30 April 2012

CR IP TI ON BS SU

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

Kuwaiti media delegation meets Zebari

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Tottenham back in top four as Chelsea rout QPR

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Kuwait should adopt full parliamentary system: MP

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Fighting season for animals peaks in Afghanistan

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Max 38º Min 28º High Tide 06:41 & 17:16 Low Tide 11:27

By B Izzak

Bahrain hunger striker emerges as uprising idol Police arrest boy DUBAI: A nearly three-month long hunger strike has turned activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, awaiting a final court ruling today along with 14 other jailed activists, into a symbol of Bahrain’s uprising that began last year. One of their lawyers told AFP yesterday that he expects the case, now in Bahrain’s highest appeals court, the Court of Cassation, to be reviewed. The 52-year-old father of four, on hunger strike since Feb 8, is among 21 activists - seven of them tried in absentia who were convicted in June of plotting to overthrow the Gulf Al-Khawaja kingdom’s rulers.

Seven of them, including Khawaja, have been jailed for life while 14 others were sentenced to between two and 15 years in prison. Khawaja, arrested in last April shortly after the Sunni regime crushed a month-long Shiite-led uprising, will continue his hunger strike - the fourth since his arrest - until he is Continued on Page 13

BAGHDAD: Iraqi and Kuwaiti delegations attend the joint Iraqi-Kuwaiti Committee meeting yesterday. The two sides discussed issues related to common oil fields, maintaining border marks, navigation through Abdullah waterway, transport, environment, building of the Kuwaiti consulate in the southern city of Basra, Kuwait Airways, war compensations, debts and allocation of five percent of Iraq’s oil sales’ proceeds for compensations to Kuwait. — AFP (See Page 2)

KUWAIT: Islamist MP Faisal Al-Yahya yesterday announced that he plans to submit proposals to introduce fundamental amendments to the constitution with the final aim of transforming Kuwait democracy into a full parliamentary system where political parties are legalized and unelected ministers will not be members of parliament as is the system now. Yahya said the ultimate goal will be to turn Kuwait into a constitutional monarchy under which the AlSabah family, in power for more than 250 years, will be treated in accordance with the constitution.

He told a press conference that he will first consult other MPs before submitting a formal request to amend a number of provisions in the constitution which has remained unchanged since it was issued 50 years ago.

According to the constitution, HH the Amir or one-third of MPs have the right to amend the constitution either by adding new articles, deleting articles or amending existing articles. The principle of amendments must be approved by a majority of the parliament and the Amir before starting the objective debate on the substance of the amendments. The amendments must be approved by two-thirds of the Assembly membership, including Cabinet ministers, but it will not be effective unless the Amir signs it and issues it. The Amir’s decisions on this cannot be overruled by the Assembly.

Yahya said he plans to propose to amend nine articles of the constitution’s 183 articles, namely 56, 80, 82, 97, 98, 101, 102, 103 and 116, all related to the form and powers of the government and National Assembly.

Continued on Page 13

Obama roasts Romney at big dinner Al-Qaeda still plots payback

QUETTA: Pakistani security officials stand next to the covered body of British Red Cross worker Khalil Rasjed Dale in an orchard yesterday. — AP

Kidnapped UK medic beheaded in Pakistan QUETTA: The body of a British Red Cross worker abducted in Pakistan four months ago was found beheaded yesterday, with a note saying he was killed after his captors’ demands were not met, police said. The mutilated body of Khalil Rasjed Dale, 60, was dumped in a bag in an orchard on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of the insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan. A note claiming to be from militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was found with the body, senior local police official Tariq Manzoor told AFP. The group said in the note that “our demands were not met (and) we have stuffed his

(Dale’s) body in a bag after slaughtering him. We will soon release a video of his beheading,” according to Manzoor.

Dale, a British Muslim who had been managing a health programme in Quetta for almost a year, was abducted in the city on Jan 5 by eight masked gunmen, who forced him from his car at gunpoint as he returned home from work. A source close to the case said the captors had demanded a ransom of $30 million. The International Committee of the Red Cross “condemns in the strongest possible terms this barbaric act”, said its Director-General Yves Daccord.

Continued on Page 13

PARIS: One year after the death of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, his network lies in ruins even if some supporters, whether lone wolf extremists or Al-Qaeda members, still brandish the jihadi banner. The death of their figurehead and US drone attacks in the Pakistani highlands have disrupted Al-Qaeda’s core guerrilla organisation, now reduced to a few dozen militants battling for their own survival, experts say. With the group’s Saudi kingpin slain in a US commando raid, his chosen successor as Al-Qaeda’s emir, Egyptian doctor Ayman AlZawahiri, has not been able to unite the same loose global movement under his command.

“What gave substance to Al-Qaeda’s global ambition was the person of bin Laden. He was a unique figure whom Zawahiri is incapable of replacing,” said Jean-Pierre Filiu, a French academic and author of a book on Al-Qaeda. “This son of a good family, who could have lived the most comfortable of lives but chose the asceticism and privation of the terrorist struggle, had a kind of romantic aura about him that was a very powerful draw,” said Filiu. “At no time in the past year has his successor marked public opinion by any act, pronouncement, initiative nor gesture.”

But the terrorist network still dreams of payback, and US counterterrorist officials warn that, in time, its offshoots may deliver. Now lacking the means to carry out itself attacks with geopolitical clout like those of Sept 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda has focused on trying to inspire allied local groups and to claim credit for their victories. In Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s chaotic and poor southern neighbour, fighters from Continued on Page 13

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama winks as he tells a joke about his place of birth during the White House Correspondents Association Dinner late on Saturday. — AFP (See Page 40) WASHINGTON: Cheered by Hollywood stars, President Barack Obama Saturday lampooned Mitt Romney’s wealth and mined a shaggy dog story about his foe, striking a rare light note in the bitter White House race. Obama used an annual starstudded dinner with White House correspondents and Hollywood A-listers, which presidents use to rip their rivals, to take a few gentle shots at Romney, before the two rivals face off for the presidency. He riffed off the hit movie the “Hunger Games” to poke Romney’s hard bore

Republican primary approach which he said saw “wealthy sponsors” brutally savage each other until only one contestant is left standing.

“I’m sure this was a great change of pace for him,” Obama joked before a crowd of 2,000 journalists and celebrities.

“Everybody is predicting a nasty election.

And thankfully, we’ve all agreed that families are off-limits,” Obama said, after a period when the two campaigns have feuded over the women’s vote.

Continued on Page 13

in the

news

US pastor burns Qurans over jailed Iran priest

Canada closes visa section in Tehran

Security men detain UAE Islamist activist

‘No suspicions’ about bin Laden kin: Riyadh

MIAMI: A controversial Florida pastor has burned copies of the Holy Quran and a depiction of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to protest the imprisonment in Iran of a Christian clergyman Youcef Nadarkhani. The burning, attended by 20 people and streamed live over the Internet, was carried out by pastor Terry Jones’ church in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, The Gainesville Sun said, and video of the burning was uploaded to YouTube by the pastor’s supporting group. The Pentagon had urged Jones to reconsider, expressing concern that American soldiers in Afghanistan and elsewhere could be put at greater risk because of the act, but Jones insisted to go ahead with the protest in the name of the release of the Christian pastor in Iran. In March 2011, the US pastor’s assistant burned a copy of the Quran, with the images inciting violence in Afghanistan in which at least 12 people were killed.

TEHRAN: Canada’s embassy in Tehran said yesterday it has closed its visa section effective immediately as a cost-cutting measure that will affect thousands of Iranians. Visa services for Iran have been transferred to the Canadian embassy in Ankara, the capital of neighbouring Turkey, the Tehran mission said in a statement on its website. Callers to the embassy’s telephone number were also informed that the visa section was closed and no longer accepting visa applications. The embassy statement said the closure was decided by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada department, which regularly “explores ways of doing business more effectively and efficiently”. It said the decision affecting the Tehran embassy’s visa activities “is not uncommon” and that a new computerised system was enabling visa officers around the world to share the workload. There are more than 120,000 people of Iranian origin or descent living in Canada.

DUBAI: State security men yesterday detained an Islamist activist who had criticised the United Arab Emirates’ security apparatus, his son said, amid a crackdown on Islamists in the Gulf Arab country. Ten plainclothes men, who identified themselves as security officials, arrived at a mosque in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah after dawn prayers and took Saleh Al-Dhufairi, the general manager of an Islamist organisation, the Holy Quran Foundation, his son told Reuters. “They ran into the mosque and took my father to the car outside. I asked them who they were and one said they were police, while another said they were from the state security but they had no arrest warrants and didn’t show us any identification,” Hassan Al-Dhufairi said. “They took him with them and I tried to open the door of the car but it was locked and they drove away, we don’t know where they took my father,” he said.

RIYADH: A Saudi spokesman said late on Saturday that his government has no suspicions about relatives of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who were deported from Pakistan last week, breaking an official news blackout over their admission to the kingdom. “Saudi Arabia acted out of humanitarian considerations... in so far as there are no reports or evidence of any implication in criminal or illegal acts,” he said. “At the request of the bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia, steps were taken to facilitate the return of members of Osama bin Laden’s family, who arrived on Thursday night in Jeddah where they were welcomed by their relatives,” the spokesman added.

“It is inappropriate to discuss in any way the details of the private life of the bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia.” Earlier on Saturday, a Saudi-owned daily reported that the authorities had allowed bin Laden’s three widows, seven children and four grandchildren entrance into the kingdom on humanitarian grounds.

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

local

Iraq affirms desire to tackle pending issues with Kuwait

BAGHDAD: Kuwaiti media delegation members with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari yesterday.

Kuwaiti media delegation meets Zebari BAGHDAD: Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, reaffirmed yesterday Baghdad’s keenness on bolstering relations with Kuwait at various levels and reaching solutions to all pending issues concerning the two neighboring countries. Zebari, speaking during a meeting with a visiting Kuwaiti delegation of media and press figures, said the supreme Kuwaiti-Iraqi commission, due to meet in the Iraqi capital, will address all the unresolved issues between Baghdad and Kuwait. He re-affirmed Iraq’s abidance by all international obligations, namely UN resolutions related to the “State between Kuwait and Iraq,” in line with the Iraqi Constitution and its political system, noting that “escalatory rhetoric” at political and media levels will not serve the interests of the two states.

“There are certain matters which have been imposed on Iraq under Chapter VI, thus there must be adherence by these commitments regardless of who rules the country, and we have no other choice because these resolutions concern the country and not the ruler,” Zebari said, in his address to the eminent Kuwaiti guests.

These matters are understood by Iraqi politicians and intellectuals, but “cannot be fathomed by ordinary people, who believe that there is injustice for being blamed for actions they have not done,” the minister said. He indicated that many Iraqis believe they should not be held accountable for hostile actions of the defunct regime of the executed leader, Saddam Hussein, “therefore the Iraqi people need to be prepared to fathom such topics.”

Kuwait was one of the first states to stand alongside “new Iraq” and backed it at regional, Arab and international quarters, he said, praising Kuwait’s stance towards Iraq following the downfall of Saddam’s regime, whose forces

invaded Kuwait in 1990 and occupied the country for seven months. Zebari said the Iraqi government has exerted tremendous efforts to “rid Iraq of some of the international resolutions,” enforced due to Saddam’s offensive on Kuwait, noting that the country is “subject to more than 70 international resolutions issued by the Security Council under Chapter VI on matters such as weapons of mass destruction, disarmament, nuclear arms, outcomes of the invasion and aggression and the oil for food issue.

Iraq, at the end of 2010, succeeded in “ridding” the nation of dozens of UN resolutions under Chapter IV. “What remains are a number of resolutions related to the State between Iraq and Kuwait concerning issues such the borders, resolution 833, the missing and prisoners, properties, archives and compensation,” he added, shedding further light on Baghdad’s efforts to free itself from the constraints of Chapter VI. Zebari praised the attendance of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, at the recent Baghdad Arab summit. He said his presence left substantial effects at the popular, regional and international levels, noting that Sheikh Sabah was among the first Arab leader to express readiness to participate in the top-level meeting in Baghdad. Zebari praised Sheikh Sabah, saying at the time there was much skepticism and rumors about the venue and the date of the summit. However, HH the Amir remained adamant that he intended to take part in the meeting in the Iraqi capital. This stance was applauded by President Jalal Al-Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, members of the Iraqi government and all of the Iraqi people.

Turning to the visit to Kuwait by Prime Minister Nouri Al-

Maliki ahead of the summit, he said his talks with Kuwaiti officials resulted in paving the way to open a new chapter in bilateral ties, with a new approach to tackle such issues in a constructive manner.

“Such an atmosphere still persists and will be crowned with the substantial ministerial meeting that will be capitalized upon for further enhancement of these ties,” the veteran Iraqi official said, noting that all issues concerning the two countries “could be resolved.” He re-affirmed Iraq’s respect for Kuwait’s borders in line with relevant UN resolutions and Baghdad’s commitment to the financial liabilities for the neighboring country. However, he said “certain matters can be addressed on a bilateral basis, for Iraq should not remain subject to Chapter IV indefinitely. Moreover, Kuwait and its people and Amir should not be accused of hampering Iraq’s efforts to liberate itself from this resolution.”

He re-affirmed that joint Kuwaiti-Iraqi talks due later today will address such crucial issues, namely Iraq’s abidance by the UN resolutions such as resolution 833, the borders, “and the demarcation the borders as well the issue of farmers.” The State of Kuwait officially calls for maintainingand not demarcating the border line. Elaborating, the minister indicated the necessity of discussing the issue of the ports, with no infringement on Kuwait’s sovereignty and its rights. He expressed hope that such matters be tackled in a final manner for the sake of closing the chapter on past painful events that strained ties, indicating a mutual desire to regulate commercial exchanges.

Iraq has cooperated with Kuwait, through the UN special delegate, to determine the destiny of Kuwaiti prisoners, he said, expressing readiness for deeper cooperation to pursue this issue and locate the whereabouts of missing persons

and prisoners in Iraqi territories.

“We have already proven our readiness to cooperate with the disclosure of the remains of dozens of them,” he added. Zebari affirmed the necessity to tackle the issue of the Kuwaiti archive and properties on a bilateral basis, “for we have placed this topic under the humanitarian issues category, and I believe that we will reach better results through such channels, rather than linking it to resolutions of the Security Council.”

Iraq has paid five percent of its oil proceeds as war compensation to Kuwait. “What is left is $17 billion, with some proposing that the sum be invested in Iraq, and we accept all notions related to the compensation including those that call for paying them,” he said.

Zebari said tackling issues with Kuwait warrants certain mechanisms, but emphatically denied reports that Baghdad had requested to be granted membership in the GCC. “Our principle in Iraq is based on non-participation in any axis,” noting the suffering due to Saddam’s regional policies.

He re-affirmed the significance of the upcoming G5+1 states’ meeting due in Baghdad on May 23 to tackle the crucial issue of Iran’s nuclear file. Holding the meeting in Baghdad will prove that Iraq can mediate between Iran on one hand and the US and Europe on the other, he noted.

Finally, Zebari praised HH Sheikh Sabah, “who we name as the Sheikh of Arab diplomacy,” alluding to his long service, in the past, as Foreign Minister of Kuwait. He also lauded the present and former foreign ministers of the country.

Zebari said, “we have reached a stage of maturity and we will pick the fruit soon,” affirming that it is an easy task to bolster bilateral relations once good intentions, mutual confidence and respect exist. —KUNA

IOM conference debates GCC labor system challenges

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor(MSAL), and the embassy of Netherlands is hosting a two-day(yesterday and today) regional meeting on ‘Challenges Facing Temporary Contractual Labor Systems within GCC.’ The workshop’s opening ceremony was held at the Costa del Sol Hotel.

“The GCC countries have attracted 22 million foreign workers from different Arab and non-Arab countries. This reflects the importance of this workshop.

The GCC countries host temporary contractual workers because of the vital role they play in developing our societies, in cooperation with the citizens of these countries who comprise a small percentage of manpower when compared to expat workers,” said Lt Gen Ahmad Al-Rujaib, Undersecretary of Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

“The interest is apparent in the legislations laid down by the countries’ respective governments so that expat workers can lead a life of dignity, with human rights protected. The officials are always developing and modifying laws to suit local and international changes,” he added.

“We are cooperating with the IOM to hold similar activities because we are keen to discuss the challenges facing GCC countries. We also aim to exchange and benefit from others’ experiences, especially concerning temporary contractual labor as the first step toward solving negative issues,” Al-Rujaib concluded.

This workshop and meeting is a follow-up to the previous event held in January 2011 entitled ‘The Sponsorship System, Chances and Challenges.’ “We consider it good to see that all concerned parties are gathering here after a year to see improvements in the situation, especially since GCC countries are an attractive market for temporary contractual workers,” stressed Iman Ereiqat, Head of Kuwait Office, IOM. “Such meetings and workshops are part of the IOM’s policy to support governments by providing international experiences and abilities to connect the institutions in charge. It will result in these countries’ benefiting a lot,” she added.

Since its establishment in 1991, and signing the cooperation agreement with Kuwait government in 1994, IOM Mission (Office) in Kuwait has executed many activities and programs in Kuwait, in cooperation with the concerned ministries and organizations.

“We cooperated with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other institutions. We executed 17 projects including conferences, workshops, training courses,”

Ereiqat pointed out. Ton Boon von Ochss�e, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kuwait stated that this workshop provides a platform according to which experiences and information on different relevant local and international perspectives

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Lt. Gen. Ahmad Al-Rujaib of migrant workers’ regulations and systems can be shared. This can be used to improve labor market regulations and outcomes.

“Better labor market regulations and well-orga-

nized workforce can contribute significantly to the recovery and future sustainable growth of the economy. Gulf countries have so far maintained the economic growth amid global financial meltdown. To sustain this success and social progress, labor regulations should be better established and maintained,” he added.

Workers’ migration is a world-wide phenomenon and the human face of globalization. “Sharing experiences on such an important issue worldwide, I trust, will provide better understanding of challenges and opportunities of managing labor migrations flows which, if well brought about, can have the potential to contribute to the economic and social developments of all societies, here in Kuwait and in countries supplying workforce,” highlighted Ochss�e.

Ochssee appreciated the role played by the Kuwaiti government. “The government has been active in taking several serious measures towards the protection of these workers, and spares no effort in cooperating with the local and international community. I would like to express deep appreciation for the International Organization of Migration (IOM) for lending support in a joint effort with the government of Kuwait to address the goals and objectives of combating a rapidly growing phenomenon. I hope such a collaboration will continue in the future so that we can attain our shared vision,” he explained.

Worker falls to death

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT : A 22-year-old Egyptian construction worker died on the spot after falling from a building under construction in Bidaa.

Unconscious man A 68-year-old Indian lost consciousness outside Farwaniya police station, said security sources noting that the man was admitted to Farwaniya polyclinic.

Car accidents A 22-year-old citizen suffered several facial bruises after her car collided into another at a junction along the Gulf road.

A 29-year-old Egyptian injured his right arm and an 18-year-old citizen bruised his knee after their vehicles collided into each other along Fifth Ring Road.

Street fight A 13-year- old citizen was admitted to Mubarak Hospital to receive treatment for a head injury sustained during a fight with others in Rumaithiya.

Fire incident A 65-year- old Pak istani suffered burn injuries after a fire broke out at his home in Mishref, noting that the fire was caused by a gas leak.

Drunk man In response to an emergency call stating that a 29-year-old citizen was found in an inebriated state, paramedics reached the scene.

The man was arrested and taken away.

Street fight A 25-year-old Asian was rushed to Adan Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit after suffering a serious head injury. He was involved in a fight with a group of men.

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

local

KUWAIT: Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Sheikha Aida Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah AlMubarak Al-Sabah and other dignitaries at the bronze jubilee celebration. —- Photos by Joseph Shagra

Informatics prize helps promote awareness, support creativity Bronze jubilee celebrated

By Islam Al-Sharaa

Officials are seen during the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

VIVA to support recruiting Kuwaitis KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s newest and most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP), implementing the government’s policy that aims at providing job opportunities for the Kuwaitis in the private sector.

Accordingly, both VIVA and MGRP agreed to work together within the framework of specific programs to open the field of employment in the company. In addition, it will support MGRP’s ongoing efforts in areas that are designed to provide job opportunities for nationals at nongovernmental institutions through the support of small businesses and training programs.

In light of this agreement, VIVA has been honored by Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) for successfully reaching the required percentage of Kuwaiti nationals in its workforce.

Commenting on this occasion, Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran, VIVA’s chief executive officer said: “We are very proud of our Kuwaitisation program and we feel extremely honored to receive this accolade from MGRP, as an affirmation of our efforts in this area. The Kuwaitisation program is significant for VIVA because of our commitment to recruit and develop Kuwaiti talents as well as invest in community initiatives that encourage young people to join the telecommunications sector. We are very pleased that we are able to contribute towards the economy by supporting the aims of MGRP in this way.”

“VIVA has invested heavily in the professional development of Kuwaiti talent and in offering young Kuwaitis the opportunity to build a career and contribute to our country’s economic advancement,” added Al-Badran.

Dr Waleed Al-Tararwah, chief human resources officer at VIVA, said: “We would like to thank MGRP for their continuous efforts in proving job opportunities for national workforce, and for their contributions towards the development of human resources and skills development.”

The MGRP representative Fawzi Almujdali, secretarygeneral for manpower planning, added: “We are proud of VIVA’s role in providing employment opportunities for the Kuwaiti work force and opening the job market to local skills.”

The memorandum of understanding between VIVA and MGRP included: The company’s efforts to employ the largest number of Kuwaiti employees as equal to or greater than the minimum percentage specified by the MGRP, utilizing its human resources database.

• Support of small businesses and entrepreneurs through the database provided by the MGRP to create a training program for these businesses.

• Contribution to the summer student training program (internship) organized by the MGRP every year by providing training opportunities within VIVA. Through dedicated HR practices geared to supporting Kuwaitis and which include tailored training and development, VIVA is helping people to achieve their career aspirations in the telecommunications industry. VIVA continuously strives to be a socially responsible company, and has been successful in doing so through extensive CSR initiatives which are geared towards education in order to retain and encourage local talent, as well as investing in the future.

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

VIVA continues to take a considerable share of the market by offering an innovative range of best value products, services and content propositions; a state of the art, nationwide network and world-class service. VIVA offers Internet speed up to 42.2Mbps due to the implementation of the most advanced third generation (3G and HSDPA) network in Kuwait resulting in superior coverage, performance and reliability.

Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran and Fawzi Almujdali during the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

KUWAIT: The Salem Al-Ali Informatics Prize marked its bronze jubilee in a grand celebration Saturday night in which it honored a host of media figures and specialists who cooperated with it during the last 10 years.

The celebration was under the motto “The prize in the eyes of the media.” It was held under the auspices and in the attendance of the Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Sheikha Aida Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, addressed the guests and noted the increasing importance and influence of media in our time. She said the prize is a means to promote awareness and support creativity and excellence in this field in Kuwait and the region.

“Media is the open portal for technical and overall development... Media figures, in their cooperation with prize committees, showed the spirit of diligence and many proved to be leading figures in their field

through their contributions, thus deserving our greatest appreciation.” Minister of Information, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, said media institutions have a responsibility and function of supporting civil society organizations. The ministry accordingly opted for strategies to best utilize information and also utilize the latest and most appropriate technology.

“We are very proud of the informatics prize, which supported and nurtured creative Kuwaitis” to encourage them to contribute even more to the field and many applications

of information technology to boost education, medicine and healthcare, engineering, media and all facets of life. The ceremony included the screening of a film which shed light on the assessment and impressions of media figures of the prize so far. The ceremony sponsor, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid and Sheikha Aida Al-Sabah later honored media workers in the Information Ministry, Kuwait News Agency, satellite channels and workers who contributed in the production of radio, television, print and other media programs and works of high quality.

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

LOCAL kuwait digest

In my view

Damn such a democracy!

Cyber bullying spreading fast

By Mubarak Bin Shafi Al-Hajri

“D

amn your mother...I’ll show you, you coward, you are silly. Damn your parent, you dog. Damn your mother. You are a servant, you monkeys!”

These words were not uttered by a bunch of children fighting outside a primary school at the end of a school day. These were said by a group of men that supposedly represent the nation in Parliament!

Do these people really represent the nation?

If the answer is yes, then we are a nation that does not deserve, understand or are fit for democracy. The Parliament is not a playground for children, gentlemen, where people can call each other names. It is a place for the elite those who are exponents in science, culture, manners and knowledge of the nation’s demands and requirements. Are these so-called parliamentarians part of our elite group? Do we make wise choices? Do they really reflect our real image?

The entire region is on top of a volcano of problems while our MPs are calling each other names and cursing each others’ mothers. Kuwait is regressing, acting childishly!

In fact, we are responsible for this state and should take a part of the blame because we place our own group, party, sect or tribe interests ahead of those of Kuwait. Therefore, we have lost ourselves and our democracy. We voted for those we thought were adult enough to represent us. Unfortunately, they failed us and proved unwor thy of our trust. We are always complaining about deterioration of services in Kuwait without realizing that we contributed to it .

I personally do not believe Arab nations can be democratic, and this belief is growing stronger by watching the practices of our lawmakers. I am right about this!

I wonder where such childish practices are leading us to, but I’m sure that the results won’t be good for Kuwait. Therefore, using their terminology, I say to them all : “Damn such a democracy as yours!” — Al-Watan

kuwait digest

Got wasta, save life

By Waleed Al-Ghanim

I

n May 2011, a Kuwaiti couple were advised by a doctor in a private medical clinic to seek better treatment (for their son’s medical condition) from the public hospital that is equipped with more advanced medical equipment. They took his advice, and reached Al-Sabah Medical Zone where they were given a doctor’s appointment for the month of September.

They went to the hospital on time, but were told by the Ministry of Health (MoH) doctor that an error had occurred, resulting in taking an appointment with the wrong clinic. This doctor helped them get an appointment with the right one, and that was for the month of December.

The parents waited, and reached the clinic on time. However, they found that the doctor was unavailable, or so they were told. They were transferred to another doctor who allotted a new appointment date for March 2012 with a “specialized medical consultant.”

Once again, the parents had to wait and then reported for their doctor’s appointment. But, yet again, the ‘consultant’ was not available during the time. They waited for an hour and a half until the (supposedly) new doctor showed up and told them that he will allot a new appointment next May at another clinic where they will be given a date for a suitable surgery. This time, the couple were told that fresh appointment will be allocated to them for the morning slot.

The parents, however, decided that they had had enough after nine months during which their child received no proper treatment at public medical facilities. One day, they read a newspaper ad for a new private clinic opened by the same doctor for whom their appointment was six months ago. They called up the number given in the ad, and were soon given an appointment within 48 hours in lieu of money paid equal to child support allowance paid by the government to citizens.

They went to the private clinic, received proper medical care and level of attention that was never seen during the nine month-period they began seeking an appointment at a public hospital.

The consultant said that the public hospital they went to had committed four errors. Firstly, they failed to open a new file for their son’s case before fixing an appointment date. Secondly, they were referred to the wrong clinic. Thirdly, they failed to allot a date for a surgery which is supposed to be given on the first visit. Finally, they allotted an appointment in the morning, usually allotted for non-Kuwaitis. Kuwaiti patients are given afternoon appointments.

The doctor diagnosed the disease properly and asked them to go back to the public hospital. They did so, and were given a date for July 2013. Eventually, the two Kuwaiti parents found a strong wasta (influence) - an expatriate nurse offered to help them reduce the waiting time from 13 months to only three weeks, but of course the offer didn’t come free.

The parents accepted the offer and the child underwent surgery, feeling ‘grateful’ for the ‘good care’ the Ministry of Health (MoH) administered to their child! — Al-Qabas

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net

C

kuwait digest

Strategies to control people

By Dr Bader Al-Daihani

A

short while ago, American linguistics scientist, Naom Chomsky, wrote a very important column that was published on the internet because it explains many media and political phenomena in the world. Chomsky spoke about 10 strategies he believes are used by all media to control the people. Due to the importance of this column, I will give a summary of those 10 strategies Chomsky spoke of.

The strategy of distraction: The primary element of social control is the strategy of distraction, which is to divert public attention from important issues and changes determined by political and economic elites, by the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.

Distraction strategy is also essential to prevent public interest in essential knowledge in the areas of science, economics, psychology, neurobiology and cybernetics, as they are captivated by matters of no real importance. Keep the public busy, busy, busy, no time to think, back to the farm and other animals (quote from text Silent Weapons for Quiet War).

Create problems, then offer solutions: This method is also called “problem-reaction-solution”. It creates a problem, a “situation” referred to cause some reaction in the audience, that is the principle of steps you want them to accept. For example: unfold and intensify urban violence or arrange bloody attacks in order that the public uses the applicant’s security laws and policies to the detriment of freedom. Or: create an economic crisis to be accepted as a necessary evil retreat of social rights and the dismantling of public services.

The gradual strategy: Acceptance to an unacceptable degree, just apply it gradually, drop by drop for consecutive years. That is how the radical new socio economic conditions (neo-liberalism) was imposed during the 1980s and 1990s: the minimal state, privatization, precariousness, flexibility, massive unemployment, wages that do not guarantee a decent income. Many of these changes have brought about a revolution if they were applied just once.

The strategy of deferring: Another way to accept an unpopular decision is to present it as “painful but necessary”, to gain public acceptance at the time for future application.

It is easier to accept a future sacrifice rather than an immediate slaughter, because the effort is not used immediately. The public masses always have the tendency to naively expect that “everything will be better tomorrow” and that the sacrifice required may be avoided. This gives the public more time to

get used to the idea of change and accept it with resignation when the time comes.

Go to the public as a little child: Most of the advertising to the general public uses speech, arguments and particularly intonation used with children, often close to weakness, as if the viewer were a little child or mentally deficient. The harder one tries to deceive the viewer’s perception, the more it tends to adopt a condescending tone. Why? “If one goes to a person as if she was aged 12 years or less then, because of suggestion, it is a certain probability that a response or reaction will also be devoid of a critical sense like a person 12 years old or younger (see Silent Weapons for Quiet War).”

Use the emotional side more than reflection: Making use of the emotional aspect is a classic technique for causing a short circuit in rational analysis, and finally to the critical sense of the individual.

Furthermore, the use of an emotional register opens the door to the subconscious to implant or graft ideas, desires, fears and anxieties, compulsions or induce behaviors.

Keep the public in ignorance and mediocrity: Making the public incapable of understanding the technologies and methods is used to control and enslave them. “The quality of education given to lower social classes must be as poor and mediocre as possible so that the gap of ignorance between the lower classes and upper classes will remain impossible to attain for lower classes.

Encourage the public to be complacent with mediocrity: Persuade the public to believe that it is fashionable to be stupid, vulgar and uneducated.

Self-blame Strengthen: Let the individual blame themselves for their misfortunes because of the failure of their own intelligence, their abilities or their efforts. So, instead of rebelling against the economic system, the individual feels guilt, which creates depression. One of the effects of depression is to inhibit action and, without action, there is no revolution!

Get to know the individuals better than they know themselves: Over the past 50 years, advances of accelerated science has generated a growing gap between public knowledge and those owned and operated by dominant elites. Thanks to biology, neurobiology and applied psychology, the “system” has enjoyed a sophisticated understanding of human beings, both physically and psychologically. The system has got better acquainted with the common man than he knows himself. This means that, in most cases, the system exerts greater control and great power over individuals, greater than that of individuals over themselves. —Al-Jarida

kuwait digest

Environment authority’s confessions

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah

K

uwait’s environment sector is a victim of corruption and negligence, resulting in the spread of pollution owing to the lack of a proper mechanism to hold violators accountable. Given the fact that environmental crisis is global, many countries give special attention to environmental issues, realizing that any problem can spread to outside its borders.

Kuwait, a tiny country located in an environment that is vulnerable to imbalances created by climate changes, featured environmental problems classified as ‘disasters’ as per international standards. Among these problems is the breakdown of Mishref sewage plant which resulted in tons of sewage seeping into the sea. The recent blaze that gutted the tire dump yard in Rahiya is the newest episode of environmental woes that include pollution at camping sites, air pollution and lack of environmental awareness.

Since its establishment, the Environment Public Authority (EPA) sent authorities to deal with issues in Kuwait.

However, it failed to provide a sense of security among civilians who experienced one environmental problem after another. The government waits for a problem to take place before it can be solved, instead of creating an environmental protection plan.

While their job is to take the right decisions to protect and improve the environment, persisting pollution gives the impression that the EPA is incapable of carrying out duties, raising questions about the need to reevaluate performance - especially with rumors about struggles taking place in its administration.

Amid these problems, in an interview published last week, Salah Al-Mudhhi, EPA Director said that that the time is now ripe for a decision to be taken. These state-

ments are considered a testimony to the EPA that is incapable of containing pollution, or a confession from Al-Mudhhi’s part that pollution is unacceptable, requiring efforts made by an entire ministry.

The director only lays emphasis on EPA’s incompetency with statements that the government has not yet issued a recommendation to clean Al-Sulaibikhat’s beaches.

Is it possible that the EPA, which works under the Supreme Council of Environment that was recently chaired by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, is incapable of carrying out duties, considering the powers exercised? Citizens can agree that the environmental situation in Kuwait is terrible, requiring efforts that start with parliamentary accountability and mechanisms to coordinate with the state department to introduce reform. — Al-Rai

yber bullying is a new form of the old school bullying among youngsters; this one is done online. It includes ‘e-humiliating’ others through computers or smart phones or using pictures, short clips and short messaging services (SMS). All this may later turn into physical or social threats. The world is online 24/7, with some networks that have users more than 750 million, making the young generation addicted to social media networks like Twitter and Facebook. Those networks are sometimes misused, used as a tool to harass other children.

Cyber bullying must be tackled with the full cooperation of schools, parents and investigation departments. Social awareness and guidance is needed too, like connecting with the children, discussing their achievements, experiences they liked or dislike and their response.

As a solution, the abuser can be blocked or denied, and the victim must save as much information as possible. Children must be instructed to report matters to parents and school administration , take action because this phenomena spreads across the world. Also in Kuwait, the matter has a higher level of importance, where internet crimes are not recognized or well-organized. Urgent legal reforms must take place.

Also in the Parliament, an internet committee should be set up, which should specialize in cyber laws which cannot to be neglected because of some extremist or MPs. Moreover, specialized units of internet crimes at the Ministry of Interior must be highly skilled and capable of uncovering the identity of abusers.

These steps must be urgently taken for the sake of our children’s safety and security.

kuwait digest

New idea for elected PM

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

M

P Waleed Al-Tabtabaei says the British still love their queen despite electing a prime minister. His statements came to justify earlier statements by which he asserts that electing a prime minister in Kuwait - something his Development and Reform Bloc reportedly plans to propose a constitutional amendment for - does not necessarily mean contradic-

A constitutional amendment must go in harmony to improve the quality of Parliament and its lawmakers. I would like to ask Al-Tabtabaei this question in hope of an answer. tion with the Constitution or disrespect to the ruling family.

Al-Tabtabaei said the British are miles ahead of us when it comes to implementing democracy, and they are certainly even more ahead of the political approach that yourself and your bloc are adopting. Second, the Kuwaiti Constitution allows even for the Deputy Amir to be selected from outside the ruling family.

Article 60 states that “The Deputy Amir has to satisfy the qualifications laid down in Article 82.

If he is a minister or a member of the National Assembly, he may not take part in the ministerial functions or in the work of the Assembly during the period he is acting as deputy for the Amir”.

Article 82 in turn states the qualifications for running to parliamentary membership. This means that as per the Constitution, any Kuwaiti citizen is qualified to the Deputy Amir post, including Al-Tabtabaei and his fellow DRB members (unfortunately).

The Deputy Amir can do everything in the Amir’s jurisdiction except for amending these jurisdictions or the Constitution, which means that a Deputy Amir can appoint and release the Prime Minister, as well as dissolve Parliament.

I highly doubt that the creators of the Constitution ever thought that MPs, or even people qualified to run for elections, can be of the same mentality of lawmakers today. I do not even think that they imagined that Kuwaiti voters would vote Waleed Al-Tabtabaei for seven straight parliamentary terms.

A constitutional amendment must go in harmony to improve the quality of Parliament and its lawmakers. I would like to ask Al-Tabtabaei this question in hope of an answer: Are lawmakers today more competent than the first elected MPs including Abdullatif Thunaiynan Al-Ghanim, Mahmoud Al-Zaid, Yaqoub Al-Humaidhi and Ahmad Al-Khateeb? If not, then why should lawmakers today be given an authority that was not given to members of the first elected Parliament?

Amid the political turmoil we suffer today, we probably need a constitutional amendment that restricts MPs’ authorities in order to stop their continuous violations to principles of democratic work, and give them authorities suitable with their capabilities. —Al-Qabas

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

local

Media Forum addresses issues in shadow of ‘Arab Spring’ Tunisia chosen as honorary guest

Officials are seen during the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

VIVA to support recruiting Kuwaiti nationals KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s newest and most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP), implementing the government’s policy that aims at providing job opportunities for the Kuwaitis in the private sector.

Accordingly, both VIVA and MGRP agreed to work together within the framework of specific programs to open the field of employment in the company.

In addition, it will support MGRP’s ongoing efforts in areas that are designed to provide job opportunities for nationals at non-governmental institutions through the support of small businesses and training programs.

In light of this agreement, VIVA has been honored by Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) for successfully reaching the required percentage of Kuwaiti nationals in its workforce.

Commenting on this occasion, Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran, VIVA’s chief executive officer said: “We are very proud of our Kuwaitisation program and we feel extremely honored to receive this accolade from MGRP, as an affirmation of our efforts in this area. The Kuwaitisation program is significant for VIVA because of our commitment to recruit and develop Kuwaiti talents as well as invest in community initiatives that encourage young people to join the telecommunications sector. We are very pleased that we are able to contribute towards the economy by supporting the aims of MGRP in this way.”

“VIVA has invested heavily in the professional development of Kuwaiti talent and in offering young Kuwaitis the opportunity to build a career and contribute to our country ’s economic advancement,” added Al-Badran.

Dr Waleed Al-Tararwah, chief human resources officer at VIVA, said: “We would like to thank MGRP for their continuous efforts in proving job opportunities for national workforce, and for their contributions towards the development of human resources and skills development.” The MGRP representative Fawzi Almujdali, secretary-general for manpower planning, added: “We are proud of VIVA’s role in providing employment opportunities for the Kuwaiti work force and opening the job market to local skills.”

The memorandum of understanding between VIVA and MGRP included: The company’s efforts to employ the largest number of Kuwaiti employees as equal to or greater than the minimum percent-

age specified by the MGRP, utilizing its human resources database. l Support of small businesses and entrepreneurs through the database provided by the MGRP to create a training

Princess Reem Al-Ali, the Lebanese writer, Samir Atallah, the media figure, Nasser AlSanousi, and Chairperson of the Tunisian Journalism Union, Najiba Al-Hamrouni.

An exhibition held on sidelines of the forum included four sessions addressing issue, such as the Arab media in the shadow of the Arab Spring.

Officials, eminent media figures and journalists addressed this session. They include Tunisian Minister of Human Rights, Samir Dilo, Chairman of the Arab Parliament, Ali Deqbasi, Lebanese columnist, Jihad Al-Khazen, Saudi journalist, Jamal Al-Khashoghji, Chief editor of the Moroccan newspaper, Al-Akhbar, Toufic Bou-Eshreen, and the head of the Iraqi media network, Dr Mohammad Abdul-Jabbar AlShabbout.

The second session of the gathering, themed “The media from state authority to masses’ authority,” includes lectures by the media figure, Khairi Ramadan, the dean of Egyptian journalists, Mamdouh Al-Wali, deputy chief editor of Iraqi newspaper AlMada, Adnan Hussein, publisher of Elaf, Othman Al-Omair, Samir Atallah, the Kuwaiti

journalist, Ahmad Al-Fahad and the chairperson of the Tunisian union of journalists, Najiba Al-Hamrouni.

The third session on “Future of the ArabWestern relations in the shadow of political changes,” will be addressed by the female journalist, Karima Awad, Lebanese Minister of Information Walid Al-Daouk, spokesperson of the British government for the Middle East and North Africa, Rose Davis, member of Kuwaiti Parliament, Mohammad Al-Sager, member of the Saudi Consultative Council, Dr. Fahad Al-Arabi Al-Harthi and the Libyan journalist, Mahmoud Shammam.

The third session will be followed with open dialogue, to be run by Al-Khamees, with the attendance of Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid AlSabah, and Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah.

The concluding ceremony will be marked with an address by the Arab League Secretary General, Nabil Al-Arabi, the participating Tunisian official and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak. —KUNA

NA panel approves human rights body Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran and Fawzi Almujdali during the signing of the memorandum of understanding. program for these businesses. l Contribution to the summer student training program (internship) organized by the MGRP every year by providing training opportunities within VIVA. Through dedicated HR practices geared to supporting Kuwaitis and which include tailored training and development, VIVA is helping people to achieve their career aspirations in the telecommunications industry. VIVA continuously strives to be a socially responsible company, and has been successful in doing so through extensive CSR initiatives which are geared towards education in order to retain and encourage local talent, as well as investing in the future.

VIVA is the newest, most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider in Kuwait. Launched in December 2008, VIVA makes things Possible for our customers by transforming communication, information and entertainment experiences. The company has rapidly established an unrivalled position in the market through our customer and employee centric approach.

VIVA’s quest is to be the mobile brand of choice for Kuwait by being transparent, engaging, energetic and fulfilling.

VIVA continues to take a considerable share of the market by offering an innovative range of best value products, services and content propositions; a state of the art, nationwide network and worldclass service. VIVA offers Internet speed up to 42.2Mbps due to the implementation of the most advanced third generation (3G and HSDPA) network in Kuwait resulting in superior coverage, performance and reliability.

Banks summoned in illegal cash deposits case KUWAIT: A parliamentary committee investigating the multi-million dinar bank cash transfer case will summon representatives from a number of local banks next Wednesday for the first time since it began probing the case. This was confirmed by the committee’s chairman MP Musallam Al-Barrak who told a local newspaper that a number of banks have been informed, while “a second batch of banks will receive summons at a later date.”

The committee plans to ask the banks about police reports made when the case first emerged in August last year about suspicious deposits present in lawmakers’ bank accounts. “In addition, banks will be asked to provide details about deposits mechanism and other issues,” MP Al-Barrak said.

Meanwhile, an opposition lawmaker accused the Central Bank of Kuwait of failing to cooperate with the committee, adding that it obtained a photo copy of a letter that the CB received from the Foreign Ministry asking them “not to provide information requested by the committee.” On that regard, sources with knowledge of the committee indicate that its members are ‘shocked’ at the Foreign Ministry’s hesitation to provide information “especially since all other ministers provided information when asked.”

Meanwhile, Abdul-Aziz Al-Adasani, President of the State Audit Bureau, failed to attend a meeting on Saturday for a second parliamentary investigations committee probe in the case. On the other hand, the meeting was attended by Mustafa Al-Shamali, Minister of Finance and Abdullatif Al-Roudhan, Cabinet’s Secretary General.

According to sources, minister Al-

KUWAIT: The ninth session of the Arab Media Forum, themed “The Arab Media Spring,” began yesterday under the patronization of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Secretary General of the Arab Media Forum Madi Khamees said in a statement on the occasion that Tunisia was chosen as honorary guest of the forum. The Arab Media Spring also noted that the Tunisian media made strides in upgrading and updating its infrastructure.

Tunisia, since the launch of the Arab Spring events, has accomplished many democratic achievements that boosted freedom of expression and the media profession, in the service of higher objectives of the state, rather than narrow and personal interests, he said, alluding to the policy of the ousted regime of Zine El-Abidine Bin Ali. Several eminent figures will be honored during the event, he said, naming the Prince of Makkah region and the founder of the Arab Thought Foundation, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Chairperson of the Jordanian Media Institute and member of the Board of Commissioners of the Jordanian Royal Authority for Movies

Shamali told the panel that “there are private accounts serving the state’s higher interests for which we can’t provide data,” said Al-Roudhan, “reassuring the safety of payment procedures as per the Cabinet General Secretariat’s budget,” reported Al-Qabas.

On a related note, Al-Jarida reported yesterday, quoting ‘senior government sources’ that employees of Amiri Diwan will not attend meetings of parliamentary investigations committee if summoned. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further indicated that the Cabinet plans to reconsider any decision to send an employee to an investigation committee “to discuss the Cabinet’s own discretion” which the source described as “intervention in [the Cabinet’s] work.” If a similar incident takes place, a committee insists on summing a state official denied permission to attend, the Cabinet could take the issue to the Constitutional Court, sources explained.

The Parliament’s majority gave the Cabinet a two-week ultimatum to address subjects mentioned in a potential grilling motion filed against minister Al-Shamali. “The Majority Bloc will give the Cabinet a two-week ultimatum with the hope that a decision will be made to dismiss the minister before the deadline,” said MP Falah Al-Sawagh, referring to the unofficial name given to the coalition of oppositionists who form the majority.

The bloc will reportedly support the grilling motion filed against Popular Action Bloc(PAB) if Al-Shamali is not dismissed, Al-Sawagh told Al-Rai. The bloc can effect Al-Shamali’s exit with a voteof-no confidence motion with only 25 votes. A majority can secure at least 30 votes.

KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s Legislative Committee approved yesterday a proposal for setting up a national organization for human rights.

“The committee has approved the proposal but stated that the organization should report to the minister of state for cabinet affairs instead of the minister of justice,” the committee rapporteur MP Mohammad Al-Dallal told reports.

He added that the proposal was referred to the Human Rights Committee for deliberation and approval.

Al-Dallal pointed out that the committee has mulled and passed bills on housing support, labor housing, setting up real estate companies and pricing flats in Sawaber housing complex and trade fraud and counterfeit.

The committee refused to pass draft laws on countering favoritism in government agencies and protecting oil wealth as they contradicted Article 50 of the Constitution.

It referred the bills to relevant committees for further deliberations and approval. — KUNA

KUWAIT: A fire broke out in the Amgharah scrap yard yesterday.

The Jahra industrial area firemen rushed to the scene. On arriving to the scene, they found out that the fire broke out when a night watchman burned some wires. No casualties were reported. — Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

local

‘Kuwait on target vaccinating children’ KUWAIT: The State of Kuwait has succeeded in vaccinating children at a proportion of 98 percent, much higher than the 80 percent target set by the World Health Organization for immunization, Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obeidi announced yesterday.

Dr Al-Obeidi said in a statement to mark the participation of the Ministry of Health in World Vaccination Week that Kuwait worked out a full-scale program to ensure immunization for children and adults, a long time ago to implement WHO resolutions and guidelines.

The minister made the statement at a ceremony marking the occasion, held at Al-

Saqer Health Center in the district of Adailiya.

The achievement of securing vaccines for such a high number of children constitutes an incentive to make more accomplishments in this sector and cover all segments of society, Dr Al-Obeidi said.

Demonstrating his personal keenness on ensuring such treatment against communicable diseases, the minister injected a child against polio and gave vaccines to two adults.

The national program includes vaccinations against a variety of diseases, such as diphtheria, polio, hepatitis, meningitis and influenza.—KUNA

Zain honors credit and collection companies KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunication company in Kuwait, honored a host of credit and collection companies which the organization has partnered with. The award is given in recognition of the companies’ efforts to increase the collection rate for the first quarter of 2012.

During the award ceremony hosted by Zain at the Crowne Plaza, the Executive Director of Customer Care, Ahmad Al-Kandari, gave plaques to the top three companies: Synergy International Collection and Consulting Company and MME Trading Co and Legal Center

and the Office of Al-Twaijri & Partners Law Firm.

In his speech on the occasion, Al-Kandari expressed Zain’s appreciation for the companies’ efforts. “We are delighted to honor our partners for their dedication in the credit control services related to the collection of debts owed to our organization. Their commitment and excellent collection rate yielded positive results,” he said.

Stressing that the honoring ceremony aims to further foster the company’s relationship with its partners, Al-Kandari said that all stakeholders collaborating with Zain have been instrumental

in the success of the company.

Al-Kandari added, “Undoubtedly, the efforts of the collection companies which are grounded on dialogue with our customers have contributed to the recovery of a large number of debts for our company.”

Al-Kandari said that Zain is glad to honor organizations which contribute to the organization’s success. “The role of cash collection flow is important. It complements Zain’s continuous dedication to enhancing the quality of services delivered to our customers.”

Kuwaiti citizen killed, two injured in car accident Police fail to disperse women’s protest

Gulf Bank employees graduate induction program with honors KUWAIT: Gulf Bank announced yesterday that 22 new employees successfully completed their Induction Program, in the first quarter of 2012. The Program for newly recruited employees has been specially tailored by the bank’s in-house Learning and Development department and aims to provide practical ways to develop employee skills into professional customer handling and customer relations through a five week-long series of technical and theoretical training courses.

Gulf Bank would like to congratulate its newly recruited employees on completing their Induction program. On this occasion Abdulrahman Al-Khashti, assistant manager, human resources at Gulf Bank said: “Our internal strategy aims to build and improve skills of young Kuwaiti’s, who not

only represent themselves, but also the Bank by being one of its prized assets.

We aim to have the best retained staff in the Kuwait through investing in the development of our employees as well as providing coaching and practical on the job training to ensure they are up to date with the latest customer relationship thinking to maximize customer satisfaction.”

Gulf Bank continually looks for new programs for employees to prepare them for Kuwait’s future banking sector. This represents re-assurance of Gulf Bank’s promise to deliver maximum customer satisfaction by our highly professional banking staff who is constantly working to serve customers with the best banking services and solutions in Kuwait.

KUWAIT: A citizen was killed and two others were injured in an accident that was reported recently at a crossroads, located north of the country. Paramedics and police reached the location where a serious collision involving two cars was reported. The two drivers were seriously injured in the crash, while a companion was pronounced dead. The injured were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Al-Jahra Hospital while the victim’s body was referred to the Forensic Department. An investigation is underway to reveal the circumstances behind the accident.

Women’s protest Back-up police were called to disperse a gathering of women that congregated outside the Criminal Investigations Department building, demanding the release of women imprisoned over immorality issues. The protestors reportedly had to be stopped as they marched towards the gate while demanding that detainees be immediately released. No arrests were reported in the incident, but the police report indicates that negotiations were held with protestors to coax them, but to no avail.

Jewelry stolen A female citizen was arrested after admitting to stealing her mother’s jewelry and selling it.

She reportedly shared the cash with her boyfriend. The case was filed at Mubarak AlKabeer recently by a female citizen who reported that KD 3,000 worth jewelry she bought from UAE was stolen. Police summoned the woman’s 21-year-old daughter for investigations after the woman explained that her daughter was the only other individual who knew about details.

The daughter, a self-proclaimed political activist who promotes anti-corruption views on Twitter, denied accusations during investigations.

Eventually, police discovered text messages sent between the girl and a young man, adding that she had recently given him a sum of money.

When confronted with the information, the girl admitted to stealing her mother’s jewelry and sold it for KD 1,700 and paid her boyfriend KD 1,300. She also divulged more details about the

male suspect as well , in addition to the shop where the jewelry was sold. She remains in custody while investigations are ongoing to arrest her boyfriend.

Envoy’s home burgled Police are on the hunt for a suspect who broke into an ambassador’s residence in Salwa.

Criminal investigators reached the scene after the ambassador placed an emergency call after discovering that his home was burgled when unoccupied. Investigations revealed that the suspect disrupted the home’s contents but did not steal anything.

Security crackdown At least 31 Kuwaiti men and women were arrested in a security crackdown in which three apartments were raided in Hawally for hosting illegal activities. According to a security source, alcoholic drinks were also seized. The detainees were referred to higher authorities.

In the meantime, Farwaniya police arrested eleven Asian women and eight men of Arab and Asian descent from six brothels. Raids were conducted recently in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Farwaniya, Khaitan, Rabiya and Omaria.

Immediate orders were issued to deport detainees from the country.

Meanwhile, Hawally officers arrested three Kuwaiti women for driving under the influence of alcohol. The raid was held at Shaab’s main street on early Saturday morning. A half-empty imported liquor bottle was found in the suspect’s car. Investigations revealed that the detainees were driving home after attending parties were alcohol was served.

Gulf swindler A search is ongoing for a GCC citizen who swindled KD 22,000 out of a retired citizen. In a statement issued to Ahmadi police, the citizen explained that the swindler promised to help him make KD 5,000 profit by investing his pension money for 30 days. When the senior citizen contacted him, the man callously replied he had spent the money to buy a new car of German make. He dared the victim to report the case

after the victim threatened to do so.

Investigations into the case are underway.

Landmine defused Bomb disposal units defused a landmine found recently at the Blajat beach in Salmiya.

Security officers reached the scene where a citizen reportedly found a foreign object that lay half- buried in sand. Bomb squads were brought to the scene after it was identified as an explosive. Investigations revealed that the landmine was a remnant from the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion.

The area was combed to recover more explosives.

Maid’s suicide A senior citizen saved his domestic helper’s life b foiling her suicide attempt and providing necessary medical attention. The incident took place in Farwaniya governorate where the employer rushed to his domestic worker’s aid after hearing her scream. He moved quickly to remove the sharp object the woman used to cut her wrist. She was then rushed to the hospital to receive treatment. A case was filed at the area’s police station to reveal the motives.

