4th May 2012

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NO: 15438- Friday, May 4, 2012

Death for blasphemy approved SEE PAGE 9

KUWAIT: MPs raise their hands to approve a blasphemy bill at the National Assembly yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

In my view

Cashless world Conspiracy Theories

By Labeed Abdal

Thank God she was not a surgeon

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

t is one of the most hilarious and at the same time stupid stories of revenge I have ever heard. Yesterday I read a report about how a Polish dentist took revenge on her former lover because he dumped her. Start imagining! What do you think she did? She could not have done anything physical to him, if it was not for his stupidity and naivety.

I don’t understand how a man puts himself at the mercy of a woman on the dental chair for a decayed tooth when he dumped her three days before. He innocently seeks her professional help.

He went to her dental clinic with one decaying tooth and he came out toothless. His face was wrapped in bandages because she did not want him to realize what she did while he was asleep.

She took all his teeth out. She told him later that she put the bandages on to protect his gums. She calmed him down, saying that the numbness will disappear in a couple of hours. She sent him home to rest.

Of course, Mr Naive goes home not suspecting anything and thinking that all is good. He saved money and was treated by his former lover whom he dumped only three days before the fatal dental appointment. Naturally, there was a case against the dentist who put him under full anesthesia and took her revenge by taking out his 32 nice teeth.

She is also naive to me because naturally the minimum she will get for her act will be to lose her license. If she gets jailed or fined, she also loses confidence and tarnishes her reputation. She is finished as a dentist. She has to find a new career.

And Mr Naive lost his new girlfriend too because he did not appeal to her with his toothless jaw.

Anyway, Mr Naive is lucky in a way that it was a dental problem. Imagine if his girlfriend was a surgeon and he needed surgery. What would she have done to him and which body part would she have removed? At least with teeth there is modern technology and implants but with something else, it could have been a nightmare. I leave this to your imagination.

Was it really worth what she did?

I

local@kuwaittimes.net

he change to the Net in using e-payments online has become widespread on the World Wide Web, as it is faster and cleaner. Many countries in the world are taking that road, as traditional cash and coins are heavy, might be dirty and have no automatic record for the financial transactions made with them. The move to a cashreduced society has become vital in our new e-world, which is dominated with our online e-wallets and e-banks where we can deposit and transfer money online.

T

Sweden, the first country that produced banknotes in Europe in 1661, has started the move now in their cashreduced society. The usage of banknotes there has dropped to seven percent only, for example in buses or schools. The shift to that world needs serious preparations, especially with regards to cyber-security and privacy of bank accounts and information. An economy without cash domination will have less financial crimes like bank robberies, thefts, breakins, betrayals of trust, muggings, pickpockets etc.

Of course, Kuwait also has moved in this direction but still the percentage of cash used is high and we must pass modern legislation that will provide the right protection, especially against hackers who are very smart. Associated with evilness, they have extraordinary skills in breaking through networks.

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Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Edible art

By Sawsan Kazak

C

arving a flower pattern into the top of a pumpkin, Romano O Roman sits in the Lutong Pinoy restaurant located in the Maghateer mall in Farwaniya. Whittling away at his pumpkin, Roman speaks of his many years as a food carving artist. “I have been carving fruits and vegetables since I was 28 years old. I had a friend that was a kitchen artist

in a hotel and I would assist him in preparations for upcoming competitions,” explained Roman, and he has been carving ever since.

Having worked in hotels like Crowne Plaza, Marina Hotel and the Holiday Inn, Roman has accumulated years of experience. Presently Roman is a freelance artist and has been conducting a fruit and vegetable carving class for three years now.

The carving teacher enjoys hosting carving classes and he is

always impressed with the amount of progress some students make in a short period of time. “Some students are very fast learners, and within the first few hours they are already carving flowers into onions and carrots,” said Roman. “This is the first time this guy is attending my class and already he is carving very well,” Roman said as he points at one of his students. “ During the class, a small group of students practice their newly acquired knowledge on some onions and carrots.

The carving classes not only benefit people in Kuwait who wish to nurture their creativity or simply be entertained, but also helps nurture young talent back in the Philippines as Roman donates the proceeds to his favorite charity.

Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Romano O Roman proudly displays his carving. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat Concentrated, they carve away small pieces of the vegetables, whittling them down to pretty little flowers. Students just starting out should begin practicing on easy vegetables like cucumbers, onions, carrots, advises Roman, adding: “things like pumpkins and root vegetables are harder to carve because of their hard exterior. My favorite however is pumpkin as I can really get creative with my designs.” Roman derives most of his carving inspirations from nature as he loves carving animals, but on this day, Kuwait Times is his muse as he carves the newspaper’s logo onto a large watermelon.

Roman has studied architecture which has helped him in his carvings. “There are precise measurements, before you cut you have to calculate. Each cut has to be the same, you can’t have one big then a small one.

Architecture has helped me with my dimensions

when creating a carving,” he said. The carving classes not only benefit people in Kuwait who wish to nurture their creativity or simply be entertained, but also helps nurture young talent back in the Philippines as Roman donates the proceeds to his favorite charity.

“This organization is called the Art Reach Missions and it helps young talented kids who wish to learn more in the art field,” explained Roman. When asked why he has chosen to donate the proceeds, Roman had a simple answer: “God gave me this talent for free, so I have to share the blessings.”

The classes are held every Friday and Saturday and students have the choice of taking the class at his Lutong Pinoy restaurant, or in a more private setting of their choosing. The classes, which are two sessions long, include all the tools and food needed. Students start off learning the basics and more importantly

how to handle the carving tools as they are sharp and can cause injury if mishandled.

While watching him turn a simple pumpkin into a beautiful and edible piece of art, it is clear to see Roman’s passion for creating. But like any true artist, Roman’s talent and passion for art expresses itself in many venues, one of which is painting. “I do murals on walls in hospitals, private homes and other buildings,” says Roman, adding “people ask me to paint mostly nature such as waterfalls, forests and gardens.”

But Roman has not stopped there. He also carves ice, chocolate, butter and styrofoam. His passion and creativity is only limited by the objects he can find to carve and the places he can paint on. sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Alzainah Al-Babtain poses in front of her home garden.

By Lisa Conrad

“I

t is an amazing feeling to bite into your own homegrown tomato and realize how different it tastes,” says 22-year-old student Alzainah Al-Babtain, creator of the Kuwaiti gardening blog itallgrows.wordpress.com.

Alzainah grows a range of fruits and vegetables in her garden, from watermelons, to chards, tomatoes and even basil, which is infamously temperamental. “Listening to how crisp your salad is when you dress it is wonderful. People rave about the quality of produce elsewhere, and I have that right here in Kuwait from my own garden, everyday,” she enthuses.

Whilst many assume that Kuwait’s harsh climate would render successful home gardening an impossibility, Alzainah insists that it’s not only possible, but also very enjoyable. She too, however, used to believe otherwise. “I used to think that it was impossible to grow anything in this scorching heat.

Why do we think like this?” The extreme heat in Kuwait, she said, is the main culprit in putting off potential gardeners.

“Many are discouraged by the summer weather. I think people assume you have to have large, expensive, ventilated greenhouses with tens of workers to produce vegetables.”

She noted, however, that Kuwait’s weather shouldn’t be a source of discouragement, “Our extremely harsh weather lasts only around 4 months, which is akin to many countries with mild climates that have the same duration of very cool weather, called frost, during which most gardeners can’t grow anything.” She added: “We actually have a longer season than they do. So what if the summer is hot? Basil, okra, and watermelon still survive it.”

The range of fruits and vegetables that can be homegrown in Kuwait is certainly encouraging. “You can really grow anything - in the fall, winter and spring. Cool weather plants can be grown in our winter, whilst heat loving plants thrive in late spring and fall,” said Alzainah. “Herbs and leafy greens of all kinds do wonderfully well from October to April.

Tomatoes and fruiting vegetables do well in the months when it’s mild with lots of sun.” However, experimental gardeners do break the rules occasionally. “I’ve once grown a watermelon in the middle of the winter; it grew to the size of a small orange. It may have not grown to its full potential, but it shows that even if you grow something at the ‘wrong’ time, it will grow.”

Although gardening can seem intimidating, she insisted that it’s worth the effort. “Time flies when I’m gardening - it is truly the most relaxing thing to do,” she said, adding, “It does take effort and time to set up your garden, from soil preparation to planting seedlings and seeds, but once you’re set and

everything is growing in its place, almost all you have to do is water.” Alzainah even manages to successful divide her time between classes and tending the garden. “I usually check on my garden when I get home from my classes, and I leave any heavy gardening like fertilizing or planting for the weekends so I don’t get interrupted. If I could, I would spend hours on it.”

Whilst her passion for gardening now is certainly apparent, Alzainah became enthusiastic about it by chance. “I’ve always been fascinated by animals, nature and the outdoors, but I never really paid attention to gardening and plants,

shares advice, tips and even recipes, is continuing to grow in popularity, “I’ve received great feedback regarding my blog from people already interested in gardening, not beginners,” she said. “Also, what I found strange, is that most of the readership of my blog comes from the United States. I hope that this changes and I get more young Kuwaiti readers.”

Alzainah is also a member of the Facebook group ‘Gardening in Kuwait’, a resource, she says, that she is still learning from. However, there’s room for improvement, “In my opinion, a community should be formed to offer young gardeners like myself a chance to learn from the older gener-

until one day, I heard about how my 10-year-old cousin grew cherry tomatoes in a container in his home,” she said. “I was shocked! I used to think that tomatoes and other vegetables can only survive and be grown in large, commercial greenhouses far away in Wafra. I clearly knew very little. The very next day, I bought some tomato seeds and it all grew from there.”

From the success of her first project, she began reading up to learn as much as possible about her new hobby. “I read books and researched online. Watching my plants grow was so gratifying, that it drove me to read and learn how to better take care of them.” Researching online and reading up on the subject was helpful, but left Alzainah feeling that there was a gap in information. “It was very confusing when I started, as most of the information and guides online were written for climates much milder than ours. I tried very hard to find Kuwaiti gardening experiences to learn from, but what I found was very little, and didn’t help me answer the questions I had,” she said. “I was always editing information in my head to match the seasons here. I didn’t know where to find the best peat moss brand or where to make my raised beds. I had to find everything myself.”

As a result, Alzainah took the matter into her own hands.

“I created my blog, which I wanted to be everything that I was looking for when I started,” she said. The blog, which allows readers to follow Alzainah through the seasons as she

ations’ experience, and the older gardeners a chance to learn from the newer generations’ modern techniques,” she said.

Should you wish to start growing your own produce, Alzainah recommends you go organic. “Growing organic is cheaper, and a lot more fun. For example, I gather my garden and kitchen waste and make my own compost, which goes straight into my soil. In this way, I’m both recycling and avoiding buying expensive fertilizers and soil mixes,” she said. “Also, a big part of my organic garden is the way I deal with pests. I am against using chemical pesticides on insects simply because there are easy and natural ways which are just as effective. I would prefer not to use pesticides, as their ingredients are downright scary.”

Alzainah’s gardening success has not only blossomed into a blog, but praise from friends and family alike. “I receive so much support from my family. They always send out giveaway baskets from my garden, which to me, shows they are proud.”

Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Read no evil Senior censor defends work, denies playing Big Brother

By Nawara Fattahova

D

ifferent professions have different tastes.

Sometimes we wonder how the work of some people goes on, especially if it is not very common. The censors who are responsible for censoring books and other publications do an interesting job, which becomes harder during some periods of the year, yet it seems they enjoy it. In Kuwait, freedoms are respected yet within certain limits. “The limits of freedom in the press, TV, radio or other media is organized by law no. 3/2006 concerning Press and Publications, law no. 61/2007 concerning Visual and Audio Media, and related by-laws,” Dalal AlMutairi, head of the Foreign Books Department at the Ministry of Information told Kuwait Times.

These laws set the basic rules to deal with right and wrong acts announced or published in the media. “This is also related to books, electronic publications and games and many other things. There are certain red lines that should not be crossed by the publishers, writers, authors and others. In order to check the application of the laws and that it’s not violated, there are inspectors and censors working at the Ministry of Information,” she added.

Dalal started her career as a censor at the Foreign Books Department and became the head of the department after a few years.

“Many people consider the censor to be a fanatic and uneducated person, but this isn’t true. We are the most literate people as we have read much, almost every Dalal Al-Mutairi day. We receive a lot of information from different fields. We read books for children, religious books, political, philosophical, scientific ones and many others,” she pointed out.

“As a censor, I read a book from beginning to the end, word by word. In case the censor makes a mistake, the head of the department will be responsible for this mistake, as they should also read the book. The time to finish censoring a book depends on the kind of the book. For instance, a philosophical book needs about four days to read,” Dalal added.

This department was set up in the year 2000.

“Before we were working in the censorship department that included newspapers, magazines, books and any other printed material. It was then separated into a foreign books section and an Arabic books section. The censor in the foreign department is responsible for many different languages. We have censors who speak French, German, Urdu, Hindi and others but 95 percent of the publications are in the English

language,” noted Dalal.

“We have a list of banned books in Kuwait and we deal with publications containing forbidden material that are not on this list, and which we have to censor. The author or the distributor of this censored publication can appeal the decision issued by the censorship department at the ministry, and then another committee will review the publication to give its decision. Usually we are not very strict with foreign books,” she admitted.

According to the law, if there is a violation, the censor writes a report about it. “Nobody can distribute any book unless he has a license to do so. The distributor should bring a copy of the book to our department. Sometimes we receive

complaints from people regarding some books.

Then we investigate with the printing press that published and printed this book. The printing house is responsible for the material and books printed by it and they should inform the Ministry of Information that they are printing a book, and then the book is not distributed without a license. There are some censors and inspectors from our department who inspect different printing presses to check their license,” Dalal stated. Some distributors import huge quantities of books, which may contain restrictions, and in this case it will bring him great financial losses. “We always advise the distributors to bring just one or a few copies in the beginning to submit them to the censorship

department. After acquiring the approval to distribute them, he can then ship in the rest of the stock,” stressed Dalal.

The greatest load on the department is during the Book Fair. “We start censoring the books in this fair about three months before it is held.

We receive about 7,000 to 8,000 books to read.

There are about 15 censors working on this fair.

These censors take the books home with them to finish their reading. If we find a book containing restrictions, we write a report that is passed to a committee which decides that certain books will be banned from the fair,” she highlighted.

The media or press sometimes exaggerates in describing the situation or news. “Always during each Book Fair, the media writes about banning hundreds of books from being sold. And they blame us for this. The committee that decides the ban consists of members in high positions from outside and inside the Ministry of Endowments and the Ministry of Information.

The censor is not responsible for the ban. He only reads and gives his opinion according to the law,” she added.

Working as a censor is interesting. “I like this work. It gives us experience, information and we always learn something new. It takes about a year or a year and a half to become a censor, as the person is first employed as a censor assistant. The employee first starts slow in reading and it takes him a week or days to finish a book.

Also, beginners are not given political or religious books in the beginning as these are difficult. Instead we give them children’s books or some scientific books, which are easy,” said Dalal.

In some religious books, the censorship department cooperates with the Ministry of Endowments. “Religious opinions may differ and that’s why we demand a professional explanation, although we have some censors who are graduates of the Faculty of Islamic Law. Some religious issues are transferred to the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs. The banned books include publications printed in Israel, Christian missionary and Jewish books and other similar books,” she noted.

During regular days, we receive books that need to be approved for distribution in the morning itself. “The censors don’t have any particular timing, they just have to read, and we can’t press them as we don’t want them to make mistakes. If there is pressure such as during the fair time, the head of the department works with the censors to finish the work,” Dalal pointed out. The censors have to pass some courses and practicals to be eligible to do this job. “After graduating and appointment to this job, the new censor receives practical training at the Ministry of Information. For instance, he or she is given a book containing violations to be censored and we see how good they are. Within a year or so, they will be completely trained. Also the employee receives a course about the laws related to censorship. Usually the employees are graduates from the college of political science, history and similar fields,” she concluded.

Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

‘Dax’ strikes a pose with his guitar.

By Ben Garcia rmed with an electric guitar and a golden voice that uplifts one’s spirit, a talented young Kuwaiti named Dax readily played and sung Bruno Mars’ version of ‘I want to be a billionaire’, not in front of the ‘Arabs Got Talent’ judges, but during a Kuwait Times interview last week. Dax is a 20-year-old promising young male pop singer in Kuwait whose ultimate dream and goal is to be known as the ‘pop prince’, entertaining anyone including the rich and the famous.

