roll OAKLAND: Matt Prater kicked a 37-yard field goal with 29 seconds left in overtime to lift Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos to a 16-13 victory Sunday over the San Diego Chargers, who’ve lost six straight games for the first time in 10 years.

The Broncos narrowly avoided the first NFL tie since Cincinnati and Philadelphia ended deadlocked at 13 on Nov. 16, 2008.

Tebow, now 5-1 as the Broncos’ starter, led Denver from its 43 after San Diego’s Nick Novak was wide right on a 53-yard field goal attempt with 2:31 left in overtime. Novak made a 53-yarder in the first quarter, a career-best, and was wide right on a 48-yard try early in the fourth quarter.

Tebow had a 12-yard gain and Willis McGahee ran 24 yards up the middle to set up Prater’s winning kick, which was right down the middle. The Broncos are 6-5. The Chargers (4-7) are on their longest streak since ending 2001 with nine straight defeats.

Raiders 25, Bears 20 Sebastian Janikowski kicked a teamrecord six field goals and Oakland took advantage of three interceptions from Chicago’s fill-in starter Caleb Hanie.

Carson Palmer threw for 301 yards and Michael Bush iced the game with a touchdown run in the fourth quarter to lead the Raiders (7-4) to their third straight win against a Bears team missing starting quarterback Jay Cutler.

Hanie struggled in his first career start in place of Cutler, who broke his right thumb last week in Chicago’s fifth straight win to put a major obstacle into what had been a promising season for the Bears (7-4).

Patriots 38, Eagles 20 In Philadelphia, Tom Brady threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns in a game that all but ended the Eagles’ playoff hopes.

Filling in for the injured Michael Vick for the second straight game, Vince Young couldn’t keep the Eagles in contention despite a career-best 400 yards passing. The Eagles fell to 4-7 in a season that began with Super Bowl expectations.

Angry fans made their feelings known about coach Andy Reid, chanting “Fire Andy!” in the second half. The defending NFC East champions fell to 1-5 at home and have lost eight of nine at the Linc, including a playoff loss to Green Bay last January.

Down 10-0 early, the AFC East-leading Patriots rallied behind Brady. New England (8-3) scored on five of its next six possessions, excluding a kneel-down at the end of the first half.

Redskins 23, Seahawks 17 In Seattle, Rex Grossman found Anthony Armstrong for a 50-yard touchdown and Washington rallied for 16 fourth-quarter points to end a six-game losing streak.

One play after committing a grounding penalty, Grossman stepped up in the pocket on third-and-19 and found Armstrong in the corner of the end zone.

The touchdown pass was Grossman’s second of the game and followed rookie Roy Helu’s leaping 28-yard TD run that pulled the Redskins (4-7) within 17-14.

Grossman finished 26 of 35 for 314 yards Marshawn Lynch rushed for 111 yards and caught a 20-yard touchdown pass for the Seahawks (4-7).

winless Indianapolis Colts 27-19.

The Panthers (3-8) ended a 12-game road losing streak by winning outside Charlotte, N.C., for the first time since Dec. 27, 2009 when they beat the New York Giants.

Newton was 20 of 27 and carried nine

times for 53 yards. Williams ran 15 times for 69 yards including the game-sealing score-a 2-yard TD run with 10:23 left in the game.

The Colts dropped to 0-11 for the first time since 1986 and have lost six home games in a season for the sixth time in

Steelers 13, Chiefs 9 In Kansas City, Ben Roethlisberger threw a short touchdown pass to Weslye Saunders and the Steelers took advantage of four turnovers by Tyler Palko.

Playing with a broken thumb on his throwing hand, Roethlisberger was 21 of 31 for 193 yards and an interception for the Steelers (8-3), whose defense lost AllPro safety Troy Polamalu to an injury in the first quarter yet still kept the bumbling Chiefs (4-7) from scoring a touchdown.

Kansas City hasn’t reached the end zone since the third quarter against Denver three weeks ago, a span of 45 offensive drives ‚Ä” including the final one Sunday night.

The Chiefs marched across midfield to the Pittsburgh 37 when Palko dropped back to pass. He was looking for Dwayne Bowe but threw it high and behind him, and Keenan Lewis hauled in the interception with 29 seconds left to seal the game and keep Pittsburgh tied atop the AFC North with Baltimore.

Panthers 27, Colts 19 In Indianapolis, Cam Newton threw for 208 yards and ran for one score and DeAngelo Williams scored twice Sunday to help the Carolina Panthers hold off the

NASHVILLE: Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber (20) knocks the ball out of the grasp of Tennessee Titans running back Javon Ringer (21) in the second quarter of an NFL football game. —AP

NFL results /standings Atlanta 24, Minnesota 14; Cincinnati 23, Cleveland 20; Tennessee 23, Tampa Bay 17; Carolina 27, Indianapolis 19; Houston 20, Jacksonville 13; Arizona 23, St. Louis 20; NY Jets 28, Buffalo 24; Oakland 25, Chicago 20; Washington 23, Seattle 17; New England 38, Philadelphia 20; Denver 16, San Diego 13 (OT); Pittsburgh 13, Kansas City 9. (OT denotes overtime win) American Football Conference AFC East W L T OTL PF New England 8 3 0 0 331 NY Jets 6 5 0 0 256 Buffalo 5 6 0 0 261 Miami 3 8 0 1 212 AFC North Baltimore 8 3 0 0 269 Pittsburgh 8 3 0 0 233 Cincinnati 7 4 0 0 259 Cleveland 4 7 0 0 165 AFC South Houston 8 3 0 0 293 Tennessee 6 5 0 0 226 Jacksonville 3 8 0 0 138 Indianapolis 0 11 0 0 150 AFC West Oakland 7 4 0 0 260 Denver 6 5 0 0 221 San Diego 4 7 0 2 249 Kansas City 4 7 0 0 153

PA PCT 223 .727 241 .545 281 .455 206 .273 182 .727 188 .727 215 .636 216 .364 176 212 200 327

.727 .545 .273 0

274 .636 260 .545 275 .364 265 .364

National Football Conference NFC East Dallas 7 4 0 0 270 NY Giants 6 4 0 0 228 Philadelphia 4 7 0 0 257 Washington 4 7 0 1 183 NFC North Green Bay 11 0 0 0 382 Detroit 7 4 0 0 316 Chicago 7 4 0 0 288 Minnesota 2 9 0 1 214 NFC South New Orleans 7 3 0 0 313 Atlanta 7 4 0 1 259 Tampa Bay 4 7 0 0 196 Carolina 3 8 0 0 252 NFC West San Francisco 9 2 0 1 262 Seattle 4 7 0 0 185 Arizona 4 7 0 0 213 St. Louis 2 9 0 1 140

225 .636 228 .600 251 .364 222 .364 227 1.000 246 .636 232 .636 295 .182 225 .700 227 .636 291 .364 305 .273 161 .818 232 .364 256 .364 270 .182

the Indianapolis era. Curtis Painter was 15 of 29 for 226 yards with one TD for the Colts and threw two late interceptions in the end zone, ending any hopes of a comeback.

Falcons 24, Vikings 14 In Atlanta, Matt Ryan tossed three touchdown passes and Atlanta held on again. The Falcons (7-4) were up 17-0 at halftime after allowing just 97 yards. But, mimicking the previous week’s closerthan-necessary victory over Tennessee, they let Minnesota (2-9) back in the game.

Toby Gerhart, filling in for injured Adrian Peterson, scored from the 1 late in the third quarter. Then, after Dominique Franks inadvertently touched a punt the Falcons were trying to avoid to set up a Vikings recovery, Christian Ponder went to Percy Harvin for a 39-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-13 to make it 17-14.

But Ryan responded with a 3-yard scoring pass to backup Michael Palmer, and the Falcons held on downs after Harvin’s 104-yard kickoff return to the Atlanta 3.

Texans 20, Jaguars 13 In Jacksonville, Matt Leinart injured his throwing shoulder, overshadowing Houston’s victory against the offensively inept Jaguars.

Arian Foster ran for 65 yards and a score, Leinart delivered a perfect touchdown pass to Joel Dreessen before leaving the game and the Texans (8-3) sacked Blaine Gabbert six times. It was good enough for their fifth consecutive win, which moved Houston a little closer to clinching the AFC South.

But Leinart’s shoulder could be a serious setback. The Texans already lost starter Matt Schaub for the season with a right foot injury. Now, they are down to TJ Yates and newly signed Kellen Clemens. Yates completed 8 of 15 passes for 70 yards in relief of Leinart, doing just enough to help the Texans beat the Jaguars (3-8).

Jacksonville benched Gabbert in the fourth quarter. Luke McCown led the team to a late field goal, but his fourthdown pass with about a minute remaining fell incomplete.

Jets 28, Bills 24 In East Rutherford, Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, including the winning score to Santonio Holmes with just over a minute remaining.

With the Jets trailing 24-21 and facing a third-and-11 from the Bills 36, Sanchez connected with Plaxico Burress, who made an impressive one-handed grab for the first down. Sanchez quickly ran a quarterback sneak and then, on the next play, rolled out to his right to buy some time and found Holmes alone in the right corner of the end zone to give the Jets the lead with 1:01 left.

The Jets (6-5) entered the game with many players saying they need to win each of their last six to make the postseason. They overcame a valiant comeback

attempt by the Bills (5-6), who have lost four straight.

Cardinals 23, Rams 20 In St. Louis, Patrick Peterson tied the NFL record with his fourth punt return for a touchdown this season, Beanie Wells set a franchise mark with 228 yards rushing, and Arizona won its seventh in a row in St. Louis.

Wells averaged 8.4 yards per carry on a career day that included gains of 71 and 53 yards. The latter set up Jay Feely’s go-ahead 22-yard field goal with 4:12 remaining. Rookie Sam Acho also had a career day on defense with two sacks and a fumble recovery for Arizona (4-7), which did enough to overcome another awful outing by John Skelton, who threw two interceptions.

Brandon Lloyd’s 16-yard TD catch from Sam Bradford tied it at 20 with 7:46 to go. Nick Miller had an 88-yard punt return in the first quarter for the Rams (29) only three days after he re-signed with the team.

Titans 23, Buccaneers 17 In Nashville, Chris Johnson ran for a season-high 190 yards, and Matt Hasselbeck threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams on fourth-and-2 with 3:01 left.

The Titans (6-5) forced five turnovers and overcame four turnovers of their own. The Bucs outscored them 14-3 off mistakes even though Tennessee got the ball three times on Tampa Bay’s side of the field.

But the Titans got the ninth and final turnover of the game when rookie linebacker Colin McCarthy intercepted Josh Freeman with 2:19 left.

The Bucs (4-7) lost their fifth straight even with LeGarrette Blount running for 103 yards. Freeman threw for 199 yards and a touchdown, but he had an interception and lost a fumble. He also fumbled the snap on fourth-and-1 before being tackled with 40 seconds left to seal the Titans’ victory .

Bengals 23, Browns 20 In Cincinnati, AJ Green made a leaping catch for a 51-yard gain in the final minute, setting up a field goal that rallied Cincinnati.

The surprising Bengals (7-4) stayed right behind Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the AFC North with another second-half comeback forged by their rookie big-play combination.

Andy Dalton threw a high down-themiddle pass that Green went way above the defenders to grab. Green was run out of bounds at the 2, and the Browns (4-7) forced Cincinnati to settle for Mike Nugent’s 26-yard field goal with 38 seconds left ‚Ä” the Bengals’ first lead of the game.

For the second time in three games, a botched snap cost Cleveland a chance to take a late lead. Phil Dawson was short on a 55-yard try with 1:51 left after the snap skipped along the ground, giving Cincinnati its last chance.—AP

Dubai’s Emirates NBD may issue bond: CEO Page 22

Global slowdown to hit China and India: OECD Page 25 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

KSE stocks mixed amid crisis Page 24

Volkswagen Behbehani takes to the road and to the malls Page 23

FRANKFURT: Demonstrators around the euro logo in front of the European Central Bank (ECB) as they take part in a protest march in Frankfurt. The euro-zone’s debt crisis has become the biggest threat to the global economy, the OECD said yesterday. (inset) OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan talks. — AFP

OECD issues stark warning on economy Euro-zone crisis poised to engulf developed world PARIS: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday policy makers around the world must “be prepared to face the worst,” as the economic impact of Europe’s debt crisis threatens to spread around the developed world.

The Paris-based OECD said in its latest Economic Outlook that continued failure by EU leaders to stem the debt crisis that has spread from Greece to much-bigger Italy “could massively escalate economic disruption” and end in “highly devastating outcomes.”

The half-yearly update also recommended urgently boosting the EU bailout fund and called on Europe’s central bank to do more to stem the crisis. “The ECB has the means to provide a credible measure to avoid further contagion in the sovereign bond markets,”

ECB Chief Economist Carlo Padoan said. “And if you ask me if that is the lender of last resort function, I would say yes.”

Many think the ECB is the only institution capable of calming frayed market nerves and Merkel’s continued dismissal of a greater ECB role knocked market sentiment and stocks all round Europe fell again after a morning rebound.

Potentially, the ECB has unlimited financial firepower through its ability to print money.

However, Germany finds the idea of monetizing debts unappealing, warning that it lets the more profligate countries off the hook for their bad practices. In addition, it conjures up bad memories of hyperinflation in Germany in the 1920s. Padoan also upped the pressure on Europe to implement the Greek debt restructuring agreed to by EU leaders in October,

saying that further delay could render the plan “insufficient,” just as an earlier plan unveiled in July turned out to be.

The OECD now forecasts the euro-zone economy to be in a six-month recession lasting through the first quarter of 2012, followed by a slow recovery that will leave the 17nation bloc with only 0.2 percent growth next year. Padoan warned however that a combination of factors including continued fiscal gridlock in the US and a sovereign debt default or bank failure in Europe could result in a “downside scenario” that sees the eurozone shrink by 2 percent next year and even more in 2013.

The OECD expects the US to grow by 2 percent next year and 2.5 percent in 2013, while the Japanese economy is forecast to grow 2 percent next year and 1.6 percent in 2013.

In the absence of decisive action from euro zone leaders, the European Central Bank (ECB) alone has the power to contain the bloc’s crisis, the OECD said. In the United States, however, the Federal Reserve had little ammunition left. “We are still seeing policy behind the curve,” Padoan told a news conference. “This cannot be accepted anymore.”

“Time is running out and every time we lose the occasion to act effectively the price or cost for having positive outcomes goes up,” he added. Padoan said that the absence of credible action from policymakers was sapping households and companies’ confidence as well as fueling damaging volatility on financial markets. While solid growth in big emerging economies would provide a boost, slumping global trade would drag on Chinese output, the OECD said. Its twice -yearly

Streets reopened after Occupy LA protest LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police reopened a downtown street yesterday where hundreds of Wall Street protesters held an early morning protest that was mainly peaceful. Four people were arrested for failure to disperse and a few protesters tossed bamboo sticks and water bottles at officers, said Cmdr.

Andy Smith.

No injuries were reported. Police withdraw and cars were moving as the morning commuter rush began. Protesters have been camping out near City Hall for nearly two months and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had given a midnight deadline for them to leave. But protesters began flooding into the streets before the deadline and some are declaring a small victory, saying they’ll remain for now.

Police reopened First Street and won’t raid the camp anytime soon, Smith said. A number of officers were sent home after having accrued overtime costs. Smith said he hopes about 200 protesters will remain calm through the morning.

As Monday’s midnight deadline approached, hundreds of people flooded into the area as hundreds of tents remained standing as they have for nearly two months. A celebratory atmosphere filled the night with protesters milling about the park and streets by City Hall in seeming good spirits. A group on bicycles circled the block, one of them in a cow suit. Organizers led chants with a bull horn.

Villaraigosa said earlier that the park grounds would be closed after the deadline, while Police Chief Charlie Beck promised that arrests would eventually be made if protesters did not comply.

But in a statement issued shortly before midnight, the mayor said police “will allow campers ample time to remove their belongings peacefully and without disruption.”

As the deadline approached, people poured into the grounds, likely many of them answering calls on Facebook and Twitter to come out and show solidarity.

Police presence was slight right after the 12:01 am local time yesterday deadline, but it began

Economic Outlook forecast that world growth would slow to 3.4 percent in 2012 from 3.8 percent this year.

That marks a sharp fall from its previous outlook in May, when the OECD estimated the world economy would grow 4.2 percent this year and 4.6 percent in 2012.

Separately forecasting global growth of 3.5 percent in 2012, Morgan Stanley warned in a report that, in a worst case scenario, policymakers’ inaction in both Europe and the United States could lead to much lower growth of 1.9 percent, with recessions in many major economies. Struggling to contain an unprecedented debt crisis, the euro zone has already entered a recession and will eke out growth of only 0.2 percent in 2012, the OECD said, slashing its forecast from 2.0 percent in May. —Agencies

Gulf rises as euro-zone hopes lift global stocks MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

LOS ANGELES: An anti-Wall Street demonstrator lays on the road as Occupy LA protesters take to the streets around City Hall in downtown Los Angeles early yesterday. — AFP increasing as the morning wore on. At the same time, the number of protesters dwindled.

By 2:30 a.m., most protesters had moved from the campsite in the park to the streets. That put them technically in compliance with the mayor’s eviction order.

But at 4:50 a.m., police on loudspeakers declared an unlawful assembly and protesters were told to get out of the street within five minutes, and the previously peaceful protest turned violent. People wearing masks taunted officers and water bottles were thrown at police in riot gear as authorities started clearing 1st and Main streets just after 5 am Monday. Commanders corralled demonstrations back to the City Hall park, telling them they won’t be arrested there. The Los Angeles showdown follows police actions in other cities - sometimes involving the use of pepper spray and tear gas that resulted in the removal of long-situated demonstration sites. Some of those encampments

had been in use almost since the movement against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed began with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan two months ago.

Elsewhere, a deadline set by the city for Occupy Philadelphia to leave the site where it has camped for nearly two months passed Sunday without any arrests. The scene outside Philadelphia’s City Hall was quiet most of Sunday and by early Monday the numbers of protesters - and police officers - had decreased.

Philadelphia’s protesters have managed to avoid aggressive confrontations so far. By early Monday there was still hope the City of Brotherly Love would continue to be largely violence-free.

But eight people were arrested in Maine Sunday after protesters in the Occupy Augusta encampment in Capitol Park took down their tents and packed their camping gear after being told to get a permit or move their shelters. —AP

DUBAI: Gulf Arab markets rallied yesterday, some from multi-year lows, as growing hopes euro zone leaders would unveil fresh measures to resolve a two-year-old debt crisis lifted stocks worldwide.

“There’s a lot of volatility given what’s going on in Europe and the news flow tends to drive sentiment on a day to day basis,” said Tarik Lotfy, head of MENA equities at Arqaam Capital in Dubai.

Saudi Arabia’s index gained 1.2 percent, rising for a first session in six, easing away from Sunday’s seven-week low. Real estate accounted for more than a quarter of all shares traded, lifting the sector’s index to a 17-week high.

Some investors were betting on gains by property stocks ahead of December’s Cityscape Riyadh exhibition, said a Riyadhbased trader who asked not to be identified. “Saudi’s real estate market is healthy and for the past few sessions the sector’s stocks have been going up while the wider market fell,” said the trader, adding that some investors are betting on companies announcing new projects at the exhibition.

Kuwait’s index was near-flat. The country’s government has quit, parliamentary sources said, to resolve demands from protesters and opposition deputies that the prime minister step down over corruption allegations. “The political turmoil is what has been driving the market lower day after day, but the market would take the resignation of the government positively the opposition is coming from the people

and it is they who trade the market,” said a Kuwait-based trader who asked not to be identified. “They elect the parliament and the emir chooses the government, so the government’s resignation would be seen as a victory for the people as one would expect the new government to be more amenable to the people’s wishes.”

Dubai’s index made its largest gain in four weeks to rebound from Sunday’s seven-year low. Volumes hit a four-week high.

“The market initially found support from Asia and US futures, but the momentum didn’t really start to build until midday when a rumor started circulating that the UAE would be upgraded by MSCI,” said Julian Bruce, EFG-Hermes director of institutional equity sales.

“That drew speculative buyers in, but whether this is sustainable remains to be seen.” The UAE, along with Qatar, will find out in December if influential index compiler MSCI has upgraded them to emerging market status from frontier market, having delayed its decision from June. “Last week, it seemed everyone had written off the UAE’s chances of being upgraded, citing liquidity constraints as an additional hurdle, but the DVP (delivery-versus-payment settlement) system seems to be functioning at the front end, which ticks one of MSCI’s boxes,” said Bruce.

Emaar Properties climbed 4.4 percent and Union Properties added 3.4 percent.

Property stocks, which tend to lead index moves, were the most active. — Reuters

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business

Dubai’s Emirates NBD may issue bond: CEO No decision on sukuk sale yet, timing key

VIVA continues distributing cars for ninth consecutive week Abu Taher wins a luxurious car option is to subscribe with 500 Fils per day which gives them infinite minutes and SMS within VIVA network. For every 500 fils spent, the customer is entitled 1 chance to enter the draw. The second option for prepaid customers includes subscribing to BlackBerry KD 7 which gives them full and unlimited BlackBerry Services, where customers will gain fifteen points .

Customers are able to subscribe to both options in order to enter the draw to win a luxurious car, where their points will be accumulated and carried 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 the ‘Flavor of the Week’ which will be a ‘special service’ for that week allowing more opportunities to win every week.

This week ‘Flavor of the Week’ began Thursday, November 24th and will end on December 3rd, 2011 which will allow prepaid customers 18 more chances to win a brand new car should they subscribe in the KD 9 Surf-on service for prepaid customers.

Stay tuned each week to discover the new ‘Flavor of the Week’ offer and increase your chances to win a car.

To subscribe, to ‘Infinite Calls and SMS’ offer, Send “1” to 535 in an SMS. Prepaid customers interested in the full, unlimited, local KD 7 BlackBerry offer can send an SMS with the number ‘2’ to ‘535’. For the full menu of the prepaid offers, send an SMS with the word “GO”, to number ‘535’.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Telecommunications Company VIVA announced the 9th winner of its “Win a Car Every Week” campaign, the first of its kind in Kuwait for its prepaid customers. Shaheed Al Islam Abu Taher was the lucky winner of a new BMW 3 Series 2011 in the 9th week draw, as VIVA continues to distribute luxurious cars to lucky winners .

The winner’s name was announced at the Marina Crescent, last Saturday 26th of November, and was televised on Al Watan TV. Winner Shaheed Al Islam Abu Taher of the 9th weekly draw won a brand new BMW 3 Series which was presented by Fahad Al Fahad -Corporate Communication Executive of the company.

Abu Taher, expressed his happiness for being the lucky winner of the new BMW car as he has been participating in the campaign since its launch. Shaheed also added that it is a dream come true and it has been made possible by VIVA. VIVA congratulated the winner and urged customers to follow suit and participate in the campaign in order to be one of the winners in the upcoming weekly draws.

VIVA also reiterated its commitment to continuously provide unique and exclusive offers designed to better serve and reward its subscribers in Kuwait.

The campaign, which was launch on September 15th 2011, is only applicable to prepaid customers where they can enter the draw through two options, the first

DUBAI: Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank by assets, is considering a five-year, dollar-denominated bond, its chief executive said yesterday, adding the lender is waiting for the right timing for any eventual issue. Emirates NBD is seen favoring an Islamic bond, or sukuk, and could mandate banks as early as this week, four banking sources had earlier told Reuters.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ENBD has drawn up a shortlist of seven or eight banks from which it will select the institutions which will manage the sale.

This list includes National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Citi, Royal Bank of Scotland and ENBD itself. “We are looking at five-year but the size we are not sure. We will determine that by the next week or 2 weeks,” Chief Executive Rick Pudner told reporters on the sidelines of a company event. “We haven’t mandated any banks yet. It’s very much a case of looking at the opportunities.

“There were quite a few issues recently so we have decided to wait a little bit and see what the right timing is for going into the market.” Both conventional and Islamic institutions, as well as global sovereigns such as Bahrain and Indonesia, have been flocking to the sukuk market recently, creating an unusually active fourth quarter.