Rave party busted A domestic worker arrested recently in Andalus admitted to hosting parties that involve illegal activities in her employers’ house every weekend, when the family were away. The Kuwaiti homeowner drove back home from his chalet after his neighbor called to inform about ‘strange activities and noise’ emerging from his house. He was shocked to learn that it was turned into a club, with people partying and dancing to loud music. Police arrested the domestic worker and a male suspect following their arrival, while other guests escaped. During investigations, the woman confessed to using his residence as a venue to host dance parties every weekend by charging a KD 3 entrance fee from guests. Investigations further revealed that the woman used her employer’s son’s stereo to play music, and opened her employer’s children’s rooms for couples wishing to spend private time. She remains in custody pending legal procedures.— Al-Rai, Al-Qabas, Al-Watan

Kuwait embassy in Saudi welcomes PAYS, KSF delegations RIYADH: Kuwait embassy in Saudi Arabia welcomed yesterday the participating delegations of the Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS), and Kuwait Squash Federation (KSF) at the Gulf Youth Conference, and 18th Gulf Squash Championship, including tournaments for players under 17.

Kuwaiti Charge d’Affaires in Saudi Arabia, Chancellor Theyab Al-Resheedi,

welcomed the Chairman and Director General of PAYS, Major General Faisal AlJazzaf, and the accompanying delegation in a dinner banquet held here last night in their honor. He also welcomed the Chairman of KSF Hussein Al-Maqsid, and members of the accompanying delegation, wishing them further success and congratulating them on claiming the 18th Gulf Squash Championship Cup. —KUNA

Arabic language conference in Kuwait KUWAIT: Minister of Information and Head of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Sabah, inaugurated on Sunday an Arabic language conference.

The conference is held under the patronage of His Highness the Prime Minister, Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

“I would like to take the opportunity of this occasion to underline that the hallmarks and contributions of Kuwait, over its history, were always clear in the Arab culture,” Sheikh Jaber said in the opening speech of the conference, read on his behalf by Sheikh Mohammad.

“This conference highlights the presence of the Arabic language as a rich and renewable language that can cope with modern

developments and reality,” he added. He said the conference tackles a wide array of key issues relating to the Arabic language and its teaching in schools and colleges. Sheikh Jaber said the Arabic language faces huge challenges due to the spread of teaching modern sciences in other languages, particularly English.

Rana Abu Dhahar, Media Advisor of the Beirut-based Arab Culture Complex which coorganizes the conference with the NCCAL, lauded Kuwait for hosting and sponsoring the conference. Kuwait has offered the Arab World a galaxy of famous authors, poets, writers and intellectuals who left their hallmarks on the Arab culture, she said. Abu Dhahar noted that the conference shows the great interest in the Arab language. —KUNA

Italian media delegation in town KUWAIT: Chairman and Director General of Kuwait News Agency Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Ibrahim Al-Sabah received yesterday a visiting delegation of Italian journalists and media figures discussing cultural and information cooperation between the two friendly countries.

Sheik h Mubarak , during the meeting, attended by KUNA Chief Editor Rashed AlRuweished, briefed the eminent guests about KUNA’s operations, namely coverage of news and events, locally and abroad. He shed light on the news agency’s reporting about local

and international events, particularly selection of news, objective coverage and support for the correspondents abroad.

The chief of the national news agenc y praised the solid Kuwaiti-Italian relations, cultural exchanges between the two countries, expressing hope that further efforts would be exerted for cementing these ties.

For his part, Alessandro Fani, Chairman of the Kuwaiti-Italian Friendship Committee, affirmed during the delegation’s tour of sections and departments of KUNA’s headquarters the association keenness on cementing the

ties and coordination at various levels. The society is planning to hold an exhibition in Kuwait about past and present of the Italian sailors and sea trade, he said, noting that Kuwaitis and Italians share special passion for the sea life and fishing. Noting that the delegation including representatives of the Italian tourism media, he said many Kuwaiti tourists visit the European country but only a small number of Italians come to Kuwait for the same purpose, although Kuwait has potentials for robust tourism, with attractions such as the islands. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The delegation of Italian journalists and media figures visiting the Kuna office yesterday.

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

Attack on Christians in Nigeria kills 15 Page 9

Obama, Clintons deepen political and policy ties Page 10

General urges halt to Syria killings Head of UN mission takes over DAMASCUS: A veteran peacekeeper urged all sides to “stop the violence” as he flew in to Syria yesterday to lead a UN observer force for a more than two-week-old ceasefire that has failed to stop bloodshed. “To achieve the success of the Kofi Annan plan, I call on all sides to stop violence and help us continue the cessation of armed violence,” Major General Robert Mood said, referring to the international envoy on the crisis. “We will work for the full implementation of the six-point Annan plan which the Syrian government agreed to,” he told reporters in Damascus. “To achieve this, we now have 30 monitors on the ground, and in the coming days we will double this figure,” he said, adding that the number would “rapidly” increase to 300.

Annan’s plan calls for a commitment to stop all armed violence, a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire, media access to all areas affected by the fighting, an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate, and release of arbitrarily detained people.

Mood, a 54-year-old Norwegian who negotiated the conditions for the deployment of the advance team, was head of the UN Truce Supervision Organisation, which monitors Middle East truces, from 2009 until 2011. He stressed the monitors need the cooperation of all parties to achieve their mission: “The observers can’t solve all problems in and of themselves... All sides must stop violence and give the process a chance.” As he landed, at least eight more people were killed on Sunday, including four soldiers who died in a bomb blast in the northern province of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Snipers shot dead two civilians in Homs city and security forces killed a civilian in the Hama region, both in central Syria, the monitoring group said, while regime forces killed another civilian in Deir Ezzor to the east. A spokesman for the observer mission said the advance party had set up base in the major troublespots at the centre of the bloodshed that the United Nations estimates has cost more than 9,000 lives since March 2011. A putative truce, which technically came into effect on April 12, has taken a daily battering.

Thirty-two people were killed on Saturday, including 10 rebel fighters opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in the Damascus region, the Syrian Observatory said.

And in what was believed to be the first case of Westerners going missing in the violence-swept country, Budapest said that two Hungarians had been kidnapped. Peter Szijjarto, a spokesman for Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told the country’s state news agency MTI on Sunday that the two were alive. “The foreign ministry, the Hungarian consulate in Damascus and the TEK (Hungary’s anti-terrorism centre) are working together day and night to ensure that the kidnapping will be resolved peacefully as soon as possible,” he said. The Hungarians were snatched on Saturday from a company’s offices in southeast Syria, the spokesman said.

With the bloodshed adding to the death toll each day since the ceasefire, Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger said Annan’s peace plan was “in danger,” in an interview with Swiss weekly Der Sonntag.

“I place great hope in the six-point plan of Kofi Annan, which includes the UN mission tasked with monitoring the ceasefire,” Kellenberger told the paper. “Unfortunately, I am also very aware that the plan is in danger.” Across the border in Lebanon, intelligence officers on Sunday were questioning the crew of a Sierra

DAMASCUS: Norwegian Maj Gen Robert Mood, head of the UN observer team in Syria, right, speaks to reporters after his arrival in Damascus, yesterday, as Col Ahmed Himmiche, left, looks on. — AP

Leone-flagged vessel originating in Libya over allegations it was carrying arms to Syrian rebels. The interception of the ship by Lebanon-currently governed by a largely pro-Syrian coalition-gave grist to Russian opposition to the tough Western and Arab line taken against its long-time Middle East ally. Lebanon said it had intercepted three containers of heavy machineguns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives destined for rebel forces.

State newspapers Tishrin and Ath-Thawra, meanwhile, charged that Al-Qaeda was operating in Syria and carrying out its trademark suicide car bombings with the support of Washington and some Arab countries. In the latest bomb attack in Damascus, at least 11 people were killed and 28 wounded on Friday, official media said. — AFP

Three wanted over Ukraine blasts DNIPROPETROVSK: Ukraine published yesterday the descriptions of three men who are wanted over the series of blasts that wounded at least 26 people in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk.

“Three men are being sought” for their alleged implications in the four “terrorist attacks,” said the eastern city branch of Ukraine’s secret service in a statement seen by AFP. The suspects are aged between 30 and 45, the statement said, while no official information has emerged about what may have motivated Friday’s attacks. An Internet user calling himself Eurobomber posted a message Saturday on a local news website, claiming to have organised the four successive attacks with an accomplice.

The user also said he had left a letter claiming responsibility for the crime at a post office and threatened to commit more attacks if his demands were not met. It was not immediately clear what demands the letter contained. “The police are checking this information,” an interior ministry source told AFP, declining any further comment because the investigation was under the country’s security service.

Ukraine is investigating a suspected terrorist attack after four bombs triggered within an hour in a busy area of the city on Friday injured 26 people, according to the emergency situations ministry. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych visited victims in hospital on Saturday and announced a two million hryvia ($250,000) reward “for information that will help solve the crime.” — AFP

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Iran hopes for ‘success’ in next nuclear talks TEHRAN: Iran hopes May 23 talks with world powers in Baghdad over its disputed nuclear programme will result in “success,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday, according to ISNA news agency.

“The Istanbul talks were a success and we hope that the Baghdad meeting also will be a success, and if we took one step forward in Istanbul surely, with God’s help, we will take several steps ahead in Baghdad,” Salehi said in a joint press conference with his

Armenian counterpart.

“We were at the beginning of the end regarding (Iran’s) nuclear issue in Istanbul, and we hope in a not-so-far future we will witness the closure of this manufactured dossier,” he added.

Iran is to meet representatives of the so-called P5+1 group, comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, in Iraq’s capital for the second round of talks which were revived this month in Istanbul after a 15-month impasse.

The Istanbul talks sought to establish a non-confrontational tone allowing the more substantial Baghdad session to go ahead. Iran is going into the meeting with the aim of rolling back Western economic sanctions imposed to pressure it over its nuclear activities.

Tehran denies Western allegations that the activities include efforts to develop nuclear weapons capability.

The P5+1, though, are seeking ways to verify Iran’s programme is exclusively peaceful. Discussions are seen as

likely to focus on whether Iran should be permitted to continue enriching uranium to 20 percent, several steps short of the 90 percent needed for military uses.

Los Angeles Times newspaper last Friday quoted US officials as saying Washington could consider allowing Tehran to enrich uranium to five percent only-a compromise from a previous position ruling out any enrichment.

The UN Security Council has

imposed four rounds of its own sanctions on Iran because of suspicions about its nuclear programme, aired by the International Atomic Energy Agency in November 2011 and reiterated in February.

Salehi declined to go into details on the likely content of the Baghdad talks.

“Please allow the details to surface after the Baghdad meeting. There are a number of analyses and views going around which are premature to talk about,” he said. — AFP

Egypt govt ‘reshuffle planned’ ahead of poll ‘This crisis must be resolved’

ZINJIBAR: Yemeni gunmen, suspected of being members of Al-Qaeda gather in a mosque in the restive southern city of Zinjibar in Abyan province, yesterday. AlQaeda freed yesterday dozens of Yemeni soldiers they captured during battles with the army in the southern province of Abyan, most of which is held by the jihadists, a provincial official said. — AFP

Qaeda-linked group frees 73 Yemeni soldiers ADEN: An al Qaeda-linked group yesterday freed 73 Yemeni soldiers it captured during a major assault in the south of the country last month, residents said, after mediation by religious scholars and tribal elders.

Residents of the southern town of Jaar, controlled by militants who call themselves Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), saw the soldiers being let out of the school building where they were being held.

In a statement, the group said Nasser Al-Wuhayshi, the leader of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based wing, had authorised their release after negotiations with tribal elders and religious scholars who visited Jaar, which the militants have renamed “the emirate of Waqar”.

Wuhayshi’s involvement is further evidence of Ansar al-Sharia’s links to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which CIA director David Petraeus described last year as “the most dangerous regional node in the global jihad”.

It was not clear what, if anything, the group had been offered in return for the

soldiers’ release. Not long after their capture, it threatened to harm the soldiers unless the Yemeni government released Islamist militants from jail.

A Yemeni journalist at the handover said the group had explained they were freeing the soldiers “for the sake of God” and in response to the appeals of the captives’ families and local tribal mediators.

“The militants invited local journalists, tribal mediators, human rights activists and the soldiers’ relatives to their stronghold, Jaar, to attend the ceremony,” said Wajdi al-Shaib. “The soldiers are now with their families on the way to Aden”.

Militants have exploited a year of political upheaval to firm their foothold in Yemen, especially in the south, where they have seized swathes of territory and launched frequent attacks on security forces.

The soldiers were taken hostage by Ansar al-Sharia in one such attack on the city of Zinjibar during which more than one hundred other conscripts were killed. — Reuters

Sudan defends use of air strikes in S Sudan conflict KHARTOUM: Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations has defended his country’s right to use air strikes against South Sudanese troops who Khartoum says are inside Sudanese territory.

Dafallah ElHaj Ali Osman, however, stopped short of saying whether Sudan had carried out the air strikes over the past few weeks that Juba claims Khartoum had launched on its territories.

Weeks of fighting along Sudan and South Sudan’s 1,800 km (1,100 mile) contested border has brought the neighbours close to a full-blown war.

The United Nations Security Council has demanded that Sudan immediately stop the air strikes. Sudan has denied carrying out the air strikes and accused Juba of starting the fighting and troop build-up at the border.

“The Sudanese government has the right to defend the unity of its territories using all means, including the use of aircraft weaponry against these forces, especially because they are inside the territories of the Republic of Sudan,” Osman was quoted as saying on the state news agency yesterday.

SUNA said he also called on the Security Council to “be accurate and precise about reports of aerial bombard-

ments during the time that aggressor troops are present inside Sudanese territories, carrying out military operations against Sudan”.

South Sudan’s army is known to have 10 helicopters and a light transport aircraft. The Sudanese armed forces are known to have 61 combat capable aircraft, including 23 fighter aircraft. On Monday Juba said Sudanese warplanes dropped bombs that killed two people in Bentiu, the capital of the South’s Unity state and on Saturday it said eight bombs were dropped in Panakuach, also in Unity state. SUNA said Osman urged the Security Council to condemn the South Sudanese army’s (SPLA) “aggression on Sudanese lands”. The neighbours have failed to resolve a string of disputes, including oil export revenues and citizenship, since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan nine months ago.

Tensions between Khartoum and Juba worsened after Sudan said on Saturday it had detained three foreigners it accused of being spies for the SPLA, allegations denied by Juba. The foreigners included one UN staff member as well as demining workers from Norwegian People’s Aid and MECHEM, a South African-based demining company. — Reuters

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives to the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem yesterday. — AP

CAIRO: The head of Egypt’s ruling military has told parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni he will reshuffle the government yesterday ahead of next month’s presidential election, the Muslim Brotherhood website said.

“Field Marshal (Hussein) Tantawi tells Katatni he will reshuffle the government in the coming hours,” the site said. The move came after the Islamist-dominated parliament decided to suspend sessions for a week in protest at the military refusing to sack the government and name the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) to head a new one.

A marathon parliamentary election which ended in Januar y saw Egypt’s two main Islamist parties catapulted to the centre stage of politics, clinching nearly three quarters of the 498 seats in the legislature.

The FJP, political arm of the power ful Muslim Brotherhood, has been pressuring the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ever since to sack the government and name it to lead a new cabinet.

But the SCAF, which took over when president Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11 last year after a popular uprising, has continued to back Prime Minister Kamal alGanzuri’s government. Ganzuri was a minister under Mubarak and is accused by the Islamists of stalling the revolution.

“This crisis must be resolved,” Katatni said before the Muslim Brotherhood announcement of a pending reshuffle. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, including (reforming) the panel on the constitution. We have no wish to hamper parliament, but we need a solution, and that’s why I propose that parliamentary sessions be suspended for a week.”

Several members of parliament also demanded that the current government be dismissed, before Katatni’s proposal for a suspension was approved by MPs, with parliament next set to meet on May 6.

Yesterday’s political developments come ahead of a presidential election in which the Islamists are seeking to consolidate their pow-

er over the new Egypt.

They also come after overnight clashes in the capital in which more than 90 people were wounded when Salafist protesters clashed with residents of a Cairo neighbourhood, the health ministry said.

Dozens of supporters of Hazem Abu Ismail marched towards the city’s Abbassiya district

ed have often turned violent, with thugs working for the military leadership frequently blamed.

The electoral commission on April 14 barred 10 candidates, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat El-Shater and the former president’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, from standing in the poll to choose

CAIRO: Egyptian men hold knives during clashes between protesters and resident of the Abbassiya neighbourhood in Cairo yesterday. More than 90 people were wounded in overnight clashes between Salafist protesters and residents of a Cairo neighbourhood, the Egyptian health ministry said. — AFP to protest against the electoral commission’s decision to bar the popular hardline Islamist from contesting the presidential poll.

They were attacked by Abbassiya residents, according to the official MENA news agency.

The clashes lasted till dawn, with both sides throwing rocks and petrol bombs and firing buckshot, a member of the security forces said.

Protests in Egypt since Mubarak was oust-

Mubarak’s successor. Abu Ismail’s nomination was rejected because his mother had taken joint US citizenship, but many of his supporters believe he was the victim of a “plot” by the authorities.

The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for May 23 and 24, and the interim military leadership has promised to hand power to an elected civilian president by the end of June. — AFP

Wrangling hampers Libyan drive to try Gaddafi son TRIPOLI: Putting the son of fallen leader Muammar Gaddafi on trial on their own soil is a matter of national pride for Libya’s leaders, but the lack of a properly functioning state is making it hard for them to convince the outside world they are up to the task.

Libya is standing firm on trying Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, once the heir apparent to his father’s one-man rule. But so is the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, which indicted him in June for crimes against humanity stemming from the crackdown on last year’s revolt.

Today Libya will outline to ICC judges in the Hague how it intends to try Saif al-Islam. If the court concludes that Libya cannot or will not try him, and is not cooperating with its own case, it can refer Tripoli to the U.N. Security Council.

Pressure is mounting on Tripoli to hand Saif al-Islam to the ICC as human rights groups question whether its justice system can meet the standards of international law. Libya has filed several appeals, requesting more time to make the case that it can try Saif-al Islam itself.

Five months after he was captured far away in the Sahara desert dressed as a Bedouin tribesman, Saif al-Islam remains in the mountain town of Zintan in the hands of militia fighters who captured him, ostensibly to keep him from harm until Libya’s new rulers can organise a trial.

But the ad hoc nature of his detention and the national authorities’ failure to take custody of him highlight just how little control the interim government, already busy managing the tough post-war transition to democracy, has over the country.

In essence, the tug-of-war over where Saif al-Islam will stand trial is an argument about whether Libya, eight months after it over-

threw his father, has the attributes of a functioning state, including a proper justice system.

His captors say it is up to them, not Tripoli, to decide when to give him up. “It’s not known when he will be moved to Tripoli, it is our decision,” a source close to his captors said. “We’re waiting for when it will be calm and that’s not certain now.”

The ruling National Transitional Council has little recourse. Last week, it sent a delegation to negotiate with the Zintanis, who officials say have demanded financial compensation for their efforts. The delegation returned empty handed. During a visit to Tripoli last week, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Libyan authorities had told him they were building their case against Saif alIslam, gathering witnesses, documents and interceptions.

Ahmed al-Jehani, the Libyan lawyer in charge of the Saif alIslam case and who liaises between the government and the ICC, said his team was working “day and night” to prepare its case.

“The most important thing for the (ICC) judges is that they see a good intention to try people who have committed crimes, and not to cover up their crimes,” he said.

“Our preparations for April 30th are very good,” he said, referring to Monday’s presentation to the judges. But as it tries to make its case, the government has its own problems of infighting to deal with. Rumours abounded this month over NTC members calling for a government reshuffle two months before Libya’s first free polls. The reshuffle was later denied.

Libya has the right to try Saif alIslam on its soil - if it can. The ICC acts only if a country is deemed unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute, for instance when its legal system has collapsed.

Human rights groups and his

family - surviving siblings who found refuge abroad - say they doubt he will be given a fair trial at home. He faces the death penalty if found guilty by a Libyan court, a prison term if convicted by the ICC. In a country where hundreds of war prisoners remain in detention without knowing their fate, and where allegations of torture by the militias guarding them have surfaced, Libyan authorities will have to prove their capabilities. “They hired foreign lawyers to work on the case but that’s not enough, they need a justice system that works,” Marek Marczynski, head of the international justice team at Amnesty International, said.

To advise it on how to build the capacity of the Libyan justice system and to represent it at the ICC on Monday, Libya has hired three international jurists, including Canadian human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan who was the first legal advisor to the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Marczynski said ICC judges will base their decision on Libya’s willingness to try Saif al-Islam on how it investigates other crimes: “The question is whether the justice system in Libya is addressing it.

That’s how you check the willingness.” In an example likely to raise concerns about instability, several blasts targeted a courthouse in the eastern city of Benghazi on Friday, a day after a militia group attacked a prison there in an attempt to release one of its members. Fred Abrahams of New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch said he believed Libya would follow proper legal procedures, but added security surrounding the case was an issue.

“Can a judge in Libya today make a ruling in Saif’s favour without coming under a threat or a risk or facing possible repercussions?

What about his defense lawyer?

Can this person come to Libya or be safe outside Libya? The emotions and the weapons can potentially put this person in danger,” he said.

Holding a trial in a post-war nation is a tough task. When Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was on trial, three defence lawyers were killed and a chief judge quit over political interference.

“What about witnesses? In any fair trial Saif al-Islam wants to have someone on his defence. Will this witness be able to speak openly and feel safe?” Abrahams said.

“After dictatorships and bloodshed, fair trials are hard to guarantee. It’s the reality of the post-war chaos.” Jehani said Libya would provide security for those who worked on the case. “Any Libyan lawyer who feels he is in danger by taking Saif’s case then he has the right to refuse,” he said. “If all Libyan lawyers refuse then he can have a foreign lawyer, that way he will be safe after he leaves the country.”

Kept in a secret location somewhere among the sandstone and concrete buildings of Zintan, Saif al-Islam awaits his fate. According to an ICC document cited by several international media outlets, an ICC delegation visited him in Zintan on March 3.

“I hope I can be tried here in my country, whether they will execute me or not,” Saif al-Islam was quoted as telling two ICC officials in the March 5 report from the court’s registry. But the report said it appeared he “was playing the part for the benefit of the (Libyan) prosecutor,” whose representative was present in the meeting.

“It is important to note that for the registry representative, it was clear that (Saif al-Islam) was not able to reply to the questions in the presence of the Libyan prosecution representative,” the report said. — AP

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Attack on Christians in Nigeria kills 15 Boko Haram attack churches in north KANO: Gunmen killed at least 15 people and wounded many more in an attack on a university theatre being used by Christian worshippers in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano yesterday, a witness said.

It was the latest in a spate of attacks on churches and on Christian holidays in the north of the country, which Nigerian authorities and diplomats believe are part of an attempt to stoke a religious conflict.

Security sources said there was sporadic gunfire in other parts of the city which they believe was from attackers who were fleeing from the army at the university.

“I counted at least 15 dead bodies. I think they were being taken to the Amino Kano teaching hospital,” the witness, who did not wish to be identified, said, adding that he saw many more people being treated for injuries.

A security source said at least 15 people were dead and a source at the hospital told Reuters by phone that he had seen 10-15 dead bodies brought in with gunshot wounds.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks this year. It mainly targets police and authority figures but has also attacked churches.

The army said it had secured the area but could not say how many people had been killed. “The attack took place in one of the lecture theatres used as a place of worship by Christians. For sure there are casualties but I can’t say how many,” Ikedichi Iweha, an army spokesman, told Reuters.

“The elements came, used explosives and guns to attack them.

We have repelled them and cor-

doned off the area,” Iweha said.

Red Cross officials said they were trying to get access to the area but there were no details on casualties.

“For over 30 minutes a series of

service in the northern town of Kaduna.

After being stopped by security he turned back and the bomb exploded by a large group of motor-

KANO: A seriously injured victim of a shooting is taken out from an ambulance outside the emergency unit at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, in northern Nigerian city of Kano, where Christian worshippers were killed and others seriously injured in attacks on two church services yesterday. The attack left at least 20 people dead and 22 people seriously injured. — AFP bomb explosions and gun shots took over the old campus, around the academic blocks,” said Mohammed Suleiman, a history lecturer at the Bayero University.

“It started at about 0930 (0830 GMT ) this morning ... our school security men had to run for their dear lives. You can see smoke all over,” Suleiman said.

Clashes between Boko Haram gunmen and security forces have flared up several times in Kano since the sect killed 186 people in January, its deadliest attack so far.

On Easter Sunday, 36 people were killed when a suspected member of Boko Haram attempted to force a car packed with explosives into a church compound during a

bike taxi riders. Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, including one at a church outside the capital Abuja that killed at least 37 people.

Africa’s most populous nation of more than 160 million is split roughly equally between a largely Christian south and a mostly Muslim north.

Suicide car bombers targeted the offices of Nigerian newspaper This Day in the capital Abuja and in Kaduna last week, killing at least four people in coordinated strikes.

This Day is based in southern Nigeria and is broadly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government - the main target of Boko Haram’s insurgency. — Reuters

Pirate party makes a raid on German politics BERLIN: Pirates are capturing Germany’s political system. The party with the outlaw name started as a marginal club of computer nerds and hackers demanding online freedom, but its appeal as an antiestablishment movement has lured many young voters to the ballot boxes, catapulting it into two state parliaments in less than a year.

The all-volunteer Pirates offer little ideology and focus on promoting their flagship policies of near-total transparency and an unrestricted Internet. But polls show them as the country’s third-strongest political force, leapfrogging over more established parties.

The tremendous success has doubled the Pirates’ membership to 25,000, but it also has handed them a crucial challenge set to dominate its convention starting Saturday: A party founded as a rebellious upstart must reckon with its new political power and its promise of a voice for all its members.

About 1,500 members gathered in the northern Germany city of Neumuenster to discuss the group’s growth. New polls predicted it would win seats in two more state legislatures in May, with forecasters expecting it to secure about 9 percent of the vote in both states. “Many vote for the Pirates as a sign of protest. It is not directed against democracy, but it’s based on the unhappiness with the functioning of the established parties,” said Alexander Hensel, a political scientist who studies the Pirates at the Goettingen Institute for Democracy Research.

Analysts say that despite the nation’s robust economy and low unemployment, many Germans are disenchanted with the established parties, fueled by outrage over seeing the government bailing out banks and businesses to save the economy from collapsing in the wake of the financial crisis.

Thousands in Germany took to the streets last year in rallies during the worldwide Occupy movement, but it has now all but fizzled out - with the Pirates appearing to inherit the votes of the disenchanted.

While the mainstream parties in Europe’s biggest economy are struggling to come up with a response to the continent’s debt crisis, the Pirates cheerfully admit they have no answers. Nor do they have a stance on whether German troops should continue to fight in Afghanistan.

But many voters welcome their blunt acknowledgment as a sign of honesty in the political arena. Instead of taking a stand on the pressing issues that more mainstream parties are forced to address, the Pirates speak up against copyright laws, demand free public transportation, and say every citizen should be paid a basic income without having to work.

“The Pirates are elected less because of what they stand for than by disappointment with the established parties and for their unconventional methods,” Hensel said. The party’s core pledge of transparency and participation - live transmission of all meetings and the online involvement of all party members in its decisions, countless Twitter debates and email chains - is reaching the limit of feasibility as the number of party members has mushroomed.

The question is: Will the Pirates change Germany’s political system, or will the system crack the Pirates?

Hensel said the growing volunteer party will be challenged in its organization and leadership. Its outgoing managing director, Marina Weisband, 24, collapsed last week between two TV appearances. She was briefly hospitalized, saying she was just heavily overworked. She and other Pirates now advocate having professional party leaders with more

say in policy decisions. But to grassroots Pirates, those calls amount to mutiny. “The Pirates’ opinion is created by the party members, not dictated by the chairman,” outgoing party leader Sebastian Nerz said. “The individual’s freedom stands at the top.”

Nerz, 28, favored expanding the board from seven to nine members to give it a more professional structure, but wasn’t re-elected Saturday, losing to his deputy, Bernd Schloemer, 41.

Recently the party has been marred by a scandal over how to handle the far-right past of some of its members, with many Pirates refusing to exclude anyone from membership. But on Saturday, party members overwhelmingly approved a motion saying that any effort to deny or minimize the Holocaust would be against the party’s fundamental values, German news agency dapd reported.

Soon the party will need more professional politicians, if pollsters are right: In North Rhine -Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state with 18 million inhabitants, the Pirates can expect to get 9 percent of the vote in mid-May, according to Emnid, which surveyed 1,001 people for Focus magazine this week. — AFP

Murdochs face tough week over scandal LONDON: Rupert Murdoch’s tetchy and uncompromising appearance at a British inquiry into phone hacking could come back to haunt him this week when politicians give their verdict on the scandal at his defunct News of the World newspaper.

Three days of grilling at the Leveson judicial press inquiry last week extracted few new facts from Rupert and his son James as the 81-year-old casually threw out insults at politicians and described himself as a victim of a corporate cover-up.

That appearance will only increase pressure on a powerful parliamentary committee to be harsh in its verdict on the scandal, putting Murdoch’s News Corp further on the defensive. “The timing of the select committee report, following the week we’ve just had at Leveson, is crucial,” a person familiar with the thinking and mechanics of the committee, told Reuters.

“Anyone putting their name to an amendment that supports Rupert and James, or dilutes the criticism of Rupert and James, would look very different now than they would have done a week ago.” Another person familiar with the situation said the report had become much more critical in recent months.

The committee will meet on Monday to vote and agree the final wording for the report, which had originally been expected late last year. It will be published on Tuesday. Murdoch shut the 168year-old News of the World in July after journalists and investigators admitted hacking the phones of ordinary people, crime victims and politicians to gather exclusive and salacious news.

The evidence from the Leveson inquiry could particularly increase the pressure on members of the committee from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party, traditionally seen as close to

the world’s most powerful media tycoon.

The release of emails between James Murdoch and his top London lobbyist suggesting possible influence over the government led to the resignation of a senior ministerial aide and demands for the minister himself to quit. The committee is expected to criticise James Murdoch for his handling of News Corp’s British newspaper arm and is considering whether to implicate Rupert Murdoch for his influence over the wider company culture.

A tough report could make it harder for 39-year-old James Murdoch in his role as News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer after the damage the company has already taken to its value and reputation. Committee members believe Murdoch staff have shown little respect for the parliamentary system and accused them at one point of suffering from “collective amnesia”. — Reuters

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Collision suspected in yacht mishap that killed 3 LOS ANGELES: A yacht racing off the coasts of California and Mexico apparently collided at night with a much larger vessel, leaving three crew members dead and one missing, a sailing organization said early yesterday. It was the state’s second ocean racing tragedy this month.

The Newport Ocean Sailing Association - organizer of the 125-mile Newport, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico yacht race - said the apparent collision involving the 37-foot Aegean occurred late Friday or early Saturday several miles off the coast near the ocean border of the two countries. “It appeared

the damage was not inflicted by an explosion but by a collision with a ship much larger than the 37-foot vessel,” association spokesman Rich Roberts said in a news release early yesterday.

Race officials believe there are few other possibilities for what caused the accident, Roberts later told The Associated Press, speaking by phone from Ensenada, Mexico.

He said details were still scarce but it was possible that if the smaller boat was bobbing around in light wind, the crew might not have been able to get out of the way of a larger ship, perhaps a freighter. The race goes through

shipping lanes and it’s possible for a large ship to hit a sailboat and not even know it, especially at night, he said.

Roberts said a race tracking system indicated that the boat disappeared about 1:30 am Saturday. A Coast Guard search turned up the boat’s wreckage, including the rear transom with the boat’s name on it, the association release said.

Three crew members of the sailboat were found dead and a search was under way early Sunday for a fourth.

Coast Guard boats and two aircraft as well as Mexican navy and civilian ves-

sels were involved. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were aboard the Aegean, but the Newport Beach Patch website posted a photo that shows the crew at the start of the race Friday. Four men in royal blue Tshits are on the deck as the boat cuts through calm waters. One man is waving and another appears to be smiling.

Other yachts near the Coronado Islands in Mexico reported seeing debris Saturday morning. Searchers in the afternoon found the bodies and debris from the Aegean, whose home port is Redondo Beach, Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said Two

of the dead were recovered by a civilian boat, while the third was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The Coast Guard said earlier that it hadn’t determined what happened to the sailboat. Dunphy said conditions were fine for sailing, with good visibility and moderate ocean swells of 6-to8 feet. A total of 210 boats were registered in the 65th annual yacht race, according to the Newport Ocean Sailing Association’s website. The race started off Newport Beach Friday and many boats finished in Ensenada Saturday, with the last ones due in Sunday. —AP

Obama, Clintons deepen political and policy ties Hillary has benefited from partnership with Obama

XALAPA: File photo shows Mexican journalist Regina Martinez, in Xalapa, Veracruz State, Mexico. The Mexican journalist Regina Martinez was founed dead inside her house. — AFP

journalist found dead VERACRUZ: A correspondent with Mexican newsmagazine Proceso was found dead inside her home in Veracruz state on Saturday and authorities believe the journalist who often wrote about drug trafficking was murdered.

Regina Martinez’s body was found by police inside the bathroom of her home in the state capital, Xalapa, and there were signs of heavy “blows to her face and body,” the state’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. Authorities said initial evidence suggested she died of asphyxiation.

Martinez was the Xalapa correspondent for Proceso, one of Mexico’s oldest and most respected investigative newsmagazines, and she often wrote about drug cartels in the area. Proceso said in a news story on its website that she had worked there for 10 years.

Authorities provided no possible motive for her killing. Veracruz government spokeswoman Gina Dominguez said agents were searching Martinez’s home late Saturday for evidence. “All lines of investigation will be exhausted.

The fact that she was a journalist is one of them,” she told The Associated Press.

Recently Veracruz has been plagued by cartel violence, some of it between

the powerful Zetas and the so-called Jalisco Cartel New Generation, which is believed to be linked to the Sinaloa cartel. The coastal state is also on a human trafficking route north to the United States.

Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte has ordered an exhaustive investigation into her death, he said in a statement. Police found Martinez’s body after receiving a tip from a neighbor that her house had been left open since early in the day.

In the past year, at least three journalists have been found dead in Veracruz, including Martinez. In July 2011, a reporter on police matters with the newspaper Notiver, Yolando Ordaz de la Cruz, was found with her throat cut.

A month earlier, gunmen killed Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, a columnist and deputy editor with Notiver. He was shot together with his wife and one of his children. Media watchdogs considered Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in which to be a journalist.

There is disagreement on the number of journalist killings. Mexico’s national human rights commission says 74 were slain from 2000 to 2011. The New Yorkbased Committee to Protect Journalists says 51 were killed in that time. — AP

Colombian troops killed, French journalist missing BOGOTA: A French journalist was missing yesterday along with five Colombian security force members following combat with leftist rebels that claimed the lives of three soldiers and a police officer, Colombia’s Defense Ministry said.

It identified the missing journalist as Romeo Langlois and said he was accompanying troops on a counterdrug mission in the southern state of Caqueta.

Langlois, 35, was a freelancer on assignment for France 24 television, the allnews network said in a statement.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry said four soldiers were also wounded in what it called “heavy combat” with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, during an operation

by Counternarcotics Batallion No. 1 that destroyed five cocaine processing labs.

Langlois is a Colombia resident, and the ministry identified him as a “war correspondent.” It did not say when the counterdrug mission began. A senior police official said the combat occurred on Saturday and that heavy rain in the area after nightfall was impeding military

operations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide information.

The Defense Ministry said that in addition to Langlois, four soldiers and a police officer were missing. The operation occurred in the hamlet of Buena Vista in the municipality of Montanita.

France-24 said the group was attacked Saturday morning “We know that it is a dangerous region. We are of course worried, but we trust Romeo, who knows the area well and has a lot of experience. We hope that he is safe and sound,” Nahida Nakad, chief international news editor for the network, said in the statement.

Langlois, who also wrote for Le Figaro newspaper, has experience in the region and covering the FARC, an official with the French Foreign Ministry said.

The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to ministry policy, said the French government is in contact with Langlois’ family as Colombian authorities search for those missing. He said it was too early to release any further information. — AP

NEZAHUALCOYOTL: Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), greets supporters AT a campaign rally in Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, Saturday. Mexico will hold presidential elections on July 1. — AP

WASHINGTON: Once a tense rivalry, the relationship between President Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton has evolved into a genuine political and policy par tnership. Both sides have a strong incentive in making the alliance work, especially in an election year.

For Obama, Bill Clinton is a fundraising juggernaut, a powerful reminder to voters that a Democrat ran the White House the last time the economy was thriving. For the spotlight-loving former president, stronger ties with the White House and campaign headquar ters mean he gets a hand in shaping the future of the party he led for nearly a decade.

Obama’s re-election campaign has put Bill Clinton on notice that he will be used as a top surrogate, further evidence of how far the two camps have come since the bitter days of the 2008 Democratic primary between Obama and Hillary Clinton, now his secretary of state.

Yesterday evening in northern Virginia, the current and former president planned to make the first of three joint appearances at fundraisers for Obama’s campaign. The host? Terry McAuliffe, a close adviser to both Clintons and one of the most ardent protectors of their political brand.

“It makes absolutely clear that, to the extent that there were different wings of the Democratic party, there is now one wing of the Democratic party,” said Chris Lehane, a Clinton backer. “And it’s the president’s party.”

Clinton’s willingness to be a good soldier for the Obama campaign could end up paying political dividends for his wife, who is frequently talked about in party

circles as a potential presidential candidate in 2016 despite her repeated denials. Hillary Clinton has benefited enormously from her partnership with Obama, with her popularity skyrocketing during her time in his Cabinet.

Democrats say the overt signs

general election.

Many Republicans are reluctant to Bush, who left office deeply unpopular, especially as the Obama campaign seeks to tie Romney to Bush’s economic and foreign policy positions.

While Obama and the Clintons

WASHINGTON: In this Jan. 24, 2012, photo Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greets President Barack Obama after he delivered his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington. Once a tense rivalry, the relationship between Obama and the Clintons has evolved into a genuine political and policy partnership. — AP of unity between the Clintons and Obama put the president at a distinct advantage over likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

The former Massachusetts governor must soothe the wounds from his primar y fight and figure out whether the last Republican president, George W. Bush, will have a role in the 2012 race.

Discussions are under way at Romney’s Boston headquarters about the degree to which Bush will participate, if at all, in the

are rarely described as friends, people close to them say the relationship has warmed significantly since the 2008 nomination contest. In that race, the former president slammed Obama’s candidacy as a “fair y tale” while Obama sarcastically told Hillary Clinton that she was “likable enough.”

The thaw started as a matter of political necessity: Their party was desperate to retake the White House after eight years of Republican rule. Hillary Clinton

offered Obama a gracious endorsement, both Clintons campaigned for Obama, and the newly elected president picked his former rival to be America’s chief diplomat.

It took longer for Obama’s relationship with Bill Clinton to soften as the two men found common ground in the pressures of the presidency.

“There are not very many people who understand what it’s like to live in the White House and bear those burdens,” said Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist who worked in the Clinton White House. “Bill and Hillary Clinton are two of those people.”

When Obama’s health care bill was in trouble, he and his staff, which included several veterans of the Clinton White House, called on the former president for help. In late 2009 and early 2010, Bill Clinton went to Capitol Hill to rally support and worked the phones with war y Democratic lawmakers.

After the Democratic party was battered in the 2010 elections, Obama called in Clinton for an Oval Office meeting.

After ward, the two made an impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room to talk to reporters. When Obama had to leave for a holiday party, Clinton stuck around, relishing in the attention and the give-andtake with the press.

That day in the briefing room underscored what some Democrats see as their one major worr y in pairing Obama with Clinton too often. The ease with which Clinton connects with a range of audiences can call attention to the challenge Obama sometimes faces in doing the same thing. — AP

Washington shores up ties in Asia push WASHINGTON: The United States is embarking on two weeks of intense diplomacy on Asia as it seeks to rekindle friendly ties with Japan and India while managing an often fractious relationship with China. President Barack Obama’s administration has repeatedly said it has no strategy to contain China but it has been shoring up relations with neighboring countries, many of which are nervous about Beijing’s rapid growth.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will meet Obama at the White House today, followed by a gala dinner thrown by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will fly out immediately afterward for major talks in Beijing. Clinton will then head to India after a stop in Bangladesh. Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will also hold their first joint talks today with counterparts from the Philippines, in a sign of a growing alliance. Days ahead of Noda’s visit, the United States and Japan announced a plan to pull 9,000 troops from Okinawa, seeking to address resentment over US bases on the island, which has been a key stumbling block between the Pacific allies.

Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, voiced hope Thursday that the agreement would address “questions about the US-Japan alliance” that have risen in recent years amid changing governments in Tokyo.

The military deal “dispels any doubts-we’re still the foundation, we’re still number one. We are the foundation for everything the United States does in the AsianPacific region,” Campbell told a forum.

While Japan is a longstanding ally, the United States has increasingly looked to boost ties with India. Former president George W. Bush signed a landmark nuclear cooperation deal that symbolized a new relationship between the world’s two largest democracies after unease during the Cold War. Clinton, on her last visit to India in 2011, urged a greater global role for New Delhi and said that the USIndian relationship would shape the 21st century.

But momentum has since cooled, with some US lawmakers for the first time in years criticizing India due to its refusal to fall immediately into line with a US law threatening sanctions on countries if they buy oil from Iran. US businesses have also been concerned as India’s parliament has balked on some of their main wishes, including opening up to foreign retail giants such as Walmart and providing nuclear firms exemption from liabilities. Daniel Twining, a policymaker on Asia during the Bush administration, said that India and the United States initially moved closer due to a shared sense of values and competitors-namely, China. — AFP

WASHINGTON: In this photo provided by the King Co. Sheriff’s Dept., ammunition clips and other items that were found in a deep-woods bunker, Saturday, near North Bend, Washington are displayed after they were removed by deputies. Officials also found a body in the bunker that is believed to be Peter A. Keller, who is suspected of hiding out in the bunker after killing his wife and daughter last week. — AP

US double-murder suspect found dead in hideout SEATTLE: US law enforcement blew the roof off a mountain hideout in Washington state on Saturday and inside found the body of a man suspected of killing his wife and teenage daughter, officials said.

Peter Keller, who had been missing since Sunday when the bullet-ridden bodies of Lynnettee Rocha Keller, 41, and their 19-year-old daughter Kaylene Keller were discovered at the family home, apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“They believe the person has been dead for some time. There’s a great deal of blood and a pistol nearby,” King County Sheriff Steven Strachan said of the scene in the Cascade foothills 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Seattle.

Evidence led investigators to the mountain bunker late Friday and a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team fired tear gas into the structure and stood guard at the site overnight.

But on Saturday, they used explosives

to blow off the bunker’s roof, leading them to Keller’s body. The bunker had been fortified by logs and dirt and was believed to stretch back at least 20 feet (six meters) into the mountainside. “ They were able to make a big enough hole where they could look in and saw what was a body, that appeared to be possibly a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” King County sheriff spokeswoman Katie Larson told AFP. “We had our bomb disposal unit clear the bunker to make sure there are no booby traps or explosives in there from him.” She said police would have preferred to take Keller alive, but were relieved that there was not a potentially deadly shootout with officers. “All of us here were extremely worried and nervous that this guy was as armed as he was, and we actually now know he was, would have shot and injured or killed some of our officers,” Larson added. “The outcome being none of our people got hurt that way, it makes us happy.” — AFP

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

Bin Laden theories flourish in Pakistan People unwilling to accept bin Laden lived here ABBOTTABAD: A year after Osama bin Laden’s death, little is known about what the Pakistani authorities knew of his presence, allowing wild theories on what “really” happened to flourish. Sitting on a rock by his garlic patch in the Bilal Town district of Abbottabad, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Islamabad, Zain Mohammad says he wishes people would stop calling him “bin Laden’s neighbour”.

The nickname has stuck since last May, when a US special forces raid killed the 9/11 mastermind just a few metres from his house. He’s not embarrassed, he says, just concerned for the truth. Like almost everyone else in this part of Abbottabad, a quiet town tucked in the foothills of the Himalayas, he doesn’t believe bin Laden was ever there.

But what about the American raid, the gunfire and explosions, the widows and children found in the house? “I don’t think bin Laden was here. Only innocent people, with no links with Al-Qaeda or other militant groups, lived there and were martyred,” he said.

Aurangzeb, the head of a local school, is equally confident. “Bin Laden was not here. His family maybe, but not him. This is just a drama set up by Americans with the complicity of the Pak istani army, which can do anything for money, they are just beggars!” he said.

It is a popular theory in the area. A

local journalist says people are simply unwilling to accept such a notorious character was living in their midst. “The reality is they are ashamed that bin Laden was hiding there while at the same time groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda killed thousands of people all over the country with their suicide bombings,” he said.

On the morning of May 2 last year, the same shame, along with fear, was felt at the highest levels of Pakistan’s all-powerful military, a security source said, reiterating the intelligence service’s line that they knew nothing about bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan-a theory that has cut little ice in Washington.

“Military chiefs felt betrayed by the US, who did not tell them before the raid,” the official said. “There was above all an element of fear among them when they realised that they were unable to control all their units and to know if some of them, linked to militants, helped bin Laden to hide there.”

In a sign of the gravity of the situation, General Shuja Pasha, head of the Inter Services Intelligence agency, made a rare admission in May when he acknowledged failings over bin Laden before parliament.

But he said little more, and the veil once again came down on the bin Laden affair. For months the army barred all access to the Abbottabad house, before demolishing it suddenly in Februar y,

Afghan Taleban deny holding talks with US KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taleban insurgents yesterday denied that they had resumed talks with the United States, while the Afghan government insisted that the peace process was “on track”. The Taleban, who last month broke off contacts with the US in Qatar, said they would not resume talks “until the Americans take constructive steps and fulfil promises which were agreed upon for confidence building”.

Among the confidence building measures proposed is the release of five Taleban leaders held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay. The statement, posted on the Taleban website, came just days after the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed at a meeting in Islamabad to look at ways to provide safe passage to Taleban who are willing to join the peace process.

That move was also rejected by the hardline Islamists, who said it was aimed at facilitating militants “kowtowing to US demands in the name of supposed reconciliation talks”. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, hereby, strongly denounce such foul and horrendous rift-creating attempts,” the Taliban said in a separate statement by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

But in Kabul yesterday, the Afghan government said progress was being made in efforts to negotiate an end to the decade-long war. “The peace process is still on track with the Taleban and also efforts are underway by the Afghan government for setting up a Taleban address in the Gulf state of Qatar,” foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai told a news conference.

The Taleban, however, have always dismissed the idea of talks with the Afghan government, describing it as a puppet of the Americans. For its part, Washington has consistently said that any talks with the Taleban to end the war could only take place with the agreement of the Afghan government, which eventually should lead the process.

Mosazai said the idea of safe passage aimed to provide “a guarantee to Taleban leaders and officials to safely approach the Afghan government or to travel from one country to another country to engage in direct negotiations with the Afghan government”.

Senior Taleban leaders operate from bases within neighbouring Pakistan, which the Afghan government accuses of supporting the militants. —AFP

Seven bombs hit Dhaka amid strike DHAKA: Seven small bombs exploded in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka yesterday, police said, after an opposition supporter was shot dead in clashes ahead of a fourth nationwide strike in eight days. Security was tight across the country with around 10,000 policemen deployed in Dhaka after the bombs exploded in the morning as shops, offices and schools were shut amid tensions over the disappearance of an opposition leader. There was no damage or injuries from the explosions but one opposition supporter was shot dead elsewhere in clashes with ruling party activists late on Saturday. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been leading angry protests since one of its leaders, Ilias Ali, went missing on April 17 in a case it believes was an abduction by the security forces.

The BNP supporter was hit by three bullets in the southern town of Lakshmipur during a fight between BNP and ruling Awami League party workers, police inspector Monirul Alam said. “He died of his wounds after he was rushed to a hospital,” Alam told AFP, adding another person was also critically injured.

Three other BNP activists were killed last week in clashes with police in Ali’s constituency in northeastern Sylhet district.

Police found Ali’s car abandoned in an upmarket district of Dhaka. His driver is also missing.

The BNP fear Ali has been killed and accuse the elite Rapid Action Battalion security force of abducting him, an allegation both the force and the government have rejected. Ali is the highest profile opposition politician to have “disappeared” since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took power in January 2009.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged Bangladesh to order an independent investigation into the recent disappearances of opposition and political activists. Quoting two Dhaka-based rights groups-Ain-O-Sailash Kendra and Odhikar HRW said the disappearance of least 22 people was documented in 2012 alone and more than 50 people since 2010. —AFP

while the Americans refused to release a single photograph of bin Laden So the rumour mill began to whir : some believe the Americans brought bin Laden alive from Afghanistan and killed him in Abbottabad to smear Pakistan’s reputation. Others insist the Saudi terror mastermind is still alive.

Myster y also surrounds bin Laden’s three widows and children who lived with him in Abbottabad and were held by the Pakistanis after the Americans left them behind. They were depor ted from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia on Friday after almost a year in custody, in which they did not make a single public appearance, creating yet more wild rumours.

Last month a retired Pakistani general claimed one of bin Laden’s wives betrayed him to the Americans in a fit of jealousy over a younger wife. And a week before the deportation, a police officer guarding the house where the family were being held told AFP that one of the wives had given birth a few days earlier — 11 months after the death of the presumed father.

Will the full story of bin Laden’s time on the run in Pakistan and who knew about it ever emerge? In a country which seems to specialise in political and military mysteries, it looks unlikely. The assassins of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, killed more than four years ago,

ABBOT TABAD: This photograph taken on April 25, 2012, shows Zain Mohammad (L), neighbour of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, speaking with an AFP reporter as his friend looks on, near the site of the demolished compound of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in northern Abbottabad ahead of bin Laden’s first death anniversary. — AFP have yet to be brought to justice and the death of military ruler General Zia-ul Haq nearly 25 years ago is still shrouded in mystery.

For the intelligence services, crazy theories serve a useful function, the security official explained. “For the vast majority

of the population, often uneducated, the army prefers to let conspiracy theories flourish instead of using transparency that could bring a greater shame, so people don’t entirely lose faith in the intelligence agencies’ ability to protect them from danger,” he said. —AFP

12

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

international

Disbelief in village over China activist’s daring escape DONGSHIGU: As the daring escape from house arrest of Chinese rights activist Chen Guangcheng makes world headlines, locals in his village expressed disbelief that “the blind man” could flee the intense security surrounding him.

Farmers and entrepreneurs in the farming community of Dongshigu in east China’s Shandong province were surprised when told Chen may have fled into the US embassy in Beijing, spurring a diplomatic crisis with Washington.

“I have not heard anything about the blind man escaping, there is no way he could escape,” a local farmer who regularly passes by the village told AFP. “They (the authorities) built a concrete wall around his home.

They have surveillance cameras all around the house. It is impossible for him to escape.”

The farmer, who AFP is not identifying out of safety concerns, said dozens of security guards surrounded Chen’s home night and day, threatening and beating any outsiders who attempted to approach.

China Aid, a group run by former Tiananmen Square democracy activist Bob Fu, said Saturday it had

learned from a “source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation” that the activist was now “under US protection”.

“High-level talks are currently

under way between US and Chinese officials regarding Chen’s status,” the group said in a statement, which also called on the United States to ensure the safety of the activist and his fami-

BEIJING: In this undated file photo provided by supporters of Chen Guangcheng, blind activist Chen Guangcheng sits in a village in China. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who arrived early yesterday, in Beijing on a hastily arranged trip as problems from the escape of a blind legal activist to possible new arms sales to Taiwan threaten to derail fragile US-China co-operation. —AP

ly. The United States has expressed concern about Chen, who has been blind since childhood, but refused any comment on his whereabouts, underscoring the huge sensitivity of the issue. Outspoken government critic Hu Jia, who is close to Chen, also told AFP the activist is likely holed up in the US embassy.

A decision to grant him refuge could prove a major diplomatic irritant, with US Secretary of State Hillar y Clinton and Treasur y Secretary Timothy Geithner due in Beijing Thursday for annual talks on the often testy relationship between the two countries.

Chen, 40, won worldwide acclaim for exposing forced sterilisations and late-term abortions under China’s “one child” policy, and for using his legal knowledge to help people battle a range of other perceived injustices.

He and his family were put under round-the-clock house arrest after he completed a four-year jail sentence in September 2010. He has said he was being punished for defiantly continuing to speak out.

“They have a lot of local police, traffic police and village security

guards watching him. Over 60 people watching one blind man day and night. There is no way he can escape,” a shop owner near Dongshigu village told AFP. “I’ve heard it cost over 10,000 yuan ($1,600) to guard him for one night, they also have to guard him during the day. To think that this has been going on for over two years.

There are a lot of better ways to spend that money.”

China Aid said Chen slipped away from his closely guarded home on the night of April 22. His wife and 6year-old daughter are believed to be still in the home. After his daring escape, Chen recorded a video directly addressing Premier Wen Jiabao, accusing local Communist Party officials by name and condemning the government for their treatment of him and his family.

“They are doing this (persecution) because the blind man is a rights defender. He is in trouble for defending human rights,” the manager of a small hotel in a village near Dongshigu told AFP. Most ordinary people here supported Chen’s efforts to curb abuse of the birth control policy and were appalled at the gov-

ernment’s treatment of him, she said.