Yes, his love and passion for great music landed him performing in front of Kuwait’s prime minister during a function organized by a private company recently. After that enchanting performance, several invitations followed, especially from several American and European communities. Last year he tried his luck in ‘Arabs Got Talent’, but he was eliminated during the early stages as he poorly rendered some Arabic music. “I wasn’t familiar with Arabic music, so I was eliminated at an early stage of the show. But I am okay, it was an experience which I can never forget,” he said.

Kuwait Times invited Dax to talk about his passion and love of English pop music last Friday. He is currently at the senior high school level at Abdullah Mubarak School. Dax’s love of English music has made him famous and almost an icon in his school. Many of his friends and teachers are calling him a young musical maestro. “I play several musical instruments, and I am a pop and rock singer at the same time,” added Dax, who requested his real name be withheld.

A

By Muna Al-Fuzai Kuwaiti family held a wedding for their newly married household helpers! The driver and the maid, both Asians, had fallen in love and wanted to marry. Unlike the typical reaction by many families, who would deny this request of marriage or any kind of passionate relationship among the household employees, this family agreed to bless the marriage and even held a wedding in one local ballrooms at their expense to express their happiness and good wishes for the newly married couple.

When this news came to the media, it was a matter of a few laughs and good comments because it is not every day you witness things like that here!

Why is that? Because we are familiar with news of crimes, suicides, runaways and abuse. In my long experience covering many stories about maids in Kuwait, this incident is only the second I have heard of in ten years.

Now, maybe there have been some marriages of the same that have occurred among domestic workers, but not with a wedding and pictures taken.

That is really something new, although it is very appreciative and a great gesture of kindness and sympathy by this Kuwaiti family. It is very common that families, Kuwaitis or not, do not welcome relationships among their employees out of fear that sex will lead to pregnancy of the maid and troubles for the family and the workers in front of the law. That can be understood, but also it should not be a reason for any family to deny marriage proposals by their workers.

Like any workplace, passionate relations are not encouraged in the house and in fact it is not the right place for ethical reasons. A domestic worker, a maid or a driver or anyone else, is expected to do a job which they get paid for and not to practice a romance. Yet, a romance with good and honest intentions can occur in any place, at work or outside, maid or a driver.

For our newly married couple here today, the ending was happy and with a ballroom and a band. Both were thrilled to see their sponsor helping them to fulfill their dream and give them the chance to enjoy their big day. Happy wishes to the new couple!

A

Dax has experimented with many musical instruments - from playing the guitar, piano, violin, base and drums. His interest has always been in music and he sees himself teaching music in school. “I’ve experimented with many genres, studied music, composed some lyrics and performed live in local radio/television station shows. I feel proud when my music is played over the radio/television here,” he beamed. Dax’s music talks not only about his own life, but also discusses other people’s concerns and problems. “This is one way of contributing to my beloved country.

Singing for me is life and I want to be known as a great singer and composer.”

Dax is an active member of theatrical plays at their school and rendered various community services. “I refuse to be just an ordinary person or a spectator on the side, waiting for somebody to perform to them. What I want is music. I am an active music lover and I want to share something beautiful with people around me,” he said. Dax also loves sporting activities like football, volleyball and basketball.

The newlyweds beam from their wedding cake.

Local FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Protesters demand Gitmo two be freed

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Hundreds of Kuwaitis gathered on Wednesday night in front of the American Embassy in Bayan to protest against the detention of the remaining two Kuwaiti detainees Fawzi Al-Odah and Fayez Al-Kandari at the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. The demonstrators were demanding their release after they have been detained for more than 10 years without a fair trial or any charges.

About 20 speakers, MPs and representatives of different NGOs, blamed both the American and Kuwaiti governments for not solving this important humanitarian issue. Some demonstrators were wearing orange jumpsuits and black masks covering their face, imitating the way the detainees in Guantanamo look.

According to Khalid Al-Odah, father of detainee Fawzi, Kuwait is an important strategic ally of the United States. “I wonder how Kuwait gained this position as an ally when we still have two detainees there for more than 10 years. Why is the US government still detaining them? Why can’t our government bring them back, while it has the privilege to press the issue with the American government? The Kuwaiti government should be strict and honest at its moves, as human dignity is more important than the public budget or development,” he told Kuwait Times.

“We hope that Fawzi and Fayez will come back soon. We will continue to use all kinds of instruments to press both the Kuwaiti and American governments until they are released. We hope that our voice is clear and will reach the officials in charge. We will hold similar demonstrations and protests at different times,” he added.

MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei branded US President Barak Obama a liar. “Obama promised us four years ago to solve this problem and close Guantanamo, but he didn’t fulfill his promise. I have the solution to this issue. If we cut electricity from Arifjan Camp in Kuwait where the American forces are based and they stay in the hot weather, I’m sure our detainees will be released. I blame the Kuwaiti government, including the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their negligence,” he stated.

Former MP Jassem Al-Kandari described the different methods of torture that the detainees have been subjected to at Guantanamo. He mentioned that they were subjected to interrogation for more than 400 hours. “Wounds and scars from their chains were found on the bodies of the detainees. Also they were taken to very hot rooms, and then to very cold rooms for more than 48 hours. They are treated very badly in there and there is no respect for human rights at Guantanamo,” he said.

Kandari demanded the immediate release of the detainees.

“We are sure of their innocence and we want them back with their parents. We were the first to demand a fair trial for Saddam Hussein, and today our detainees are not subject to a fair trial. We call upon His Highness the Amir to help us to get them back through diplomatic channels,” he added.

Former MP Mubarak Al-Khrainej stressed the importance of such a demonstration. “We have previously sent messages to the American government but it didn’t achieve any results. So we have to deliver a new message to the US government that our detainees have to be released. We should not mix between the US government and US nationals, and we are calling upon the American people to press their government in favor of each father and mother to release the detainees,” he stated. The grandmother of Fawzi Al-Odah was crying at the event, and spoke to the attendees calling them to pray to God to release her grandson and other detainees captured and held at Guantanamo.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Islamist MPs (left to right) Faisal Al-Mislem, Mubarak Al-Waalan, Jamaan Al-Harbash and Falah Al-Sawwagh attend a parliament session at the National Assembly yesterday.

(Inset) MP Abdulhameed Dashti laughs during the session.

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Assembly OKs death for insulting God, prophets MPs start preparing finance minister’s grilling

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday overwhelmingly passed a law that calls for the death penalty for Muslims who insult God, the Holy Quran and all prophets or desecrate the honor of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his wives. Forty MPs, including all Cabinet ministers present, voted in the second and final round of voting for the law, which introduces two new articles to the country’s penal code. All five Shiite MPs present and liberal lawmaker Mohammad Al-Sager rejected the law, which becomes effective after its publication in the official gazette, Kuwait Today, which must occur within one month of the approval and acceptance by the government.

Minister of Justice and Awqaf Jamal Shehab said the government will accept and implement the law.

The new articles require the judges to ask defendants to repent. If they publicly repent and apologize for the crime they committed, the penalty will be reduced to five years in jail and a fine of KD 10,000 or one of them.

Repentance from those who repeat the offenses will not be accepted, and violators must accordingly be punished with death.

Non-Muslims who commit the same crime face a jail term of at least 10 years, although some MPs demanded the death penalty should also apply to them too. The approval

came following a heated debate between Shiite and Sunni MPs mainly around the religious disputes between Islam’s two main sects. A request by the five Shiite MPs to include the 12 Shiite Imams and the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Fatima, under the protection of the law, was rejected.

Shiite MPs lashed out strongly at the law saying it violates a number of well-established Islamic principles, which are accepted by both Shiites and Sunnis. Prominent Shiite MP Adnan Abdulsamad said the law should not have been passed in an environment full of political and sectarian tensions.

“We do not want to execute people with opinions or thought because Islam respects these people... But we need this legislation because incidents of cursing God have increased. We need to deter them,” opposition MP Ali Al-Deqbasi said during the debate. Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the bill breaches the Kuwaiti constitution and the principles of Islam. “Why are we trying to show Islam as a religion of death and blood when it is actually the opposite of that,” Dashti said.

The move to stiffen penalties for religious crimes came after authorities in March arrested a Shiite tweeter for allegedly cursing Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), his wife and some companions. The suspect, Hamad Al-Naqi, is being detained pending

trial later this month. In another development, opposition Islamist MP Waleed AlTabtabaei said yesterday that the majority bloc has assigned MPs Obaid Al-Wasmi, Musallam Al-Barrak, Abdulrahman AlAnjari and Khaled Al-Tahous to start preparing a planned grilling of Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. The bloc had planned to submit the grilling last month, but decided to delay it for two weeks to give the prime minister time to dismiss the minister. The grilling is expected to be based on allegations of financial and administrative irregularities in the finance ministry and a number of institutions under the minister.

Also, MPs from the Awazem tribe yesterday strongly criticized MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel for raising the issue of a man from the tribe who died under mysterious circumstances. Juwaihel, who has submitted to grill the Interior Minister, alleged that the man died due to torture by police.

He said his body was kept in the forensic department for two months, and he vowed to add the case to his grilling. But the five Awazem MPs said they consulted the man’s family and they totally refused to allow Juwaihel to exploit the case in his grilling, especially after the interior minister ordered the formation of an investigative committee into the case.

Son-in-law killed fortuneteller

KUWAIT: Protesters attend a demonstration outside the US Embassy in Bayan on Wednesday calling for the release of Kuwaiti prisoners still behind bars at the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Following the recent murder of the famous Kuwaiti fortune teller Um Ali, her son-in-law has been arrested, said security sources, according to local dailies. He allegedly set her apartment ablaze, which forced her to attempt to escape via a balcony from which she plunged to her death.

Case papers indicated that the suspect was a 42-year-old expatriate with a criminal record and a history of drug addiction.

Security sources added that immediate investigations led to the suspect in record time. He has admitted that he went to the victim’s apartment, poured gasoline below the door and set it ablaze before fleeing the scene. To his bad luck, the suspect got his hands and neck burned in the process.

Consequently, he left the fuel bottle and his lighter behind as he quickly fled to escape the fire himself. The suspect explained that after going home in such a state to his wife, she took him to the hospital. He claimed he was electrocuted. Notably, the suspect is the second husband of Um Ali’s daughter.

The couple had been in bad terms with the mother-in-law, who went to court demanding custody of their child.

Egyptian drug smugglers nabbed Two Egyptians were recently arrested at Kuwait international Airport for attempting to smuggle in narcotic pills and hashish after arriving from their home country, said security sources. The suspects hid the drugs

inside jars of traditional Egyptian slated fish (feseekh) and cheese. The sources said the suspects believed that the strong smell of feseekh would cover the odor of hashish and the drugs, but they looked confused on approaching custom inspectors.

Rude old lady arrested A senior citizen was arrested for insulting public servants while on duty at the social security department, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the old lady got very angry when she learnt that her transaction was illegal and that it could not be processed. She started cursing and insulting the clerks and other senior officials.

FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Blind Chinese dissident strains US-Beijing ties

14

Gingrich pulls out of US presidential race

16

BBC, Al-Jazeera decry Malaysia censorship

18

HOMS: A picture shows destroyed shops and damaged buildings in the Khalidiya district of the central Syrian city of Homs yesterday.

The UN has admitted that the shaky three-week-old truce in Syria is not holding. (Inset) A Syrian man shows UN observers the scars of an attack in which he lost an eye as they visit the Khalidiya district. — AFP

Attack kills 4 at Aleppo University Death toll mounts as Syrian violence rages BEIRUT: Syrian security men and students wielding knives attacked a protest march at Aleppo University yesterday, activists said, killing four and rounding up dozens of demonstrators who were demanding President Bashar Al-Assad step down. In an unusually bloody incident for Syria’s hitherto fairly peaceful commercial hub and second city, video posted on the Internet showed young people chanting slogans against the ruling family and being drowned out by gunfire.

Activists posted images of a bloodied corpse and what they said was a burning dormitory.

A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least four were killed and some 28 other students were wounded, three critically. Some 200 were arrested in the latest violence to breached a three-week-old UN truce. Knifewielding youths had joined the security forces in the attack on fellow students on the Aleppo campus, the group said, adding that teargas had been fired on what started as the latest of an almost daily series of peaceful protests by the students. “Freedom forever in spite of you, Assad!” chanted the young demonstrators in a video shot in early morning twilight.

There was no comment from officials and it

was not possible to verify the account from the northern city whose relatively prosperous, business-oriented population has been slow to join the 14-month-old revolt against the Assad’s four-decade rule. Syria’s middle classes, and substantial religious and ethnic minorities, are fearful that an uprising dominated by Sunni Muslims, who form 80 percent of the population, against an elite around Assad, which is drawn largely from his Alawite minority, could descend into the kind of sectarian and ethnic bloodbath they have watched destroy neighboring Iraq over recent years.

BURNING DORM From Aleppo, anti-Assad activists uploaded a picture of one young man who they said was killed, his shirt drenched in blood, and a video of a burning residence block, its windows shattered. Dormitory hallways appeared to have been smashed up and men were dragging furniture outside as students screamed.

The violence was one of many breaches of the three-week-old ceasefire in Syria, where 31 United Nations observers are touring to monitor the truce between state forces and rebels.

Around 300 are expected to be deployed by the end of May.

The deal brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has led to a small reduction in the daily carnage, mostly in cities were monitors are deployed permanently. The head of the monitoring mission, Major General Robert Mood from Norway, told reporters during a trip to Hama yesterday that observers

were having a “calming affect” and that state forces appeared willing to cooperate with the truce. “There have been steps taken by the government forces on the ground that indicate a better willingness to live up to the commitments made in the agreement,” he said, giving no details. —Reuters

Gunmen slay 56 in Nigeria MAIDUGURI: Gunmen set off explosives and fired on a cattle market in remote northeastern Nigeria overnight, killing at least 56 people, a nurse who received bodies in the local hospital said yesterday. It was not clear who was behind the attack on Wednesday night in the town of Potiskum, in Yobe state, which has been an occasional target for militant Islamist sect Boko Haram. “I have counted 56 bodies at the morgue and I am sure that the death toll could rise in view of the serious nature of injuries sustained,” the nurse at Potiskum hospital, who gave his name as Babangida, said.

“The Potiskum mortuary is made up of a

room and a parlor and I counted the 56 in the parlor only. I didn’t go into the inner room.” Police Commissioner Moses Namiri said security forces had confirmed 34 killed and that Islamist sect Boko Haram was suspected to be behind the attack. “Everybody knows the modus operandi of BH (Boko Haram): they threw explosives and used guns,” he said. “The gunfire lasted for almost an hour.” Witness Mama Yusuf, a retired civil servant, said there were dead bodies on the ground, though he could not say how many.

“I saw dead bodies all around the place and the emergency services taking people to hospitals,” he said. —Reuters

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Baba Amr, Syria’s ghost town of rubble

HOMS: A Syrian boy looks out of the window of his bullet-riddled house in the Khalidiya district of the central Syrian city of Homs yesterday. — AFP

Fatah and Hamas unity talks ends without deal CAIRO: A Cairo meeting between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and an official of the rival Fatah movement made no headway on the formation of a Palestinian national unity government, an official said yesterday. Two hours of talks Wednesday night in the Egyptian capital produced “nothing new,” the Palestinian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Meshaal and his deputy Mussa Abu Marzuk discussed with senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed “the possibility of advancing the reconciliation process, in particular a government of national unity, but the meeting produced nothing new,” the official said.

The meeting was a bid to follow up on an agreement reached in Doha on February 6 between Meshaal and Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas on the formation of an interim government of independents. Under the deal, Abbas was to serve as head of the interim government, ending a bitter dispute between the two sides over who would assume the post.

The government line-up was to have been announced shortly afterwards, but the deal was met with opposition from Gazabased members of Hamas, as well as some officials in the Fatahcontrolled West Bank, who say that Palestinian law prevents Abbas from serving as president and prime minister at the same time.

At Wednesday’s meeting, which was also attended by Egyptian officials, Fatah “stressed the importance of allowing the electoral commission to resume operations within the (Hamascontrolled) Gaza Strip so that president Abbas can set in motion the procedures to form a government, and fix a date for the elections,” the official said. Hamas said it was possible “to resolve the question of the electoral commission through consultations with (Abbas) over the formation of the government he will head under the terms of the Doha declaration.”