Emirates NBD has issued around $500 million in privately-placed paper so far in 2011, with all of it sold to European investors, a Gulf-based banking source said. One of the largest, with an issue date of Nov. 3, was a $163 million two-year bond which priced at 140 basis points over the three-month London interbank offered rate with a 1.832 percent coupon through sole bookrunner Commerzbank.

The quarterly bond, which means investors can ask for the cash to be repaid every three months, achieved a good price in the volatile environment, a separate banker said.

In May, Emirates NBD, which has about $2.18 billion in debt maturities in 2012, completed a debt swap for two existing notes due to expire in 2016 for longer-term debt. It has repeatedly said it would not overpay for issuing new debt, and pricing levels so far this year had been too expensive. When asked about sanctions on Syria by the Arab league, Pudner said: “We haven’t seen any guidance yet. Maybe we will get some in the near future.” The Arab League approved unprecedented economic sanctions against Syria, isolating President Bashar AlAssad’s government over its eight-month crackdown on protests against his rule. The sanctions include a travel ban on top Syrian officials, a freeze on assets related to Assad’s government and are aimed at halting dealings with Syria’s central bank and investment in the country.

Emirates NBD shares were flat on the Dubai bourse yesterday but are up nearly 20 percent this year. —Reuters

NBK extends ‘You Choose, We Finance’ campaign to Qatar KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), in partnership with IBQ, its associate in Qatar, extended its “You Choose, We Finance” campaign to Qatar to offer customers the opportunity to easily own multi-national properties in the UK, USA, France, Lebanon, Egypt, UAE and Jordan.

This first-of-its-kind service aims at making the purchase of property abroad hassle free. The simple and straightforward application process involves the customer applying for finance in Kuwait or Qatar, while NBK and IBQ take care of the rest of the process. Customers will benefit from competitive rates and long tenures.

NBK General Manager, Consumer Banking Group Mazin Al-Nahedh said: “Owning a property has never been so easy. We have a very simple application process. Now, our clients in Kuwait and Qatar can simply apply for a loan and we will take care of the rest.”

“NBK’s large international network provides customers with the best investment opportunities and services,” added Al-Nahedh. “NBK and IBQ

Mazin Al-Nahedh

customers can start looking for properties in the UK, USA, France, Lebanon, Egypt, UAE and Jordan and we encourage them to benefit from this opportunity to achieve their investment goals and enjoy promising returns.”

Philip King, AGM of Retail Banking at IBQ, commented: “By tying up with our partner NBK on this exciting new service, IBQ continues to provide highly competitive value-added products and benefits and more importantly, the best available choices for our customers looking to purchase property overseas. Our international reach through the extensive NBK network will ensure the process is simple and direct. ”NBK enjoys the widest international presence spanning many of the world’s leading financial centers including London, Paris, New York and Singapore, as well as China (Shanghai).

Meanwhile, regional coverage extends to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey. IBQ is 30% owned by NBK.

Qatari resident wins grand prize in American Express Mideast campaign MANAMA: American Express Middle East announced yesterday that its ‘Spend and Choose your Prize’ campaign had come to a successful conclusion, with Mehmat Seref Cosar from Qatar becoming the lucky winner of the grand prize.

Cosar opted for a luxury Caribbean trip for two including business class flight tickets. Another thirty lucky Cardmembers also won fabulous prizes during the three month campaign, ranging from mobile phones, iPads, LED TVs and US$1,000 vouchers to be used for shopping, jewellery or travel.

“The ‘Spend and Choose your Prize’ campaign was a great success as it meant that Cardmembers could use

their American Express Card to purchase relevant, everyday items, while also having the opportunity to win fabulous prizes and a once in a lifetime experience,” said Bilal Alavi, Head of Marketing, American Express Middle East. “The campaign also enabled us to reiterate our commitment to offer Cardmembers even greater flexibility by giving them the option to choose their prizes.”

The innovative ‘Spend and Choose Your Prize’ campaign was launched by American Express Middle East with the objective of rewarding Cardmembers in the GCC, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon for using their cards through the period from April to June 2011 and giving

them a chance to win fantastic prizes in a monthly raffle.

In addition, Cardmembers who made ten or more purchases in any month using their American Express Cards, were entered into a raffle draw for a grand prize which offered the winner a choice of several prizes. These included a luxury cruise trip for two people either to the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, or a trip to Maldives or Greece Omar Swar, Country Manager, Qatar, American Express Middle East, said: “American Express Middle East is committed to adding value to Cardmembers’ lives by continuously providing them with benefits and rewards through our various loyalty pro-

grams. The grand prize winner, Cosar said: “The ‘Spend and Choose your Prize’ campaign was a great way to get rewarded for spending on everyday items without adding any undue burden on my wallet. The prize came as a wonderful surprise, and I would like to thank American Express Middle East for this marvelous idea. My wife and I researched all the fantastic offers and decided on the “Business class air tickets, plus Oasis of the Seas Caribbean cruise”. We are really looking forward to the luxury Caribbean cruise.”

The “Spend and Choose your Prize” promotion, which concluded on June 30, 2011, was open to all American Express Middle East Cardmembers..

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 .4270000 .3670000 .2970000 .2640000 .2710000 .0040000 .0020000 .0750790 .7314700 .3810000 .0700000 .7170740 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2765500 GB Pound/KD .4290260 Euro .3693330 Swiss francs .2996210 Canadian dollars .2668370 Danish Kroner .0496610 Swedish Kroner .0398700 Australian dlr .2733420 Hong Kong dlr .0354820 Singapore dlr .2124370 Japanese yen .0035580 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0753230 Bahraini dinars .7338460 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0737660 Omani riyals .7185920 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.598 5.337 3.154 2.436 3.341 213.250 35.672 3.580 6.336 8.873 0.271 0.273

.2800000 .4380000 .3760000 .3100000 .2750000 .2800000 .0072500 .0035000 .0758330 .7388220 .4010000 .0760000 .7242810 .0072000 .0530000 .2786500 .4322840 .3721370 .3018960 .2688630 .0500380 .0401730 .2754180 .0357510 .2140500 .0035850 .0054000 .0024530 .0031750 .0036470 .0758950 .7394190 .3941300 .0743260 .7240480 .0064060

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 74.150 76.402 722.230 738.540 75.715

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.500 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.282 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.272 Tunisian Dinar 189.860 Jordanian Dinar 392.670 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.865 Syrian Lier 6.003 Morocco Dirham 33.814 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 277.950 Euro 370.650 Sterling Pound 431.930 Canadian dollar 268.420 Turkish lire 153.940 Swiss Franc 300.620 Australian dollar 277.000 US Dollar Buying 277.750 GOLD 315.500 159.000 81.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal

SELL CASH

276.600 738.810 3.820 270.300 545.600 44.900 50.700 167.800 48.440 373.000 36.340 5.750 0.032 0.214 0.242 3.680 394.530 0.188 89.320 46.400 4.270 212.300 1.800 48.300 721.590

SELL DRAFT

275.100 738.810 3.590 269.500

214.100 46.295 372.080 36.190 5.340 0.031

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

3.340 6.610 76.850 74.170 214.120 35.430 2.647 434.500 40.800 302.800 5.400 9.310 198.263 75.740 278.200 1.240

10 Tola

GOLD 1,775.380

75.640 277.800

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

276.850 268.505 443.300 374.970 303.055 733.125 75.350 75.990 73.785 389.700 46.310 2.422 5.309 3.179 3.615 6.383 679.095 3.675 8.955 5.830 3.415 91.960

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

277.97 271.32 303.91 372.42

435.00 3.62 3.740 5.720 2.650 4.150 3.350 76.00 738.81 48.50 394.50 722.50 76.95 74.30

277.750 3.155 5.340 2.445 3.600 6.375 75.715 74.210 738.300 46.295 435.900 3.190 1.550 394.500 5.750 374.800 272.200 3.690

Al Mulla Exchange

UAE Exchange Center WLL Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro

433.41 3.63 3.609 5.335 2.439 3.345 3.158 75.60 738.80 46.31 395.15 721.85 76.59 74.16

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 432.500 277.800

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Currency

721.410

301.100 5.400 9.070

Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

Currency

393.650 0.187 89.320 3.350 210.800

3.185 6.340 76.420 74.170 214.120 35.430 2.436 432.500

278.00 275.00 310.00 374.00

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

277.350 373.300 432.800 269.400 3.600 5.345 46.225 2.435 3.565 6.328 3.155 738.700 75.550 73.100

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Two-week roadshow brings Volkswagen cars to the people Volkswagen Behbehani takes to the road and to the malls KUWAIT: Volkswagen Behbehani in cooperation with its regional head office, announces their first road show which will run for approximately two weekends bringing the entire Volkswagen model range to the people in high traffic malls.

During the road show, Volkswagen Behbehani will display a number of their iconic cars and offer test drives in two malls, between November 24 2011 and December 3 2011. This ambitious tour will commence at the Marina Mall crescent finishing in Avenues Mall phase 1.

Discussing the road show Stefan Mecha, Managing Director Volkswagen Middle East said: “Volkswagen means “the people’s car” and with this first Volkswagen road show we want to engage with the public allowing them to gain firsthand experience of our popular models, and meet our Volkswagen representatives.” Elaborating further on the event Abdullah Ali, General Manager of Volkswagen Behbehani said: “This is the biggest road-show ever to be held in Kuwait with more than 27 cars available to test drive all at once. People can choose the Volkswagen they like and

experience its full potential!”

The events will display the wide range of Volkswagen models including the flagship Touareg, the recently launched all-new Jetta and the iconic Golf GTI at selected malls throughout the markets. Passersby are welcome to test drive the vehicles on site at the malls, learn more about the models and the special offers available.

“We are proud of the range of vehicles we are offering in the Middle East, and we want to raise the awareness of Volkswagen throughout region in the minds of the people.

Volkswagen is committed to delivering innovative yet affordable cars that people in the region love and value, and this road show gives us and our partner dealers the opportunity to interact with the public.”

“Volkswagen caters to families looking for safety and comfort and to car enthusiasts that seek high performance and power. We aim to encapsulate the best in class technology and innovation in all our models. This is an exciting campaign for Volkswagen Middle East and we look forward to welcoming everyone at the road show event,” concluded Mecha.

Al-Tijari announces winners of daily draw with Najma Account KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al-Najma Account draw yesterday. The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industr y represented by Saquer Al Manaie. The winners of the Al Najma Daily Draw are :Jiza Ghazi Nawar Al-Otaibi — KD 7000, Suha Mohammed Mustafa Abothan — KD 7000, Jahan Theeb Ashraf Gul —KD 7000, Qasem Mohammed Salem Al-Salem — KD 7000, Mohammed Soud Hussein Al-Ajmi — KD 7000.

The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces the biggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of the new Najma account. Customers of the bank can now enjoy a KD 7,000 daily prize which is the

highest in the country and another 4 mega prizes during the year worth KD 100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha and on the 19th of June which is the date of the bank’s establishment.

With a minimum balance of KD 500, customers will be eligible for the daily draw provided that the money is in the account one week prior to the daily draw or 2 months prior to the mega draw. In addition, for each KD 25 a customer can get one chance for winning instead of KD 50.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all lucky winners and also extends appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their effective supervision of the draws which were conducted in an orderly and organized manner.

Embattled Europe hit by credit rating warning PARIS: Moody’s warned yesterday that every member of the European Union could have its credit rating downgraded without firm action to stem the euro-zone crisis as the IMF denied it was in talks to bail out Italy. Ahead of a new OECD growth forecast likely to deepen the gloom within the euro-zone, Moody’s said there was a real danger of “multiple defaults” by debt-ridden countries and raised the spectre of the single currency’s break-up.

A weekend report in Italy’s La Stampa newspaper had said the International Monetary Fund was readying a bail-out package worth up to 600 billion euros ($800 billion), giving new Prime Minister Mario Monti a window of 12 to 18 months to implement urgent budget cuts and growthboosting reforms. That report led to an upturn on the European markets, with Italian, German and French stocks gaining more than three percent in initial trading.

Shares were also up in Asia’s main markets, with Tokyo rising 1.56 percent while Seoul closed 2.19 percent higher.

In a one-sentence statement, the IMF denied it was holding talks. “There are no discussions with the Italian authorities on a program for IMF financing,” said the Washingtonbased organization. But analysts said the markets were unconvinced by the IMF denial

and that sentiment was also given a lift by a separate report that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are considering a new stability treaty that would be limited to only a few countries in the euro-zone.

“The rally from a fundamental point of view is being assisted by rumors that the IMF are concocting some sor t of elaborate bailout plan for Italy,” said Simon Denham, head of Capital Spreads trading group in London. Greece, Portugal and Ireland have all received bailouts in the last 12 months but a bailout of Italy, the euro-zone’s third largest economy, would be on a totally different scale.

Italy’s 1.9-trillion euro ($2.5-trillion) public debt and low growth rate have spooked the markets in recent weeks. La Stampa said the IMF would guarantee rates of 4.0 percent or 5.0 percent on the loan-far better than the borrowing costs on commercial markets, where the rate on two-year and five-year government bonds has gone above 7.0 percent. Italy needs to refinance about 400 billion euros in debt next year. The size of the loan would make it difficult for the IMF to use its current resources so different options are being explored, including possible joint action with the European Central Bank in which the IMF would be guarantor.—AFP

KUWAIT: Stefan Mecha, Managing Director Volkswagen Middle East, with other Volkswagen Behbehani officials during the roadshow. —Photos

by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Korea’s vision of the new Development Cooperation 1.

From this November 29 to December 1, the Government of the Republic of Korea hosts the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which is oftentimes called as “Olympic at the area of development aid”, in Busan, a southern port city of Korea. This is the first time for the Forum to be hosted in Asia, which only held in either Europe or Africa.

2.

Up until now, Heads-of-state, ministeriallevel and high-ranking officials from 150 nations, leaders of some 50 international organizations, eminent figures, and representatives of some 400 civil society groups, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former UK Premier Tony Blaire, Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi, Colombia University professor Jeffrey Sachs, have registered for participation. So far, around 2,200 people are expected to join.

3.

The participation of such a large number of leaders at all levels demonstrates the international community’s keen interest and high expectations for the Busan HLF-4. It also brightens the prospect of achieving the goal of the Busan HLF-4, which is to seek ways to build a new global partnership and bring real development to developing countries with the participation of all aid donor and recipient countries.

4.

In addition to the plenary session, some 50 various side events will take place on the sidelines of the Busan HLF-4, including a parliamentary forum, civil forum, and youth forum. Many of the events will be hosted by the Korean government and concerned institutions, raising the prospect that Korea will proactively set new norms in the field of development assistance and spread its development experience around the world on the occasion of the Busan HLF-4.

Meaning of Korea’s hosing the Forum

5.

The current Forum is all the meaningful because it is hosted by the Republic of Korea, which successfully transformed itself from a recipient and a donor country within the lifetime of many Koreans today. The Republic of Korea, whose per capita GDP stood at $67 at the end of the Korean War in 1953, and had received over $12 billion in foreign aid for 50 years, has grown more than 800 times in its economic size ,and now its per capita GDP has reached more than $20,000.

6.

Since Korea received foreign aid for 50 years, it did not stop receiving aid, but led its own development by creating new financing sources for development through trade and investment. It is for sure that the essences for Korea’s rapid development success such as education and a well trained workforce, strong political leadership, competent bureaucracy and effective policies will be duly reflected throughout the whole discussion, thereby spreading a message of hope that better future is possible within our lifetime to all the development partners both from developed and developing countries.

7.

Now as Korea is one of the strongest economies in the world, it has rapidly expanded development cooperation activities with a commitment to increasing its ODA to 0.25% or $3 billion by 2015. In 2010, Korea joined the OECD Development Assistance Committee, DAC, as the first member to come from the ranks of least developed countries, and hosted G-20 Summit in 2011 for the first time as a non G8 country.

Implications to Kuwait 8.

The Republic of Korea has strong belief that this Forum will be also a good opportunity for Kuwait to reflect Kuwait’s point of view on foreign aid.

9.

First of all, one of the most important topics of the Forum is how to adjust to the evolv-

ing global aid architecture. Nowadays while traditional donors’ role is decreasing, instead, emerging donors play even bigger role. Kuwait as a non- traditional donor has room to contribute for this topic. In particular, Kuwait, like Korea, being experienced war, destruction, and re-development during the life time of its people, is in a good position to deeply understand other developing countries difficulties and provide useful advice.

10.

In this regard, Kuwait’s on-going development plan and vivid know-how on mega projects in the area of infrastructure will definitely invoke meaningful discussion as a way to assist developing countries’ infrastructure issues.

11.

Also we believe that Kuwait can play a bridging role among various development partner groups during the Forum and also in the future discussion. Kuwait has never had hidden agenda when it tried to help others since the assistance has came from the spirit of generosity embedded in its culture.

12.

As a host country of the Forum, we really hope those countries which have vivid experience, know-how and willingness to contribute like Kuwait make voice and add values throughout the process, thereby enables the Forum to be a huge success.

Participants from Kuwait From Kuwait, Abdlatif Y T. Al-Hamad, the Director General of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development designated a senior delegation for the Forum comprising Ahmad Osman, Director of the Technical Department, Dr Mondher Gargouri, Senior Economic Advisor and Azzeddine Bouchelanghem, Executive Secretary of the Arab Coordination Group Institutions.

Homepage: www.busanhlf4.org

Germany denies mulling euro-zone ‘elite bonds’ BERLIN: Germany denied yesterday a report it was considering “elite bonds” to pool the debt only of eurozone countries with a top AAA credit rating as a response to its crippling debt crisis. “There is no plan for ‘Triple A bonds’ or ‘elite bonds’ as stated in the article,” a finance ministry spokesman said in a statement following a report earlier yesterday in the daily Die Welt.

“We are working intensively on a stability union,” the spokesman added, referring to Berlin’s drive for EU member countries to sign on to tougher fiscal discipline.

The conservative daily had reported that Berlin was looking at a scheme of issuing joint bonds from the six countries with the highest credit rating-Germany, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Austria. These bonds would be aimed at erecting a “credible firewall to calm financial markets” and, under strict conditions, could be used to come to the aid of debt-mired major economies such as Italy and Spain, Die Welt said. They would have an interest rate of between 2.0 and 2.5 percent and the revenues generated could be made

available to the euro-zone bail-out fund, the report said. But the finance ministry said they wanted to achieve their goal of a stability union “by means of treaty changes in which we suggest that member states’ budgets respect firm debt limits.”

“This is the way to win back the confidence of the markets and send the right signal to the financial investors of the world that the euro is and remains a stable currency, in which it pays to invest,” the statement said. “All that has nothing to do with ‘Triple A’ or ‘Elite Bonds’,” added Berlin.

Berlin also remains opposed to a

wider scheme formally advanced by the European Commission last week, for “eurobonds” covering the entire euro-zone.

And Germany is also against allowing the European Central Bank more room for manoeuvre in its controversial program of buying the bonds of debt-wracked countries.

However, a report on Sunday in the “Welt am Sonntag” weekly suggested that treaty changes tightening up fiscal policy in the 17-nation zone could give the ECB more freedom to intervene on the bond markets. —AFP

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KSE stocks mixed amid crisis GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) closed on a mixed note amid political unrest in the country.

Investor sentiments were at low levels as the political tension in the country continues. Global General Index (GGI) ended the day down by 0.14 percent, at 179.73 point.

Market Capitalization was down for the day, reaching KD29.41bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 5,782.7 point, adding 0.70 points (0.01 percent) to its previous close.

Market breadth During the session, 88 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 40 equities advanced versus 23 that declined. Trading activity was up yesterday. Total volume traded was up by 55.35 percent with 146.96mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD15.97mn (4.62 percent higher compared to Thursday session). Investment sector was the volume leader. The sector accounted for 45.18 percent of total shares exchanges. Al-Ahlia Holding Company was the session’s most traded stock with 32mn shares exchanged. The banking sector was the value leader, having 27.36 percent of total traded value.

In terms of top gainers, Gulf Franchising Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 15.63 percent to its share value and closing at KD0.019. On the other hand, ACICO industries Company shed 7.41 percent and closed at KD0.250 making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sector-wise In terms of sector’s performance, two ended the day on negative note, while the other five reported gains. Global Banking Index was the prominent loser as it registered a decline of 1.06 percent on the back of the losses registered in many stocks in this sector. Kuwait Finance

House shed 2.20 percent, National Bank of Kuwait was down by 1.75 percent and Ahli United Bank ended lower by 1.23 percent. Industrial sector followed as its index plunged by 0.27 percent mainly because of the losses reported by Gulf Cables & Electrical Industries Company, which plunged by 1.33 percent to close at KD1.480.

Investment sector topped the gainers during the session as Global Investment Index surged by 1.09 percent. Heavyweight, Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) rose by 1.67 percent to close at KD0.305.

National International Company (Holding) was the top gainer in the sector, adding 8.00 percent to its share value to close at KD0.054.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

business

Global Services Index came next, registering an increase of 0.82 percent, on the back of the gains registered by some of the leading stocks in this sector, such as Zain Company’s stock which increased by 1.11 percent to close at KD0.910 and National Mobile Telecommunication Company ’s stock which increased by 1.06 percent to close at KD1.900.

Corporate news International Investment Group said that the court ruling issued on November 21, 2011 in lawsuit No. 2707/2010 - Commercial is a preliminary judgment. The case was filed

by Osoul Investment Company that claimed approx. KD4.16mn from

International Investment Group.

The court obligated the defendant to pay Osoul Investment Company KD3.91mn. Hits Telecom increased its stake in its Spanish unit to 100 percent from about 68.7 percent.

Hits Telecom Spain Company has now 100,000 subscribers, which makes it one of Spain’s five largest virtual network operators, and it plans to boost this number to 163,000 subscribers by the end of 2012, Parr Erickson, the Hits Telecom’s Group Chief Executive was quoted as saying. The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $107.73pb on Friday, compared with $108.10pb the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Brent rises above $108 on Iran supply worries LONDON: Oil rose sharply yesterday with US crude futures climbing towards $100 per barrel as concerns of a supply disruption from the Middle East overshadowed worries over oil demand growth and a worsening economic outlook for the euro-zone.

Markets got an early boost from a repor t suggesting the International Monetary Fund was preparing a 600 billion euro ($800 billion) rescue plan for Italy.

Oil held on to its gains even after the IMF said it was not in any discussion with Italian authorities on a financing plan due to a weaker dollar and supply worries. Brent crude futures for January rose $2.60 per barrel to a high of $109.00 before easing back to around $108.70 by 0940 GMT. US oil was even stronger, boosted by a healthy start to US consumer spending ahead of the key year-end holiday season, with prices up $3.14 to a high of $99.91.

“Tension with Iran and talk of a European oil ban on Iranian oil is raising concerns of supply problems,” said Christophe Barret, global oil analyst at Credit Agricole. “ There is also some optimism over talk of a closer fiscal union among core euro zone states, although this would be a long way away.”

A report in Italian newspaper La Stampa suggesting the IMF was preparing a rescue plan worth up to 600 billion euros for Italy helped boost shares, the euro and metals. An IMF spokesperson poured cold water on the report, which said the facility could be made available at a rate of between 4-5 percent to give Italy breathing space for 18 months. “There are no discussions with the Italian authorities on a program for IMF financing,” an IMF spokesperson said. US

President Barack Obama will press senior European Union officials in Washington yesterday to reach a solution to the emergency that Moody’s said now threatens the credit standing of all European government bond ratings.

Iran’s parliament voted on Sunday to reduce diplomatic relations with Britain, with one lawmaker saying Iranians angered by London’s latest sanctions could storm the British embassy as they did the US mission in 1979.

Europe is edging toward an Iranian oil embargo, despite worries a ban would hit euro zone members hardest, boost oil prices and force Iran to rely on China to buy more crude at discounted prices. The outlook for US growth has brightened in recent weeks and spending data on Sunday confirmed this trend.

A sur vey for the National Retail Federation, conducted by online research firm BIGresearch, on Sunday showed US shoppers spent a record $52.4 billion, up 16.4 percent from 2010, from Thursday through Sunday.

Fifty million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, an increase of 35 percent from a year ago, while online retail sales in the United States on Black Friday jumped 26 percent this year, comScore data showed.