Meanwhile many believe Chen’s efforts have had an impact on implementation of the controversial family planning policy. “In the last few years, the policy has not been so strict,” the woman, who is in her forties, said.

“They don’t dare beat you anymore if you violate the policy. They still fine you, but they don’t beat you like before.”

Chen’s flight came two months after Wang Lijun, former right-hand man of disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai, went to the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu and reportedly sought US asylum. He was turned down, but the incident was highly embarrassing for Beijing and provoked a major political crisis, with just months to go before a key handover of power in China.

The last Chinese dissident known to have been granted refuge at the US embassy was Fang Lizhi, a key figure in the pro-democracy movement who spent a year under US protection after publicly supporting the 1989 Tiananmen protests. He was forced into exile in 1990 and died in the United States earlier this month. —AFP

UN chief visits Myanmar to press further reform Myanmar progress fresh but fragile YANGON: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a landmark visit to a fast-changing Myanmar yesterday to encourage its government to carry out more democratic reforms and shore-up peace deals with ethnic rebel groups.

Myanmar, which is still led by remnants of the former junta, has stunned the outside world with economic reforms and unprecedented engagement with the West, the political opposition and ethnic minority rebel groups, moves Ban

capital Yangon and will see a country that has undergone astonishing changes since his last visit in July 2009 on the invitation of former junta strongman Senior General Than Shwe, which was widely seen as a stunt to boost the

YANGON: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits the tomb of late UN Secretary General U Thant in Yangon yesterday. Ban Ki-moon arrived in Myanmar for talks with Aung San Suu Kyi and the reformist regime amid a flurry of top-level visitors to the long-isolated nation. —AFP Ban’s trip was his first since a reformist, quasi-civilian government took office a year ago, ending five decades of authoritarian military rule and frosty and frustrating ties with the international community. His trip coincides with a visit by EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton to open a “new chapter ” of relations as European firms seek a share of Myanmar’s vast untapped natural resources.

said were encouraging, but still not enough.

“We see Myanmar is reopening to the world,” he said earlier in New York, adding that “the fresh start is still fragile”. A string of Western politicians, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister David Cameron, have travelled to Myanmar in recent months to encourage it to stay on the path of reform.

Ban arrived in the commercial

regime’s credibility at home.

Ban left frustrated, describing it as a “very difficult mission” having failed to convince Than Shwe to release political prisoners and being denied access to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was in detention at the time but was released 15 months later.

Since Than Shwe stepped aside on March 30 last year, four months after an election seen as rigged, its

former fourth-in-command Thein Sein has become president and has brought Suu Kyi into the political fold.

His government has started overhauling the tattered economy, easing media censorship, legalising trade unions and protests, freeing political prisoners and agreeing ceasefires with more than a dozen ethnic rebel armies. Thein Sein is planning to restructure negotiating teams after a failure to make a breakthrough in six rounds of talks with Kachin rebels and their political leaders, two sources close to the peace effort told Reuters.

Ban was due today meet Thein Sein and other former generals who were part of Than Shwe’s inner circle but now seen as key drivers behind Myanmar’s stunning facelift, which has led to an easing of some sanctions this month by the European Union, United States, Australia and Canada and a resumption of aid and debt relief by Japan.

Ban was scheduled to fly to the remote capital Naypyitaw later Sunday. His visit will include a trip to northern Shan State, one of the world’s biggest opium-growing regions, where the United Nations has started poppy eradication programme it says has seen significant progress.

Ban is also due to discuss a census the United Nations is helping Myanmar to compile by 2014, its first in over 30 years and is scheduled to give an address to Myanmar’s huge new parliament on Monday, the first by a foreigner.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party was due to make its debut in parliament last week after an historic by-April 1 by-election win, but it is still refusing to take its seat because of a potentially troublesome dispute over the wording of a swearing-in oath. —Reuters

China reach in focus at US, Philippine security talks MANILA: China is likely to be high on the agenda at top level US-Philippine security talks yesterday as Washington refocuses its foreign policy on Asia and Manila realises its limits in trying to solve territorial disputes with Beijing alone.

China has maritime spats with several countries in the South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas and crossed by important shipping lanes, and its neighbours fear its growing naval reach in staking claims.

Those disputes are pushing the Philippines to seek closer cooperation with the United States, which in turn has prompted China to warn Washington against getting involved, denouncing last week’s U.S.-Philippine military drills as bringing the risk of armed conflict closer.

“I’m sure we need to be diplomatic, but I don’t think we should tip-toe around the Chinese on this,” said Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center with the conservative Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank. “...There is nothing new about the US exercising with the Philippines. We shouldn’t

refrain because the Chinese don’t like it. In fact, I expect the (Washington meeting) will come up with some agreement on increasing the frequency and variety of exercises, ship visits. Also expect agreement on hardware, joint use of Philippines’ training facilities and bases.”

The talks also coincide with a potential new source of tension between Washington and Bejing after blind activist Chen Guangcheng was reported late last week to have sought US protection in the Chinese capital after an audacious escape from 19 months under house arrest. Manila’s moves to strengthen security ties with its former colonial master coincide with the US foreign policy “pivot” towards Asia to concentrate on, among other things, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and China’s military buildup.

Twenty years after the Philippines voted to remove American bases, it now wants to give U.S. troops more access to its ports and airfields. “We enjoy a really close military-to-military relationship with the Philippines and I think certainly coming out of this two plus two, we’ll be looking for ways to improve and

enhance that relationship,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby, referring to talks between the defence and foreign secretaries, the highest-level security talks yet between the two sides.

“But it is safe to say that ... our relationship with the Philippines is part and parcel of the larger shift to focus on the Asia-Pacific.” A Philippine general familiar with the discussions to be held in Washington said the United States had a list of airfields in the Philippines that it could use for routine deployment of tankers, fighters and transport planes. “ These are not new bases for the Americans, these are still our facilities,” said the general who declined to be identified.

“They are only asking us if we can share some of our idle space with them.”

Kirby said the United States wanted to continue “a rotational and training” relationship.

“We’re certainly not looking ... for permanent basing there.” This is nevertheless a sensitive area for Philippine President Benigno Aquino, some of whose political advisers are uncomfortable with an expanding US role. —Reuters

MANILA: A friend reacts as the coffin of a victim of a violent demolition of a flea market passes by at the Silverio compound in suburban Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines yesterday. At least one died and several were hurt as police tried to break a barricade in the area set up by residents to protect their homes from demolition on April 23. —AP

Australian premier orders embattled MP out of party SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday said she had asked a lawmaker embroiled in a scandal over payment for prostitutes to quit the Labor Party, in a blow to her fragile minority rule. Craig Thomson, whose vote is key to Gillard, is alleged to have used a former employer’s credit card to pay for prostitutes and lavish meals and make cash withdrawals before he became an MP. Gillard said Thomson strongly denied the allegations and was entitled to the presumption of innocence but she had made a judgement call based on the need to preserve parliament’s reputation. “I indicated to Mr Thomson that I had decided it was appropriate for him to no longer participate in Labor caucus; to be suspended from the Labor Party,” Gillard told reporters in Canberra.

The prime minister said she had also asked parliamentar y speaker Peter Slipper, who faces claims he sexually harassed a male staffer and misused taxi services, to stand aside for “a further period of time”. Gillard said both Thomson and Slipper, who is an independent lawmaker, denied the allegations against them, and she would not prejudge them, but she needed to take action to protect the dignity of government.

“I feel keenly that Australians are looking at this parliament and at the moment they see a dark cloud over it,” she said. “I want to ensure that Australians can look at this building, look at this institution and feel respect for this institution.”

Gillard, whose centre-left Labor government is flailing in opinion polls, has led a fragile minority government since deadlocked August 2010 elections. With Thomson’s move to the crossbenches, Labor now holds just 71 seats in the 150seat House of Representatives, compared with the conservative opposition’s 72.

However, Gillard has the support of two independents, a Greens MP and Thomson, who said he would support the government against any no-confidence motion and in supply bills, to give her control of the lower house.

Thomson maintained his innocence but admitted the allegations against him had proven “a distraction for the government”. Slipper, who quit the opposition Liberal Party last year to become an independent and take up the role of speaker, said he also rejected the allegations against him but to uphold the “dignity of the parliament” would cede his duties to his deputy when parliament resumed on May 8.

“This will avoid what could be a con-

troversial debate on the floor of the parliament, which would not assist the standing of the parliament,” he said.

Analysts said the loss of Thomson would not dramatically affect voting on legislature in the House, but had prevented the “disaster” of Thomson resigning and forcing a by-election that Labor would almost certainly lose.

“It adds to the picture of the vulnera-

CANBERRA: In this Feb. 27, 2012 photo Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard holds a press conference after winning a leadership challenge in Canberra, Australia.

Gillard sidelined two scandal-tarnished parliamentarians yesterday, in a move aimed at restoring public confidence in Parliament. —AP bility of the government,” Haydon Manning, a political analyst at Flinders University told AFP. Monash University’s Nick Economou agreed Thomson’s move would not make a great deal of difference to the government’s hold on power. “It looks spectacular but it’s like a thunderstorm where it doesn’t rain,” he said. Commenting on why it had taken her so long to act on Thomson, who has been at the centre of the allegations for years despite no charges being laid, Gillard said a line had been crossed.

“And I believe a line has been crossed about respect for the parliament and that has given me sufficient concern that I believe it was the right thing to act,” she said. —AFP

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

NEWS Filipino activists apply finishing touches on a Labor Day mural in Quezon City yesterday. — AFP

Kidnapped UK medic beheaded in Pakistan Continued from Page 1 “All of us at the ICRC and at the British Red Cross share the grief and outrage of Khalil’s family and friends. We are devastated,” Daccord said, adding that the aid worker - who had worked in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq - was a “trusted and very experienced Red Cross staff member”.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said London had tried tirelessly to secure Dale’s release. “This was a senseless and cruel act, targeting someone whose role was to help the people of Pakistan, and causing immeasurable pain to those who knew Mr Dale,” he said in a statement. Pakistan’s government also condemned “the barbaric act” and vowed “to bring perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice”.

Riffat Hussain, a police surgeon at Bolan Medical College in Quetta, where the aid worker’s body was taken, told AFP that Dale had been decapitated, but doctors had stitched his head back on to his body. He is believed to have been killed some 12-14 hours before his body was discovered, the surgeon said. “There were no signs of any torture on his body but different body joints were dislocated” when he was stuffed into the bag, the surgeon added. Police official Manzoor told AFP: “His body was found in a bag in an apple

orchard on the outskirts of Quetta on Sunday morning.” He said police had difficulty identifying Dale as he had grown a beard, but staff from the ICRC had confirmed the remains were his.

Baluchistan is plagued by a separatist insurgency, sectarian violence and Taleban militants. Local rebels rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region’s natural oil, gas and mineral resources. Kidnappings are rife in parts of the province, where criminals looking for ransoms snatch foreigners and locals, sometimes passing their hostages on to Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked groups.

In Feb 2009, John Solecki, the local head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), was snatched at gunpoint in Quetta, with his driver killed during the abduction. Solecki was released after nearly nine weeks. In Baluchistan, the ICRC mainly focuses on health programs and supports several medical centres, including a hospital. The ICRC had announced a reduction of its activities in Pakistan just days before Dale’s abduction with the closure of three of its centres in the restive northwest. But after the kidnapping the organisation vowed to continue its work in the troubled country. — AFP

Obama roasts Romney at big dinner Continued from Page 1 “Dogs, however, are apparently fair game,” Obama quipped. Romney has been dogged by Democratic supporters who keep bringing up the former Massachusetts governor’s long-time ago family road trip when he affixed his family pet aboard the roof of his station wagon in a kennel.

As Obama spoke, a large screen in the ballroom of the Washington hotel hosting the dinner, pictured a mockup of a dog kennel atop Air Force One. Obama also jabbed Congress, which has frustrated his job creation plans and most of the rest of his agenda since Republicans seized the House of Representatives in 2010 mid-term elections. “I’ve tried to be civil, to not take any cheap shots. And that’s why I want to especially thank all the members who took a break from their exhausting schedule of not passing any laws to be here tonight,” he said. The president also took a swipe at a remodeling project in one of Romney’s homes in California, quipping that the huge ballroom in the hotel was what his foe would call a “little fixer upper”.

He also gently ribbed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his former Democratic primary rival, who was pictured enjoying a late night drink

with friends at the Summit of Americas several weeks ago. “Four years ago, I was locked in a brutal primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Four years later, she won’t stop drunk texting me from Cartagena,” Obama said. And the president, who was embarrassed by a Secret Service sex scandal during a recent trip to Colombia took a gentle swipe at his elite bodyguards. “I had a lot more material prepared, but I have to get the Secret Service home before their new curfew,” he said.

There was no sign of Romney at the dinner, though there were sightings of his combative political aid Eric Fehrnstrom. The dinner gets blanket media coverage in glamor-challenged Washington DC, which is sometimes mockingly referred to as ‘Hollywood, for ugly people’. It is an annual chance for media and political elites in Washington, a town where those looking for starpower normally have to make do with cabinet members or senators, to rub shoulders with Hollywood’s biggest stars.

This year’s dinner, the centerpiece of a weekend of parties, will be memorable for political reasons too.

Obama had a fine line to tread as he enters a six-month sprint to November’s presidential election. The dinner gave the president the chance to be funny, come across as “cool” and

a free invitation to poke fun at his political opponents. But at a time when Republicans are again contrasting his “celebrity” with the plight of Americans still going through economic pain, he might not have much to gain from hanging out with a bunch of Hollywood celebrities.

Last year at the dinner, Obama put on the ultimate show of political sang-froid, ordering the raid that was to kill Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, then stepping up on stage to wisecrack his way through his speech. Twenty-four hours later, he would appear on television again to announce the successful completion of the Navy SEALs raid deep into Pakistan. Celebrities at the dinner include reality TV starlet Kim Kardashian, hard partying actress Lindsay Lohan and heartthrob and Oscar winner George Clooney.

Goldie Hawn was escorted by CNN talk show host Piers Morgan.

This year’s guest list also included film stars Reese Witherspoon, Daniel Day-Lewis, former James Bond Pierce Brosnan and director and producer Stephen Spielberg. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who once had Obama on their show “Mythbusters” were sitting at one of the Agence France-Presse tables, along with renowned Irish novelist Colm Toibin. — AFP

Kuwait should adopt full parliamentary...

Continued from Page 1 He said the amendments in general stipulate to scrap the membership of unelected ministers in the Assembly.

At present unelected ministers are members of parliament who vote on almost all issues like elected MPs. The amendments also call for increasing the house membership from 50 to 75 MPs and removing the necessity of the attendance of ministers in parliament sessions. The Cabinet must also obtain the house’s confidence after its formation and if it fails, it must resign.

Other amendments call for granting the right to the Assembly to initiate a no-confidence motion against the prime minister and the ability to vote him out of office.

Yahya said the amendments should be accompanied by amending a number of laws, specifically the election law so that elections are held on the basis of political parties and the winning party or coalition should form the government, unlike now when the prime minister is a member of the ruling family and is appointed by HH the Amir.

In another development, the majority bloc has decided to delay the planned grilling of Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali for two weeks over a variety of alleged irregularities and financial violations at the ministry and other institutions under the authority of the minister. MP Falah Al-Sawwagh said the duration was given to give enough time to the prime minister to dismiss the minister or give enough time for the minister to quit. It was also agreed that three MPs - Musallam

Al-Barrak, Khaled Al-Tahous and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari - will submit the grilling. If the majority backs the grilling, the minister will certainly be voted out of office.

In a related development, Shamali late Saturday appeared before the Assembly’s committee probing allegations that the former prime minister transferred millions of dollars of public funds into his private accounts overseas. Head of the committee MP Faisal AlMislem said the committee told Shamali that the responses of government agencies to the committee has been lacking and incomplete and urged him to cooperate.

MP Ali Al-Rashed, a supporter of the former prime minister, yesterday resigned from the legal and legislative committee in protest against the appointment of well-known lawyer and writer Mohammad Al-Jassem as an advisor to the panel. Jassem was a major opponent of the former prime minister and was jailed on several occasions for harshly criticizing him. He is a close associate of the opposition which now controls the majority in the Assembly.

In other business, MP Nabeel Al-Fadl yesterday strongly lashed out at Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and accused him of being corrupt while he claims to be fighting corruption. Fadl claimed that after appointing his wife as one of his secretaries in the Assembly, he has mediated to appoint his son at the housing authority.

But Tabtabaei strongly denied Fadl’s allegations, saying that none of his actions involved any violation of any law and vowed he will take legal action against Fadl.

Al-Qaeda still plots payback Continued from Page 1 local franchise Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) carry out incessant attacks on government forces and have captured several towns. In Somalia, the Shabab Islamist group has pledged allegiance to AlQaeda’s global jihad, and continues to resist pressure from a weak interim regime supported by African Union forces and periodic US strikes. And in the countries of the Sahel desert, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has allied itself with Tuareg rebels who - reinforced by mercenaries fleeing the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime - have split Mali in half.

Meanwhile, many of the bomb attacks that still rock Iraq from week to week are blamed on surviving members of the once powerful Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers that sprung up in the wake of the 2003 US invasion. So, on a map of trouble spots in the Islamic world, Al-Qaeda’s black banner is still very much in evidence - but experts caution that the various factions do not really amount to much more than the sum of their parts. Only Yemen-based AQAP has attempted, with remarkably little success, to take the struggle beyond its local conflict and inflict more damage on the “greater enemy” - the United States -in the form of failed aeroplane bombings.

Beyond that, the global jihad has become a virtual movement in cyberspace, seeking to indoctrinate troubled Muslim loners or small self-radicalised cells in Western countries into carrying out unpredictable small-scale attacks. But in a report published Wednesday, the European Union’s police coordination agency Europol warned that such self-starters could become the new face of the threat. “The more AlQaeda’s core is under pressure, and the more difficult it becomes to prepare large scale attacks, the more AlQaeda will try to recruit individual supporters in the West to plan and execute attacks,” it warned.

In March, a young Frenchman, 24-year-old Mohammed Merah, carried out three shooting attacks in and around the southern city of Toulouse, killing three off-duty soldiers, a trainee rabbi and three Jewish children. Shortly before he was killed in an exchange of fire with the police, he claimed to negotiators to have been an Al-Qaeda member, but intelligence agencies have since found nothing to link him directly to the network. He did make a personal trip to the Taleban’s heartland around the Afghan city of Kandahar, but he seems to have taught himself his extremist ideology from Islamist texts he read in prison and on the Internet.

“It’s not easy, because these individuals seem to be a mix of terrorists and people who have very big personal problems,” the head of Canada’s SCRS domestic security agency Richard Fadden told his country’s Senate recent-

ly. “My colleagues in Britain, in Australia and the United States think the same thing - we are already seeing an increase in the number of people who are acting as individuals, and that really makes our lives complicated.”

“It’s wishful thinking to say Al-Qaeda is on the brink of defeat,” says Seth Jones, a Rand analyst and adviser to US special operations forces. “They have increased global presence, the number of attacks by affiliates has risen, and in some places like Yemen, they’ve expanded control of territory.” “Each will seek opportunities to strike Western interests in its operating area, but each group will have different intent and ability to execute those plans,” Robert Cardillo, a deputy director at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told reporters Friday.

There’s no sign of an active revenge plot against US targets, but US citizens in Pakistan and beyond are being warned to be vigilant ahead of the May 2 anniversary of the night raid. US helicopters swooped down on bin Laden’s compound in the Pakistani army town of Abbottabad, killing him, one of his sons, two couriers and their wives. The last view for Americans of the mastermind behind the Sept 11 attacks was that of a wizened old man sitting in front of an old television, wrapped in a blanket.

The world may never see photographic proof of his death. US District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington ruled last week that the Obama administration, under the Freedom of Information Act, would not have to turn over images of bin Laden during or after the raid. “Verbal descriptions of the death and burial of Osama Bin Laden will have to suffice,” Boasberg wrote in his ruling on the lawsuit by the public interest group Judicial Watch.

Only a few of the original Al-Qaeda team remain, and most of the new names on the US target lists are relative unknowns, officials say. “The last terror attack was seven years ago in London and they haven’t had any major attacks in the US,” says Peter Bergen, an Al-Qaeda expert who once met bin Laden. “They are recruiting no-hopers and dead-enders.”

Yet Zawahiri is still out there. Though constantly hunted, he has managed to release 13 audio and video messages to followers since bin Laden’s death, a near recordrate of release according to the IntelCenter, a private intelligence firm. He has urged followers to seize on the unrest left by the Arab Spring to build organizations and influence in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere, and back rebels in Syria - a call that US intelligence officials say is being heeded. US attempts to deliver a “knockout punch” to Zawahiri and his followers in Pakistan have been hamstrung by a breakdown in relations with Pakistan’s government over the bin Laden raid. — Agencies

Bahrain hunger striker emerges as...

Continued from Page 1 “released or dead,” sources close to him say. I “don’t know if he’s alive, don’t know if he’s awake, don’t know if he’s in Bahrain... I don’t know anything about him,” his wife Khadija Moussawi told AFP. She said she has not heard from her husband since April 23, two days after he decided to stop drinking water.

Authorities have repeatedly said that Khawaja is in good health. But Moussawi, who met her husband for the first time in London 30 years ago, doubts it. “They say he is in good health, but if that’s true, then why won’t they let me speak to him, why won’t they let me see him?” she asked. Their daughter Zeinab was also arrested on Saturday after taking part in an anti-government sitin. Khawaja’s determination has prompted demonstrators across Bahrain to chant his name and brandish his portraits during protests that have intensified over the past month.

His name also resonates abroad.

The United Nations, Western governments and rights groups have all voiced concerns over the situation of Khawaja, a Shiite with dual Danish and Bahraini nationality. Bahrain by contrast has lashed out at foreign countries and asked them to stay out of its “internal affairs”. The kingdom had also rejected a request by Denmark to receive the activist.

Khawaja’s hunger strike will likely “not have an impact on the Bahraini regime... but it creates awareness internationally”, said Bahraini rights activist Nabil Rajab. “It has brought attention to Bahrain and shows how much the government is repressive,” Rajab told AFP. At the early age of 18, Khawaja was forced into exile over his human rights activities, said Rajab, who has known him since 1997. Khawaja and Rajab, along with a couple other individuals, co-founded the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. From 2008 to 2011, Khawaja served as Front Line Defenders’ Middle East and North Africa Protection Coordinator, according to the Irish NGO’s website.

More than 120 human rights defenders from across the region signed an appeal for his release within days of his arrest. “In his work with us over three years, he demonstrated... how committed he was to protecting human rights,” said Front Line Defenders director Mary Lawlor, who described Khawaja as having a “very gentle manner” and a “sparkle in his eye”.

Today’s verdict might be crucial in determining the course of events in Bahrain, where 35 people were killed in the regime crackdown on protests between mid-February and mid-March 2011, according to an independent probe. The previous verdicts were “void,” said one of the lawyers of the 14 defendants

Mohammed Al-Tajer. “I expect the rulings which were made by a military court to be reversed and the case to be taken to the Criminal Appeals Court.”

King Hamad announced a state of “national safety” ahead of last year’s mid-March crackdown, in which many activists arrested were tried in special courts. It was later lifted and scores of opposition activists and protesters, handed stiff punishments including several death sentences, were tried again by civil courts. Amnesty International says at least 60 people have been killed in connection with protests since February last year.

Separately, a Bahraini minor was held in custody for assaulting a police officer and taking part in a street gathering in a village south of the capital Manama, his lawyers said in a statement yesterday. Sayed Yasin Abduljalil, 13, appeared before a juvenile judge, who ordered his detention until Thursday for “assaulting a police officer... inciting violence” and “gathering” in public areas, said the statement. The boy was arrested on Friday on a street in Hamad Town, where protesters were blocking the roads to prepare for a demonstration. He was taken to a police station where he was “beaten and tortured”, his lawyers said, urging rights groups and foreign embassies in Manama to intervene to secure his release. — AFP

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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

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Issues

Nokia star fading

By Devidutta Tripathy and Tarmo Virki okia phones once took pride of place in Manish Khatri’s Mumbai store, but now models made by Samsung Electronics get the limelight. He has nothing against Nokia, he says, but it’s better for business to push the more popular models. That simple calculation is being made in thousands of stores across India and similar emerging markets, where Nokia’s rivals used to be relative minnows. For 14 years the world’s biggest seller of mobile phones, it was overtaken by Korea’s Samsung in the first quarter of this year, having already watched both Apple and Samsung leapfrog its lead in the lucrative smartphone segment last year. In the popular narrative of Nokia’s eclipse, it is Apple’s iPhone that steals the light, but the company is also losing its shine in the basic phone market, which had been a reliable generator of profits and carried the promise of years of strong growth in emerging markets. No more. Its basic phone sales fell 16 percent in the first three months of 2012, and have fallen in four of the last five quarters, while competitors like China’s ZTE and Huawei have been growing fast. In India, the world’s second-biggest mobile phone market, with more than 900 million subscribers, Nokia’s market share has halved in the three years to 2011, when it sold 31 percent of the total 183 million handsets sold, according to Indian researcher CyberMedia.

Analysts say it has failed to keep up with the changing tastes of the growing middle class, and, in a country where the thin-margin network operators don’t tend to subsidise phones, is losing storeowners like Khatri, who influence buyers’ choices. “For dealers like us, we face a lot of problems from Nokia for getting even the basic (demonstration phone) dummies to show to the customer,” he said. “There is no push from the company.” He said his store, which sells around 500 phones a month, is probably not a priority for Nokia, but Samsung has been sending staff to visit.

In China, the world’s largest cellphone market, operators have started to play a bigger role in selling phones, and that trend is working against Nokia. “They prioritise domestic vendors over international companies,” said analyst Pete Cunningham from Canalys. In January-March its sales there shrank 62 percent from a year ago. Its share of the market had dwindled to 24 percent last year from 39 percent two years earlier, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. In Africa, too, its market share slipped to 51 percent last year from 62 percent two years before.

It’s still ahead of rivals because of its superior distribution on the continent, says Neil Mawston at Strategy Analytics, but it has to act to arrest the decline. “Nokia is drying up like a puddle in the sun and urgently needs new products to refill the puddle,” he said.

In the meantime, it is racking up losses, its shares have lost more than three quarters of their value in a year, and this week two agencies cut its credit rating to junk status.

Nokia says it is continuing to invest to attract customers in these markets. “Our mobile phones portfolio continues to be strong, especially in key markets like India, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico where the Asha products are receiving record high scores from consumers,” said Mary McDowell, EVP Mobile Phones. She said the company would be announcing data plans for the new Asha 202 basic phone model with five operators in India on Monday.

Analysts also say Nokia can be slow to react on popular technology. In emerging markets, for example, multi-SIM models have been a draw for people who want to take advantage of freebies doled out by competing carriers, but Nokia lacked such phones until mid-2011. Another costly gap in its basic phones offering is a full touchscreen model. Around 105 million such phones were sold last year globally, according to Strategy Analytics. “Nokia left the door wide open for Samsung and others by not delivering a full-touch feature phone. The Koreans figured it out three years ago, yet Nokia still does not have a product,” said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight. “In the meantime, prices of Android smartphones have dropped, and Nokia’s window of opportunity is almost closed.” Nokia is due to unveil a full-touch 306 feature phone model in the coming months.

“Nokia’s main challenge this year is to arrest the sharp decline in its flagship smartphone portfolio and use it to rebuild a positive halo-effect for the overall Nokia brand,” said Mawston. The company abandoned its own Symbian smartphone operating system last year in favour of the largely untried Windows Phone alternative after Stephen Elop joined as chief executive from Windows maker Microsoft. Symbian sales have nosedived before the Windows models got off the ground.— Reuters

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

US student loan agreement? Not so fast

By David Espo n the political campaigns still taking shape, President Barack Obama, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and lawmakers of both parties say they want to protect college students from a sharp increase in interest rates on federally subsidized loans. Agree, they might, and act they surely will. But first, they settled effortlessly into a rollicking good political brawl. In less than 72 hours, what might have looked like a relatively simple matter mushroomed into a politically charged veto showdown that touched on the economy and health care, tax cuts and policies affecting women. Campaign commercials to follow, no doubt.

“This is beneath us. This is beneath the dignity of this House and the dignity of the public trust that we enjoy,” protested House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio as the parties maneuvered for position.

Evidently not. “It shouldn’t be a Republican or a Democratic issue. This is an American issue,” Obama said in North Carolina last week as he broached the topic of legislation in a move to gain support students in the fall election. He urged his listeners to

I

tweet their lawmakers and urge them to block an increase in interest rates on federally subsidized loans issued beginning July 1. There was partisan pop behind Obama’s message, though.

Over two days of campaign-style appearances on college campuses, he quoted one unnamed Republican lawmaker as saying she had “very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt because there’s no reason for that.”

Another GOP lawmaker likened student loans to “stage three cancer of socialism,” he said. Both Republicans quickly said they had been quoted out of context.

Within a day, Romney told reporters he agreed on the need to prevent the rate increase, while conceding nothing to Obama in the search for political advantage. “I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students,” he said, and cited “extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market” in a jab at the president’s handling of the economy.

Congressional Democrats announced they would write legislation to prevent a doubling of the current 3.4 percent interest rate, and cover the $6 billion cost by requiring more wealthy individuals to pay

Social Security and Medicare payroll tax.

It was a not-so-subtle reprise of a campaign perennial, the allegation that Republicans want to cut programs benefiting those who aren’t rich to protect tax cuts for those who are.

“Let’s be honest,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “The only reason Democrats have proposed this particular solution to the problem is to get Republicans to oppose it, to make us cast a vote they think will make us look bad to the voters they need to win the next election.”

He then accused Democrats of wanting to pay for the legislation “by raiding Social Security and Medicare, and by making it even harder for small businesses to hire”.

Democrats noted that the Republicanwritten budget included no provisions to block the increase in the interest rate. It was evidence, they added, that if the GOP had its way, the cost of borrowing would double soon.

This, in turn, brought a rebuttal from Boehner, who said at midweek that the Republican-controlled House would vote quickly to prevent the interest rate from rising. “The issue is not a partisan issue,” he

said, echoing Obama on one point. “No one here expected interest rates would go up in the fall.”

Then he, too, put his thumb on the political scales. The Republican bill would cover the $6 billion cost by slicing into a fund to cover preventive health care costs.

That expanded the struggle to include one of the Republicans’ own campaign planks the promise to repeal what they deride as “Obamacare,” and failing that, to dismantle it piece by piece.

Charge gave way to counter-charge having little or nothing to do with student loans. Democrats said the healthcare fund Republicans had targeted was evidence of a “war on women”.

“Give me a break,” protested Boehner on the House floor. Addressing Democrats, he said, “you may have already forgotten that several months ago you voted to cut $4 billion out of this fund to pay for the payroll tax cut.” By then, the White House weighed in with a veto threat, which House Republicans promptly ignored in passing its version of the measure on a near party - line vote of 215-195. With that, Congress, its approval rating mired in the teens, went on a one-week vacation. — AP

Dissident’s case poses test for US, China

By Arshad Mohammed hen Hillary Clinton made her first trip abroad as secretary of state, she baldly said the United States could not let human rights disputes get in the way of work ing with China on global challenges. Now that the blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is under US protection in Beijing, according to a US-based rights group, the United States will find out if China has made the same calculation. Chen’s escape after 19 months of house arrest and apparent request for US protection comes at a vexing time for both countries, with diplomats preparing for annual economic and security talks in Beijing this week, and with China’s Communist Party trying to contain a divisive political scandal involving a former senior official, Bo Xilai.

Assuming it has Chen, it is inconceivable that the United States would turn him over to the Chinese authorities against his wishes, said current and former US officials. That leaves China with a choice - let the broader relationship suffer in a standoff with the United States, or seek a compromise, a scenario analysts, current and former officials saw as probable though by no means certain. “I can’t imagine they will tank the relationship,” said a senior Obama administration official who spoke on condition that he not be identified. “This isn’t the same as a spy plane incident or Tiananmen Square. I do think they will try to manage it.”

In 2001, relations between Beijing and Washington suffered a plunge after a collision between a Chinese fighter jet and US surveillance plane. The Tiananmen Square incident of 1989, when Chinese troops crushed pro-democracy protesters who had made the square their base, brought ties with Washington to an even deeper nadir. As of yesterday, the United States has not publicly confirmed reports that Chen fled from house arrest in his village home in Shandong province into the US embassy. China has also declined direct comment on the dissident’s reported escape from his carefully watched home. But Texas-based ChinaAid said it “learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation that Chen is under

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US protection and high level talks are currently under way between US and Chinese officials regarding Chen’s status”.

The incident will form an unwelcome backdrop for the visit of the US secretaries of state and treasury to Beijing for their Strategic and Economic Dialogue on Thursday and Friday. The repor ts of Chen’s escape also come nearly three months after a Chinese official Wang Lijun fled into the US consulate in Chengdu for over 24 hours, unleashing the Bo Xilai scandal that has rattled the ruling Communist Party months before a once-in-a-decade leadership handover.

ance between such nationalist sentiments and a more pragmatic desire to avoid further disruptions to the Chinese communist party leadership succession this autumn. For now, the scale tips toward a quick, quiet resolution, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing who specialises in US-China ties. “China does not want to allow this case to have a lot of influence because it is not good for its foreign relations or its domestic politics,” said Shi, adding that the countries have too much at stake to cancel this week’s meetings. “I don’t think the United States

A Chinese paramilitary police officer stands guard at the entrance of the US Embassy in Beijing yesterday. — AP Chris Johnson, until earlier this month the CIA’s top China analyst, said Sino-US relations were “almost approaching a perfect storm,” citing the Bo Xilai case, Chen’s apparent escape and reports that the United States is considering selling Taiwan new F-16s in addition to upgrading its existing fleet.

“For the conspiracy-minded in Beijing, and there are plenty of them, they will see these things as completing the circle of a US containment strategy designed to stifle China’s rise,” said Johnson, now a Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst.

How China’s leadership will tr y to resolve the problem hinges on the bal-

will play this card to embarrass China.

They still want to influence China on North Korea and Syria. They want to limit this case’s impact because they know it is already embarrassing for China.”

The US and China have found ways to disentangle knotty problems in the past.

On April 1, 2001, a mid-air collision between a US Navy EP-3 signals intelligence plane and a Chinese fighter about 70 miles off Hainan island k illed a Chinese pilot and forced the US aircraft to make an emergenc y landing on Hainan. The 24 US crew-members were detained until April 11, and released after a the United States wrote a letter saying that it was “very sorry” for the death of

the Chinese pilot and that the EP-3 entered China’s airspace the landed without clearance.

In Feb 2009, Clinton said that while the United States would keep pushing China on Taiwan, Tibet and human rights, “our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises”. Despite the suggestion that human rights might take a back seat, analysts said it was impossible - for reasons of principle and politics - for the United States to sacrifice Chen.

“It’s inconceivable that they would hand him over against his will,” said Tom Malinowski, who worked in US President Bill Clinton’s White House and is now Washington direc tor for the Human Rights Watch advocacy group. “Most people in the administration would recognise that that would be completely wrong,” he said. “I don’t think you even have to get to the politics of it - but if you do get to the politics of it, that is another argument against it.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has already accused Obama of being weak on China, an attack that would only intensify if the Democratic president were seen to abandon Chen.

Analysts and rights activists sketched out two possible scenarios for resolving Chen’s case. Under the first, Chen might be released inside China with guarantees about his own safety as well as that of his family and perhaps those who helped him to escape. Under the second, he would go into exile despite what his associates describe as his reluctance to leave China.

“We would not force him out without being very, very confident that he would not suffer for his actions, and it’s very hard to be confident about that if he remains in China,” said Kenneth Lieber thal, direc tor of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. “You never know what happens here, but the odds are sooner or later he will be escorted to the airport with assurances that he will be able to get on a plane and leave,” he added. “He will not get back into China - probably never - certainly not anytime soon.” — Reuters

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

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Wiesberger secures win SEOUL: Bernd Wiesberger of Austria shot a final round 4-under 68 to secure his maiden European Tour victory with a five-stroke win at the Ballantine’s Championship yesterday.

The 26-year-old Wiesberger made four birdies on his way to claiming the win to become only the third Austrian to win on the European Tour after Markus Brier and Martin Wiegele.

“I played the best three rounds of my life over the last few days.” Wiesberger said. “My game plan was to hit as many greens as possible and give myself birdie putts. “I had bad pace early on today and left a few short, but they dropped in the end.”

Wiesberger finished at 18 under par, five strokes ahead of Richie Ramsay of Scotland, who shot a 65 to equal the course record.—AP

Puma takes slim lead MIAMI: American boat Puma is holding on to a slim lead yesterday as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet heads for Miami on the 4,800-nautical mile sixth leg of the ninestage event.

Captained by 50-year-old Ken Read, Puma is hoping to build on its victory in the difficult fifth leg from New Zealand to Brazil earlier this month. That stage left five of the six-strong fleet needing repairs while the wily Read steered a pristine Puma through to a memorable win. The current leg features calmer and mostly downwind, fast sailing conditions but Read is struggling to shake off overall race leader Telefonica and joint Spanish/New Zealand entry Camper after gaining the early advantage. The

pair was around 14 nautical miles behind early Sunday with about 3,000nm of the leg still to sail.

“I can’t get used to it after leg 5,” said Read, who is taking part in his last Volvo Ocean Race. “No thrashing, bashing, soaking, freezing, boiling, upwind hate mission. Maybe I am dreaming. So I pinch myself and sure enough this is reality. And we are doing all right as well.”

In the overall standings, Telefonica has 149 points and leads Groupama on 133, Camper (124) and fourth-place Puma (117). Abu Dhabi with 56 points and Team Sanya (25) complete the six-boat fleet. The 39,000-nautical mile race is scheduled to finish in the first week of July in Galway, Ireland.—AP

Vikings RB King arrested OAK GROVE: Minnesota Vikings running back Caleb King was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault in the beating of another man outside a birthday party, the Anoka County sheriff’s office said Saturday.

King, who signed with the Vikings as a rookie free agent last year but didn’t play in a game, was jailed but hasn’t been charged.

The victim was a 22-year-old from Coon Rapids.

King is accused of punching him repeatedly and throwing him headfirst to the ground. The man was hospitalized in serious condition with skull and facial fractures, as well as with cuts that required more than 50 stitches to close, Sheriff’s Cmdr. Paul Sommer said. The man “may have a very serious brain injury,” Sommer said.

“I just was made aware of it today and I don’t have any further comment on it right now,” Vikings GM Rick Spielman said. “We’re still collecting and gathering information, but we are aware of the situation.”—AP

Kemp spoils Harper’s debut LOS ANGELES: Matt Kemp homered leading off the 10th inning, spoiling Bryce Harper’s major league debut and lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

Harper hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth before Washington’s bullpen wasted a 3-1 lead in the bottom half.

Kemp drove a 1-2 pitch off Tom Gorzelanny (1-1) to center field for his majors-leading 11th home run, breaking the Dodgers record for long balls in April set by Gary Sheffield in 2000. Kemp tossed his helmet as he galloped from third to home plate, where he was mobbed by teammates. Jamey Wright (1-0) pitched a perfect inning for the win.

Harper, the Nationals’ much-ballyhooed 19year-old outfielder and the first overall pick in the 2010 draft, was 1 for 3 in his four plate appearances.

NEW YORK: Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Drew Smyly throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees.—AP

Tigers top Yankees, Rangers shade Rays NEW YORK: Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in three runs, and Drew Smyly pitched into the seventh inning for his first major league win to help the Detroit Tigers snap a five-game losing streak by beating the New York Yankees 7-5 Saturday.

Andy Dirks hit a three-run homer in the first off Freddy Garcia. Playing Delmon Young’s usual position of left field, Dirks made a pair of nice defensive plays, too, running down balls that looked like extra-base hits off the bat.

Young was placed on the restricted list and will be evaluated under baseball’s employee assistance program. He was arrested early Friday on a hate crime harassment charge following an encounter at his hotel in which police say he yelled anti-Semitic epithets and was intoxicated.

Smyly (1-0) gave up a leadoff single to Alex Rodriguez in the seventh. He allowed two hits and two walks in six-plus innings with seven strikeouts.

Rangers 7, Rays 2 At Arlington, Texas, Colby Lewis allowed one run in six innings and Josh Hamilton had a two-run single as Texas snapped Tampa Bay’s six-game winning streak.

Lewis (3-0) allowed three hits and three walks to improve to 4-0 in his career against the Rays. Tampa Bay’s only scoring off Lewis came on Matt Joyce’s second-inning homer.

Rays starter Jeff Niemann (1-3) gave up three runs and three walks in 5 2-3 innings.

The right-hander has not pitched past the sixth inning in his four starts this season.

Hamilton went 2 for 3 and now leads the AL with 24 RBIs. Adrian Beltre added a threerun home for Texas, which improved to 16-5 and equaled the best 21-game start in club history.

Red Sox 1, White Sox 0 At Chicago, Jon Lester outdueled Jake Peavy, lifting Boston over Chicago for its sixth straight win following a miserable start to the season.

Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single in the fourth as Lester (1-2) picked up his first win.

He snapped a career-worst streak of losing five straight decisions and going eight starts

without a win dating to Sept. 11. He gave up five hits and one walk, striking out seven. The Red Sox evened their record at 10-10.

Peavy (3-1) threw a complete game for a second consecutive start for the first time in his career. He gave up four hits, struck out six and retired the last 12 batters he faced.

Angels 2, Indians 1 At Cleveland, Dan Haren pitched eight strong innings and Albert Pujols’ power drought continued as Los Angeles beat Cleveland.

Torii Hunter hit a solo homer for the Angels, who snapped a five-game losing streak. Pujols went 1 for 4 with his single during a first-inning rally giving the Angels a 1-0 lead off Jeanmar Gomez (1-1). Hunter’s homer in the fourth made it 2-0.

Haren (1-1) made the lead stand up. The right-hander allowed four hits and struck out seven. Jack Hannahan’s two-out RBI single got Cleveland within 2-1 in the fourth. Scott Downs worked a perfect ninth for his first save.

Orioles 10, Athletics 1 At Baltimore, Chen Wei-yin pitched seven strong innings, Chris Davis had four RBIs, and Adam Jones and Robert Andino each had three hits to lead Baltimore over Oakland.

Chen (2-0) allowed six hits and didn’t give up a run until Jonny Gomes’ one-out home run in the sixth. By then, he led 9-0. He struck out four and walked two.

The Orioles scored five runs in the second on a season-high six hits. They’re 13-8 and haven’t been more than five games above .500 since July 20, 2005.

Blue Jays 7, Mariners 0 At Toronto, Brandon Morrow pitched six innings and Edwin Encarnacion hit a grand slam as Toronto beat Seattle to snap a fourgame losing streak.

Morrow (2-1) won his second straight start, allowing five hits with no walks and a season-high nine strikeouts. Encarnacion went 2 for 3 with a double and a sacrifice fly, matching his career-high with five RBIs. Encarnacion hit his fourth career slam and has a team-leading six homers.—AP

Pirates 4, Braves 2 At Atlanta, Alex Presley had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, drove in two runs and also scored to help Pittsburgh beat Atlanta.

Pedro Alvarez added a run-scoring double for the Pirates and Erik Bedard (1-4) gave up only one run in five innings. The left-hander struck out nine while giving up five hits and two walks. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his five starts.

Joel Hanrahan worked a perfect ninth for his fourth save. The Pirates scored a total of two runs with Bedard on the mound in his first four starts.

Cardinals 7, Brewers 3 At St. Louis, Yadier Molina went 4 for 4 with a two-run homer, and Kyle Lohse allowed three

Phillies 5, Cubs 2 At Phildelphia, Carlos Ruiz homered and drove in three runs, and Joe Blanton threw 7 1-3 sharp innings to lead Philadelphia over Chicago.

Jimmy Rollins, in the leadoff spot for the first time this season, added a two-run double for the Phillies, the five-time defending NL East champions who are off to a 10-11 start.

Blanton (2-3) allowed two runs and eight hits, striking out eight. Chad Qualls got the last two outs in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon finished for his seventh save in as many tries.

Marlins 3, D’backs 2 At Miami, Hanley Ramirez hit a run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth inning to end Miami’s losing streak at six with a win over Arizona.

Ramirez’s line drive to left off reliever Brad Ziegler scored Giancarlo Stanton after he reached on a one -out infield single and advanced to second on Emilio Bonifacio’s grounder to first. Ziegler (0-1) intentionally walked Jose Reyes to face Ramirez.

Steve Cishek (2-0) got the win with a perfect ninth for Miami, which got a 14-strikeout performance out of starter Anibal Sanchez. Logan Morrison hit a leadoff homer for Miami in the eighth to tie it 2-2.

Giants 2, Padres 1 At San Francisco, Tim Lincecum pitched eight sharp innings in his longest start of the season and had an infield single with two outs in the sixth for San Francisco’s first baserunner against Anthony Bass in the win over San Diego.

Brandon Belt hit a two-run double off Bass with two outs in the seventh.

Lincecum (2-2) overcame some early control problems and allowed three hits. The former two-time NL Cy Young Award winner struck out five and walked four. Pablo Sandoval went hitless in four at-bats for the Giants, ending his 20game hit streak.

LOS ANGELES: Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper hits an RBI sacrifice fly during the ninth inning of their baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.—AP runs over six innings to run his record to 4-0 as St. Louis beat Milwaukee.

Molina’s home run to left field with one out in the sixth off Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada (0-1) broke a 3-3 tie. Molina has 10 four-hit games in his career, the last coming on May 22, 2011, against Kansas City.

Cardinals third baseman David Freese celebrated his 29th birthday with a solo home run and Jon Jay had three hits, including an RBI single, and a stolen base for the Cardinals. Aramis Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez had solo home runs for the Brewers.

NEW YORK: Rookie Chris Kreider put the Rangers ahead, then set up Brad Richards’ insurance goal 90 seconds later in the third period to lift New York to a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinal series on Saturday.

Kreider, who earlier this month helped Boston College win the NCAA championship, scored his second goal of his NHL career - and these playoffs - and he did it at the perfect time to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead 7:00 into the third. Richards made it a two-goal lead off a feed from Kreider, and gave a two-fisted punch into the glass behind goalie Braden Holtby to celebrate his third goal of the playoffs.

Henrik Lundqvist earned the win, and needed to make only 17 saves to do it. The Rangers mustered just 14 shots on Holtby, but scored on two in a row to put the game away.

ST. Louis 7, Milwaukee 3; LA Angels 2, Cleveland 1; Detroit 7, NY Yankees 5; Toronto 7, Seattle 0; Cincinnati 6, Houston 0; Baltimore 10, Oakland 1; Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 2; Philadelphia 5, Chicago Cubs 2; Miami 3, Arizona 2; Boston 1, Chicago White Sox 0; Texas 7, Tampa Bay 2; NY Mets 7, Colorado 5; San Francisco 2, San Diego 1.

Tampa Bay Baltimore NY Yankees Toronto Boston Cleveland Detroit Chicago W Sox Kansas City Minnesota Texas Oakland Seattle LA Angels

W L PCT 13 8 .619 13 8 .619 11 9 .550 11 10 .524 10 10 .500 Central Division 10 9 .526 11 10 .524 10 11 .476 6 14 .300 5 15 .250 Western Division 16 5 .762 11 11 .500 11 11 .500 7 14 .333

GB 1.5 2 2.5 1 4.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 9

Washington Atlanta NY Mets Philadelphia Miami St. Louis Cincinnati Pittsburgh Milwaukee Houston Chicago Cubs LA Dodgers San Francisco Colorado Arizona San Diego

National League Eastern Division 14 7 .667 13 8 .619 12 9 .571 10 11 .476 8 12 .400 Central Division 14 7 .667 10 11 .476 9 11 .450 9 12 .429 8 13 .381 7 14 .333 Western Division 15 6 .714 11 10 .524 10 10 .500 10 11 .476 7 15 .318

1 2 4 5.5 4 4.5 5 6 7 4 4.5 5 8.5

third consecutive game and drove in four runs to back Johnny Cueto’s solid effort as Cincinnati beat Houston.

Bruce had a two-run double and Brandon Phillips added two hits for the Reds, who improved to 3-2 on a nine-game homestand.

Cueto (3-0) allowed five hits and a walk while hitting a batter and striking out just three over seven innings, but he mad enough quality pitches to keep the Astros in check.

Lucas Harrell (1-2) allowed nine hits and six runs - five earned - with one walk and one strikeout in six innings for Houston.—AP

Kreider lifts Rangers over Capitals

MLB results/standings

American League Eastern Division

Mets 7, Rockies 5 At Denver, Dillon Gee shook off one tough inning in an otherwise strong outing, Lucas Duda homered and singled to drive in four runs, and New York beat Colorado.

Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy and David Wright each added three hits and scored five times collectively, helping the Mets bounce back from Friday night’s sloppy 18-9 loss to Colorado.

Gee (2-2), on his 26th birthday, allowed four runs in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked two, keeping the Rockies in check for most of the night except for a rough patch in the fourth when Colorado scored three of its runs.

Reds 6, Astros 0 At Cincinnati, Jay Bruce homered for the

ST LOUIS: Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick shoves St. Louis Blues left wing David Perron against the goal after Perron collided with him in the first period of Game 1 in a second-round NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoff series.—AP

Kings 3, Blues 1 At St. Louis, Matt Greene scored short-handed late in the second period for the lead and Jonathan Quick was strong in net throughout as Los Angeles beat St. Louis in the opener of a Western Conference semifinal series.

Slava Voynov scored for his first point of the postseason and Dustin Penner added an empty-netter for the Kings, who were 3-0 on the road while taking down the President’s Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks in five games in the first round. Los Angeles is the eighth seed in the conference but won the season series 3-1.

David Backes opened the scoring on a deflection in the first period for the Blues, the No. 2 seed in the West and the top remaining seed in the conference.—AP

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

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Toon, Miller face big challenges in NFL NEW YORK: Nick Toon and Lamar Miller know all about tough tasks.

Their challenges won’t get any easier as they head to the NFL. Toon, the son of former New York Jets standout Al Toon, was selected in the fourth round of Saturday’s draft by the Saints. He can be comforted about going to play with Drew Brees in New Orleans, but Toon recognizes he will be compared to his father - just as he was at Wisconsin.

“My dad was a great football player,” Nick Toon said of Al, who retired prematurely because of concussions. “I don’t think anyone would debate that.

To go to the same school and play the same position, I think is a challenge. At the same time, I think that the expectations of that challenge follow you to anywhere you are playing football.”

That would be the Big Easy, no easy chore if the expectations are he will immediately replace Robert Meachem, who left as a free agent.

“No. 1, I think he has a great pedigree,” interim coach Joe Vitt said. “He’s a polished route-runner, can catch the ball outside the framework of his body and can make the big play.” Just like his dad did with the Jets from 198592.

“He has been a great sounding board for me throughout my career and my entire life,” Nick Toon said. “He has been a great blueprint (for me) as a football player. He is just a good person and a good leader.” Miller stayed home in Miami and had two more years of eligibility with the Hurricanes when he chose to enter the draft. So

who traded up to grab him? The Dolphins.

Miami jumped six slots in a move with San Francisco to get Miller, one of the faster running backs in this crop and also a kick return prospect. It’s difficult enough dealing with being a college player where you grew up. Now he is a pro there.

“I was upset at first,” he said after waiting more than 36 hours to hear his name announced. “But now I’m happy with where I’m at. To be in my hometown, to get a chance to play for a Super Bowl, that’s always a great thing. I’m just ready to put the team on the map.” Miller rushed for 1,272 yards and nine touchdowns last year.

Wide receivers and more trades were trendy on the final day of the draft, which ended when Indianapolis selected North Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnisch as Mr. Irrelevant 252 picks after taking Andrew Luck to open the proceedings.

Hours earlier, Chris Givens was taken by St. Louis to open the fourth round. Givens also can help the Rams in the return game. He had some injury issues at Wake Forest, but had 1,330 yards on 83 receptions in 2011.

“Yesterday was a little frustrating and a little humbling at the same time,” Givens said of not going on Friday. “I really felt like they liked me a lot and I thought they were going to get me and then they got Brian Quick (to begin Round 2), and then I thought OK, well, they’re not going to get me anymore. Then today I was pleasantly surprised.”

Chiefs remain atop Super 15 WELLINGTON: Led by an unlikely tryscoring hero in prop Sona Taumalolo, the Waikato Chiefs beat the Wellington Hurricanes 33-14 for their eighth straight win in rugby’s Super 15 to stay atop the table after 10 rounds.

Taumalolo continued to outshine All Blacks backline stars such as Sonny Bill Williams and Richard Kahui by remaining the Chiefs’ leading tryscorer with seven from nine matches. He scored the second of their three tries on Saturday to extend a Chiefs’ winning streak which stretches back to the first weekend of the season. South Africa’s Stormers beat the Western Force 17-3 to cap a successful road trip, staying atop the South African conference and in second place on the overall table, two points behind the Chiefs.

The ACT Brumbies scored six tries to bank a bonus point from a 34-20 win over the Lions in Johannesburg which kept them at the top of the Australian conference, six points ahead of the defending champion Queensland Reds.

The Reds opened the 10th round with an impressive 23-11 win over the Auckland Blues, posting their first-ever win at Auckland’s Eden Park.

In the final match of the weekend, the Canterbury Crusaders beat the New South Wales Waratahs 37-33 off a late clinching try by center Robbie Fruean, his second of the match.