But the Palestinian official said he did not expect any progress towards reconciliation before the completion of internal Hamas elections, expected by mid-May. The long-time rivals have been struggling to implement the terms of a reconciliation deal signed in Cairo in May last year, which calls for the formation of an interim government of independents to pave the way for presidential and legislative elections within a year. Representatives from the two sides have met several times to try to hammer out a final line-up for the government and agree on who should head it.

In recent months, attempts to implement the agreement have also been affected by internal disagreements within Hamas, with its Gaza leadership accusing Meshaal of making concessions to Fatah without consulting them. — AFP

HOMS: A terrorist haven in the eyes of the Syrian regime but “heart of the revolution” for its foes, Baba Amr is now a ghost town where residents move silently among the rubble of their homes. Two months of bombardment reduced this central district of Homs city to nothing more than a heap of ruins. The walls of houses are pocked with bullets holes, punctured by tank shells and gouged by shrapnel. In a deserted street, a mother with two children carries a green suitcase. “We have gathered all our things. The house is no longer inhabitable. My husband and I are engineers, but there is no more work in town and so no money to fix it. I think we will emigrate,” sighs 55-year-old Umm Adnan.

Not one house has been spared, as if they had been built of clay and not concrete. “May God forgive them for the evil they did to us,” Umm Abdo, 35, says, her voice choking with frustration as she and her husband gather their possessions from what was once the family home. The building’s second floor collapsed, crushing their flat. “The tanks fired on the buildings and we escaped by making a hole in the wall of our garden to take refuge with the

neighbors. We again had to leave, as the fighting came dangerously close.

“We had to shelter for six days with people we didn’t even know!” she says angrily. Her husband and son ask her to lower her voice as the security forces pass by, patrolling the street.

She obliges and then resumes their story, her tone rising again. “Nothing remains of the house where I lived with my husband and three children,” she says. Asked about the presence of armed men, who according to the rebels “protected” this area of two square kilometers (less than a square mile) but who the regime says held its residents “hostage,” she dodges the question. “We were people who lived in peace,” she responds. Her home was located on the front line facing Inshaat, a district controlled by government forces. Only Karami Street, a few meters wide, separated the rival sides, who must have traded fire at very close range.

The rebels used alleys between the houses. “They created a long corridor that allowed them to draw out our forces and then slip away,” says Ahmed, a 37-year-old army captain, pointing to holes in buildings. “They

(the rebels) have destroyed everything because they didn’t care about the people,” a soldier says, vowing the government would help residents rebuild their homes. At each junction, security forces have set up checkpoints flying the Syrian flag and plastered with posters of President Bashar alAssad. At times, they approached as the AFP journalist questioned locals.

“I left the area when the gunmen took over. Now that order has been restored, I returned to see what is left,” says Samer, 35, whose electronic hardware store was looted. “We had 20O soldiers killed and 1,000 wounded in this battle. We found 100 tons of explosives. We had to tread cautiously because they had rigged everything with bombs. It took us 28 days,” says an officer in the security forces. “This was the sorting centre for weapons arriving from Lebanon. In retaking this quarter, we’ve reduced the smuggling of weapons but we know it’s impossible to stop it completely,” he adds.

Beyond the rubble of Baba Amr, the land is covered with spring red poppies. But here too the war has left its mark, with fields pockmarked with mortar holes.— AFP

Vice-president’s death squad trial postponed Hashemi charged in absentia with series of murders BAGHDAD: The trial of Iraq’s fugitive vice-president, Tareq Al-Hashemi, accused of running death squads, was postponed yesterday after defense lawyers argued it should be held in a special court. The leading Sunni Muslim politician fled Baghdad in December when the Shiite-led government issued a warrant for his arrest. He denies all charges and says they are politically motivated.

Now in Istanbul, he has refused to stand trial in Baghdad, saying Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki controls the courts. Hashemi’s son-in-law, Ahmed Ahmed Kahtan, and 73 of his bodyguards have also been charged. No defendant was in court. Iraq’s delicately-balanced ruling coalition of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds has been strained since the government brought charges against Hashemi and tried to remove another Sunni leader, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al-Mutlaq, shortly after US troops pulled out of the country in December.

CALL FOR SPECIAL COURT Judiciary spokesman Abdel Sattar Al-Beriqdar said the trial had been postponed to May 10 because a file related to the venue objections by Hashemi’s lawyers was in another court. Hashemi’s defense team argued he should not be tried in the Central Criminal Court, saying that

the Iraqi constitution provided for a “special court” for senior political figures. “There should be a special court for those occupying key posi-

an officer in the Interior Ministry and a female lawyer”, a judiciary council statement said. Hashemi and his bodyguards were also charged on

Iraq’s Sunni Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi tions like prime minister, president and parliamentary speaker,” Moaid Al-Azia, head of the defense team, told reporters. “We asked the federal court to give its opinion and have also made representations to the cassation court,” he said.

The trial will initially focus on three murder charges involving “the assassination of a general manager in the Ministry of National Security,

Monday with the murders of six judges. Prosecutors are investigating about 300 potential charges against the group. The hearing, attended by representatives of the United Nations and human rights groups, coincided with several bombing and shooting incidents elsewhere in Baghdad in which one soldier was killed and several people were wounded.— Reuters

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

In northern Nigeria, Islamic police become matchmaker KANO: A line of women wait their turn at a building in northern Nigeria, ready to participate in a program local officials hope will bring two results: marriage and peace.

Love might have to come later. The program run by the Islamic sharia police in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, aims to match widows and divorcees with available men. Officials hope it will in part help curb unrest in the north, which has been hit by deadly violence blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram, as well as reduce other social problems by providing a stable home for children. Such a program has the potential to raise obvious red flags, but local officials say the women participate strictly on a voluntary basis. “With the current security situation in Kano, children with no proper parental guide and care are more likely to be influenced and fed with these extremist tendencies,” said Nabahani Usman, deputy

head of the Hisbah, as the sharia police are known. “It is very important they are saved from these destructive elements through this program, where they can have stable family life with their mothers and stepfathers looking after them.”

Analysts say unemployment and frustration among young people has helped feed the violence blamed on Islamists which has rocked Nigeria’s north, leaving more than 1,000 dead since mid-2009.

Whether marriage will have a positive effect remains to be seen, but for now women and men seem eager to participate. Arranged marriages are common across northern Nigeria, an impoverished region near the Sahara desert. Health NGOs offer free HIV screening to the spouse-seekers, which the Hisbah has made mandatory to the applicants.

Radio announcements were aired in mid-February calling on men open to mar-

Egyptian military vows fair election, power handover CAIRO: Egypt’s military rulers vowed yesterday that this month’s presidential election will be fair and moved to assure the public it would hand over power, a day after a deadly attack on an anti-military protest. “We are committed to fair elections 100 percent. We don’t have any candidates. All the candidates are respectable Egyptians,” said Major General Mohammed Al-Assar of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Assar said that the electoral commission “sent a letter to the foreign ministry requesting that it invites 45 foreign observers to monitor the presidential election.”

“The commission also sent messages to all the embassies inviting them to send a delegate to monitor the election and issued permits to three foreign organizations as well,” he added. Assar was speaking at a news conference as calm returned to Cairo’s streets following clashes that killed 20 people outside the defense ministry on Wednesday, according to medics. “We want to stress the commitment of the armed forces... of not using violence against the people. The armed forces belong to the people,” said Assar, who put Wednesday’s toll at nine dead and said more than 160 were injured.

The general, an aide to the defense minister, said the security forces had intervened “positively” to stop the bloodshed and to ensure stability, more than a year after a popular uprising toppled veteran president Hosni Mubarak. “Egypt is in danger... Everyone must realize this danger,” said Assar. “I propose an initiative to all political parties and religious leaders to go to Abbassiya and try to persuade the youths to leave Abbassiya,” he said referring to the Cairo district in which Wednesday’s clashes occurred.

“Go to Tahrir Square... to stay away from the defense ministry because we don’t want to use any violence against our youths,” he added. Cairo’s Tahrir Square was the epicenter of the massive protest movement that eventually forced Mubarak to hand over power to the military, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Assar said the military would transfer power by the end of June. The presidential election is scheduled for May 23 and 24 and a run off for June 16 and 17 if there is no outright winner in the first round.

“We have said and repeated since November 2011 that the Supreme Council is committed to handing over power before June 30, 2012. And today we say it again clearly and frankly: the SCAF is committed to handing over power by June 30, 2012 and even before,” said Assar. “We have no wish to stay in power. We do not want power. The supreme council is not an alternative to legitimacy,” he added. Critics of the military rulers cried foul after the electoral commission disqualified 10 of the 23 candidates vying for the presidential race, saying they did not meet the proper criteria. Assar stressed that the SCAF, under whose rule parliamentary elections took place late last year and early this year, were not tampering with the polls. He also urged the armed forces to remain steadfast urging them “not to listen” to abuse expressed by their detractors. “The people appreciate your historic positions,” Assar said. “After July 1, it will be said that the SCAF played a historic role” in the transition of Egypt from Mubarak’s autocratic regime to democracy, he added.— AFP

rying selected widows and divorcees to come forward. The women were located through an NGO called the Voice of Widows, Divorcees and Orphans of Nigeria (VOWAN). On a recent day in Kano, 38-year old Amina Adamu clutched her handbag under her arm and walked toward a long table at the end of the hall to a bearded man for her screening interview. She was among the first set of 100 women brought to the Hisbah headquarters in Kano for the program.

Three other bearded men and two veiled women at the table called out names of dozens of applicants who sat on rows of plastic chairs. Broken homesQuestions include basic information, such as occupation, income and number of children. Men are asked why they want to get married again, among other things. Those who qualify are then allowed to meet each other at the Hisbah office, choosing on

their own among the participants who they might wish to marry. A group wedding will be held later for participants, but those who prefer not to wait can also go ahead with their marriages.

“I need a mature, sincere and caring husband, which is why I want the Hisbah to be involved in my choice because I need security in my marriage,” Adamu said shortly after being screened by the panel.

Outside in the courtyard, men in clusters waited to be called into the hall for the screening. They included those who have been divorced or widowed, as well as bachelors and those looking for additional wives, as Islam allows a man to marry up to four women. For the men, another important factor also plays a role: money. Ismail Ibrahim, a 25-year-old bachelor and a school teacher, said he could not afford to get married since the dowry would be too expensive. —AFP

Tuareg uprising threatens Niger Niger home to Sahel’s largest Tuareg population TCHINTABARADEN: In the weeks since a sudden Tuareg revolt split Mali in two, officials in neighboring Niger have been desperate to stop the Sahara uprising from spreading across their border. If history is a guide, Niger has reason to be nervous.

Since the first of several uprisings nearly a century ago by the indigo-turbaned nomads - who live in the vast desert spanning northern Mali and Niger - both countries have tended to be simultaneous battlegrounds.

Now, weeks after rebels swept across Mali’s north in the wake of a coup in the capital, residents and officials in Niger home to the region’s largest Tuareg population - say Mali’s outcome will determine whether unrest leaps the frontier. “The populations in northern Mali and northern Niger are virtually the same in this zone. Of course there are risks,” said Mohammed Anacko, a former Nigerien Tuareg rebel leader, now head of the regional council in Agadez. “Our concern is how this (situation in Mali) will be managed. The way in which it is managed will determine what spillover there is in Niger,” he added.

Tuareg fighters have rebelled in the Sahara five times since 1916, mostly over complaints about the region’s poverty and about being sidelined by a centralized government situated hundreds of kilometers away. This latest uprising in Mali marked a shift - instead of fighting guerrilla-syle warfare with rusty rifles, Tuareg units now bristle with weapons, vehicles and soldiers spilling across the Sahara from Libya’s war last year. The main Tuareg rebel group in Mali, MNLA, declared an autonomous desert homeland called Azawad after brazenly seizing northern towns in March and early April, putting it in control of about two-thirds of Malian territory.

They also swept in with them other Islamist groups and smugglers, complicating efforts to resolve the conflict and raising the regional stakes for stability. Keeping

them from crossing the border is important for Niger, saddled with a perennial food shortage and refugees from other regional conflicts, while at the same time trying to maintain investor interest in its resources.

Unlike Mali’s north, where oil and mineral wealth are still largely untapped, northern Niger already hosts fully-operational uranium mines, including projects run by French nuclear power giant Areva and China National Nuclear Corporation.

Northern Niger’s Agadez region was also once a hot spot for European tourists

ment,” said Saadick Idrissa, an NGO worker in Tchintabaraden, where the government was hosting a conference on Niger’s north.

“For us, it is essential to address economic development.” Karim Alkassoum, an unemployed 22 year-old in Tchintabaraden, hinted at the temptation to join the fighting across the border.

“I would take any work that I can find,” he said. “But if I was given the chance, I would go to Mali,” he added, without explaining what he would do when he got there. Residents in the area have little faith

TIMBUKTU: Fighters from Islamist group Ansar Dine stand guard during a hostage handover, in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali. — AP seeking a taste of the desert, but travel has dried up since the last Tuareg rebellion inflamed both Mali and Niger from 2007 to 2009, and since an increase in kidnappings by al Qaeda-linked gunmen.

SHARED DESTINY With few other opportunities, young residents of northern Niger are increasingly targets for recruitment by bandits, smugglers, or an armed rebellion, officials said.

“What worries the youth is underemploy-

the government will solve their problems of poverty and unemployment. “They will do nothing. They will go back to Niamey to their air conditioners,” said Mohamed Yacoubou, an unemployed 19-year-old in Tchintabaraden, of government officials.

Niger has so far done a better job than Mali of managing the flow of fighters and weapons out of Libya that accompanied the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi and handed Malian rebels the firepower to rout government forces.— Reuters

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Rhode Island tries to lure back college dropouts RHODE ISLAND: The University of Rhode Island, reeling from a dropout rate among seniors that has doubled from last year, has joined a nationwide trend to encourage dropouts to return for a few last classes and finally earn a college degree. The school introduced a “Finish What You Started” program in recent months after discovering the dropout rate among its roughly 4,000 seniors had doubled to about 300 from 150 last year, University of Rhode Island (URI) Provost Donald DeHayes said.

“There really isn’t a single reason or small number of reasons that people have dropped out,” DeHayes said. “We’re finding it’s as much about a terrible job market as it is being able to afford it.”

URI joins several universities across the country with similar programs to bring back dropouts who had earned most of their degree credits, including the University of New Mexico, University of Oklahoma and University of Kentucky. “It’s certainly

a trend that’s gaining momentum,” said Patrick Kelly, senior associate at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

Most parents expect college to be a four-year financial commitment, yet it has become so common for undergraduates to stretch out their college years that only about a third of students who set out to graduate in four years actually do so, according to the US Department of Education. Just over half finish in six years, said Mike Baumgartner, vice president for finance and special projects at Complete College America, a Washington, DCbased nonprofit. There are “many different voices calling for better completion rates” at universities nationwide, said Michael Tanner, vice president for academic affairs at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.

“It’s important for the public institutions to in fact maintain contact with their graduates and in

this case reach out to non-graduates... to say we’re here to serve a public purpose and we hope that you can advance yourself and come back and complete a degree,” Tanner said. The University of New Mexico started a program called The Graduation Project in 1997 after discovering its graduation rate had plummeted, said program manager Vanessa Smith. It has since become a model for other universities, she said.

“The idea was, ‘Let’s recruit them back,’” she said, adding that some 2,200 returning students have graduated through the program, which has a 72 percent graduation rate compared with the university’s overall rate of 45 percent. Rashawn Jackson, 27, had been a full-time student at the University of New Mexico for three years when his wife became pregnant and he stopped attending classes to work. He took a job at a nuclear power company and was promoted, but then learned he

would be unable to continue in his position without a college degree. “My back was up against the wall,” he said. “I put it off and I waited and I kind of drug my feet and it came to a point where I didn’t have an option.”