Offering a glimmer of hope for Europe’s debt crisis were comments by officials in Germany and France that the euro zone’s biggest economies were exploring radical methods of securing deeper and more rapid fiscal integration within the bloc. Euro-zone finance ministers will also attend a Tuesday meeting where detailed operational rules for the eurozone’s bailout fund are ready for approval, documents obtained by Reuters showed. — Reuters

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

BUSINESS

Asian markets up on IMF rescue for Italy HONG KONG: Asian markets and the euro rose yesterday on a report that the International Monetary Fund was considering a plan to hand Italy an $800 billion bailout.

Traders were also cheered by news that Germany and France had discussed plans to speed up integration in the eurozone, while data showed US retail sales hit a record for the Black Friday shopping weekend. Tokyo rose 1.56 percent, or 127.48 points, to 8,287.49, Seoul closed 2.19 percent, or 38.88 points, higher at 1,815.28 and Sydney jumped 1.85 percent, or 73.9 points, to close at 4,058.2.

Hong Kong added 1.97 percent, or 348.33 points, to end at 18,037.81 and Shanghai climbed 0.12 percent, or 2.81 points, to 2,383.03. The gains continued in the region despite the IMF on Monday denying it was holding talks with Rome.

Italy’s La Stampa newspaper said on Sunday that the IMF could provide up to 600 billion euros to help Rome service its huge repayments. The cash would give Prime Minister Mario Monti 12 to 18 months to implement urgent budget cuts and growth-boosting reforms “by removing the necessity of having to refinance

the debt”, the paper said, citing fund officials. La Stampa added that the IMF would guarantee rates of four or five percent on the loan-far better than the yields above seven percent Italy has to pay on commercial markets.

“One of the big concerns about Italy was all the refinancing it has to do and all the (bond) maturities it’s got in the next 12 months and if the rumor is true, then obviously that is going to alleviate some of the stress around that,” analyst Brad Gordon told Dow Jones Newswires.

The euro rose to $1.3316 in early European trade from $1.3240 late Friday in New York, while it was at 103.41 yen from 102.90 yen. The dollar edged down to 77.66 yen from 77.72 yen.

Traders ignored the Fund’s announcement that it was not in talks to provide financial help to Italy.

“There are no discussions with the Italian authorities on a program for IMF financing,” said a one-sentence statement released by an IMF spokesperson, who was not identified. Sentiment was also given a lift by a separate report that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are con-

sidering a new stability treaty that would be limited to only a few countries in the euro-zone.

The two European giants on Sunday discussed methods of imposing tighter budget controls over euro-zone nations via a zonal agreement or a separate compact outside of the European Union treaty involving eight to 10 nations, news reports quoted EU sources as saying.

The two leaders were expected to propose the plan ahead of a December 9 European Union summit. The weekend’s reports provided some relief to markets, which have been sent sprawling in recent weeks on fears the euro-zone is on the verge of collapse as nations such as Italy, Greece and Spain struggle under mountains of debt.

Data from the United States showing Americans spent a record $52.4 billion over Thanksgiving weekend also added to the upbeat mood.

The National Retail Federation said Sunday that sales over the long holiday weekend were up 16 percent from last year, marking the biggest dollar amount ever spent over the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday period, the unofficial start of

the Christmas shopping season.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, gained $1.52 to $98.29 per barrel in the after-

noon. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery rose $1.26 to $107.66. Gold was trading at $1,712.10 an ounce by 0820 GMT, from $1,677.35 late Friday. — AFP

KARACHI: Pakistani stockbrokers look at an index board showing a decreasing stock graph during trading session at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in Karachi yesterday. — AFP

Global slowdown to hit China and India: OECD Japan set for a rebound

SHANGHAI: Chery Quantum Auto Co, Ltd Vice Chairman Volker Steinwascher delivers a speech near a new brand car model during a Qoros launching event in Shanghai yesterday. Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co and partner Israel Corp are launching new brand Qoros, seeking fresh appeal both overseas and in the slowing local market. —AP

China starts yuan trading against 2 more currencies SHANGHAI: China yesterday started trading its domestic currency against two new units, the Australian dollar and Canadian dollar, in the latest move to promote greater internationalization of the yuan.

China has been working to increase use of the yuan and eventually make it fully convertible for international transactions. The latest move brought the number of currencies traded against the yuan on the tightly-controlled onshore foreign exchange market to nine, according to market operator the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

But the introduction of the two new currencies attracted little trading interest on Monday, said a foreign bank dealer, who declined to be named.

“There was only one deal for both of the two,” the dealer told AFP. The yuan weakened against both currencies yes-

terday, he said. The yuan is also traded against the US dollar, euro, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen, Malaysian ringgit and Russian ruble.

The central bank allows the yuan to move up or down 0.5 percent from its fixed rate to the US dollar each day, but rise or fall three percent against other currencies.

Beijing has also allowed yuan-related financial products in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory that has been acting as a test bed for the ambitious goal of making the unit a global currency.

A handful of Chinese banks, including the countr y ’s largest foreign exchange lender Bank of China, along with several foreign companies including Caterpillar and McDonald’s Corp, have issued yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. — AFP

PARIS: A slowdown in the global economy is set to hit emerging giants China and India, but also bring a respite from inflation, while Japan is still set for a rebound, the OECD said yesterday.

But an aggravation of the euro-zone debt crisis, which the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development considers the key risk to the world economy, would also hit emerging markets it warned. “The emerging market economies would not be immune, with global trade volumes falling strongly, and the value of their international asset holdings being hit by weaker financial asset prices,” it said.

If the euro-zone manages to contain its crisis the OECD sees Japan receiving a boost from post-quake and tsunami reconstruction, while breakneck Chinese and Indian growth slows due to efforts to rein in inflation and weakening global trade. “The recovery in the OECD area has now slowed to a crawl, notwithstanding a shortlived rebound from the restoration of global supply chains disrupted by the Japanese earthquake and its aftermath,” the OECD said on releasing its latest set of forecasts.

“Emerging market output growth has also continued to soften, reflecting the impact of past domestic monetary policy tightening, sluggish external demand and high inflation,” added the OECD, which unites the world’s 34 most advanced countries.

Post-quake and tsunami reconstruction should close reduce the contraction this year to 0.3 percent from the 0.9 percent it expected this spring, the OECD said. Growth should rebound to 2.0 percent next year.But “after an initial rapid rebound in activity following the earthquake and the Fukushima disaster, the pace of the recovery is now moderating,” warned the OECD. Emerging powerhouse China should see growth slow to 9.3 percent this year from 10.4 percent last year. A slowdown in world trade will brake growth to 8.5 percent in 2012 before it climbs to 9.5 percent in 2013.

The OECD said “output growth in China is projected to be well below potential in the near

Lithuania’s anti-euro camp outstrips supporters: Poll VILNIUS: Opposition to Lithuania’s planned adoption of the euro has grown in the shadow of Europe’s debt crisis, with a poll released yesterday showing 49 percent in the Baltic state are against joining the currency bloc.

The survey by the RAIT public opinion institute for the Baltic News Service showed that the size the anti-euro camp had risen from 43 percent a year ago. A total of 43 percent in the latest survey were in favor of ditching the Lithuanian litas for the euro.

BNS noted that it marked the first time for six years that the number opposed to adopting euro had outstripped supporters.

Within the pro-euro camp, 14 percent were in favor of adoption as soon as possible, while 15 percent said they would like to wait for five years and 14 percent for 10 years. The litas has been pegged to euro since 2002. Lithuania, a former Soviet-ruled nation of three million which joined the

European Union in 2004, had hoped to adopt the euro in 2007. It was denied entry as its inflation rate-one of the eurozone entry tests-was a hair’s breadth over the limit.

Lithuanians note bitterly that few euro-zone members obeyed their own rules, and that Greece was found to have provided flawed data to gain entry in 2001. After its booming economy went off the rails in 2008, Lithuania introduced biting austerity measures to tackle the impact on state finances and slash its public deficit-another euro-zone entry measure.

Amid an economic recovery, Lithuania’s centre-right government has identified 2014 as a potential date for euro-zone entry.

Some analysts, however, warn it may not be able to switch until 2016 or 2017 because of problems meeting inflation or deficit criteria. RAIT polled a representative sample of 1,023 people from October 2-18. — AFP

Anadarko ups Mozambique gas reserves again LONDON: US oil company Anadarko Petroleum said its major gas finds offshore Mozambique were around twice as large as it earlier thought, adding support to hopes that East Africa will become another major gas production centre.

Anadarko said yesterday that the results of its Barquentine-3 appraisal well showed its fields had recoverable reserves of 15 to over 30 trillion cubic feet (Tcf ) of natural gas-compared to total UK gas reserves of 9 Tcf, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

“This could be one of the most important natural gas fields discovered in the last 10 years,” said Anadarko Chairman Jim Hackett. Previously, Anadarko said the fields, in which Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd and Dublin-based Cove Energy Plc have stakes, held “at least 10 Tcf” of gas.

Cove shares traded up 9.8 percent at 87 pence at 0925 GMT, outperforming a 1.9 percent rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index. Analyst at Peel Hunt said they had upgraded their target price for the shares to 166 pence from 126 pence.

Anadarko said the results supported its plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Mozambique. Analysts said the latest drilling success should also make investors more confident that other prospects might find gas.

“Today’s announcement also significantly de-risks a further 15 prospects and leads identified on the license,” Richard Griffith at Evolution Securities said.

Explorers see Anadarko’s finds as evidence of a trend of oil and gas fields extending along the East Coast of Africa-a region not seen in previous decades as

having good exploration prospects.

Last month, Italian oil group Eni said it had made a giant natural gas discovery-the biggest in its history- offshore northern Mozambique, close to the Anadarko fields.

Hopes of other major finds have drawn a rash of other companies to the area including Britain’s BG Group Plc, Portugal’s Galp, Norway’s Statoil ASA and Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp.

Cove Energy is seen as a possible bid target or at least a willing seller of its Mozambique assets since it is largely a financial investor. However, until recently, the company’s assets were seen as too early in the exploration stage to be attractive to Asian state-backed companies which are acquisition hungry but which prefer to buy companies or field stakes with known reserves. — Reuters

term” as soft demand for its goods abroad is mostly compensated by domestic demand. A halt in the growth of commodities prices should help restrain inflation, with growth in consumer prices slowing from 5.6 percent this year to 3.8 percent for the next two years.

“As inflation and monetary conditions ease, GDP is expected to pick up from around the middle of 2012 and to grow at rates close to 10 percent through 2013,” said the OECD. Developments in inflation and the redhot housing market should allow China’s central bank to begin lowering interest rates from mid-2012. It suggested as a “useful first step” in loosening monetary policy would be fo r C h i n e s e a u t h o r i t i e s to “m a n a g e t h e exchange rate with reference to a clearly-

defined basket of currencies.”

The Unites States and other countries have accused Beijing of benefiting from keeping the yuan at an artificially low exchange rate and have pushed for it to appreciate and eventually become covertable.

In India, the OECD expects growth to remain “subdued” due to the weak world economy and efforts to rein in inflation. Growth should slow down from 8.8 percent last year to 7.6 this year, and slow further to 7.5 percent in 2012. An improvement in the global economy and a slowdown in inflation should help growth pick up to 8.4 percent in 2013.

Inflation should slow to 7.9 percent this year, then to 7.5 percent in 2012 and 6.5 percent in 2013. — AFP

ANHUI: Workers going about their chores on scaffolding at a construction site for a new shopping complex in Hefei, in eastern China’s Anhui province. China will maintain restrictions on the property market, Vice Premier Li Keqiang has said, despite growing speculation that curbs could be eased to prevent a damaging slump in prices. — AFP

Guyana eyes stronger growth on mining GEORGETOWN: Guyana’s economy will likely grow more than 5 percent next year as the South American nation boosts investments in its mining and agricultural sectors, the ruling party presidential candidate, Donald Ramotar, said in an interview.

Nearly half a million Guyanese vote yesterday in a presidential election. The primary candidates are Ramotar of the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic and former military commander David Granger of the multiparty coalition A Partnership for National Unity.

The former British colony, which in the 1970s and 1980s suffered rampant inflation and food shortages, hopes to expand beyond its mineral mainstays of bauxite and gold, and wants to take advantage of its sizable land mass to grow more food, Ramotar said. “Despite the financial problems in the United States and Europe, we have been one of the only nations in (the Caribbean) that have had positive economic growth over the last five years,” said Ramotar.

“The average (growth) for the last five years was five percent, and I believe that next year we can probably grow a little bit faster.”

He said new investments include a $1 billion gold mine project to be developed by Guyana Goldfields and an agreement with First Bauxite Corporation to develop the Bonasika mine. It is also developing a manganese mine, and companies have approached Guyana about seeking different types of minerals as well.

“There are also companies looking for uranium and iron ore, so there’s a lot of interest in Guyana right now,” he said. Ramotar has built his campaign around extending the economic growth of President Bharrat Jagdeo, who leaves

office after completing his second term.

Supporters generally say they back the ruling party because of improvements to the economy and government investment in houses, hospitals and schools. Critics say unemployment is masked by “jobless” GDP growth because development has not reached the isolated rural regions.

Ramotar said expansion of agriculture, focused on rice and sugar, would let Guyana take advantage of its extensive land base, while its membership in the Caribbean Community regional trade bloc known as Caricom would give it a ready market to export commodities.

“Agriculture has a big future, we have a lot of land, we have fresh water,” he said. “We have a lot of countries that are going into biofuels, the price of food keeps going up. And right now Caricom countries spend more than $4 billion per year to import food.”

That expansion will require considerable expansion in the country’s network of roads, which in many parts of the country are nothing more than muddy jungle paths. Guyana is not yet prepared to borrow money from international capital markets, Ramotar said, and expects to continue relying on advantageous financing from multilateral lenders.

Over the last decade, Guyana vastly reduced its foreign debt, which by the start of the 1990s had ballooned to seven times GDP-leaving the government using 94 percent of its budget for debt service, according to Ramotar.

The country was able to lower it in part with debt relief agreements with agencies such as the IMF that were based on improvement in the country’s financial management. — Reuters

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

business

US retailers have a robust start to season More Americans hunted for bargains over the weekend than ever before as retailers lured them online and into stores with big discounts and an earlier-than-usual start to the holiday shopping season.

A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the four-day holiday weekend starting on Thursday, the Thanksgiving Day holiday, up from 212 million last year, according to early

estimates by the National Retail Federation released on Sunday.

Americans spent more, too: The average holiday shopper spent $398.62 over the weekend, up from $365.34 a year ago. Art and Anna Destrada from Port Chester, New York, were among the holiday shoppers. They started shopping on Thanksgiving evening at a Walmart store, went to vari-

FAIRFAX: Shopping Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Americans shrugged off economic gloom to post record Thanksgiving weekend sales of $52.4 billion, the National Retail Federation said as shoppers prepared for “Cyber Monday” online deals. — AFP

ous malls in New Jersey on Friday, and got some deals at Macy’s on Saturday.

They spent a total of $2,000 on gifts for themselves and others, including a Wii videogame console, clothing and jewelry.

“We’ve saved for Christmas and put away money all year,” said Anna Destrada, 49. “We stayed within our means so we can make a few splurges.” The results for the first holiday shopping weekend show that retailers’ efforts to lure shoppers during the weak economy are working.

Some like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J C Penney have been making a stronger push online to better compete with the likes of rival Amazon.com. And major chains like Macy’s, Target, Best Buy extended the traditional start to the shopping season by opening their doors at midnight on Thanksgiving evening instead of the pre-dawn Friday hours of years past.

But the question remains whether retailers’ will be able to hold shoppers’ attention throughout the remainder of the season, which can account for 25 to 40 percent of a merchant’s annual revenue.

After all, Americans are still very driven by deep discounting and they’re more conscious of their spending budgets.

Overall, holiday spending is expected to grow by a modest 2.8 percent to about $466 billion, according to the NRF. A fuller picture on spending will come Thursday when major retailers report their

November sales figures. But for now, experts agree that retailers will likely have to continue to discount to get shoppers to spend.

“The big question is: How do you close the season?” said Hana Ben-Shabat, a partner at A T Kearney’s retail practice.

“This is a very promotional driven shopper.” Indeed, the earlier hours - which meant earlier door-buster deals - on Black Friday seemed to be what drew many shoppers in over the weekend, particularly the younger crowd.

According to the National Retail Federation, 24 percent of Black Friday shoppers were at stores at midnight.

That’s up from 9.5 percent the year before when only a few stores were open during that time. Of those shopping at midnight on Black Friday, 37 percent were in the 18-to-34 age group. “Black Friday has evolved from an early morning shopping activity to a late night entertainment,” said Ellen Davis, spokeswoman at The National Retail Federation. “A lot of people stayed up until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. to go shopping, and then went to bed.”

The remainder of the day went well, too. Mall of America, the largest mall in North America, broke its Black Friday record with about 210,000 shoppers. And Taubman Centers, which manages or leases 26 shopping centers in 13 states, says sales were up in the mid- to high-single digits on Friday compared with a year ago.

Overall, Black Friday sales were $11.4 billion, up 7 percent, or nearly $1 billion from the same day last year, according to a report by ShopperTrak, which gathers data from 25,000 outlets across the country. It was the largest amount ever spent on that day and the biggest year-overyear increase since 2007. Additionally, customer counts climbed 5.1 percent that day compared with a year ago.

Online shopping on Black Friday was especially strong. Research firm comScore reported on Sunday that online spending jumped 26 percent on Black Friday to $816 million, compared with $648 million on the same day a year ago. Some experts worry the strong start will cannibalize sales during the remainder of the season. Indeed, many people who headed to the malls after Black Friday weren’t spending. At the Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, North Carolina, it was busy on Saturday, but many shoppers did not have bags. Likewise, at Pioneer Place mall in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, a number of shoppers were doing more window-shopping for the best deals than actual buying.

David Van Veen, 25, for one, said he was looking for deals on work clothes.

But he said he’ll likely wait to get gifts and other holiday items - perhaps when the deals are better - later in the season. “I’ll wait until Dec. 23 to start shopping I think,” he said. — AP

Monti takes centre-stage at key euro finance meet Partners concerned about IMF rescue BRUSSELS: Italy’s new Prime Minister Mario Monti takes centrestage today when euro finance ministers gather here for their last scheduled meeting of the year with partners concerned over IMF rescue planning.

The former EU commissioner gave himself the finance ministerial portfolio in the new unity government that took over from the coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi. Monti is expected to unveil plans for accelerated reform at the meeting. “The meeting is notionally about Greece, progress on leveraging up the size of the euro rescue fund and plans to ensure the medium-term liquidity of Europe’s banks,” said a European Union official, a veteran of such gatherings.

“But it will mostly revolve around Monti,” he added. Detailed budget measures, which require final parliamentary approval, are due by a December 9 EU summit. But Olli Rehn, European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, suggested a more “ambitious timetable” was needed during a visit to Rome on Friday. Rehn will also attend the Brussels gathering. Respected Italian daily La Stampa reported Sunday that International Monetary Fund officials were preparing loans to the value of 600 billion euros ($800 billion) as a contingency.

That would give the Italian government up to 18 months’ breathing space-as it has to refinance a staggering 400 billion euros in debt next year. La Stampa’s report said the IMF would guarantee rates of as low as

4.0 percent-significantly better than the punishing commercial rates Italy is having to take, which run as high as 7.0 percent.

Italy is the world’s third-biggest sovereign borrower after the United States and Japan. La Stampa’s report suggested that this massive funding need meant the European Central Bank could become involved, using IMF guarantees. Contacted by AFP, the IMF declined to comment, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office made it clear that any problem with Italy would hit “the heart of the euro-zone.”

The EU and the ECB have sent auditors to check Italy’s public accounts and the IMF will soon send its own experts, under a special sur-

veillance mechanism agreed at a G20 summit in France earlier this month.

Prior to being forced from office, Berlusconi turned down an offer of financial aid from the IMF. “We believed it was not adequate,” he said in an interview Sunday. Italy’s nearly 2.0-trillion-euro public debt heading into certain 2012 recession means anything more than a private discussion about such a rescue is not on the agenda in these talks.

So today’s meeting, starting at 1600 GMT, will begin with a decisionrepeatedly delayed since August-on releasing an 8.0-billion-euro tranche of loans to Athens.

This month Greece, like Italy, came under the control over a EU-

ROME: European Commissioner for the Economy Olli Rehn (left) meets Italian Premier Mario Monti at Chigi’s Premier palace in Rome. — AP

AT&T, Telekom to press ahead with T-Mobile deal WASHINGTON: Deutsche Telekom and AT&T vowed to press ahead with the planned sale of the German company’s TMobile USA unit to the US cell phone operator despite concerns raised by American authorities.

Nevertheless, AT&T said it plans to take a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion in the current quarter to reflect the break-up fees that would be due to Deutsche Telekom if regulators block the deal. The two companies said they had withdrawn applications to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the merger and intended to seek its approval again “as soon as practical.”

They took the step to consider “all options at the FCC and to focus their continuing efforts on obtaining antitrust clearance for the transaction from the Department of Justice,” which filed a lawsuit in August to stop the deal, AT&T said in a statement. “Both companies are continuing to pursue the sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T,” Deutsche Telekom stressed.

Both US agencies worry that the deal would hamper competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.

Deutsche Telekom AG and AT&T Inc made their move after the chairman of the FCC earlier this week came out against the merger. Julius Genachowski made his position known in a document he circulated to fellow commissioners.

He recommended sending AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile to an administrative law judge for review and a hearing. That’s what the FCC does when it opposes a merger.

In a research note on Thursday, Jefferies International analyst Ulrich Rathe said the withdrawal of the FCC application, as well as the opposition by the Justice Department, indicate that “the companies are already well into working out a new version of the deal.” The analyst, who rates Deutsche Telekom “Buy,” said the charge confirms the breakup fee will be difficult for AT&T to avoid if the deal is not completed.—AP

friendly ‘technocratic’ government.

EU sources have said the release of the money has finally been approved, after Greek party leaders gave written undertakings that plans for cuts, tax rises and other reforms in Athens would survive elections set for the New Year. More elusive however has been progress on ramping up the 440-billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Klaus Regling, the head of the EFSF, talked down initial hopes of a five-fold increase in its reach. The official line is still that they are looking for leveraging in the region of “three-to-four times” a maximum 275-billion slice of government guarantees not already committed to Greek, Irish and Portuguese bailouts, officials said.

Pressure on the ECB to act as a US-style lender of last resort has intensified with even fellow Triple Arated Austria and Finland abandoning the German stance of resistance.

But there is recognition at the highest levels that ECB policy changes should be seen to be free from political interference. That means the ministers are unlikely to say too much publicly on that either.

For months now, France has led international efforts to persuade Germany to let the ECB to buy bonds from euro states directly, not just on sell-on markets.

Supporters of this approach argue that only an institution that can print money-even devalue a currency to trade an economy’s way out of debt-will be able bring jittery investors into line. — AFP

IMF denies aid talks with Italy WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund denied yesterday it was holding talks with Italy about a financial aid package to prop up the European country’s economy. “There are no discussions with the Italian authorities on a program for IMF financing,” said a one-sentence statement released by an IMF spokesperson, who was not identified.

The denial followed a report by the Italian newspaper La Stampa alleging that the fund could bail out Italy with up to 600 billion euros ($800 billion) in aid.

According to the report, the money would give Prime Minister Mario Monti a window of 12 to 18 months to implement urgent budget cuts and growth-boosting reforms “by removing the necessity of having to refinance the debt.”