Three-time champions the Pretoriabased Bulls took four points from their 10th-round bye to remain level with the Stormers on 37 points in the South African conference but in second place on points differential.

The Otago Highlanders rallied from 30-9 down to beat the Cheetahs 36-33 in Bloemfontein for their seventh win from nine games to stay in fifth place overall in a top-six filled out by the Crusaders.

Only five points separate the top five teams. Chiefs fans filled Waikato Stadium on Saturday for the derby clash with the Hurricanes, Waikato’s first home game in four weeks after their unbeaten threematch tour to Australia and South Africa.

Fatigue was expected to be a factor for the Chiefs less than a week after their return from South Africa. Instead, they finished more strongly than the Hurricanes and scored two of their three tries in the last 15 minutes, through Taumalolo and his propping replacement Toby Smith.

Hurricanes captain Conrad Smith said he expected the Chiefs to fade but “if anything they turned it up in the second half.” Taumalolo was again an inspiration

for the Chiefs, who have defied years of underachievement to maintain their place atop the table. Even in recent weeks pundits have expected the Chiefs’ bubble to burst.

Instead, they have become more confident in their game plan and more clinical in their execution. “I’m just glad we could get a win and keep the ball rolling,” captain Craig Clarke said.

The Stormers completed their fourmatch tour to New Zealand and South Africa with their third win, matching the Chiefs’ record of eight wins from nine games.

Springboks winger Bryan Habana scored a disputed first-half try, then flyhalf Peter Grant added the only try of the second half and a wobbly conversion to clinch the win.

Habana intercepted David Harvey’s ambitious pass to score in the 20th minute, running 60 meters before diving under the posts untouched. But replays showed the ball slipped out of Habana’s arms just inches short of the tryline, with the referees not close enough to see the mistake or ask for a video review.

The key to the Stormers’ victory was again their outstanding defense, which remains the best in the 15-team tournament. In winning, the Cape Town-based team also overcame serious injury concerns, including the loss of two captains in two weeks.

“I think we started off a bit slow,” said lock Andries Bekker, who inherited the captaincy from Jean de Villiers and Duane Vermuelen. “We tried to throw the ball around a bit, but that didn’t work in these conditions. So we relied on our defense.” The Reds punished inept defense by the Blues to score two tries in the first six minutes, building a 12-0 lead which was the foundation of their win.

Wallabies winger Digby Ioane marked his 50th Super 15 match and his return from a five-match suspension with a try after 60 seconds and fullback Luke Morahan crossed five minutes later.

Wallabies scrumhalf Will Genia played vital roles on both attack and defense to keep the Reds ahead for the remainder of the match. But news broke on Saturday that Genia will be leaving Queensland next season to join the Western Force.

“I believe Queensland Rugby made the best offer we could to retain Will’s services in Queensland,” Reds chief executive Jim Carmichael said in a statement.

“However, the opportunity presented to head west was ultimately more appealing to Will.” — AP

PRETORIA: New Zealand’s Crusaders Robbie Fruean (left) is tackled by South Africa’s Bulls Johann Sadie during their Super Rugby match at the Loftus Versfeld stadium. —AP

Cleveland, desperate for offensive playmakers, might have added one in Miami Hurricanes receiver Travis Benjamin, and Carolina went for

Saturday and four in Round 4, followed by eight more in the next round. Altogether, 27 trades were made.

NEW YORK: Football fans take part in a promotion at the end of the fifth round of the NFL football draft at Radio City Music Hall. —AP Arkansas wideout Joe Adams, all in the first nine selections Saturday.

There were eight wide receivers chosen in the round, including Toon.

Another three wide outs were chosen in the fifth round, four in the sixth and five in the seventh for a total of 33.

San Francisco received Miami’s pick in the fourth round and two sixthrounders, one this year and one in 2013, in the Miller deal. After 18 trades on the first two days of the draft, there were three in the first few minutes

Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins, projected by many to go late in the first round or early in the second, lasted until No. 102, when the Redskins took him. Of course, Washington selected Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III second overall to be its franchise quarterback..

“I was trying to forecast which teams would be looking at a quarterback and I didn’t see the Redskins thinking along those lines, but coach Shanahan’s words to me were that he couldn’t pass me up,” Cousins said.

Another Robert Griffin from Baylor was selected - a tackle who went to the Jets at No, 203.He calls himself RG2 and Big Griff.

“He is like a brother,” Griffin said of the quarterback . “We have the same name, but didn’t treat each other any differently. It was an everyday thing, but I was the one putting my hand in the dirt and he was the one putting his hand on the ball and throwing the rock. I felt I had to do a little extra just for him because we have the same name.”

Linebacker Nigel Bradham became the first Florida State player chosen, going No. 105 overall to Buffalo.

College powers Texas and Florida waited until deep in the fourth round to have someone selected: Gators defensive tackle Jaye Howard to Seattle at No. 114, and Longhorns linebacker Keenan Robinson at No. 119 to Washington. Houston, which was ranked 18th to finish the season, had no players selected.

Tight end, generally considered a weak spot in this year’s crop - only three were taken through the first two days - became popular in the fourth round, with five going. But only one was drafted in the fifth. Randy Bullock of Texas A&M was the first placekicker taken, at No. 161 overall by Houston.

The All-American kicker, Bullock won the Lou Groza award, connecting on 25 of 29 field-goal attempts in 2011.

Players undrafted include record-setting quarterbacks Kellen Moore of Boise State and Case Keenum of Houston. —AP

Hunter-Reay clocks fastest on wet track SAO PAULO: Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest on a wet track in the last practice before late yesterday’s Sao Paulo 300, which will likely be affected by rain for the third straight year.

Hunter-Reay set the pace in the morning warmup as drivers struggled to stay on track in wet conditions on the streets of South America’s biggest city. Pole winner Will Power was third and Dario Franchitti, starting second, was 14th.

Rain has affected the Sao Paulo race every year since it joined the IndyCar calendar in 2010. It was put back to Monday last season, and the inaugural race was red flagged and finished at the two-hour limit after resuming. Despite forecasts of rain all day Sunday, organizers expected that changes made to improve the track ’s drainage system would work and that the race would take place.

IndyCar officials and race promoters considered starting the race a half hour ahead of the scheduled time to avoid more rain in the afternoon. However, the race has now been moved up only a few minutes.

The star t time had already been moved up in advance because of the afternoon thunderstorms common in Sao Paulo this time of the year. Ineffective drainage systems in the past made driving under heavy rain

nearly impossible at the 2.5-mile, 11 turn temporary Anhembi circuit. IndyCar also announced Sunday that Justin Wilson had his qualifying times voided because his car failed technical inspec-

tion, forcing him to start from the back of the 26-driver field. Wilson had qualified sixth.

IndyCar said all cars “must run either the cameras or dummy equipment” supplied by organiz-

ers, which didn’t happen on Wilson’s car. Four drivers received a 10-spot grid penalty for changing engines - Takuma Sato, Katherine Legge, Oriol Servia and Sebastien Bourdais. —AP

BRAZIL: IndyCar driver JR Hildebrand of the US drives his car during a practice session at the IndyCar’s Sao Paulo 300 track in Sao Paulo. —AP

Pienaar guides Ulster to Heineken Cup final DUBLIN: The unerring boot of South African scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar took Ulster into their first Heineken Cup final since 1999 with a 22-19 win over Edinburgh at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Pienaar kicked five penalties and a conversion, including the game’s opening score from the halfway line in blustery conditions, while compatriot Pedrie Wannenburg barged over the line for a try in the first half.

Edinbur gh flyhalf Greig Laidlaw’s four penalties and a last-gasp Jim Thompson converted try kept the scores close.

After 45 minutes the Scots had trailed by just a point.

However, 1999 champions Ulster dominated the possession and they were able to rely on the brilliance of Pienaar, whose astute tactical kicking and all-round performance with 17 points helped keep Edinburgh at bay.

“A lot of guts and character were showed out there, I’m glad we got the win,” the South African, whose team were reduced to 14 men in the first half after Stefan Terblanche was yellow carded, told Sky Sports.

Ireland hooker Rory Best said Ulster owed a great deal to the hordes of supporters in the stadium and that the players shared their delight after many years of trying to reach European rugby’s showpiece final again.

“The Ulster fans were like a 16th man to us. I’m delighted to be in the final, but credit to Edinburgh - they put it up to us and the game was in the balance right to the last minute,” said Best. “The support we have all had has been absolutely fantastic. Right from the start of the day when we left the hotel, got on the bus, arrived at the ground and all through the day.

“There is a group of us - Nigel Brady, Stephen Ferris, Declan Fitzpatrick, Paddy Wallace and Andrew Trimble - that have come through a lot of dark days and stuck around to try to get to an occasion like this.” Ulster’s opponents in the May 19 final at Twickenham will be decided on Sunday when French side Clermont Auvergne, in their first ever semi-final, meet holders and twice champions Leinster. —Reuters

UK puts missiles on London rooftop to guard Olympics LONDON: Britain’s military has told residents of an upscale apartment development near the Olympic Park in east London it is installing a missile battery on top of a tower within their housing complex to defend the 2012 Games this summer.

The site is one of a number around the capital the army is considering as bases for surface-to-air missiles to protect the London games from an aerial attack, the Ministry of Defence said.

It is the first time such missiles have been deployed in London since the end of World War Two, shocking some residents at the Bow Quarter housing development, sited in a converted red-brick Victorian match factory. “There was no consultation, no one knocked on the door,” Brian Whelan, a 28-year-old journalist, told Reuters. “You just wake up one morning, there’s a leaflet telling you they are going to put missiles on the roof.”

The measure was excessive and had upset his girlfriend, he said. “I can’t imagine the circumstances that

would require you to fire missiles over a highly populated area.”

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond first announced the plans in November, saying Britain would follow the precedent set by previous Olympics such as the Beijing games in 2008 where surface to air missiles were stationed a kilometre south of its showpiece stadiums.

The defence ministry said in a leaflet sent to occupants on Saturday it had chosen the former water tower in the Bow Quarter complex because it offered “an excellent view of the surrounding area and the entire sky above the Olympic Park.”

The tower was in fact “the only suitable site in this area for the HVM (High Velocity Missile) system,” it added.

The rooftop missile battery is one of a number of extraordinary measures Londoners can expect during the high-profile sporting festival, including restrictions on road lanes for Olympic use and a security bill of more than a billion pounds ($1.6 billion). —Reuters

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

S P ORT S

Dawson defeats Hopkins for light heavyweight title

CHICAGO: Bulls point guard Derrick Rose loses control of the ball as he slips against Philadelphia 76ers’ Elton Brand (42) and Evan Turner during Game 1 in a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. — AP

Bulls charge past 76ers CHICAGO: Derrick Rose will miss the rest of the NBA season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee late in Chicago’s 103-91 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Saturday’s playoff opener, casting a big cloud over a team eyeing a championship run.

He scored 23 points and was playing more like the league’s reigning MVP after missing 27 games because of injuries during the regular season, but his injury-plagued season came to an end as the Bulls were wrapping up an impressive victory.

Elton Brand led Philadelphia with 19 points. Jrue Holiday scored 16, and Thaddeus Young had 13 points. Game 2 is Tuesday in Chicago.

Heat 100, Knicks 67 At Miami, LeBron James scored 32 points before getting the fourth quarter off, Dwyane Wade added 19 and the Heat rode the strength of a 32-2 run to easily beat the Knicks in Game 1 of the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round series on Saturday.

Mario Chalmers added 11 points and nine assists for Miami, which turned 27 New York turnovers into a franchise playoff-record 38 points.

J.R. Smith scored 17 for the Knicks, who lost Iman Shumpert to a torn knee ligament and have dropped 11 straight playoff games dating back to 2001. Carmelo Anthony missed 12 of 15 shots and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Baron Davis added 10 points for New York. Game 2 is today in Miami.

Thunder 99, Mavericks 98 At Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant scored 25 points and hit the gamewinning jumper from the foul line with 1.5 seconds left to lift Oklahoma City Thunder over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Durant maneuvered to the free throw line and got off a high-arcing shot over Shawn Marion that hit off the front of the rim and then off the backboard before falling through.

The defending NBA champion Mavericks, who were out of timeouts, could not get a shot off before the buzzer. Dirk Nowitzki scored 11 of his 25 points in the final 5 minutes and hit two free throws with 9 seconds left to put Dallas ahead. Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 28 points.

Magic 81, Pacers 77 At Indianapolis, Jason Richardson and Jameer Nelson scored 17 points apiece to help sixth-seeded Orlando, playing without Dwight Howard, surprise the third-seeded Pacers in Game 1 of the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Howard, the Magic’s leading scorer and the league’s top rebounder, will miss the rest of the season after having back surgery. The Magic played defense Howard would have been proud of down the stretch, overcoming a seven-point deficit by holding the Pacers scoreless for the final 4:05.

David West scored 19 points, Danny Granger added 17 and Roy Hibbert had eight points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks for the Pacers. Granger traveled with 7.5 seconds left and the Pacers trailing by three. Game 2 is today in Indianapolis. — AP

ATLANTIC CITY: Chad Dawson defeated Bernard Hopkins by a 12-round majority decision Saturday night to win the WBC light heavyweight title.

The 29-year-old Dawson (31-1, 17 KOs) never let a deep cut near his left eye affect his methodical approach at taking out Hopkins.

At 47, Hopkins (52-6-2) may have fought his last fight, though it seems impossible to count him out for another run at the belt. This rematch was no classic, but it was an improvement on their first bout in October in Los Angeles.

Dawson had his TKO victory over Hopkins overturned and the decision was ruled a no-contest and the belt returned to the Philadelphia fighter. Dawson lifted Hopkins and tossed him to the canvas in that one. This time, Dawson was the victim of at least one accidental head-butt that busted open a cut near his left eye.

He kept his composure and cranked up the pressure in the later rounds. No fighter has ever knocked out Hopkins and Dawson never came close.

He didn’t have to lay him out to win this one.

Dawson held the belt high over his head and slung it over his shoulder in celebration.

“My head is hurting from all the head-butts,” Dawson said. “I’ve got to give him a lot of credit. He’s a future Hall of Famer, he’s a hell of a fighter. But he’s a dirty fighter. But if you can get through 12 rounds with him, you can get through anything.”

Hopkins will likely return to Philadelphia and consider his options. Hopkins held his own against the younger, more talented fighter, but was never a serious threat to retain.

While Dawson’s face was battered and bloodied, Hopkins’ mug wasn’t much more than swollen.

He stood on the ring apron after the bout and barked at the crowd, “Look at my face!”

Dawson could have told him to look at the scorecard. Two judges scored it 117-111 and a third scored it 114-114.

Dawson vowed to finish Hopkins and earn the win and championship he felt he was wrongly denied after Los Angeles. “I did what I came to do,” Bad Chad said. “I got my belt back.”

ATLANTIC CITY: Bernard Hopkins (left) hits Chad Dawson with a punch in the 11th round of their light heavyweight boxing match. Dawson won a majority decision. — AP Hopkins had forged a reputation of running his mouth as much as winning title bouts, but fell silent for this fight until the week leading up to the bout.

Even then, he bypassed the traditional trash talking and refused to explain much about his future fighting plans.

That didn’t change after the fight. He was visibly angry when the decision was announced and quickly headed toward the locker room.

“What did he do to win that fight?” Hopkins said.

“The only way I knew I would win is if I knocked him out. Let the public judge for themselves.”

Knowing he needed a knockout to win, Hopkins

gamely tried attacking Dawson early in the 11th. The two of them tussled and crashed to the canvas, making the crowd of more than 7,000 howl at the sight.

Hopkins nailed Dawson with an accidental head-butt on his way up in the folurth round and sliced open a cut near the challenger’s left eye. Blood trickled down Dawson’s face and ran into his eye the remainder of the round.

Later in the round, Dawson appeared to try and lift Hopkins again, the same tactic that marred the first fight. Hopkins couldn’t capitalize and do additional damage to Dawson’s eye - at least not serious enough to ever consider stopping the fight.— AP

Stacy surges ahead in Mobile Bay Classic MOBILE: Stacy Lewis birdied five of the last seven holes for her second straight 5-under 67 and a twostroke lead over friend Brittany Lincicome on Saturday after the third round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. Lewis, the Kraft Nabisco Championship winner last year, had a 14-under 202 total.

The long-hitting Lincicome, a two-time winner last season, also shot a 67. “It’s going to be very exciting,” said Lincicome, the 2010 runner-up. “It’s fun to play with a friend because it kind of relaxes you a little. So going into it, we’ll still be chit-chatting like we always do and just play as if it were just a practice round on Tuesday and not hopefully be overly stressed ... and just go out there and have a good time.”

Lewis had two bogeys on the front nine to fall behind Lincicome before making a late charge for the second straight day. The former Arkansas star had four birdies on the final six holes Friday, though she also closed with a bogey.

Her third-round run started with a fairway bunker shot to 8 feet on No. 12. “Something clicked,” she said.

“Everything just seemed to slow down. My caddie told me I just seemed to relax more. I just had a lot of fun coming in.” Now, she gets a chance “just to kind of prove to people that the major meant something.”

Lewis said she didn’t check the leaderboard after the 13th hole, when she was still two strokes behind Lincicome. “You kind of get in a zone where shots are good and they’re going where you want them to go and the putts go in,” she said.

Lincicome stayed in her zone by playing Sudoku during waits on the course, “just to take my mind off playing golf.” Sun Young Yoo’s caddie, Adam Woodward, helped her finish a puzzle she started in Hawaii at the last tournament.

Karine Icher was third at 11 under after a 68. Yoo, the Kraft Nabisco winner this month, and Lindsey Wright shot 69 to reach 10 under. Icher, seeking her first LPGA Tour win, followed a birdie by holing a wedge shot for eagle on No. 13.

“It gave me good energy, and it was just after a birdie, so it was a nice couple of holes,” said Icher,

MOBILE: Brittany Lincicome tees off on the 18th green during the third round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic golf tournament. —AP whose daughter, Lola, was born in August.

Six players, including 17-year-old Lexi Thompson, Hall of Famer Karrie Webb and Natalie Gulbis, were 9 under on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Magnolia Grove complex.

Webb shot a 64 to match the tournament record, Thompson had a 66, and Gulbis a 68. Thompson teed off at No. 10 and bogeyed on her second hole. She birdied three of the next five and capped the round with four birdies on the final seven holes, including the par-3 eighth. She shared the lead going into the finale last year, but closed with a 78 to finish 19th.

Thompson built a much better memory in the state a few months later when her victory at the Navistar Classic at another RTJ course made her the LPGA Tour’s youngest winner. “The way I played last year

will help me out with this year,” she said. “Just go out and just free swing and take everything really slow, do my routine on every shot and just focus on that.”

Thompson is hoping her success this week draws attention to another endeavor: Her “Take me to the prom?” contest on Facebook for young men serving in the US military.

Her date in Fort Lauderdale will be chosen partly by online voting (25 percent) and mostly by lady’s choice (75 percent). She’s already practicing her diplomatic letdown for the ones who don’t make the cut. “ There’s not really a leaderboard,” said Thompson, who had 60 candidates when her round ended. “Everybody that signs in or is entered is a great person and very special, so nobody’s ahead of anybody.” — AP

Dufner stretches lead

FRANCE: The pack rides during the 66th Tour de Romandie UCI ProTour cycling race. —AP

Wiggins underlines Tour credentials in Romandie SWITZERLAND: British cycling star Bradley Wiggins reinforced his standing as one of the key contenders for this year’s Tour de France with success in the Tour de Romandie yesterday.

The Team Sky star, winner already this year of the Paris-Nice stage race, was lying second overall, nine seconds behind Luis Leon Sanchez, going into the fifth and final stage. And he overhauled that deficit when lifting the 16.2 kilometre race against-the-clock around Crans-Montana in

a time of 28min 56sec. American Andrew Talansky came in second with Australia’s Richie Porte in third.

But it was not all plain sailing for Wiggins, who took fourth in the 2009 Tour de France, as his bike’s chain slipped during the stage. “It was a dramatic time trial with a bit of ever ything and even a mechanical incident,” the Londoner said. He added: “I’m very pleased with the way I handled the problem because a few years ago I would have thrown my bike in the

ditch in anger.”

Talansky also came in second in the overall standings 12sec adrift with Portugual’s Rui Costa third at 0.36s.

Overnight leader Sanchez slipped to 10th overall after trailing in over one minute behind Wiggins in the time trial. The week in Romandie was profitable for Wiggins’ team which won three of the five stages.

Cadel Evans, who won last season’s Tour de France, finished 40th in the time trial for an overall placing of 29th. — AFP

AVONDALE: American Jason Dufner birdied two of the last four holes to take a two-shot lead in Saturday’s third round of the New Orleans Classic in Avondale, Louisiana and close in on a maiden PGA Tour victory.

A stroke in front of the chasing pack overnight, journeyman Dufner broke clear of a three-way logjam late in the day as he birdied the 15th and last holes to card a five-underpar 67.

“A pretty nice round again,” the laid-back 35-year-old told reporters. “I got off to a really nice start there with three birdies in the first five holes, and that’s kind of nice on this course.

“I was pretty solid, never was really in too much trouble. I hit a lot of fairways, a lot of balls in play and lot of greens or just off the greens.”

Dufner came close to eagling the par-five 18th for the second day in a row after hitting an exquisite second shot to 12 feet but his first putt pulled up an inch short of the cup.

The tap-in birdie gave him a 17-under total of 199 at the TPC Louisiana with Canadian Graham DeLaet alone in second after carding a seven-birdie 66.

South African Ernie Els, a three-times major winner, birdied three of the last six holes for a 68 to lie three strokes off the pace with American John Rollins (69).

Dufner, who twice lost out in playoffs on the PGA Tour last season, mixed four birdies with a lone bogey to reach the turn in threeunder 33.

Though he was briefly caught at the top by DeLaet and Rollins, he broke clear with his birdie at the par-four 15th where his approach

ended up just two feet from the pin.

Playing with his customary unflappable demeanour, Dufner safely parred the short 17th before tightening his grip on the tournament with another birdie at the last hole.

“Right now a win would be great,” said the American, who has been a runner-up three times on the PGA Tour. “I’ve been knocking on the door with a lot of solid rounds, a lot of solid play last year at the end of the year.”

Asked whether he would be able to control his emotions in Sunday’s final round, Dufner replied: “I think I do a pretty good job with that.

“Obviously you’re going to have some thoughts about winning tournaments when you’re in a position like this, what your expectations might be, how you’re going to respond tomorrow when you step on that first tee.

“The toughest part for me is that warm-up session and leading into maybe the first hole or the first tee shot. But for me, usually when the day is over, I’m done with it.”

British world number two Luke Donald, who had battled to an opening 73, was delighted to finish the round five strokes off the lead having followed Friday’s 65 with a seven-birdie 66.

“It was just a solid round,” the Englishman said. “I had kind of a slow start on Thursday but 13 under for the last 36 holes is very pleasing and I’m playing a lot better. I’m back here in the mix a little bit.” Masters champion Bubba Watson, who clinched last year’s New Orleans Classic in a playoff, initially struggled with fatigue this week but regained form with a 65 on Saturday to end the day eight shots off the pace. — Reuters

18

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

S P ORT S

Stoner wins Spanish MotoGP JEREZ: Australia’s defending world champion Casey Stoner won the Spanish MotoGP here yesterday for his first win in the race and said it was the greatest race he had ever ridden.

The Honda rider beat home Spain’s 2010 world champion Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha while

Valentino Rossi in 2001 to win the first two races - retains his lead in the overall standings after winning the race opener in Qatar where Stoner finished third.

Stoner, though, was ecstatic at his victory on a track which he has said he hates and where he had only previously finished on

lead I felt my arm start to pump (he has been suffering from an arm injury) and I thought, oh no! “ Thankfully when I saw the two laps to go marker more blood seemed to flow through my arm and I felt a lot better and strong enough to hold on.”

Lorenzo said he had desper-

JEREZ, Spain: 2011 MotoGP World Champion rider Casey Stoner holds his trophy on the podium after winning the Spanish Moto GP Grand Prix at the Jerez racetrack. —AP another Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was third on a Honda in his 100th race.

English rider Cal Crutchlow just failed to edge out Pedrosa for third and recorded his second successive fourth place. Lorenzo who was left frustrated in his bid to become the first rider since

the podium once.

“That is the greatest race I’ve ever done,” said the 26-year-old, who extended his run of 17 successive podium finishes. “I had a poor start and the conditions were dodgy at first but the bike was working fantastic.

“However, having taken the

ately wanted to deliver victory to his home fans. “Sadly I was not strong enough today and Casey rode a remarkable race,” he said.

Pedrosa took the lead on the first corner ahead of Lorenzo while Crutchlow overtook Hayden but the Englishman fell back to fifth by the end of the lap.

Stoner produced a wonderful manoeuvre with 25 laps remaining and overtook Pedrosa and Lorenzo to take the lead.

Stoner and Lorenzo had opened up a bit of a gap on thirdplaced American Nicky Hayden with 22 laps to go, while Pedrosa was struggling to make an impact back in fifth and finding it difficult to pass Andrea Dovizioso.

Two laps later, though, down the straight Pedrosa at last found the speed to move smoothly past both Dovizioso and Hayden to go third but the Spaniard was almost three seconds adrift of Lorenzo.

Lorenzo gradually put the pressure on Stoner and with eight laps remaining the Spaniard was right on the shoulder of the Australian, only to make an error on a corner with six laps to go.

Pedrosa also was starting to cut into the gap with the front two while Crutchlow was impressing in fourth and setting fastest laps at will as he tried to get onto the podium.

However, Stoner fought off Lorenzo’s challenge by posting the fastest time on the penultimate lap while Pedrosa’s charge petered out as he focussed instead on holding off Crutchlow.

“I was a little careful in the beginning,” said Pedrosa, who had never in his six previous races here finished outside the top two.

“I never really found my rhythm and by the time I had passed ‘Dovi’ (Dovizioso) and Nicky (Hayden) the front two were too far ahead.”

Earlier Spanish rider Pol Espargaro had won a rain-shortened Moto2 Grand Prix, while 16year-old Italian Romano Fenati won the Moto3 race. The next races are in Portugal next weekend. —AFP

Leeds survive Salford scare in Challenge Cup LONDON: Former Brisbane full-back Phil Veivers lamented how his Salford City Reds missed out on causing a Challenge Cup upset as they allowed Leeds to book a place in the quarterfinals with a 16-10 win yesterday.

Leeds, beaten finalists in the last two seasons, were in danger of an early exit as Salford went into a 10-6 lead. But Salford lost ex-St George Illawarra Dragon Chris Nero to an elbow injury early in the second half and Leeds, the World Club Challenge champions, fought back to take their place in the last eight, much to the anger of Veivers.

“We got ourselves in a winning position at 106 but then we stopped playing and lost our goforward,” Salford coach Veivers said.

“Leeds had a lot of opportunities in the first half but we scrambled well. This was a match we could have won but it wasn’t to be.”

Meanwhile, it might not have been pretty but Tony Smith was just relieved to see his Warrington Wolves in the hat for the next round

after seeing off Bradford 32-16 on Saturday.

Australian winger Joel Monaghan was the star of the show as his hat-trick kept the 2010 Challenge Cup winners in the hunt to regain the trophy.

And despite admitting his Wolves put in a far from vintage performance, coach Smith said the result against tough opposition was all that mattered.

“In the Challenge Cup sometimes you can win ugly and get through,” said Smith,” the Australianborn former Great Britain coach.

“Bradford are a good team. They play field position very well, they kick and chase very well and they’re a good defensive team.

“You have to work hard and have some patience against them.” But while Smith was shying away from his side’s performance, Catalan Dragons coach Trent Robinson shone the spotlight on ex-Newcastle Knight half-back Scott Dureau as he converted 10 tries and collected the man-of-the-match award in a 68-6 victory over

Sheffield Eagles.

“Scott looked good, he took on the line and made things happen, it was a nice day for him to attack the ruck,” former Sydney Roosters assistant Robinson said.

“The guys were in pretty good shape and mentally we went into the game pretty focused on performing at home, respecting the cup and also continuing on our style of play.”

Elsewhere, former North Queensland Cowboys hooker David Faiumu scored one and made one as Huddersfield put Swinton to the sword 52-0. Australian half-back Craig Gower had a 34th birthday to remember as he led the London Broncos to a 22-16 win over Bately and a first away win in 12 months.

Sunday saw Leigh squeeze into the quarterfinals with a 19-18 extra time victory over Halifax while holders Wigan and arch-rivals St Helens defeated Featherstone and Oldham respectively on Friday, with the Saints thrashing Oldham 76-0. —AFP

NEW DELHI: Delhi Daredevils batsman Virender Sehwag plays a shot during their Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match against Rajasthan Royals. —AP

Daredevils win last ball thriller in IPL NEW DELHI: Seamers Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav bowled a superb final two overs and guided Delhi Daredevils to a thrilling one -run victor y over Rajasthan Royals while Mumbai Indians defeated bottom-placed Deccan Chargers by five wickets in a low-scoring match in the Indian Premier League yesterday.

Ajinkya Rahana smashed an unbeaten 84 off 63 balls but with two runs needed off the last ball he missed Yadav’s delivery as Owais Shah was run out and Rajasthan ended up at 151-3.

Morkel brought Daredevils back into the hunt when Royals needed 15 off the last 12 balls. He conceded only three runs in the 19th over and also got rid of dangerman Brad Hodge.

Daredevils made 152-6 with captain Virender Sehwag scoring his fourth successive half century before being dismissed for 63 off 39 balls.

Rahana sliced Yadav over point boundary for a six in the last over and brought down the target to two off the last ball before missing the last delivery.

Royals captain Rahul Dravid (40) and Rahana had all but sealed the game when they put on 99 runs for the opening stand in 70 balls. Hodge also made a quick 22 off 18 deliveries before Morkel, who is now the leading wicket-taker in IPL with 18, bowled a pin-point accurate over.

Earlier, Daredevils lost their way after Sehwag was brilliantly held in the deep

by Ashok Menaria before Yogesh Nagar (27) and Irfan Pathan collected 20 runs in seamer Amit Singh’s last over of the innings that lifted the home team’s score.

Daredevils are on top with 14 points after winning seven of their nine matches. Royals are in fifth place with eight points after winning four and losing five matches.

In Mumbai, Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga chipped in with 4-16 to bowl out Chargers for 100 in 18.4 overs. Shikhar Dhawan top scored for Chargers with 29 and South African JP Duminy remained unbeaten on 25 as Malinga brought the innings to close with the last three wickets in five deliveries.

Mumbai had some anxious moments in a tricky run-chase when South African Richard Levi was bowled by his fellow countryman Dale Steyn off the very first ball. Steyn bowled at a good pace to grab 2-10 off his four overs, but Rohit Sharma made 42 and Ambati Rayudu scored an unbeaten 19 to see the home team through to 101-5 in 18.1 overs.

The victory lifted Mumbai to third in the table with 10 points from five wins and four losses, while Chargers have only three points after eight games.

Scores: Delhi Daredevils 152-6 in 20 overs (Virender Sehwag 63, Yogesh Nagar 27, Ross Taylor 25; Pankaj Singh 2-25, Amit Singh 2-41) def. Rajasthan Royals 151-3 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahana 84 not out, Rahul Dravid 40, Brad Hodge 22; Morne Morkel 1-26, Irfan Pathan 1-27).

Mumbai Indians 101-5 in 18.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 42, Ambati Rayudu 19 not out; Dale Steyn 2-10) def. Deccan Chargers 100 in 18.4 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 29, JP Duminy 25 not out; Lasith Malinga 4-16, Harbhajan Singh 213, James Franklin 2-18). —AP

Boubyan Bank clinch first KBC League title

Boubyan Bank’s team recieves the Championship Shield.

KUWAIT: Boubyan Bank overcame the odds to win its first KBC League title after defeating regular season champions Gulf Bank in the finals held on Friday at the Sabah AlSalem Stadium at Al-Arabi Sports Club.

The victory came with a goal scored by the tournament’s top scorer, Abdul-Aziz Saree’a, during the first half, followed by a strong per formance through which

The champions celebrate their victory.

Boubyan Bank maintained the 1-0 score until the final whistle, en route to winning their first title in the history of the championship that is organized by the Kuwait Banks Club.

Boubyan Bank had finished second behind Gulf Bank during the regular season, and the two teams advanced to the finals after wins against National Bank of Kuwait

Abdul-Aziz Al-Saree’a recieves the top scorer’s award.

and Kuwait Finance House respectively in the semifinals.

After the match, the Boubyan Bank team were crowned champions, while members of the Gulf Bank team were awarded with silver medals, and NBK team members received bronze medals after defeating KFH in a match held earlier to determine the third place.

Anas Mohammad recieves the best player’s award.

The ceremony also awarded the tournaments’ scorer Saree’a who finished with 16 goals, as well as best player, Anas Mohammad of Gulf Bank, and best goalkeeper, Younus Mohammad of Boubyan Bank.

Top KBC officials attended the match, including Secretary General Dr Hamad AlHasawi, Chairman of the Board Ahmad

Sultan, Vice Chairman Mahmoud Bastaki, as well as senior officials from Gulf Bank including Managing Director of the Board of Directors’ Affairs, Fawzi Al-Thunaiyan, and Boubyan Bank including General Manager of the Human Resources Department Adel AlHammad.

A raffle draw was held for the crowd in attendance during halftime.

Yousuf Al-Mohammad recieves the top goalkeeper’s award.

19

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

SPORTS

Barca rout Rayo to keep Real waiting

BARCELONA: Spanish Rafael Nadal (right) celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Barcelona Open tennis tournament against compatriot David Ferrer yesterday. — AFP

Nadal wins Barcelona Open BARCELONA: Rafael Nadal confirmed his status as king of clay yesterday when the Spanish powerhouse won his seventh Barcelona Open title with a high-quality 7-6 (7/1), 7-5 defeat of David Ferrer.

World number two Nadal went from one history-making weekend to another after claiming an unprecedented eighth straight title a week ago in Monte Carlo where he beat world number one Novak Djokovic.

Seven days later, he took nearly three hours to add to his records in Barcelona as he held off compatriot Ferrer. Nadal and his friend were playing their fourth final at the Real Club de Tenis, with Nadal winning all of them dating back to 2008.

He now stands as the only man to win two different events at least seven times each. “This was my hardest match since the start of the clay season,” said the winner. “David always takes you to the limit.

“I was lucky when I saved break points. The odds were on my side. In the second set David played very close, but I had the luck at the end.

I’m so happy and I feel sorry for him. I’m starting to feel my game well on the clay.”

Nadal’s victory was his 34th in a row at Barcelona and improved his finals record on clay to 34-4. His only clay finals losses have come

against Djokovic and Roger Federer, each beating him twice. The Barcelona triumph in front of 8,000 fans came exactly 10 years to the day that a 15-year-old Nadal made his debut on the ATP Tour in his native Mallorca.

Yesterday’s final was the 10th between Spaniards at the tournament in the Open era, the sixth featuring Nadal and the fourth in five years between Nadal and Ferrer.

Spaniards have won the home title for the past 10 years since 2003. “Rafa is Rafa and he is very good,” Ferrer said in defeat. “I’ve lost four times to him in this final. but I’ve always lost to one of the greats. He is a very good player and even better as a person.”

The marathon final looked never-ending after a first set lasting 93 minutes with Nadal saving five set points in the 12th game before the tiebreaker which he dominated.

Ferrer, 30, refused to roll over, with the third seed coming from 1-3 down as he broke Nadal in the fifth game and then did it again for 5-4 as Nadal produced a double-fault.

But Nadal was not done, with the top seed breaking back for 5-5, producing a love game for 6-5 and breaking again to end the dramatic contest a game later on the first of three match points. Nadal now stands 14-4 over Ferrer after winning the 48th trophy of his career. — AFP

Sharapova bags Stuttgart title STUTTGART: Maria Sharapova earned her first WTA title of the year yesterday’ as she blasted her way past world number one Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the Stuttgart claycourt tournament.

This was the 25-year-old Sharapova’s 25th title of her career, but her first in 2012 having lost three finals. It was also revenge for both this year’s Australian Open and Indian Wells defeats at the hands of Azarenka and having also been runner-up at the Miami tournament.

Her victory in 84 minutes comes with both a winner’s cheque of 115,000 dollars and a new Porsche sports car. Azarenka needed treatment on her right wrist after the first set and did not look as sharp as she had done throughout the week, but rallied in the second to push Sharapova.

“I am just happy to win, it’s a good tournament with very good players,” said world number two Sharapova. “It’s a shame she was injured and couldn’t play her normal game. I am just happy to have won the tournament.

“I came to Europe a bit earlier than normal before the French Open and was just going to use this tournament as a warm-up, but it works

for me.”

Sharapova demolished her 22-year-old opponent in the first set, needing exactly 30 minutes having raced into a 3-0 lead.

In a competitive encounter, the world’s top two players even barged into one another during a change over. The Belarusian world number one raised her game in the second set, but Sharapova got the break she needed to make it 4-3 and then served out to win the tournament on her debut in Stuttgart.

“Congratulations to Maria, she’s had a good week here,” said Azarenka, whose next claycourt tournament will be Madrid, which starts May 5.

“I had a problem with my wrist and it was bothering me, but it’s been bothering me all week. There is not much to say about it, I just got off court and will see what I can do to get it right before Madrid.

“I couldn’t really perform, but I am not going to sit here and look for excuses. The world won’t stop turning, there will be another tournament.

“It’s still been a good week and I won’t be thinking about it too much, there is no point looking back. I have to say Maria served well and she was on her game.” — AFP

Preview

United, City braced for ‘derby of all derbies’ MANCHESTER: The defining plot twist of the most enthralling title race in years could be written today as Manchester City attempt to seize control of their Premier League destiny against leaders Manchester United.

Three weeks ago, United already had one hand on a record 20th title after City’s defeat at Arsenal left Sir Alex Ferguson’s team a hefty eight points clear with only six games remaining.

But a poor run of results from United, which has seen them take only four points from a possible nine, has suddenly given City the chance to put themselves back on pole position as the finish line looms into view.

An estimated worldwide television audience of more than 650 million is expected to tune in for a match that is being hyped as the biggest in Premier League history.

“This is the derby game of all derby games,” Ferguson said. “It’s in the blood of the supporters and I know lots of fans who would give everything to win this game,” the United manager added.

City midfielder Gareth Barry also emphasised the unique nature of the top-of-the-table duel.

“People are speaking of this as being the biggest game in Premier League history and it’s a massive game to play in,” Barry said. “I don’t think you can get away from the size of the game against United and the pressure.”

The equation for City is simple: a victory on Monday would see them return to the top of the table.

Wins at Newcastle and at home to Queens Park Rangers would then guarantee City the title, provided United are unable to make up their rivals’ significant advantage in goal difference, which currently stands at plus six.

City manager Roberto Mancini has attempted to douse the expectation level by stating that United will remain favourites for the title even if they lose, citing the champions’ final two matches against Swansea and Sunderland.

“I think they have more chance than us because we play the derby on Monday, after we play against Newcastle, that will be a very tough game,” Mancini said. “Instead United play Swansea and Sunderland. For them, they will be two easy games.”

Ferguson meanwhile is relishing the challenge from opponents he views as the biggest threat to United’s position at the summit of the English game owing to the club’s seemingly limitless wealth.

United have already demonstrated that they have the know-how to get a result at a ground where City have dropped just two points all season, winning January’s FA Cup third round tie 3-2.

Yet Ferguson must be concerned by the sudden frailty of a United defence that was punctured repeatedly by Everton last weekend in a 4-4 draw.

City, who humiliated United 6-1 at Old Trafford in October, have rattled in 12 goals in their past three games, and their nimble strikeforce of Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez will fancy their chances of adding to that haul if Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans have another offday.

Of all the storylines to emerge from this year’s Premier League page-turner, it is the reemergence of Tevez that is potentially the most compelling.

Ostracised by Mancini after his infamous refusal to warm-up during the Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich in September, the former United striker then disappeared to Argentina for three months of unauthorised leave.

Mancini, who had previously said Tevez would never play for the club again, has been forced to reverse his stance during the run-in, particularly after ill-discipline saw Mario Balotelli sidelined for three games.

Tevez has responded to his recall by delivering goals, adding an injection of verve to a City forward line that had been struggling to reproduce their scintillating early season form.

Tevez, who is expected to seek a move this summer, will be putting his talents on show to a mammoth worldwide audience on Monday, with a record 16 broadcasters airing the match live. “The interest in this game from around the world is unprecedented,” a City spokesman said. — AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

English Premier League Man City v Man United Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5

22:00

MADRID: Barcelona kept Real Madrid’s La Liga title celebrations on hold at least for a few days with a crushing 7-0 victory at Rayo Vallecano yesterday after Real had cruised to a 3-0 home win over Sevilla.

Two days after coach Pep Guardiola announced his decision to step down at the end of the season, World Player of the Year Lionel Messi scored two goals and had a hand in four more including two for Pedro.

Barca were playing at Rayo’s compact stadium just a short distance away from Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid where everything was in place for the mass festivities expected when Jose Mourinho’s side win a first league title in four years.

Real maintained their seven-point lead with three games left after Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 43rd league goal of the campaign and Karim Benzema bagged a double to crush Sevilla.

Mourinho’s side have 91 points and can secure their 32nd league title with victory at Europa League finalists Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday, regardless of what Guardiola’s side do at home to Malaga.

“We won this game which was very important and now we’ll carry on so we can close out the league title,” Benzema said in an interview with Spanish television.

“The Champions League is finished so now we need to make sure we win the next most important competition,” added the France international.

Big-spending Malaga strengthened their chances of a first venture into the Champions League next season when a cross looped in off Ignacio Camacho’s shoulder for a 1-0 home win over Valencia.

The visitors, dumped out of the Europa League on Thursday, had midfielder Sofiane Feghouli sent off in the 61st minute, and Manuel Pellegrini’s side drew level with them on 55 points.

Valencia stayed third, ahead of Malaga due to their superior head-to-head record, in the last two qualification slots for Europe’s elite club competition.

Elsewhere, Radamel Falcao grabbed a late equaliser for Europa League finalists Atletico Madrid to draw 2-2 at Real Betis.

Diego Simeone’s side were sixth with 49 points, one ahead of next month’s final rivals Bilbao in seventh who lost 2-0 at struggling Real Zaragoza.

Ronaldo’s 19th-minute opener at the Bernabeu, scene of Real’s dramatic penalty shootout defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, was his 57th in all competitions.

Benzema made it 3-0 with goals in the 48th and 52nd minutes as Sevilla were swatted aside. The Andalusians are ninth on 46 points and in danger of missing out on a lucrative place in Europe next season.

Benzema’s brace took his league tally for the campaign to 20 and with strike partner Gonzalo Higuain on 21 it is the first time three players from one club have scored 20 or more goals in a La Liga season. Their combined total of 84 is 30 more than

MADRID: Barcelona’s midfielder Sergio Busquets (left) vies for the ball with Rayo Vallecano’s midfielder Miguel Perez Cuesta during the Spanish League football match. — AFP third-placed Valencia’s total.

Barca were quickly back into their stride after their shock Champions League defeat by Chelsea, making the most of the spaces left by attack-minded Rayo.

Pedro crossed low for Messi to score and the Argentine won the ball to start the counter for the second. A cross from Alexis Sanchez was turned into

his own net by home defender Rober and Messi laid on the third for Seydou Keita after a mazy run before halftime.

Messi’s shot came back off the bar for Pedro to volley the fourth and Thiago Alcantara headed a fifth.

Messi chipped over the top for Pedro’s second and the Argentine fired in the last himself, his 43rd league goal of the season and 65th overall — Reuters

Spanish League results/standings Real Madrid 3 (Ronaldo 19, Benzema 48, 52) Sevilla 0; Real Zaragoza 2 (Edu 28, Apono 51) Athletic Bilbao 0; Malaga 1 (Camacho 27) Valencia 0; Real Betis 2 (Pozuelo 86, Pereira Rodriguez 88) Atletico Madrid 2 (Koke 62, Falcao 90+3); Rayo Vallecano 0 Barcelona 7 (Messi 16, 90, Correa Silva 26-og, Keita 38, Pedro 47, 87, Thiago 77) Spanish league table after yesterday’s early evening match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Real Madrid Barcelona Valencia Malaga Levante Atletico Bilbao Osasuna Sevilla Mallorca

35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35

29 26 15 16 15 13 12 11 12 12

4 6 10 7 7 10 12 15 10 10

2 112 3 104 10 54 12 51 13 51 12 49 11 49 9 39 13 41 13 39

30 26 43 47 48 44 46 55 42 42

91 84 55 55 52 49 48 48 46 46

Espanyol Getafe Sociedad Real Betis Vallecano Granada Villarreal Gijon Zaragoza Racing

35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35

12 9 14 44 49 45 12 9 14 39 48 45 11 10 14 44 50 43 12 7 16 42 51 43 12 4 19 50 67 40 11 6 18 32 52 39 8 14 13 36 49 38 9 7 19 38 64 34 9 7 19 31 60 34 4 14 17 24 56 -26 — relegated

Goal feast takes Juve closer to title ROME: Juventus remained on course for their first Serie A crown in nine seasons after crushing relegation-threatened Novara 4-0 yesterday as AC Milan stayed three points adrift with a 4-1 win at Siena.

A brace from Mirko Vucinic and goals from Marco Borriello and Arturo Vidal helped unbeaten Juventus record their eighth success in a row to reach 77 points with three matches left.

The Bianconeri, who have a better head-tohead record against Milan, could clinch the title as early as Wednesday should they defeat Lecce and Milan lose to Atalanta.

Despite the heavy defeat Novara, eight points adrift of safety, were not condemned to Serie B after third-from-bottom Lecce were beaten 2-1 at home by improving Parma.

Coach Antonio Conte admitted Juve could only lose the scudetto now. “Three days ago Novara beat Lazio so we knew it wouldn’t be easy but we got the early goal and we kept our concentration right until the end,” he told Italy’s Sky Sports.

“We are getting closer and we are the masters of our own destiny. The squad has gone from strength to strength, driven by a great desire for success... Wednesday will be the game of our lives.”

At Novara, Borriello, in the starting lineup after scoring the winner at Cesena in midweek, almost gave Juve a second-minute advantage with a left-foot shot that flew just the wrong side of the far post.

But with the away side piling forward the lead arrived soon after when another former Roma striker, Vucinic, cleverly steered home Andrea Pirlo’s 16th-minute free kick.

Stephan Lichtsteiner, Emanuele Giaccherini and Pirlo, with a fierce strike from 30 metres, then all went close as Juve threatened to kill off the game within the opening half hour.

However, the Bianconeri finally doubled their lead five minutes before the break when an unmarked Borriello headed home Giaccherini’s inviting centre.

Chilean midfielder Vidal made sure of the points five minutes after the restart, stroking the ball home after goalkeeper Alberto Santana had halted Vucinic’s charge, before the livewire Vucinic struck his second of the afternoon on 64 minutes.

Milan kept pace with Juve after frontmen Antonio Cassano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck in three first half minutes to defeat Siena.

Cassano swept home on 26 minutes after home goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic could only parry an Ibrahimovic strike before the Swede struck with a left-foot blast to double the lead on 29 minutes after being played in by his Italian strike partner.

Substitute Erjon Bogdani pulled a goal back for the home side with seven minutes to play but Antonio Nocerino made the game safe for Milan with a last-minute strike with Ibrahimovic plundering his 26th Serie A goal of the campaign in stoppage time.

Cassano’s goal was his first since returning

ROME: Juventus’ midfielder Claudio Marchisio (right) vies for the ball with Novara’s midfielder Filippo Porcari during the Italian Serie A football match. — AFP from heart surgery. The 29-year-old international, who underwent surgery on November 14, last found the net against Palermo on October 15.

“It’s been a very good championship,” said Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri. “We will try to push until the end but if they finish ahead of us then they deserve to win.

“We don’t want to be finish many points behind Juventus. In two years we’ve won a league and a Super Cup and been competitive in the Champions League.

He added: “Cassano deserves the day that he’s had. You can’t dispute his talent and he’s proved that his physical condition is getting better. I’m sure he’ll have a fine European Championships.”

Inter Milan moved level on 55 points with

Napoli and Lazio in the battle for the third Champions League spot after coming from behind to defeat relegated Cesena 2-1.

Luca Ceccarelli gave the visitors a surprise 57th-minute lead before Nigerian midfielder Joel Obi equalised two minutes later with substitute Mauro Zarate grabbing a 72nd-minute winner for the Nerazzurri. Lazio travel to sixthplaced Udinese in late yesterday’s match.

In Bergamo, an 11th-minute strike from Argentine German Denis — his 16th goal of the season — and a second-half effort from Giacomo Bonaventura saw Atalanta defeat Fiorentina 2-0 to climb to ninth.

Earlier struggling Genoa remained a point clear of the relegation zone following a 3-2 defeat at Bologna, extending their winless streak to 14 matches. — AFP

Italian Serie A results/standings Bologna 3 (Portanova 24, Ramirez 37, Garics 67) Genoa 2 (Palacio 59, Jorquera 77); Atalanta 2 (Denis 11, Bonaventura 51) Fiorentina 0; Inter Milan 2 (Obi 58, Zarate 72) Cesena 1 (Ceccarelli 56); Siena 1 (Bogdani 83) AC Milan 4 (Cassano 26, Ibrahimovic 29, 90+4, Nocerino 90); Novara 0 Juventus 4 (Vucinic 16, 64, Borriello 40, Vidal 50); Lecce 1 (Tomovic 83) Parma 2 (Giovinco 67, Paletta 78).

Playing later Udinese v Lazio Italian league table ahead of yesterday’s evening match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Juventus AC Milan Napoli Lazio Inter Milan Udinese Roma Catania Parma Atalanta

35 35 35 34 35 34 35 35 35 35

21 14 22 8 14 13 16 7 16 7 14 10 15 6 11 14 12 11 13 13

0 5 8 11 12 10 14 10 12 9

62 68 62 50 52 45 55 45 48 40

18 28 43 43 47 35 50 47 52 36

77 74 55 55 55 52 51 47 47 46

Bologna Chievo Siena Palermo Cagliari Fiorentina Genoa Lecce Novara Cesena

35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35

11 12 11 11 11 10 11 9 10 12 10 11 9 9 8 11 6 10 4 10

12 13 14 15 13 14 17 16 19 21

38 30 43 48 36 34 46 39 29 22

42 41 40 54 42 41 66 53 61 53

45 44 43 42 42 41 36 35 28 22

Sharapova bags Stuttgart title

Dawson defeats Hopkins for light heavyweight title

19

17

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

United, City braced for ‘derby of all derbies’

Page 19

LONDON: Chelsea’s Fernando Torres celebrates his third goal scored against Queens Park Rangers during their English Premier League soccer match at the Stamford Bridge Stadium. —AP

Torres treble helps Chelsea rout QPR Chelsea 6

QPR 1

LONDON: Fernando Torres hit his first Chelsea hat-trick as the Blues stepped up their bid for a top four finish with a 6-1 demolition of west London rivals QPR yesterday.

Torres has endured a mostly miserable 15 months since his British record £50 million move from Liverpool, but the Spanish striker looks revitalised after his crucial late goal in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final triumph against Barcelona. He was far too hot for QPR’s statuesque defenders to handle and scored twice in the first half and once after the break to seal his first treble since September 2009, when he scored three for Liverpool against Hull.

Early strikes from Daniel Sturridge and John Terry had set the tone as the

Blues destroyed QPR with four goals in the first 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge and Florent Malouda completed their biggest Premier League win of the season.

With the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday and the Champions League final against Bayern Munich next month, Chelsea are eyeing a glorious end to a difficult season.

In contrast, QPR, who netted late on through Djibril Cisse, are above the relegation zone only on goal difference and face a nervous finale as they try to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.

The match had started without the traditional pre -match handshake, which was scrapped to avoid affecting Terry’s upcoming trial over charges of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

But Sturridge, one of six changes made by interim boss Rober to Di Matteo, quickly got the focus back on football. Just 45 seconds after kick off, Sturridge opened the scoring with a ferocious strike from the left edge of

the penalty area that flashed past Paddy Kenny at his near post.

Confidence was clearly surging through Chelsea after the epic win at the Camp Nou and Frank Lampard went close to increasing the lead when his delicate chip forced Kenny to tip over.

That was only a temporary escape for QPR as Terry got the second goal from the resulting corner, the Chelsea captain out-muscling Clint Hill to reach Juan Mata’s corner and direct a downwards header past Kenny from closerange.

There was a real menace about Chelsea every time they came forward and Torres, preferred up front to Didier Drogba, reprised his decisive effort against Barca to effectively kill off QPR in the 19th minute. Salomon Kalou played an exquisite pass from the right flank towards Torres, who made a perfectly timed run into the penalty area before rounding Kenny and slotting home from a tight angle. While it was Chelsea’s defensive resilience that earned the plaudits in Barcelona, this

Hodgson gets vacant England job approach LONDON: Roy Hodgson was thrust into the limelight for the vacant England manager’s post when the Football Association confirmed yesterday they had made an official approach to speak to the West Bromwich Albion boss.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has long been regarded as favorite for a role left open when Fabio Capello resigned in February in protest at the FA’s decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy.

But in a stunning development, the FA turned to Hodgson, who has a wealth of international experience having coached the likes of Switzerland and Finland.