Just six hours short of a bachelor’s degree in biology, Jackson said The Graduation Project helped him get a scholarship and complete his course work by taking classes online. “It was kind of like they weren’t going to let me fail,” said Jackson, who will graduate on May 12. At URI over the past decade, 2,500 students have left without graduating despite earning most of their degree credits, a school survey showed. The university has contacted many recent dropouts by phone to offer help with career and academic planning, and about 25 had indicated they would return, DeHayes said. It also sent letters to about 500 dropouts from the past several years. — Reuters

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

N Korea camps ‘house the desperate, not dissidents’ SEOUL: A new report on North Korea’s notorious political prison camps shows that many of those jailed in recent decades were desperate people seeking food or work overseas rather than dissidents. Other offences were even more trivial, it says: one female former student was serving a term for having a western-style dance with a foreigner, another student was incarcerated for singing a South Korean song. An entire family was thrown into a camp after the father forgot to refer to the state’s late founder Kim Il-Sung as “Great Leader” during an ideological session.

The report by the South’s National Human Rights Commission, a state-appointed body, is its most detailed investigation of human rights abuses in the communist state.

Officials provided extracts to AFP this week before its upcoming release. “It details the horrific situation of inmates,” a commission official said. The report is based on interviews with 834 refugees, including those once held in the six camps, which rights groups say house a total of around 200,000 “political” prisoners. It lists the names of 278 people in the camps between the mid-1990s and 2005 and information on their offences.

“We hope this report will have the effect of checking and preventing human rights abuses in North Korea,” Lee Yong-Ken, head of the commission’s North Korea human rights team said. Among the 278, about 60 prisoners-the largest single category-were being punished for fleeing the impoverished country in search of food and work abroad or for trying to escape to South Korea. Twentyseven of the inmates were ethnic Koreans who had settled in the North after moving from Japan. Five people were imprisoned for Christian worship while 29 were “guilty by association”-serving time because of alleged offences committed by family members.

About 30 were jailed for making critical comments about the regime, “defaming the dignity” of leaders, praising capitalism, disclosing state secrets or engaging in corruption. Others were held on espionage charges or for their political beliefs. According to a media report this week, the list includes one high-profile victim-Sim Chol-Ho, a former vice minister of posts and telecommunications who was sent to the Yodok camp in 2001 for criticizing intelligence authorities.

Sim was released 18 months later and in February this year was named a minister, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily citing the commission report. It quoted a defector as saying Sim received about 200 grams of corn powder every day in Yodok and was forced to eat grilled rats to survive. Last month a group called the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea estimated that 400,000 inmates of the camps have died in the past few decades from starvation, overwork or execution. The South Korean report quotes one woman as saying 3,721 inmates died from January to June in 2005 at the Jeungsan prison in South Pyongan province. The South’s rights watchdog under previous administrations took a low-key approach on its neighbor’s human rights record to avoid jeopardizing an aid and engagement policy towards Pyongyang. But conservative President Lee Myung-Bak, who took office in early 2008 and abandoned the policy, has said he would not shy away from raising the subject. — AFP

Myanmar army poised to attack: Kachin rebels BANGKOK: Myanmar’s army is poised for a major assault on Kachin minority rebels, the guerilla group said yesterday, despite calls for an end to the violence which has cast a shadow on the new regime’s reforms. Around 2,000 government forces have moved into place around the northern town of Laiza-a key rebel stronghold, an official for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said requesting anonymity. The apparent troop build-up follows calls by UN chief Ban Kimoon on Monday for an end to fighting, which has forced thousands to flee into neighboring China.

“They are preparing to attack the KIA base in Laiza... they have reinforced a lot of troops and sent a lot of artillery but have not attacked yet,” the official said, claiming rebel forces number around 3,000. The KIA is the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization. Myanmar’s government has agreed ceasefires with several

other ethnic rebel groups as part of reforms since coming to power last year, a move also aimed at the international community which links eased sanctions with the peace process.

In January President Thein Sein’s government told the military to halt all offensives in ethnic minority conflict zones. But violence in the Kachin area, re-ignited after a 17-year ceasefire was shattered last year, has continued to rage prompting fears it could obstruct national peace.

Khin Yi, the minister of immigration who has been involved in negotiations, in January conceded the president’s orders were not always carried out in the remote and hostile combat zones. “Sometimes, the order (not to attack) did not reach the grassroot level,” he said.

Peace was not going to be easy as “both sides are very emotional”, added Win Min, a Myanmar expert at the Vahu Development Institute. The international community has condemned the

violence after tens of thousands of people were displaced by fighting. Although the UN recently managed to send aid convoys into hard-to-reach parts of Kachin state, many refugees remain in dire need of assistance.

State media rarely offers information on army operations in the area, but the English-language government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar has reported a string of alleged KIA attacks in recent days. The reports accused the KIA of killing a toddler and wounding civilians in their attacks. But the Kachins denied the allegations, saying the stories were aimed at legitimizing the military assault. “In our history we never attack civilians,” the rebel official said. Civil war has gripped parts of Myanmar since independence in 1948. An end to the conflicts and alleged rights abuses involving government troops is a key demand of Western nations which impose sanctions on the regime.—AFP

BEIJING: A US embassy car arrives at the Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing where Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was staying yesterday. — AFP

Blind Chinese dissident strains US-Beijing ties Chen seeks asylum, fears for his safety BEIJING: Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng says he wants to leave for the United States rather than stay in China, throwing into doubt a deal used to coax him out of the US embassy in Beijing and defuse a standoff that has strained China-US ties. That standoff appears all the more troublesome for the United States, with Chen saying yesterday that he feared for his and his family’s safety if he stayed in China under an agreement that US officials initially said he was happy with.

Chen, a self-taught lawyer, is under Chinese control in a Beijing hospital, having left the embassy on Wednesday. He had taken refuge at the mission for six days after escaping house arrest and left under a diplomatic solution that was meant to assure him that his circumstances in China would be improved. But Chen said yesterday by telephone from hospital, where he was escorted by US officials after leaving the embassy, that he had changed his mind after speaking to his wife who spoke of recent threats made against his family.

“I feel very unsafe. My rights and safety cannot be assured here,” he said, adding that his family supported his decision to try to get to the United States. The lawyer activist, citing descriptions from his wife, Yuan Weijing, said his family had been surrounded by Chinese officials who menaced

them and filled the family home. Chen, from a village in rural Shandong province, has two children.

“When I was inside the American embassy, I didn’t have my family, and so I didn’t understand some things. After I was able to meet them, my ideas changed.”

Chen’s decision puts more strain on US-China relations at a tense time for both countries. US President Barack Obama will be sensitive to any criticism of the handling of Chen’s case in the runup to a November presidential election and China is struggling to push through its own leadership transition late this year. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found herself in the eye of the diplomatic storm yesterday, turning up for the opening of annual bilateral talks in Beijing which have been overshadowed but not derailed by the Chen case.

She used the occasion to urge China to protect human rights but made no specific mention of Chen, whom she had spoken to on Wednesday after he left the embassy. “Of course, as part of our dialogue, the United States raises the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Clinton said. “We believe all governments have to answer our citizens’ aspirations for dignity and the rule of law and that no nation can or should deny those rights.” Despite Chen’s change of heart about staying in China, it was unclear if he would be able to travel to the United States. Having left

the embassy and the protection of US authorities, his fate is now in the hands of the Chinese government. US officials appeared to be no longer with him yesterday, with the dissident saying he had still not had an opportunity to explain his change of heart to the US side. “I hope the US will help me leave immediately. I want to go there for medical treatment,” Chen said.

Washington had hoped the deal it had brokered with Beijing over Chen on Wednesday would defuse the crisis, with Clinton and the US secretary of the treasury in the Chinese capital for the strategic and economic dialogue. Under the deal, according to US officials, Chen and his family would have been relocated within the country in safety and he would be allowed to pursue his studies. But Chinese authorities have taken a tough tone, criticizing what they called US meddling and demanding an apology for the way US diplomats handled the case. Chinese President Hu Jintao made no mention of the Chen case in his remarks to the US-China talks but stressed that the two nations needed trust. “To build a new type of relationship between China and the United States we need to trust each other,” Hu said. Earlier, Chen directed a personal appeal to Obama in comments aired on CNN: “I would like to say to President Obama, please do everything you can to get our family out.”—Reuters

15

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Army procurement switch puts boot into Afghan dream KABUL: Gazing glumly over millions of dollars worth of machinery which used to churn out thousands of police and army boots each day but now sits wreathed in plastic sheeting, Farhad Saffi fears he is seeing the death of an Afghan dream. Saffi’s Milli Boot Factory, in Kabul’s sprawling industrial hinterland, was a model for Afghanistan, showcasing local manufacturing while giving jobs to hundreds of people who may otherwise have picked up insurgent guns. But a US decision to hand procurement to the Afghan government has left Saffi with something of a developed world problem - local officials opted for cheaper boots made in China and Pakistan, killing off Milli’s contracts after a year.

“The US government told me when I started I would have contracts for five years, until at least 2014,” he said. “The Afghan government gave me only three months notice of cancellation and now I have $30 million worth of raw material I can’t use.” When it opened, inside huge white sheds that once held PVC piping machinery but is now home to hightech German injection moulding and boot-making equipment, Afghan and US generals were keen to be photographed alongside a local success story. US Navy Rear Admiral Kathleen Dussault toured in 2010 to present Saffi, just 23, with a quality certificate for the plant to supply fledgling Afghan National Security Forces with top-quality boots under contracts worth up to $40 million a year.

Saffi sold his leather boots, which underwent a rigorous quality testing process in the United States, for $62 a pair, while Chinese-made boots with imitation leather cost the Afghan government $22 in a contract for up to 700,000 pairs a year. “The Afghan government is just looking for the lowest price,” he said, surveying a room piled high with rolls of leather and raw material bought from Taiwan. “They asked me to sell for $15 a pair, but the leather alone cost me $40.

The Chinese boots use fake leather and quickly fall apart, but they are cheap.” From 2002 until the end of 2011, $85.5 billion was spent on reconstruction in Afghanistan, according to US government figures, while international aid worth $57 billion has flooded into the country.

NATO-led forces, who have mostly handled purchasing for the Afghan security forces in the decade-long war, have since 2010 operated under “Afghan First” rules requiring them to buy where possible from local companies, boosting the economy and employment while underpinning anti-insurgent strategies. Contracts for Afghan businesses included 100 percent of Afghan uniforms and boots, textiles, furniture, tents, software and transformers, according to NATO data. Those contracts spawned 15,000 jobs, while making savings on imports for combat-related spending worth $650 million - still a fraction of the estimated $200 million spent on the war a day.

THE $10-A-DAY TALIB The Afghan First Policy backs anti-insurgency efforts by ensuring that people employed locally with better jobs and incomes aren’t tempted to join the estimated 25,000 Afghan Taleban fighters in the country, often called the ‘$10-a-day Talib’, referring to the payment offered to would-be fighters.

Some of the 700 workers laid off from Saffi’s factory are now thinking of doing just that, seeing no other future as Western nations and NGOs look to leave the country with the withdrawal of most NATO combat troops in 2014.

“The factory must be reopened. If it doesn’t we will have to join the Taleban for a job. What else can we do? We have families to feed,” said Ares Khan, 23, as he packed some of the last boots Milli will produce without a government change of heart. Workers at the factory earned between $400 and $900 a month, well over the average wage in a country where up to a third of the 30 million population live under the poverty line.

But many businessmen and workers fear security will evaporate with the Western exodus, taking job opportunities and investment dollars with them to safer havens elsewhere, as Afghanistan’s moneyed elite have done for decades. Khan’s friend, Khair Mohammad, who came to Kabul from Ghazni province where NATO forces are engaged now in one of the last large offensives of the war, also sees no future outside the insurgency if the Afghan government closes off jobs. “There are sixteen people in my family and there is no bread winner except me. When I go back to Ghazni I will have to join the Taleban,” Mohammad said. More than $12 billion a year spent on the war has driven up prices in Afghanistan, and wages for an internationalized few. Mohammad said his living costs were already high. —Reuters

US triples military aid to Philippines in 2012 Pentagon agrees to share data on South China Sea MANILA: The United States will nearly triple its military funding for the Philippines this year, the Philippine foreign ministry said yesterday, as tensions rise with China over disputed islands and Washington bolsters its alliance with Manila. However, the Philippines expressed concern over what it said was a sharp decline in its share of US foreign military financing (FMF) despite Manila’s central role in the US’s military “pivot” back to Asia.

Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario said the Philippines accounted for over 70 percent of total FMF allocation for East Asia in 2006, compared to 35 percent this year. “We hope this is not indicative of the priority placed on the Philippines as a regional partner, as even non-treaty allies appear to be getting a bigger share of the FMF allocation,” del Rosario said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, according to a foreign ministry statement. Del Rosario was in Washington for the first “two-plus-two” dialogue among their foreign and defense secretaries as they look at ways to deepen ties and help Manila build a “minimum credible defense posture”.

Washington agreed to provide $30 million in FMF this year, up from an initial 2012 allocation of $15 million and from $11.9 million last year. In 2003, funding amounted to $50 million as Washington sent forces to help the Philippines battle Al-Qaeda-linked militants. The Philippines is offering the United States greater access to its airfields and may open new areas for US soldiers to use as it seeks stronger military ties with its ally and faces rising tensions with China in the maritime dis-

ALABANG: A rider drives his motorcycle around with his dog as a passenger under a sweltering heat which soars to over 36 Degrees Centigrade in a suburb of Alabang, south of Manila, Philippines. — AP pute. The United States also agreed at the meeting to share “real-time” data on the South China Sea, suggesting it will give Manila more of its surveillance data on naval activity. The State Department also promised to explore “creative funding streams” to help the Philippine military.

Del Rosario, who previously served as Manila’s ambassador to Washington, also urged the US to lift conditions on a portion of FMF allocation for the Philippines. Since 2008, the United States has withheld the release of about $3 million in military financing for the Philippines due to political killings and human rights abuses. He said the cur-

rent government of President Benigno Aquino has already taken significant steps to end these killings and has improved human rights conditions.

Since 2002, the Philippines has received nearly $500 million in military aid from the United States, according to the US embassy in Manila.

The amount does not include the transfer of 20 reconditioned helicopters, a Cyclone-class ship and a Hamiltonclass cutter. A second Hamilton-class cutter will be transferred later this month and the two sides are discussing the possibility of a third Hamilton-class ship and a squadron of second-hand F16 fighters. — Reuters

World powers urge Iran to give more nuclear access VIENNA: The five permanent members of the UN Security Council put pressure on Iran yesterday to allay international concern about its nuclear program, and said they expected talks with Tehran to lead to concrete steps toward a negotiated solution. Iran and major powers resumed talks in mid-April in Istanbul after more than a year - a chance to ease tension and help to avert the threat of a new Middle East war. They are to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.

In a joint statement issued at a nuclear conference in Vienna, the United States, France, Russia, China and Britain pressed Tehran to agree urgently with the UN nuclear watchdog on access to “relevant sites and information”. “We remain concerned by Iran’s persistent failure to comply with its obligations under UNSC (UN Security Council) resolutions,” the statement said, referring to repeated demands that Tehran curb its disputed nuclear program.

The West says Iran’s nuclear work is a cover for developing atomic bombs and wants verifiable assurances to the contrary from Tehran - for example, by accepting much more intrusive UN nuclear inspections and limiting its enrichment capacity. Iran denies having a weapons agenda, saying it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful energy purposes. Western diplomats say Iran appears to be stonewalling a request by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for access to a key military site, Parchin, where it believes military-related nuclear research may have taken place. The diplomats say they suspect Iran may be “sanitizing” the site southeast of Tehran of any incriminating evidence before UN

inspectors can visit, a suspicion Tehran dismisses.

In Switzerland, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said that his inspectors wanted to go to Parchin “rather sooner than later” and reiterated that the UN agency had recently noticed what referred to as some “activities” there. “We would also like to have access to, not only the site, but information and people related to Parchin,” Amano said on the sidelines of a symposium in the town of St. Gallen. “I hope that these activities will not make our verification difficult.”

He did not elaborate but his choice of words has been interpreted by Western diplomats as an indication that the agency thought Iran might be cleaning up the site. Last November the IAEA issued a report detailing what it said were suspected Iranian research and development activities relevant to manufacturing nuclear weapons. The UN agency wants Iran to address the questions raised in the report about possible military dimensions to Tehran’s nuclear work. Iran has dismissed the allegations as fabricated.