La Stampa said the IMF would guarantee rates of 4.0 percent or 5.0 percent on the loan-far better than the borrowing costs on

commercial markets, where the rate on twoyear and five-year government bonds has gone above 7.0 percent. Italy needs to refinance about 400 billion euros in debt next year. Italy’s 1.9-trillion euro ($2.5-trillion) public debt and low growth rate have spooked the markets in recent weeks, prompting concern that it could have to seek a bailout like fellow euro-zone members Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The European Union and the European Central Bank have sent auditors to check Italy’s public accounts and the IMF is set to send experts soon under a special surveillance mechanism agreed at a G20 summit in France earlier this month. Meanwhile, the La Stampa report had a far-reaching effect on financial markets. Buoyed by the newspaper account, Asian markets and the euro made gains in yesterday’s trading. Tokyo rose 1.56 percent, Seoul closed up 2.19 percent, and Sydney jumped 1.85 percent. — AFP

SYDNEY: A passenger arriving at the Qantas check-in at Sydney Airport after the airline resumed flying after a bitter industrial dispute sparked an extraordinary 46hour shutdown that stranded 70,000 passengers in 22 cities worldwide. — AFP

Grounding hurts Qantas profit SYDNEY: Qantas said yesterday the dispute that triggered a shock grounding of its fleet cost Aus$194 million ($190 million) amid reports it is poised to shelve plans for a joint-venture premium airline in Asia. The Australian flagcarrier said it expects to post an underlying net profit of $140-$190 million in the first half of the financial year to December 31, 2011, from $417 million a year earlier.

The slump is largely due to high fuel bills, a series of strikes and the grounding of its entire fleet for nearly two days last month during a bitter dispute with unions over wages and conditions.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline had lost $68 million as a result of industrial action before he decided to take all planes out of the skies. The cost of the grounding itself, including lost revenues, refunds and accommodation for thousands of stranded passengers, came in at $70 million. There was also a $27 million hit related to forward bookings and a $29 million cost as a result of “customer recovery initiatives”.

The government called on the industrial relations umpire, Fair Work Australia, to step in to end the standoff with unions representing pilots, engineers and ground staff.

But with the parties unable to resolve their disagreements the dispute is now heading to arbitration. Joyce said customers had started to return to the airline. “We can now provide absolute certainty for our passengers and this has led to a strong and quick recovery in forward bookings,” he said.

But he added that the outlook for the second half of the financial year remained volatile given the uncertainty in global economic conditions, volatile fuel prices and fluctuating foreign exchange rates.

It is this uncertainty that is likely to force Qantas to shelve plans for a new premium airline based in Asia, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing sources.

The announcement in August of Qantas’s decision to refocus on Asia was part of what sparked the fierce backlash from unions, who are concerned at the possible outsourcing of jobs. The report said despite intense planning for the capital-intensive project based in either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, executives had now decided to focus on a lower risk alliance with Malaysia Airlines.

Joyce said no final decision had been made. “We obviously keep all of our options open,” he told ABC radio. “We believe that a new premium airline in Asia is important for us.

“The timing of that airline and how it works with partners is still part of the discussions we’re having with both Singapore and Malaysia and no final decision has been made on what we are going to do.” The newspaper said Qantas and the Malaysian airline were working towards a letter of intent for a new partnership.

This would include a code-sharing alliance which is expected to allow joint marketing, scheduling and pricing. The newspaper added that talks with the Singapore government would cease, with the hook-up with Malaysia Airlines mirroring Qantas’s relationship with British Airways.

As part of the deal, Qantas would likely recommence flights to Kuala Lumpur and gradually shift its central Asian hub to Malaysia from Singapore.

Partner British Airways would also reorient its focus in the region to the Malaysian capital, the report said. The Australian and International Pilots Association welcomed news that Qantas’s Asian offshoot may not go ahead. “Thankfully, this potentially disastrous plan seems to have collapsed before fatal damage could be done to the Qantas brand and the Qantas business,” said the union’s vice president Richard Woodward.— AFP

China ‘keen’ to invest in West’s infrastructure BEIJING: China’s sovereign wealth fund wants to invest in improving neglected US and European roads and other infrastructure to spur global growth, the fund’s chairman said in comments published yesterday.

The China Investment Corp wants to begin in Britain by teaming up with fund managers or investing directly in infrastructure projects, Lou Jiwei said in a commentary in London’s Financial Times newspaper. The CIC has about $410 billion in assets. Until now, it has limited its investments outside China mostly to small shareholdings in pub-

licly traded companies to avoid stirring possible political opposition.

“China is keen to get involved” in improving US and European infrastructure, which “badly needs more investment,” Lou wrote. Lou did not say in which other countries the CIC might invest but cited an estimate that the United States needs to spend at least $2.2 trillion in infrastructure repairs or rebuilding. “Free of the inflationary pressure that afflicts many emerging economies, the US and Europe should make substantial investment,” he said. “We cannot

count on developing countries to deliver a stable economic recovery on their own.” Some commentators in both Europe and China have suggested Beijing might use its foreign reserves, the world’s biggest at $3.2 trillion, as political leverage at a time when other governments urgently want investment.

Lou stressed that the CIC would act as a commercial investor and wanted to make a profit. “CIC believes that such an investment, guided by commercial principles, offers the chance of a ‘win-win’ solution for all,” he wrote. — AP

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TECHNOLOGY

Expansion cards still have their PC uses, despite alternatives BERLIN: There was a time when, if you wanted a PC to have better sound quality or just an internet connection, your only option was an expansion card. But most of those functions are now built directly into computers or handled by external USB solutions.

Does this mean the end of cards? Not quite, especially when it comes to special needs, such as boosting a computer’s graphics quality.

Gamers have high expectations when it comes to graphics and sound.

Meeting those expectations is easiest with an expansion card. “The pre-packaged graphics capabilities aren’t enough anymore for halfway demanding games,” says Hendrik Weins, a hardware expert with the German comput-

er magazine Gamestar. The threshold starts with games such as World of Warcraft or the real-time strategy game Starcraft II. If you’re using the standard graphics chip that came with your motherboard, you have to do without a lot of detail.

Demands on graphics cards have also increased with the growing popularity of large monitors with higher resolutions. “If you’ve got a full HD resolution of 1,920 X 1,080 pixels, then standard graphics chips are generally overwhelmed,” says Weins.

Efforts to include graphics chips in external USB devices haven’t gained traction since there is no single industry standard. That usually means the only way to boost graphics is to insert

a special card into the PCI slot. “You can also consider installing a new graphics card in the PC, if the computer isn’t too old,” says Christof Windck, a hardware expert with German computer magazine c’t.

AMD and Nvidia dominate this market, which is hard for laymen to penetrate because it’s so difficult to compare products and get an overview.

Also, the working memory of a graphics card is no longer a reliable indicator of its quality.

“Most have 1 gigabyte, which is usually enough,” says Weins. It’s more important to look at the chip’s frequency or the number of shading possibilities, key to providing various graphics effects. Before buying, go

online or check out a trade magazine to get some user reviews, he suggests.

Special solutions are also key to sound for gamers and audiophiles.

But, here, there are both a variety of special cards as well as USB solutions.

All of these tend to be more expensive than pre -installed options, Weins notes. Labs and Asus are some of the leading providers of sound cards.

Expansion cards that can be built into a computer have the advantage that they’re tucked away, making it unnecessary to have a lot of extra peripheral devices.

But expansion cards still have their niches, such as for people who use a stationary PC to watch TV in their living room. “Built-in cards have not been

adequate for a long time,” says Sasche Winkels, head of German operations for Hauppage, the market leader for TV cards in the United States.

“This is especially true of ready-touse systems or for people putting together a multimedia computer.

Along with supporting all major TV formats, TV cards work optimally and can easily disappear behind a decorative housing in places like a living room,” says Winkels. Meanwhile, the trend for watching TV on a PC is going towards USB solutions, says Winkels.

“After all, the computer no longer has to be screwed open for the operation and a simple twist of the wrist means the TV stick can be transferred to a notebook.” — dpa

Nokia’s new Lumia 800: Smartphone and saviour?

‘It is a purely Windows device’

PALO ALTO: Consumer Carol Uyeno looks at Cyber Monday sales on her computer at her home in Palo Alto, California. — AP

BERLIN: Nokia and Microsoft are both banking on the new Lumia 800 to provide them with a big comeback in the smartphone market, currently dominated by Android devices and Apple’s iPhone. The fact that two global market leaders - Nokia has seen its market lead cut by Android and Apple, while Microsoft operates the world’s premier PC operating system, while failing so far to crack the smartphone market - have tied up so much hope in one device is reason enough to give it a close look.

Nokia announced in February that it was switching to Windows Phone as the operating system for its smartphones. The Lumia 800 is the first fruit of that partnership. It is a purely Windows device. Controls and functions are identical to smartphones using the system, like those from HTC or LG. But the Lumia is supposed to get a boost from its design, its camera and Nokia’s navigation service.

Nokia will have to deal with the fact that, just this summer, it released its first, and likely last, smartphone using the MeeGo operating system, developed in collaboration with Intel: the N9. The Lumia 800 looks identical to the N9. It has a seamless polycarbonate housing with rounded corners, meaning it sits better in the user’s hand. Connections for earphones and a mini-USB device are hidden under a plastic lid along the top side. Next to that is the dock for a micro SIM. It comes in classic black, light blue and bright pink. The screen is also slightly arched and merged into the housing, keeping with the overall feel of the device. Measuring 3.7 inches (9.4 centimetres) diagonally, it has a resolution of 800 X 480 pixels.

Despite bright colours, that means the Lumia’s display is significantly less defined than the display of the iPhone 4, with its 960 X 640 pixels. Its camera has a wide-angle lens from Carl Zeiss and an 8-megapixel sensor.

Nokia is especially proud of its serially produced integrated navigation service, which comes with a 3D view that lets users view a city plan from a bird’s eye view.

When it comes to software, the Lumia 800 is firmly in Microsoft’s hands. The centerpiece of the operating system is the large tiles that have become the calling card of Windows Phone on other applications. Those provide an initial overview of email and contacts as well as links to the app marketplace and the XBox Live gaming area.

Even if you want to download a free app like Twitter, you have to set up a Windows Live account with Microsoft. Prices for apps in Microsoft’s Marketplace are significantly more

The new Lumia 800 expensive than those for iPhones and Android machines.

But, if nothing else, Nokia has delivered a machine that’s up to running Microsoft’s demanding operating system. Whether you’re using email, Facebook or an internet search engine, using the Lumia 800 is like paging through a magazine, with large text and

in brief

Pure’s digital radio MUNICH: Listen later is one of the functions of Pure’s new DAB+ digital radios from its One Elite Series II. The recorder lets people record broadcasts for later enjoyment, with the option to pause as needed. But the devices also have an alarm function and can be set to record at certain times or at the same time every week in a set cycle. Depending on the bit rate of the broadcaster, the radio can store 30 to 180 minutes of data. It costs about 125 euros (168 dollars).

buys a 25 dollar developers’ licence to post software for download on the Android Market. This contrasts sharply with Apple’s model, in which every proposed app is closely vetted by the company before it is made available on the App Store.

Chris DiBona, open source program manager for Google, downplayed the report as a self-serving strategy by security companies to scare people into buying their products.

“No major cell phone has a ‘virus’ problem in the traditional sense that windows and some mac machines have seen. There have been some little things, but they haven’t gotten very far,” DiBona wrote in a blog posting. “Yes, virus companies are playing on your fears to try to sell you protection software for Android, RIM and IOS. They are charlatans and scammers,” he wrote. — dpa

New Tom-Tom flagship device The new Go Live 1015, TomTom’s new flagship satellite navigation device, measures five inches and comes with a new live search for local stores, business, products and services, like hotels. The socalled Live service searches the database of TomTom, Expedia, Tripadvisor and Google. It can also deliver news about delays via Twitter. The data stream and the traffic advisory services - HD Traffic, which bases its data on the positioning data of millions of Vodafone mobile phones - come included for the first two years. Prepackaged with a map of Europe, the device costs 299 euros (402 dollars), while a version with global maps costs 349 euros.

To extend the live or traffic services beyond the initial two years costs 50 euros a year.

Facebook security settings BERLIN: Those planning a party on Facebook need not only worry that no one will show up, they also have to be sure they don’t accidentally invite the entire network.

When making an invitation, there’s a question box that determines whether or not everyone can see and RSVP to the event. Putting a tick in the box means everyone is invited. Leaving it out means the party is a strictly private affair, with options available for only inviting certain people.

German police have been busy in recent weeks breaking up private affairs that accidentally became block parties.

In early June, a teenager accidentally invited 1,600 people to her 16th birthday in Hamburg, with the evening ending in fistfights, demolished cars, injuries and arrests.

A few weeks later, it took more than 100 police officers to remove 800 party-

goers from a function in Wuppertal after some soccer hooligans got caught up in the excitement.

To protect yourself from unwanted birthday attention, Facebook users can also decide who gets to see their birthday. In the privacy settings under account options, go to Custom Settings.

Here you can decide which friends get to know your birthday. It’s even possible to pick different view options for individuals, meaning family members see all, but work colleagues don’t even get to know your birthday.

Next, check to see your settings for all information, especially address and email address. Instead of creating settings for each individual friend, it makes more sense to organize people into groups (Family, College Friends, Work Colleagues), so you can quickly make sure casual contacts don’t get to see your personal data.

800’s 16 gigabytes of storage. There is no SD card slot. Nor is there a second camera on the touchscreen side for video telephony. Then again, Nokia and Microsoft do not seem to tire of telling everyone that this is just the first device of their partnership and that customers should be ready for more products in the future. — dpa

News

Security firm warns of Android malware threat SAN FRANCISCO: Internet security firm McAfee warned yesterday of a growing risk of malware and viruses targeting users of smartphones running on Google’s Android operating system.

The warning came just days after Google announced that over 200 million Android devices had now been activated, and as new studies showed that Android devices now account for more than 50 per cent of all smartphones sold worldwide, according to market research firm Gartner.

McAfee said it had logged a 37 per cent increase in Android malware since July, and added that all the new malware it had cataloged was targeted at Google’s mobile operating system.

McAfee said the authors of the damaging software were aided in their efforts by the open nature of the Android operating system, which allows anyone who

colourful pictures.

And the processor, with a speed of 1.4 gigahertz, makes sure that the phone reacts with lightning speed to every touch of the finger, hindered only sometimes by the speed of the internet connection. The touchscreen navigation is expanded by three buttons on the screen’s edge. There is a back button, one that creates a direct link to internet searches, and a Windows button that returns to the initial screen.

Users will have to make do with the Lumia

JBL monitors head outdoors JBL’s Control One monitor loudspeakers now come in both indoor and outdoor versions. The 23centimetre outdoor version is more robust than the inside version. A 12-millimetre titanium-laminated speaker provides the high notes, whereas the middle and deep frequencies come from a 100-millimetre polylaminated speaker. In general, the white monitor loudspeakers can handle 50 watts. A pair costs about 200 euros (269 dollars).

SEOUL: A man uses his mobile phone in front of a billboard of Samsung Electronics’ newest device Galaxy Note, which features the 5.29” Super Amoled screen and runs on the Android 2.3 in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. — AP

Acer smartphone Acer has presented its new smartphone, the Liquid Express. Using the Gingerbread operating system (Android Version 2.3), the UMTS mobile device has a 3.5-inch display and is about 1.3 centimetres thick, weighing 138 grams and run by an 800-megahertz processor. A new application called Social Jogger is supposed to coordinate groups of contacts and make sure that news from important family and friends doesn’t get lost in the flood.

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H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

Rifts emerge as UN climate talks open Kyoto Protocol and aid top agenda

OREGON: In this Nov. 14, 2011 photo, Jennifer Margulis, center, poses outside her home in Ashland, Ore., with two of her children, Hesperus, left, and Leona. An author of books on parenting who has written about childhood vaccines, Margulis is one of a growing number of parents questioning the government’s schedule of mandatory vaccinations for children. — AP

More kids skip school shots in 8 US states ATLANTA: More parents are opting out of school shots for their kids. In eight states now, more than 1 in 20 public school kindergartners aren’t getting all the vaccines required for attendance, an Associated Press analysis found.

That growing trend among parents seeking vaccine exemptions has health officials worried about outbreaks of diseases that once were all but stamped out. The AP analysis found more than half of states have seen at least a slight rise in the rate of exemptions over the past five years. States with the highest exemption rates are in the West and Upper Midwest.

It’s “really gotten much worse,” said Mary Selecky, secretary of health for Washington state, where 6 percent of public school parents have opted out. Rules for exemptions vary by state and can include medical, religious or - in some states - philosophical reasons.

Reasons for skipping some school shots vary. Some parents are skeptical that vaccines are essential. Others fear vaccines carry their own risks. Some find it easier to check a box opting out than the effort to get the shots and required paperwork schools demand. Still others are ambivalent, believing in older vaccines but questioning newer shots against, say, chickenpox.

The number of shots is also giving some parents pause. By the time most children are 6, they will have been stuck with a needle about two dozen times - with many of those shots given in infancy. The cumulative effect of all those shots has not been studied enough, some parents say.

“Many of the vaccines are unnecessary and public health officials don’t honestly know what the effect of giving so many vaccines to such small children really are,” said Jennifer Margulis, a mother of four and parenting book author in Ashland, Ore. But few serious problems have turned up over years of vaccinations and several studies have shown no link with autism, a theory from the 1990s that has been widely discredited.

To be sure, childhood vaccination rates remain high overall, at 90 percent or better for several vaccines, including those for polio, measles, hepatitis B and even chickenpox. In many states, exemptions are filed for fewer than 1 percent of children entering school for the first time.

Health officials have not identified an exemption threshold that would likely lead to outbreaks. But as they push for 100 percent immunization, they worry when some states have exemption rates climbing over 5 percent.

The average state exemption rate has been estimated at less than half that.

Even more troubling are pockets in some states where exemption rates much higher. In some rural counties in northeast Washington, for example, rates in recent years have been above 20 percent and even as high as 50 percent.

“Vaccine refusers tend to cluster,” said Saad Omer, an Emory University epidemiologist who has done extensive research on the issue. While parents may think it does no harm to others if their kids skip some vaccines, they are in fact putting others at risk, health officials say. No vaccine is completely effective. If an outbreak begins in an unvaccinated group of children, a vaccinated child may still be at some risk of getting sick.

Studies have found communities with higher exemption rates sometimes are places where measles have suddenly re-emerged in outbreaks. Vaccinated kids are sometimes among the cases, or children too young to be vaccinated. Last year, California had more than 2,100 whooping cough cases, and 10 infants died. Only one had received a first dose of vaccine. “Your child’s risk of getting disease depends on what your neighbors do,” said Omer. And while it seems unlikely that diseases like polio and diphtheria could ever make a comeback to the US, immunization expert Dr. Lance Rodewald with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it could happen. “Polio can come back. China was polio free for two decades, and just this year, they were infected from Pakistan, and there is a big outbreak of polio China now. The same could happen here,” Rodewald said in an email.

He cited outbreaks of Hib, a disease that can lead to meningitis, among the Amish who don’t consistently vaccinate their children.

Russia had a huge diphtheria outbreak in the early to mid-1990s, he said, because vaccine coverage declined. “Measles is just visible, but it isn’t the only concern,” Rodewald said.

For its review, the AP asked state health departments for kindergarten exemption rates for 2006-07 and 2010-11. The AP also looked at data states had previously reported to the federal government. (Most states don’t have data for the current 2011-12 school year.)

Alaska had the highest exemption rate in

2010-11, at nearly 9 percent. Colorado’s rate was 7 percent, Minnesota 6.5 percent, Vermont and Washington 6 percent, and Oregon, Michigan and Illinois were close behind.

Mississippi was lowest, at essentially 0 percent. The AP found that vaccine exemptions rose in more than half of states, and 10 had increases over the five years of about 1.5 percentage points or more, a range health officials say is troubling. Those states, too, were in the West and Midwest - Alaska, Kansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. Arizona saw an increase that put that state in the same ballpark.

Exemption seekers are often middle-class, college-educated white people, but there are often a mix of views and philosophies.

Exemption hot spots like Sedona, Ariz., and rural northeast Washington have concentrations of both alternative medicine-preferring as well as government-fearing libertarians.

Opposition to vaccines “is putting people together that normally would not be together,” observed Elizabeth Jacobs, a University of Arizona epidemiologist looking at that state’s rising exemption rates.

What many of exemption-seeking parents share, however, is a mental calculation that the dangers to their children of vaccine-preventable diseases are less important than the possible harms from vaccine. Or they just don’t believe health officials, putting more stock in alternative sources - often discovered through Internet searches.

“We are being told this by every government official, teacher, doctor that we need vaccines to keep us safe from these diseases. I simply don’t believe that to be true. I believe all the diseases in question were up to 90 percent in decline before mass vaccines ever were given. I don’t think vaccines are what saved the world from disease. I think effective sewer systems, nutrition, and handwashing (are the reasons),” said Sabrina Paulick, of Ashland, Ore. She’s parttime as a caregiver for elderly people in their homes and a mother of a 4-year-old daughter.

Parents say they’d like to reserve the right to decide what vaccinations their children should get, and when. Health officials reply that vaccinations are recommended at an early age to protect children before they encounter a dangerous infection. “If you delay, you’re putting a child at risk,” said Gerri Yett, a nurse who manages Alaska’s immunization program.

Analyzing vaccination exemptions is difficult. States collect data differently; some base their exemption rates on just a small sample of schools - Alaska, for example - while others rely on more comprehensive numbers. So the AP worked with researchers at CDC, which statistically adjusted some states’ 2010-11 data for a better comparison.

It’s also not clear when an exemption was invoked against all vaccines and when it was used to excuse just one or two shots. CDC officials think the second scenario is more common. Also, states differ on some of the vaccines required and what’s needed to get an exemption: Sometimes only a box on a form needs to be checked, while some states want letters or even signed statements from doctors.

Meanwhile, some parent groups and others have pushed legislators to make exemptions easier or do away with vaccination requirements altogether. The number of states allowing philosophical exemptions grew from 15 to 20 in the last decade.

Some in public health are exasperated by the trend. “Every time we give them evidence (that vaccines are safe), they come back with a new hypothesis” for why vaccines could be dangerous, said Kacey Ernst, another University of Arizona researcher.

The exemption increases have come during a time when the government has been raising its estimates of how many children have autism and related disorders. Some experts suggest that parents have listened intently to that message, with some believing the growing roster of recommended shots must somehow be related.

“I don’t understand how other people don’t see that these two things are related,” said Stacy Allan, a Summit, N.J., mother who filed religious exemptions and stopped vaccinating her three children. Several parents said that while they believe many health officials mean well, their distrust of the vaccine-making pharmaceutical industry only continues to grow.

“I wouldn’t be one to say I am absolutely certain these things are hurting our children,” said Michele Pereira, an Ashland mother of two young girls. She is a registered nurse and married to an anesthesiologist. While her daughters have had some vaccinations, they have not had the full recommended schedule. “I feel like there are enough questions out there that I don’t want to take the chance,” she said. — AP

DURBAN: UN talks on climate change got underway in South Africa yesterday amidst signs of a deepening political rift on how to slow the carbon juggernaut. Topping the agenda is the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only global pact with targets for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, whose first round of pledges expires at the end of 2012.

The conference must also push ahead with a “Green Climate Fund” to channel up to 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to countries exposed to drought, flood, storms and rising seas, which scientists forecast will worsen this century. But the mood at the talks has been soured by divisions over how to share out the burden of emissions curbs, while the dark clouds of a global economic crisis are casting a shadow over the climate fund. “We are in Durban with one purpose: to find a common solution that will secure a future to generations to come,” said Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa’s minister of international relations, who is chairing the 12day, 194-nation parlay.

“With sound leadership, nothing is impossible here in Durban,” declared South African President Jacob Zuma. But UN climate chief Christiana Figueres warned the talks urgently needed to shore up public confidence. “This conference needs to reassure the vulnerable, all those who have already suffered and all those who will still suffer from climate change, that tangible action is being taken for a safer future,” she said. Figueres pointed to record increases and levels in greenhouse-gas concentrations, and the rising number of livelihood wrecked by climate change. “The need for action has never been more compelling or achievable,” she said.

“Finding a workable way forward in this complexity is the defining issue of this conference.”

Divisions within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are in flux, analysts and negotiators say, pitching rich against poor, rich against rich and poor against poor. “This is one of the most unpredictable of COPs,” said Tasneem Essop of WWF International, using the shorthand jargon-Conference of the Parties-for high-level climate meets. “Everything is fluid, everything is still in play.” Wealthy countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol are baulking at demands to renew their emissionscutting vows beyond 2012. Such a move, they argue, would be folly so long as China, which as a developing country has no specified targets under Kyoto, and the United States, which aban-

doned the treaty in 2001, are not bound by similar constraints. “It is headed towards a real impasse in Durban, frankly, there is no way to gloss over it,” a veteran observer participating in the talks said on Sunday. “There are very few options left open to wring much out of the meeting unless the position of these major countries softens considerably.” In a press release, the 132-nation bloc of developing countries hit at “some” rich countries “which insisted in inflexible positions that would make real progress at this session quite difficult.”