FA chairman David Bernstein, thanking West Brom counterpart Jeremy Peace, said: “I’m grateful to Jeremy and all at West Bromwich Albion for their co-operation in allowing us to approach Roy, who I have since spoken with.

“Roy is the only manager we have approached and we remain on course to make an appointment within the timescale we set-out soon after Fabio Capello’s departure. Further conversations will now take place with Roy and my Club England colleagues before any further announcements can be made.” The 64-year-old Hodgson, whose current Albion deal ends on June 30, has, unusually for an English manager, had spells with several overseas clubs, including Italian giants Inter Milan.

He took over at West Brom in 2011 after a brief and unsuccessful time in charge of Liverpool and the Midlands club are currently a respectable 10th place in the Premier League.

“Roy has done a fantastic job over the past 15 months and the fact the FA want to discuss the England role with him is testament to that,” Peace told West Brom’s website. “Roy is a proud Englishman and we can understand why he wants to speak to the FA about this highly-prestigious managerial position. “However, we have emphasised to Roy how much we would like him to remain as our head coach and continue his major contribution to our project at the Hawthorns as we look to establish ourselves as a Premier League club. “Everyone here has an excellent working relationship with him and he is immensely popular with our supporters.” It may be the FA felt able to speak to Hodgson at this time as the Baggies’ season is effectively ‘over’, whereas they might have been accused of disrupting Tottenham, currently fourth and battling for a Champions League place, were they seen to speak to Redknapp before the end of the campaign.

And the fact Hodgson is shortly out of contract means the FA would not have to get involved in any expensive compensation deals, whereas prising Redknapp away from White Hart Lane could prove extremely costly. Redknapp has never managed outside of England whereas Hodgson, who has also been in charge of Blackburn and Fulham, started his coaching career in Sweden. England are currently under the caretaker charge of Stuart Pearce, the former England defender who is also the manager of the national Under21 side and coach of the British Olympic team. —AFP

was a chance for their forwards to take the spotlight against opponents who looked totally out of their depth in the face of such incisive attacking. vThe fourth goal arrived in the 25th minute when Nedum Onuoha’s panicked attempt to head a Lampard pass back toward Kenny surprised the QPR goalkeeper, who had raced off his line in an attempt to deal with the danger.

As the ball slipped out of Kenny’s grasp, Torres was able to pick his spot and slide his 10th goal of the season into the empty net. After such a craven capitulation in the first half, QPR were happy to opt for damage limitation after the break.

But Torres was able to complete his treble with a cool finish from Mata’s pass in the 64th minute, prompting Blues owner Roman Abramovich to exchange delighted high fives with friends in his executive box. French midfielder Malouda came off the bench to sweep home Chelsea’s sixth goal in the 80th minute before Cisse got one back for QPR with a hooked finish four minutes later. — AFP

EPL results/standings Chelsea 6 (Sturridge 1, Terry 13, Torres 19, 25, 64, Malouda 80) QPR 1(Cisse 84); Tottenham 2 (Van der Vaart 22, Walker 75) Blackburn 0.

Playing today: Manchester City v Manchester United.

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Man Utd Man City Arsenal Tottenham Newcastle Chelsea Everton Liverpool Fulham West Brom Sunderland Swansea Norwich Stoke Aston Villa Wigan QPR Bolton Blackburn Wolves

35 35 36 35 35 35 35 35 35 36 36 36 36 35 36 36 36 35 36 36

26 25 20 18 18 17 14 13 12 13 11 11 11 11 7 9 9 10 8 5

5 5 6 8 8 10 9 10 10 7 12 11 10 10 16 10 7 4 7 9

4 5 10 9 9 8 12 12 13 16 13 14 15 14 13 17 20 21 21 22

86 87 68 59 53 62 46 43 45 41 44 43 47 33 36 38 40 41 47 38

32 27 44 39 46 39 38 37 48 47 43 49 63 49 50 60 63 69 75 79

83 80 66 62 62 61 51 49 46 46 45 44 43 43 37 37 34 34 31 24 (relegated)

Walker winner spurs on Spurs Champions bid Tottenham 2

Blackburn 0

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Rafael Van der Vaart (left) competes with Blackburn Rovers’ Morten Gamst Pedersen during their English Premier League soccer match. —AP

LONDON: Kyle Walker’s stunning freekick sealed a 2-0 win for Tottenham Hotspur over relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers as they returned to the top four of the Premier League at White Hart Lane here yesterday.

Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with his 10th goal of the season before Walker made sure of victory-Spurs’ first since the beginning of April-with 15 minutes remaining.

Victory was crucial for Tottenham’s hopes of finishing in a Champions League qualifying place and kept Blackburn second from bottom, three points shy of safety with just two games left.

Fourth place would secure Tottenham a preliminary qualifying spot in next season’s Champions League, provided Chelsea do not win this term’s final against Bayern Munich on May 19.

Tottenham return to fourth place by virtue of better goal difference than Newcastle while Chelsea — 6-1 winners over Queens Park Rangers earlier yesterday — are a point behind them.

Spurs, who started the game having won just once in their last nine

games, made four changes from last week’s loss to QPR, with Danny Rose and Aaron Lennon coming in for the injured Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Scott Parker.

Defender Ledley King was rested and Jermain Defoe dropped to the bench, which meant a return for Younes Kaboul and Emmanuel Adebayor. Blackburn, who headed into the game needing a win by more than three goals to overtake fourthfrom-bottom QPR, were unchanged from last week’s victory over Norwich City.

But Rovers manager Steve Kean was clearly mindful of Tottenham’s attacking prowess with his line-up, as he deployed a five-man backline including Gael Givet, Bradley Orr and Scott Dann in the centre of defence.

And he was right to be wary.

Lennon should have put Tottenham in front in the second minute of the match, but he could only shoot into the side-netting from two yards out after good work from Luka Modric.

Then, in the ninth minute, Sandro launched a spectacular overhead kick from 25 yards out which rebounded off the crossbar.

But Spurs’ pressure told in the 22nd minute. Gareth Bale headed Lennon’s cross against the bar and van der Vaart pounced on the rebound to tuck the ball home from three yards.

Dann was adamant he had got to the ball in time to clear the Netherlands international’s shot off the line, but replays showed the goal was valid. —AFP

Chinese tastes impact global auto designs Page 22

Storm clouds gather over Indian economy Page 23 MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

Spaniards take to streets to protest economic cuts

Page 25

BMW i provides sustainable mobility solutions Page 26

Islamic finance standards reviewed DUBAI: Islamic finance may face its biggest shake-up in years as a top standard-setting body seeks to reform the way the industry does business, including the role of highly paid scholars in enforcing religious principles. Khaled Al-Fakih, the new secretary-general of the Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial I nstitutions (AAOIFI), outlined plans for a sweeping review of its guidelines in an interview with Reuters.

Some of AAOIFI’s reforms may prove controversial by challenging entrenched interests in the fast-growing business. Islamic financial assets hit $1.3 trillion globally last year, a 150 percent rise in the past five years as the industry expanded beyond core markets in the Middle East and Malaysia, financial lobby group TheCityUK estimates.

“We would like to see insightful debate...that can help us develop standards that can benefit the industr y,” Fakih said by email from Bahrain, ahead of AAOIFI’s annual meeting there on May 7 and 8. His organisation plans to start consultations on reforming the operations of sharia boards, the groups of Islamic scholars which rule on whether financial institutions’ activities and products are religiously acceptable, by the middle of this year. A final draft of the reforms is not expected to be ready before the end of next year at the earliest.

AAOIFI will also work on a new framework for disclosing financial data, and will look at revising standards for takaful (Islamic insurance), investment accounts and other products. Fakih, a Lebanese-born commercial banker who took over at AAOIFI in February, said basic elements of Islamic finance such as murabaha, mudaraba and ijara - struc tures designed to permit investment while obeying religious bans on paying interest and pure monetary speculation - would be reviewed next year.

Controversy For many in the industry, AAOIFI’s review cannot come too soon. Although far smaller than conventional banking, which has tens of trillions of dollars of assets, Islamic finance has grown much more quickly in the last few years, so its flaws could start to affect banking systems and economies. Much of its growth has occurred because it can count on the support of large pools of sharia-compliant funds in the booming Gulf and southeast Asia, which have not pulled back during the global financial crisis as Western funds have.

Last year’s Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East promise a fresh wave of growth; new, Islamist-led governments want to promote the industry after their authoritarian predecessors discouraged it for ideological reasons. But the growth has exposed weaknesses in Islamic finance. One is the lack of a clear consensus on what products and procedures are permissible; the sharia boards of individual banks and investment firms can issue conflicting rulings.

This can create big controversies. When Goldman Sachs announced last October that it planned a $2 billion sukuk issue, which would make it one of the first top Western banks to raise money in that way, its own sharia advisors approved the plan. But some other scholars criticised it; six months later, the sukuk has not been issued and it is not clear when it might be.

The sharia board system is open to accusations of conflict of interest because scholars are paid handsomely - in some cases, with hourly fees of $1,000 or more - by the very firms whose behaviour they are supervising. The ambiguity in regulation has let some Islamic financial institutions, such as Kuwait ’s Investment Dar, argue in court that contracts into which they had entered were not valid because they were not sharia-compliant in the first place.

AAOIFI plans to improve the operations of sharia boards by strengthening the certification process for scholars, Fakih said. The organisation currently offers scholars two professional credentials, but they have been criticised as not sufficiently rigorous and too easy to obtain. In addition, AAOIFI is developing new guidance on the relationship between Islamic financial firms and their sharia boards, “similar to international best practices on terms of reference for financial institutions’ board of directors”.

One way to reduce conflicts of interest might be to limit the length of scholars’ tenure at individual firms, to prevent them from forming excessively close relationships with their employers that might compromise their objectivity. However, Fakih did not mention this idea. Current AAOIFI standards acknowledge “engagement over a prolonged period of time may pose a threat to independence”, but do not prescribe specific limits. AAOIFI will also look at ways of fostering the rise of a new, younger generation of Islamic scholars, through steps such as training courses, Fakih said. This could remove a bottleneck to growth in the industry by loosening the dominance of about two dozen veteran scholars who have practiced for decades and hold multiple board positions.

Resistance It is not yet clear whether reformers in AAOIFI will be able to push through changes over the potential opposition of many veteran scholars and financiers who profit from the status quo. Yasser Dalhawi, chief executive of Syariah Review Bureau, an Islamic finance advisory firm in Saudi Arabia, said change would be difficult. But he added that many people in the wider industry would support change as a way of ensuring growth and bringing Islamic finance closer to its religious principles.

A survey of customers’ attitudes to sharia boards, conducted a few years ago by a Gulf financial firm, found widespread dissatisfac tion which was expressed in some cases with expletives, one promi-

nent scholar told Reuters, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. To balance opposition to change within AAOIFI, Fakih seems to want to involve the widest possible range of industry interests in the debate; he called for “rigorous and meaningful discussions...not only among scholars but also with all participants of Islamic finance.” His plans to release a series of draft proposals for public consultation mark a change from AAOIFI’s past style,

which relied more on decisions made behind closed doors.

Enforcement In its review, AAOIFI is also expected to discuss strengthening enforcement of its standards across the globe. They are not backed by any legal sanction, so national financial regulators decide whether to enforce them. Currently only a small number of coun-

tries, including Bahrain and Qatar, have adopted AAOIFI standards wholesale; others use them as references without making them compulsory. “Unless you have a global rule, it is not really going to work as it creates arbitrage opportunities,” said Murat Unal, board member at Funds@Work, a German-based consultancy. He added that in some cases, scholars had avoided strict local regulation by offering their services in countries with looser standards.— Reuters

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

BUSINESS Performance indicators show return to profitable growth

Chinese tastes impact global auto designs

CBK chairman holds AGM

Highly visible chrome fittings appeal to consumers BEIJING: As more and more Chinese buy cars, automakers say consumer tastes in the Asian nation have a growing influence on vehicle design the world over. China emerged as the world’s top car market in 2009, and though the sector stalled last year, with sales rising just 2.5 percent to 18.51 million, carmakers are convinced it is where the industry’s future lies.

Manufacturers at this week’s Auto China 2012 exhibition in Beijing said they have started to include features that appeal to the Chinese consumer-from large grills and highly visible chrome fittings to luxury back seats for the inlaws.

“We want to have more China elements in our design for global cars,” said Shen Li, spokeswoman for Nissan China. “The designers find inspiration in traditional paper cutting, or in Tang (dynasty) paintings representing opulent women. Every model in the future has to have a good potential in China.” The car penetration rate in China is still relatively low compared to more mature markets in North America or Europe, but last year, even with the sales slowdown, more cars were sold in the Asian nation than in the United States.

Until recently, foreign car manufacturers adapted existing models sold in Europe or North America to the Chinese market. But with the rise of China and its global footprint, the trend is the other way round. “In the future as China grows, we will increasingly need to take into account the weight of the Chinese market,” said Frederic Banzet, director at Citroen. “We will work from a design with Chinese characteristics and adapt it to other markets,” he said.

To this end, PSA Peugeot Citroen set up a design studio in Shanghai in 2008 aiming to understand the Chinese market and launch tar-

geted products to increase its market share. The studio now counts some 650 employees, and the company plans to increase the headcount to 1,000.

Volkswagen Group has also invested heavily in two design studios-one in Shanghai and

brands including Audi and Lamborghini.

Volkswagen’s new Passat was designed and launched in China last year, and hit the roads in North America a few months later. Simon Loasby, director of design for Volkswagen in China, said designs from China had a growing

BEIJING: This photo shows a Nissan concept car at the China Auto 2012 car show. — AFP another in the northeastern city of Changchun.

“The chrome finishings, the interior wood work...

We are delivering the whole package to the United States,” said Walter de Silva, head of design for the group, which owns a total of 11

influence on Volkswagen cars globally, while many Chinese designers were also working on projects in Germany. “It is amazing how much of what is started here can fertilise the rest of the world,” he said. — AFP

Wealth of Britain’s richest hits record high

Gulf Arab Petroleum engineers should work abroad for skills

By James McCallum

T

he development of local talent for the petroleum industr y in hydrocarbon-rich nations should include a requirement for experience in foreign countries. The energy industry is a cool place to work. At least that is what the generation that came into the industry in the 1970s and the early 1980s thought. Of course, that was before Yahoo, Google, Facebook and six-figure Wall Street bonuses started to compete for the very best of aspiring graduate brains.

Our hair is a little shorter and a little greyer, but that enthusiasm for the exciting pioneering work of the energy industr y still runs through the veins of my generation. We have an obligation to use the last decade before our retirement to communicate that drama to a new generation and ensure we leave the business well supplied with talent and ideas for the future.

Time is short, especially when you bear in mind that the historical source of petroleum engineers

has been the West. Since the 1970s, 40 colleges in the United States, the world’s largest energy consumer, offered degrees in petroleum engineering. Today, there are fewer than 20. The development of local national talent in countries rich in energy resources across the world, especially in the Middle East, is one of the key ways for the global industry to mitigate the pending talent crisis.

Qatarisation, Emiratisation and Saudisation are becoming familiar terms as resource-rich countries set national quotas for international partners to employ locals. It is a vital tool to ensure that resource holders reduce their dependence on foreign talent and have the skills domestically to manage and develop their vast hydrocarbon resources through the 21st centur y. These initiatives guarantee career paths for Arab nationals to enter and progress through their countries’ respective energy industries, but I would recommend that these nationalisation programmes include a requirement for the young Gulf Arab petroleum engineers and geoscientists to work

abroad to garner vital experience.

Otherwise we will not drive forward the kind of indigenous technological development and skills that we need to see emerge in the Middle East to manage the third generation of resource extraction in what many refer to as post-easy oil. In Qatar, the nationalisation programme is, by decree, designed to increase to 50 percent by 2015 the Qatari proportion of the energy-sector workforce.

This presents a great challenge, given the increasing career options that are open to young nationals in a diversified economy that is seeing consistent doubledigit growth, and given the limited number of appropriately qualified graduates leaving the region’s academic institutions. It is true that you can develop talent within a closed environment of a degree course and then spin that talent out to work in a particular national industry. What emerges in the end, however, is a narrow experience profile. And so, as we get into the world of enhanced reservoir production in the Gulf, much of the experience to handle that will still

“The bank’s profit before provisions KUWAIT: Ali Yousef Al-Awadhi, Chairman of CBK addressed the shareholders during was KD 101.2 million, and after provisions the Annual General Meeting in Kuwait yes- against the loan and investment portfoterday. He said “On behalf of the Board of lios, the net profit attributable to shareDirectors, I have the pleasure to welcome holders of the parent bank was KD 0.810 you to the bank’s 54th Annual General million with earnings per share of 0.6 fils.

Meeting where we will review our bank’s Total assets were KD 3.7 billion and total financial performance over the past year”. shareholder funds were KD 530.5 million The following is his address to the share- at the end of 2011. The bank also has a strong capital base with a capital holders: adequacy ratio of 18.58 percent, “The planned strategy, to be a which comfortably exceeds the leading retail bank in Kuwait and minimum 12 percent requireto be the best bank for commerment of the Central Bank of cial business while outperformKuwait. The Board of Directors ing our peers in profitability, is propose that no dividend is paid.” moving well ahead. Our values; “In conclusion, and on behalf of productivity driven, customerthe Board of Directors, I wish to centric, operational excellence, express sincere gratitude and performance orientated and pruappreciation to His Highness the dent risk taking underpin our Ali Yousef Al-Awadhi Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Alvision. A downward trend still dominates the Kuwait economy due to Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince weak government spending and the poor Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, and His per formance of the Kuwait Stock Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Exchange with the resultant negative Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah. We would also impact on asset values. Domestic political like to extend our thanks to the Central issues and regional unrest add to the Bank of Kuwait and all other regulatory uncertainty. Improvement in the econom- agencies for their continuous support to ic and business environment will positive- the Banking sector in Kuwait.”

“The Board of Directors would also like ly reflect on the banking sector and on the to express gratitude to our valued sharebank”.

“Performance indicators show a return holders for their confidence and continto profitable growth with operating profit ued suppor t of Commercial Bank of before provisions up 8 percent on last Kuwait. We also thank our customers for year, net interest income up 4 percent and their trust and confidence in our services, non interest income 6 percent. Reduced and we assure them of our commitment operating expenses maintain the bank’s to excellence in all fields. Finally, we would low cost structure and continue to under- like to thank our Acting CEO Elham pin financial performance. Strengthening Mahfouz, the senior management team its financial position the bank has contin- and our employees who remain focused ued its prudent policy towards building on achieving the bank’s strategic objecup a strong provision base and reducing tives through their professionalism, dedication, energy, and commitment”. the percentage of nonperforming loans.”

need to come from afar.

When you are drilling a 12,192metre horizontal well into a highpressure reservoir, you cannot turn up with someone with a degree and just a few years of experience working in a simple production environment. You can guarantee big salaries and new technology, but more money is not a replacement for experience in an industry full of operational challenges. The increasing cost of failure, in monetar y and environmental terms, cannot be ignored.

Technology is not a panacea. It is part of the story, but it has to be employed in collaboration with the mitigation of the general risks that are associated with its application, and that star ts with answering these questions: Where are we going to get people? And where are they going to get access to the appropriate experience?

I came into the industry in the early 1970s with the development in the Nor th Sea. At that time, young engineers out of Britain and Europe were considered inferior to the talent that was being exported from North America.

LONDON: Britain’s richest people reached record levels of wealth in 2011 even as the country was slipping back towards recession, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List. The combined fortunes of the 1,000 richest people in Britain rose by 4.7 percent to £414.26 billion ($674 billion, 508 billion euros) despite high unemployment and harsh government cuts, beating the previous record of £412.85 billion set in 2008. The number of billionaires also hit a new high of 77.

main business ArcelorMittal plunged.

Just behind him with £12.3 billion came Uzbek-born metals and mining tycoon Alisher Usmanov, who holds about 30 percent of the parent company of Arsenal football club.

Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovitch was third on the list with £9.5 billion. The wealthiest British-born billionaire was the Duke of Westminster, who owns a central London property empire, but he slipped from third place to seventh, with his fortune estimated at

Britain’s top 10 billionaires in the Sunday Times Rich List 2012 (last year’s rank in brackets): 1. Lakshmi Mittal and family—steel 2. Alisher Usmanov—steel 3. Roman Abramovich—oil, industry 4. Sri and Gopi Hinduja—industry, finance 5. Leonard Blavatnik—industry 6. Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli—pharmaceuticals 7. The Duke of Westminster—property 8. David and Simon Reuben—property, Internet 9. John Fredriksen and family—shipping 10. Galen and George Weston and family—retail Indian-born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal held onto the top spot for the eighth year running, although his fortune dropped in value by 27 percent to £12.7 billion as the share price of his

£12.7 billion (1st) £12.3 billion (2nd) £9.5 billion (3rd) £8.6 billion (9th) £7.58 billion (6th) £7.4 billion (5th) £7.35 billion (3rd) £7.08 billion (8th) £6.6 billion (7th) £5.9 billion (10th)

£7.35 billion. New entrants included Andrey Andreev, 38, a London-based Russian businessman who founded dating website Badoo, with £500 million. — AFP

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2730000 .4480000 .3650000 .3030000 .2800000 .2880000 .0040000 .0020000 .0751190 .7318660 .3830000 .0710000 .7174620 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2767000 GB Pound/KD .4501220 Euro .3667520 Swiss francs .3052400 Canadian dollars .2822030 Danish Kroner .0493240 Swedish Kroner .0411970 Australian dlr .2897740 Hong Kong dlr .0356600 Singapore dlr .2236140 Japanese yen .0034470 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0753640 Bahraini dinars .7342440 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0738060 Omani riyals .7189810 Philippine Peso .0000000

.2805000 .4560000 .3730000 .3110000 .2870000 .2950000 .0070000 .0035000 .0758740 .7392210 .4000000 .0760000 .7246730 .0072000 .0500000 .2788000 .4535380 .3695350 .3075570 .2843450 .0496990 .0415100 .2919730 .0359300 .2253110 .0034730 .0053460 .0021570 .0030790 .0034190 .0759360 .7398170 .3943420 .0743660 .7244380 .0066540

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah

278.400 3.066 5.355 2.150 3.405 6.570 75.900 74.395 740.100 45.995 454.200 3.190

Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

1.550 373.700 286.000 3.510

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

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

277.550 370.500 453.500 285.200 3.495 5.283 45.914 2.130 3.387 6.548 3.060 739.100 75.600 74.100

COUNTRY

SELL DRAFT SELL CASH

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro 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

295.33 287.99 311.44 371.61 455.14 3.54 3.393 5.277 2.120 3.314 3.058 75.62 739.20 45.90 395.36 722.24 76.63 74.20

292.00 284.50 307.50 369.00 447.00 3.65 3.550 5.700 2.550 4.000 3.250 76.50 741.00 47.25 394.50 726.00 77.75 74.25

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro

Selling Rate

278.950 281.210 444.240 365.770

COUNTRY

SELL CASH

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc

294.500 739.210 3.660 287.000 545.900 45.300 50.500 167.800 47.630 372.200 36.560 5.680 0.032 0.159 0.232 3.560 393.910 0.188 92.800 45.400 4.270 232.200 1.801 49.700 721.980 3.140 6.810 76.890 74.210 226.120 38.110 2.649 455.700 42.300 309.900

4.300 9.360 198.263 75.780 278.300 1.340

4.300 9.240 75.680 277.900

GOLD 1,732.690

10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 453.700 277.900

Bahrain Exchange Company

Bahrain Exchange Company

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

Rate for Transfer

Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

303.830 738.695 75.925 76.570 74.345 392.660 46.178 2.189 5.426 3.082 3.411 6.549 684.255 4.440 9.120 5.875 3.480 92.305

SELL DRAFT

293.000 739.210 3.394 285.500

226.100 45.965 370.700 36.350 5.295 0.031

393.860 0.187 92.800 3.330 230.700 721.800 3.070 6.570 76.460 74.210 226.120 38.110 2.133 453.700 308.400

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Malaysian Ringgit Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

3.498 5.276 3.056 2.135 3.315 220.100 35.851 3.394 6.545 9.038 91.180 GCC COUNTRIES 74.190 76.443 733.940 738.940 75.756

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.750 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 45.916 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.298 Tunisian Dinar 182.12 Jordanian Dinar 392.880 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.866 Syrian Lier 4.853 Morocco Dirham 33.628 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 278.100 Euro 371.54 Sterling Pound 455.250 Canadian dollar 286.26 Turkish lire 157.610 Swiss Franc 309.34 US Dollar Buying 276.700 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

GOLD 298.500 149.000 75.500

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

BUSINESS NBK WEEKLY MONEY MARKET REPORT

Spain downgraded while FOMC provides no guidance Markets hope for additional expansion of Fed balance sheet

W

ednesday was a pivotal day in the currency market. While seven Fed officials voted on a first interest rates hike in 2014, compared to five in the previous meeting, the Fed raised its 2012 growth forecast, projected lower jobless rate and higher inflation.

Unemployment rate was also revised to 7.8-8.0 percent, from 8.2-8.5 and 2012 real GDP forecast to 2.4-2.9 percent, from 2.22.7 percent. The Fed however failed to provide any guidance as to the end of its maturity extension program in June causing great volatility in the currency market.

As usual, in an attempt to keep the dollar under pressure, Bernanke used the conference to try to lead it towards a more dovish stand and to negate the hawkish impact of the change in the first-hike prior to 2014.

Major points from the press conference were that the Fed remained entirely prepared to take additional balancing actions if necessary to achieve its objectives. They also mentioned that they will not hesitate to use the necessary tools, should the economy require that additional support including balance sheet expansion. The Fed intention remains clear that they will maintain highly accommodative stance of policy for the foreseeable future, and remain able and willing to take further action if necessary.

Back in Europe, S&P stripped Spain from its A rating to BBB+ with a negative outlook late on Thursday which caused a mild Euro sell off by the end of the week.

The Euro reached a high of 1.3263 after the FOMC statement, however ended the week at 1.3255. After getting a boost from last week’s MPC minutes, where Adam Posen, the dove MPC member dropped his campaign for an immediate further increase in stimulus, the UK economy registered a worse-than-expected second negative GDP data, bringing back the UK in a technical recession. The Sterling Pound ended the week at 1.6265.

In Asia, the Bank of Japan expanded its asset purchase program by JPY 5 trillion on Friday and downgraded expectation of additional sequential easing by declar-

ing that one percent inflation is in sight.

The bank also argued that the probability of a sustained economic growth remains high.

Federal Reserve meeting fails to provide direction The FOMC meeting on Wednesday was revealing on many fronts. The Fed reiterated that they would not want to pursue a more aggressive policy, pushing inflation above its desired level just to speed up the improvement in the labour market. Bernanke described such an approach as “very reckless” and endangering the credibility of their inflation objective. On another hand, the balance sheet policy remains on the table if the recovery should falter and unemployment fail to decline. Over the European crisis, the Fed’s concerns have not heightened greatly over the recent development.

While much work remains to be done and market stress has risen of late, substantial progress has been made in recent months, and the picture is significantly better than it was last fall.

Compared with a year earlier, March pending home sales in the US climbed 10.8 percent after a 14.9 percent surge in February. The index of pending home sales rose 4.1 percent, the highest level since April 2010, after a 0.4 percent gain in February. The numbers have been market confusing as It seems that the housing market in the US is showing uneven signs of progress. The Fed mentioned on Wednesday “Despite some signs of improvement, the housing sector remains depressed”.

Jobless claims slightly below expectations US initial jobless claims came 13,000 higher than expected 375,000 level in the week ending April 21. The four-week moving average of initial claims climbed to 381,750 from 375,500 the previous week. The higher than expected level of initial claims in the latest week marked the third consecutive week that claims have not improved, marking a break from

the broadly downward trend since September 2011. The data seem to bring back speculation of a new wave of quantitative easing by the Fed and placing pressure on the US dollar.

Europe & UK Changing political scene in Europe The week started with Socialist Francois Hollande and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy advancing to the final round of France’s election due on May 6. Hollande won 28.5 percent of the votes against 27.1 percent for Sarkozy.

Sarkozy whose term has been dominated by the financial crisis, continues to argue that he has done everything to protect France by saving its banks and is pushing to expand the ECB’s mandate to take a more active role in fighting the European debt crisis. In the short term, consequences of socialists in power might not be negative on the Euro, however, the medium term prospects of the French economy is not very bright with the lack of structural reforms. The race will be tight and investors will turn their attention to the second round debates, which will prove to be crucial for the election result.

Weak European PMIs Weaker European flash PMIs, especially in the German manufacturing sector and French services sector, only highlighted how difficult the road ahead is for Europe.

A preliminary reading of the Germany’s manufacturing PMI showed business activity contracted at the fastest level since 2009. The PMI index fell sharply to 46.3 from March’s 48.4, missing economists’ estimates of 49. Reports showed that sales to southern Europe are particularly weak especially in the periphery.

Worries about the finances of big Euro zone economies such as Spain and Italy have unsettled markets in recent weeks especially given the fact that Europe needs growth to help with its debt dynamics and to counter the negative effects of austerity, especially on the periphery.

Spain downgraded by S&P Standard & Poor’s credit rating downgraded Spain’s sovereign rating by two notches on Thursday, citing “a challenging fiscal outlook” amid worries on the ability of the country’s regions to curb spending.

The agency said its outlook was ‘negative’, reflecting risks to Spain’s economic growth and budgetary performance. The agency also said its outlook was ‘negative’, reflecting risks to Spain’s economic growth and budgetary performance.

Spain government responded immediately that the rating agency has not taken into consideration reforms announced since December to reactivate the economy. Some analysts remain positive on Spain even after the downgrade, as the country is further through its issuance schedule for the year, as it has raised almost half of its needs for 2012. It also benefits from having less debt maturing held by foreign investors, many of whom are not rolling over their debt.

After a strong performance of the Sterling Pound, The worse-than-expected UK GDP print was the focal point, against the strong MPC minutes few days earlier.

The first release of UK Q1 GDP showed that the UK economy contracted 0.2 percent, weaker than expectations of 0.1 percent q/q growth. There had already an expectation that the construction sector, which declined 3 percent q/q, would weight heavily on the UK’s recovery, but the soft release was also driven by a contraction in industrial production and weak service sector growth. Monetary Policy Committee member Martin Weale voiced his disappointment on Thursday and continued by saying that the argument for QE is stronger than it would have been if the economy had shown economic growth.

Asia Bank of Japan fails to weaken yen Japan’s central bank announced another round of monetary easing in its latest effort to spare the economy. The BoJ boosted its bond-buying scheme by a further 10 trillion yen and pledged to buy longer-term government debt. It also said

its asset purchase programme would be expanded to “about 70 trillion yen by end of June 2013. Japan’s CPI on the other hand rose 0.2 percent in March from a year earlier on higher energy costs. The core inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices, fell 0.5 percent in March from a year earlier.

China disappoints PMI The HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index, China’s industrial activity, recovered slightly to 49.1 in April from a final reading of 48.3 in March, but still remained below the 50 level, which signifies that the economy is still in a contracting phase. The index pointed to a slower pace of deterioration than in March, largely reflecting slower rates of decline of manufacturing production. Moody’s confirmed China’s Aa3 rating with a positive outlook. The report said that Beijing must retain tight control over local government finances and make reforms in the financial system to ensure rapid and stable economic growth for the rest of the decade.

Commodities Oil, gold supported by quantitative easing hopes Commodity prices have pushed higher since Wednesday as the impact of the FOMC monetary policy announcement continues to confuse financial markets.

The run-up in Gold and Crude have mirrored a weakness in the US Dollar reflected by a potential QE3 expectations after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said policymakers were “prepared to do more” to help the economy if growth faltered.

Bernanke however made it clear that it would be “very reckless” to allow higher inflation for the sake of reducing unemployment. This is why, precious metals and Crude may be quick to shed recent gains if the Fed doesn’t deliver another wave of QE. Kuwait Kuwaiti dinar at 0.27725 The USDKWD opened at 0.27725 yesterday morning.

Storm clouds gather over Indian economy Moody’s retains stable outlook for India

DALLAS: Members of several unions protest American Airlines bankruptcy plans as they picket outside of Terminal D at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. — MCT

American Airlines asks judge to ditch the union contracts NEW YORK: More than 300 American Airlines’ transport workers and flight attendants rallied in protest in front of the US bankruptcy court where their company asked a judge to wipe out their labor contracts and unions touted a possible bid by US Airways Group Inc. to take over the Fort Worth, Texas,-based carrier. “We bailed them out, AA sells us out,” said a sign carried by Frank Ricci, a Transport Workers Union member from New York’s John F. Kennedy International airport. He stood across the street from the court on a chilly, cloudy day.

“I think this is an attack on the middle class,” said Ricci of the pay cuts and benefit reductions the company is asking US bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane to impose after abrogating contracts for the pilots, flight attendants and transport workers. AMR Corp., the airline’s parent company, wants to reduce its labor costs by $1.25 billion a year. Monday marked the beginning of the so-called 1113 process, which gives American the opportunity to have the court eliminate existing contracts. After this week’s arguments by American attorneys, followed by labor’s presentation on May 14, the court is expected to rule by June 6.

A fiery Jim Little, president of the Transport Workers Union, told the crowd, “It’s the blame game. They want to blame labor.”

The union, which represents mechanics and ground-crew workers, will send management’s latest contract proposal to its membership this week. American says it has significantly fewer job cuts than an earlier one, but union members clearly were frustrated by the cuts and financial terms. “We’re sick of it,” said Darrin Pierce, TWU president at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. “For it to come to this is unacceptable.”

J.P. Sylvestre, a 16-year flight attendant based in Miami, said of the US Airways merger idea, “It’s the only chance we’ve got.” “We’re angry - very, very angry,” said flight attendant Raymond Lewis of New York’s JFK Airport and an official with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American’s flight attendants. “We’re trying to save our jobs.”

American, which sought bankruptcy pro-

tection in November, is walking a fine line with its workers, praising them while saying it cannot survive without significant cost savings from labor. Inside the ornate court building, which also houses a museum, American started the proceeding to abrogate the labor contracts with attorney Jack Gallagher saying, “No one wins a 1113 proceeding.” “American has the highest labor costs in an intensely competitive industry,” he said. “It’s that simple.

We need to fix this business.

“We know that it’s not our non-labor costs.

We have the highest labor costs in the country, and that is an absolutely untenable position,” said Gallagher. The company wants pay cuts of 20 percent across the board and more flexibility in restrictions now in labor contracts, such as what size aircraft union pilots will fly. While it has agreed to freeze its pensions, the carrier also wants to change to a defined contribution plan instead of a defined benefit plan, and also to make workers pay more for health benefits. In opening arguments, attorneys for the pilots’ union and the flight attendants’ union both brought up US Airways, despite the judge’s having granted American exclusivity to present a reorganization plan in the proceeding until September.

Allied Pilots Association attorney Edgar James said the judge should look at American’s business plan and consider merger as an option. “US Airways/American Airlines would create the largest airline in the world,” James said. “You need consolidation.

You need heft.” “They have failed to consider consolidation,” James said. American spokesman Bruce Hicks said during a break: “It has nothing to do with this hearing.”

In a letter to employees Monday, American Chief Executive Officer Tom Horton wrote about US Airways reaching a non-binding contract agreement with the three unions.

“I want you to know these developments in no way alter our course. We are making significant progress, and the court has granted us the exclusive right to pursue our plan of reorganization at least through the end of September, and this may be extended further,” said Horton.

NEW DELHI: India’s economic star is fading fast as a spluttering economy and reform paralysis put the country’s prized investment-grade rating at risk and spook foreign investors. The latest bad news came when Standard & Poor’s cut India’s credit outlook to negative, saying the nation’s investment grade rating faced a one-inthree chance of being downgraded to junk. It isolated “political gridlock” as a key factor behind the warning. But with Premier Manmohan Singh’s unruly coalition hobbled by graft scandals and infighting, analysts are deeply sceptical the Congress-led government can set the economy to rights.

Nobody should “hold their breath for a bornagain government,” said Rajeev Malik, economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “Coming from the most conservative of the rating agencies, it’s a wake-up call for the government to do something meaningful soon,” he said of the S&P announcement. But given government “policy paralysis”, the situation “is unlikely to change substantially”, he added. In 2007 S&P raised India’s credit rating to BBB-, the lowest investment grade, a landmark that allowed the country to tap new sources of capital by clearing the way for global funds to invest in New Delhi’s debt.

But now “there’s at least a one -in-three chance we may move the rating down in the next 24 months” if “growth prospects diminish” or reforms remain stalled, said S&P credit analyst Takahira Ogawa. Growth in Asian rival China is also slowing but ratings agencies have kept their outlook on Beijing’s A ratings positive thanks to its strong fiscal position. Investors have been waiting for India to reduce the role of the state, ease red tape on business and open its doors wider to foreign investment.

But elections are due within two years and Kotak Mahindra Bank economist Indranil Pan said that “given the political scenario, any bigticket reforms will be difficult”. Stubborn inflation is also likely to keep interest rates high, weighing on growth. A sovereign credit downgrade to junk status-which means a higher default risk-would force India to pay higher interest rates on international borrowings and discourage foreign investment urgently needed to upgrade its shabby roads, ports and other infrastructure.

Until recently, the country of 1.2 billion people was a must-have in foreign investor portfolios. But interest has waned with investors jittery about graft and policy U-turns, as well as infrastructure bottlenecks and slowing growth. The economy grew by 6.9 percent in the last fiscal year, the second slowest pace in a decade, while the fiscal deficit was a record 5.9 percent of gross domestic product and the trade deficit was up by 57 percent.

New plans to impose capital gains tax liabilities for foreign firms have also disheartened investors. The new US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, told a business audience in New Delhi on Friday curbs on foreign investment and other policies had caused “significant concern and dampen sentiment about India’s investment climate”. Ratings agency Moody’s has kept its

ALLAHABAD: Indian farmers carry their produce to the market along the Ganges River. — AP Some see a return to junk status as inevitable. outlook stable for India.

But Moody’s Analytics economist Glenn “India has no light on the horizon,” Cyrus Levine said the government does not have the Daruwala, managing director at IDC Financial “leaders to push through tough-minded reforms Insights, told CNBC. Finance Minister Pranab needed to drive the next wave of growth”. Even Mukherjee says the government is “confident of before the S&P warning, foreign portfolio invest- overcoming difficulties” and “there is no need for ment was showing a net outflow. Direct invest- panic”. At the same time, he has repeatedly said ment is also sluggish while traders expect the he should not be blamed if he is unable to boost rupee to hit new lifetime lows against the dollar the economy, citing “the political situation on the ground”. — AFP in coming months.

No end in sight for global jobs crisis GENEVA: Fiscal austerity and tough labour reforms have failed to create jobs, leading to an “alarming” situation in the global employment market that shows no sign of recovering, the International Labour Organization said yesterday. In advanced countries, especially in Europe, employment is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels of 2008 until the end of 2016 — two years later than it previously predicted- in line with a slowdown in production.

An estimated 196 million people were unemployed worldwide at the end of last year, forecast to rise to 202 million in 2012 for a rate of 6.1 percent, according to the United Nations agency’s annual flagship report, “World of Work Report 2012”. “Austerity has not produced more economic growth,” Raymond Torres, director of the ILO Institute for International Labour Studies, told a news briefing.

“The ill-conceived labour market reforms in the short-term cannot work either. These reforms in situations of crisis tend to lead to more job destruction and very little job cre-

ation at least in the short-term,” said Torres, the report’s lead author. Long-term jobseekers are demoralised and an average of 40 percent of job seekers in their prime (aged 25-49) in advanced countries have been without work for more than a year, the report found.

Youth jobless rates have soared, increasing the risk of social unrest especially in parts of Africa and the Middle East. The labour market overall has deteriorated over the past six months, with a very significant slowdown in the case of European countries, Torres said.

Unemployment is growing in a significant number of countries, including more than two-thirds of European countries over the past year. “ The narrow focus of many Eurozone countries on fiscal austerity is deepening the jobs crisis and could even lead to another recession in Europe,” he said. “In addition, there is less progress happening in other parts of the world, for example the United States, where progress in reducing unemployment seems to be slowing down and this seems to be a trend,” he said. —Reuters

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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

business

UAE developers rally on Q1 Saudi spat weighs on Egypt

MOSCOW: In this file picture, a visitor looks at Ox Cart Crossing a Flooded Plain by Ivan Aivazovsky at Christie’s Moscow Exhibition of International Auction Highlights. — AFP

Russian billionaires invest heavily in art MOSCOW: Home to more billionaires than New York or London and with a thirst for art to match, Moscow is turning into a key pre-sale destination for auction houses with world masters on their hands. London-based Christie’s and its US counterpart Sotheby’s first descended on Russia in the 1990s as interest in post-Soviet kitsch soared. But Sotheby’s did not open its first dedicated office in the glitzy but risky and bureaucratic capital until 2007, while Christie’s waited for the global financial crisis to blow over before following suit in 2010.

Yet unlike most Western capitals, Russia’s holds an unparalleled concentration of the country’s super-rich, with the 78 Moscow billionaires last counted by Forbes magazine worth a combined $334 billion. The money has grown so big-and the will to splash it around so prevalent that the auction houses are now swallowing the costs involved in bringing their latest Dutch masters to Moscow for viewings ahead of auctions in London and New York. “There is money in Moscow, that’s why Christie’s and Sotheby’s are putting in so much effort,” said Irina Kolosova, director of the Russian Institute of Art and Antiques Business.

In mid-April, Christie’s held a threeday viewing in an historic mansion that included works by Rembrandt, the contemporary British artist Damien Hirst and the Russian painter Pyotr Konchalovsky.

Last Tuesday, Sotheby’s sold a painting

by Ivan Aivazovsky-the perennially popular 19th century Russian seascape master-for a record 3.2 million pounds ($5.2 million) after showcasing it in Moscow last year. “We see Russian collectors participating in eight to ten percent of our global turnover,” spending as much as

$5.7 billion on art in 2011, said Christie’s Russia director Matthew Stephenson.

Russians’ interest in the world’s most expensive paintings seemed to catch fire when oil prices first took off nearly a decade ago, flooding Moscow with petrodollars and displays of extravagant wealth. “We really saw a surge in our sales (to Russians) after 2004, primarily of Russian art,” a phenomenon that helped return many masterpieces to their native country from all over the world, said Stephenson. But Russian buyers are also showing a “rising interest in other regions, other cultures and works by foreign artists,” he added. The tastes of Russia’s wealthy now seems to gravitate towards whatever is more expensive, said one art collector, with interest in minor artists dwindling at times when spenders have to slightly tighten their belts.

“Russian collectors buy it all. That’s not to say whatever is out there, but all of the best,” said collector Alexei Ustinov. “That includes Western paintings as well as the great masters of Russian art.” He added that many viewed art as a great investment, particularly with the price gyrations experienced by Russia’s commodity exports in the past 10 years. “On average, art increases in price by 15 to 20 percent a year,” said Ustinov. “That is not very likely to happen on any stock market or with any other type of investment.”

In a sign of a market picking up, Russian houses are also starting to auction off art for eyebrow-raising prices although the volume of their sales is still comparatively modest, said Kolosova, the Russian art institute head. Moscow’s Leonid Shishkin Gallery made headlines a year ago by selling a Konchalovsky for 20.9 million rubles ($615,700). — AFP

BEIRUT: A foreigner residing in Lebanon holds a sign reading in Arabic “No to the sponsorship system” during a parade to celebrate International Workers’ Day and to call for an end to Lebanon’s sponsorship system for migrant domestic workers yesterday. — AFP

Qatar Telecom blames FX losses for Q1 profit drop DUBAI: Qatar Telecom (Qtel) yesterday reported a 12 percent drop in first-quarter net profit, citing mainly foreign exchange losses, but the former monopoly still beat forecasts. Qtel made a profit of 711 million riyals ($195.29 million) in the three months to March 31, down from 811 million riyals in the year-earlier period. “Net profit during the period was adversely impacted by movement in the Indonesian currency,” Qtel said in an emailed statement. “Net profit decreased mainly due to foreign exchange losses in (Indonesian subsidiary) Indosat.”

Analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast Qtel would make a quarterly profit of 599 million riyals. Quarterly revenue was 8.03 billion riyals, up 7.6 percent from the corresponding period of 2011. The former monopoly has operations in a dozen countries and owns majority stakes in Kuwaitbased Wataniya and Oman’s Nawras which this month reported first-quarter profit declines of 90 and 19 percent respectively.

Wataniya’s first-quarter 2011 earnings were

boosted by a one-off fair value gain.

Qtel said it had 84.4 million customers on a consolidated basis at end of the first quarter, up 11.7 percent from a year ago.

Indosat - 65 percent owned by Qtel accounted for 62 percent of this total, with the unit’s revenues flat at 2 billion riyals in the first quarter. “Market conditions in Indonesia have remained challenging,” Qtel said.

Qtel said it had 2.4 million domestic customers, the same as a year earlier. Qatar’s mobile penetration is 132 percent, or 1.3 mobile subscriptions per person, according to the International Telecommunications Union. Quarterly domestic revenue rose 6.4 percent year-on-year to 1.5 billion riyals.

Iraqi affiliate Asiacell’s quarterly revenue rose 19 percent to 1.6 billion riyals.

Qtel is keen to expand via acquisitions while also growing organically in countries like Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq where its existing mobile and fixed networks need major investment, its CEO told Reuters in March. —Reuters

DUBAI: UAE property stocks rose yesterday after three developers posted higher earnings but the country’s bourses ended mixed, while Egypt’s benchmark slipped after Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Cairo. In Abu Dhabi, Aldar Properties climbed 4.4 percent to a two-week high. The developer’s quarterly net profit more than doubled, beating analysts’ estimates.

“We know things are not good in the Abu Dhabi real estate sector but now Aldar has a clean balance sheet along with support from the government,” said Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at The National Investor. Rival Sorouh Real Estate, which is merger talks with Aldar, gained 1.7 percent after posting a 30percent rise in earnings, which were shy of forecasts.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s bellwether Emaar Properties advanced 0.3 percent after its firstquarter profit jumped 44 percent. “People were quite disappointed with Emaar’s dividend but the results are extremely good and

it shows the company’s decision to shift from being purely a developer was a good strategy,” said Henin.

Abu Dhabi’s index finished 0.2 percent higher while Dubai’s benchmark fell 0.8 percent, its eighth decline in 10 sessions to trim its 2012 gains to 21.1 percent. Builder Arabtec was the main drag, falling 4.7 percent as investors booked recent gains. The stock is up 115.7 percent year-to-date, rallying again last week after winning new contract.

In Saudi Arabia, the index declined 0.7 percent as investors booked profits from Saturday’s gains, awaiting new catalysts to lift the market. Turnover was 9.2 billion riyals ($2.45 billion), with volumes declining since early April’s index peak. “Decrease in daily turnover is a bad sign-the index will move sideways but we’re still bullish in the longterm,” said Mateb Al-Ghanim, portfolio manager at Amlakuna Investment Group.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and AlRajhi Bank slipped 0.7 and 1 percent respec-

tively. Saudi Telecom dipped 0.5 percent. In Egypt, the benchmark slipped 0.3 percent, on concerns $2.7 billion in financial aid pledged

by Saudi Arabia could be delayed after Riyadh withdrew its envoy following protests at its embassy against the kingdom’s arrest of an Egyptian lawyer.

“We were awaiting the injection from Saudi Arabia, which may now be delayed, and that could delay other money,” said Osama Mourad, CEO of Arab Finance Brokerage. “That money seemed somehow easier to secure because of the emotional and political ties.”In Oman, the index climbed 0.5 percent, halting a six-session losing streak as bargain hunters returned. “ There is a recovery in general... across the board most company results with the exception of a select few industrial counters had been broadly good, showing both top line and bottom line growth,” said Vickneswaran Gowribalan, an Oman-based portfolio-manager. —Reuters

Cuba’s self-employed grapple with extra responsibilities SANTIAGO: As Denia Ojeda Oliva combs a sable tint into a customer’s hair at the Ibis beauty salon, she laments the high cost of beauty supplies. But that’s just one of the concerns at Ibis since it was converted from a state-run salon to one owned by the employees who now pay taxes to the government. As cuentapropistas - the term for Cuba’s selfemployed - they must worry about paying the electric bill, maintaining the shop, and, of course, paying taxes they find a bit too high for comfort.

“We’re grateful for the new system, but we need a little help maintaining the level of beauty we want to guarantee,” says Iminsy Ross, a manicurist who presides over a tray of brightly colored nail polishes at the entrance to the shop. Faced with the reality that it could no longer afford to keep nearly the entire working population on state payrolls, the government began embracing the concept of selfemployment in earnest about two years ago.

First it announced it wanted to get out of the beauty and barbershop business and turn such shops over to the workers, and then in September 2010, leader Raul Castro revealed plans to move 500,000 state workers to selfemployment by last March and double that number by 2014. But the transition is moving much slower than anticipated and state furloughs haven’t approached those goals.

According to the latest figures from Cuba’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security, 371,000 people now hold self-employment licenses.

But some of them were already working under the table and took advantage of the change to legalize their status.

Still, in this southeastern Cuban city, one doesn’t have to look far to find budding entrepreneurs, including wedding photographers, manicurists, locksmiths and piano tuners. By far the largest category is food vendors, who offer peanut candy, pizza and soft-serve ice cream cones on the street, and grilled lobster and shrimp at private restaurants called paladares. Self-employment is permitted in 181 job categories, but some of the cuentapropistas have stretched the definition of what they’re permitted to do.

Soel Quintana’s license, for example, says he is a “modisto sastre,” (dressmaker/tailor) - a purveyor of hand-made clothing. But he says “there’s no market for that in Cuba.” “People here like the stretchy fabrics, the tops with sparkly appliques,” says his wife, Derleny Kindelan Reve. “Or they like pants like this,” she says, indicating her husband’s bleached jeans with decorative zippers. “Where would you even get fabrics like these to make clothes?”

So he buys from people who arrive with bags full of clothing and shoes from Miami, Ecuador, Peru - even Europe - and resells them.

He lives in Havana but frequently makes the trip to Santiago, where his family lives to sell clothes to “friends and people of confidence.”

Among the big sellers are high heels from Miami covered with faux gemstones and a knock-off of Converse sneakers.

Sales are up and down, he says, but on a good week he can earn about $100. Out of his earnings, he must pay 110 pesos (between $4 and $5) a month to the government and 260 pesos (about $10) every three months, he says.

Kindelan has only had her license as a manicurist for about a month but says she made sure she got it before she began painting nails.

Now she sets up a small handmade table with a fluorescent light attached in the entryway to her Central Santiago apartment building and is open for business.

She displays some of her handiwork: her own nails, which are embellished with little three-dimensional flowers. But as the workers at Ibis have discovered, such beauty comes at a cost. “Everything that has to do with nails is in hard currency,” she says. Cuba has a dual currency system: Wages and most things bought and sold for daily living are in Cuban pesos, but scarcer imported items and tourism expenses are calculated using the Cuban convertible peso (CUC). One CUC is worth roughly 25 Cuban pesos, making buying CUC-denominated goods extremely expensive for Cubans.

As she explains her dilemma, a woman arrives at her apartment with a sack full of foreign products that she’s offering at CUC prices.

She pulls out a nail applique kit from the Dominican Republic, but Kindelan passes because it’s too expensive.

Such under-the-table commerce is often the lifeblood that supplies Cuba’s new entrepreneurs, and so-called mules make a living ferrying in-demand products to Cuba in their luggage - ostensibly as gifts to friends and family. The saleswoman declines to give her name and doesn’t want her picture taken.

Other micro-entrepreneurs make an effort to play by the rules. Shoe repairman Leonel Peru Mengana, for example, has set up shop on a sidewalk along Heredia Street and is patiently sewing the sole back on a black tennis shoe.

He keeps all his important papers in a briefcase set up on a nearby stool: his license and documentation showing he pays 50 pesos (about $2) a month in taxes and 87.50 pesos for social security.

“There are quite a few inspectors in the street,” says Peru, who used to work in maritime construction. “Fortunately no one has come by here, but I’m ready.” He’ll charge 15 pesos (less than $1) to put new soles on the tennis shoes; 5 pesos to put a new heel cap on a pair of flowered high-heel sandals. It’s hard to come by his supplies, especially glue. “Some things I get from outside Cuba; some tools I invent,” he says as he pokes a heavy-duty needle into the tennis shoes.

“A very old man in my building taught me this trade 20 years ago,” he says. “Some days I don’t make much of anything; other days it’s OK. It’s sufficient only to provide food for the house.” “I work because I have to survive, but I also like this profession,” Peru says. Yet another twist on self-employment is to hold on to a state job and work on the side. Alejandro Enis Almenares is a guitarist, composer and singer, and one of his best-known songs, “Mueve la cintura mulata,” has appeared on Hollywood sound tracks and documentaries.

At 76 years old, he still plays sets at the state-owned Casa de la Trova, the famed house of traditional Cuban music. But he, too, is self-

the chairs where customers sit are shabby.

“There was a maintenance brigade before.

Now it is our responsibility, and we’re women who don’t really know how to do these things,” Ojeda says. Before the changeover, Ross earned 250 pesos a month, or about $10, as a state employee. Minimum wage in Cuba is 225 pesos. Now she earns more but must pay taxes of 360 pesos a month. The hairdressers pay nearly 400, she says. “We need more support with this new system,” she says. “If they hand over a shop in good condition, then they have a right to charge high taxes.”