NO ACCESS? The IAEA and Iran will hold a new round of discussions on May 14-15 in Vienna in an attempt to make progress in the IAEA’s technical investigation, just over a week before the broader political negotiations take place in the Iraqi capital. Two previous meetings between Iran and the agency earlier this year failed to make any major headway, especially on the issue of Parchin. “We hope we can make progress,” Amano said. —Reuters

International FRIDAY, MAY 4 , 2012

Prosecutors seek to resume California executions LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles prosecutors have asked a judge to order the execution of two condemned killers using a single drug for lethal injections, a move intended to end a 6-year hold on the death penalty in California over the method used by the state. The move comes days after Democratic Governor Jerry Brown told prison officials to consider using the single-drug execution protocol, and ahead of a November ballot measure that seeks to repeal capital punishment in the state.

A federal judge halted all California executions in 2006 after finding that the three-drug method that has been used for lethal injections in the state carried the risk of causing the inmate too much pain and suffering before death. California revised its protocol, but an appeals court has blocked a resumption of executions over the same objections. Motions filed by Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley’s office in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday asked that the

warden of San Quentin State Prison put convicted murderers Mitchell Carleton Sims and Tiequon Aundray Cox to death by the single-drug protocol or show cause why the executions cannot proceed.

Sims, 52, and Cox, 46, have both been on California’s death row at San Quentin, near San Francisco, for more than a quarter century. “It is time Sims and Cox pay for their crimes,” Cooley said. “I am joining with the California District Attorney’s Association and other district attorneys throughout California in asking the Superior Courts throughout the state to hold these killers responsible for the lives they took so many years ago.” Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Cooley, said the district attorney had been working with prosecutors across the state for months on the strategy, and that it would soon be used against other convicted murderers in California.

Sims was sentenced to die in 1986 for murdering a pizza deliveryman and

Gunman kills 4 in Phoenix suburb, commits suicide GILBERT: A gunman, identified by local media as a prominent border militia leader and a reputed neo-Nazi, shot dead four people including a toddler girl in Arizona on Wednesday before apparently committing suicide, police said. The gunman opened fire at a house in Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, Gilbert Police Sergeant Bill Balafas said. He could not immediately confirm the identity of the gunman.

The Arizona Republic newspaper, citing unnamed police sources, identified the suspected shooter as Jason “JT” Ready, a reputed neo-Nazi who founded the US Border Guard, a militia that hunts for drug traffickers near the Mexican border.

The youngest victim, a girl of between 1 and 2 years old, was still alive at the scene, but later died in a hospital, Balafas said.

The other dead were two men and two women. Police believe the shooter was among the dead.

Police found the bodies of two of the adults outside the home and those of the other two adults and the child inside.

Officers recovered two handguns and a shotgun from the scene. However, Balafas said police had been unable to search the house, and confirm the identities of the dead after an unknown liquid was found in two 55-gallon drums outside the house. “Right now, we have a hold up because we have a potential hazardous chemical situation,” Balafas said.

Investigators subsequently found some “munitions” in the house, and called in federal officers to deal with the items, Balafas said.

He declined to comment on whether Ready, who earlier this year set up an exploratory committee to run for the office of sheriff in Arizona’s Pinal County, was among the dead.

Balafas said officers were interviewing a witness to the shooting, which investigators believe stemmed from a “domestic situation.” A Facebook page entitled “JT Ready for Sheriff” carried a message from the administrator noting unconfirmed reports that “a cartel assassination squad murdered JT Ready and several of his friends and family this afternoon in Gilbert Arizona.” A Reuters witness saw a black Chevrolet Impala with specialized number plate with the letters “USBG” on it parked outside the home.

A call to the US Border Guard group seeking comment late on Wednesday went unanswered. Local resident Scott Kirkwood, 43, said neighbors were shocked by the shooting at the home, which he believed was occupied by a family.

“Everyone is shocked and concerned. Nothing like this ever happens in this neighborhood. It’s usually very quiet,” he said. “I heard sirens pulling up in my backyard. When I went to investigate, there was like 30 cop cars, five ambulances, a fire truck, a SWAT team, the whole nine yards - it was just blanketing the neighborhood,” he added. — Reuters

also faces the death penalty in South Carolina in the murders of two co-workers there. Cox was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in January 1986 in the killing of a grandmother, her daughter and two grandchildren. He was sentenced to die that April.

APPEALS EXHAUSTED Gibbons said both men had exhausted their appeals and that only the ruling against California’s three-drug protocol was stopping the state from putting them to death. Los Angeles prosecutors said in court papers that the one-drug protocol, which was being used in Ohio, Washington and Arizona for lethal injections, had been upheld by courts as constitutional.

The ballot initiative focuses on the high cost of the death penalty in a state that has executed 13 people since capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976. Another 723 inmates sit on death row pending lengthy and expensive appeals. If the

anti-death penalty measure passes, California would join 17 other states and Washington, DC without capital punishment. Richard Dieter, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, was skeptical that prosecutors could persuade a judge to approve executions by a protocol that had not been fully vetted by the courts.

“The DA can file and request this but the larger question is whether California has a working protocol for carrying out executions, and I don’t think it has,” Dieter said. “It’s not as simple as just changing to one drug.” Dieter said the move could force courts to more quickly take up the issue of using the singledrug protocol in California. Appellate attorneys for Sims and Cox could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for SAFE, the group behind the anti-death penalty initiative that qualified last month for the November ballot, declined to comment on Cooley’s move. — Reuters

Gingrich pulls plug on the White House race Ex-speaker leaves with $4.3 million in debt ARLINGTON: Newt Gingrich has ended his run for US president after dazzling in televised debates but slumping to defeat in dozens of Republican primaries under attack from rivals who portrayed him as the consummate Washington insider.

The former US House of Representatives speaker, the face of the Republican Party in the mid-1990s, badly trailed front-runner Mitt Romney in polls and his campaign piled up a debt of $4.3 million.

Gingrich announced his departure from the White House race in a long statement to the media at a hotel in Arlington, Virginia outside the capital that included references to his many grandiose ideas like the establishment of a US colony on the moon.

He fell short of endorsing his former rival Romney but said voters had a clear choice in November’s general election between Democratic President Barack Obama and the former Massachusetts governor. “I am asked sometimes - is Mitt Romney conservative enough? And my answer is simple: compared to Barack Obama?” Gingrich said. “This is not a choice between Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan. This is a choice between Mitt Romney and the most radical, leftist president in American history.”

Gingrich, who had scaled back his campaigning for weeks after cutting staff, stood on a small stage with his wife Callista and other family by his side as he described his year-long presidential bid as “truly a wild ride.” “I could never have predicted either the low points or the high points. It was all sort of amazing and astonishing,” Gingrich said. He briefly led the Republican pack before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 but fell victim to a new force in US politics: the independent “Super PACs” or political action committees that have no limits on how much money they can raise or

ARLINGTON: Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announces that he is suspending his presidential campaign, on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, in Arlington. His wife Callista is at right. — AP spend in support of candidates.

Although Gingrich had the support of one Super PAC, a pro-Romney group spent millions in negative ads attacking Gingrich, which was the start of his campaign’s demise. The former candidate must now work on paying off his debt.

He was in talks with the Republican National Committee to figure out how to get some money. Romney’s camp is not expected to directly help Gingrich pay it off but may introduce his team to donors who could help him in that effort. “We have offered to be helpful,” a Romney official said.

AWKWARD OR ATTACK DOG? Though Gingrich vowed he would work for the rest of this year to make sure his party wins the White House and

Congress, some of his comments about Romney could come back to haunt him.

Obama’s campaign wasted no time in producing a video splicing together sound bites of what it called “awkward moments” where Gingrich criticized Romney, called him a liar and questioned his fitness to serve as president.

Author of the Contract With America that helped Republicans win back control of Congress in 1994, Gingrich won primaries in South Carolina and his home state of Georgia this year but failed to make a mark in dozens of other states, including in larger ones such as Florida and Ohio. Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said Gingrich will quickly be back on the campaign trail, likely as an “attack dog” for the Republican Party as it seeks to unseat Obama. —Reuters

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Romney pulls into tie with Obama in Ohio and Florida WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has pulled into a virtual tie with President Barack Obama in the crucial swing states of Ohio and Florida, but Obama retains a solid lead in Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday. Romney gained ground on Obama over the last month in Ohio and Florida, fiercely contested battleground states that will be critical to deciding the winner of the Nov 6 presidential election. The new poll found Romney with 44 percent to Obama’s 43 percent in Florida, where Obama led by 7 percentage points in late March. In Ohio, where Obama led by 6 points in late March, Obama had 44 percent to Romney’s 42 percent. Both leads were well within the poll’s 2.9 percent margin of error.

Obama slightly expanded his lead in Pennsylvania, registering 47 percent to Romney’s 39 percent. He led by 3 points in March in Pennsylvania, which has trended toward Democrats in recent presidential elections.

Pollster Peter Brown attributed Romney’s improved showing in Ohio and Florida to his triumph in the Republican nominating race and to continued public wor-

News

in brief

Qaeda magazine back WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda’s English-language magazine has reappeared months after its founders were killed in a US missile strike, with calls for firebomb campaigns in the United States and chemical weapons attacks. Defiantly boasting that it was “still publishing America’s worst nightmare,” AlQaeda’s affiliate in Yemen released the eighth and ninth issue of the “Inspire” magazine, which first appeared online in July 2010. The issues eulogized as “martyrs” the two Al-Qaeda figures who helped launch the publication, and then were killed in a US drone strike in September: radical US-born cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American. “To the disappointment of our enemies, issue nine of Inspire magazine is out against all odds,” an unsigned editorial note said. “Inspire is and will be an effective tool regardless of who is in charge of it.” In addition to specials on “Samir Khan: The Face of Joy” and “My Story with Al-Awlaki,” the issue provides detailed instructions on how to ignite an “ember bomb” in the United States.

10 gunmen, 2 troops die MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities say 10 gunmen and two soldiers have been killed during a battle in a western Mexican state plagued by drug trafficking violence. Sinaloa state police spokesman Edmundo Apodaca says the shootout Wednesday morning in the town of Guasave began with assailants opening fire on a group of soldiers. Apodaca says it’s not clear what drug syndicate the gunmen belong to. But the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa is the home base of the drug cartel by the same name. The Sinaloa drug cartel is led by Mexico’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo. The area has seen an increase in violence as the Sinaloa cartel fights drug traffickers with the Beltran Levya and the Zetas gangs.

Bulgaria arrests 30 SOFIA: More than 30 Bulgarian customs officers were arrested on suspicion of corruption yesterday as the Balkan country attempts to clean up its borders and show it is fit to join the European Union’s passport-free zone. Bulgaria and its neighbor Romania, the European Union’s newest and poorest member states, have to convince all members their governments and border controls meet required standards if they are to be included in the Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel between countries. A failure to sever links between high-level officials and organized crime bosses has plagued the countries since the end of communism in 1989.

The arrested officials, eight of whom have already been indicted, w ere working at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the border with Turkey, which would become the southern frontier of the Schengen zone if Bulgaria was accepted.

The Interior Ministry said the arrests followed a three-month investigation.

ries about the pace of the economic recovery. “First, since he is now the de facto nominee, Romney is no longer being attacked by his fellow Republicans, who are closing ranks behind him,” Brown said. “Second, voter optimism about the economy has leveled off, reflecting economic statistics over the past month and the public reaction to them.”

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has touted his experience as the head of a private equity firm as evidence that he could do the best job healing the economy. “What appears to be keeping Romney in the ball game, at least in Florida and Ohio, is the perception he can better fix the economy,” Brown said. Most national polls show a tight race between Romney and Obama in the state-by-state battle for the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House. Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, and Florida, with 29, have helped decide close recent presidential elections. The poll of 1,169 voters in Florida, 1,130 voters in Ohio and 1,168 voters in Pennsylvania was conducted by telephone land and cell lines from April 25 to May 1. — Reuters

CHANTILLY: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign event in Chantilly, Virginia. — AFP

Sarkozy fails to down Hollande in vote duel Angry Sarkozy accuses Socialist rival of lying PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Francois Hollande clashed repeatedly in their only television debate but the conservative incumbent failed to land a knockout blow to shake his challenger’s lead for Sunday’s runoff. Hollande, ahead in opinion polls by six to 10 points, seemed calm and unflappable during the nearly three-hour debate on Wednesday while Sarkozy, struggling to catch up with the moderate social democrat, was often agitated and tense.

Political commentators said the confrontation was no game-changer and probably only reinforced voters’ opinions of their two champions in a contest that has been as much about style and personality as substance. “This debate should not shift things and as Francois Hollande is in the position of favorite, he’s the one that should benefit,” said analyst Jerome Fourquet at pollster Ifop. French television commentators concluded that Sarkozy had performed “like a boxer” and Hollande “like a judo fighter”, using touches of wit and interjections to unbalance his adversary.

Hollande, 57, was confident and relaxed in early exchanges, saying he aimed to be “the president of justice”, “the president of revival” and “the president of unity”. He said Sarkozy, also 57 and in office since 2007, had divided the French people for too long and was using the global economic crisis as an excuse for broken promises. “With you it’s very simple: it’s never your fault,” Hollande said. Sarkozy, fighting for his political life, repeatedly accused his opponent of lying about economic figures and reeled off reams of statistics in an attempt to unbalance his rival.

“Mr Hollande. When you lie so shamelessly, do I have to accept it?” he asked when his opponent said the president was always happy with his record. The two sparred over Europe, which has become one of the biggest issues of the election race, along with the sickly economy, rife unemployment, nuclear power and immigration. “The example I want to follow is Germany and not Spain or Greece,” Sarkozy said, declaring that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had saved Greece from an economic wipeout and avoided the collapse of the euro currency.

“Europe has got over it,” Sarkozy said of the crisis. Hollande shot back: “Europe has not got over it. Europe is today facing a possible resurgence of the crisis with generalised austerity, and that’s what I don’t want.” Hollande, who vowed to push for a new focus on growth to allow the euro zone to convalesce, said people across Europe were watching the election in the hope it would change the bloc’s economic direction for the better.

BARBED EXCHANGES The conservative head of state and his centre-left rival have dueled at a distance for months, with Sarkozy accusing Hollande of being incompetent and a liar, and Hollande branding the incumbent a “failed president” and “a nasty piece of work”. Sarkozy, being punished for rife unemployment and a brash manner, is the most unpopular president to run for re-election. He was the first in recent history to lose a first-round vote, with Hollande benefitting from the anti-incumbent sentiment that has swept 11 euro zone leaders from office since 2009.

Wednesday’s duel was carried live on channels that reach roughly half France’s 44.5 million voters. The streets of Paris were unusu-

ally deserted with many people staying home to watch. A handful of opinion polls due to land before Friday evening will measure any impact. “It threw into sharper relief the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates: a tough-talking and often condescending Sarkozy determined to pick holes ... and a milder-mannered yet feisty Mr Hollande,” said London analyst Nicholas Spiro. “There was no knock-out blow or major slip-up on either side.”

Sarkozy suffered a setback on Tuesday when far-right leader Marine Le Pen - whose 17.9 percent score was the surprise of the first round - refused to endorse him. She vowed at a Paris rally to cast a blank vote and told her supporters to make their own choice, focusing most of her attacks on Sarkozy. The issue of how to deal with the anti-immigration crusader and her supporters has tormented Sarkozy’s UMP party all week, as a TNS Sofres opinion poll found a third of voters agreed with the National Front’s positions. The candidates tangled on immigration in the debate, with Sarkozy attacking Hollande’s proposal to give longterm, non-European foreign residents the right to vote in local elections. —Reuters

PARIS: French President and conservative candidate for his re-election in the 2012 French presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy reacts to supporters as he arrives on stage at Trocadero square to deliver a speech during a campaign rally in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. — AP

International FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Australia delays F-35 orders to aid budget Govt delays fighter jet project to save money CANBERRA: Australia will delay orders for its first squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighters to help with budget savings, the government said yesterday, in the latest setback for the long-delayed and overbudget international project. Defense Minister Stephen Smith said a decision on when to take delivery of the 12 stealth aircraft would be pushed back two years, putting Australia on the same timetable as the United States, which has also delayed initial purchases.

Australia has committed to two joint strike fighters to be delivered in 2014-15, but which will remain in the United States for testing and pilot training. It was due to decide later this year on the timing of the next 12 planes for use in Australia. “We are now essentially on the same time timetable for delivery of our first batch of joint strike fighters as the United States,” Smith told reporters, adding the delay would save Australia $1.6-$2.1 billion to help the government return its budget to surplus. Australia is one of the eight international partners helping fund the development of the F-35, although constant delays and increased costs, as well as budget pressures, have

prompted some countries to wind back or delay their orders. The United States has delayed orders for 179 planes for five years to allow for more testing. The Netherlands has announced it will buy fewer than its planned 85 F-35 fighters. Italy has also cut its orders by 30 percent due to budget constraints. The other F-35 partners are Britain, Norway, Turkey and Canada. Australia has long-term plans to buy up to 100 F-35s for up to $16.4 billion but has made no commitment beyond the first 14 planes. Smith has previously warned that any delays in the F-35 project could prompt Australia to buy more Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets to fill any gap in capability.