Yet there are also cracks within this bloc.

Countries that are the poorest and most vulnera-

DURBAN: From left: Angolan Vice President Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, the president of the 16th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa Cantellano of Mexico, South African President Jacob Zuma (C), UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and Chadian President Idriss Deby arrive yesterday for the opening of UN talks on climate change in Durban. — AFP ble fear that the so-called BASIC countries-Brazil, China, India and South Africa-which are now big or even massive emitters-want to push back a global pact to as late as 2020. If Kyoto is not renewed, the only matrix for tackling greenhouse-gas emissions will be the voluntary pledges launched in 2009 in a face-saving deal

Acne skin care in winter BERLIN: A forehead studded with red papules. A nose resplendent with a painful pimple. Skin on the face, neck and back feeling unpleasantly taut. Most people are familiar with these symptoms of common acne, known medically as acne vulgaris.

“Almost everyone gets acne between the ages of 12 and 17 - the rate is over 80 per cent,” noted Berthold Rzany, a dermatologist at Berlin’s Charite university hospital. “In about 10 per cent of the cases, acne persists beyond age 25.” Its type and severity vary greatly. Androgens, “male” hormones that increase in both boys and girls during puberty, are the chief cause of common acne, said Hans-Georg Dauer, a member of the German Dermatologists Association. “They stimulate the sebaceous glands into producing more skin oil.”

Meanwhile, the skin’s surface sheds more keratin particles (dead skin cells). They clog the sebaceous gland ducts, causing blockages that look on the outside like small white nodules. Bacteria inhabiting the skin as “normal flora” find optimal living condition in this mixture of oil and keratin. They can multiply greatly and trigger inflammations including small, pus-filled abscesses.

These processes occur more often in winter than summer for some acne sufferers.

“Skin diseases frequently worsen in winter,” remarked Andrea Schloebe of the Colognebased Society for Dermopharmacy. The reason, she said, is that the acne-irritated skin is then subjected to additional strains: warm, dry air in heated rooms, cold air outside and a big difference in temperatures.

The cold also upsets the skin’s natural balance. “When outdoor temperatures in winter drop below seven or eight degrees centigrade, the skin is no longer able to form a sufficient protective barrier,” Dauer said. “It breaks open, allowing pathogens to penetrate the interstices and aggravate

at the stormy Copenhagen climate summit.

But the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says these pledges currently fall far short of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, a goal enshrined last year.

To have a “likely” chance of meeting this target, annual emissions would have to fall by around 8.5 percent by 2020 compared to 2010 levels and keep declining by some 2.6 percent each year thereafter. Small island nations facing rising seas are demanding that warming be limited to 1.5 C (2.7 F), and see any delay as a sellout-or worse. “The push by the world’s biggest

existing acne.”

And sunlight, a factor that holds acne in check at least a little in summer, is in short supply in winter: “We know that natural sunlight and visible light have a favourable effect on acne development,” Schloebe said. There is less daylight in winter, however, and people spend less time outdoors. So long winter walks can help ease acne symptoms.

“Visible light is also used in therapy. But only moderate results can be expected,” Rzany pointed out. In any event, not overdoing it is important. “Tanning shop light must be treated with caution,” Schloebe warned.

“The shops use mostly ultraviolet A rays, which have an adverse effect on acne.”

Cleaning and care is essential for skin with acne. “What matters most is that the skin care products be labelled non-comedogenic - in other words, not causing pimples. And the fewer emulsifiers, preservatives and so on that the skin care products contain, the better,” Dauer said. The acne skin care lines available at chemist’s shops are suitable.

“An acne line usually consists of a cleanser, an astringent and a cream. These products also contain substances that have an antibacterial effect and that break up the keratin,” Schloebe said. “In summer it’s better to use lighter products like a hydrogel or gel-cream.

In the winter, a cream is advisable.”

Aggressive astringents, soaps, fatty creams, vaseline, duck fat and the like are taboo. “They clog pores and cover bacteria, allowing them to wreak havoc under the layer of fat,” Dauer warned. It is also important not to touch pimples because germs on the hands can aggravate acne symptoms. There is a consolation, though: most patients will not suffer from common acne for very many winters. Some home remedies can alleviate acne symptoms. “A complementary treatment with a camomile vapour bath can help,” Schloebe said. —dpa

carbon polluters to delay flies in the face of the overwhelming evidence in support of immediate action and represents a betrayal of the people most vulnerable to climate change and the world,” said Grenada’s Dessima Williams, chairwoman of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS.) —AFP

Health

in brief

Mediterranean-ish diet NEW YORK: Once again, eating a diet based on fish, legumes, vegetables and moderate amounts of alcohol is linked to lower chances of dying from a heart attack, stroke or other vascular “events,” according to a new study of New York City residents. The mostly Hispanic and black study participants did not necessarily eat traditional foods from Mediterranean countries, but the closer their diets were to the spirit of Mediterranean eating-with plenty of fish, healthy fats like olive oil, whole grains and vegetables-the lower their risk of death from vascular problems including heart attacks.

Low vitamin D linked to heart disease In people with low blood levels of vitamin D, boosting them with supplements more than halved a person’s risk of dying from any cause compared to someone who remained deficient, in a large new study. Analyzing data on more than 10,000 patients, University of Kansas researchers found that 70 percent were deficient in vitamin D and they were at significantly higher risk for a variety of heart diseases.

Elan to create research centre Elan Corp Plc has signed an agreement with Britain’s Cambridge University to create a research center focused on therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, the Dublin-headquartered biotech group said on Sunday. Elan, whose main research facility is in San Francisco, will spend $10 million over the next five years on the research center and has an option to extend the deal for another five years.

Heart patients prefer longevity When an elderly person’s chronic disease is impossible to cure, many doctors might assume that patient would chose to improve the quality of his or her remaining life rather than to extend it as is. Those doctors would be mistaken most of the time, according to a new study. Swiss researchers who surveyed more than 500 elderly heart failure patients found three quarters wouldn’t trade a longer life with symptoms for a shorter life without them, and the severity of symptoms was not a good predictor of who would pick a measure of relief over more time.

Ovary removal not tied to death Despite concerns that removing both of a woman’s ovaries would raise her chances of dying from diseases associated with ageing, a large new study suggests the procedure may be safe. Looking at data on more than 130,000 California teachers, researchers found that women who were 45 years old or older when they had both ovaries removed had a slightly lower chance of dying over the length of the study than peers who didn’t have the procedure.

IOWA: In this Oct. 26, 2009 file photo, primary care physician Dr Don Klitgaard is seen at the Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan, Iowa. Unless Congress acts before Jan. 1 doctors will again face steep Medicare cuts that threaten to undermine health care for millions of seniors and disabled people. It’s become a symbol of sorts for the federal government’s budget dysfunction. — AP

Athletes’ injury-prevention programs Programs aimed at preventing knee injuries among soccer players take time to make any lasting impact on the way athletes move, according to a new study.

A warm-up program of stretching and strengthening that lasted three months had only a temporary benefit, while the improvements seen after a nine-month program persisted for months after the training ended.—Reuters

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H E A LT H

Global Fund for world health halts new programs GENEVA: The world’s biggest financier in the fight against three killer diseases says it has run out of money to pay for new grant programs for the next two years - a situation likely to hit poor AIDS patients around the world. An official with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said Thursday that its has been forced to cease giving new grants until 2014 because of global economic woes brought on by debt crises in the US and Europe.

An independent panel recommended in September that the fund must adopt tougher financial safeguards after it weathered a storm of criticism and doubts among some of its biggest donors. The fund created the panel chaired by former US Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and ex Botswana President Festus Mogae in March to address concern among donors after Associated Press articles in January about the loss of tens of millions of dollars in grant money because of mismanagement and alleged fraud.

Germany, the European Commission and Denmark withheld hundreds of millions of euros in funding pending reviews of the fund’s internal controls.

Germany - the fund’s fourth-largest donor- has since restored its funding.

The Geneva-based fund was set up in 2002 as a new way to coordinate world efforts against the diseases and to speed up emergency funds from wealthy nations and donors to the places hardest hit. Outside of its donor nations and celebrity backers, the biggest private donor is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that has pledged $1.15 billion and provided it with $650 million so far. Since its creation, the fund, which is stric tly a financing tool, has disbursed some $15 billion for programs - $2.8 billion this year alone, including to pay for treatment for around half the developing world’s AIDS sufferers. With donations now harder to come by, the fund says it can only afford to keep existing AIDS programs going, but not expand its

services or add new patients. “We’re not cutting back - we’re not expanding,” the fund’s board chairman, Simon Bland, told The Associated Press from Accra, Ghana, where the board has been meeting this week. The fund had to make some “tough decisions to protect some of the gains that have already been delivered,” he added. Among those decisions were that $800 million to $900 million in grants planned for China, Brazil, Mexico and Russia will now be used for other purposes, fund officials said. “It is deeply worrisome that inadvertently the millions of people fighting with deadly diseases are in danger of paying the price for the global financial crisis,” the fund’s executive director, Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, said in a statement. But the fund has $4 billion on hand to meet all of its current commitments and the “presumption” is that people in China, Brazil, Mexico and Russia won’t suffer because their governments will commit their own resources to take over the next phase of the fund’s programs, said Dr. Christoph Benn, the fund’s external relations manager. He said the fund’s financing picture for the next two years, however, could affect about 9 to 10 million new patients who are in need of HIV treatment in developing nations. The board has also decided to create a new general manager position after the panel found unhealthy fric tion between Kazatchkine and the fund’s internal watchdog, Inspec tor General John Parsons’s office, whose teams of auditors and investigators have been documenting losses.

The fund released 12 reports on its website earlier this month that turned up an additional $20 million of mismanagement, alleged fraud and misspending. Earlier probes had detected about $53 million in losses, according to fund documents. Some of the reports have led to criminal cases, and some countries - mirroring the fund’s own efforts - say they have begun putting new financial safeguards in place. — AP

HIV clinical trial scrapped New gel found to be ineffective WASHINGTON: In a major setback for AIDS prevention research, a clinical trial of a new vaginal gel supposed to reduce HIV infections has been suspended after studies showed it to be ineffective. Researchers from the Microbicide Trials Network, set up by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), expressed surprise at the outcome as a previous study on a gel containing the drug tenofovir had shown encouraging results.

Researchers are striving to produce a gel or a pill that protects women against HIV infection but still allows them to get pregnant so it can be used in sub-Saharan Africa and other places where condom use can be a problem.

A first trial by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) showed reduced HIV infections in 39 percent of women treated with the tenofivir gel, and in 54 percent of those who used it regularly.

Those results, published in 2010, raised hopes that a new gel could slow the transmission of HIV/AIDS and finally provide women with a groundbreaking means of protecting themselves. Observers had hoped VOICE (Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic), a trial started in September 2009 and conducted with the help of 5,000 women in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, would back those findings.

An interim review of VOICE by an independent data and safety monitoring board, however, determined that the tenofovir gel was even less effective than a placebo. Part of the research has now been canceled. Another area of the three-part trial, involving a tenofovir pill, was scrapped in September for similar reasons, but studies are ongoing on a third avenue using tenofovir and a booster drug.

“For now, the study will continue and we will work to complete the remaining visits for the women continuing in the study,” researchers Sharon Hillier and Ian McGowan wrote. “ We are all eager to understand whether adherence, our daily dosing strategy, inflammation or other factors could explain the lack of oral and vaginal tenofovir effectiveness in VOICE, we will not likely have all of

the assays completed until later next year.”

Hillier said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the results, and the researchers said they must wait until the end of the remaining trial before a fuller analysis could be undertaken. CAPRISA director Salim Abdool Karim, a site director in the VOICE trial, admitted to being gravely disappointed.

“These results were totally unexpected as there is good evidence from laborator y research, animal studies and human trials showing that tenofovir gel prevents HIV. However, science does not always produce the answer we hope for,” he said.

“This is particularly pertinent when a drug’s effectiveness is dependent on a complex combination of the biological activity of the

drug and the human behavior influencing use of the drug as prescribed during the study.

“I look forward to seeing the complete results and, in particular, an analysis of whether the drug levels in the female genital tract provides any clues to the study’s outcome.” Despite the setback, there have been other encouraging signs in the HIV/AIDS struggle in recent years. In South Africa, whose population of 5.6 million HIV-infected people is the biggest in the world, the incidence rate fell by a third between 2001 and 2009, from 2.4 percent to 1.5 percent. But the sub-Saharan African region continues to have the largest number of people infected with HIV. In 2010, they made up some 68 percent or 22.9 million of all HIV-infected people. —AFP

BANGKOK: This photo taken yesterday shows patients living with HIV/AIDS at a medical facility at a Buddhist Temple in Lopburi province, 150 Kilometres north of Bangkok ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1. A significant expansion in access to treatment helped slash the number of AIDS-related deaths in 2010, bringing the number of people living with HIV to a record 34 million, the United Nations said. — AFP

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Upcoming events

KES girls represent Kuwait

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uwait English School have had another excellent volleyball season with the three teams having a win to loss ratio of played 18, won 15 and lost 3. In particular, congratulations go out to the Under 15 team who went the whole season unbeaten and were crowned the ISACK champions. This success has continued with three girls and one ex student from Kuwait English School representing Kuwait Under 19 Volleyball team. The four girls, pictured above, who played in the GCC tournament were an integral part of the team who finished a creditable third place behind two strong teams from Bahrain and UAE.

Rak dance academy new year hangama-2012 The RAK Dance Academy (RDA) Kuwait, is planning to put a charity event as celebration of its New Year Hangama 2012, on 31st December, 2011, from 6.00pm onwards, at Carmel School Khaitan. All participants are well known artists from Kuwait. The main purpose of this celebration is to collect donations and raise money for supporting handicapped children in India. Advertisement will be published throughout Kuwait absolutely free of charge. We are expecting huge crowd for this event. The fund raised will be beneficial handicapped children. In order to make this event joyous and successful we are seeking kind contributions from you. Your attendance is your donation. Please join for an evening for a good cause. Darla Srinivasulu Achari, 99 692266; Mob: 65728740 K. Eswar Babu, Phone 99692266, Lashmeesha 65925730 Email: rakdanceacademy@gmail.com Aware Center Arabic lessons The AWARE Management is glad to inform you that Winter 1 Arabic language courses will begin on November 20th, 2011 until January 12th, 2012.

AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed and courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers & those working in the private business sector. Arabic classes at the AWARE Center are unique because students are provided with the chance to practice their Arabic through various social activities that aim at bringing Arabs and Westerners together.

Universal children’s day at Infunity

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he Family Entertainment Center; Infunity, joined the rest of the world on Thursday, November 24 to mark UNICEF’s adopted commemoration of Universal Children’s Day. Within the various activities organized throughout the year, Infunity Center encompassed various fun filled and thrilling activities to celebrate this special day. The event included numerous entertainment shows such as games and prizes, the Russian show and the Ventriloquist Show. The performances were personalized to generate happiness and

AWARE Arabic courses highlight: lIntroductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics lBetter prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic lCombine language learning with cultural insights lTaught in multi-nationality group settings lProvide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

For more information or registration, call 25335260/80 ext 105/104/0 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.

December 9 Christmas Carol concert: The Ahmadi Music Group will be holding a fantastic Christmas Carol Concert on December 9 and 10 at New English School (NES) from 5pm both days with an adult show at 7:30pm on both days, in which Santa will be making an appearance, and the children can get involved with singing, waving jingle bells, etc. Guaranteed Christmas fun for the whole family!

Talent Hunt: Wesal Media Team is organizing a new concept competition for little talents in Kuwait. This competition is for children ages 6-12 years who have excellent talents in singing, dancing, drawing, etc. All interested little talents are welcome to participate. To sign-up, just visit their website and register your child. The final announcements will be published in a short event at Discovery Mall with famous singers and actors in Kuwait. For more information: 97547705 St Andrews Ball The Kuwait Calendonians are pleased to invite you to the St Andrews Ball 2011 to be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Thursday, December 1 from 7:30 pm.

Invites will be available after Eid.

Shreya Ghoshal to perform in Kuwait

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outh icon for the millions Shreya Ghoshal will be performing live in Kuwait on Friday, 9th Dec. 2011.

The mega evening is organised by Indian Cultural Society. After hosting memorable events such as “ Parda Hai Parda” with Munawwar Masoom, Surinder Singh & Poonam Bhatia, “Mahakte Lamhe” with Udit Narayan, Neha Chauhan &Trishna Mukharjee, “Dil Ki Awaaz “ with Kavita Krishnamurti etc., ICS is now all set to present “Silsila Ye Chahat Ka” with Shreya Ghoshal at Al Jeel Al Jadeed School, Hawally. The Chief Guest for the event will be Ambassador of India, Kuwait and the guest of honor will be prominent personalities from Kuwait. The evening will witness new fashion and ever green songs by leading female playback singer from Indian cinema Shreya Ghoshal. She will perform with her world fame orchestra & musician along with co singer Shiv Prasad Mallaya. Young talents from Kuwait will be another attraction of the evening.

Annual Christmas bazaar

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he Salesian Cooperators are hosting “Annual Christmas Bazaar” with lots more items on sale!

Homemade goodies, chocolates, decoration and much much more! Please be a part of their drive to help the underprivileged— especially this Christmas season.

All proceeds go to charity! When: Friday, December 2nd, Time: 9:00am - 12:30pm, Where: IEAS - Don Bosco School, Salmiya Kuwait

Auditions for KLT season

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Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

KES U15 Volleyball, ISACK champions

(Pictured left to right), Dana Al Khayat, Lina Najem, Lulu Al Huneidi, Shatha Al Huneidi.

KES U19 Volleyball, ISACK Runners Up

Christmas music concert Men’s Voice and Choral Society - Kuwait, the renowned Christian musicale group in Kuwait since 2001, who were able to put up a splendid Christmas carol in the form of a Living Christmas tree last year, are going to be back on stage this season of winter with their 11th Annual Christmas Music Concert “Celtic Christmas” for all the music lovers of the region on Wednesday 7th, December 2011 at 7 pm at Hall of Faith, National Evangelical Church (NECK), Kuwait. They are at their final stages of practice rounding up and polishing the best carols from English and Malayalam favorites. Every Music Lovers are cordially invite everyone to this spiritual musical concert, for more details contact 94064465/94063481 or visit www.mensvoicekuwait.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

W H AT ’ S O N

t’s audition time again for the next show of the KLT season, a ‘GLEE-esque’ show choir production Vocal Rhapsody’s “Love Story”, slated for the stage in February 2012. Vocal Rhapsody’s “Love Story” - is a show choir production with hit songs from artists such as Journey, Queen, Katy Perry and Meatloaf. If you love to sing and perform come out to audition for this ‘GLEE-esque’ production that is guaranteed to be fun, exciting and musically intriguing for all! Auditions are held in Kuwait Little Theater in Ahmadi on Saturday December 3rd from 6pm-8pm, Sunday December 4th from 7pm-9pm, and Monday December 5th from 7pm-9pm (you should arrive promptly at the start time on the day you choose to attend and stay until your audition is complete. You only need to attend one audition.)

entertain the audience. Children’s have spent hours of joy and fun with their families’ while they are watching the program.

Infunity Center is set on an area of over 5000 square meter, and is designed to consist of the latest fashionable rides and arcades. Established in 2009, the entertainment center located in third level of 360 Mall prove to be Kuwait’s most preferred leisure destination as it enables people of different backgrounds to intermingle with each other for the same reason, which is to enjoy their time.

Galleries & Art Exhibition lThe Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI) is a cultural organization based on a Kuwaiti private art collection. Since its inception in 1983, DAI has grown from a single focus organization created to manage the loan of the prestigious AlSabah Collection of art from the Islamic world to the State of Kuwait to become an internationally recognized cultural organization. DarMuseum.org.kw l Al Americani Cultural Centre and Administrative Offices in the Historic Americani Hospital Buildings Tel: (965) 2240 0992 Fax: (965) 2246 7770 Email: info@darmuseum.org.kw l Sultan Gallery: As the first venue of its kind in Kuwait, Sultan Gallery believes in the power of art as a medium of meaningful expression. Founders Ghazi Sultan, and the late Najat Sultan, envisioned a gallery that would serve as a platform for Arab artists to showcase their most inspired work. Empowered by the mission to forge cultural understanding and artistic appreciation in Kuwait, Sultan Gallery has spent 40 years exhibiting both the most visionary artists and thought provoking themes. Sultan Gallery showcases artists that explore the breadth of creative expression - from the traditional painting to the contemporary audio and visual installation. Sultan Gallery enriches the Kuwaiti cultural scene with its passion for art as a vehicle of cultural understanding through visual language. Email: sultangallery@sadeer.com Location: Sabhan, Sadeer Co, Block B, Street 105, Building 168 l Al-Maidan Cultural Centre: Abdullah al-Salem School, Maidan Hawally, near al-Shaab Leisure Park. Opening Hours: Sunday Thursday 9am - 5pm, until 9pm on event nights. Tel: (965) 2563 6561/ 2563 6528 Fax: (965) 2565 3006

Email: friends@darmuseum.org.kw lThe Kuwait National Museum is located on the Arabian Gulf Street between Seif Palace & the National Assembly (Parliament).

Phone: 2245-1195 or 2245-6534 l Kuwait Textile Arts Association (KTAA) The Kuwait Textile Arts Association (under the auspices of Sadu House) is a non-profit multinational organization which aims to bring together individuals inter-

ested in textiles and the fibre arts including applique, embroidery, knotting carpets, quilting, silk painting and weaving. Members include a number of talented decorative artists who hold classes throughout the year. Quilt Group: q8quilter@yahoo.com Yarn & Fiber Group: q8yarnandfibregroup@yahoo.com Contact: Joan Fisher Tel: 23903462 (English)/2243-2395 (Arabic) Email: wovenpieces@yahoo.com

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the Embassy. The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency. nnnnnnn

GUST students participate in discussion with renowned economist Jassim Al-Sadoun

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) student club, Islamic Finance Club, hosted a discussion entitled “What’s the solution?” with renowned economist and Board Chairman of Shaal Economic Consulting firm, Jassim Al-Sadoun.

Al-Sadoun was ver y keen on addressing students at the university as they represent the country’s future. The

discussion entailed talks about Kuwait’s economic outlook for 2030, meaning and role of oil for future generations, will we find alternate sources of trade for Kuwait and most importantly, what the youth’s role is in all this.

Al-Sadoun also discussed Kuwait’s reaction during the economic crisis, stating that Kuwait is one of the worst countries in dealing with the economic crisis

and one of the slowest to recover. AlSadoun also touched on the recent increases in public sector employee salaries and the effect of this move on Kuwait’s economic standing and future.

Al-Sadoun provided students with a lot of insight and a lot of inspiration to improve and do better in the future and they benefited from his discussion immensely.

BSK students enjoy a day at Kuwait Zoo

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s part of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, The British School of Kuwait took over 260 eager Reception students to visit ‘Kuwait Zoo’.

Due to the forecast rain, the trip was almost ‘rained off’ which would have been quite an unusual scenario in Kuwait! In preparation for their topic “Around the World”, Reception students were exploring the zoo environment in search of different animals. They were not disappointed with what they saw as they had a fantastic range of wild animals to see such as the zebra, giraffe, tiger, bears, lion and so many more.

Students completed a variety of activities which included an animal hunt, naming the animals, finding the patterns. The students are able to use this first hand experience in their learn-

ing as it is more meaningful to them.

Upon returning to class the students have been motivated to learn more and have been extending their own learning in the classroom. One student in particular was so interested by the visit that he told his teacher that he now wants to be a zoo keeper and look after the animals. The teachers have followed up with many cross curricular activities to improve their English language skills. Their favorite animal stories seem to be “Handa’s Surprise” and “Dear Zoo”.

The children have also had opportunities to learn animal songs such as “We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo how about you, you, you ...” Students and teachers alike had a fantastic time and the opportunity for learning was vast.

We cannot wait to visit again soon.

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. Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca.

The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form.