But clearly Ibis has seen better days. Now the women must buy many of the supplies from state-run stores that charge in CUCs or scramble trying to find other sources. “They say that in Havana, the state stores have discounts on the weekends - but not here,” Ojeda says. “Sometimes I find I have to work until 11 pm at night.”

From the arts and crafts vendors who sell jewelry, wood carvings, leather sandals and domino sets along a closed-off section of Tamayo Fleites Street to freelance DJ’s and the proprietors of private restaurants set up on the rooftops of their homes, Santiago bustles with the enterprise of cuentapropistas. But selfemployment possibilities are more limited in the provinces.

In Mella, a small sugar-milling town 24 miles northwest of Santiago, several food vendors have set up shop at the turn-off into town. Alba Hernandez sells melon nectar and beef and bologna sandwiches from a homemade cart. Hernandez, wearing a promotional Little Caesar’s baseball cap that she says she bought in Cuba, was still working on a recent day as the sun began to set.

She buys her meat at El Filete, the state-run meat market in the center of town. She says she is doing OK - even with the 200-peso (about $7.50) monthly tax she pays the gov-

SANTIAGO: Tobacco farmer Osmani Duarte, 45, gathers tobacco leaves during a second cutting of his tobacco crop. — MCT employed, making and repairing guitars. “I’ve learned the craft well, but my first love is music,” he says. Seventy-eight-year-old Arsenio Negret tries to supplement his retirement income with a small produce car t named “Bendicenos” (Bless us) set up in the courtyard of his building in the casco historico, or historic center.

His recent offerings included eggplant, onions, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, bananas, papayas and pineapples, but he says business isn’t going particularly well. “There’s a lot of competition,” Negret says.

He’s only a few blocks away from a wellstocked market where vendors say they too watch the prices at competing stalls. The government used to regulate prices at this market but now merchants can set their own prices and customers can buy as much as they want.

“I have to see what the competition is doing.

Sometimes I lower my prices,” Marianelis Rosalba says. She recently was offering tomatoes at 5 pesos (about 20 cents) a pound and black beans for 10 pesos a pound.

Meanwhile, the cuentapropistas at Ibis are butting up against the realities of being their own bosses. “Now if you go on vacation, you still have to pay the taxes,” Ross says. “So I only take one to two days at a time.” One of their biggest laments is the condition of their shop.

Pieces of painted cardboard, some falling down, form the ceiling of the narrow shop, and

ernment. The clop-clop of horses’ hooves signifies transportation and self-employment in Mella. Two pesos will buy a ride around town in a horse-drawn cart. Some of the carts are no more than a couple boards attached to a galvanized metal box.

With a large reservoir on the edge of town, fishing is also an important way to supplement income. Many of the men and boys cast hooks from inner tubes but Carlos Ranquis prefers a spear-gun. On a recent day, a visit to the reservoir netted him 45 fish - tilapia, trout and viajaca. He works at the local electrical plant but sells fish to his friends and neighbors to supplement his income.

Since the early 1990s when the old Soviet bloc collapsed, Cuba has allowed limited selfemployment but its interest in such entrepreneurship has ebbed and flowed depending on how well the economy is doing. Some wonder whether the Cuban government might once again pull back on self-employment.

But Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, says his impression is that economic reforms will continue in Cuba - although at a slow pace and methodically as the government endeavors not to lose control of the process. Improving the living standard of the Cuban people, he says, is crucial: “ The process of economic reform will fail unless they can bring the people along with them.” — MCT

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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

BUSINESS

Spaniards take to streets to protest economic cuts Unions call for large-scale demonstrations

VILNIUS: This picture shows a woman sewing linen fabrics at Lincasa, a manufacturer of linen fabrics. —AFP

Linseed paradise Lithuania forced to resort to imports VILNIUS: Lithuania, where the delicate blue blossoms of linseed were once so abundant they became a staple of folk songs and poetry, has turned to imports as growing the plant at home has become too expensive. Tourists strolling the streets of Lithuania’s capital Vilnius will immediately notice the word “linas”, the Lithuanian word for linseed or flax, posted in large letters above shop windows. The traditional plant has also inspired a very popular first nameLinas for men, Lina for women. But despite being celebrated in Lithuanian folklore, pale blue linseed flowers no longer carpet meadows from spring through to early summer.

Now, fibres produced from the plants to make Lithuania’s popular linen cloth must be imported, mainly from France, Italy and Belarus.

Local farmers did not plant a single hectare of flax in 2010 to be used for textile production-a strong sector for business in the Baltic state of 3.5 million people.

Looking back with nostalgia at a time when linseed was in full bloom across 21,500 hectares some 20 years ago, local farmers and producers point a finger at the European Union as the culprit behind the decline. “Subsidies have now fallen to 675 litas (195 euros, $257) per hectare,” says Beruta Vasiliauskiene, head of Jubarko Linu Verslas, one of the last farms to have grown flax in recent years.

But the 50 hectares once sown with linseed have gradually been replaced and the farm will not plant a single seed this year.

Before the Baltic state joined the EU in 2004, public aid was almost three times higher.

“Nobody grows flax any longer, it’s no longer profitable,” said Vasiliauskiene. The only exception is the Upyte farm research

centre in central Lithuania, whose staff plant linseed every year simply to keep it alive.

“Lithuanian flax might disappear completely if we stopped our activities,” says Zofija Jankauskiene from the centre. “Every year, we plant 300-500 different seeds to preserve the plant.” “Made in Lithuania” not what it used to be still, the production of linen cloth in Lithuania keeps booming.

Linas, the country’s oldest factory producing flax-fibre textiles, celebrates its 55th anniversary this year.

Last year, the plant, based in Panevezys in northern Lithuania, turned out 2.5 million metres of fabric, but it has relied on imports from neighbouring Belarus for the past three years. “We used to have a facility for turning flax into linen fibres, but in the end it has turned out more profitable to import fibres on spools, says Jurgita Senulyte, a designer at Linas. “Growing and processing flax used to be a traditional activity,” says Vidas Vaitkus, head of a company producing linens and other products from flax since 2002. Following the example of local rivals, his company sells linen cloth products to France, Italy or Japan. “At every fair we attend, we have to answer people asking if the product was woven or sown in Lithuania,” said Vaitkus. “Made in Lithuania remains a mark of quality.” But foreigners are typically the only group charmed by Lithuanian linen-less than five percent of Linas’s output stays in the country, where it is sold largely to tourists. “Linen has become too expensive for Lithuanians,” says Jurgita Senulyte. Raw material prices are growing but the relatively low cost of labour still makes Lithuanian linen competitive on foreign markets, she added. —AFP

Comic campaigns for Italian default ROME: An Italian comic who is campaigning for local elections riding a wave of discontent among voters says the solution to the economic crisis is default on the country’s enormous debt and a return to the lira. Beppe Grillo isn’t joking when he says Italy needs to get out of the euro zone fast and rejuvenate a political system dominated by parties he says are dead. “We need to try get out of the euro zone with as little damage as possible. We’re getting poorer and Germany is getting richer,” the 63-year-old comedian told Reuters by telephone from his camper during a campaign that has seen him tour Italy.

Grillo’s movement - borne out of the comic’s rallies that for years derided and attacked politicians of all colours - is expected to fare well in local elections on May 6-7 that will be the first voter test since Prime Minister Mario Monti took power in November. While he does not have the clout to challenge the

established parties, Grillo could unify the protest vote. His growing impact in Italy has echoed the success of other European outsiders as the economic crisis has eaten away at the credibility of old-style party systems.

Grillo, who is not running, is also exploiting growing disaffection in Italy with politicians who are seen as corrupt and ineffectual, or, in the case of Monti, criticised as mere accountants at the mercy of the banks rather than at the service of the people. Grillo calls the prime minister “Rigor Montis” and says he is driving the nation into poverty simply to try to pay back Italy’s 1.9-trillion-euro ($2.52-trillion) debt, the world’s fourth-largest, which is mostly held by banks, not by people. “If we had the lira, in one night we could write two lines on a piece of paper and devalue by 30 percent, and then we could all start over. As things are now, we can’t make it,” the bearded comic said in the interview. —Reuters

Hate campaign targets Geneva’s French workers GENEVA: Residents of France who work across the border in Geneva have become the targets of a virulent anti-migrant campaign calling for their houses and cars to be burned. Some 90,000 foreigners, most of them French, cross the border to work in Geneva, sparking tension in an area with the highest unemployment in Switzerland — 5.3 percent in March, against a national rate of 3.2 percent. A pamphlet distributed this month outside the Geneva University Hospitals calls for the elimination of “this border scum”.

“They are everywhere... in a number that far exceeds the tolerable quota, with their arrogance, their pollution, their contempt, their insolence and their privilege,” the pamphlet said. “Total war is declared,” said the tract, which was reprinted by the local Socialist Party in a newsletter expressing alarm over the document’s violent nationalism. “Burn their houses, their cars. Border workers, get out.”

The hospital said it planned to file charges against the pamphlet’s anonymous author. The labour union that represents employees there defended the practice of hiring cross-border workers, saying Geneva’s own education system doesn’t train enough nurses. “We defend all workers, wherever they’re from,” union secretary Julien Dubouchet Corthay told AFP. The hospital’s 10,172 employees are 48 percent Swiss and 34 percent French, its 2011 records show. The nursing staff is 56-percent French, but 66 percent of doctors are Swiss against just 11 percent French, and 72 percent of senior executives are Swiss.

Tensions over the large number of foreign workers at the hospital erupted into the open in February, when the director general said the hospital would begin favouring Geneva residents in promotions.

“Out of 165 medical unit managers, 110 are cross-border workers. Some employees who live in Geneva have complained,” hospital chief Bernard Gruson told a local newspaper. “So I’ve decided to favour a return to equilibrium. That will be my priority for every promotion. It’s absolutely not about ostracism, but about my role as boss to arbitrate when people are dissatisfied.”

The remarks unleashed a heated debate in Geneva, and fed the rhetoric of local political party the Geneva Citizens Movement, which regularly criticises crossborder workers. The movement also claims French criminals come to Geneva to steal from residents. The local Socialist Party has meanwhile called for the creation of a cross-border parliament that would bring together officials from the border districts of Geneva and Vaud with their counterparts in France.

The body would deal with the entire region’s housing and employment issues, the Socialist say. “The Geneva Socialist Party is aware of the enormous distortions in both the employment and housing markets,” it said. “That’s why the party is convinced that the France-Vaud-Geneva people must work together to find solutions to their problems, especially by creating appropriate democratic institutions and true tools to fight against underpaying wages.” —AFP

MADRID: Thousands of people protested across Spain yesterday against government cuts aimed at tackling a debt crisis that has pushed the country back into recession and sent unemployment close to 25 percent. Protesters closed central parts of the capital Madrid on a wet day to protest against cuts to education and health services the government says must be made to help slash the public deficit. The protests, which were peaceful, were mirrored in over 50 cities across the country as Spaniards grow weary of austerity measures and years of hardship triggered by a real estate crash in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The central government aims to make savings in its budget this year of around 27 billion euros ($36 billion), with a further 10 billion euros to be made in healthcare and education spending, which is controlled by the country’s 17 autonomous regions. “It’s getting worse for us all. People are starting to protest more because it’s affecting every sector. It’s affecting everyone,” said Charo, a middle-aged woman with her children in Madrid.

Labour unions called for largescale protests to continue in coming months to persuade leaders they should not rely solely on cuts to deal with the deficit and should aim to stimulate growth.

Speaking at an event in Madrid Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the cuts were essential. “We are working to turn around the situa-

tion, and we will do it, but it will be hard for people. In order to do it we are implementing a series of reforms that are more positive, necessary and required than ever,” he said at a People’s Party meeting in the capital.

bers; I don’t know what it’s going to take for the people to really stand up. The disenchantment is so brutal that people will not stand up and protest,” said Julian, a pensioner.

Many people waved labour

teachers and the number of pupils per classroom.

More protests are expected this week in the country’s second largest city Barcelona before the European Central bank holds its rate-setting meeting there on

MADRID: Protesters attend a demonstration organised by Union against financial cuts in health and education yesterday. —AFP Some protesters were disappointed by the numbers turning out in support, which they said was down to the rain, and fatigue at the length of a crisis. “People are not protesting in huge num-

union flags and held banners against the cuts to the country’s prized healthcare system that will add to medicine costs, and to its education budget, which will increase the hours worked by

Thursday. Spain has stepped up security to try and clamp down on any potential trouble after violent clashes were seen in the Catalan city in the general strike at the end of March. —Reuters

Graduates find it hard to wash away college debt PHILADELPHIA: To get educated these days, most students have to go into debt. And debilitating debt, experts say, could trigger a financial meltdown akin to the mortgage crisis if students don’t repay their loans. It could also make the millennials, aged 18 to 34, the first generation in America not to do better than their parents, a potential failure that has people questioning the morality of how we now pay for education: “Is it ethical to saddle a 17-year-old who’s never had experience with credit with this amount of debt?” asked Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers in Washington. “No counseling teaches the pain of repayment.”

And while students suffer, lenders flourish, Nassirian added: “What’s better than garnishing my wages and owning a piece of me for life?” Nationally, the average student debt is about $25,000 per person, according to 2010 figures, the latest reported by the Institute for College Access & Success. That’s the highest level of student debt in American history, up nearly 43 percent since 1996, in today’s dollars.

Overall, US student debt is more than $1 trillion. This includes loans for students who attended any type of postsecondary institution - whether they graduated or not, according to the newly formed federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That total is more than all the outstanding charges on all the credit cards throughout the United States ($693 billion), or all US auto loans ($730 billion).

Student loans can be dangerous for young people, who can’t declare bankruptcy and walk away from their obligations, the way people with credit-card or gambling debts can. Student debt can be garnished from wages and Social Security. “It worries me,” said Mike Mychack, 24, of Philadelphia. He graduated this year with $50,000 in debt from Temple University and now works at the Bridesburg Boys & Girls Club in Philadelphia, making less than $20,000 a year. “I’ll never be able to pay the loan off at this rate.”

Aaron Troisi, 25, knows firsthand the difficulties of debt. He graduated in 2008 from Pennsylvania State University with degrees in sociology and anthropology - and $80,000 of debt. Eight months after graduation, Troisi got a $42,000-a-year job as a union organizer for Service Employees International Union-Healthcare Pennsylvania. His monthly loan payments totaled $600, but with his parents’ help and his own frugal living, he was able to pay $1,311 per month. He was promoted to a $50,000 job, and by the end of 2011, Troisi was able to retire half the loan. Now, he’s getting a master’s degree in education at Temple, with an additional $20,000 in loans.

Troisi, who lives in West Philadelphia, considers his original Penn State debt “outrageous.” He added, “The loan is absolutely overwhelming. Penn State was founded to help the working class. But they’re now pricing people out.” The bulk of students in America attend public colleges and universities, where state funding nationwide has been cut 2.8 percent in the past two years. At the same time, experts on college financing point out, universities are continually spending money to improve their physical plants and to make their campuses more enticing to students.

Certain schools offer financial-aid packages without loans. But often, experts say, parents are expected to contribute, and they end up taking out loans.

When the family conversation turns to dollars and cents, the living room grows tense. “Money is just a bunch of numbers to her,” Paul Martins, 52, says of his daughter, Stephanie, 25, a student in her final year at Rutgers School of Law in Camden, NJ. For college and graduate school, Stephanie owes about $100,000 in student loans.

“She has no idea how much that is,” Paul continues.

“But she’s going to find out the hard way.” Stephanie stays quiet, studying her father. Paul and his wife, Isabel, 50, are Portuguese immigrants who live in a modest house in Barrington, NJ, with Stephanie, their only

child. Paul, who helps design pharmaceutical equipment, has a high school degree. Isabel, a paralegal, has an associate’s degree.

Stephanie was a Spanish major at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., where the yearly cost of attendance is near $50,000. “The biggest problem,” Paul says, “is that she could’ve had a free ride at Rutgers.” Grants and scholarships would have paid for Stephanie’s entire undergraduate education at Rutgers UniversityCamden. But she fell in love with Ursinus. Both Paul and Isabel have chosen to help pay Stephanie’s loans over saving for retirement. “I didn’t want to look back and say, ‘Because I was greedy, she didn’t go to college,’ “ Isabel says. “My biggest joy in life is seeing my daughter succeed. But it’s so difficult for her generation.”

After graduation this spring, Stephanie would like to be a prosecutor. But there are few openings. “You always can go into private practice,” Isabel tells her daughter, revisiting another well-worn family issue. “I’d rather not,” Stephanie says, quietly ending the conversation. In a private moment away from her folks, Stephanie confesses “my stomach turns” when she con-

PHILADELPHIA: Stephanie Martins, a Rutgers law school student, works as an unpaid intern in the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, but faces almost $100,000 in debt from school tuition and expenses. —MCT templates her debt. “I try to avoid thinking too much about it, or I’d collapse from the stress of it all,” she says.

“I thank God my parents let me stay with them.”

Colleges are facing a shift in who pays their bills, concludes a recent study by the Delta Project, a nonprofit that studies college spending. Especially at public universities, the portion of costs covered by tuition is going up faster than overall spending.

At Penn State, prices are high because state appropriations are low and getting lower, spokeswoman Lisa Powers said by e-mail. “So it stands to reason that (the school) also has one of the highest tuitions.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett cut funding to state schools last year and has proposed cutting 30 percent out of Penn State’s budget next year. Temple University has seen a shift in its funding from state aid to tuition.

In 1972, 34 percent of the school’s budget was covered by tuition. Today, tuition pays 77 percent.

“The social compact - that the children of the working and middle class can get educated at our university for a fraction of what’s paid at a private school - has been turned on its head,” said Tony Wagner, Temple’s chief financial officer. State officials strongly disagree.

“Even when Penn State received more taxpayer dollars, it still increased tuition” in years past, wrote Tim Eller, spokesman for the state’s Department of Education, via

e-mail. He added that the commonwealth makes “a significant investment on the part of Pennsylvania taxpayers.” Not true, others say.

“The antics of state cuts to universities in Pennsylvania are just nuts,” said Dan Hurley, policy analyst for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington. “It would be good to see more appreciation of public higher-education access there at a time of transitioning to knowledge-age economies.”

These days, more students than ever - 10 percent graduate with high debt, defined as loans of $40,000 or more, up from 3 percent since 1996, according to the Project on Student Debt. Among all students, African-Americans carry the most levels of high debt in the United States. About 16 percent of AfricanAmerican graduates owed more than $40,000 on loans in 2008, the latest year calculated. For whites, it was 10 percent; Hispanics, 8 percent; and Asians, 5 percent.

African-Americans are “disproportionately recruited by and enrolled in for-profit colleges, which cost more on average,” said Pauline Abernathy, vice president of Institute for College Access & Success. “It’s very troubling that the lowest-income students have the highest levels of student debt,” she said. A disproportionate share of African-Americans have low incomes and are the first in their families to attend college, Abernathy said. They’re less likely to know someone who has gone to college to stop them from enrolling at any school that pressures them to sign up. The US Department of Education has accused some for-profits of using exploitative tactics to enroll students.

With so much overwhelming student debt, defaulting on loans is increasing. About 320,000 borrowers who started repaying their loans in 2009 defaulted by the end of 2010 - 81,000 more than the year before.

More than 50 percent of the increase is from students who attended for-profit colleges, which charge tuitions that in many cases are double those of other colleges. Students who default often ruin their credit, finding themselves unable to buy homes or even to secure more student loans to try to finish school.

Things could get worse in July, when interest rates on federal student loans for low-income students are set to rise to 6.8 percent, from 3.4 percent. President Barack Obama is fighting the increase, while Republicans in the US House of Representatives are supporting it. Not all student debt is bad. College, in fact, can be the best investment a person ever makes.

But when the class of 2012 graduates next month, its members will be entering a job market with steep competition. “The problem isn’t necessarily the $25,000 debt,” said Paul Harrington, director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University. “It’s having the debt and then making $10 an hour that’s overwhelming.”

Students must be more strategic in picking majors that will lead to jobs that can pay back their loans, experts say. “It’s one thing to have a six-figure debt and be graduating from medical school,” noted Hurley of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. “But $40,000 in debt for a social worker or public schoolteacher - that’s not good at all.” Too many students don’t understand that when they go to college, they’re entering places of business, not cathedrals on a hill, said Nassirian, in Washington. “A lot of schools have stopped being anything but self-sustaining bureaucracies.”

In the past, colleges spent most financial aid on low- or moderate-income people. That’s changed, according to US Department of Education research.

Nowadays, both public and private four-year colleges are spending huge amounts of aid money on merit: attracting those with better grades and SAT scores, who make the schools look more prestigious, and those with higher incomes or from out of state and other countries, who can pay the full price and offset increasing tuitions. —MCT

26

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

business

Al-Mazaya opens door for medical tourism in Kuwait KUWAIT: Al-Mazaya Holding endeav- strategy to find investment opportuors to implement its new strategic nities and potential alternatives, for plan for the next three years, subse- the interests of company and sharequent to obtaining the approval of holders alike. She added that these the Board of Directors. The plan, studies have shown that the Kuwaiti which was announced earlier this market are in need of a variety of year, includes the need to explore additional real estate projects, as potential investment opportunities there are a number of development in the medical, educatypes that are lacking in tional, retail and nutrithe various regions of tion sectors, particularly Kuwait, including Jahra since the company ’s Governorate which success in completing, enjoys the highest popdelivering, leasing and ulation density among managing the greater the country’s six goverpart of its projects in norates.

Kuwait and the Arabian In addition, the qualiGulf. Al-Mazaya has fied Kuwaiti physicians, recently completed a who reflect the Kuwaiti field study of the margovernment’s signifiket indicating a significant investment in the cant lack in medical human capital, need to care, health and educapractice what they Salwa Malhas tional ser vices in learned abroad on Kuwait. The study, which ground level for the beneshowed significant results, has rec- fit of the country and its citizens. ommended the importance of creat- “With its strategic location, Clover ing alternatives to traditional real medical centre is a breath-taking estate investments, and having real architectural masterpiece. The proestate focused on the health and ject’s finishing and design, as well as education sectors. the wise real estate management including security, maintenance, and Medical expenditures cleaning services around the clock, exceed $100 billion have met the expectation of its medThe study, led by a dedicated team ical cadres to be able to practice their from within Al-Mazaya Holding, indi- profession in a rich and rewarding cated that the Kuwaiti market in par- environment,” said Malhas who pointticular and the Gulf market in general ed out that above and beyond the suffer shortages in several specialised afore mentioned factors, it was the medical care services, causing GCC well-deserved reputation of Kuwaiti nationals and residents to travel physicians that were behind the sucabroad to access these services. This cess of Clover Medical Centre. She constitutes a real loss for, not only for explained that the 93 percent occuthe medical sector, but also the pancy rate in the Clover Centre national economy. It has also a nega- reflects the volume of efforts being tive impact on tourism and retail exerted by Al-Mazaya. business when citizens and residents Malhas remarked that the Clover leave for other destinations where Center, with its wide variety of medmedical care is served. ical services available, such as develExpectations indicate a possible oped ex-rays, an integrated medical annual increase in medical expendi- laboratory, a state of the art productures by 20-30 percent in the light of tion pharmacy, and anti-aging and the soaring figures of the expendi- other specialized clinics, was a great ture between 2006-2012, which are source of pride for Al-Mazaya. “During estimated at $100 billion of which 20 the first quar ter of this year, Al percent is from GCC and the Middle Mazaya received a number of real East countries. In the UAE, medical estate investment offers, manifested treatment abroad amounted at one in real estate assets (land and buildbillion US dollars; however, the num- ings), long-term partnerships, or capiber is much higher in Saudi Arabia. tals looking for investment opportuThe Mackenzy report of 2008 indicat- nities within this vital sector. These ed that 40 percent of these travelers offers require developers within the seek advanced medical technology healthcare sector. Currently, Alwhile 32 percent look for better med- Mazaya is studying and evaluating ical services, 15 percent want quick such investment opportunities to medical services and a further 9 per- raise its recommendations to the cent prefer less costly treatment. board of directors,” she said.

One of the key indicators in this Malhas expressed the hope that regard was underlined by the United the Clover Medical Centre would repNations with regards to the increase resents a “nucleus” to attract medical in the GCC’s population rate by 2.2 tourism to the State of Kuwait, and percent in the period from 2010 to keep pace with the governance role 2015, compared to a 1.1 percent for in building several hospitals and new the rest of the world. This leads to the medical centers, to better serve the need for an increase in the volume of citizens. The Clover Center has attractservices provided at various levels, ed 57 clinics specialized in various especially health care. medical fields, including uncommon Part of Al-Mazaya’s plan focuses specialties in the region that fall specifically on the medical sector and under the modern disease category, the need to open doors for medical such as anti-aging, sleep disorders, tourism, therefore Engineer Salwa obesity, oxygen treatment, and rehaMalhas, Executive Vice President for bilitation, as well as other auxiliary Business Development and services such as laboratories, radioloMarketing at Al-Mazaya Holding said gy and pharmacy. The Clover Centre that Al-Mazaya’s project develop- also includes one of the largest cenment and research department has ters for nuclear radiation in the conducted a detailed study of the Middle East and is equipped with current prices of real estate appropri- magnetic resonance imaging “MRI” ate for medical investment. The study capabilities. Over 250 employees, also covered the laws and legislation consultants, technicians and doctors involved, an examination of locations with various specialties are employed and areas, as well as the medical sec- in these clinics. It is worth mentioning tor’s needs and demands. The suc- that the Clover Centre is the first rentcess of Clover in Kuwait also encour- based medical clinic complex in aged Al-Mazaya to implement this Kuwait and is Al-Mazaya’s first investstudy, both locally and abroad, to ment project in the field of medical increase the benefit to the company. care. It is located on an area of 4000 Malhas stressed that the efforts Al- square meters in the Al-Jabriya disMazaya exerted to study the market trict - one of the most vital areas in are directly in line with the company’s the heart of Kuwait.

Burgan Bank announces Yawmi Account winners KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the names of the five lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD 5,000. Winner’s names will also be announced through Marina FM on a daily basis during their prime shows. The lucky winners for the five daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5,000 each, and they are: 1. Abdullah Yousef Sahar Mohammad 2. Abdulaziz Ibrahim Abdulaziz Alhasson 3. Etaf Fadhl Alshawwa 4. Hadeer Saad Madi Dahi 5. Fatmah Khthair Hassan Jaly The newly re-launched Yawmi Account is better, easier and faster than any day before. With its new and enhanced features, the Yawmi Account has become more convenient, easier, and faster for customers to benefit from. Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48 hours only from opening the account. Customers are also required to deposit KD 100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon val-

ue to enter the draw stands at KD 10. The newly designed Yawmi account has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone.

Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they receive of winning the draw.

Opening a Yawmi account is simple, customers are urged to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch and receive all the details, or simply call the bank’s Call Center at 1804080 where customer service representatives will be delighted to assist with any questions on the Yawmi account or any of the bank’s products and services, or log on to Burgan Bank’s www.burgan.com for further information.

BMW i provides sustainable vehicles, mobility solutions Mobility services complement core business MUNICH: BMW is committed to providing sustainable mobility solutions, and has hence launched “BMW i, a new movement in premium mobility. With the introduction of this new sub-brand, the BMW Group reaffirms its leadership as the most innovative and sustainable premium car company. The products and services have been conceived around a revolutionary approach: purpose designed and purpose built for sustainable, premium mobility. It’s a new day in our industry; a new era for individual mobility. This is BMW i - Born Electric.” said Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Sales and Marketing, in Munich on Monday.

In a first move, two models will be launched under the new sub-brand from 2013 - the BMW i3 and BMW i8. The BMW Group will also significantly expand its range of mobility services over the years ahead. To achieve this, a Venture Capital company was founded in New York City, BMW i Ventures, with an investment totalling $100 million.

“BMW i offers visionary cars and services, inspiring design, and an entirely new concept of premium mobility - all with a focus on sustainability”, explained Robertson. The BMW i brand comprises vehicles and services developed since 2007 as part of project i, a BMW Group think tank exploring sustainable mobility solutions. It is the BMW Group’s response to changing customer needs, including increasing demand for alternative drive trains, such as electric drive systems and hybrids.

There is a widespread desire in megacities for solutions which intelligently combine the benefits of various mobility concepts in a single package.

Revolutionary vehicle concepts “With BMW i, we are building on the success and strength of our core brand,” emphasised Robertson. The BMW i3- previously known as the Megacity Vehicle - will be the BMW Group’s first series-produced car for urban areas to be driven by electric power alone. The BMW i8, meanwhile, is based on the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept study.

Its plug-in hybrid drive blends the sporting ability of a high-performance machine with the fuel consumption and emissions of a small

car. Both models are based on a revolutionary construction concept known as LifeDrive architecture. An aluminium chassis houses the powertrain, and the passenger cell consists of high-strength but extremely lightweight carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). “Both cars

high-voltage lithium-ion batteries.

have been designed specifically for their respective alternative drive systems. We used the innovative architecture and CFRP to cancel out practically all of the extra weight added by the batteries. For our customers this means superior driving dynamics combined with significantly increased range using electric power,” explains Klaus Draeger, BMW Board member responsible for development.

This will allow the creation of a new, profitable area of business over the long term and attract new customers to the company’s brands. “Mobility requirements are changing in rapidly expanding megacities” adds Ian Robertson. “Our commitment to car-enabled mobility services, like BMW ConnectedDrive, will be significantly expanded under BMW i.

We’ll also grow our car-related premium mobility services. What’s truly groundbreaking is that we’ll begin offering car-independent premium mobility services. BMW i aims to provide customized mobility solutions across a seamless network of premium products and premium services.” The focus is on solutions which will improve usage of existing parking spaces, as well as intelligent navigation systems with local information, intermodal route planning, and premium car-sharing.

BMW i8 to be built in Leipzig Like the BMW i3, the BMW i8 will also be manufactured at BMW’s Leipzig plant. Around 400 million euros will be invested in new plant facilities and some 800 jobs will be created up to 2013. Development and production synergies will be achieved through both vehicles using the same component sets for the electric motors, power electronics, and

Value or growth? has great assets which are very valuable but do not grow or generate part from the US economy, good income then in relative terms every other economy in the those assets are actually declining in developed world either slow- value and the opposite is correct. ing down or on the verge of entering Toyota is a best example of value stock which has unforrecession. However, the tunately underperdivergence between formed its competitors the US economy and in the last few years. the rest of the world is Toyota was always tradquite clear and at time ed at 1.5x to 2x book astonishing. Recent value and on a premieconomic figures from um to the rest of the the US have shown that auto makers, but the economy remarkrecently it has underably still growing, performed remarkably. whereas Europe is It has great assets but struggling to keep most of its income was above the growth line. generated by its Lexus Here is the dilemma for brand. investors, should you At present it seems invest in value or that there are few of growth stocks!

Hayder Tawfik them around which are Over the last 3 years really enjoying very US stocks have outperformed the strong global demand and indeed rest of the world at times of weak limited competition relative to the economic growth. Admittedly, US size of their markets. At least for the corporate results have been strong next few years. The smart phone indeed and at most times beating makers and the luxury goods prothe expectations. The outperfor- ducers are what I call real growth mances of US stocks relative to the stocks. These growth stocks are funrest of the world have been led by damentally overvalued. However, growth stocks rather than by value because growth itself is a rare comones. How can this be explained in modity these days so investors are an environment of weak economic happy to pay a premium for owning growth? them. I think the trend has been set Value stocks or let’s say the ones for value stocks to continue underwhich are cheap relative to their own performing for the next few years. fundamentals are getting cheaper Most value investors assume that the and investors are really getting clob- very low short and long term interest bered. Investors should be very care- rates will not last long and rates will ful as this may be a new trend or as start to rise again. I strongly disagree shown throughout history that value with their argument. The loose monstocks always deliver even if it takes etary policies implemented by most longer than you anticipate. I wonder governments around the world if history can repeat itself again or we should be complemented by more are ignoring something new hap- aggressive quantative easing so as pening in front of our eyes. How do prevent an economic environmuch can we trust those fundamen- ment in which disinflation start tals of the value stocks! Book value creeping in. For me growth stocks can indeed deteriorate and divi- are here to stay and investors should dends for sure can be cut. So we be well aware that their valuations have to assume that the market is will get more stretched but they will right and value keeps deteriorating continue to deliver the performances further. Financials or to be specific we all desperately need. banks may have been behind this The author is the Executive Viceongoing trend. But there is more President of Asset Management at than we just assume. If a company Dimah Capital.

By Hayder Tawfik

A

A range of vehicle-independent services An additional range of mobility services which can also be used independently of the cars - will be an integral component of BMW i.

Warba Bank funds first residential project in US KUWAIT: Warba Bank ( WB) announced the conclusion of a financing deal to purchase a property and develop it into a multifamily residential complex by Criterion Group LLC based in New York. WB has financed the purchase of the land, as well as the development of residential building in Long Island, Queens County, New York, five minutes from midtown Manhattan by subway, providing distinctive proximity advantages. The project is strategically located opposite of Citibank Queens Operations headquarters, MetLife Operations headquarters, Tishman Speyer’s Gotham Center, and the UN Credit Union Building.

The Court Square development will consist of approximately 155 apartment units with high-end finishes, spacious interiors and large private balconies with Manhattan skyline views. Warba Bank indicated that the total financing is approximately $20 million and the bank Hosam Nasser Al-Muzaiel expects generating a 12 percent annual return. The financing deal is expected to last for 30 months.

The financing is the first sharia compliant financing transaction that is recognized as a building loan contract by the NY statute; this effectively means that the mortgage is superior to the subcontractor liens as well and thereby provides utmost level of security to the financier.

Commenting on the project, Hosam Nasser Al-Muzaiel Investment Manager, Warba Bank, said: “We are enthusiastically pleased with the conclusion of this significant deal which accentuates the competencies of Warba’s Investment Team in concluding important deals with companies and institutions, locally, regionally or internationally. The conclusion of the first Shariacompliant deal for construction financing purposes in the USA marks extraordinary step towards the development of Warba Bank and towards continued growth of Islamic finance.”

Moreover, he said, “Warba Bank is going forward with its plans that aim at taking advantage of unique investment opportunities, based on its strong fundamentals and extensive networking in the US market. The deal demonstrates the bank’s expertise to originate, execute and manage innovative Shariacompliant investments that would deliver solid returns in the short and medium terms.” “We are keen on channeling all our efforts to take our financial and operational performances to higher levels and position the bank uniquely in the market, whilst entering new phases of development and continued prosperity,” he concluded.

It is worth mentioning that Warba Bank provides a remarkable opportunity for investors and depositors to secure exposure to and participate in innovative asset classes, well diversified and with best in-class returns generated through superior quality projects.

Al-Tijari announces Najma winners KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al-Najma Account draw yesterday.The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry represented by Saquer Al-Manaie.

The winners of the Al-Najma Daily Draw who get KD 7,000 are: Qamar Abbas Sultan Ahmed; Aref Hasan Barakat; Obaid Mohammed

Abdullah Al-Ajmi; Mardas Judah Homoud Al-Shemmari; and Zahra Ali Akbar Makhsed.

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 four mega prizes during

the year worth KD 100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid AlAdha and on June 19 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 two 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.

27

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Hold it first: Tips on buying an e-book reader BERLIN: People looking to purchase an e-book reader should hold the device in their hands and give it a try before laying down the money for it. Users can tell quickly if they can easily handle the control buttons or the touchscreen navigation.

That was the recommendation of the German magazine Computer Bild which tested eight e-book readers. The readers weighed between 170 and 280 grams, making them light devices to carry

around. The testers said consumers should favour e-paper when looking at display technology as it only uses power when turning the pages. The most frugal e-paper device tested lasted for 135 hours or 8,000 pages.

The less expensive eReaders with LCD displays only last between six and eight hours. Another disadvantage of the LCD displays is that the self-illuminating screens can strain readers’ eyes after longer reading sessions and be difficult

to read outdoors. The passive, black-andwhite e-paper meanwhile is well readable in sunlight as it has a similar contrast to printed paper.

One of the advantages of the LCD displays over the e-paper display is that they show colours. For those users wanting to watch a lot of videos or play games and read less occasionally, then a tablet PC as an all-in-one device could be a better alternative. The test winner among the eReaders was the Pocketbook Touch,

which will be available in May (159 euros or 210 dollars), followed by the Sony PRST1 (starting at 140 euros in online shops).

The Kobo eReader Touch Edition (starting at 100 euros online) placed third. All of the eReaders have a 6-inch display.

There is a lot of free reading material for the e-book readers in the EPUB, MOBI or PDF formats, including many literary classics on www.gutenberg.org. Nearly all of the largest eBook shops use the EPUB format. The purchased books are typically

copyright-protected and so cannot be passed on to others, but a number of libraries allow for EPUB books to be checked out.

Amazon, meanwhile, went out on its own and sells its copyright-protected books in its own MOBI format for its own Kindle eReader. The Kindle devices cannot read the EPUB format books on their own but non-copyrighted eBooks can be converted with freeware such as Calibre —dpa

Fitness training with consoles and internet Real exercise or just games?

BANGKOK: Prachatai web manager Chiranuch Premchaiporn searching on the Internet at her office in Bangkok. A Thai website editor facing decades behind bars over reader comments about the monarchy should “not be in the dock”, Amnesty International said February 10, 2011, accusing Thailand of “silencing” dissent. —AFP

Thai web editor faces 20 years for ‘royal insults’ BANGKOK: A Thai web editor facing decades behind bars over remarks about the monarchy posted by other people on her website said she still hopes to be acquitted ahead of a closely-watched verdict this week.

A Bangkok court is set to decide yesterday on charges against Chiranuch Premchaiporn that could carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, in a case that has shone a spotlight on Thailand’s strict lese majeste and computer laws.

Chiranuch, the editor of the popular Prachatai news website, denies allegations that she did not remove 10 online posts perceived as critical to the monarchy quickly enough in 2008. “I don’t think I’m guilty; I think I did the right thing.

Fighting this is the way to prove that I’m right,” she told AFP. Chiranuch’s case has received widespread international attention, because of both the length of the potential sentence and the fact the accusations relate to other people’s comments that she says she removed as quickly as possible.

She has also made the unusual decision to deny the charges-many accused in Thai lese majeste trials opt to plead guilty in the hope of receiving a royal pardon. “This is a quick solution for those who have that option but I don’t think that’s the right way to resolve the issue.

That just means that it will remain an open wound in Thai history and the Thai justice system,” she said.

The royal family is a highly sensitive topic in politically turbulent Thailand.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is revered as a demi-god by many Thais, has been hospitalised since September 2009.

Observers say prosecutions under lese majeste legislation-which bans criticism of the king, queen, heir or regent-surged following a 2006 coup by royalist generals that left the kingdom deeply polarised.

The country saw huge street protests

in Bangkok and a violent crackdown in 2010. David Streckfuss, an independent academic and expert on lese majeste, said whatever the court decides, the Chiranuch case will have “important implications”.

An innocent verdict would herald a slight widening of public space on the Internet, he said, while a guilty judgment would see “an ugly backlash” against Thailand’s approach to freedom of expression.

“As the evidence is weak and the prosecutors have seemingly failed to show malicious intent, a guilty verdict would harm the already tarnished image of Thailand as a beacon of democracy in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Recent trials have sparked fierce debates on Thailand’s laws, including over a 61-year-old man who was jailed in November for 20 years for sending text messages deemed insulting to the monarchy.

A US citizen was handed two-and-ahalf years in prison in December for allegedly defaming the king.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Thailand’s new government, which is allied to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and was backed by his “Red Shirt” supporters in an election last year, had done little to improve freedom of expression. “The government’s assault on internet service providers sends a chilling message to webmasters and internet companies that they either censor other people’s content or face severe penalties,” said John Sifton, HRW Asia advocacy director.

Chiranuch, who has become a leading figure in the campaign for freedom of expression in Thailand, said she could not flee her homeland, despite the severity of the potential jail sentence.

“Sometimes I feel afraid. I’m not brave.

The most important thing is not to let fear take over,” she said. —AFP

BERLIN: Jane Fonda’s famous workout videos of the 1980s were just the start. Now those in need of some exercise can find interactive aerobic, yoga and fitness routines at the touch of a button thanks to new services accessible via consoles or the internet.

The idea has an understandable appeal. Instead of trekking to a fitness studio, those looking to exercise can just head to the nearest PC or console. What hasn’t changed is the need for self-discipline. But the technology has changed. Consoles now come with motion-controlled sensors. And there are fitness portals aplenty with directions and videos on how to work up a true sweat.

These sites don’t only demonstrate exercises, but offer nutrition and health tips. Sometimes they revolve around communities, with exercisers competing against one another or showing off by uploading photos of their honed physiques.

Those who create their own profile on these sites can even set up their own training programme and keep track of significant benchmarks. There’s a lot of exercise and training-oriented games available for game consoles too.

Start with My Fitness Coach Club from Ubisoft or Move Fitness from Sony for the Playstation 3’s Move system. Next there’s Your Shape Evolved from Ubisoft forXBox 360 owners, provided they have a Kinect sensor.

And there’s also Wii Fit for Nintendo’s Wii, which requires a Balance Board, which doubles as a scale and a tool to train people’s sense of balance.

There’s also EA Sports Active from Electronic Arts, available for all three consoles.

In general, fitness games tend to be a bit cheaper than normal console titles, costing between 30 and 40 euros (40 and 53 dollars). For that price, most people could only hope to see the inside of a studio once or

cise at home have to make some concessions, he says.

“A big problem is individualization.” That’s because, whether you’re dealing with an online fitness portal or a game on a console, you’re always working with a programme dreamt up by someone else. If that doesn’t meet your personal goals, it

Choosing the best games for fitness is becoming more difficult. twice a month. Membership is even often free with online versions.

“It’s an advantage for many that they can train in private and not on display in a fitness studio,” says Klaus Voelker, head of the Institute for Sports Medicine at the University of Muenster in Germany. “If the exercises are conducted regularly, then they can definitely have a positive effect.”

But people who choose to exer-

can quickly prove to be too much or too little.

Fitness programmes are also unsuited for stamina training.

“Running in place is nowhere near as effective as jogging properly, outdoors or in a hall,” says Voelker. Plus, people can get fed up with the ongoing commentary from the games after long-term use.

But there’s one other core problem. “After the initial hype, enthusi-

asm can quickly fade,” says Voelker, unless you’re self-disciplined. Still, he sees little danger to overall health.

“Of course I can rip something during these kinds of exercises.” But that’s the kind of injury that can happen with any exercise. “I’ve yet to see extreme or dangerous activities in any of these fitness games.”

“We pay special attention to whether our exercises are suited for all users,” says Kristina Schneider, a spokeswoman for the German exercise portal fin.de.

There might be some risks to people with back problems, but any such exercises include warnings.

Other factors - like the user’s weight are recorded before work begins and factored into the kind of workout presented. “But we can’t replace a physical therapist,” she says.

Thus, she always advises checking with a doctor before attempting the first session, just like you would do with any other fitness programme.

Another factor to bear in mind: don’t invest in a console for exercise unless you have the space in your home. The fitness training programmes require some space. “The exercises require a certain radius of activity,” says Ralf Anheier of games manufacturer Electronic Arts. “That can be a problem in small living rooms.”

This applies especially to the Kinect motion sensor system for the XBox 360. Microsoft recommends users have at least 1.8 metres between themselves and the television. —dpa

Commands by telephone: Remote apps for your TV MUNICH: The list of devices for which a smartphone can double seems to never end: navigation devices, game consoles, reference books, etc. Add to that list remote controls.

With the right software, a smartphone can easily be used to control a TV, Blu-ray player, receiver, network hard drive or a PC. They can even be truly remote, turning on routers while on the road, checking music collections from afar or controlling televisions from a different room.

But, before you delve into this new world, bear in mind that most manufacturers have, so far, only created apps that work with their devices. To date, there are very few universal controllers.

“Smartphones or tablets could, over time, become a kind of hub for all the devices in a house,” says Albrecht Schmidt, head of the Institute for Visualization and Interactive Systems (VIS) at the University of Stuttgart.

That could mean a future where kitchen devices could be controlled by a smartphone app. Complex jobs could become child’s play, says Schmidt. Instead of just turning on an oven, it could be programmed with the help of an online recipe to make sure that it hits the right temperature at the right time.

“Of course you’ll always turn the coffee machine on by hand,” says Schmidt. “But with smartphone remote controls, you could check from the road if you’ve really turned it off.”

Such dreams are already reality with other devices, especially home entertainment systems. Almost all manufacturers of televisions, Blu-ray players, AV receivers and similar devices have free remote apps installed. Most of these programmes are available as apps for Android or Apple iOS smartphones and tablets, though other systems like Windows Phone or Blackberry OS are often overlooked.

Connections are set up by wi-fi. Which model is controlled by which app can usually be confirmed by checking in the iTunes App Store or Android’s Google Play. When starting up the app, all the user has to do is decide which device is to be targeted. Connections are then set up automatically.

It’s quite conceivable that smartphone apps could completely replace remote controls in the near future.

“There will still be infrared remote controls,” says Schmidt. “The question is whether anyone will use them.”

The competition will arise from the fact that apps can usually do more than just change the channel or

control volume. That’s because, unlike with an infrared connection, a wi-fi connection allows data to flow in both directions, allowing a smartphone to access information, like an electronic programme guide.

Adding to the attractiveness are the network functions built into most smartphones and tablets. “With the same device, I can control the TV programme and, at the same time, discuss it with my friends,” says Schmidt.

There are also remote control apps for most routers or network hard drives, which let users access data like music collections from every room of the house. Sometimes access can even be achieved when out of the house. These functions can also let users check a router’s internet connection on the quick, shutting it down or restarting it.

But one classic problem of the infrared connection has carried over to remote apps. If you have devices from a variety of manufacturers, you’re going to need to get multiple apps.

“There are just no universal apps,” says Nico Jurran of the German computer magazine c’t.

“Manufacturers are hoping to tie customers to them with their own apps.” —dpa

Kaspersky Lab releases latest virtualization security solution DUBAI: Kaspersky Lab announces the release of its latest security technology to ensure businesses will “Be Ready for What’s Next.” Kaspersky Security for Virtualization - built from the groundup by Kaspersky Lab’s internal team of security experts - is focused on protecting evolving corporate IT infrastructures from malware and cybercriminals. Virtualization creates tremendous business and IT benefits for organizations globally, but if left unprotected these platforms may become a weak link for cybercriminals to exploit.

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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

With an asterisk, WTC is back on top in NYC

ATHENS: Immigrants push a supermarket trolley filled with recyclable metallic items on their way to a scrap yard on April 25, 2012. —AFP

Immigrants eke out living as Athens scrap mongers ATHENS: Zeeshan locks his supermarket trolley to a tree like others would lock their bicycles: it is a crucial tool for him and other immigrants who comb Athens streets for scrap metal they can sell. The strange contraptions appeared in the Greek capital about a year ago, and are now seen everywhere, from the city centre to far-flung suburbs as their conductors weave in and out of traffic. It takes considerable skill to manoeuvre a supermarket caddy that is overflowing with tin cans, electronic appliances, bed-springs, oil cans, stoves, cables and radiators.

After a day going through rubbish bins, the balance becomes precarious while potholes or curbs pose hidden obstacles in an urban quest that evokes images from the post-apocalyptic road movie “Mad Max”. Tens of kilometers later, the moment of truth arrives, at a weigh station. Scrap metal dealers in the southern neighbourhood of Tavros are used to seeing exhausted collectors, many from Bangladesh, arrive.

“Greek or Albanian gypsies who collected abandoned trash in their trucks work less now because people have been throwing out less during the crisis” that has held Greece in its grip for several years, said Anna Darsinou.

Her family has been dealing in scrap metal for about three decades. The business is evidence of the poverty in which thousands of illegal immigrants live in Greece, a gateway to the EU but a trap for those who do not manage to continue their journey to more prosperous member states.

“There is no other kind of work here,” said Zeeshan, who arrived from Pakistan a year

and a half ago on a trip that cost him Ä3,000 ($4,000). The 26-year-old said he had studied computer design back home, but now spends 10 hours a day rummaging through the blue rubbish bins that the city has distributed to collect recyclable trash. Zeeshan said he is able to make a couple of dozen euros per day.

A 22-year-old collector from Ivory Coast, Charles, said: “It is really the only way to make a little money, but it is very hard.” He has been in Greece for just a month, but compatriot Mamadou, 32, backed up that statement on the basis of his six months in the country.

With a room shared with four or five others for 250 euros per month, plus utilities, Charles, who said he used to work as a florist at the presidential palace in Ivory Coast, cannot send any money to his two children. At least the collectors are not harassed by police.

“When the police see you have a caddy and are trying to work, they hassle you less,” Charles said.

The issue of illegal immigration has been the source of heated discussion ahead of Greek legislative elections on May 6, along with the country’s debt crisis and related social topics. Athens official Andreas Varelas said the informal recycling network run by immigrants “disorganizes the traditional recycling circuit,” which already lags behind the EU norm. “The materials are recycled without any quality control,” he said, while acknowledging that the activity was the only means of survival for some immigrants. They are well advised to keep an eye on their trolleys meanwhile. The city has collected 2,000 of them since the start of the year.— AFP

NEW YORK: One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept 11 attacks, will lay claim to the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper today. Workers will erect steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet high, just enough to peak over the roof of the observation deck on the Empire State Building. The milestone is a preliminary one. Workers are still adding floors to the so-called “Freedom Tower ” and it isn’t expected to reach its full height for at least another year, at which point it is likely to be declared the tallest building in the US, and third tallest in the world.

Those bragging rights, though, will carry an asterisk. Crowning the world’s tallest buildings is a little like picking the heavyweight champion in boxing. There is often disagreement about who deserves the belt. In this case, the issue involves the 408-foot-tall needle that will sit on the tower’s roof. Count it, and the World Trade Center is back on top. Otherwise, it will have to settle for No. 2, after the Willis Tower in Chicago.

“Height is complicated,” said Nathaniel Hollister, a spokesman for The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats, a Chicagobased organization considered an authority on such records.

Experts and architects have long disagreed about where to stop measuring super-tall buildings outfitted with masts, spires and antennas that extend far above the roof. Consider the case of the Empire State Building: Measured from the sidewalk to the tip of its needle-like antenna, the granddaddy of all super-tall skyscrapers actually stands 1,454 feet high, well above the mark being surpassed by One World Trade Center today. Purists, though, say antennas shouldn’t count when determining building height.

An antenna, they say, is more like furniture than a piece of architecture. Like a chair sitting on a rooftop, an antenna can be attached or removed. The Empire State Building didn’t even get its distinctive antenna until 1952.

The record books, as the argument goes, shouldn’t change every time someone installs a new satellite dish. Excluding the antenna brings the Empire State Building’s total height to 1,250 feet. That was still high enough to make the skyscraper the world’s

tallest from 1931 until 1972. From that height, the Empire State seems to tower over the second tallest completed building in New York, the Bank of America Tower.

Yet, in many record books, the two skyscrapers are separated by just 50 feet. That’s because the tall, thin mast on top of the Bank of America building isn’t an antenna, but a decorative spire.

Unlike antennas, record-keepers like spires. It’s a tradition that harkens back to a time when the tallest buildings in many European cities were cathedrals.

Groups like the Council on Tall Buildings, and Emporis, a building data provider in Germany, both count spires when measuring the

the north tower of the original World Trade Center. The building’s roof will be topped with a 408foot, cable-stayed mast, making the total height of the structure a symbolic 1,776 feet.

So is that needle an antenna or a spire? “Not sure,” wrote Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the building. The needle will, indeed, function as a broadcast antenna.

It is described on the Port Authority’s website as an antenna.

On the other hand, the structure will have more meat to it than your average antenna, with external cladding encasing the broadcast mast. Without that spire, One

thus count it as part of the architectural height.”

But, he noted, the organization has also chosen to sidestep these types of disputes, somewhat, by recognizing three types of height records: tallest occupied floor, architectural top, and height to the tip. Hollister also pointed out that, technically speaking, One World Trade Center isn’t a recordholder in any category yet, as it is still unfinished. “A project is not considered a building until it is topped out, fully clad, and open for business or at least occupiable,” he said.

The debate doesn’t quite end there. Neither of the Willis Tower nor One World Trade are as high

NEW YORK: This April 27, 2012 photo shows the Empire State Building (center) and One World Trade Center (rear right). — AP total height of a building, even if that spire happens to look exactly like an antenna.

This quirk in the record books has benefited buildings like Chicago’s recently opened Trump International Hotel and Tower. It is routinely listed as being between 119 to 139 feet taller than the Empire State Building, thanks to the antenna-like mast that sits on its roof, even though the average person, looking at the two buildings side by side, would probably judge the New York skyscraper to be taller. The same factors apply to measuring the height of One World Trade Center. Designs call for the tower’s roof to stand at 1,368 feet - the same height as

World Trade Center would still be smaller than the Willis Tower in Chicago, formerly known as the Sears Tower, which tops out at 1,451 feet (not including its own antennas).

Debate over which of those buildings can truly claim to be the tallest in the US has been raging for years on Internet message boards frequented by skyscraper enthusiasts. As for the Council on Tall Buildings, it is leaning toward giving One World Trade the benefit of the doubt. “This is something we have discussed with the architect,” Hollister said. “As we understand it, the needle is an architectural spire which happens to enclose an antenna. We would

as the CN Tower, in Toronto, which stands at 1,815 feet. That structure, however, isn’t considered a building at all by most recordkeepers, because it is predominantly a television broadcast antenna and observation platform with very little interior space.