Smith also said Australia would scrap plans to buy selfpropelled artillery, saving around $225 million to help the government return a budget surplus by July 2013.

MILITARY OUTLOOK But he said Australia would spend more than $200 million to examine plans to buy 12 new submarines under a $36 billion submarine replacement program.

Australia last year asked three European companies,

French naval builder DCNS, part owned by Thales, Germany’s Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH and Spanish state shipbuilder Navantia, to submit designs for the submarines which it hopes will enter service by 2025.

The announcements came as Australia considers a wider review of its defense posture and strategic outlook, and as the country strengthens its military cooperation with its strongest military ally the United States.

The United States is in the process of positioning 2,500 marines in a de-facto US base near the northern Australian city of Darwin, and will have more access for US navy ships to visit Australia’s Indian Ocean navy base near Perth. Australian military planners have also recommended the government move more military assets to the nation’s remote north west, and to have a more visible presence, to help protect multi-billion dollar mining and offshore oil and gas projects.

Smith said he had spoken to US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about the defense plans, and assured the US that budget savings would have no impact on joint Australia-US operations. — Reuters

Malaysia mosque a source of hope for heroin addicts KUALA LUMPUR: For 30 years, Feisal Fakharudin lived a heroin addict’s life, sleeping on streets, getting into trouble with police and rotating in and out of drug treatment centers. In Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country where drug addiction is still taboo, his habit made him a social outcast until he found support from an unlikely source-the Ar Rahman mosque nestled in the bustling capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

After performing his prayers, Feisal slips upstairs away from his fellow worshippers to receive a dose of methadone from a drug-treatment clinic - the world’s first to operate in a mosque, according the World Health Organization. “In the past, there was no one to help me,” said Feisal, who said he used to feel like the “scum of society.” Feisal attributes the success of his treatment to the spiritual guidance he gets from mosque clerics, as well as the methadone syrup dispensed twice a week by medical staff.

Allowing the mosque to set up the methadone clinic, which started up over two years ago, has raised eyebrows in a country that imposes the mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers. Those caught in possession of drugs above specified quantities face trafficking charges and are presumed guilty-laws that human rights groups say contravene international fair trial standards. Rusdi Abdul Rashid, the chief coordinator of the University of Malaya’s Center of Addiction Sciences (UMCAS) that runs the clinic, had to work hard to convince mosque officials and religious authorities to allow the clinic.

Islamic authorities in Malaysia - which has been a leading voice of moderate Islam - eventually gave the green light for the treatment, deciding that methadone was not a banned substance under Islam.

“Methadone is a God-gifted medication. It helps with long-term treatment of drug addiction and prevents patients from relapsing,” said Rusdi, a lecturer and

consultant psychiatrist who has been treating patients with methadone for 10 years. UMCAS has plans to expand the program to a third of the country’s 6,000 mosques by 2015, aiming to reach 72,000 heroin users. Malaysia has an estimated 350,000 drug addicts, which could rise to half a million by 2015 partly because of a high relapse rate, according to Rusdi.

The centre also wants to enlist Christian churches and Hindu temples, starting with the country’s iconic Hindu temple at Batu Caves on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

The government’s Department of Islamic Development (Jakim), which enforces Islamic laws, has also joined forces with the university to combat drug addiction. Ghaffar Surip, an official with Jakim, believes mosques can be used for “total treatment”.

“The use of methadone is only one part of treating drug addicts because we also have to look at the patient’s spiritual, psychological and psychosocial aspects,” he said. The patients are not always well-received. Some who turn up at the Ar Rahman mosque face being stigmatized by the community and by the mosque officials themselves.

“People always say that drug addicts are associated with crime, and ask why the clinic is there. They think mosques are only for ‘good’ people,” said Ghaffar.

The treatment worked for Feisal, who first tried heroin when he was 15. The 48year-old father of four is now a street musician playing in Kuala Lumpur’s popular tourists locations.

His vicious cycle only eased when he enrolled in a government methadone clinic six years ago, and later was among 50 patients selected for the Ar Rahman program. “I prefer to come here because I feel closer to God. I feel cleansed,” he said. “It’s different having treatment in the mosque compared to normal clinics.

Here, we can’t lie, because God is watching.”— Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: A member of the press holds a placard during a rally to mark World Press Freedom Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday. Members of the Malaysian press protested against the attacks on members of the media by police during Saturday’s rally. — AP

BBC, Al-Jazeera decry Malaysia censorship KUALA LUMPUR: Broadcasters BBC and AlJazeera have asked Malaysia’s satellite provider to clarify reports it censored their coverage of a mass rally for electoral reform. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital Kuala Lumpur Saturday but the rally turned violent when protesters breached a barricade around a central square and were met with tear gas and water cannon. Whistleblowing website Sarawak Report said Malaysia’s Astro, which transmits Al-Jazeera and the BBC to subscribers with a delay of several minutes, cut scenes in rally reports.

Al-Jazeera English said in a statement received Thursday that it would seek an explanation from Astro on why the report was “apparently censored” without making it clear to viewers. “Our news report was a factual account of events that day, and intrusion in our editorial process is unwarranted. We have not been censored in this way by another distribution platform anywhere in the world,” it said. Britain’s BBC said it too was carrying out “urgent enquiries” after being made aware that sequences from its report for the BBC World News channel may have been removed. “It would be deplorable if access to independent and impartial news was being prevented in any way,” it said in a statement.

Astro did not return calls for comment, but Sarawak Report quoted a company official as saying the BBC report was censored in line with “content guidelines”. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was quoted by The Star daily Thursday as saying the government had approved the setting up of an independent panel to probe allegations of police assaults on journalists covering the rally.

Police say 25,000 attended the demonstration to demand changes to the electoral system, which activists claim is marred by fraud. Rally organizers Bersih 2.0 said 250,000 protested. Police arrested 513 people including one protester who was charged Thursday over his involvement in breaching the barricade around Independence Square.

Since the protest, videos have emerged of police beating demonstrators and one officer pointing a gun at them. Analysts say the fallout may lead to Prime Minister Najib Razak refraining from calling elections next month, as was widely speculated. Polls must be held by April next year. The elections are expected to be a tight battle between Najib’s coalition, which has ruled the country since independence in 1957, and an opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim, which made unprecedented inroads in the last polls in 2008. — AFP

Business FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

US jobless claims, services data due

Potential lurks in Kuwait corporate bond market PAGE 20

PAGE 21

BARCELONA: European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi (C), Bank of Spain’s governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez (L) and European Central Bank vice-President Vitor Constancio (R) arrive to give a press conference during a governing council meeting of the European Central Bank yesterday in Barcelona. Eurozone central bank chiefs gathered under tight security in Spain to discuss whether to provide more easy money for governments as the political resolve to rein in deficits shows signs of crumbling. — AFP

ECB holds rates at historic lows Puts onus on governments to foster growth BARCELONA: The European Central Bank, meeting in Spain yesterday, held interest rates at historic lows but insisted it was up to governments to find ways of boosting growth without busting fiscal rules.

The central bank governors of the 17 eurozone member states, convening in Barcelona’s giant conference centre under tight security, voted to keep borrowing costs at 1.0 percent for the sixth month in a row.

Following a raft of recent policy steps to prop up the euro and keep the single currency area’s debt-wracked economy up and running, ECB chief Mario Draghi refused to give any indication when the bank might take further anti-crisis measures.

Instead, Draghi said the onus was firmly on governments to find ways of boosting growth without easing up on crucial efforts to get their finances in order.

Economic growth and fiscal consolidation are not contradictory and governments can still rein in their public deficits without undercutting growth, he argued.

“There is absolutely no contradiction between a growth compact and a fiscal com-

pact,” Draghi told a news conference.

“We have to put growth back at the centre of the agenda,” he said. A growing number of eurozone countries are beginning to baulk at the belt-tightening measures prescribed by governments in a bid to rein in deficits as part of a recently agreed EU “fiscal compact.”

There have been massive protests in Greece, just bailed out again, and in embattled Italy and Spain against such austerity drives. An 8,000-strong security force was deployed in Barcelona for the meeting and the authorities temporarily reintroduced border controls to prevent the entry of potential trouble-makers.

There were no signs of trouble outside the meeting venue, however, where only a small handful of banner-wielding protesters could be seen. It was Draghi himself who first talked of a “growth compact” to complement the fiscal compact but he rejected any idea that growth could come at the cost of bringing down deficits. Easing up on fiscal consolidation would “not be very much help,” he said.

The ECB has not hesitated to take on the role of fire-fighter since the very beginning of

the crisis. It reversed last year’s rate hikes to bring eurozone borrowing costs back down to an all-time low of 1.0 percent and resumed a hotly contested programme of buying up the bonds of debt-mired countries so as to ease their borrowing costs.

Most recently, two so-called long-term refinancing operations in December and February pumped more than 1.0 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) into the banking system in a bid to avert a dangerous credit squeeze.

But these measures, which were only temporary, “cannot replace ... either fiscal consolidation or reforms as the way back to stability,” Draghi insisted, even if it would be “premature” to start winding them down.

“Several governments need to be more ambitious,” he said. While some countries had made substantial progress in reducing their deficits and reforming their economies, there was still a long road ahead for them.

“I think perseverance is very important to reap, in the end, the gains,” Draghi said. ECB watchers believe the central bank will be loathe to take any action on interest rates or liquidity amid signs that governments’

resolve to get their finances in order is crumbling.

“The ECB looks set to keep rates unchanged for a long while,” said ING Belgium economist Carsten Brzeski. “In our view, Draghi’s call for a growth compact is a plea to politicians, not a hint of further rate cuts,” he said.

The ECB would not hesitate to play its part “but national governments have to be in the lead to do the dirty work. As a result, there does not seem to be any quick fix or alleviation for the economy in the offing,” Brzeski said. Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz similarly believed that a rate cut “is not on under consideration at the moment, nor are additional liquidity injections.”

However, deteriorating economic data may be revisited at the ECB’s June meeting, “leaving the door for policy action (then) ... open very slightly,” Schulz suggested.

Commerzbank chief economist Joerg Kraemer agreed. While Draghi did not signal an imminent rate cut, “the ECB would cut rates if the recession does not come to an end soon,” he said. —AFP

Business FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

BofA exodus continues, top MENA banker resigns DUBAI: Bank of America Corp’s investment banking head for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, Waleed ElAmir, has resigned, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday, the latest top banker to leave the US lender.

El-Amir, a veteran Merrill Lynch banker, has been with the bank for 16 years and has been leading the bank’s regional investment banking operations from Dubai since 2008. A spokeswoman for the bank in Dubai declined comment. The source declined to be identified as the matter has not been made public.

El-Amir’s exit is the latest blow for

BofA, whose investment banking and capital markets group, led by co-chief operating officer Tom Montag, has seen upheaval in its upper ranks recently.

“Waleed leaving the bank will sure be a big blow for BofA’s Middle Eastern business. It will be interesting to see who they get in to replace him. Obviously, that will be a tough task.” a Dubai-based banker at a large international bank said, declining to be identified.

Key executives such as European dealmaker Andrea Orcel and corporate and investment banking chairman Michael Rubinoff have departed for other jobs in recent months, leaving few

Merrill veterans in top positions.

Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch in 2008. At least six BofA bankers followed top European dealmaker Andrea Orcel to UBS, just weeks after the Swiss bank hired the Italian to cohead its investment bank.

The source did not know if El-Amir was joining UBS. Last week, the bank hired Alex Wilmot-Sitwell from UBS as president of Europe and emerging markets, excluding Asia. BofA is planning to cut about 300 jobs in its investment banking and capital markets group, as it struggles to rein in costs to make up for weak revenue growth, sources familiar

with the situation said earlier in the week.

In the first four months of this year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch dropped in the league tables in some key businesses as total volume shrinks, Thomson Reuters data shows. The bank fell to No. 8 in worldwide announced mergers and acquisitions from No. 3 in the same period a year ago, and to No. 7 from No. 2 in global equity capital markets deals.

In the Middle East, the bank ranked No.2 on M&A, behind HSBC Holdings for the first-quarter of 2012. It was the top bank in the syndicated loan fee league table during the period. — Reuters

Potential lurks in Kuwait corporate bond market Bank investors can escape loan rate caps

NAPLES: A young man searches for a job on the website of job opportunities agency in Naples yesterday. Italy’s unemployment rate hit a record of 9.8 percent in March from 9.6 percent in February, official data showed yesteday, as a recession in the eurozone’s third-biggest economy deepens. — AFP

Dubai bourse falls for 6th session, Gulf ends mixed DUBAI: Dubai’s bourse fell for a sixth straight session yesterday as investors continued to book profits from an early-year surge, while other Gulf bourses were mixed in muted activity.

Bellwether Emaar Properties extended declines in heavy trade, down 1.3 percent. The stock went ex-dividend a day earlier. Gulf Navigation fell 4.6 percent and Drake and Scull lost 3.3 percent, also trading ex-dividend. Dubai Financial Market, the only listed Gulf bourse, slipped 1.8 percent. The company will hold a board meeting on Monday to approve its first-quarter financial results.

Dubai’s index fell 0.9 percent to its lowest close since Feb. 20 and broke a support level at 1,592 points.

“Trend and momentum indicators are suggesting a downward extension next week, possibly to the next key level of 1,500 points,” Sleiman Aboulhosn, assistant fund manager at Al Masah Capital said of Dubai. “Only strong buying activity and a sudden shift of sentiment can buoy this market next week, and I don’t see much catalysts for such a shift.”

Abu Dhabi’s index slipped 0.2 percent, trimming its 2012 gains to 4.1 percent. Property stocks dragged with Aldar and Sorouh Real Estate down 0.9 percent each. Elsewhere, Doha’s index ticked up 0.04 percent, trimming 2012 declines to 1.2 percent. Qatar is the only bourse in the region marking year-to-date losses, following two years of outperformance.

“Qatar is a defensive play and if there is a sell-off in UAE, Saudi or Egypt, it will come back into play,” said Ali Adou Portfolio Manager at The National Investor. Vodafone Qatar was the most active stock, rising 3.6 percent. Gainers outnumbered losers 10 to eight. In Kuwait, the index rose 0.6 percent to finish at a near 12month high as retail investors bet on short-term gains. Gulf Bank and Ahli United Bank rose 1.2 percent each. Commercial Bank of Kuwait gained 3.9 percent.

The market is waiting for a new trading platform, the Nasdaq OMX, which will go live on May 13. “It won’t affect the performance of market, but it will help the efficiency of trading because it offers more depth for what you do with the market,” said Jasem al-Zeraei, head of institutional sales at NBK Capital.—Reuters

KUWAIT: In a region dominated by sovereign and government-related bond issues, Kuwait has bucked the trend over recent months with a series of successful corporate sales that hint at greater capital-raising potential in the Gulf state.

The global financial crisis hit Kuwaiti investment companies hard, pushing some into debt restructuring talks and making banks cautious about lending.

Meanwhile, the euro zone debt crisis is causing European banks to pull in their horns. Bank lending to the private sector grew just 3.2 percent from a year earlier in February, which was slow considering private analysts expect Kuwait’s gross domestic product, buoyed by high oil prices, will expand about 3.8 percent this year in inflationadjusted terms. So Kuwaiti corporations may have little choice but to diversify their funding into bonds.

Narrowing spreads have encouraged this process. Yields on one-year government Treasury bonds have compressed to 1.25 percent in March 2012 from 6 percent in 2006-2007, central bank data shows; with the dinar pegged to a U.S. dollar-denominated basket of currencies, Kuwait has had to follow the global trend of low interest rates.

“With respect to Kuwait, since 2010 we have seen dramatic spread narrowing and as a result, corporate issuers are finding the bond product a viable and cost-reducing alternative,” said an investment banker based in the region, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to talk to media.

Corporate dinar-denominated issuance has dominated bond activity in Kuwait since the end of last year; four corporate bonds have come to market worth a total of 178.5 million Kuwaiti dinars ($644 million).