All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF GERMANY

IIS triumphant under 19 category in Tennis

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t was indeed a matter of pride for our school to announce the names of the winners in lawn tennis. CBSE Kuwait Cluster Lawn Tennis Tournament 2011 was organized by Delhi Public School held in Unity center KOC, Ahmadi. Our students participated in three categories. Under 14 girls category, Ritika Bafna of class VIII A, Nandita of class VIII A, Momina of class VI-D secured IInd position.

Under 14 Boys category, Mahadevan of class VIII-B, Shaham of VII-A, Naveen of VII-A, Arsh of VII-A secured IInd position.

Under 19 Boys category Saad Moidu of X B, Mohammed Asad XI A , Mohammed Shoeb XI-A and Sahaj Bafna of XI-A secured 1st position.

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application. Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (AlBabtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to request all Kenyans resident in or training through Kuwait to register with the Embassy.

We are updating our database. This information is necessary in order to facilitate quick assistance and advise in times of emergency. Kindly visit in person or register through our website www.kenyaembkuwait.com. The Embassy is located in: Surra Area Block 6 - Street 9 - Villa 3 Tel: 25353362 - 25353314; Fax: 25353316. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF PERU The Embassy of Peru is located at Al-Arablya Tower, Sharq, Ahmed Al-Jaber Street, on the 6th Floor. In the same place, as a part of the Chancellery of the Embassy of Peru in Kuwait, also is located the Showing Room of “PeruExpoTour, Trade & Invest.” nnnnnnn

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gyptian volunteers in Kuwait expressed gratitude to women who volunteered in preparing fifty boxes of in-kind donations collected during the first phase of a charity campaign that started last Friday. The campaign saw participation of children who had the opportunity to train on charity work and giving to their country. Clothes collected during the campaign will be sorted this Friday at the headquarters of the Egyptian young volunteers in Kuwait: Al-Zahra, block 8, street 813, house 4.

EMBASSY OF RUSSIA Embassy of the Russian Federation will hold the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (Parliament) on December 3, 2011, between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm in the Embassy s premises by the address: Kuwait City, Daiya, Block 5, Diplomatic campus, Plot 17. All the Russians are invited to participate.

They are requested to present valid Russian passports. nnnnnnn

Filipina artist to hold first ‘Solo Art Exhibit’

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or the first time, Bruha Eve, a Filipina artist based in Kuwait will hold her first Solo Art Exhibition entitled “Bursts & Kaleidoscope” in cooperation with the Philippine Embassy and under the patronage of Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ali Al Rashed on

December 8-9 at the Marina Hotel Lobby. The two-day exhibition will be inaugurated at 5:30 pm on December 8 by Minister Al-Rashed along with Philippine Ambassador Shulan Primavera.

Bruha Eve who uses mixed media will be showcasing around 40 paintings on women, landscape

and more that depict the unique artistry of Filipino artists. The exhibition is sponsored by Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport Company, Western Union, Tareq Co., ADM International Manpower Services Company and Al Alamia International Manpower Services.

EMBASSY OF US The United States and Kuwait enjoy a long-standing and fruitful relationship with higher education. As evidence of this enduring partnership, the number of Kuwaiti students enrolled in US institutions of higher education in 2010/11 increased from 2442 to 2998, a 22.8% increase compared to the previous year. Kuwaiti students study in 45 states.

This year, embassies and institutions around the world will be celebrating International Education Week the week of November 14-18.

In honor of International Education Week, the US Embassy s Mobile American Corner will be at the Marina Mall on Wednesday evening, November 16, and at the Avenues Mall on Thursday evening, November 17. Information about higher education in the US, English language classes and the student visa application process will be available, and staff will be present to answer questions about study in the USA from the general public.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

TV PROGRAMS

00:50 Your Worst Animal Nightmares 01:45 Animal Cops Miami 02:40 Life Of Mammals 03:35 Bad Dog 04:30 Your Worst Animal Nightmares 05:25 Dogs 101: Specials 06:20 Animal Cops Miami 07:10 Wildlife SOS 08:00 Monkey Life 08:25 The Really Wild Show 08:50 Natural Born Hunters 09:15 Jeff Corwin Unleashed 09:40 Breed All About It 10:10 Dogs vs. Cats 11:05 Dogs 101: Specials 12:00 Animal Cops Houston 12:55 Pit Bulls And Parolees 13:50 Wild Africa Rescue 14:45 Animal Cops Miami 15:40 Life Of Mammals 16:30 Monkey Life 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Natural Born Hunters 18:00 Jeff Corwin Unleashed 18:25 Dogs 101: Specials 19:20 America’s Cutest...

20:15 Monkey Life 20:40 Breed All About It 21:10 Cats 101 22:05 Life Of Mammals 23:00 Big Five Challenge 23:55 Untamed & Uncut

00:30 01:00 02:05 02:50 03:40 04:10 04:40 04:50 05:00 05:15 05:20 05:40 06:00 06:10 06:20 06:35 06:40 07:00 07:10 07:30 07:40 07:50 08:05 08:10 08:30 08:40 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:35 09:40 09:50 10:10 10:20 10:40 11:40 12:25 13:15 13:45 14:15 15:10 16:40 17:30 18:15 18:45 19:15 20:10 21:00 21:45 22:15 22:45 23:40

00:00 01:35 02:25 03:20

Blackadder Goes Forth One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Holby City: Set 1 Doctors: Set 2 One Foot In The Grave 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Poetry Pie Tweenies: Set 15 Fimbles: Set 3 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 The Adventures Of Spot Tweenies: Set 15 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 Fimbles: Set 3 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Poetry Pie Tweenies: Set 15 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 Fimbles: Set 3 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Poetry Pie Poetry Pie Tweenies: Set 15 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 Fimbles: Set 3 One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 New Tricks Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Holby City: Set 1 One Foot In The Grave New Tricks The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Holby City: Set 1 New Tricks The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Doctors: Set 2 Eastenders: set 253 Holby City: Set 1 Conviction

Gok’s Fashion Fix Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Gok’s Fashion Fix

04:55 05:45 06:10 06:35 07:25 08:00 08:20 08:45 10:45 11:35 12:20 13:05 13:55 15:55 16:45 17:30 18:20 19:10 19:55 20:40 21:30 22:25 23:10 23:55

Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear What Not To Wear Gok’s Fashion Fix Daily Cooks Challenge Cash In The Attic USA James Martin’s Champagne Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me James Martin’s Champagne Rhodes Across The Caribbean Come Dine With Me Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Design Star

00:00 BBC World News America 00:30 Hardtalk 01:00 BBC World News 01:30 World Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News America 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 Newsday 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Sport Today 04:00 Newsday 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Sport Today 05:00 Newsday 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 Newsday 06:30 Asia Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 Newsday 07:30 Hardtalk 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 World Business Report 11:45 Sport Today 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 Hardtalk 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 World Business Report 14:45 Sport Today 15:00 GMT With George Alagiah 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 BBC World News 19:30 World Business Report 19:45 Sport Today 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 21:30 World Business Report 21:45 Sport Today 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 23:30 World Business Report 23:45 Sport Today

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:00 04:25 04:50

The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Johnny Bravo Duck Dodgers King Arthur’s Disasters The Scooby Doo Show Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye The Jetsons

05:15 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:15 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:15 10:40 11:05 11:30 11:55 12:20 12:35 13:00 13:15 13:40 13:55 14:20 14:45 15:15 15:40 16:05 16:30 16:55 17:20 Doo 17:45 18:10 19:45 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:25 23:55

The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show New Yogi Bear Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Pink Panther And Pals Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley The Flintstones Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals Top Cat New Yogi Bear Show Puppy In My Pocket Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Jetsons Duck Dodgers Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Tom & Jerry The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races Scooby-Doo And ScrappyDastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Dexters Laboratory Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Top Cat Wacky Races Tom & Jerry The Scooby Doo Show Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Johnny Bravo Dexters Laboratory

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Classifieds TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Amid stingy harvest, a scramble for pecans ST. LOUIS: The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in Kimmswick, Mo., owes its success to a few things: hard work, big pies and lots and lots of pecans.

"Almost everything we make has pecans," says Mary Hofstetter, the bakery's founder, owner and inhouse cheerleader. "The pies, the tartlets. Even the butterhorns have pecans in them."

So, when Hofstetter is asked what a pecan shortage might do to her business, a rare darkness sweeps briefly across her face.

"I don't know what we'd do without pecans," she says, shaking off the notion. "We don't like to think that way at the Blue Owl. We like to think positive."

Positive thinking may be in order The U.S. is the largest producer of pecans, which are native to the South. But a drought in prime pecangrowing areas this year, coupled with a huge surge in demand for pecans from China, has forced prices upward. Now some pecan-dependent companies are scrambling for nuts as the pecan-centric holidays approach.

"Some distributors don't even have pecans to give right now," said Reed Burns, of St. Louis-based Bono Burns Distributing, which supplies the Blue Owl with pecans. "People can't find pecans, and they're calling us, and we have to say no. We only have enough for our contracts with our customers."

The price Burns pays per 30-pound case of pecans has shot up from $160 to $260 over the last year.

"We've never seen pecans this high before," he said.

Retail prices, which last year hovered around $9 a pound, are predicted to hit $11 this year.

"China, in 2006, bought 9 million pounds of in-shell pecans," said Drew Kimmell, of Missouri Northern Pecans, a co-operative of growers that runs a shelling plant in Nevada, Mo., about 270 miles west of St. Louis. "By 2009, they had increased their purchase to 88 million pounds. When you get 30 percent of the crop taken by new demand, prices are going to go up."

Companies in China, according to pecan growers here, market pecans with claims that they will boost brain health and cure illnesses.

"Pecans are good for you," Kimmell said. "But they're not going to cure cancer."

Record drought in Texas and Louisiana, two top pecan-producing states, is exacerbating the problem.

The Texas pecan harvest dropped to 40 million pounds from 70 million, while the Louisiana harvest dropped to 9 million from 20 million. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects total U.S. production to drop 14 percent, to about 252 million pounds this year.

Missouri, which produces about 5 million pounds in a good year, will probably get only 1.5 million

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Lenora Reckerd of Hillsboro places a freshly topped Caramel Apple Pecan Pie on the counter at The Blue Owl Restaurant in Kimmswick, Missouri, on November 11, 2011. So far a shortage of pecans due to drought has not been seen in the restaurant’s desserts. — MCT

pounds this year from its pecan trees during the harvest going on now.

"I would guess we've lost half of the pecan crop just in the last two months due to the drought," Kimmell said.

In the past 15 years, the number of pecan growers in Missouri has jumped to 390 from about 340, and total harvested acreage has gone up to 13,400 from about 7,100. Most of the growers are clustered in the southwestern part of the state, where they harvest the nuts from native, nongrafted trees.

"Ninety-nine percent of our pecans are wild," Kimmell said. "Planted by God and the squirrels."

The state's pecans are smaller and sweeter than the larger pecans produced farther south, most of which come from grafted trees, Kimmell explained.

Though some growers are facing a bad year, some are getting lucky.

Vern Spaunhorst, a retired engineer, planted a grove of grafted pecan trees three decades ago on his farm in Washington, hoping it would provide some income in his retirement years. Last year the trees produced well, and Spaunhorst sold about 700 pounds.

This year looks good, too. Spaunhorst just harvested the pecans and is preparing to sell them.

"I probably should raise the prices," he said. "But

this is only my second year, and I don't want to raise them too much."

Hofstetter, too, said she won't raise prices unless she has to, though she has had to cut back on the amount of pecans she uses in some pies. "That's lower than what it used to be," she said, pointing to a pecan pie that, nonetheless, is heaped with nuts.

For Hofstetter the timing of the pecan price spikes is particularly bad — or good, depending on how you look at it. This month, Oprah Winfrey's O magazine picked the Blue Owl's "Caramel Pecan Levee High Apple Pie" — a towering effort containing 18 apples, covered with pecans — as one of Winfrey's "Favorite Things" for the holidays. The anointing — every business owner's wildest dream — has triggered a flood of calls from all over the country.

"Every call is 'Oprah. Pie. Oprah. Pie,' " Hofstetter said. But Hofstetter says she's prepared for the onslaught. In the past several years, the Blue Owl has been featured on the Food Network, among other shows, and she knows what a little media attention can do. "Once we found out we got the blessing from Oprah," she said, "we thought: We need to get ready."

So now Hofstetter just hopes the pecan supply holds.

If it doesn't, she joked, "I guess I'll just have to get on a plane to China." Or switch to walnuts. — MCT

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Airlines JZR RBG JZR ETH THY UAE QTR OMA DHX MSR FDB RJA ETD GFA DHX JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC JZR KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD IRA GFA IRA JZR RKM MEA MSR MSR JZR KAC GFA KAC FDB UAL VOS

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 29/11/2011 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 3564 ASSIUT 539 CAIRO 620 ADDIS ABABA 772 ISTANBUL 853 DUBAI 138 DOHA 641 MUSCAT 370 BAHRAIN 612 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 642 AMMAN 305 ABU DHABI 211 BAHRAIN 170 BAHRAIN 555 ALEXANDRIA 529 ASSIUT 416 JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR 157 LONDON 412 MANILA/BANGKOK 503 LUXOR 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 352 COCHIN 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 284 DHAKA 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 605 ISFAHAN 213 BAHRAIN 619 LAR 165 DUBAI 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 404 BEIRUT 623 SOHAG 610 CAIRO 201 DAMASCUS 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 512 TEHRAN 57 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 93 KANDAHAR/DUBAI

Time 0:20 0:40 0:50 1:45 2:15 2:35 2:40 2:50 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:10 3:15 5:15 6:00 6:20 6:25 6:40 6:45 7:25 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:15 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:45 9:55 10:50 11:20 11:45 11:55 12:30 12:55 13:00 13:20 13:25 13:40 13:50 14:05 14:15

QTR KNE SVA KAC RJA KAC JZR QTR KAC JZR JZR ETD UAE GFA SVA ABY RBG ALK JZR FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC JAI OMA MLR DHX MEA GFA QTR UAE BBC JZR KLM AIC JZR UAL AXB DLH

140 745 500 546 640 562 257 134 678 561 213 303 857 215 510 127 3561 227 177 63 502 542 787 786 618 674 744 166 104 774 61 552 572 647 1405 372 402 217 136 859 43 135 443 981 239 981 389 636

DOHA 14:20 JEDDAH 14:25 JEDDAH 14:30 ALEXANDRIA 14:30 AMMAN 14:40 AMMAN 14:45 BEIRUT 15:00 DOHA 15:25 ABU DHABI/MUSCAT 15:30 SOHAG 16:10 DEIREZZOR 16:45 ABU DHABI 16:50 DUBAI 16:55 BAHRAIN 17:15 RIYADH 17:20 SHARJAH 17:40 ALEXANDRIA 17:50 COLOMBO/DUBAI 18:10 DUBAI 18:15 DUBAI 18:40 BEIRUT 18:45 CAIRO 18:50 RIYADH 19:05 JEDDAH 19:10 DOHA 19:15 DUBAI 19:25 DAMMAM 19:25 PARIS/ROME 19:30 LONDON 19:35 RIYADH 19:40 DUBAI 20:00 DAMASCUS 20:05 MUMBAI 20:10 MUSCAT 20:15 COLOMBO/DUBAI 20:50 BAHRAIN 21:00 BEIRUT 21:20 BAHRAIN 21:25 DOHA 21:35 DUBAI 21:40 DHAKA 21:40 BAHRAIN 21:55 AMSTERDAM 22:05 CHENNAI/HYDERABAD/AHMEDABAD22:05 AMMAN 22:45 BAHRAIN 23:00 KOZHIKODE/MANGALORE 23:35 FRANKFURT 23:50

Airlines UAL AIC BBC JZR PIA DLH RBG ETH THY FDB UAE OMA DHX MSR ETD QTR JZR GFA RJA JZR KAC FDB BAW KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC UAE ABY FDB QTR ETD GFA IRA JZR KAC IRA KAC RKM MEA KAC MSR KAC JZR MSR

Departure Flights on Tuesday 29/11/2011 Flt Route 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 976 GOA/CHENNAI 44 DHAKA 502 LUXOR 240 SIALKOT 637 FRANKFURT 3562 ALEXANDRIA 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 642 MUSCAT 371 BAHRAIN 613 CAIRO 306 ABU DHABI 139 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 643 AMMAN 200 DAMASCUS 545 ALEXANDRIA 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 677 ABU DHABI/MUSCAT 256 BEIRUT 671 DUBAI 511 TEHRAN 561 AMMAN 560 SOHAG 101 LONDON/NEW YORK 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 56 DUBAI 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 604 ISFAHAN 212 DEIREZZOR 165 ROME/PARIS 618 LAR 541 CAIRO 311 RAS ALKHAIMAH 405 BEIRUT 501 BEIRUT 624 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO

Time 0:45 0:50 1:00 1:05 1:10 1:20 1:25 2:45 3:15 3:45 3:50 3:55 3:55 4:00 4:00 4:55 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:30 7:40 8:25 8:40 8:55 9:00 9:00 9:15 9:20 9:30 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:05 10:10 10:20 10:40 10:45 10:50 11:45 11:50 12:00 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:30 13:40 13:50 13:55

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

GFA FDB KAC KAC KNE UAL RJA SVA KAC JZR KAC QTR KAC JZR ETD JZR QTR VOS UAE GFA ABY RBG SVA JZR ALK FDB JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC DHX KAC JAI OMA MLR DHX MEA GFA KAC QTR KAC JZR UAE BBC KAC KLM JZR KAC

220 58 551 673 746 982 641 501 617 786 773 141 743 238 304 538 135 82 858 216 128 3563 511 134 228 64 184 283 361 62 343 171 351 571 648 1405 373 403 218 381 137 301 554 860 44 205 443 528 411

BAHRAIN DUBAI DAMASCUS DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN AMMAN JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH RIYADH DOHA DAMMAM AMMAN ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA BAGHDAD DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH ASSIUT RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI/COLOMBO DUBAI DUBAI DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI CHENNAI BAHRAIN COCHIN MUMBAI MUSCAT COLOMBO BAHRAIN BEIRUT BAHRAIN DELHI DOHA MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI DHAKA ISLAMABAD BAHRAIN/AMSTERDAM ASSIUT BANGKOK/MANILA

14:20 14:35 14:40 15:05 15:10 15:20 15:35 15:45 15:50 15:50 16:25 16:30 16:40 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:00 18:10 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:35 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:55 20:15 20:20 20:40 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:50 22:00 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:35 23:55

34

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

stars CROSSWORD 512

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) There is time this morning to complete unfinished business, organize your desk and place a few plants around your work space. Make room for an extra sweater and some rain gear . . . just in case. This afternoon you may be asked to lead a group in some project where a conservative mind is an important factor. In working with so many different age groups of people, you are still able to mold the group into one mind so that every person can contribute as one. You are wise to encourage each individual in the group for suggestions and help. Working within a group can include trust and fair play and contributions that add up to a successful end result for your company. A loved one needs your support this evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is a good time for clear deliberation and problem solving. This is a vital day in which much energy and action is utilized. You could find yourself able to really communicate and get your ideas across to others. You are in a serious frame of mind and may find yourself dealing with matters of much concern and responsibility. A clear-minded insight serves you well. This is a very good time to communicate your goals and put them into words. Perhaps it is time for an employee review, but if not, it is certainly a good time to take your own notes that will help you focus on a few goals. An old neighborhood or school friend may drop by your house this afternoon to give you some material on a class reunion.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. An informal term for a father.

4. A drug (trade names Atarax and Vistaril) used as a tranquilizer to treat anxiety and motion sickness.

10. A bloody and prolonged operation in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945).

13. A lyric poem with complex stanza forms.

14. make a deposition.

15. A reproach for some lapse or misdeed.

16. An awkward stupid person.

17. Any plant of the genus Erica.

19. (informal) Exceptionally good.

21. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

22. Used of locations.

24. An informal conversation.

26. An associate degree in nursing.

27. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

29. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

30. No longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life.

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

35. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

38. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

41. Thigh of a hog (usually smoked).

42. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.

44. A member of an agricultural people in southeastern India.

48. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

49. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

55. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

56. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

58. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

59. Make or shape as with an axe.

62. An elegantly dressed man (often with affected manners).

63. Bulky grayish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail.

64. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

65. A nucleic acid consisting of large molecules shaped like a double helix.

DOWN 1. Trailing grass native to Europe now cosmopolitan in warm regions.

2. The sixth month of the civil year.

3. Mar or spoil the appearance of.

4. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.

5. (Judaism) Not conforming to dietary laws.

6. Situated at an apex.

7. Mythical bird of prey having enormous size and strength.

8. Type genus of the Anatidae.

9. A colorless odorless inert gaseous element occurring in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts.

10. A theocratic republic in the Middle East in western Asia.

11. Gully or streambed in North Africa and the Middle East that remains dry except during rainy season.

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

18. United States tennis player (born in Czechoslovakia) who won several singles championships.

20. A pointed instrument used to prod into motion.

23. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

25. German organist and contrapuntist (1685-1750).

28. A French abbot.

31. An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure equal to about a bushel.

32. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

33. Fallow deer.

36. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

37. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

39. The compass point that is one point east of due south.

40. A member of the Siouan people formerly inhabiting the Black Hills of western South Dakota.

41. A colorless odorless inert gaseous element occurring in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts.

43. In bed.

45. Any of several small ungulate mammals of Africa and Asia with rodent-like incisors and feet with hooflike toes.

46. (Welsh) Lord of Annwfn (the other world.

47. A shade of brown with a tinge of red.

50. Type genus of the Aceraceae.

51. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

52. The (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb.

53. Very dark black.

54. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

57. A dark-skinned member of a race of people living in Australia when Europeans arrived.

60. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali metal group.

61. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You may find your attention drawn to subjects like law, politics, education, travel and religion. These are certainly some of the areas in which an emotionally charged drama will be played. Perhaps this is a better time to think and study—you have a real appreciation for ideas. You may find yourself enjoying a long conversation, writing a letter or making a special phone call. You may find yourself being put to good use by your friends, or it could be that circumstances force you to reorganize and be more conservative. All of this should go rather smoothly.

Your more common-sense qualities are valuable. A yearning for the stimulation of new ideas and goals is emphasized for now and new friends supply you with plenty about which to think.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Hectic emotional energy, especially this morning, slows you from that long-desired camping trip or out-of-town visit with friends. Patience wins out and you will be on your way soon. Fun and adventure are on the schedule today. Take a chance on something exciting, creative and fun.

Socializing is your talent and you can use it to your best interest—networking. This evening, new energies seem to fill you up with fresh ideas and thoughts. You could be at your most imaginative. New creative endeavors, including writing will be well worth your time and effort. You could become published before the end of next year.

It is easy for you to find the proper motivation to fulfill your ideals or make your dreams into reality. Luck is with you.

Leo (July 23-August 22) The home and family scene are likely to be in a state of change now—this may mean moving, an addition to the family, or such.

High-tech equipment impinges on the domestic environment somehow. An eccentric relative attracts some notice. Harmony and beauty are deeply satisfying—and the lack of them can be emotionally unsettling. You will do your best to close the gap between any misunderstandings among family members or between friends just now. Close personal ties to other people are a focal point for your feelings—marriage and other partnerships could be a key arena for this. A yearning for adventure stirs in you now. To roam, to wander and wonder, to seek freedom and go where no one has gone before are deep and powerful longings.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) At heart, you have a deep sense of responsibility and purpose and this seriousness is genuine and felt by others. Your inner resources and emotions are accented. A group discussion may find you stepping in to lend a focus. Expect a sense of support and goodwill from those around you. You may be able to enjoy and value your own life situation today or feel especially kind toward a friend or loved one. A visitor to your home may want to know about a fun sightseeing tour, or a play. Your unique and unusual qualities make you the center of conversation; everything is positive. You may find that others are supportive of your ideas. You could come up with new solutions. The good life and all that comes with it is what you aim for now.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Family and security are things that rattle your chain more than ever now. These are areas where you make new beginnings and bold moves—things you are willing to fight for . . . things in which it pays to be careful.

Unconventional hobbies and other forms of self-expression may be enjoyed today.