The tallest manmade structure in the Western Hemisphere will continue to be the 2,063-foot-tall KVLY-TV antenna in Blanchard, North Dakota. As for the world’s tallest building, the undisputed champion is the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, which opened in 2010 and reaches 2,717 feet. Not counting about 5 feet of aircraft lights and other equipment perched on top, of course. — AP

Notorious S African minibus drivers compete to be safest ASHGABAD: Turkmenistan’s jockeys hold a horse called Khan of the Eagles during the Day of the Turkmen Race Horse holiday yesterday. — AFP

Turkmen prez holds horse beauty contest ASHGABAT: The horse-mad leader of Turkmenistan hosted his second presidential beauty contest yesterday for horses in the isolated Central Asian state. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov awarded “the most beautiful horse of the year” prize to a thoroughbred stallion called Khan of the Eagles, which beat the nine other finalists decked in traditional bridles. The leader then pulled off his jacket and leapt onto a horse to ride a victory circuit of the racecourse outside Ashgabat to cheers from the crowd.

The horse beauty contest falls on a national holiday, the Day of the Turkmen Race Horse in the ex-Soviet state, which is home to an ancient breed of horses called Akhal-Teke. In the run-up to the holiday, state newspaper

Neutral Turkmenistan published daily poems for a week on its front page singing the praises of the president’s favorite horses, illustrated with color photographs.

Berdymukhamedov, 54, has written a book about horses that was published in a print-run of many thousands and once posed on his favorite steeds for a calendar. The former dentist took over the leadership of the energy-rich state in 2007 after the death of the eccentric dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, who renamed months and days of the week in honour of himself and his family. The new president removed some of the trappings of that regime but has launched his own cult of personality and is known by the unofficial title of the Protector. — AFP

California rescuers hope dolphin finds way to sea HUNTINGTON BEACH, California: A wayward dolphin that has spent two days in a narrow wetlands channel along the southern California coast was on its way out to the ocean Saturday when it suddenly turned tail and swam back to shallow waters. Wildlife experts on paddleboards managed to coax the animal towards the open sea Saturday but it was spooked by a pair of fellow dolphins.

“He freaked out for some reason,” said Peter Wallerstein of Marine Animal Rescue.

“He split almost full-speed back under the bridge where he had been.” Rescuers decided to let the healthy, strong and fast dolphin try to find its own way out, Wallerstein said. Any attempt to capture it could be dangerous to the animal and rescuers. The 1.8-m-long, black-and-white common dolphin was spotted in a channel of the Bolsa Chica wetlands

Friday, circling in shallow waters as crowds grew along the banks and TV helicopters flew overhead. Wallerstein said the 180-kg dolphin doesn’t need a high tide to escape. “He’s not stranded and he’s not trapped,” Wallerstein said. “He can make it out if he chooses to.”

The wetlands are separated from the ocean by a wide beach and the Pacific Coast Highway. Sea water flows in from Huntington Harbour on one end and an inlet cut through the beach on the opposite end.

The dolphin, part of a small pod seen in the harbor earlier in the week, entered the channel through a hole in a tidal gate that separates the harbor from the marsh, said Dean Gomersall, animal care supervisor at the nonprofit Pacific Marine Mammal Center. The other five dolphins remained in the harbor and may have to be coaxed back out to sea, Gomersall said. — AP

GERMISTON, South Africa: Mangled wreckage from deadly head-on collisions is usually what lands South Africa’s notoriously aggressive minibus taxis in the headlines, an image some drivers are working to change. In a country with nearly 14,000 road deaths a year - one of the highest rates in the world minibus taxis are often blamed for the carnage. One driver in February was sentenced to prison on murder charges, for killing 10 children in a minibus-train crash after he ignored a lowered safety boom at a railroad crossing.

But one competition is attracting thousands of drivers hoping to improve the taxis’ reputation and avoid such deadly accidents: a contest for the title of South Africa’s safest driver. “We are learning how to take care of our passengers. We are learning also how to save ourselves,” said driver Molupe Leboto, 29, at a session in Germiston, near Johannesburg. Behind him a fellow driver in a bright orange t-shirt does manoeuvres between traffic cones while others wait in the shade. They take turns reversing and parking on an obstacle course while an instructor evaluates their skills. Then they take to the streets for a road test.

More than 5,000 drivers are competing in the Number 1 Taxi Driver Campaign, hoping to win one of four spanking new minibuses of their own in a contest meant to teach advanced driving, business skills and just simple manners. “ They ’re always rushing. Their bosses want money so they’re working under very strict conditions and it pushes them to go over yellow lanes, to drive a little bit reckless and a little bit faster,” driving instructor Sthembiso Segolela said. Operators are frank about their shortcomings. “They bend the rules sometimes, but the thing is if you do that once, or you do that twice - many times it will cause an accident,” said taxi driver Churchill.

The 30-billion-rand ($3.8-billion) industry, which ferries around 25 million people a day, suffers from an image that its drivers are all reck less, speeding and blaring horns through the streets. They’ve also come under

fire for abusing women who wear mini-skirts, and even knocking over pedestrians in road rage incidents. “Road rage affects innocent drivers on the road. So that’s what we’re trying to discourage, so they could try to get a little bit of emotional intelligence so they know how to control their emotion,” Segolela said. On top of that pressures from competitors and passengers stress out conductors,

is sponsored by Brandhouse, a drinks distributor for labels like Johnnie Walker.

Both South Africa’s taxi associations encourage their members to take part. “They protect the very commuter, because that is where our bread comes from,” said Francis Masitsa, chairman of the National Taxi Association, whose members account for 40 percent of minibus operators. But more is

GERMISTON, South Africa: A driving instructor evaluates a minibus taxi driver on April 16, 2012 as part of a training session including obstacle course and road testing. — AFP who are paid by commission rather than by the hour, creating an incentive to carry as many people as quickly as possible. “They used to get angry very fast. As they’re customers, it is patience I need to have most,” said driver Musa Mndebele, 35. In an industry with many illegal operators, the campaign encourages regulation by requiring contestants to have a drivers’ licence and public transport permit.

Authorities support the campaign, which

needed than 30 minutes with an instructor to turn the tide. A taxi academy was launched last year by the South African Taxi Council, the other major industry association, but it has yet to get off the ground.

Meanwhile road safety officials have set up roadblocks on provincial borders around the country and courts have meted out severe punishment for taxi drivers responsible for road deaths. The driver in the train crossing accident was jailed for 20 years. — AFP

H E A LT H

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

KABUL: (Left) Roosters duel during a cockfighting match in the Afghan capital on April 20, 2012. (Right) Afghan spectators gather to watch fighting partridges.— AFP photos

Fighting season - for animals - peaks in Afghanistan KABUL: Spring marks the start of the “fighting season” for humans involved in Afghanistan’s decade-long war - but for birds, dogs, camels and even kites it reaches its peak. At dawn on Friday mornings in Kabul’s central park, hundreds of people converge with decorated cages full of fighting birds, including quail and roosters, as well as dogs, for a day of bloody combat by proxy. “I was born and grew up in war, I love to see fighting, it is a good pastime,” says

Najibullah, 30, while fondling his bird and preparing it for a big fight. “Last Friday, my quail beat two others, it is a hero,” he says.

In other corners of the park big roosters with bloody beaks fight and dogs rip into each other as crowds of excited men roar around them.

Outside of the capital, particularly in northern areas of the country, people also make camels, rams and bulls fight, for the “fun” of watching them - and for gambling on the outcome.

Specially-bred fighting partridges face off in a pastime locally called ‘kabk’ at the Central Park in Kabul on April 13, 2012.

Animal fighting was banned as un-Islamic under the Taleban’s 1996-2001 regime, but is once again a violent feature of daily life in Afghanistan - as is the war between Taleban insurgents and 130,000 NATO troops.

The hardline Islamist Taleban were overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2001 for harbouring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington and have since waged an increasingly bloody insurgency. Spring, when the snows melt, is traditionally the start of intensified fighting - this year signalled by a major attack by Taliban suicide squads on Kabul on April 15.

“No doubt the continuous fighting in the country has added to the violent character of the people,” says Dr Temorshah Mosamim, head of a mental health hospital in Kabul, referring to more than 30 years of war since a Soviet invasion in 1979. “War is a main cause of mental health problems in Afghanistan too. Poverty, stress, fear, trauma - all this presses people to lose their temper. Up to 80 percent of around 100 patients we see every day have violent characters due to war,” he adds.

Taleban militants have targeted animal fighting gatherings several times in the past. In February 2008, around 80 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked the crowd at a dog fight in Kandahar. But Afghans, who live with war every day, are not deterred. Even when families and friends gather on windy hilltops to fly their kites, they do it to fight each other.

At the top of Maranjan hill in the centre of Kabul hundreds of people gather every Friday for kite fighting. “There is no fun only in flying kites, you have to fight with them”, says Ahmad Shah, controlling his colourful kite in aerial

combat with a competitor, each trying to slice through the other’s glass-coated string and bring the kite down. People who don’t like forced and vicious animal fighting, love kite fighting, he says. “As long as I remember, the people of Afghanistan have always been fighting for different causes, we cannot love anything else but fighting”, Shah says. —AFP

A man spits water onto the beak of his rooster during a break in between rounds during a weekly cockfight gathering in Kabul on April 20, 2012.

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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

Announcements People of Uttrankhand state form association It gives us pleasure to inform you that we, the people of Uttrankhand \ state from India, have decided to form an Association which will soon be registered with Indian embassy Kuwait. Nearly 200 people have already been connected and have given their valuable views and suggestions. All people have given their positive response. Anyone from Uttrakhand who is interested in joining the Association can contact Ravindra Singh Rawat on 6609 4925 for more information.

Frontliners function Frontliners Association, Kuwait is conducting a starstudded “National Integration and Grand Cultural Show’ on May 4, 2012 (Friday) at 6pm at Al-Jeel Jadeed, School, Hawally. The highlight of the function will be the release of “Frontliners Book - series 16” by writer NC Mohandoss. Three eminent persons with illustrious career will grace the occasion of the Book release.

Gopalaswami, Former Chief Election Commissioner will be the Chief Guest. V. Ponraj, Scientist & Advisor to former President Dr Abdul Kalam, is a key public figure whose recent tasks included the preparataion of “Koodankulam Report” and conducting special training session for the MLAs after the Assembly election last year and Vivek, the special guest for the evening - is a ‘Padma Shri’ awardee and a popular Tamil film comedian known to south with a string of awards for his hilarious and stylish performances. For details contacy 99816937, 55483266.

‘Arangetram 2012’ Nandhanam School of Dance, an institute to promote India’s rich culture and values in Kuwait, is conducting its first “Arangetram 2012”, a student’s debut on stage dance performance, at the American International School, Maidan Hawalli - Kuwait on Friday, May 4, 2012.

The program will start by 05:45 pm and the guests are requested to be seated 15 minutes before the program.

For information contact 97895754, 99129611, 67057758.

Intensive Free Arabic Course in IPC IPC is opening an intensive Basic Arabic Course for ladies commencing from June 3-July 8, 2012. The class will be from 5 -7 pm and 3 days a week. Registration is on! For information, call: 22512257.

Iranian Contemporary Art Date: 23rd April to 10th May, 2012 These are images of conflations and juxtapositions. Sabzi’s paintings signify the crossroad of cultures and evoke one of the most pertinent signs of the multiculturalism that has been the hallmark of the arts in late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His art represents that humanized perspective where in memory persists across cultural zones, even when and where it has no relevance.

So many of his works speak of conditions where values and perspectives seep through the chinks of any culture’s shield of protection. They are about the kind of interconnectedness that can no longer be undone; they are about the end of purity and the end of searching for origins and essence.

The Event-Art & Fashion Date: April 28-May 1 The Event will be sponsored by Goji Boutique and Qumarl4 and will be filled with an eclectic mix of designers who compliment each other, providing the visitors with an inspiring and unique shopping experience. To add to excitement Join them and feast your eyes! Dar Al Funoon is located In Al-Watiah, Behbehani Compound, House No.28. For more Information please call 22433738 or log onto www.daralfunoon-kw.com Sadu House Opening: 7 May 2012 5pm-8pm Exhibition Hours: 8 May, 9am - 1pm & 48pm, 9 May, 9am - 1pm For its launch exhibition, Zen Crafts presents the richness of Gulf handicrafts, blending traditional and modern design to create unique and expertly crafted contemporary pieces. An exquisite limited collection of hand-woven textiles inspired by the bedouin art of Sadu weaving, and award-winning designer/ silversmith Nedda El-Asmar’s take on the modern mabkhar, the Gulf’s iconic incense burner, will be unveiled. Join us on this cultural journey from Kuwait to Laos and Brussels in the brand’s quest for new interpretations of our Gulf heritage. Sodu House is located in Kuwait City, on Gulf Street, next to the Kuwait National Museum. For more Information please call 99402406 or email info@zericrafts.com Visit www.zericrafts.com Public speaking “Speech Craft” Public Speaking course vy Bright Horizons Toastmasters Club. May 4, 2012 - May 26, 2012 (all-day). Weekly on Friday and Saturday until May 26, 2012 at Better Books & Cafe (Located behind Rashid Hospital, right around the corner from the Titanic building and Sanbouk Supermarket, Salmiya). Contact: Anil Lobo or Mariam Othman 9928-3020 or 6640-5018.

Kala-Kuwait, Balakalamela-2012 KALA-Kuwait is pleased to announce the registration for the Balakalamela-2012, the art & literary completions for Indian school children, to be held on two consecutive Fridays 27 April 2012 & 4 May 2012 at Carmel School, Khaitan, to provide maximum opportunity for the students to participate. Based on the repeated requests from the community, KALA have included instrument music also in addition to the existing list of items. Competitions on dance and performing arts are scheduled to 27 April 2012 while Literary & instrument music competitions will be held on 4 May. The registration is free and forms are already distributed to Indian schools in Kuwait as well as available in our website www.kalaonweb.com The filled form may be sent to kalabalakalamela@gmail.com or fax to 24317875. The completions shall be for the 3 categories Sub-Junior, Junior & Seniors and are open to students from Class-I to XII. The prize distribution will be on June 1, the KALA mega event for the year ‘Thathwamasi’ at Central School Auditorium Abbassiya. For further information/ clarification contact 66180229, 66863957, 97817100, 67765810 KKIC to hold Islamic Conference for Indian Students Kuwait Kerala Islahi Centre (KKIC) will conduct an Islamic Students Conference (ISCON 2012, Kuwait) for Indian teenage students on May 4-5 at the Kuwait Grand Masjid premises. The conference, adopting the phrase ‘Knowledge for Salvation’ as its slogan, is aiming at invigorating the moral conscience of the student community. The core events will include workshops on value based character building, scientific personality assessment and self management techniques. Ashraf Ekarul, Education Secretary to KKIC informed that experienced trainers, academics, Islamic scholars and other dignitaries will attend the two day conference.

GUST organizes English Language and Literature Conference

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) faculty organized the first ever English Language and Literature International Conference (GELL) as part of an initiative to strengthen the English language communication and to share knowledge of literature between professors and students here and professors abroad. The 3-day event welcomed over 20 professors from all over the world including Kuwait, KSA, UAE, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Algeria and Finland; as well as the diverse English language professors at GUST, sharing information with staff, students and other faculty alike. The event also had GUST staff speakers that shared their knowledge of grammar by explaining the difference basic punctuation makes in sentences through examples with reference to Kuwaiti terms.

The Head Organizer of the event Dr. Ikram Elsherif, welcomed the guests and students during the opening ceremony and thanked all who helped her in making this event possible. Dr. Robert Cook, VP of Academic Affairs at GUST, gave the opening speech stating that one of the main goals of the conference was “for faculty to interact with colleagues from abroad to share and discuss ideas,” and noted that it was also an opportunity for

students to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge which this qualified pool of professors and instructors from all over the world have come to share with them. Dr Cook thanked all the organizers of the events and gave a special thank you to all the sponsors: Arabic Advanced

USA, talking about Adventures in New Media: Why We Read the Classics, discussing the evolution of social media and the internet and its effect of readers and why ultimately we read the classics despite all these developments in the world around us from technology to day-

Systems, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, Wataniya, Growmore General Trading Co, GUST CACR, GUST AM Al-Refai Library and the GUST Bookstore.

Following their speeches, the audience listened to the first key note speaker of the event, Prof. Marianna Torgovnick, from Duke University in the

to-day life tasks. Over the next few days, many keynote speakers shared their research including: Dr. Sahar AElMougy of Cairo University in Egypt who spoke about the evolution of creative writing in a globalized world; the controversy surrounding the term and how the access to media and ease of sharing information has changed the creative writing tech-

niques, skills and experiences. Dr. Fadia Faqir of Durham University in the UK, whose lecture was entitled: Granda: Migrations, Hybridity and Transcultural Encounters; a more technical and detailoriented topic, Dr. Faqir entertained professors on an in-depth look at how literature can be used to influence ideas and pre-conceived notions through the techniques used in the writing itself. Dr. Raymond Ramcharitar, Prof. Roumyanna Slabakova (Unviersity of Iowa, USA) and Prof. Robert JC Young (University of New York, USA), all covered different topics in the realm of English Literature from how shared experiences can affect the imaginations to how English literature if effected by other languages. The following GUST professors participated in the Conference, sharing their studies and perspectives with their global counterparts: Martin Rosenstock, Terry Rodreguiz, Hussain Al-Sharoufi, Piers Michael Smith Ivan Ivanov,Marta Tryzna, Keith Jardim, Steven Koehn, Kamel Elsaadany, Thorsten Botz-Borsten, and Janet Testerman. The Conference was a grand success and an excellent learning experience. GUST hopes to continue this tradition for many years to come and would like to thank the English Department for their efforts in organizing and participating in this event.

Starwood hotels and resorts open 3 new hotels in dubai

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tarwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc has signed an agreement with UAE-based conglomerate Al-Habtoor Group to open three hotels in Dubai. Located on a one million square-foot property on Sheikh Zayed Road, the development will include the first St Regis hotel in Dubai, a stylish W Hotel and a new Westin, adding 1,675 rooms to the city when they open in 2017. Starwood currently operates 15 properties in Dubai, representing the second largest concentration of the company’s hotels in a single city outside of New York.

“We are delighted to partner with Al Habtoor Group on this ambitious development which marks an important milestone for us in Dubai,” said Roeland Vos, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East. “Dubai has surged over the years as a top destination for international travelers. This landmark project underlines Starwood’s commitment to continued growth in the region and further strengthens our longestablished position as one of the leading hotel operators in the Middle East.”

Khalaf Al Habtoor, Chairman of Al Habtoor Group said he looks forward to building a new landmark in Dubai with the project. “We are excited to partner with Starwood in bringing three of their world-class brands together for this monumental project. This iconic project will offer Dubai a unique and popular destination to experience the finest hospitality with a fine range of dining and entertainment options all in the same vicinity.”

Located in a prime business location overlooking the Burj Khalifa near the Dubai International Financial Centre and Business Bay areas, each hotel will feature a distinct food and beverage component,

signature spas and offer spectacular views of the city’s vibrant skyline. The development will also feature a one-of-akind destination entertainment theatre surrounded by exquisite landscaped gardens on over 500,000 square-feet of land.

The St. Regis Dubai Offering a new standard of luxury in Dubai, The St Regis Dubai will feature

241 luxuriously-appointed guest rooms, including 49 elegant suites. The hotel will also offer extensive state-of-the-art meeting and event space as well as a wide range of luxury experiences with eight distinctive culinary, lounge and bar venues, a signature spa, swimming pool, a state-of-the-art fitness center and a 8,600 square-foot St. Regis ballroom. Following in the tradition that

began in 1904 at The St. Regis New York, The St. Regis Dubai will feature the famed hallmarks of the St. Regis brand including signature St. Regis Butler Service, bespoke guest experiences and luxury accommodations tailored to global travelers.

The addition of The St. Regis Dubai builds on the brand’s portfolio of iconic hotels where the brand recently made its debut in the Middle East with the opening of The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi and will also open The St. Regis Doha in Qatar and The St. Regis Abu Dhabi later this year. The St. Regis Amman Hotel & Residences in Jordan is scheduled to open in 2014.

W Dubai - Sheikh Zayed Road The new W Dubai - Sheikh Zayed Road will provide a cutting-edge lifestyle experience, comprising 384 stylish guest rooms including 88 suites, four WOW Suites and one Extreme WOW Suite (W’s take on the Presidential suite).

The hotel will offer eight contemporary dining venues, the signature W Lounge (W’s reinterpretation of the traditional hotel lobby), WET pool deck, SWEAT state-of-the-art fitness center, a signature spa and contemporary meeting and event spaces, including the W Great Room. Guests will also enjoy the W brand’s signature Whatever/Whenever service philosophy, providing guests whatever they want whenever they want it.

Along with W Dubai, the W brand has plans to open three more W Hotels in the region in Abu Dhabi, Amman, and Muscat. W Hotels made its debut in the Middle East in 2009 with the opening of the iconic W Doha Hotel & Residences in Qatar.

The Westin Dubai - Sheikh Zayed Road Offering a sensory-rich and relaxing atmosphere, The Westin Dubai - Sheikh Zayed Road will feature 1,050 guest rooms and 129 suites. The hotel’s guest rooms and suites will be outfitted with the renowned Westin Heavenly Bed(r) as well as the Heavenly Bath(r), ensuring renewal with the help of the brand’s signature amenities and rainforest shower heads with extra-wide spray radius.

Other signature features will include the Westin Heavenly Spa, consisting of six treatment rooms and the WestinWORKOUT fitness facility offering state-of-the-art equipment. The hotel will also offer six distinct food and beverage outlets and more than 26,000 square-feet of ultra-modern meeting and event space including The Westin Ballroom, 14 meeting rooms and a business center.

The Westin Dubai is the third property for the brand in the UAE and joins the recently opened The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa and The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina in Dubai.

Starwood currently operates close to 50 hotels in the Middle East, which includes 23 hotels in the UAE. The company is set to open more than 30 hotels in the region over the next few years, representing a portfolio growth of more than 50 per cent. By 2015, the Middle East will become the second region, after North America, to operate all nine of Starwood’s world-class brands - St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft and Element - further reinforcing the company’s commitment to the region.

Prathibha Kuwait holds literary meet

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rathibha Kuwait, a forum for literature lovers among Keralites in Kuwait, conducted a literary discussion on story writing. Instead of using out-dated and clichÈd ideas, writers should mould the readers according to their thinking and views. Abdullatheef Neeleswaram and

Jawahar K analyzed the story “Parvathi” written by M Kareem. Editor Jawahar K released a Little magazine named “Kani” by giving a copy to I V Dineshan. Preman Illath, Abdullatheef Neeleswaram, Erampuram Kottappuram, Hari Paravur, Rajappan Chunakkara and Krishnankutty spoke.

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he Arab Open University rewarded 133 outstanding students in a ceremony hosted at the AOU campus in Khaitan and attended by the management, teaching staff and students’ parents. The event was supervised by assistant director for academic affairs Dr. Najeeb Al-Shehabi, who attended on behalf of AOU - Kuwait Branch Director, Dr. Nayef Al-Mutairi.

The students’ speech was delivered by head of the students’ council, Musa Al-Busairi.

31

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the Embassy.

The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency.

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Courtyard by Marriott Kuwait launches Incredible India Festival

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he renowned Indian contemporary restaurant, Soul and Spice, at Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Kuwait celebrated its first year anniversary patronized under His Excellency the Indian Ambassador in Kuwait, Mr Satish Mehra. Among the high-profile attendees were a number of VIPs, officials, delegates, Kuwaiti media representatives and the team at Kuwait Marriott Hotels.

The Incredible India festival was launched to commemorate the popular restaurant’s successful first year of operations since its inception in Kuwait - by embarking on a Maharaja journey with India’s exquisite flavors. The festival which commenced on April 28th and will end May 28th, 2012 is set to feature 4 zones, each of which will boast popular delicacies from every corner of India North, South, East, and West. Fabulous tents and live cooking stations have been set up to entice guests with homemade delights from each corner of India.

The restaurant has earned a reputation in Kuwait among locals and expatriates alike for using nothing less than the finest seasonal ingredients from India for all of its dishes.

George Aoun, General Manager of

Kuwait Marriott Hotels said: “It is a pleasure to see our local and international guests enjoying Soul and Spice’s memorable dining experience, while also satisfying their tastes for one of the world’s fastest growing cuisines.

long festival, guests can look forward to a scrumptious meal fit for a “maharaja” king at just KD 10 per person .Guests can watch their food being prepared in front of them at the contemporary open kitchen. A truly

on marble top , mini uttapams ,pan fried rice pancakes with a choice of toppings, pav bhaji -flavoured bread rolls stuffed with onion tomato and a spicy tangy sauce on the live counter and tandoori Grouper, a tamarind

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. 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.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy has moved. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies.

Registration information can be emailed to cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227 or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine).

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EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on Sunday, May 6, 2012 on account of ‘Buddha Purnima’.

Chef Raj, our popular Chef de Cuisine is set to create an innovative mix of tailor made recipes that keep our guests coming back for more all the time. “ The Incredible India festival at the Soul & Spice will be held every evening from 7 pm to 11 pm with live traditional entertainment set in the restaurant’s signature ambience. During the month

authentic menu will be presented to stir up a lasting appetite through interesting tents - themed under each of the four regional zones to stay true to the diversity of cultural flavors in the Indian subcontinent. The main course meals include popular dishes as chicken tikka, an all-time favorite boneless chicken piece curry cooked in tandoor

glazed fresh hammour medallion cooked in tandoor to name a few.

Meals can also prepared without fire at the live counter for individual tables if preferred, namely chaana chaat - a mix of chickpeas, dahi kachori, a mix of lentils and yoghurt and aloo chaat, a potato mix guaranteed to leave an authentic aftertaste.

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EMBASSY OF KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturday to Thursday Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.

Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NEPAL The Embassy of Nepal will be moving from its current location to a new place in Jabriya, Block 8, St. 13, House No. 514, effective from 15th April, 2012. Till the new telephone connections are installed, the Embassy may be contacted by email: info@nepembku.org

Movenpick Hotel celebrates launch of 2012 Summer Offers

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ovenpick Hotel Kuwait Free trade Zone invited elite press representatives and their main bookers to spend an open family day in celebration of the launch of the 2012 Summer Offers. The celebration spirited Hawaii Island airs, which began as guests passed through the Hotel main door. The entrances, swimming pools, palms and tables were decorated with the best of trims, characterizing Hawaii Island theme, which raised the audience admiration and praise.

The celebration started with a word by the General Manager of the hotel, “Beat Peter”, who welcomed the audience and thanked them for accepting the invitation.

He then reviewed all Hotel planned activities and events dur-

ing the summer, including offers for accommodation, restaurants, swimming pools at the Hotel and kid’s activities at Movenpick kids

Club.

The Open Day included a variety of entertainment activities. The

guests and their families enjoyed the distinctive summer breeze and the magnificent swimming pools at the Hotel, in addition to the spe-

cial “Hawaii Island Show”, performed by the Hotel staff. During the ceremony, a magic and illusion

show ignited the thrill and excitement spirit of all attendees.

Children were so much cared for, as the Hotel prepared for them a

program full of activities and games under the auspices of” Baroue let’s Play “, in addition to

face painting and hair braiding.

Also, they were presented with valuable gifts, granting them more joy and fun.

The Lunch Buffet, the Hotel prepared for its guests at the deluxe banquet included the best and most delicious dishes, characterizing “Hawaii Island”. The Hawaiian refreshing summer drinks and life cooking corner were available for guest to benefit from and could prepare the most delicious recipes upon request. At the end of the event, souvenir photos were taken and every one expressed their deep gratitude for the warm and generous hospitality, promising the Hotel with more support and cooperation and wishing it further progress and success.

The Regency Kuwait hosts ANZAC Day

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iplomats, dignitaries and numerous members of Kuwait’s resident Australian community were all present on 25th April at The Regency Kuwait’s Silk Road Restaurant to celebrate one of the most important festivals of remembrance in the antipodean calendar. ANZAC Day honors the Australia New Zealand Army Corps, better known as ANZAC, and falls annually on 25th April; this solemn day is normally marked Down Under at myriad public events with much pomp and ceremony and is considered a national holiday.

This year The Regency chose to celebrate ANZAC Day with a specially created four-course menu created by Executive Chef, Austen Reid, showcasing some of the finest meats from Australia, including veal, lamb and the highly prized grain-fed Wagyu beef, famed for the fine threads of fat contained in the deep ruby-red meat, referred to by foodies as ‘marbling’.

Rib eye, tenderloin and lamb rack, as well as succulent veal chops were all dished out in The Regency’s typically generous portions - some of the meat cuts topped 280grams in weight! To

ensure that diners got a real taste of Australia, the chefs prepared endless traditional accompaniments, such as the all-time favorite mashed potatoes, as well as classic sauces and a wealth of vegetables. Graciously attending the inaugural supper was His Excellency the Australian Ambassador Bob Tyson and his spouse, together with Mr. Abduljaleel Albaf, Chairman of the Kuwait Combined Friendship Association in Australia Inc., fittingly a body aimed to promote ties between

Kuwait and Australia.

After being greeted by the hotel’s General Manager, Mr. Riaz Mahmood, who admitted that he was himself a firm fan of Australian meat, the guests were clearly all delighted to be able to indulge in the rare culinary offerings from Australia. Much praise went to the chef’s superb beef Carpaccio starter, described by one Australian-Kuwaiti guest as “the best Carpaccio” she had ever sampled. “Quality is always our priority” stated Executive Chef, Austen

Reid, afterwards, “I truly believe that if you serve only the best of the best, you can’t go wrong”. Certainly the diners seemed to agree as the inaugural ANZAC Day festivities closed with smiles and photos.

The Regency’s quest for the best continues with its Friday Brunch, a sumptuous smorgasbord of culinary offerings ranging from home-made sushi, seafood and smoked salmon to live cooking displays by at least ten chefs who present diners with a wide range of sweet and savoury dishes, of course ensuring the food is not only cooked to the guest’s liking but always at its freshest. A similar display of gastronomic prowess is on show on Saturdays with The Regency’s inimitable pool-side BBQ - just make sure you book early and come with an empty stomach!

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EMBASSY OF ROMANIA The Embassy of Romania to the State of Kuwait would like to inform that the Consular Section of the Embassy will be closed for construction works beginning with 18 April 2012, till 10 May 2012. During this period of time the Consular Section will not issue any type of visas for Romania and will not issue any Romanian passports or travel documents. The Consular Section will only be able to assist with notary deeds. We would like to apologize for any inconvenience.

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EMBASSY OF SLOVAKIA The Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Kuwait would like to inform the public that on the occasion of Labor Day, the Embassy will be closed on Tuesday, May the 1st.

The Embassy will also be closed on the occasion of Liberation Day on Tuesday, May the 8th.

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EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 -25317531, Ext: 14.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” (+ 965) 972-79-206.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

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00:45 01:40 Bear 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 05:45 06:10 07:00 07:25 08:15 08:40 09:10 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:50 13:45 14:10 14:40 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:25 18:20 19:15 19:40 20:10 20:35 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Untamed & Uncut Face To Face With The Polar Wildest Arctic Bite Of The Living Dead Great Ocean Adventures Escape To Chimp Eden Safari Sisters Animal Cops Philadelphia Orangutan Island Penguin Safari The Really Wild Show Cats Of Claw Hill Your Pet Wants This Amba The Russian Tiger Animal Precinct Animal Cops Phoenix Wildlife SOS RSPCA: On The Frontline Wildlife SOS Amba The Russian Tiger Animal Battlegrounds The Really Wild Show Wild Animal Orphans Natural Born Hunters Dogs 101 Must Love Cats Wildlife SOS Going Ape Orangutan Island Animal Battlegrounds A Panda Is Born Into The Lion’s Den Baboons With Bill Bailey Animal Cops Phoenix

00:20 Gok’s Fashion Fix 01:10 Diy SOS 02:00 Holmes On Homes 03:35 What Not To Wear 04:30 Coleen’s Real Women 05:15 The Restaurant UK 06:05 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 06:35 Coleen’s Real Women 07:20 Cash In The Attic USA 07:40 Bargain Hunt 08:25 MasterChef Australia 09:10 MasterChef Australia 09:35 Bargain Hunt 10:20 Antiques Roadshow 11:10 Come Dine With Me 12:00 10 Years Younger 12:25 10 Years Younger 12:50 Gok’s Fashion Fix 13:40 Gok’s Fashion Fix 14:30 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 15:15 House Swap 16:00 Bargain Hunt 16:45 Antiques Roadshow 17:40 Cash In The Attic USA 18:00 New Scandinavian Cooking 18:25 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer 18:50 Indian Food Made Easy 19:15 James Martin’s Brittany 19:40 10 Years Younger 20:30 Gok’s Fashion Fix 22:10 Bargain Hunt 22:55 Antiques Roadshow 23:45 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer

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BBC World News My Country BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News World Features Africa Business Report Newsday India Business Report Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today

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00:00 Aiming For Gold 00:30 World Sport 01:00 World Report 03:00 The Best Of Backstory 03:30 Talk Asia 04:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 05:00 CNN Newsroom 06:00 I Report For CNN 06:30 World’s Untold Stories 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Inside Africa 08:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 World’s Untold Stories 11:00 World Business Today 12:00 The Best Of Backstory 12:30 African Voices 13:00 World One 14:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 19:00 World Sport 19:30 African Voices 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 News Special 23:00 Connect The World With Becky...

00:15 01:05 01:55 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 10:00 11:30 11:40 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45

Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Fish Hooks Recess So Random Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Frenemies Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie A.N.T. Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb So Random Austin & Ally

15:00 17:30 18:50 19:10 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 22:55 23:45

Jessie Aladdin & The King Of Thieves Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Have A Laugh Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Fish Hooks Recess Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Kim Possible

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:45 Rekkit Rabbit 07:35 Timon And Pumbaa 08:25 Phineas And Ferb 09:15 I’m In The Band 10:55 Iron Man Armored Adventures 11:20 Rated A For Awesome 11:45 Rated A For Awesome 12:10 Mr. Young 12:35 Mr. Young 13:00 Suite Life On Deck 15:50 Timon And Pumbaa 16:15 Kickin It 17:30 I’m In The Band 19:10 Iron Man Armored Adventures 19:35 Scaredy Squirrel 20:25 Zeke & Luther 21:20 Pair Of Kings 21:45 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:10 Kid vs Kat 22:35 Kid vs Kat

00:15 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 16:00 16:55 17:20 18:15 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:20

I Escaped: Real Prison Breaks Mythbusters Gold Rush Bering Sea Gold How Stuff’s Made Cake Boss Border Security Auction Hunters Mighty Ships Battle Machine Bros Wheeler Dealers Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How It’s Made How Stuff’s Made Border Security Auction Hunters Cake Boss Gold Rush Bering Sea Gold Swamp Loggers

00:35 Cool Stuff & How It Works 01:25 The Tech Show 01:50 Tech Toys 360 03:05 Cool Stuff & How It Works 06:10 Mean Green Machines 07:00 The Gadget Show 07:50 Nyc: Inside Out 08:40 Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2011 09:35 Punkin Chunkin 2010 10:25 How Does That Work?

11:20 Ultimate Power Builders 12:15 Punkin Chunkin 2010 13:05 How The Universe Works 13:55 The Gadget Show 14:20 The Gadget Show 14:50 How Does That Work?

15:40 The Tech Show 16:05 Ultimate Power Builders 17:00 Nyc: Inside Out 17:50 How The Universe Works 18:40 Mega Builders 19:30 Superships 20:20 The Gadget Show 21:10 Ldrs (Large Dangerous Rocket Ships) 22:00 Mega Builders 22:50 Superships 23:40 Nyc: Inside Out

PETER AND VANDY ON OSN CINEMA

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 Young, Beautiful & Vanished 03:15 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Then And Now 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 10:15 25 Most Sensational Hollywood Meltdowns 12:05 Kendra 13:05 Dirty Soap 14:05 Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami 15:00 Style Star 15:30 E!es 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Bridalplasty 17:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 18:55 THS 19:55 Khloe And Lamar 20:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:25 Ice Loves Coco 22:25 Scouted 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:15 Wrestling With Reality 01:30 Gotta Grudge 01:55 Gotta Grudge 02:20 Final Fu 04:50 Alli Best Trick Competition 05:40 Eurodip 06:30 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2009 08:00 Tread BMX 08:25 Alli Presents 10:55 Fantasy Factory 11:45 Dr Danger 12:35 Ride Guide Snow 2010 13:25 Superstars USA 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Fantasy Factory 15:55 Dr Danger 16:45 Tread BMX 17:10 Alli Presents 19:40 Superstars USA 20:30 Ride Guide Snow 2010 21:20 Gumball 3000: London To New York 22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Enfusion 23:50 Ride Guide Snow 2010

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:30 Kid In A Candy Store 00:55 Restaurant: Impossible 01:45 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 02:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 03:25 Chopped 04:15 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 04:40 Good Eats 05:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 05:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 05:50 Staten Island Cakes 06:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:00 Staten Island Cakes 07:50 World Cafe Asia 08:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 08:40 Good Eats 09:05 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 10:20 Lidia’s Italy 10:45 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 12:00 Staten Island Cakes 12:50 Aarti Party 13:15 Cooking For Real 13:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 14:05 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 14:30 Have Cake, Will Travel 14:55 Paula’s Best Dishes 15:20 Meat & Potatoes 15:45 Iron Chef America 16:35 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:50 Aarti Party 18:15 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 18:40 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 19:05 Have Cake, Will Travel 19:30 Staten Island Cakes 20:20 Iron Chef America 21:10 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 21:35 Gourmet Farmer 22:00 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 22:50 Andy Bates Street Feasts

00:30 00:55 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:10 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 23:15 23:40

I Married A Mobster I Was Murdered Behind Mansion Walls LA: City Of Demons Scorned: Crimes Of Passion I Married A Mobster I Was Murdered On The Case With Paula Zahn Mystery ER Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Street Patrol Street Patrol Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared I Married A Mobster Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Stalked: Someone’s Watching Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:30 05:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:30 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

By Any Means Meet The Natives Food School One Man & His Campervan Bondi Rescue Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Danger Men Pressure Cook

By Any Means Meet The Natives Food School One Man & His Campervan Bondi Rescue Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Danger Men Pressure Cook

By Any Means Around The World For Free Departures Graham’s World Earth Tripping Long Way Down Which Way To City Chase Marrakech Around The World For Free Departures Graham’s World

00:00 Malibu Shark Attack-18 02:00 The Eagle-PG15 04:00 Jason X-18 06:00 Warriors Of Heaven And Earth-PG15 08:00 The Manchurian Candidate 10:15 Time Machine: Rise Of The Morlocks-PG15 12:00 Spider-Man-PG 14:00 The Manchurian Candidate 16:15 The Librarian: The Curse Of Judas Chalice-PG15 18:00 Spider-Man-PG 20:00 Empire-18 22:00 Road To Perdition-PG15

01:00 02:45 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:45 12:45 14:45 16:45 18:45 21:00 23:00

Peter And Vandy-18 The Way Back-PG15 My Dog Tulip-PG15 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 Yogi Bear-FAM Africa United-PG15 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 Stonehenge Apocalypse Africa United-PG15 Burlesque-PG15 Priest-18 Jumping The Broom-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Saturday Night Live Syndicated 03:30 Last Man Standing 04:00 King Of The Hill 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 06:00 Weird Science 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 King Of The Hill 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Weird Science 12:30 King Of The Hill 14:00 Last Man Standing 16:30 Weird Science 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 10 Items Or Less 19:00 Raising Hope 20:00 Community 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:30 Bored To Death 23:30 Community

01:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

Missing Boardwalk Empire Live Good Morning America Switched At Birth Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show Live Good Morning America Switched At Birth The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Game Of Thrones The Closer Boardwalk Empire

00:00 02:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Parenthood Missing Burn Notice Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street Surface Missing Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Game Of Thrones The Closer The Tudors

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:15 11:00 13:15 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00 PG15

Kalifornia-18 Assassination Tango-18 The Rig-18 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 Rocky v-PG15 Alive-PG15 Smoke Screen-PG15 Rocky v-PG15 Salt-PG15 Bats-18 Road To Perdition-PG15 The Burningmoore Incident-

00:00 How To Go Out On A Date In Queens-PG15 02:00 The Dukes-PG15

ROAD TO PERDITION ON OSN ACTION HD 04:00 A Lot Like Love-PG15 06:00 Leap Year-PG15 08:00 Flubber-PG 10:00 My Father The Hero-PG15 12:00 Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang-PG 14:00 Happy Ever Afters-PG15 16:00 How To Go Out On A Date In Queens-PG15 18:00 Feed The Fish-PG15 20:00 Fat Albert-PG 22:00 Stan Helsing-18

01:00 03:00 05:15 07:30 09:00 11:00 13:00 14:45 16:45 19:00 21:00 23:00

Romeo + Juliet-PG15 Me And Orson Welles-PG Guilty As Sin-PG15 MacHEADS-PG15 9-PG Remember Me-PG15 Good Hair-PG15 Me And Orson Welles-PG I Am Sam-PG15 Exodus-PG15 Combien Tu M’aimes-18 All The Pretty Horses-PG15

01:00 Tyrannosaur-18 03:00 Glitter-PG15 05:00 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 07:00 Everybody Wants To Be Italian-PG15 09:00 The Last Airbender-PG 11:00 A Guy Thing-PG15 13:00 Lies In Plain Sight-PG15 15:00 Tangled-FAM 17:00 The Last Airbender-PG 19:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 21:00 A Little Help-18 23:00 Bloodworth-18

00:00 Gladiators: The Conspiracy-PG 02:00 Supertramps-FAM 04:00 Snow Dogs-PG 06:00 Winnie The Pooh-FAM 08:00 Pocahontas & The Spider Woman-PG 10:00 The Borrowers-PG 12:00 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM 14:00 Snow Dogs-PG 16:00 Gladiators: The TournamentPG 18:00 The Borrowers-PG 20:00 Last Of The Mohicans-PG 22:00 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM

00:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 01:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 02:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 03:00 Live NBC Sunday Today Show 04:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 05:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 06:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 08:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 09:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 10:00 ABC World News Now 10:30 Live ABC World News Now 11:00 NBC Early Today 11:30 ABC America This Morning 12:30 Live ABC America This Morning 13:30 MSNBC First Look 14:00 Live NBC Today Show 18:00 MSNBC News 19:00 MSNBC Now With Alex Wagner 20:00 MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 21:00 MSNBC Newsnation 22:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 23:00 MSNBC The Dylan Ratigan Show

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00

Howl-18 Call Of The Wild-PG15 The Fourth Kind-PG15 Flash Of Genius-PG15

08:15 10:15 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Flyboys-PG15 Call Of The Wild-PG15 The Fourth Kind-PG15 5 Dollars A Day-PG15 The Flyboys-PG15 Legend Of The Guardians-PG Scott Pilgrim vs. The World-18 Town Creek-PG15

01:00 Super Rugby 03:00 Premier League Darts 06:30 WWE This Week 07:00 Super Rugby 09:00 Trans World Sport 10:00 WWE Bottom Line 11:00 Futbol Mundial 11:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 12:00 Live NRL Premiership 14:00 Trans World Sport 15:00 Live Snooker 19:00 Super Rugby Highlights 20:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 21:00 Live Snooker

01:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 10:00 12:00 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 23:30

Premier League Darts Futbol Mundial Trans World Sports Snooker Championship European Challenge Cup Ironman Ironman Ironman Ironman Scottish Premier League European Challenge Cup AFL Winners Trans World Sport SPL Highlights Scottish Premier League Golfing World

00:00 Scottish Premier League 02:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 02:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 03:00 Snooker 06:00 Triathlon 06:30 Triathlon 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 European PGA Tour 12:30 Golfing World 13:30 Premier League Darts 17:00 NRL Premiership 19:00 Super Rugby 21:00 Volvo Ocean Race 22:30 AFL Winners 23:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights

01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:30 20:00 22:00

WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Highlights UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE Bottom Line WWE Experience Prizefighter V8 Supercars Championship WWE This Week WWE Experience WWE SmackDown V8 Supercars Championship V8 Supercars Championship UFC 145 Prelims UFC 145

01:20 FAM 04:00 05:30 07:00 08:40 10:15 12:00 13:40 15:05 16:40 18:20 20:10 22:00

The Shoes Of The FishermanAnna Christie-PG 42nd Street-FAM The Sisters-FAM The Tunnel Of Love-PG The Swan-FAM Hooper-PG Wife vs. Secretary-FAM Saratoga-PG Singin’ In The Rain-FAM Rebel Without A Cause-PG Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Whose Life Is It Anyway?

00:00 Chasing Mummies 01:00 Mud Men 02:00 Pawn Stars 02:30 Pawn Stars 03:00 Decoded 04:00 MysteryQuest 05:00 Nostradamus Effect 06:00 Chasing Mummies 07:00 Mud Men 08:00 Pawn Stars 08:30 Pawn Stars 09:00 Decoded 10:00 MysteryQuest 11:00 Nostradamus Effect 12:00 Chasing Mummies 13:00 Mud Men 14:00 Pawn Stars 14:30 Pawn Stars 15:00 Decoded 16:00 MysteryQuest 17:00 High Hitler 18:00 Chasing Mummies 19:00 Life After People 20:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads – The Andes 21:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads – The Andes 22:00 Only In America 23:00 Only In America

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:55 03:20 04:15 05:10 06:05 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:25 09:55 10:50 11:50 12:50 13:15 13:45 14:45 15:40 16:35 17:30 18:25 19:25 20:20 21:15 22:10 23:05

Jerseylicious Fashion Classics Open House Videofashion Daily Videofashion News How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Married Away Clean House Videofashion News Videofashion News Videofashion Daily Open House Fashion Classics How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Clean House: New York Dress My Nest Mel B: It’s A Scary World How Do I Look?

Giuliana & Bill Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane The Amandas The Amandas Wicked Fit Wicked Fit Giuliana & Bill Giuliana & Bill The Amandas How Do I Look?

00:05 00:30 01:45 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 07:00 08:15 09:30 09:55 10:20 10:45 11:10 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:15 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:45 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:15 18:40 19:30

Adventures Abroad Elk Chronicles Dream Season: Celebrity Adventures Abroad Adventures Abroad Adventures Abroad Elk Chronicles Elk Chronicles Elk Chronicles Dream Season: Celebrity Mudslingers Madfin Shark Series Mudslingers Mudslingers Mudslingers Western Sport Fishing Salmon, Trout & Steelheader Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Western Sport Fishing Salmon, Trout & Steelheader Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Western Sport Fishing Salmon, Trout & Steelheader Speargun Hunter

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

Two freshly shaved alpacas stand on a green field at Alpaca-Land farm in Goeming in the Austrian province of Salzburg yesterday. The annual shearing is done in the spring to make the animals more comfortable for the summer months. This will give them plenty of time to grow a thick new coat before winter. —AP

With shuttle’s end, space firms seek new direction HARTFORD, Connecticut: Less than a year after NASA ended its shuttle program, players in America’s space business are casting around for new direction. United Technologies Corp. is the most recent company to announce it will sharply scale back its role in space exploration. It’s selling Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a manufacturer of rocket engines and liquid-propulsion systems that it’s owned for seven years. The sale of Rocketdyne and other businesses are intended to raise $3 billion to finance United Technologies’ purchase of aerospace parts maker Goodrich Corp.

Greg Hayes, chief financial officer at United Technologies, rapped US space policy when he announced the decision in mid-March to sell Rocketdyne. “Growth will be limited at Rocketdyne,” Hayes told investor analysts. “It’s still a very good business. It’s a national asset ... but unfortunately, without a national space policy, growth will be limited for some time.” Rocketdyne dates to early rocketry, working with pioneers such as Wernher von Braun and contributing to propulsion on Apollo spacecraft in the 1960s and ‘70s that brought astronauts to the moon.

The company has a future with NASA even if the space agency’s path is unclear, said Rocketdyne President Jim Maser. Three of four companies vying to take crew to the space station would use Rocketdyne

propulsion, he said. Still, he said, NASA’s path is unclear.

“There is an official space policy and I can’t cite it, to be honest,” Maser said. NASA’s 30-year shuttle program ended last July with the voyage of Atlantis. The space shuttle Discovery has become a museum piece, turned over by NASA in mid-April to the Smithsonian Institution.

Other companies have shifted some business from space exploration. Lockheed Martin Corp. closed its shuttle tank production line in New Orleans in 2010, ending the jobs of about 1,400 workers. A year later, NASA chose that site in New Orleans to build components of its new heavy-lift rocket, but only if Congress funds the project. ATK Space SystemsTech has laid off hundreds of workers in Utah, citing the phase-out of the space shuttle and the Minuteman III ballistic missile programs. And Florida’s Space Coast, once the center of rocket launches, has lost thousands of jobs.

NASA is still using companies such as Boeing, SpaceX and others to ferry cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station in three to five years. Until then, the space agency will spend tens of millions of dollars per seat on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. High-profile space exploration is now becoming a commercial venture. Space Exploration Technologies Corp, better known as SpaceX, plans to launch its Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral to the space station on April 30. And a group

of wealthy backers, including Google executives and filmmaker James Cameron, are behind an asteroid-mining idea.

NASA suffers in comparison with its early days when it followed through on a grand vision by national leaders, starting with President John Kennedy, of sending men to the moon, said Olivier L de Weck, an associate professor of aeronautics, astronautics and engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“It’s a little bit unfair to say NASA has had no space policy,” he said. “It’s not as monumental as Apollo, but it’s still robust and a leader in breadth and scope of impact.”

NASA is working on a new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. But several businesses such as SpaceX insist that with time, also can build a launch system, de Weck said. “It’s a real policy question, government competing with private business for space launch,” de Weck said. An argument can be made that government should focus on military applications such as spy satellites and explore beyond earth while leaving space launches to private business, he said.

United Technologies is not exiting space exploration entirely. The company is selling three industrial businesses at its Hamilton Sundstrand subsidiary, but is leaving untouched the company’s work in making space suits, launch systems and other space equip-

ment. A spokesman for Hamilton Sundstrand would not discuss its space business until after the Rocketdyne sale. Hayes told investor analysts April 24 that United Technologies expects to sign a contract shortly for the sale of the company.

Matt Collins, an analyst at Edward Jones, said United Technologies has scaled back Hamilton Sundstrand’s involvement in space exploration. “It’s a fraction of the business today,” he said. Chris Quilty, a Raymond James analyst, said that without the shuttle, the United States no longer has a vehicle to put humans into space, calling into question the need for rockets. “The rocket does not have a mission. It does not have a payload,” he said. “There’s no lunar lander.

It’s literally a rocket to nowhere.”

Industry changes are spurring “some truly innovative commercial companies coming into existence,” such as Space Exploration Technologies, Quilty said. In Dec 2010, SpaceX became only the fourth entity - after the US Russian and Chinese governments - to put a capsule into space. Rocketdyne’s Maser said space travel is essentially about physics and economics. Only the financial par t has changed, he said.

“Fundamentally, how we leave the planet hasn’t changed,” he said. “We haven’t come up with a brilliant new way to do that.” — AP

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 01:40 Bear 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 05:45 06:10 07:00 07:25 08:15 08:40 09:10 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:50 13:45 14:10 14:40 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:25 18:20 19:15 19:40 20:10 20:35 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Untamed & Uncut Face To Face With The Polar Wildest Arctic Bite Of The Living Dead Great Ocean Adventures Escape To Chimp Eden Safari Sisters Animal Cops Philadelphia Orangutan Island Penguin Safari The Really Wild Show Cats Of Claw Hill Your Pet Wants This Amba The Russian Tiger Animal Precinct Animal Cops Phoenix Wildlife SOS RSPCA: On The Frontline Wildlife SOS Amba The Russian Tiger Animal Battlegrounds The Really Wild Show Wild Animal Orphans Natural Born Hunters Dogs 101 Must Love Cats Wildlife SOS Going Ape Orangutan Island Animal Battlegrounds A Panda Is Born Into The Lion’s Den Baboons With Bill Bailey Animal Cops Phoenix

00:20 Gok’s Fashion Fix 01:10 Diy SOS 02:00 Holmes On Homes 03:35 What Not To Wear 04:30 Coleen’s Real Women 05:15 The Restaurant UK 06:05 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 06:35 Coleen’s Real Women 07:20 Cash In The Attic USA 07:40 Bargain Hunt 08:25 MasterChef Australia 09:10 MasterChef Australia 09:35 Bargain Hunt 10:20 Antiques Roadshow 11:10 Come Dine With Me 12:00 10 Years Younger 12:25 10 Years Younger 12:50 Gok’s Fashion Fix 13:40 Gok’s Fashion Fix 14:30 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 15:15 House Swap 16:00 Bargain Hunt 16:45 Antiques Roadshow 17:40 Cash In The Attic USA 18:00 New Scandinavian Cooking 18:25 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer 18:50 Indian Food Made Easy 19:15 James Martin’s Brittany 19:40 10 Years Younger 20:30 Gok’s Fashion Fix 22:10 Bargain Hunt 22:55 Antiques Roadshow 23:45 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer

00:00 00:10 01:00 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:10 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:30 05:45

BBC World News My Country BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News World Features Africa Business Report Newsday India Business Report Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today

06:00 Newsday 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 14:30 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:00 Aiming For Gold 00:30 World Sport 01:00 World Report 03:00 The Best Of Backstory 03:30 Talk Asia 04:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 05:00 CNN Newsroom 06:00 I Report For CNN 06:30 World’s Untold Stories 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Inside Africa 08:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 World’s Untold Stories 11:00 World Business Today 12:00 The Best Of Backstory 12:30 African Voices 13:00 World One 14:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 19:00 World Sport 19:30 African Voices 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 News Special 23:00 Connect The World With Becky...