In December, Kuwait’s Commercial Facilities Co (CFC), a consumer credit group, priced a 50 million dinar bond through sole lead arranger NBK Capital.

That was followed in January by an 80 million dinar bond issue from major regional investment group Kuwait Projects Co , consisting of two tranches

of four-year paper, the largest ever corporate bond deal in the country.

Other recent deals were real estate company AlArgan with a 26.5 million dinar bond, and Kuwait Financial Centre, known as Markaz, with 22 million dinars. Before CFC, the last time a Kuwaiti firm issued a local currency bond was in June 2010, when United Real Estate Co, a subsidiary of Kuwait Projects, made a 40 million dinar, twotranche issue.

“There is a pent-up demand in the market, due to the limited local currency bond issuances in the Kuwaiti market since 2008,” said Divya Chandran, associate manager at local credit rating agency Capital Standards.

Chandran said there was growing awareness among corporations in Kuwait of the benefits of medium-term bond issuance, after some “duration mismatches” on balance sheets of local companies were exposed during the global financial crisis. More corporate bond sales are likely, in particular from first-time issuers, Chandran predicted “some of them as part of their ongoing restructuring programmes, and others are undertaking these efforts to prudently diversify the funding sources and strengthen the balance sheets.”

Bank investors may welcome increased corporate issuance because subscribing to bonds allows them to generate higher returns on their money, given interest rate caps imposed by the central bank on loans, a regional fixed income trader said.

However, a lot more needs to be done to make the Kuwaiti dinar bond market vibrant. Some issuers and investors still see bonds as a “last resort” to raise financing in the absence of bank loans. The secondary market for local bonds remains illiquid, the fixed income trader noted.

Kuwait is behind regional peers such as Abu Dhabi and Qatar in developing a clear yield curve for government debt; without such a curve, it is difficult to price corporate bonds. And Kuwaiti corporate bond deals remain much smaller than the biggest in centres such as the United Arab Emirates and

Saudi Arabia. Dubai-based mall developer Majid Al Futtaim Holding issued a $400 million, five-year sukuk in January.

“Convincing issuers to secure a rating and expand funding sources to reduce exposure to banks and bilaterals are two important steps that bankers should take to further the development of Kuwaiti debt markets,” said an investor.

Even if Kuwaiti corporations request ratings, however, the ratings agencies may face challenges of transparency, lack of proper regulation and incomplete disclosure that make it difficult to assess the credit quality of borrowers.

Kuwait established its first dedicated financial market watchdog in 2011, but analysts say its role needs to be clarified and strengthened to encourage investment. Financial authorities have said they want to develop corporate debt issuance, and some steps have been taken in that direction. Kuwait’s bourse plans to launch this month a new trading system, backed by The Nasdaq OMX Group Inc, to enable trade of a wide range of financial instruments including fixed income and sukuk, perhaps as early as next year for some of them. But it is still unclear whether such initiatives will be pursued aggerssively by the government.

Rasha Othman, vice president at Markaz, said investors were still only buying bonds from companies with healthy track records and good rapport with the capital markets, while the investor base was largely limited to banks, some government-linked institutions and high net-worth individuals.

This prevented the market from reaching the depth of some other corporate bond markets in the region.

“Following the recent debt crisis and the recent bond and sukuk defaults, Kuwaiti bond investors have become more cautious and selective,” she said.

“The Kuwaiti bond market has potential to grow exponentially in the next few years, if certain steps were taken towards advancing the development of the market by regulators, issuers, investment banks and the government.” — Reuters

Business FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Steel town a symbol of Serbia’s economic woes SMEDEREVO: In the town of Smederevo, smoke billows from just a single furnace at Serbia’s only steel plant, a symbol of the country’s economic woes as voters head to the polls Sunday. The top issue for the 63,000 people of this industrial town near Belgrade is the haunting prospect of the Zelezar Smederevo plant shutting down.

US Steel sold the site to the Serbian government in January for one dollar (0.76 euro), nine years after buying it for $23 million. Around 5,500 people work at the steel mill, but unions say that another 100,000 Serbian jobs indirectly depend on it. “I do not dare to think of the consequences if they closed it,” union leader Dragan Milovanovic said of the plant that dominates life in this town, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Belgrade.

In Smederevo’s bars and shops the country’s economic problems, and those at the steel plant in particular, are on

everyone’s lips. Serbia is struggling with record unemployment of 24 percent and economic growth that was a meagre 1.6 percent in 2011 is expected to fall flat this year. Many Serbs have trouble making ends meet on average monthly salaries of about 350 euros ($460).

As a result, Sunday’s presidential, parliamentary, regional and local elections are squarely focused on bread-and-butter issues such as jobs and plummeting living standards. Centre-left President Boris Tadic faces a tough challenge from populist conservative Tomislav Nikolic, and both have promised measures to boost the economy, create jobs and attract foreign investment.

Analysts say however that their electoral programmes are little more than economic wish lists with few concrete measures, and the wider population does not appear to be convinced either. “My mother works in the plant and she told me the sit-

uation is unclear,” sighed Maja Cvijetic, who is 24 and unemployed. “I hope the government does not let such a big company close down.”

Nenad Pavlovic, a 45-year-old photographer, told AFP: “It would be a catastrophe for the town and the country.” Food market employee Dragoslav Cvetkovic said: “The departure of a giant like US Steel makes me pessimistic, I hope the future proves me wrong.”

At the local train station next to a medieval fortress, just a few wagons with the US Steel logo waited to be loaded.

“Before, the wagons would go on and on.

Now the plant is working at maybe a fifth of full capacity and people are really worried,” Pavlovic said.

Mileta Gujanicic, another union leader at the plant, said he felt there was a chance the plant could survive, “but not with this number of employees, that’s clear. Around

1,800 people are redundant.” Gujanicic estimated that investment of around 500 million euros was needed to help the steel plant diversify its products.

Zelezara Smederevo could supply products to the automobile industry, he explained, noting that the Italian carmaker Fiat recently opened a plant in central Serbia with plans to produce 300,000 cars a year.

Belgrade is searching for a strategic partner to run the steel plant and has already launched a tender. Three companies have expressed interest: Luxembourgbased United Pilsen, the Donetsksteel Group from Ukraine and Russia’s Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company.

The deadline for bids is Friday, and the steel mill’s director Ivan Milosevic voiced optimism. “Some indicators are showing a recovery of steel markets, which gives us hope,” he said.— AFP

US jobless claims, services data due Costco April sales miss view

NEW YORK: General Motors vehicles are seen at Martin Cadillac in this August 3, 2009 file photo in Yonkers, New York. General Motors’ earnings fell by nearly two-thirds in the first quarter as the company’s European operations racked up losses due to the eurozone crisis. — AFP

GM earnings plunge on Europe troubles NEW YORK: General Motors’ earnings fell by nearly two-thirds in the first quarter as the company’s European operations racked up losses due to the eurozone crisis, the company said yesterday. Net income fell to $1.35 billion from $3.42 billion a year earlier, after the company lost $300 million in its European operations.

Basic earnings per share sank to 64 cents from $2.09, or 60 cents on a diluted basis. The leading US carmaker said its key US and China markets remained strong, with global vehicle deliveries rising by about 100,000 units to 2.3 million in the period to March 31.

The company set a sales record in China in the quarter, said GM chief executive Dan Akerson. But other areas, especially Europe, held growth back. “New products are starting to make a difference in South America but Europe remains a work in progress,” said Akerson.

Revenues were higher, $37.8 billion compare to $36.2 billion. In the North American market, GM said earnings were up about 30 percent to $1.7 billion. Despite an eight percent fall in US sales in April-not covered by the newest earnings report-GM raised its annual forecast for the total US market, including itself and other car makers, by 500,000 vehicles to between 14 million and 14.5 million vehicles. — AFP

N E W Y O R K : US stock index futures edged higher yesterday ahead of data on the labor market and services sector as investors search for insight on the health of the domestic recovery. Initial jobless claims, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), are seen falling by 8,000 to 380,000 in the latest week and come a day ahead of the closely watched April payrolls report. On Wednesday, a weak reading on private sector hiring pushed stocks lower.

At 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) April reading on the non-manufacturing sector is due and seen falling from the prior month. A softening in domestic data coupled with flare-ups in the euro zone debt crisis sent the S&P 500 to a monthly decline in April, the first since November. The index has struggled to convincingly break above the 1,400 level, a key resistance point, without stronger proof of the recovery.

“Investors are focusing on the fact the economy has stabilized from its low point. Even though some of the macro news is disappointing, most of it remains in positive territory,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. “So there are signs out there, emerging signs, the worst of the decline is behind us and that is what the market is telling us.” The European Central Bank held interest rates at 1.0 percent and will resist calls to do more to fight the euro zone crisis, putting the onus on governments. The euro briefly rose against the dollar while European equities trimmed gains after the decision. S&P 500 futures rose 2 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average

futures were up 9 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 4.25 points. General Motors Co dipped 0.4 percent to $22.85 in premarket trade after the automaker reported better-than-expected profit on strong North American demand and a smaller-than-estimated loss in Europe.

Earnings are expected from 35 S&P com-

report same-store sales. Costco Wholesale Corp’s April sales rose 4 percent, but missed estimates. Companies on tap to report results yesterday included American International Group Inc and Kraft Foods Inc . Dutch food and chemicals group DSM is buying medical device maker Kensey Nash Corp for $360 mil-

WASHINGTON: A jobs sign is seen on the front of the US Chamber of Commerce building September 2, 2010 in Washington, DC. New claims for US unemployment benefits dropped more quickly than expected last week, but remained painfully high, the Labor Department reported yesterday. — AFP panies on Thursday. According to Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning, of the 350 companies in the benchmark index reporting earnings, 70 percent have topped expectations.

Retailers were also in focus as they

lion to strengthen its biomedical business. Kensey shares surged 32.2 percent to $38.36 premarket. Asian shares slipped after disappointing economic data from both sides of the Atlantic rekindled concerns about the strength of global growth. — Reuters

Business FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

US pushes China to allow yuan rise, speed reforms China urges US not to ‘politicise’ economic issues

ZURICH: Former Bundesbank chairman Axel Weber delivers a speech at the Swiss banking giant UBS annual general meeting yesterday in Zurich. Weber has been elected as member of the board and should be elected later as new bank’s chairman. — AFP

UBS head says Switzerland should not be a tax haven ZURICH: Switzerland must shed its role as a bank haven for tax cheats and end disputes with foreign tax authorities, the chairman of the country’s biggest bank UBS said yesterday.

“Switzerland ought not to be a financial centre for tax evaders.

The financial sector cannot become involved in tax crimes,” said Kaspar Villiger, chairman of the board at UBS, in prepared remarks for the bank’s annual general meeting.

“For years, banking confidentiality was a key part of the Swiss financial centre’s appeal,” he added.

“Other states are no longer prepared to accept their citizens evading tax in this way. This paradigm shift occurred unexpectedly quickly and with enormous force. Switzerland was forced on the defensive and has had to ward off attacks from all sides.

“Banking confidentiality is increasingly losing its legitimacy.”

Switzerland has come under attack in recent years for the secrecy of its banking sector and charges it helped foreign clients evade taxes at home.

Prosecutors in France are investigating whether UBS helped French nationals dodge taxes, and officials in the United States are investigating 11 Swiss banks on suspicion they encouraged their clients to channel undeclared assets into Swiss accounts.

The US already forced UBS to pay a $780-million fine (591 million euros) and hand over details on more than 4,000 clients in a 2008 tax evasion case, and in January indicted three Swiss bankers accused of hiding $1.2 billion in assets.

Switzerland has recently signed deals with Austria, Britain and Germany to toughen up penalties on tax cheats. Villiger, who is set to step down and be replaced by ex-German central bank chief Axel Weber at the meeting, endorsed the idea of a final withholding tax-the deal negotiated with Austria, Britain and Germany-but rejected automatically exchanging bank information with other countries. “Swiss banks must not serve as the extended arm of foreign tax authorities,” he said. He also insisted deals with other countries put all old grievances to rest.

Switzerland “must not accept a solution which provides no reasonable means of regularising the past,” he said. — AFP

BEIJING: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday urged China to allow its currency to strengthen further and push forward economic reforms, which he said were crucial to the global recovery.

But his comments at the start of twoday talks between the world’s two biggest economies were overshadowed by a human rights row that has threatened already strained relations. US officials have long accused Beijing of keeping the value of the yuan artificially low to boost exports, leading to a massive Chinese trade surplus with the United States.

Geithner said China’s currency had appreciated by around 13 percent against the US dollar over the past two years, but urged more gains. “We consider particularly important the emphasis on reforms to... continue the appreciation of the renminbi (yuan) against the dollar and the other major currencies,” Geithner said.

“A stronger, more market-determined (yuan) will help reinforce China’s reform objectives.” He was speaking at the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue, which has been upstaged by the case of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who on Wednesday left the US embassy where he had sought refuge after fleeing house arrest last week.

Washington had hoped to showcase small signs of progress in relations with China at the meeting, but the Chen case has sparked fresh tensions, with Beijing demanding an apology for what it called “interference” in its affairs.

Geithner said China should move forward with economic reforms, including allowing more foreign competition in its tightly guarded markets. “We meet at a time of risk and challenge in the global economy and we both face considerable economic challenges at home,” Geithner said. “In China, you are in the process of exploring the next frontier of economic reforms, recognising as your predecessors did more than 30 years ago that future economic growth will require another fundamental shift in economic policy.

“The United States has a strong interest in the success of these reforms, as does the rest of the world.” Such reforms included relying more on domestic consumption

than exports to drive the world’s second largest economy, allowing private firms a greater role than state-owned giants and modernising the financial system, he said.

A US official saw progress in some areas after China shifted its position to agree to abide by international rules on providing credit to exporters, a source of friction with other major economies. Beijing had also cracked down on pirated software and introduced reforms which allow more private financing, the official said.

“We’re beginning to see movement on financial reform, which we think is very encouraging, and we want to push that forward,” she said. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who is leading China in the economic portion of the talks, said the country had made progress and urged the United States not to “politicise” economic issues.

“We hope the US side will take concrete steps to relax control on hi-tech exports to China, expand infrastructure cooperation, increase financial market access and avoid politicising economic issues,” he said.

Beijing has repeatedly called on the United States to loosen its controls on exports of hi-tech products to China, some imposed to prevent sensitive US technology from being used for military applications.

Wang made no direct mention of the currency issue but said China had expanded imports, a move aimed at addressing the trade imbalance. China defends its exchange rate regime, saying it is moving gradually to make its currency more flexible and last month it loosened some controls over the yuan by allowing it to trade in a wider range either side of a set level.

China’s central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan, who is participating in the talks, said the two countries agreed the market should set exchange rates, but added the yuan has seen more two-way movement instead of steady gains.

Analysts say Beijing has less room to allow its currency to appreciate giving its shrinking trade surplus. Zhou said China would move to liberalise interest rates, now largely set by administrative fiat, but gave no timetable.— AFP

SHANGHAI: A view of the Oriental Pearl Tower (C) from the financial district of Pudong in Shanghai yesterday. Visiting US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged China to allow its currency to strengthen further and push forward economic reforms, which he said were crucial to the global recovery. — AFP

Japan ratings may slip with no debt, fiscal reforms MANILA: Japan is in danger of slipping from its AA- credit rating if public debt continues to rise and if reforms are held up as its unpopular government struggles to get support for tax measures, debt watcher Standard & Poor’s said yeterday.

Indonesia should impose financial sector reforms and the Philippines needs to reverse its weak revenues and continue to lower debt levels for both countries to get a ratings upgrade, said Kimeng Tan, S&P’s senior director for sovereign ratings, Asia Pacific.

“If the political environment deteriorates a lot worse than what it is today, then we may have to take away support from the policy front, in which case the rating may come down,” Tan told Reuters

in an interview regarding Japan.

“If their debts continue to pile up very quickly, we may also move the rating down if there’s no offseting changes,” he said. S&P has a negative outlook on its sovereign rating on Japan. Japan’s debt burden is the heaviest among industrialised economies and while it wants to raise taxes to shore up state finances, its ruling Democratic Party lacks the majority needed to push reforms in parliament.

Weak growth prospects for Japan are also slowing tax reforms, such as a contentious plan to double the 5 percent sales tax by 2015, which may hurt consumer spending. “With reform, consumer spending will slow, and that will turn a weak scenario to an even weaker growth

scenario,” Tan said. “That’s going to be very tough.”