Too much time spent with your own project, however, may play havoc with someone else’s plans. Refinement and relationships are the keys to emotional satisfaction for you. Harmony and beauty are deeply satisfying—and the lack of them can be emotionally unsettling. Be sure to set aside time for others today. This may mean an elderly person needs to hear your voice or a young child needs your assistance. Think before you speak!

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your love of truth makes philosophy and religious ideas lifelong habits. You appreciate things of a global or universal level and travel or studies of foreign lands could be a part of this interest. You may enjoy the company of friends this afternoon. Appearances mean little to you and you value honesty and sincerity in friends and partners. This is a time when you may feel very passionate, or during which your feelings, emotions and basic life urges undergo change and transformation. You feel more personal and direct and find that you waste less time with hurt feelings than before. Your home environment, friends and surroundings in general get attention and receive encouragement. Your life finally seems to have harmony and balance.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

You are at your mental best with clear thoughts. This is an excellent time to make decisions and take care of mental work. You may decide it is quiet enough this morning to balance the checkbook, work out a budget or just generally catch up on some reading. You could be feeling more inward and more like sharing some time with your lover or with close friends this afternoon.

Perhaps this is not a time to be very outward or to try to present yourself to the world.

You are feeling reflective rather than expressive. Some kind of healing process is at work in your life: you isolate what doesn’t work, eliminate it and move forward.

Tonight you may find yourself helping someone move or caring for children so that friends can have some time alone.

An outgoing and very expressive cycle of experience has begun for you at this time. Now more than ever, you want to be admired and appreciated by others, to do and create things that stir their hearts. This is child’s play; this is romance; this is taking a chance. This may be a time you find yourself among friends or family that look to you for guidance. Figuring things out takes on special significance for you. A heightened interest in health and diet, as well as an urge to get things organized into a rational system, is a part of this. Much mental busywork goes on today. Friends, group projects and community concerns could play a key role that effects your career direction. Altruism and humanitarian efforts can affect your work and life-path.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) A friend may confide in you today and you may find yourself tossing the information around in your head most of the day. Think about this—perhaps this person confided in you because he or she needed help, not necessarily because he or she wanted you to keep a secret. Follow your heart. You contribute to harmonious relationships with family members today. Financial problems can be settled. When you invest . . . seek investments you believe in—making money can become doubly rewarding. Start by supporting a good cause. Time spent alone this evening can be very healing. Meditate and get your life together before going out. A new group or club offers traveling opportunities and you may very seriously consider joining.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Close personal ties to other people are a focal point for your feelings—marriage and other partnerships could be a key arena for your activities today. You may be able to bring the family or perhaps a group of your friends together today to enjoy a play, a musical or an art exhibit. Achievement in poetry and art may be possible now. Your whole world may seem trance-like or dreamy. Movies, books and all forms of escape could prove enjoyable. This is a great time to reflect and understand your own path and any changes you might want to make. Your emotions and the feelings of those around you may be very easy to understand. A special relationship is highlighted this evening. It is your turn for happiness.

Romance is possible.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

i n f o r m at i o n

FIRE BRIGADE

112

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

171 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22921555 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

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0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

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00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

y

A

36

e niv rsar n

Years

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

lifest yle G o s s i p

he Dark Knight Rises” may be Christian Bale’s final performance as crime-fighting superhero Batman, the actor told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Set for release in July, the movie is Bale’s third stint as Gotham’s Caped Crusader for director Christopher Nolan, after “Batman Begins” (2005) and “ The Dark Knight” (2008). “I wrapped a few days ago, so that will be the last time I’m taking that cowl [Batman hood] off,” Bale told the newspaper during an interview in Beverly Hills. “I believe that the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it’s all done.

“T

ir Paul McCartney, Natalie Portman and Ellen DeGeneres are among stars to feature on a new stamp range featuring the 20 most famous vegetarians of all-time. The trio of famous faces have agreed to lend their likenesses to the collection which has been organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and will be released in the US today. Lisa Lange, vice president of the animal rights organisation, said: “These are very influential people, and not everyone knows that these folks are vegetarian.”

Other celebrities to feature on the stamps include Woody Harrelson, Chrissie Hynde, Pamela Anderson, Morrissey, Joan Jett, Bryan Adams, ‘Jackass’ star Steve-O and Leona Lewis. Lange believes the special edition stamps will highlight the true plight of animals in slaughterhouses and hopefully convince more people to give up eating meat. She added: “It’s just another way to be able to talk about what animals go through in slaughterhouses.” The postage payment mark series also includes statements from the stars revealing why they decided to become vegetarians or

Everything’s finished. It’s me and Chris-that will be the end of that Batman era. The 37-year-old actor’s comments, published late last week, weren’t his first indication that he might have reached the end of the Batmobile ride. Bale told E! News in November one year ago that “unless Chris says different, this will be the last time I’m playing Batman.” Bale, who received an Oscar last year for his supporting performance in “The Fighter,” next appears on the big screen in Zhang Yimou’s China-set period drama “The Flowers of War.” He’ll also star in two films from “Tree of Life” director Terrence

S

arah Harding has split from her on/off fiance for good after completing her rehab treatment. The Girls Aloud singer has returned to the UK after spending over a month in a treatment centre in the US to seek help for depression and alcoholism and has decided to call time on her relationship with DJ Tom Crane after deciding she needed a completely fresh start in her life. A source told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “She realized she needed to move forwards and not go backwards.

She met with Tom and said she had come to the decision things just were never going to work out. “Sarah wanted to come back and start again without any pressure or major decisions on her shoulders. Tom was gutted but agreed it was probably for the best that they parted ways.” Following her successful stint in rehab, the 29-year-old singerand-actress has returned home full of “energy and sparkle” and is determined to get her life back on track by having a positive new attitude. Sarah entered rehab in October just weeks after she initially called off her engagement to Tom, 31, in September. The pair started dating in June 2007 and were due to tie the knot next summer but ended their romance after a series of arguments

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why they eating plan is important to them.

Academy Award-winner Portman stated: “Eating for me is how you proclaim your beliefs three times a day.” The stamps can be purchased throughout December at www.PETA.org.

Williams star-struck by

Bridges

George ‘s imprisoned victim feared for life

Malick. Joining Bale in “The Dark Knight Rises” are Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway, as Catwoman. Film actors who have preceded Bale in the dual role of Batman and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, include Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney.

he man chained to a radiator

by Boy George “thought he would kill” him. ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me’ hitmaker George was convicted in December 2008 of falsely imprisoning Norwegian Audun Carlsen after he chained him up at his home in London during a naked photo shoot in April 2007.

Carlsen - who was paid as a model and denies he was working as an escort at the time - feared for his life after the pop star, real name George O’Dowd, brought in another man, who has never been identified, and the pair began to attack him. He told The Times newspaper: “George asked me to come into the bedroom. He and another guy are standing there and suddenly they are both jumping and beating on me and kicking on my back, my face, dragging me along the floor. tying me up. handcuffing me. screaming abuse. “I’ve never seen a person so full of hate. I thought he would kill me.” Before he eventually managed to pull himself from the wall and escape the house in nothing but his underwear, Carlsen said George confronted him with a knife and a selection of sex toys, which he felt sure would be used to injure him. Telling how George had appeared with a tool box, he added: “It had a knife in it. And leather straps and some other metallic things, and sex toys. “When I saw what was in the box I managed to drag the hook out of the wall. I still can’t imagine how I got it off but I

ichelle Williams was star-struck when she met Jeff Bridges. The ‘My Week With Marilyn’ actress - who has a sixyear-old daughter Matilda with her late exfiance Heath Ledger - admits to having a crush on the ‘Crazy Heart’ actor and was overwhelmed when they met for the first time. She said: “I walked behind Jeff Bridges on the red carpet once. I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s him!’

“He turned around and shook my hand - he had his sunglasses on and I was . well, I kind of wished I had sunglasses on too so I could hide behind them.” Following the death of Heath, Michelle dated director Spike Jonze for around a year but has been single since they separated in 2009 and she claims to find life easier by staying single. She told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “The best way to deal with relationships is not to have them.” Michelle is currently working on ‘Oz, The Great and Powerful’ - a prequel to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in which she plays Glinda the Good Witch - and she loves having Matilda visit the set of the film. She said: “It’s great for my daughter to come to the set because it’s like a fairytale playground.

“She comes to visit me and she gets to walk through a castle or see a dance number - it’s a lot of fun for her.”

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just realized, if I don’t get loose now I’m going to get seriously hurt. “He took a metal chain and [started] hitting me with it. At the door I struggled to get at the locks - he just continued hitting me with the chain.”

George was found guilty only of false imprisonment in the subsequent trial, and served four months of a 15-month sentence. While Carlsen was relieved and pleased with the result of the case, he feels the ‘Karma Chameleon’ star is a “coward”. He said: “I pity him. I just think, coward. pathetic ... only people who are really unhappy with themselves can do something like that.”

ylie Minogue has been inducted into the Australian Record Industry Association (Aria) Hall of Fame. The ‘All the Lovers’ hitmaker was welcomed into the body which is considered to be the Australian equivalent of the BRITs - by Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard and music journalist Molly Meldrum. Accompanied to the event by her boyfriend, Spanish model Andres Velencoso, the 43-year-old pop star admitted the hunk has fallen “in love” with her native country. In tribute to him, she said: “Thank you to my boyfriend Andres, who is in love with this country. You’ve

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about his DJ career and the amount of time they spent apart. However, they reconciled briefly earlier this month

while Sarah was in rehab after Tom flew out to Utah to support her during her treatment.

Cyrus cops to being a ‘stoner’ in party video iley Cyrus branded herself a “stoner” at her birthday party. The 19year-old star joked that she smokes “way too much weed” - slang for marijuana - when her pals presented with a Bob Marley birthday cake at the bash at Beacher’s Madhouse inside the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles last Tuesday. In a video obtained by website The Daily, she is seen saying: “You know you’re a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake. You know you smoke way too much weed!” Alluding to an incident last year when footage emerged of Miley smoking a bong water pipe which she later claimed contained the legal hallucinogen Salvia, her pal Kelly Osbourne replied: “I thought salvia was your problem!” A spokesperson for the former ‘Hannah Montana’ star has denied she was referring to her own drug use in the video. They said: “It’s all been taken out of context. The cake was a joke and Miley’s response was intended to be sarcastic.” Kelly - who organized the bash for her friend - later took to her twitter page to defend the comments in the clip and slam the person who leaked the footage. She wrote: “Let me make something very clear after @MileyCyrus salvia incident we started calling her Bob Miley as a JOKE! The cake was also A JOKE. “It makes me sick

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made him feel very welcome.” Kylie also told guests she felt a sense of “amazement, gratitude, humility, wonderment and pride” at receiving the honor and still being able to work in the music industry. She also thanked her family for their support throughout the course of her 24-year-career, singling out sister Dannii Minogue for special praise. Last month, Kylie received an honorary doctorate of Health Sciences from Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, Essex, East England, in recognition for her work promoting breast cancer awareness. Kylie - who was diagnosed with the dis-

that @Miley Cyrus so called ‘friends’ would sell her out and lead people 2 believe she is someone that she is not! “U guys if @MileyCyrus is not recording/filming/touring she is works everyday how could she possible do all that if she was a stoner! #think.’ (sic)”

ease in 2005 - told graduates at the ceremony: “I never went to university so my dad will be very proud when he sees the pictures. I am here partly for the work I do promoting breast cancer awareness. “When you are diagnosed yourself it becomes a lot more real and you appreciate at first hand the hard work that goes on to support patients through it.”

— Agencies

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Glenn Closewore many hats for passion project lmost three decades after she first played her onstage, Glenn Close has brought to the screen the strange and compelling character of Albert Nobbs, a woman in 19th-century Dublin who lives as a man to escape a traumatic past and hang onto her job as a waiter in precarious times. The actress wore multiple hats, and not just Nobbs’ bowler: She bought the rights to the material, produced the film, co-wrote the screenplay, played the title role and even wrote the lyrics for the end-credits song. She also recruited Janet McTeer, a British stage and film actress who received an Oscar nomination for 1999’s “Tumbleweeds,” to play a crucial role.

Close, whose performance is a marvel of tightly wound restraint and almost unbearable poignancy, is a strong Best Actress candidate in this year’s Oscars race. Supporting Actress contender McTeer, meanwhile, steals more than a few scenes as a brassy hotel worker who befriends Nobbs and changes her ideas of what’s possible. Roadside Attractions is mounting an awards push in multiple categories for the Rodrigo Garcia film, which will get a limited run beginning December 21 and open wider in January.

Note: This interview inevitably focuses on McTeer’s performance in a way that might be considered a spoiler for those who have not seen the film and do not know her character or function in the story.

TheWrap: Did your conception of the character of Albert Nobbs change over the years? You first played the role onstage in...

Glenn Close: ‘82. I think the core of Albert didn’t change. But I’ve matured

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since then. That, I’m sure, had a lot to do with how I played her now. And a movie like this, you can’t mock fate. If it’s going to be made, it’s going to be made whenever it comes together. I lost opportunities maybe three times over those 29 years, but it finally took on a life of its own, and I can’t imagine I ever could have gotten a better group of actors or a better crew.

TheWrap: Why’d you cast Janet?

Close: She’s one of the great actresses alive right now. I also thought her stature would be fantastic for Hubertand even though she did “Tumbleweeds” and has an Oscar nomination, she’s better known for stage than film. I thought it was important to have somebody who people would discover as Albert discovers her.

McTeer: So Glenn came to see me in a play on Broadway, and came backstage and asked if I’d have a look at it. I said sure, and then we met a week later.

And we’ve loathed each other ever since. (laughs) That was probably a year and a half before it was actually made.

Close: She stayed with it. Because the schedule changed as we were getting the money. We pushed it back until we had the money, and Janet hung with it.

McTeer: But we didn’t really get all the money until...

Close: We started shooting without all the financing. We made it independently, without a penny from Hollywood, and there were 60 different documents for the financing of this movie. And the final signing, I think, was on day five of the shoot. So we were jumping off the cliff. We all took on a degree of risk with our salaries, because we certainly could-

n’t afford everybody’s usual salary. And everybody who has a main role has a stake if we do well.

TheWrap: What were the particular challenges to playing women playing men?

McTeer: It was nerve-wracking, wasn’t it? This is a movie where if you don’t buy the premise you’ve lost your audience. In many Shakespearean plays, and

of the story is built, and you make the rest of the characters look like idiots. If you play men, in a way it’s easier. You can have a voicebox, you can have false hair, mustaches, wigs, you can have all kinds of stuff. But when you’re playing women playing men, you only really have yourself to work with, plus tiny little extras. So working on the voices, working on the stature...

Glenn Close in things like “Shakespeare in Love,” it’s a romantic comedy, and you don’t have to totally believe that these people have actually passed as men. Whereas in something like “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Mona Lisa” and this, you have to absolutely believe that these other people would believe they were men. Because otherwise you’ve lost the premise, you’ve lost the foundation stone on which the rest

Close: It was tricky. Very tricky.

TheWrap: You were not only playing different accents from your own, but you were also playing people who are changing their own voices to make them seem more masculine.

McTeer: Exactly. You’re playing somebody who’s playing.

Close: And I thought that for Albert, it’s become such second nature to her

that when she speaks it’s just down in that register. She’s trained herself to talk that way, and if I speak a little bit higher, it’s when I’m alone in my room, mumbling to myself.

TheWrap: She never really lets down her guard and relaxes, even when she’s alone. She’s always tightly controlled.

Close: And yet she related to her little pile of money that’s going to keep her from the poorhouse and the streets.

That’s her focus. And she’s very proud of the fact that she’s such a good butler. But beyond that, she’s just existing. And her life is precarious, like anyone else’s.

TheWrap: There’s that lovely and funny scene on the beach with the two of you...

McTeer: In drag?

TheWrap: Right. In women’s clothes.

And it feels as if Albert is the one who loosens a bit and allows herself to be a little feminine in public, but Hubert just never seems comfortable at all.

McTeer: She doesn’t want to be a girl.

She’s very happy being a guy. She is who she is. She knows that maybe Albert thinks she can now go back to being a girl. And Hubert thinks, well, let her go there. I don’t want to do it. She doesn’t try to look like a girl, she doesn’t try to pretend she’s a girl, she just does it for Albert. Hubert is herself. She’s very happy with who she is, and she’s not going to change even if she could.

TheWrap: Is Albert ever comfortable being herself?

Close: She doesn’t know who she is.

Honestly, she doesn’t know who she is because she was never told her real name. And also, she is so deeply embedded in this survival guise that when she

puts on the dress, I think the revelation at the end of the scene is that’s not who I am, either. It would be more stressful and more impossible for her to become a woman than it would be for her to stay in the life she has. Hubert says, “You can be whoever you are.” Which is a very kind thing to say, but she doesn’t know how incapable of doing that Albert is. She had become this strange hybrid. And it doesn’t have anything to do with sexuality, really.

TheWrap: Were there surreal moments walking on the set as men?

McTeer: I would often go on as myself, when I wasn’t working. And the first time I went on as myself, two people came up and asked me what I was doing and who I was.

Close: And what about when Brendan came?

McTeer: Oh, yeah. Brendan Gleeson is a great friend, I’ve known him for a long time and we’ve worked together.

And when he arrived on the set I was there in my costume. I just stood there and nodded, and he looked at me and went, “All right.” And there was a split second where I could see him thinking, shit, I know I’m supposed to know who ya are. And then he clicked. But for that split second I had him.

Close: I remember every morning it was really weird when I looked in the mirror. It’s just not you. I felt that through the entire shoot. I never got used to seeing this other person looking back at me. (laughs) But you do realize that when you’re playing a man, you can look tired and horrible and you still look OK. As a woman, if you’re tired, it’s terrible. It was such a luxury not having to worry about that. —Reuters

20 questions for ... singer-musician Craig Wedren

British film director Ken Russell with British model Twiggy during the filming of the movie “The Boy Friend”, at Elstree Studios, north of London, England, in this file photo dated Aug 4, 1971. Ken Russell died yesterday. —AP

British film director Ken Russell dies at 84 K en Russell, an iconoclastic British director whose daring films blended music, sex and violence in a potent brew seemingly drawn straight from his subconscious, has died at age 84. Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex VerneyElliott said yesterday. “My father died peacefully,” Verney-Elliott said. “He died with a smile on his face.” Russell was a fiercely original director whose vision occasionally brought mainstream success, but often tested the patience of audiences and critics. He had one of his biggest hits in 1969 with “Women in Love,” based on the book by DH Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and a “Best Actress” Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.

It included one of the decade’s most famous scenes - a nude wrestling bout between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. Reed said at the time that the director was “starting to go crazy.”“Before that he was a sane, likable TV director,” Reed said.

“Now he’s an insane, likable film director.” Born in the English port of Southampton in 1927, Russell was attracted by the romance of the sea and attended Pangbourne Nautical College before joining the Merchant Navy at 17 as a junior crew member on a cargo ship bound for the Pacific. He became seasick, soon realized he hated naval life and was discharged after a nervous breakdown.

Desperate to avoid joining the family’s shoe business, he studied ballet and tried his hand at acting before accepting he was not much good at either. He then studied photography, for which he did have a talent, and became a fashion photographer before being hired to work on BBC arts programs, including profiles of the poet John Betjeman, comedian Spike Milligan and playwright Shelagh Delaney. “When there were no more live artists left, we turned to making somewhat longer films about dead artists such as Prokofiev,” Russell once said.

These quickly evolved from conventional documentaries into something more interesting. “At first we were only allowed to use still photographs and newsreel footage of these subjects, but eventually we sneaked in the odd hand playing the piano (in ‘Prokofiev’) and the odd back walking through a door,” Russell said.

“By the time a couple of years had gone by, those boring little factual accounts of the artists had evolved into evocative films of an hour or more which used real actors to impersonate the historical figures.” Music played a central role in many of Russell’s films, including “The Music Lovers” in 1970 - about Tchaikovsky - and 1975’s “Lisztomania,” which starred Roger Daltrey of The Who as 19th- century heartthrob

Franz Liszt.

“The Boy Friend,” a 1971 homage to 1930s Hollywood musicals starring supermodel Twiggy, and Russell’s 1975 adaptation of The Who’s psychedelic rock opera “Tommy,” were musicals of a different sort, both marked by the director’s characteristic visual excess. Russell’s darker side was rarely far away. “Dante’s Inferno,” a 1967 movie about the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, played up the differences between Rossetti’s idealized view of his wife and her reality as a drug addict. Russell was even more provocative in his 1970 film “The Dance of the Seven Veils: A Comic Strip in Seven Episodes.” It presented the composer Richard Strauss as a crypto-Nazi, and showed him conducting Rosenkavalier waltzes while SS men tortured a Jew. “The Devils,” a 1971 film starring Vanessa Redgrave as a 17thcentury nun in the grip of demonic possession, was heavily cut for its US release and is due to be released on DVD in Britain for the first time in 2012. Russell told The Associated Press in 1987 that he found such censorship “so tedious and boring.” He called the American print of “The Devils”“just a butchered nonsense.”

Critics were often unimpressed by Russell’s work. Alexander Walker called him a master of “the porno-biography which is not quite pornography but is far from being biography.”

Pauline Kael said his films “cheapen everything they touch.” But admirers luxuriated in his Gothic sensibility - on display once again in “Gothic,” a 1987 film about the genesis of Mary Shelley’s horror tale “Frankenstein” replete with such hallucinatory visuals as breasts with eyes and mouths spewing cockroaches. Russell said his depiction of a drugaddled Percy Bysshe Shelley was an accurate depiction of the time. —AP

Major films “Billion Dollar Brain” 1967 “Women in Love”1969 “The Music Lovers” 1970 “The Devils” 1971 “The Boy Friend” 1971 “Savage Messiah” 1972 “Mahler” 1974 “Tommy”1975 “Lisztomania” 1975 “Valentino”1977 “Altered States” 1980 “The Lair of the White Worm” 1988 “The Rainbow” 1989 —Reuters

Craig Wedren hasn’t had a great career at all — he’s actually had two. The first one stems back from his iconic post-hardcore outfit Shudder to Think, whose early ‘90s releases on Dischord Records helped define the anything-goes underground/alternative rock scene that was growing in the US, rewriting the rulebook well before grunge blew up and took everything with it. Their epic high point came with 1994’s major-label debut, “Pony Express Record” — an undervalued album that showed the group branching out into a wild array of genres while still holding on to their tight melodic instincts —which helped garner the group critical acclaim and a large cult following. Shortly thereafter, Wedren had a battle with Hodgkin’s disease, which he won, a victory that helped drive the band through a few more releases before ultimately calling it a day in 1998.

The second career Wedren had was as a solo artist, and his love of music wound up leading him into the realm of scoring and composing, the results of which can be heard in everything from “Reno!

911” to “Stella” to “School of Rock” to HBO’s “Hung.” During this time, he also managed to put out two well-regarded solo albums (and briefly reunite Shudder to Think), but neither discs were as overarching and ambitious as “WAND,” his latest album. To help promote this disc — which features reworked versions of some of the songs from his scores — he worked friend Tim Nackashi to create 360-degree music videos that could be interacted with by listeners in conjunction with the music. It is, in short, one of the most ambitious projects he’s yet tackled, although a quick listen to “Are We” (which was featured during the closing scene of the 2002 film “The Secret Lives of Dentists”) reveals that if anything, Wedren’s talents have only deepened with time.

Wedren discusses an affinity for the “amoral but ultimately just” Willy Wonka, how making love can be quite the de-stressor, and how his new album partly is inspired by a Mexican market dealer’s insistence that the wand he was going to sell Wedren not end up in the hands of George W. Bush.

1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?

“The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man,” a new children’s book by Michael Chabon, got me good in the airport about three hours ago, reading it to my son (Lennon, 3).

2. The fictional character most like you?

I’m a great fan of Willie Wonka as portrayed by Gene Wilder, for his wild ambiguity which seems to comprise boundless childlike imagination/ psychedelic vision, mad-but-empirical science, great heart and compassion, a total, uniquely individual (and arguably amoral but ultimately just) ethical clarity, and a can-do sense of achieving the impossible; he believes (as I do) in magic, and wind-whips mystery, while simul-

taneously evoking delight, fright, and momentary, almost dreamlike menace.