00:15 01:05 01:55 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 10:00 11:30 11:40 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45

Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Fish Hooks Recess So Random Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Frenemies Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie A.N.T. Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb So Random Austin & Ally

15:00 17:30 18:50 19:10 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 22:55 23:45

Jessie Aladdin & The King Of Thieves Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Have A Laugh Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Fish Hooks Recess Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Kim Possible

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:45 Rekkit Rabbit 07:35 Timon And Pumbaa 08:25 Phineas And Ferb 09:15 I’m In The Band 10:55 Iron Man Armored Adventures 11:20 Rated A For Awesome 11:45 Rated A For Awesome 12:10 Mr. Young 12:35 Mr. Young 13:00 Suite Life On Deck 15:50 Timon And Pumbaa 16:15 Kickin It 17:30 I’m In The Band 19:10 Iron Man Armored Adventures 19:35 Scaredy Squirrel 20:25 Zeke & Luther 21:20 Pair Of Kings 21:45 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:10 Kid vs Kat 22:35 Kid vs Kat

00:15 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 16:00 16:55 17:20 18:15 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:20

I Escaped: Real Prison Breaks Mythbusters Gold Rush Bering Sea Gold How Stuff’s Made Cake Boss Border Security Auction Hunters Mighty Ships Battle Machine Bros Wheeler Dealers Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How It’s Made How Stuff’s Made Border Security Auction Hunters Cake Boss Gold Rush Bering Sea Gold Swamp Loggers

00:35 Cool Stuff & How It Works 01:25 The Tech Show 01:50 Tech Toys 360 03:05 Cool Stuff & How It Works 06:10 Mean Green Machines 07:00 The Gadget Show 07:50 Nyc: Inside Out 08:40 Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2011 09:35 Punkin Chunkin 2010 10:25 How Does That Work?

11:20 Ultimate Power Builders 12:15 Punkin Chunkin 2010 13:05 How The Universe Works 13:55 The Gadget Show 14:20 The Gadget Show 14:50 How Does That Work?

15:40 The Tech Show 16:05 Ultimate Power Builders 17:00 Nyc: Inside Out 17:50 How The Universe Works 18:40 Mega Builders 19:30 Superships 20:20 The Gadget Show 21:10 Ldrs (Large Dangerous Rocket Ships) 22:00 Mega Builders 22:50 Superships 23:40 Nyc: Inside Out

PETER AND VANDY ON OSN CINEMA

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 Young, Beautiful & Vanished 03:15 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Then And Now 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 10:15 25 Most Sensational Hollywood Meltdowns 12:05 Kendra 13:05 Dirty Soap 14:05 Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami 15:00 Style Star 15:30 E!es 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Bridalplasty 17:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 18:55 THS 19:55 Khloe And Lamar 20:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:25 Ice Loves Coco 22:25 Scouted 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:15 Wrestling With Reality 01:30 Gotta Grudge 01:55 Gotta Grudge 02:20 Final Fu 04:50 Alli Best Trick Competition 05:40 Eurodip 06:30 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2009 08:00 Tread BMX 08:25 Alli Presents 10:55 Fantasy Factory 11:45 Dr Danger 12:35 Ride Guide Snow 2010 13:25 Superstars USA 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Fantasy Factory 15:55 Dr Danger 16:45 Tread BMX 17:10 Alli Presents 19:40 Superstars USA 20:30 Ride Guide Snow 2010 21:20 Gumball 3000: London To New York 22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Enfusion 23:50 Ride Guide Snow 2010

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:30 Kid In A Candy Store 00:55 Restaurant: Impossible 01:45 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 02:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 03:25 Chopped 04:15 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 04:40 Good Eats 05:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 05:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 05:50 Staten Island Cakes 06:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:00 Staten Island Cakes 07:50 World Cafe Asia 08:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 08:40 Good Eats 09:05 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 10:20 Lidia’s Italy 10:45 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 12:00 Staten Island Cakes 12:50 Aarti Party 13:15 Cooking For Real 13:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 14:05 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 14:30 Have Cake, Will Travel 14:55 Paula’s Best Dishes 15:20 Meat & Potatoes 15:45 Iron Chef America 16:35 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:50 Aarti Party 18:15 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 18:40 Dessert First With Anne Thornton 19:05 Have Cake, Will Travel 19:30 Staten Island Cakes 20:20 Iron Chef America 21:10 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 21:35 Gourmet Farmer 22:00 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 22:50 Andy Bates Street Feasts

00:30 00:55 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:10 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 23:15 23:40

I Married A Mobster I Was Murdered Behind Mansion Walls LA: City Of Demons Scorned: Crimes Of Passion I Married A Mobster I Was Murdered On The Case With Paula Zahn Mystery ER Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Street Patrol Street Patrol Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared I Married A Mobster Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Stalked: Someone’s Watching Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:30 05:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:30 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

By Any Means Meet The Natives Food School One Man & His Campervan Bondi Rescue Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Danger Men Pressure Cook

By Any Means Meet The Natives Food School One Man & His Campervan Bondi Rescue Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Danger Men Pressure Cook

By Any Means Around The World For Free Departures Graham’s World Earth Tripping Long Way Down Which Way To City Chase Marrakech Around The World For Free Departures Graham’s World

00:00 Malibu Shark Attack-18 02:00 The Eagle-PG15 04:00 Jason X-18 06:00 Warriors Of Heaven And Earth-PG15 08:00 The Manchurian Candidate 10:15 Time Machine: Rise Of The Morlocks-PG15 12:00 Spider-Man-PG 14:00 The Manchurian Candidate 16:15 The Librarian: The Curse Of Judas Chalice-PG15 18:00 Spider-Man-PG 20:00 Empire-18 22:00 Road To Perdition-PG15

01:00 02:45 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:45 12:45 14:45 16:45 18:45 21:00 23:00

Peter And Vandy-18 The Way Back-PG15 My Dog Tulip-PG15 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 Yogi Bear-FAM Africa United-PG15 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 Stonehenge Apocalypse Africa United-PG15 Burlesque-PG15 Priest-18 Jumping The Broom-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Saturday Night Live Syndicated 03:30 Last Man Standing 04:00 King Of The Hill 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 06:00 Weird Science 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 King Of The Hill 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Weird Science 12:30 King Of The Hill 14:00 Last Man Standing 16:30 Weird Science 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 10 Items Or Less 19:00 Raising Hope 20:00 Community 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:30 Bored To Death 23:30 Community

01:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

Missing Boardwalk Empire Live Good Morning America Switched At Birth Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show Live Good Morning America Switched At Birth The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Game Of Thrones The Closer Boardwalk Empire

00:00 02:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Parenthood Missing Burn Notice Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street Surface Missing Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Game Of Thrones The Closer The Tudors

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:15 11:00 13:15 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00 PG15

Kalifornia-18 Assassination Tango-18 The Rig-18 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 Rocky v-PG15 Alive-PG15 Smoke Screen-PG15 Rocky v-PG15 Salt-PG15 Bats-18 Road To Perdition-PG15 The Burningmoore Incident-

00:00 How To Go Out On A Date In Queens-PG15 02:00 The Dukes-PG15

ROAD TO PERDITION ON OSN ACTION HD 04:00 A Lot Like Love-PG15 06:00 Leap Year-PG15 08:00 Flubber-PG 10:00 My Father The Hero-PG15 12:00 Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang-PG 14:00 Happy Ever Afters-PG15 16:00 How To Go Out On A Date In Queens-PG15 18:00 Feed The Fish-PG15 20:00 Fat Albert-PG 22:00 Stan Helsing-18

01:00 03:00 05:15 07:30 09:00 11:00 13:00 14:45 16:45 19:00 21:00 23:00

Romeo + Juliet-PG15 Me And Orson Welles-PG Guilty As Sin-PG15 MacHEADS-PG15 9-PG Remember Me-PG15 Good Hair-PG15 Me And Orson Welles-PG I Am Sam-PG15 Exodus-PG15 Combien Tu M’aimes-18 All The Pretty Horses-PG15

01:00 Tyrannosaur-18 03:00 Glitter-PG15 05:00 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 07:00 Everybody Wants To Be Italian-PG15 09:00 The Last Airbender-PG 11:00 A Guy Thing-PG15 13:00 Lies In Plain Sight-PG15 15:00 Tangled-FAM 17:00 The Last Airbender-PG 19:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 21:00 A Little Help-18 23:00 Bloodworth-18

00:00 Gladiators: The Conspiracy-PG 02:00 Supertramps-FAM 04:00 Snow Dogs-PG 06:00 Winnie The Pooh-FAM 08:00 Pocahontas & The Spider Woman-PG 10:00 The Borrowers-PG 12:00 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM 14:00 Snow Dogs-PG 16:00 Gladiators: The TournamentPG 18:00 The Borrowers-PG 20:00 Last Of The Mohicans-PG 22:00 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM

00:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 01:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 02:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 03:00 Live NBC Sunday Today Show 04:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 05:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 06:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 08:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 09:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 10:00 ABC World News Now 10:30 Live ABC World News Now 11:00 NBC Early Today 11:30 ABC America This Morning 12:30 Live ABC America This Morning 13:30 MSNBC First Look 14:00 Live NBC Today Show 18:00 MSNBC News 19:00 MSNBC Now With Alex Wagner 20:00 MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 21:00 MSNBC Newsnation 22:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 23:00 MSNBC The Dylan Ratigan Show

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00

Howl-18 Call Of The Wild-PG15 The Fourth Kind-PG15 Flash Of Genius-PG15

08:15 10:15 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Flyboys-PG15 Call Of The Wild-PG15 The Fourth Kind-PG15 5 Dollars A Day-PG15 The Flyboys-PG15 Legend Of The Guardians-PG Scott Pilgrim vs. The World-18 Town Creek-PG15

01:00 Super Rugby 03:00 Premier League Darts 06:30 WWE This Week 07:00 Super Rugby 09:00 Trans World Sport 10:00 WWE Bottom Line 11:00 Futbol Mundial 11:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 12:00 Live NRL Premiership 14:00 Trans World Sport 15:00 Live Snooker 19:00 Super Rugby Highlights 20:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 21:00 Live Snooker

01:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 10:00 12:00 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 23:30

Premier League Darts Futbol Mundial Trans World Sports Snooker Championship European Challenge Cup Ironman Ironman Ironman Ironman Scottish Premier League European Challenge Cup AFL Winners Trans World Sport SPL Highlights Scottish Premier League Golfing World

00:00 Scottish Premier League 02:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 02:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 03:00 Snooker 06:00 Triathlon 06:30 Triathlon 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 European PGA Tour 12:30 Golfing World 13:30 Premier League Darts 17:00 NRL Premiership 19:00 Super Rugby 21:00 Volvo Ocean Race 22:30 AFL Winners 23:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights

01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:30 20:00 22:00

WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Highlights UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE Bottom Line WWE Experience Prizefighter V8 Supercars Championship WWE This Week WWE Experience WWE SmackDown V8 Supercars Championship V8 Supercars Championship UFC 145 Prelims UFC 145

01:20 FAM 04:00 05:30 07:00 08:40 10:15 12:00 13:40 15:05 16:40 18:20 20:10 22:00

Anna Christie-PG 42nd Street-FAM The Sisters-FAM The Tunnel Of Love-PG The Swan-FAM Hooper-PG Wife vs. Secretary-FAM Saratoga-PG Singin’ In The Rain-FAM Rebel Without A Cause-PG Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Whose Life Is It Anyway?

The Shoes Of The Fisherman-

00:00 Chasing Mummies 01:00 Mud Men 02:00 Pawn Stars 02:30 Pawn Stars 03:00 Decoded 04:00 MysteryQuest 05:00 Nostradamus Effect 06:00 Chasing Mummies 07:00 Mud Men 08:00 Pawn Stars 08:30 Pawn Stars 09:00 Decoded 10:00 MysteryQuest 11:00 Nostradamus Effect 12:00 Chasing Mummies 13:00 Mud Men 14:00 Pawn Stars 14:30 Pawn Stars 15:00 Decoded 16:00 MysteryQuest 17:00 High Hitler 18:00 Chasing Mummies 19:00 Life After People 20:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads – The Andes 21:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads – The Andes 22:00 Only In America 23:00 Only In America

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:55 03:20 04:15 05:10 06:05 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:25 09:55 10:50 11:50 12:50 13:15 13:45 14:45 15:40 16:35 17:30 18:25 19:25 20:20 21:15 22:10 23:05

Jerseylicious Fashion Classics Open House Videofashion Daily Videofashion News How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Married Away Clean House Videofashion News Videofashion News Videofashion Daily Open House Fashion Classics How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Clean House: New York Dress My Nest Mel B: It’s A Scary World How Do I Look?

Giuliana & Bill Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane The Amandas The Amandas Wicked Fit Wicked Fit Giuliana & Bill Giuliana & Bill The Amandas How Do I Look?

00:05 00:30 01:45 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 07:00 08:15 09:30 09:55 10:20 10:45 11:10 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:15 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:45 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:15 18:40 19:30

Adventures Abroad Elk Chronicles Dream Season: Celebrity Adventures Abroad Adventures Abroad Adventures Abroad Elk Chronicles Elk Chronicles Elk Chronicles Dream Season: Celebrity Mudslingers Madfin Shark Series Mudslingers Mudslingers Mudslingers Western Sport Fishing Salmon, Trout & Steelheader Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Western Sport Fishing Salmon, Trout & Steelheader Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Speargun Hunter Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Familiar Waters Western Sport Fishing Salmon, Trout & Steelheader Speargun Hunter

35

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 661

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) This could be a great day if you just let it unfold. There are opportunities to sit down with the news or some Internet group and mark the possibilities of a new job or find someone that could help with a job you have in mind. This is a fascinating day in that many of your worries become solved and magic seems to happen. You may even come to think that if one doesn’t do anything, whatever difficulties are present seem to solve themselves. This isn’t quite true but you make a positive difference in many people’s lives as you solve problems. A shared garden may be an interest this evening and with several neighbors it could work out fine.

You may have new ideas about irrigation that would prove simple to perform. Young people want to help with a garden.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) A family member may need your guidance today. If he or she seeks a job or wants to learn how to create an opportunity for a raise, you are able to give advice. Whatever the need, you share time with family members and seem quite pleased to be able to help, even with requested advice. It is fortunate that you have family near you; this evening is a good time to show your appreciation. The answers to life’s mysteries do not seem to be coming forth from what you can observe on the surface. You may wish to attend a class or visit a library or bookstore. There is a lot of information and you will do well to stay focused so as to keep from becoming fractured. Try to keep an open mind this evening. You may do a little research on the Internet.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. Consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree.

4. A percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance.

10. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.

13. An accountant certified by the state.

14. The wood of an African obeche tree.

15. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

16. Of or relating to or supporting Hinduism.

18. Made of fir or pine.

19. Any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse.

20. (Zen Buddhism) A state of sudden spiritual enlightenment.

22. (computer science) A unit for measuring computing power.

24. Panel forming the lower part of an interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest.

26. (prefix) Coming before or being preliminary or preparatory.

27. Resembling or characteristic of or appropriate to an elegy.

30. Any of various large keen-sighted diurnal birds of prey noted for their broad wings and strong soaring flight.

34. Produced by a manufacturing process.

35. A heavy odorless colorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances.

37. A British doctorate.

38. (Islam) The man who leads prayers in a mosque.

39. An expression of open-mouthed astonishment.

40. A relativistic quantum theory of the electromagnetic interactions of photons and electrons and muons.

41. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.

43. A state in New England.

51. A mountain peak in the Karakoram Range in northern Kashmir.

55. A small zodiacal constellation in the northern hemisphere.

56. By bad luck.

57. A bodily passage or tube conveying a secretion or other substance.

60. A small cake leavened with yeast.

61. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

62. The seventh month of the Moslem calendar.

64. (British) Your grandmother.

65. The biblical name for ancient Syria.

66. A republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia.

67. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. United States newspaper publisher (1858-1935).

2. The capital of Western Samoa.

3. Influential German idealist philosopher (1724-1804).

4. The 3 goddesses of fate or destiny.

5. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

6. Having any of numerous bright or strong colors reminiscent of the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies.

7. (informal) Of the highest quality.

8. Someone who has won first place in a competition.

9. King of Wessex.

10. A card game in which players bet against the dealer on the cards he will draw from a dealing box.

11. A collection of objects laid on top of each other.

12. A book of the New Testament.

17. A small low-powered electrically powered vehicle driven on a special platform where there are many others to be dodged.

21. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

23. A light springing movement upwards or forwards.

25. English scholastic philosopher and assumed author of Occam's Razor (1285-1349).

28. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

29. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

31. Military headquarters from which a military commander controls and organizes the forces.

32. A statement that deviates from or perverts the truth.

33. Late time of life.

36. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

42. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

44. An aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect.

45. State in northeastern India.

46. Large short-tailed lemur of Madagascar having thick silky fur in black and white and fawn.

47. Unknown god.

48. A woody climbing usually tropical plant.

49. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

50. (Hindu) A manner of sitting (as in the practice of Yoga).

52. (botany) Of or relating to the axil.

53. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

54. Any of several large turkey-like game birds of the family Cracidae.

58. Rare (usually fatal) brain disease (usually in middle age) caused by an unidentified slow virus.

59. Of or relating to or characteristic of Thailand of its people.

60. Having any of numerous bright or strong colors reminiscent of the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies.

63. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This is a partnership day and not much is going to happen if you try to keep to yourself. If you and your co-workers are compatible, today should produce great results. This is a good time for teamwork as many of your co-workers are eager to please. On the home front, if your relationships are less than idyllic, this is probably as good a time as any to resolve any difficulties. Your efforts are sure to bring success. Today is good for planning anything: vacation planning, dates to photograph the family, enjoying a religious group or an educational experience at the local museum or aquarium. You are also interested in learning more about the forces that move the world and may decide to visit a bookstore.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You may find yourself helping a co-worker this morning; patience. A project is underway and your participation will speed things up this afternoon. Today is also a good time to work out difficult situations.

Training an animal may not be your job this afternoon, but could be a lot of fun to watch if the job belongs to a young person in your family; besides, your encouragement and support may be enjoyed. Support, a positive outlook and flexibility are the keys to a happy family. Later today there may be some chores you want to pay attention to and perhaps a new book or music to entertain you. You may be particularly gregarious and your social life should blossom. Avoid extravagance. Choose a unique way to say thank you to a friend this evening.

NON SEQUITUR

Leo (July 23-August 22) You are drawn to the study of religion, philosophy or psychology. Just remember not to judge others, or give the impression that you know all the answers—you may not realize you do this. Today is a pleasant day of optimism. A cleaning project has you busy this afternoon. Try hard to squelch the desire to do everything by yourself. This has been a great month for getting things accomplished and moving forward. Do not worry so much about which path is next, why or who else is on the path—pick one and enjoy the accomplishments. With this attitude, there are positive results everywhere. Your personal magnetism is high, making you attractive to the opposite sex, as well as popular in general. A romantic evening can be enjoyed tonight.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You may shine with your particular responsibilities today. You could represent or speak for your company, a religious group or a hobby club. Your anxiety in being formal or representing this group will not be warranted. Check out the subject from a different perspective—the big picture. You are able to cut through the unimportant and move on to the real issues; you give important information for all to hear. In addition, a special relationship with an authority figure or teacher is available if you feel you need it. There may be new people to join this group today. Now you will be more confident and ready for the next time you are asked to represent a group of interest. This afternoon is a good time to shop for property, new furniture or camping gear.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

You may have a feeling that no matter how well you are progressing in the workplace—there is still something missing in your life. It may be time to reassess the balance between your professional and personal goals and the progress you are making with each one. This balance is right for you— there are no correct answers—neither side should monopolize your life at the expense of the other. This is a time when the desire for material success and considerable monetary gain is great. Careful—you could become reckless through gambling, or in handling newfound finances. This evening is an excellent time to engage in activities with loved ones and family members. If you did not communicate well yesterday, now is a good time.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This is a true hearts and flowers day, filled with joyous and harmonious feelings. A new friendship started today has a bright and long-lasting future. If emotional fences need mending, today is a good day for the task because you are in a truly mellow mood. Circumstances bend to your will and things have a way of working out smoothly. Here is a real opportunity to complete and work out difficulties and projects that require both long-term effort and a high degree of discipline. Important financial decisions require more information than you realize at a time like this. It’s important to gather all the facts necessary to give you a realistic idea of what you’re getting into. Social relationships are a special focus now.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You will receive good news about a financial or property matter today. Career strivings will meet with success as well. A task that needs to be complete this afternoon will progress satisfactorily. You may decide that things are too hectic to begin or schedule in any more appointments this week. There could be some pushing and shoving now between various facets of your life that normally should be in balance. This could include your home and professional life, your logical mind and emotions, or your conscious and subconscious mind. If these are not in balance, there could be problems. It would be a good idea to eat in moderation on a day like this and avoid the high-fat foods. If you should meet a new love interest today, it will be positive.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

There are many things that help you create a smooth running day. You are organized and can move easily through any adjustments or changes that might happen that are not of your own accord. This is a good day to get one or two customers to sign on the dotted line, so to speak. At home this afternoon you may remember to update maintenance records and arrange them in order of the dates last tended. You will not forget to change the filter in your home if you list the last time you changed it on your calendar. New ideas and an independent or pioneering mental orientation take on more importance in your life. You move forward with plans to improve your living surroundings or to help a family member improve his or her home situation.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) This is a good time to plan. If you want to plan a job change or plan a future self-owned business, whether it is from your home or not, you may want to put a lot of effort into the planning phase. You could find yourself at the library this afternoon with an increased desire to learn about the business trends and possible prospects or ideas. If you are not married or do not have a significant other you may become more interested in affairs of the heart—or in writing poetry. Any excuse for a get-together to make new friends will be welcome. You feel especially close to your loved ones as well and your desire to nurture and protect them is strong—just do not overdo it. You may enjoy reminiscing with old friends about pleasant memories of the past.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

You have tremendous mental energy this morning. You are able to complete your own work and take on new work or a project with no difficulty. This afternoon, you tend to chores and help others around your neighborhood; some new project for young people may be in the works. If you channel this energy well, you can be very helpful—steady on. You seem to do well with anything that requires self-discipline. A new animal needs your attention from time to time and there is a lot of laughter and fun in this regard. You have a focus on your ideas and enjoy discussing them with others. This evening you may enjoy a drive to a new area of town with a mate or close friend. A movie or a new restaurant or some scenery of beauty is enjoyable.

36

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

lifestyle G O S S I P

Rachel Bilson says it’s

Khloe Kardashian

‘natural’ for actors to date co-stars

fell for Lamar after just 3 days he 27-year-old reality TV star married the basketball player in 2009, just 30 days after the couple started dating, and she was confident their relationship would last despite being surprised that her nuptials came around so quickly.

She said: “I knew with every ounce of my body. Three days in, I just knew. If you’d asked me a month before I got married, I would never have said, ‘I’ll be married in a month.’” Despite rushing into their wedding, Khloe is in no hurry to start a family with Lamar, but she is keen to have children with the 32-year-old sportsman at some point in the future. She added: “Everyone makes it seem like I want [kids] right this second and I’m desperate, but I’m really not. I do want children, but I’m only 27. I was never the girl thinking, ‘By the time I’m 25, I wanna have kids.’”

T

he ‘Waiting For Forever’ star met her boyfriend of five years Hayden Christensen on the set of 2007 movie ‘Jumper’, and she thinks it’s a normal occurrence to embark on a relationship with someone who you meet through work. She said: “Dating co-stars is natural. When you’re working with someone, it’s habit. I met my man at work. I’m attracted to mysterious men. Every woman can relate to that, right?” But Rachel - who also dated her ‘OC’ co-star Adam Brody for three years before they split in 2006 - admits she doesn’t play by the rules when she is in a relationship because she prefers to rely on her instincts when judging whether a man is right for her or not. She added: “I’ve been in relationships where we’ve said, ‘I love you’ after two weeks. I think it depends on the person and the relationship. If it feels right, go with it. Love shouldn’t play by the rules. It’s all about chemistry.”

T

Daniel Craig says Bond is out of his comfort zone

Peter Andre is going grey he reality TV star has caught a few lighter hairs creeping through on his head, but has no plans to try and slow the ageing process by dying his hair. He said: “I can see a couple [of grey hairs]! I just cut them shorter! I’m happy to go full silver fox. The only thing that scares me is the in between stage.” The 39year-old star admits using fake tan to enhance his looks, but wouldn’t allow his children - Junior, six, and Princess Tiaamii, four, with ex-wife Katie Price - to follow suit. He explained: “Junior actually asked me if he could use some of my Fake Bake and I was like, ‘No, you can’t!’ He was like, ‘How come you can use it and I can’t?’ I was like, ‘That’s a good question, son!’ I said that he can decide on things like this when he’s an adult. “If Princess asked I’d say absolutely not! When she’s older she’s going to be in a convent anyway, so she won’t need to worry about being brown!”

T

Norah Jones finds Presley’s Graceland home inspirational

Cissy Houston may write a book about Whitney he family matriarch met with publishers in New York this week to discuss the possibility of creating a book about the ‘My Love is Your Love’ hit maker, who was found dead in a bath tub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in February. A source told the New York Times Cissy was prepared to write about “the bad and the good” side of Whitney. Two of the publishers who met with her at the St Regis Hotel in New York claimed she was reluctant to discuss her daughter’s death or drug

T

habit. Another publicist added: “She said, ‘There are so many lies out there and I want to dispel all of those lies.’”

Cissy previously wrote her own memoir in 1998 entitled ‘How Sweet the Sound’ and told the tale of her upbringing in a religious family and her introduction to gospel music - which eventually led to her working as a backup singer for Elvis Presley with group the Sweet Inspirations. It is believed she will use a ghost writer to pen the new book.

Charlize Theron would ‘jump off a building’ for Kristen Stewart he South African actress stars alongside the ‘Twilight’ beauty in new movie ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ and she admits she loved working with her. She told Access Hollywood: “I really, I really , really love that girl. I would jump off a building for that girl. She’s amazing. She’s the real deal.” She added, “Kristen is the kind of actor that I like to be around because there’s nothing she’d really stop at in order to do the job. She’s got a tremendous amount of talent and you know, I think you can have talent, but you need tenacity.” Charlize - who plays the evil queen in the movie recently revealed she liked to go to work with a sense of fear. She said: “I do have a sense of fear every day going to work, but I think it’s something that I like. I mean I do like the feeling of waking up on my own, having this moment of like, ‘Oh, I hope I can do this today’ because it makes you realize that you’re working with material or you’re working with a director or you’re working with a cast and they’re keeping you on your toes. Nothing’s kinda like, ‘I can do this with my eyes closed’ and I think that is ultimately what every actor wants, something that challenges you to that point.”

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he actor returns as the iconic British spy in the upcoming film and he promises 007 fans the character is tested even more than he was in his previous films ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Quantum of Solace’. He told the new issue of Empire magazine: “He’s always out of his comfort zone! Hanging off the top of some kind of structure somewhere, I don’t know how comfortable that ever is. I know for me how uncomfortable it is, pushing him, I think, is the best way to describe it.” “We’re just pushing the characters, physically and emotionally, as far as we can in the context of a Bond movie.” Although very little is known about the plot of the film, it sees Bond pitted against bad guy Silva, played by Javier Bardem, who was very happy with the role director Sam Mendes has given him to play. Javier said: “The material is great and the story very powerful and complex. Sam gave me a version of Silva and I was like, ‘Hmmm, that’s very interesting, this is gonna be fun.’ As I say, there is meat to chew.”

he 33-year-old musician is a huge fan of the late ‘King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and going to his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, and the city itself inspires her songs. She said: “I love it in Memphis. It’s the most amazing city full of warm people and great food. “Everybody should visit Elvis’ home Graceland once in their lives and while they’re at it they should take a trip to the Sun Records museum. It’s the record label that launched Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.” Norah the daughter of legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar - is more inspired by artists from the 50s and 60s than modern musicians. And the ‘Happy Pills’ singer often dreams of hosting her idols at a dinner party. She said: “I’m really inspired by other music and musicians. My fantasy dinner party would include Willie Nelson, Ray Charles and Billie Holiday. They’re just some of the people I look up to. I have about 50 musical icons.”

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Witness links Balfour to murder of Hudson’s nephew ill Graham, a 71-year-old retiree, claims he saw the murder suspect in the white SUV, which was different from the green Chrysler he knew he usually drove. He told the Crook County courtroom: “I wondered who would let him drive a truck like that because I never seen him drive one before.” He added he did not know William - who is accused of murdering Jennifer’s mother Darnell, brother Jason and nephew - personally but knew he lived on the same block. Bill added he believed he was in the car alone around midday on October 24 2008, the same day her mother and brother’s bodies were found.

He said: “Only thing I saw him do was like he leaned over, you could see him that he leaned over. I don’t know what he did after that. He got out.” Prosecutors claim William killed his in-laws because he believed his then-estranged wife Julia - Jennifer’s sister - was dating another man. Defense claims the police arrested the wrong man and should have continued to look into other suspects.

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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

LIFESTYLE F e a t u r e s

What s on in rom Queen Elizabeth to the stiletto heel in London, shamanism to cult comic books in Paris, or experimental sculpture in Madrid, Europe’s art scene offers rich pickings this month. On the stage, there will be tango legends in Bucharest, theatre giants in Madrid and an outburst of world music and dance at spring festivals in Germany and Switzerland.

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Following is a selection of what’s on in Europe in May AUSTRIA ART: Fans of pop art can indulge in the biggest ever exhibit of early 1960s works by Swedish installation artist Claes Oldenburg at Vienna’s Museum of Modern Art (mumok). The exhibit, entitled “Claes Oldenburg. The Sixties”, includes his graffiti-inspired installation “The Street” and “soft” collection of everyday objects including a fan, a toilet, a giant lipstick and an oversized ice cream cone. The highlight is the “Mouse Museum”, a room shaped like a Mickey Mouse head in which Oldenburg collected close to 400 examples of consumer culture.

Until May 28.

Works by expressionist artists such as Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso that are rarely seen outside Switzerland will be on display at the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna. The works belong to the private collection of Swiss collector Hubert Looser and also feature paintings by Yves Klein, Cy Twombly and John Chamberlain.

From April 26 to July 15.

BELGIUM ART: A generation of Lebanese artists and designers who grew up during the war years, from 1975 to 1990, bring contemporary art from Lebanon to Belgium in a show titled “Art is the answer!” held in the capital’s iconic Art Deco venue, the Villa Empain. The venue hosts the Boghossian Foundation, set up in 1992 by the Lebanese jeweller Boghossian family of Armenian origin who are based in Antwerp and Geneva and aim to promote dialogue between east and west. Among artists at the show are Ayman Baalbaki and Ranya Sarakbi.

Until September 2.

Europe in May

MUSIC: One of the highlights of the vibrant Brussels music scene, the “Nuits Botanique” rock festival features some 50 concerts at one of the city’s favourite venues, the hothouses of the old botanical gardens.

The festival will highlight Britain’s Blood Red Shoes as well as US group The Rapture, Mali’s Amadou & Mariam and musicians from across the border in France. Dominique A, Daniel Darc and Charlotte Gainsbourg. From May 10 to 21.

BRITAIN ART: Sixty portraits of Queen Elizabeth II go on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London, offering both formal and irreverent depictions of the monarch throughout her six decades on the throne. The exhibition, timed to coincide with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, features works by Cecil Beaton, Andy Warhol and Lucian Freud. “The Queen: Art and Image” runs from May 17 to October 21.

FASHION: With their distinctive red soles and towering heels, Christian Louboutin’s shoes are a byword for glamour, and now London’s Design Museum is paying tribute to the French designer with a dedicated exhibition. It showcases 20 years of designs, from stilettos to lace-up boots, which for many women across the world have come to epitomize style, power, and femininity, even when left struggling to walk. “Christian Louboutin” is at the Design Museum from May 1 to July 9.

DENMARK ART: Using modern technology such as xradiography, infrared imaging and UV fluorescence, specialists have analysed four Flemish 16th century paintings to study the materials and techniques of copying employed by artists who worked in the style of the popular masters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The exhibition “Illuminated: Tracing Bosch and Bruegel” depicts the detective work done by art historians, revealing for example how many images one painting can contain and how many times the painter has drawn over the same image. At National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, from May 4 to October 21.

FRANCE CARTOONS: Robert Crumb’s cult comic universe, like hippy-era characters like “Fritz the Cat”, is on show at Paris’ Museum of Modern Ar t. Some 600 works by the US counter-culture icon-including assaults on political correctness-are brought together in the largest-ever retrospective of his work.

Until August 19.

ART/ANTHROPOLOGY: Chaos and man’s attempts to tame it are at the heart of a spectacular new show at Paris’ museum of tribal arts that pits voodoo and shamanic artifacts alongside the work of contemporary artists.

More than 300 ethnological objects, shown alongside art world giants like Paul McCarthy or the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, explore themes of metamorphosis, exorcism, healing or musical trance. Until July 29 at the Quai Branly museum.

GERMANY ART: Shining the spotlight on the many ways artists deal with the newspaper, Berlin’s Martin Gropius Bau museum features works

by Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Ai Weiwei and Julian Schnabel, among others, in ARTandPRESS. Until June 24.

MUSIC: Singer Peter Gabriel is to appear at the six-week-long Movimentos Festival, which features 65 performances by international dance ensembles, jazz and classical concerts as well as dramatized readings, in the north German city of Wolfsburg. Until May 20.

ITALY ART: An exhibition entitled “Picasso and Vollard: the genius and the merchant”, looks at the relationship between the Spanish painter and Ambroise Vollard, the influential art dealer who revealed him to the public.

The Venice show, with over 150 works, focuses on the themes of tension, melancholy and eroticism, and runs until July 8.

ART: Perugia plays host to an exhibit of paintings and drawings by the I talian Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli, noted for his depictions of the Antichrist. The show runs until August 26.

PORTUGAL CINEMA: Portuguese language film festival FESTin features 76 films and this year takes Brazilian cinema as its theme with retrospectives of actor Jardel Filho and director Hector Babenco. May 9 to 16 at Sao Jorge cinema, Lisbon.

ROMANIA BUCHAREST: As tango takes over more and more of Bucharest’s dance floors, the Romanian capital welcomes several international maestros for the 3rd edition of the Bucharest Tango Encuentro festival. Between seminars and performances by tango stars including Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa, devotees will have a chance to step out at “milonga” tango parties. From May 2 to 6.

RUSSIA DANCE: The 20th annual Prix Benois de la Danse ballet awards are handed out at Moscow’s newly-reopened Bolshoi Theatre, with nominees representing seven countries ranging from South Korea to Russia and the United States. Award ceremony May 22 and gala performance May 23.

MUSIC: Moscow’s Easter Festival under the direction of Valery Gergiev holds a daily series of guest European choir performances at the city main cathedrals in honor of the Russian Orthodox Church holiday. Runs until May 9.

SPAIN THEATRE: Madrid’s municipal stage festival, Festival de Otono en Primavera, hosts productions by British director Peter Brook’s Paris-based company and Simon McBurney’s Complicite theatre troupe. Brook’s musical theatre piece “The Suit”, based on a 1950s novel set in South Africa during apartheid, and Complicite’s stage version of the classic n ove l “ Th e M a s te r a n d M a rg a r i t a” a re among 23 shows around the city from May 9 to June 3.

ART: Madrid’s Reina Sofia art museum hosts a show of 80 works by experimental sculptor Nacho Criado, one of Spain’s top contemporary artists, who died in 2010. The award-winning sculptor and his abstract and

monumental works in wood and other media were influenced by the likes of French Surrealist Marcel Duchamp, US painter Mark Rothko and dramatist Samuel Beckett. From May 4 to October 1.

SWEDEN PHOTOGRAPHY: Exhibition by American photographer Steve Schapiro, depicting some of the icons of the 1960s in the United States, during a time of political and cultural change. His subjects include Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali and Andy Warhol as well as stills from the classic movies “The Godfather” and “Taxi Driver”. At Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm, until May 27.

SWITZERLAND MUSIC: Geneva’s Concert for Hope (Fete de l’Espoir) is enjoyed each year as much for the 20 or so international acts as the chance to picnic in the sun. Around 50,000 people are expected at this free event. At the Stade du Bout du Monde on May 26.

THE NETHERLANDS MUSIC: Quirky Australian quintet the Spaghetti Western Orchestra play a series of tribute songs composed by Ennio Morricone for classic cowboy movies that made Clint Eastwood a star. Performed with “instruments” such as “child-sized boots”, “Tasmanian Lottery Balls”-and an asthma inhaler, the soundtracks include “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, “For A Few Dollars More” and “Once Upon A Time in The West”.

At the Royal Carre Theatre in Amsterdam on May 18, 19 and 20. —AFP

Comedy Awards get celebs chuckling Jason Reitman brings his live read series to NYC aul Rudd and Emma Stone channeled Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in a reading of their 1960 film “The Apartment” before a live audience. The event on Friday was organized by film director Jason Reitman (“Juno”, “Up in the Air”) who has been hosting monthly live reads in Los Angeles to sold-out crowds since last fall. The readings are billed as a one-time only event with no rehearsals and no recordings. Friday’s read at the TheTimesCenter was the first to take place in New York.

Tickets sold out so quickly, a live video simulcast was played in another area of the building for $15 a person.

“The Apartment” is about a lonely bachelor named CC “Buddy Boy” Baxter, read by Rudd, who works at an insurance company.

He rents out his apartment to male coworkers that want to use it as a place to bring girls for a good time. Stone portrayed an elevator girl in his office building named Fran Kubelik. The film won five Academy Awards including best picture and best director honors for Billy Wilder. Reitman took to the stage first and greeted the audience, saying he liked the idea of the live reads because “nothing is live anymore” and that he has “more fun doing this than making movies.”

He then introduced the cast which also included Jason Sudeikis, Tom Cavanagh, Cara Buono, David Wain and James Woods.

Lena Dunham of HBO’s “Girls” was supposed to take part but Reitman said she had to cancel and was replaced by actress Greta Gerwig. The stage was simple with just a chair and a script stand for each actor.

Reitman served as the narrator. On the wall behind them was a screen that projected still images of locations from the film like Jack Lemmon’s apartment or the insurance company where he works. The reading wasn’t flawless with a few flubbed lines here and there but the audience didn’t seem to mind.

The actors would at times giggle over each other’s interpretations or perform exaggerated pantomimes along to the actions in the script for laughs. At one point Sudeikis left the stage for a few moments with no explanation but the show continued without interruption.

Past live reads have included “The Breakfast Club,” “The Princess Bride” and “Shampoo.” An all-African American cast with the exception of comedian Patton Oswald - was assembled to recently perform “Reservoir Dogs.” Reitman’s live read series is co-presented by The New York Times and Film Independent. —AP

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Jim Carrey appears onstage at The 2012 Comedy Awards in New York, Saturday, April 28, 2012.

Robin Williams accepts the Stand-Up Icon Award.

Chris Rock appears onstage at The 2012 Comedy Awards. —AP photos

Kristen Schaal arrives to the awards show.

Tina Fey accepts the comedy writing - TV award.

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

lifestyle

A stool sits in the middle of the room during a preview tour of Wyeth’s studio.

world opening to public for first time

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ndrew Wyeth’s humble studio in the picturesque Brandywine Valley isn’t something the average day tripper would stumble upon, but the late artist made his wishes loud and clear for anyone who might have found their way down the winding wooded path to his door. “I am working so please do not disturb. I do not sign autographs,” announces a small white sign at the entryway. Now for the first time, the public will be able to get past that sign and venture into Wyeth’s world.

Starting July 3, the studio will be open to the public for a handful of tours each day. Shuttle buses will transport a maximum of 14 people for the short ride from the museum to the studio for each tour. Timed tickets go on sale June 1.

“He did a great job of keeping the place under wraps,” said Christine Podmaniczky, a curator at the Brandywine River Museum. The fieldstone A-frame structure was built as a schoolhouse in 1875 and purchased by Wyeth’s father, the celebrated illustrator N.C. Wyeth, in 1925 when the school closed. Andrew Wyeth married his wife, Betsy, in 1940 and the old schoolhouse became their home, where they raised their sons Nicholas and Jamie, as well as Wyeth’s art studio. The family also spent many summers in Maine.

They moved to another house nearby in 1961 but Wyeth kept the place as his studio for the remainder of his life. He painted thousands of egg tempera paintings, drawings and watercolors there, from the dark self-portrait “Trodden Weed” to his hundreds of secret Helga paintings, which generated worldwide publicity and controversy when they were suddenly revealed in 1986. After Wyeth’s death in 2009, his wife donated the studio to the neighboring Brandywine River Museum. Extensive work was necessary before the building could open to tours.

“Structurally it was a mess,” Podmaniczky said, noting that the wood-shingled roof needed replacing, the foundation had to be stabilized and the chimney was pulling away from the rest of the structure. Every piece of the studio’s contents also was scrutinized, from the smallest paintbrush to the largest piece of furniture. “We sent things out to conservators,” she said. “Everything was catalogued and numbered, all the artwork was copied and the copies were hung in the exact same places as the originals.” The rooms are both austere and cozy, lacking in decorative flourishes but filled with cherished mementos and personal collections that shed light on Wyeth’s inspiration and interests.

Charming family photographs are interspersed with those of celebrity friends like Henry Fonda and Errol Flynn.

In one photo, Wyeth is fencing with Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; in the next room, fencing masks line a windowsill and phone numbers are jotted down on a wall next to the telephone. There are collections of World War I uniforms and

Eggs and egg shells are seen amongst other supplies during a preview tour of Wyeth’s studio. The eggs are for making his signature medium - egg tempera, a thick mixture of yolks, pigment and distilled water.

An apron and painting are reflected in a mirror during a preview tour of the Wyeth’s studio. helmets, Sheperd Paine dioramas, shelves upon shelves of art books, stacked film canisters and 1,250 military figurines - some from Wyeth’s childhood and subjects of his earliest drawings. An old film projector in what was once the living room points to the wall where the family frequently watched the epic World War I silent movie “The Big Parade,” Wyeth’s favorite film. Its landscapes and other imagery made their way into his paintings.

In the same room is a recreation of the little cordonedoff workspace, created by a then-teenage Jamie Wyeth with a couple of black fabric partitions, where he would paint his famous posthumous portrait of John F. Kennedy in 1967, among other works. “A lot of what we relied on is oral history,” Podmaniczky said. “They were not a family

who took a lot of photographs.” The main space where Wyeth did his actual painting is the most bare in the house.

The unpainted plaster walls are adorned only with sketches and studies for his paintings and a few photos, while the dominant features are a huge mirror, paint-stained apron, round stool and brushes.

Long cracks run along the ceiling and a plywood sheet covers one window, concentrating the sunshine through the north-facing windows that brought the best light. “He was very unassuming,” Podmaniczky said. “The trappings didn’t matter. He just wanted to paint.” Next to an artist’s palette sits an egg crate for making his signature medium egg tempera, a thick mixture of yolks, pigment and distilled water.

Mary Nell Ferry, a guide who will be walking visitors through the site, said the famous artist’s preferred eggs came from a local convenience store. “He always used Wawa extra-large eggs for his egg tempera,” she said. “They had to be white eggs because he thought brown eggs had an oilier consistency.” At the Brandywine River Museum, a companion exhibit brings together works featuring architectural elements and objects visitors will recognize after touring Wyeth’s studio. — AP A sign on door bids visitors to not disturb is seen during a preview tour of Wyeth’s studio.

Paints and brushes are seen during a preview tour of the home and studio of artist Andrew Wyeth. — AP photos

A collection of helmets and a fencing mask is seen during a preview tour of the home and studio of artist Andrew Wyeth.

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

lifestyle

Rastafarian priest Ras Moya chants beside a ritual bonfire as he leads the ceremony. — AFP photos

Rastafarians face hardship in Ethiopia A

ceremonial fire burns as dreadlocked Rastafarians sway to drum beats, chanting “Haile I! Selassie I!” in praise of the former Ethiopian emperor. The crowd are decked out in their trademark red, gold and green-also the colors as the Ethiopian flag-as they celebrate the 46th anniversary this month of Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica. That trip prompted an influx of Jamaican Rastafarians to the Horn of Africa state, which they believe is their promised land. But some feel Ethiopia has not measured up-and now want change.

“After the visit of Haile Selassie in 1966 in the Caribbean, the Jamaican Rastafarians started to pour in” to Ethiopia, said researcher Giulia Bonacci at the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in the capital Addis Ababa. When the movement emerged in the 1930s among descendants of African slaves in Jamaica, it adopted Haile Selassie as the messiah, at a time when he stood out as the only independent black monarch in Africa. They even took their name from his pre-regnal title-”Ras” for “head” and his birth name “Tafari”. A supporter of decolonization and cooperation among African states when they were still largely under European control, Haile Selassie set aside land south of the capital in the 1950s to welcome back the African diaspora.

The 500-hectare plot in Shashemene, 250 kilometers from Addis Ababa, was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return “home”. It is one of Africa’s few Rastafarian communities and residents hold fast to their cultural mainstays: dreadlocks, vegetarian diets and reggae music. But life changed in 1974 when Haile Selassie was overthrown in a coup led by Mengistu Haile Mariam whose Marxist-Leninist regime confiscated the Shashemene plot, prompting

for the diaspora community,” Phang said.

But Rocke feels authorities are dragging their heels. “They have not been active enough, it’s like they don’t know how to deal with us,” she said.

The Rastafarians now want clarification, and sent a petition to parliament three months ago urging the government to grant them legal status and legal title to their land. As yet they have not heard back.

“We have been here over 50 years. That means we have been integrated into the Ethiopian society, into the Ethiopian culture.

Some of us have Ethiopian husbands, some of us have Ethiopian wives,” Rocke said. But “our roots have been stanched, we have not been able to develop as a people.” —AFP

most Rastas to flee its authoritarian rule.

Though 40 hectares have been returned to the community since Meles Zenawi, now prime minister, took power in 1991, the 600 or so Rastas from the Caribbean, North America and Europe living there today are “tolerated” by the government, holding neither citizenship nor any legal right to the land.

‘We have a right to the land’ “There is an absence of a clear policy of the Ethiopian government towards the community, which leaves a lot of its members in limbo and facing difficult legal issues,” said Bonacci, who has written a book about Rastafarians settling in Ethiopia.

Kestekle Ab, 82, who moved from Jamaica 11 years ago, said authorities recently told him to relocate to make room for construction of a new road. He arrived when Shashemene was a sparsely populated rural area. Today it is a bustling city of about 120,000. Donkey carts are outnumbered by three-wheeled motorized rickshaws that flit about streets lined with crooked wooden stalls selling single cigarettes, warm juice and biscuits. “I won’t have a home, my home is in the middle of the road. So where am I going to stay?” he asked, sitting in his cramped, airless clay hut decorated with a fading portrait of Haile Selassie and a Rasta flag peeling from the wall. “We have a right to the land,” he said.

“It’s not threatened, it’s being taken away,” Ras Kabena, 58, said angrily as he poked kernels from corn cobs to plant ahead of the rainy season. Kabena, who moved from the Dominican Republic two decades ago, runs a natural health clinic on the grounds of a Rasta church but said authorities are encroaching on the fields where he grows food and medicinal herbs.

Rastafarian priest Paul Phang looks on in Shashemene, Ethiopia.

Rastafarians say it was the “divinity” of the land that drew them to Ethiopia. Yet the Rastas’ vague status makes it difficult to set up business and access services open to nationals. “I’m in Africa and I’m illegal in regards to status. I don’t feel illegal because I’m returning home, but when you’re talking about the letter of the law, yes, in fact, it’s reality,” said Carol Rocke, 56, who runs a Caribbean restaurant.

She applied for a business license but was only allowed to operate as a foreign investor, limiting her business to the region around Shashemene. Paul Phang, 55, a Jamaican-born Rasta priest who sits on Shashemene city council, insists the government has been increasingly supportive. In 2006, the regional president “said the land that had been given to the black people of the West-no more of it should be molested, it should be honored as a historical heritage

Two Cuban amateur actors to seek US asylum

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wo Cuban amateur actors-cast members of an award-winning film-disappeared en route to New York for a film festival and have emerged in Miami, saying they will apply for political asylum in the United States. “In Cuba, we were talking about it, to stay,” actor Javier Nunez Florian told the Miamibased, Spanish-language channel America TeVe in an interview that aired late Friday, appearing alongside actress Anailin de la Rua. On a stopover in Miami on their flight Wednesday from Havana to New York for the Tribeca Film Festival, the pair, both aged 20, slipped away from their traveling companions and fled to the home of De la Rua’s uncle in the city. “We wanted to stay and fight and help our parents that way,” Nunez Florian pointed out. He added that living and working in America had been a “dream” of theirs for a long time. “We are ready to do any work that is available,” said Nunez Florian. Immigration attorney Wilfredo

Allen said the pair would apply for political asylum in the United States within 10 days, and that they had a “very high chance” of getting their request approved. “To seek political asylum does not mean they have been victims of political persecution in Cuba,” Allen said, “but they defected.” According to the lawyer, if they returned to Cuba, the actors could be considered “traitors” and could possibly suffer repression by the communist regime. “There is a very high chance they will get asylum, as the United States has previously granted asylum under the same circumstances to dancers, singers and athletes who defected from Cuba,” he added.

Cuban nationals coming to the United States can legalize their status in the country through the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows petitioners to get “green cards” after they had been physically present in the United States for at least one year. But Allen argued that the political asylum option

will allow his clients to get work permits much quicker. The film “Una Noche” (One Night) tells the story of three teenagers trying to make the dangerous ocean passage from Cuba to Florida in a homemade raft, a plot that drew comparisons with the decision the two actors later made.

The film’s third main actor traveled on to the renowned festival to receive an award for his role, which he had been set share with Nunez. “I’m happy for me, I’m happy for them,” Dariel Arrechada told AFP after getting the Best Actor award on Thursday. The short film also scooped the Best New Director and Best Cinematography gongs from among six awards given out during the competition. Since 1966, Cubans have been granted automatic residence if they make it to the United States from the communist-ruled island, and thousands attempt the voyage every year, often navigating shark-infested waters in rickety boats. — AFP

Rastafarian priest Ras Moya looks on during festivities to mark the 46th anniversary of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica in 1966.

Biography of Ernie K-Doe captures quirks, talent A

new book captures the quirks and talent of one of New Orleans’ most celebrated and eccentric entertainers, as well as his ups and downs and the era that shaped him. The title of the book, published by the Historic New Orleans Collection, is “Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans.” Later in life, K-Doe proclaimed himself the “Emperor of the World,” and few fans would disagree with him. K-Doe emerged in the early 1960s rock and R&B scene, and until his death at age 65 in 2001 was one of the most unforgettable figures in New Orleans music.

The book is the second for the Historic New Orleans Collection — a private collection of Louisiana materials and a museum — which plans a series on the shapers of regional music. The first — “Unfinished Blues: Memories of a New Orleans Music Man” — focused on jazz composer-producer Harold Battiste Jr. and was published in 2010.

Author Ben Sandmel, who lives and plays music in New Orleans and knows the city’s quirky music community, tells K-Doe’s story in lively detail and colorful anecdotes. He opens the book with an incident that took place at K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge, named after the song that took him to national fame in 1961.

K-Doe, whose birth name was Ernest Kador Jr., called the police during a performance in 2000 to

report a robbery. When the cops showed up, guns drawn, K-Doe said the robbery was a man taping his performance. Not only could police do little about the alleged intellectual theft, the man turned out to be a New York Times critic planning an article “to let people know about Mr. K-Doe.” That sort of incident was not unusual for the man who made his motto, “I’m cocky but I’m good.” K-Doe followed up his original hit with a string of national hits.

While it’s difficult to say just how much his style influenced ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Led Zeppelin, they and other performers hung out with K-Doe when they came to New Orleans on tour.

In some ways K-Doe’s career was similar to that of many musicians. Rising to stardom in the 1960s, he fell to oblivion as music styles changed. But along the way he cranked out three albums and numerous singles on his own and performed with other artists, including McCartney, on about 70 albums. In 1996 he married Antoinette Dorsey, whom he credited with rescuing him from addiction and kick-starting his dead career. He began performing again, and he found a welcoming audience. On stage, K-Doe dressed in bright suits with capes and crowns, as befitted a fanciful emperor.

The couple opened the brightly painted shrine to K-Doe, the Mother-in-Law Lounge, in the mid1990s. It became a magnet for K-Doe fans. —AP

Rastafarians face hardship in Ethiopia

MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012

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Stars shine

at

Obama’s Correspondents’ dinner

President Barack Obama high-fives late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel as Caren Bohan, a Reuters journalist and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association looks on during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Saturday, April 28, 2012 in Washington. — AP photos

US actress Lindsay Lohan

Television host Jimmy Kimmel (left) sits alongside First Lady Michelle Obama.

Actress Charlize Theron.

Actor George Clooney (left) laughs as US President Barack Obama speaks.

Actress Eva Longoria

Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian

Model Kate Upton

Australian model, actress and businesswoman Elle MacPherson Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, right, shares a laugh with Steven Spielberg.