3. The greatest album ever?

This is an impossible question to answer, and one that changes with age. While I do not currently have an all-time favorite record, in past lives I’d have gone with “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers” by Frank Sinatra, “Sticky Fingers,” Psychic T.V.’s “Dreams Less Sweet,” “The Madcap Laughs” by Syd Barrett, both Elvis and Little Richard debuts, and in my early 20s, probably “Low” by David Bowie. I don’t think any of these would necessarily make my current list, though; I’m searching for something.

4. “Star Trek” or “Star Wars?”

“Star Wars” is as intrinsic to my DNA as my mother, although I can’t ultimately defend either of their more glaring WTF’s.

5. Your ideal brain food?

Brahms, the ocean, sex, almost any new music, fashion, going to the movies to see a movie, my son, good modern art, live performances by people who I think are better than I am at what they do. Free writing.

9. The creative masterpiece you wish bore your signature?

“Ooh Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I really admire “Moby Dick,” too.

10. Your hidden talents ...?

I’m psychic.

11. The best piece of advice you actually followed?

“Ease up on yourself.” I used to be very hard on myself _ a tortuous perfectionist, and my own worst friend. My mother particularly would worry about how hard I was on myself. I had _ and beat _ Hodgkin’s disease when I was in my mid/ late-20s, and that was a turning point for me in terms of my relentless, self-directed severity. It might also have something to do with age as well, plus having achieved a modicum of success, but I have a lot more fun now, doing what I love.

12. The best thing you ever bought, stole, or borrowed?

A few years ago, my wife and I were in Mexico for a wedding.

While there, we went to a low-rent swap meet — used G.I. Joes and radios — and there was one magical table which stood out like a glistening, glittering mirage from

Singer-musician Craig Wedren debuts his latest album, “Wand.” —MCT 6. You’re proud of this accomplishment, but why?

I’m proud of the fact that my creativity continues to flower and fruit even as I’ve become a more responsible, dependable individual, husband and dad. In the past, I’m not sure I believed you could have all of that at once, but I was a punk.

7. You want to be remembered for ...?

I want to be remembered for my music for a long time. And I want a long time to continue making music. I wish more people knew about my music, and I hope they do within my lifetime, so that I can enjoy them enjoying it. I know that’s not cool to say, but I think it’s ridiculous that there’s a stigma against admitting we want folks to love the things we create, assuming we love them, too. It’s about connection, and deeply sparking people’s imaginations and sense of possibility.

8. Of those who’ve come before, the most inspirational are?

Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Seuss, many others I don’t remember at present.

the rest. The table was run by a Brazilian artist who made jewelry, shakers, and other magnificent objects exclusively out of found dead things _ bones, skins, furs, twigs, shells, etc. In the center of the table was a very long wand/shaker, which was intensely attractive, and a little bit scary to me. I asked the man if I could buy it, along with a couple of smaller, bone earrings. “Where are you from?” the artist asked me.

Meanwhile, Mexican police were beginning to descend on him and his friends because only Mexican vendors were allowed to set up shop at the market; they were being forced to pack up and leave.

Amidst all this, I told the man I was from New York City, and asked him what the wand was made of.

“You know Bush?” he asked. I somehow thought — given the language barrier — that he was explaining that the wand handle was made of twigs from a bush.

But he was asking me if I knew George W. Bush, who was president at the time. I told the man I knew of George Bush, but did not know him personally. “I cannot sell

this to you,” he replied. “Why?” I asked. “Because it must never fall into the hands of George Bush — it is too powerful.” I promised that, if he let me have the wand, I would never ever let it fall into the hands of the Bush administration. Finally, as he was packing up his table and being escorted out, he sold me the scepter. I’ve protected, and used it for good ever since. It became the inspiration/ catalyst for my new album, “WAND,” and its accompanying narrative video series.

13. You feel best in Armani or Levis or ...?

APC jeans, Sven clogs and a precious Cake Like T-shirt.

14. Your dinner guest at the Ritz would be?

Either John Cage or Dr. Seuss, both for their brilliance, humanity and sense of humor.

15. Time travel: where, when and why?

Three years into the future, just to peek.

16. Stress management: hit man, spa vacation or Prozac?

Play in a great band with good friends who are all getting along, and encouraging/inspiring one another creatively and personally, followed by a no-deadline beach read with my wife. Also, swimming and playing in the pool with my son. And making sweet, sweet, love with my wife _ that’s a huge de-stressor.

17. Essential to life: coffee, vodka, cigarettes, chocolate, or ...?

Seltzer.

18. Environ of choice: city or country, and where on the map?

I would always have answered “city,” and that’s still true, but I truly, deeply hate the air in just about every city I go. It’s to do with traffic, which I also abhor.

19. What do you want to say to the leader of your country?

Please, please, please do what we all know you can and want to.

Please.

20. Last but certainly not least, what are you working on now?

I just released a new solo album, “WAND,” and am about to play some shows around that. I’m also figuring out the next chapter in my “WAND” narrative video series, which my director friend Tim Nackashi and I have been making in a cool new 360-degree panoramic format that allows the viewer to essentially choose their own adventure by navigating around the video using their mouse. I’m also close to completing lyrics for a collaboration with composer Jefferson Friedman; he’s writing the music, I’m writing the words and singing with an orchestra. Amazing. And I just finished scoring the movie “Wanderlust,” directed by one of my oldest BFF’s, David Wain. It’s out in February.

Then I’m starting to score a new movie by my other oldest BFF Stuart Blumberg called “Thanks For Sharing.” David, Stuart, and I have been friends since we were four, and have been making things together since about age nine or ten. And, I recently completed the music for season three of “Hung” on HBO, which just started airing.—McT

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With women willing to spend $100 on a pair of cute yoga pants, retailers are racing to make workout clothes that are as much about style as sweat. Athletic clothing has traditionally been relegated to the gym, where women would huff and puff in un-glamorous get-ups-think oversized men’s T-shirts and baggy sweatpants.

But now that more women are pursuing active lifestyles-juggling Pilates, spinning classes and hikes in Runyon Canyon with busy professional and personal lives-what was once a limited market for fitness apparel has taken off. High-end brand Lululemon Athletica Inc. has been adding to its yoga and running lines, experimenting with cycling products and opening stores in new markets. Gap Inc.’s Athleta, until recently a catalog- and online-only company for women,

introduced its GapBodyFit line last fall. Nordstrom Inc. and Target Corp., which have their own private-label brands, have been expanding their women’s sportswear offerings. Even lingerie company Victoria’s Secret sells yoga pants and “bralettes.” “It’s an underserved, under-represented market that’s growing,” said Howard Tubin, a retail analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “There is certainly competition, but there’s room for retailers to pick off a little bit.”

Brands are eager to quickly roll out new merchandise because the core active-wear shopper is the ultimate consumer: female, relatively young, fashion-forward and willing to spend money. “We are hungry to win this girl over,” said Adrienne Lofton Shaw, a marketing director at Under Armour. Retailers say they’re not only filling a void in the sports apparel market, which has predominantly catered to men, but also cor-

will open seven stores this year, including two in Southern California. Performance athletic company Under Armour Inc. is introducing a new yoga collection this summer and redesigning its sports bras and underwear for 2012.

Mainstream retailers have caught on. Fast-fashion chain Forever 21 Inc. began selling active wear in February, following Gap, which

recting a long-standing flaw in athletic clothing for women.

“The assortment that has historically been available to them has generally been reverse-engineered from a male garment, made smaller and made pink,” said Scott Key, senior vice president at Athleta, which is planning to open 50 stores by 2013. “Women are demanding true performance items, but that are

attuned to their specific needs.” One of those needs is clothing that is attractive. Women such as Claire Parker, 29, say they work out to feel good but want to look good while doing it, too.

Before going for a run, Parker stopped by a Lululemon store in San Francisco to buy two running tops. Although the yoga-inspired brand’s merchandise is “ridiculously priced”-she spent $125 on the shirts — she said the clothing was worth it because it “hides all the imperfections” and “decreases jiggle.” “Let’s face it,” she said. “You never know who you’re going to meet at the gym.” Or afterward.

Retail analysts say active-wear brands have successfully broken the barrier between workout attire and street clothes, which has further boosted sales. “There are people who don’t do anything athletic who are wearing it; it’s become more of a fashion statement,” said Pamela Quintiliano, a research analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Despite toting a $1,000 Marc Jacobs handbag while shopping at the Grove recently, Stacy Lee was dressed in a sweatshirt, flip-flops and Lululemon yoga pants, which she called “my favorite pants in the world.” “I probably wear these every other day,” the 19-year-old said. “I don’t feel like if you wear workout clothes that you have to look grubby.”

Retail analysts credit Vancouver, Canada-based Lululemon with fueling the active-wear trend and making it cool to wear workout clothes to the mall, out for coffee or to run errands. Founded in 1998, the company has had phenomenal growth recently as the overall retail industry has seen modest per formance.

Lululemon, which has 142 stores, plans to open 25 new locations this year. Its stock is at all-time highs with shares are up 75 percent for the year. In its most recent quarter, Lululemon reported that its revenue soared 35 percent year-over-year to $186.8 million and sales at stores open at least a year rose 16 percent.

The company ’s $33.4-million profit was up 70 percent from $19.6 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Shoppers say they like that the company is about more than just the products it sells, noting the weekly

Lululemon is the hottest name in the women’s active wear sector these days. — MCT photos yoga classes and running clubs that the retailer offers. Other brands, including Athleta and Nordstrom’s Zella active-wear line, have also hosted in-store fitness events.

“Companies like Lululemon, they don’t sell clothes-they sell a lifestyle,” said Lee, a Los Feliz resi-

A gallery worker holds the duplicate Bridal shoes of Princess Diana, for her wedding in 1981 to Britain’s Prince Charles, as designed

by Clive Shilton, which is on display at La Galleria.

discounter wants to offer athletic merchandise without “the intimidation factor of walking into a specialty boutique or a sports store,” spokesman Joshua Thomas said.

The most expensive active-wear item at Forever 21 is a long-sleeved sports top with a partial zipper for $22.80. The Los Angeles-based chain also carries sports bras for $8.80 and workout pants for $12.80.

Victoria’s Secret, meanwhile, is upping the glam factor. Its “bling bootcut yoga pant” features rhinestones and animal prints; the product’s online shopping Web page recently said: “Look hot when you work out or hang out. Be a yoga superstar.” For shoppers such as Lynn Brown, 41, who said she dreads going to the gym, not looking “like a frump” is of utmost concern. — MCT

A line of sweatpants is displayed at Lululemon. dent and University of CaliforniaBerkeley student. “So I think people bought into that and felt like they needed the clothes to be part of the lifestyle. I have.”

As the competition has heated

Mitch Winehouse, the father of late British musician Amy Winehouse, in front of the ‘Disaya’ printed chiffon dress worn by Winehouse on the cover of her ‘Back to Black’ album, as it goes on display at La Galleria, London, late yesterday. The ‘Passion for Fashion’ auction will be held today. The dress, created for Amy in 2006, is estimated to go on sale for upward of £10,000. — AP

A gallery worker holds the ivory lace gown of Audrey Hepburn, worn in ‘Roman Holiday’.

up, high-performance brands have bristled at suggestions that anyone can make a quality athletic product, arguing that there’s a difference between authenticity and jumping on the bandwagon. “When I look at the market, there’s a lot of ‘me too,’” Lofton Shaw of Under Armour said.

“Everyone’s chasing trends.”

For their part, general retailers are touting affordability and accessibility. At Target, which has been adding products to its exclusive C9

by Champion active-wear line, the

A gallery worker adjusts the Chanel couture gold brocatelle cocktail suit jacket of Elizabeth Taylor, circa 1964.

The ‘Disaya’ printed chiffon dress worn by late British musician Amy Winehouse on the cover of her ‘Back to Black’ album.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

lifestyle F a s h i o n

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anolo Blahnik insists he has “never followed trends”.

The 68-year-old designer’s women’s footwear has been hugely popular for over four decades yet he has no idea what his appeal is. He said: “I’ve never really thought about my success, but I guess it’s true. I have been going for a while.

Suddenly, people seem to really like my shoes again. But you know, those furniture shoes were fashionable for three or four years. I did platforms in the 1970s, so that wasn’t new to me. I’ve never followed trends or gotten into the frenzy of doing the ‘right’ shoes.” The designer also admitted he can be difficult to

work with because he is never completely satisfied with all his creations.

He told WWD: “I’m never satisfied. I always find something wrong, and I’m really difficult to work with in that respect. Just today, I was looking at a shoe [here in London], and there was a fault, so I called the factory and told them to do it again.” While he been working for over 41 years, Manolo admits it doesn’t feel like that long. He said: “I’ve never been able to capture the essence of time. I really enjoy what I do, so what’s the point of saying how long I’ve been doing it?” — Bang showbiz

Models display creations by Georgian designer Mariam Kharadze during the Fashion Week in Tbilisi late. — AFP Photos

Models display creations by Georgian designer Mata Tsertsvadze.

Models display creations by Georgian designers Uta and Levani.

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mber Heard is a “big fan” of Roksanda Ilincic as she is “edgy” but “feminine”. The model says the label - which has fans such as the Duchess of Cambridge, Lady Gaga, Emma Stone and Michelle Obama - is perfect for her because it’s different from a lot of other designers and has clothes for the modern woman. She told vogue.co.uk: “I love Roksanda. She’s one of my new favourites. She proves you can do something different, wearable and a bit edgy, but still beautiful and feminine. Her label is so different from

Models display creations by Georgian designer Smaki Siradze.

most of the stuff out there the moment. I’m a big fan.”

Amber says fashion plays a huge part in her life and loves getting dressed up for glamorous events. She said: “I love playing dress up. The red carpet is great for that. I’m from Texas, maybe it’s a Southern thing, but we love to dress up. I just can’t help it!” — Bang Showbiz

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he ‘We Found Love’ hitmaker has created a capsule collection for Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans - both of whom she already fronts advertising campaigns for - comprising of denim and lingerie featuring her R logo and the fashion house’s signature eagle. The collection includes biker jackets, a canvas rucksack, two styles of jeans - skinny and tight boys cut - t-shirts emblazoned with silhouettes of the singer’s face or animal print designs and lace underwear that come in navy blue and pearl grey.

Rihanna has previously revealed she likes to shock people with her fashion choices. Talking about her future look, she

said: “I probably see a lot of menswear, or something extremely, extremely feminine. But I like to play with both. It would have to be so extreme that it’s a look, because I don’t usually like typical ladylike, girly-girly stuff. It would be a look if I were to do it. I always like something that’s a little off, so it’s just not typical or expected.” — Bang Showbiz

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Glenn Close wore many hats for passion project ‘Nobbs’ Years

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Archaeologist traces Pocahontas wedding site

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rcheologist William Kelso is certain he’s discovered the remains of the oldest Protestant church in the United States, standing between two holes he insists once held wooden posts. In 1614, Pocahontas was “married right here, I guarantee,” Kelso told AFP at the Jamestown, Virginia archeological site southeast of the nation’s capital. Near the James River, on May 14, 1607, a group of about a hundred men landed on commission from England to form the first colony in the Americas. “It’s fantastically exciting and significant because Jamestown is usually depicted-the whole early settlement depicted-as it was carried out by lazy gentlemen who wanted to get rich quick, and go right back to England.”

The area was carefully excavated to reveal several large post holes 6.5 feet (two meters) deep and the trace remnants of four graves.

Two other Protestant churches are thought to have been built before, but left no trace, and remains of a Catholic church were also found in Florida-but Kelso is sure this one is the oldest left. “Religion played a big role” in the community, Kelso said as he stood near the river where small fluttering flags

Beverly Straube, senior archaeological curator at the site of Jamestown, Virginia, shows a copper medallion presumably portraying the Algonquian chief Powhatan. —AFP photos An illuminated ferris wheel spins at the Christmas market behind the Golden Rider a statue of Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, known as Augustus the Strong in Dresden, eastern Germany, on November 27, 2011. —AFP

US star meets Soviet legend in Bolshoi fairy tale T

he real-life plot involves a dashing American superstar’s historic encounter with a legendary Soviet figure; not to mention a young Russian couple lured away by an alleged dark force. The turbulent build-up to the new production of Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Sleeping Beauty” at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre has often read like the most fantastical fairytale. The production is the first full-length ballet performance at the Bolshoi since it reopened late October after a six-year closure for urgent renovations to literally save it from collapsing to the ground. The tale of a princess cursed by evil fairy, put into a long slumber and then awoken by handsome prince has been revived by the man who dominated the Bolshoi Ballet for decades in its Soviet heyday-choreographer Yury Grigorovich.

As the prince, it features star US dancer David Hallberg, who built his career with New York’s American Ballet Theatre and stunned the ballet world this year by becoming the first ever American to join the Bolshoi company. His bold decision to join the Bolshoi was a historic reversal of the USSR-to-West defections that marked ballet in the Cold War period. In 1961, Rudolf Nureyev threw himself into the arms of Paris police at Le Bourget airport, while Natalia Makarova defected to the West in 1970 and Mikhail Baryshnikov requested asylum while on tour in Canada in 1974. Any collaboration between an American dancer and Grigorovich-a hero of the USSR who epitomized Soviet ballet-would have been unthinkable in those years.

‘A milestone in my career’ At the premiere of “Sleeping Beauty”, Hallberg electrified the audience from his first entry, bounding across the stage with fearless jumps-his legs seemingly effortlessly extended to 180 degrees in midair. He appeared sublimely at ease with his partner as the Princess Aurora, Svetlana Zakharova, the Bolshoi’s long-legged prima ballerina recently returned from maternity leave and dazzling with her trademark body extensions. “Working with Grigorovich and Zakharova-for me it’s a milestone in my

career,” Hallberg recently told reporters at the theatre.

“I am very honored to be at the Bolshoi theatre and I respect its traditions. I feel that

Soviet state to join the Bolshoi-said he was adapting to the challenges of living in a new country and grappling with an unfamiliar language. “For me it was a huge sacrifice decid-

US dancer David Hallberg as a Prince and Russian balerina Maria Alash as a Fairy perform during a rehearsal for a new production of Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty” by Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. —AFP when I dance, I bring a mixture of my style of dancing, but I am very open to learning the techniques of the Bolshoi Theatre.” The blond dancer-the first ever principal from a non-ex-

ing to come to the Bolshoi Theatre, I was very happy in my life in New York but it was an offer that I could not turn down. “I am learning day by day-I am learning Russian, a new

technique of the Bolshoi Theatre and I’m learning how to grocery shop in Russia. It’s a completely different life for me.” Russia’s ballet critics applaud his marriage of American style with respect for Russian tradition in a ballet whose choreography goes back to the original version made by Marius Petipa in 1890 for the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.

“Zakharova and Hallberg merge Petipa’s era with modernity,” said daily newspaper Vedomosti.

A ‘fairytale’ ending?

Hallberg’s performance was a welcome boost for the Bolshoi, still reeling from the news that its most celebrated young duo-the real-life couple of Natalya Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev-were deserting it for the less wellregarded Mikhailovsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. An extraordinary war of words followed with the Bolshoi sniping that the Mikhailovsky’s businessman boss Vladimir Kekhman lured the two with promises of big money and then accusing him of blackmailing the Bolshoi. While praise for the dancing in “Sleeping Beauty” has been universal, the same cannot be said for the production itself, showing the new Bolshoi still has some work to do.

The monumental decor created by an Italian team led by designer Ezio Frigerio is colorful to the point of kitsch while the jewelencrusted costumes threaten to overshadow the performances. The Bolshoi ballet’s director has admitted the dancers are still getting to know the gigantic stage, most having spent their careers dancing in the smaller replacement theatre during the Bolshoi’s closure. “The fabled capacities of the reconstructed stage about which so much was written before the opening were not evident at all in this fairy tale,” the Kommersant daily said. Noting that the premiere was attended

by President Dmitry Medvedev, his wife Svetlana and Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the newspaper’s critic noted acidly: “This ritualistic, parade-like 170minute Sleeping Beauty could be a very effective diplomatic weapon if our high-ranking guests need suddenly to be sent to sleep in the interests of our state.” —AFP

marked the building’s outline. Settlers “put a lot of work in the building of this big church, and that became very important for the colony.” Noting the size of the wood post’s holes, Kelso said the church would have been able to support the mud and stud building’s heavy roof. According to surviving records describing the church kept by the secretary of the colony, what was built matches what can be seen today at the site.

“I’m convinced because it’s the right size,” said Kelso.

The four graves also match with the four important members of the colony who would have been buried so close to the church. Kelso said there were a knight, two captains and Reverend Robert Hunt, the first cleric to come to the site.

Pointing out where Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s favorite daughter, would have stood when she married an Englishman, Kelso marveled at the event’s place in colonial history, allowing further settlements in what was then foreign, hostile territory for the European settlers. “With that wedding, the Indians backed off and there was no more fighting,” Kelso recalled.

The Indian princess, well known to American children, was popularized through an animated Walt Disney film that transformed her meeting with Englishman John Smith into a romance. Renamed Rebecca, she was later to marry another Englishman, John Rolfe, before dying in England at the tender age of 21. The next tasks for archeologists in the coming months will be to dig up the graves. “We know the ages, we have baptism records,” Kelso said, excited at the tantalizing possibility of confirming their identities with the study of bones, teeth and possibly markings from injuries still traced to the bones. —AFP

Dr William Kelso, Director of archeology for Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) points at the presumed place where Pocahontas, the favored daughter of the Algonquian chief Powhatan, was standing during her wedding to tobacco entrepreneur John Rolfe, at the site of the recently discovered church of the first British settlement in America at Jamestown, Virginia.

Mariachi music, Fado songs UNESCO gain listing

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hinese shadow puppetry, the doleful Fado songs of Portugal and Mexico’s Mariachi music made UNESCO’s annual list of “intangible cultural heritage,” which closed yesterday.

After days of deliberation on Indonesia’s Bali island, envoys added 19 new traditions, including South Korea’s ramie weaving technique, Turkey’s keskek meat dish and French horse riding to the prestige list.

They join more than 200 practices already given the UN seal of approval, including oral traditions, performing arts, rituals and festive events. The list, which has been updated every year since 2009, consists of “intangible her-

itage practices and expressions (that) help demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance,” UNESCO said on its website.

The body recognised Mariachi music for delivering “values of respect for the natural heritage” of Mexico, while the spread of Fado songs through emigration reinforced “its image as a symbol of Portuguese identity.” French horsemanship was credited with building “harmonious relations between humans and horses”, the website explained.

The list aims to boost the profile of “intangible cultural heritage” and to foster a wider respect for cultural diversity,

according to UNESCO. Other new entries included Tsiattista poetic duelling from Cyprus, featuring impromptu oral poetry performed with an accompaniment of violin or lute and Croatia’s Nijemo Kolo-a “silent” dance of energetic, spontaneous steps performed without music.

While entrants seek the prestige of joining the list and perhaps a level of boon to their tourist industries, another category is reserved for endangered traditions in need of preservation. The envoys in Bali placed 11 new entries ranging from Iran to Brazil in the urgent preservation category, which has listed 16 endangered traditions since 2009.

Included this year were the Al-Sadu

traditional form of weaving by Bedouin women in rural communities of the United Arab Emirates and the Eshuva sung prayer which is performed for healing or as part of traditional ceremonies in Peru, UNESCO said on its website.

“There is an element of urgency on the items on the safeguarding list, otherwise it is feared they will disappear,” UNESCO spokesman Rasul Samadov said. Other new entries in need of protection were Mongolian folk songs played on ancient flutes, the art of Yimakan storytelling by China’s ethnic Hezhen and Mauritania’s Moorish epic T’heydinn poems.

An indigenous Brazilian drought ritu-

al called Yaokwa and Vietnam’s Xoan singing, practised in sacred places of Phu Tho province during spring were also placed on the safeguarding list. Iran secured two spots, the first with its oldest form of dramatic story-telling, Naqqa-li, which recounts tales in verse or prose accompanied by gestures and movements. The building and sailing of Lenjes, traditional boats used in the Gulf, was also listed by Iran. UNESCO said the meeting on Bali had been mostly funded

by Indonesia, which won a place on the list with its colourful clapping Saman dance, “the dance of a thousand hands”, chosen from among 18 entries by 24 nations. —AFP