S&P has a positive credit outlook for both the Philippines and Indonesia. It has yet to raise Indonesia to investment grade, unlike Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings which moved to lift Southeast Asia’s largest economy to investment grade earlier. Tan said he was concerned about recent policy changes in Indonesia, particularly in the mining sector, that may turn off investors, although general investor confidence remained relatively strong.

He said Indonesia remained susceptible to a global liquidity crunch due to the private sector’s reliance on offshore funding. “If their external position strength-

ens, to the (same) extent that the Philippines is enjoying, then we have less to worry about from a sudden stop in global financial markets,” Tan said. “Then obviously that would help the rating, that can take place more quickly because it is easier to build reserves than implement difficult reforms.”

He said that if the Philippines’ debt levels continue to shrink-with the debtto-GDP ratio at a 13-year low of 50.9 percent-and it pursues reforms to raise revenue, “then we can also move the rating.”

“Over the next 6 to 18 months there is a one-third chance that it will go up,” Tan added. S&P rates Philippine sovereign debt two notches below investment grade.— Reuters

Business FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

India telecom bosses warn of auction ‘disaster’ NEW DELHI: Indian phone company chiefs yesterday slammed proposals for a sharp hike in the price of mobile spectrum, saying it would raise calling tariffs and potentially destroy the fast-growing sector.

In a rare show of unity in the fiercely competitive industry, top executives of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, and other leading mobile companies joined forces to denounce the proposed price increase.

“It would be a disaster. These plans will ring the death knell for the Indian

telecom industry,” Sanjay Kapoor, president of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) told a news conference in New Delhi. The high prices are “completely unsustainable” for an industry that must make huge investments to roll out networks in remote areas, said Kapoor, who is also chief executive of Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile company by subscribers.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) suggested last month a base price of 36.22 billion rupees ($678 million) for one megahertz (MHz) of pan-

India spectrum — 10 times the price at which 2G licenses were allocated in 2008.

The industry says company operating costs would increase and calling rates would rise by as much as 100 percent for customers who now enjoy the world’s cheapest tariffs of less than a US cent a minute. The heads of mobile phone companies also met government ministers on Wednesday to press their case.

The left-leaning Congress-led coalition government will make the final decision on the price.

The spectrum is to be sold by auction after the Supreme Court earlier in the year cancelled 122 permits awarded in 2008 to eight operators on the grounds that the sale process was underpriced and corrupt. The court ordered the government to reallocate the airwaves through a transparent competitive bidding process. The former telecom minister in charge of the 2008 sale, who was at the heart of one of the biggest graft scandals in independent India’s history, is in jail facing trial on charges of corruption. — AFP

East Asia boosts crisis fund amid Europe threat China, Japan, S Korea to buy more bonds

HEFEI: Chinese investors monitor their stock prices at a securities firm in Hefei, east China’s Anhui province yesterday. Chinese shares ended flat, as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, nudged up 1.64 points to 2,440.08 on turnover of 102.2 billion yuan ($16.2 billion). — AFP

US, Europe results send Asian markets lower HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell yesterday following more weak jobs data from the United States and Europe as well as figures showing eurozone manufacturing falling for a ninth straight month. The downbeat outlook saw traders shift to safer assets, which weighed on the euro and Australian dollar. Sydney slipped 0.16 percent, or 6.9 points, to 4,429.0, Seoul fell 0.20 percent, or 3.94 points, to 1,995.13 and Hong Kong shed 0.28 percent, or 59.55 points, to 21,249.53 while Shanghai clawed back early losses to end flat, edging up 1.64 points to 2,440.08.

Tokyo was closed for a public holiday. US payrolls firm ADP reported Wednesday that just 119,000 private sector jobs were created in April, well off the forecast 170,000, signalling the recent surge in employment could be tailing off. ADP also revised down March’s figure of 209,000 to 201,000.

The results added to the grim reading from Europe earlier in the day, where research group Eurostat said unemployment hit a record 10.9 percent in March-which includes a 24.1 percent rate in Spain alone. Adding to the gloom in the eurozone was news that manufacturing in the region continued to taper as nations tighten their belts with austere budget cuts as part of a drive to cut their huge public deficits. A survey by Markit showed the Purchasing Managers Index of manufacturing activity hit 45.9 in April from 47.7 in March, its lowest for three years and the ninth month in a row it has fallen.

A reading below 50 indicates contraction. “A risk-off tone has developed in the wake of disappointing economic data,” said Credit Agricole strategist Mitul Kotecha in a note, according to Dow Jones Newswires. “While hitting equities, the weaker market tone is likely to keep the US dollar buoyed.” The euro slipped to $1.3137 in early European trade from $1.3158 late Wednesday in New York, and to 105.55 yen from 105.56. The dollar was fetching 80.36 yen, from 80.14 yen. And the Australian dollar fell to US$1.0283, from US$1.0337. On Wall Street the Dow ended flat, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.25 percent and the Nasdaq picked up 0.31 percent. All eyes were on a European Central Bank policy meeting later in the day for clues to its next course of action to boost the sagging economy, while crucial non-farm jobs figures will be released in the United States today.—AFP

MANILA: China, Japan and South Korea took steps yesterday to tie their markets closer and agreed with their smaller Asian neighbours to boost their emergency protection against financial shocks. The ASEAN+3 regional grouping agreed to double the size of their emergency liquidity programme and made it more readily available by adding a preemptive function and reducing its compulsory link to the International Monetary Fund’s bailout conditions.

A heightened sense of urgency due to the euro zone crisis helped the 13 countries strike an agreement that South Korean Finance Minister and cochair Bahk Jae-wan described as the most noteworthy in the grouping’s more than 10-year history.

In a further move to protect their financial markets from shocks, the three economic powers agreed to boost cross-investment in government bond markets, worth nearly a combined $15 trillion. The series of agreements come as many of the export-oriented economies in the region seek ways to avoid a repeat of the 1997/98 Asian financial meltdown after facing recent crises originating outside their part of the world.

“We are fully aware of the potential downside risks to the region’s economic performance in 2012,” said the statement by the ASEAN+3 finance ministers and central bank chiefs, who met in Manila on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank meetings.

“The prolonged sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone could continue to weigh on ASEAN+3 economies through trade and financial channels.

Inflationary pressures remain, driven, in particular, by rising oil prices.”

The agreement calls for boosting the size of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) programme to $240 billion by November, while cutting the amount tied to an IMF programme to 70 percent from 80 percent and extending the maturity of currency swaps.

The programme, created in 2000 initially as a network of bilateral currency swaps, has never been put to use because of the stigma associated with the IMF that angered the region

for its insufficient bailouts during the Asian currency crisis.

“Memories of 1997-1998 keep coming in the way and that is why each country has built significant foreign reserves,” Rajat Nag, ADB managing director general, told Reuters. “But we hope Asia can move beyond that now.” The absence of top officials from China dented the mood some-

Local currency-denominated government bonds in the three countries amounted to $14.61 trillion at the end of 2011, with Chinese and Japanese bonds accounting for 97 percent of the total, ADB data showed.

Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi told reporters that the country would start with a small amount of purchases in Chinese and South

MANILA: Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute, Columbia university speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual board of governors meeting in Manila yesterday.—AFP what as they were at home hosting senior US officials. The Chinese delegation was headed by deputy chiefs of the finance ministry and central bank.

The region’s three economic powers struck a formal agreement on their mutual bond holdings, a rare one on securities investment, to safeguard their capital markets against possibly massive cross-border fund flows.

“We agreed to promote the investment by the foreign reserve authorities in (each other’s) government bonds, further strengthen our cooperation, including information sharing, and thereby enhance the regional economic relationship among the three countries,” they said in a joint statement.

Korean bonds as it hopes to diversify assets in foreign reserves for stable management.

“I believe the step is effective in boosting confidence in currencies and deepen the three countries’ mutual trust,” he said. Working level officials are due to work out the specific methods and procedures of the cooperation as the three want to avoid conflicts that may arise from one country’s massive holdings of another’s bonds, South Korean officials have said.

China started buying South Korea’s local-currency government bonds a few years ago but Seoul began to invest in Chinese bonds only recently.

Japan also recently announced its plan to buy China’s bonds. — Reuters

THEY ARE THE 99!

99 Mystical Noor Stones carry all that is left of the wisdom and knowledge of the lost civilization of Baghdad. But the Noor Stones lie scattered across the globe - now little more than a legend. One man has made it his life’s mission to seek out what was lost. His name is Dr. Ramzi Razem and he has searched fruitlessly for the Noor Stones all his life. Now, his luck is about to change - the first of the stones have been rediscovered and with them a special type of human who can unlock the gem’s mystical power. Ramzi brings these gem - bearers together to form a new force for good in the world. A force known as ... the 99!

THE STORY SO FAR : when some local kids sabotage it, Wassi and Samda become very angry...

www.the99.org

The 99 ® and all related characters ® and © 2012, Teshkeel Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

RAHEEMA, WASSI, and SAMDA enter their science project in a local science fair. But

Opinion FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Obama as war candidate

By David Espo

A

s slogans go, President Barack Obama’s promise of the “light of a new day” in Afghanistan isn’t nearly as catchy as the “Mission Accomplished” banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln the day President George W Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq in 2003. One was jubilant, conveying triumph - prematurely so, as more than 4,000 US combat deaths over the next several years demonstrated. The other, more restrained, optimistically cites progress toward an ultimate victory over the terrorists who attacked the United States more than a decade ago.

Yet the take-away messages fit the political circumstances of the president in office at the time. Then it was Bush prosecuting an Iraq war that was intensely controversial from the outset.

Now it’s Obama seeking re-election in a campaign against Mitt Romney that is anything but certain, polishing his credentials as commander in chief. The polls all say the economy will be the overarching issue this fall, but Obama can hardly be blamed for wanting the singular triumph of his term - Osama bin Laden’s death at the hands of US special operations forces - to gain plenty of attention.

After all, the death of the terrorist leader got equal billing with the slowly recovering economy in Vice President Joe Biden’s own suggested campaign slogan: “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.” As a political strategy after three years in office, blaming Bush for the war in Afghanistan is probably not any better than trying to saddle him with responsibility for the economy. Still, Obama chose to reprise his 2008 campaign criticism of Bush’s war policy in his brief 10-minute address from Bagram Air Field on Tuesday night.

“Despite initial success, for a number of reasons, this war has taken longer than most anticipated,” he said, beginning his account neutrally before pivoting. “In 2002, (Osama) bin Laden and his lieutenants escaped across the border and established safe haven in Pakistan,” this president said, referring to the battle at Tora Bora. “America spent nearly eight years fighting a

different war in Iraq.” But over the past three years, he said, referring to his own time in office: “The tide has turned. We broke the Taleban’s momentum. We’ve built a strong Afghan security force. We devastated Al-Qaeda’s leadership, taking out 20 of their top 30 leaders. And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.”

Romney decided he wanted no part of it. In a written statement issued as Air Force One carried Obama homeward, he said he was pleased the president had returned to Afghanistan, and that the troops and the American people deserved to hear from him what is at stake in the war.

“Success in Afghanistan is vital to our nation’s security,” he said. It was a different Romney earlier in the week, struggling to outmaneuver Obama in the run-up to the anniversary of the bin Laden’s death.

In fact, Obama and Biden had set him up over the course of a week. “We know what President Obama did,” Biden said in New York last week, referring to the decision to send Navy SEALs to bin Laden’s lair in Pakistan. “We can’t say for certain what Gov Romney would have done.” An Obama campaign web video soon followed, including a quote from a 2007 Romney interview in which he said it was not worth “moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just

trying to catch one person”. Answering on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie said the president’s team had gone a step too far. “I think if President Obama had said - even though he said we wouldn’t spike the football at the time of this momentous occasion regarding Osama bin Laden - had said, ‘I’m proud of this,’ I think people would have said he should be proud of this. ... It’s the extra iteration. It’s the attack that Gov Romney wouldn’t have done it,” Gillespie said.

On Monday, Romney himself answered. “Of course” he would have ordered bin Laden killed, he said. “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.” Intentionally or not, that resurrected memories of a Democratic president who once ordered a rescue mission for American hostages held in Iran that ended in disaster. From the East Room of the White House, Obama challenged his rival’s truthfulness as well as his national security chops. “I assume that people meant what they said when they said it,” he said, referring to Romney’s 2007 interview. “That’s been at least my practice. ... I said that I’d go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did. If there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they’d do something else, then I’d go ahead and let them explain it.” — AP

Suu Kyi climbdown hints at pragmatism

By Didier Lauras

F

or over two decades pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi defied Myanmar’s army rulers with steely resolve, but analysts say she has now embraced compromise, even if that means putting principles aside. The Nobel laureate was sworn in Wednesday as a member of parliament, a week after initially refusing to take the oath of office over the wording of the army-drafted constitution. She climbed down after President Thein Sein failed to offer concessions, indicating compromise may now be the order of the day as Myanmar creeps towards democracy in an astonishing reform process. But the delay meant that on Monday when UN chief Ban Kimoon became the first foreign leader to make a speech at the nation’s new parliament, Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy colleagues were conspicuously absent.

“The NLD has given the impression, once again, of having missed the train,” according to Renaud Egreteau, a Myanmar expert at the University of Hong Kong. Many of Suu Kyi’s supporters will welcome her historic debut in political office following the NLD’s sweep in April 1 by-elections, held after an historic national vote in 2010.

But Egreteau says there are indications of a divide within the NLD between hardliners

reluctant to work with the military, and a more pragmatic group that Suu Kyi is increasingly inclined to join. “Maybe we will see Aung San Suu Kyi finally free herself from the hardliners of her party,” he said. But division is likely to stir more sharp internal debate.

Egreteau said the NLD’s “uncle” figures are still deeply respected. “And in the Burmese culture, it is not easy to question the authority of the elders.”

Suu Kyi and her party have consistently denounced the 2008 constitution which granted deep powers to the military which ruled the country for decades. But in her new role as an MP, Suu Kyi will work within that same document, having a say on a range of issues in the poor but resource-rich country such as foreign aid, development, health and education reform. And with only about ten percent of parliamentary seats in the NLD’s hands, she will have to cede ground on some issues in order to score wins in others, experts say.

This atmosphere of give and take is far from that which swirled around her first political speech in 1988, when a student revolt against the generals was brutally quelled, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

The junta went on to subject Suu Kyi to a total of 15 years under house arrest as she became a global symbol of staunch resistance to oppression.

Her iron will was embedded in the minds of her supporters by an incident in July 1998, when she spent six full days in her car, stuck on a bridge 26 km from Yangon after the junta blocked her path. Determined to make the journey, she only returned home when a soldier grabbed the wheel and drove her back home.

Although celebrated in the West for her self-sacrifice and resolve, she was accused by the junta of “steadfastly refusing any attempt at persuasion”. But times have changed profoundly since President Thein Sein came into power last year following the junta’s self-dissolution. And as all sides shuffle closer, conciliatory language may become the currency of the political bargaining that lies ahead. Tha Sein, a member of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party which represents one of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, said his party was both free and potentially willing to work with the NLD. “If they want to work in accordance with our program, we will stand with them. Otherwise, we will not,” he told AFP, adding he was thrilled to see a new opposition force joining the parliament.

Even the military appointees who make up 25 percent of the parliament sometimes depart from the strict partisan line, Tha Sein said. “We found that members of the military voted in support of our proposals sometimes, when voting is conducted by secret ballot,” he said. As for amending the constitution - an issue the NLD has proclaimed as a priority - experts predict it will have to be pushed into the background in the interests of political calculation. “Some government officials have said privately that the constitution was not written in stone,” said Jim Della-Giacoma, Southeast Asia director with the International Crisis Group.

But by campaigning for changes like a reduction in the military’s presence in parliament, the NLD could “make soldiers the opponents rather than allies of change”. The party has now to prepare for the next major step on the road towards democracy - general elections to be held in 2015. “There is important work to be done to keep the momentum of reform going”, Della-Giacoma added.— AFP

A

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FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Years

www.kuwaittimes.net

A Thai boy plays in a pool ahead of Songkran, or water festival, at Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, Thailand. —AP

A handout picture released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78. A new image of the region surrounding the reflection nebula Messier 78, just to the north of Orion’s Belt, shows clouds of cosmic dust threaded through the nebula like a string of pearls. — AFP

Food FRIDAY, MAY 4 , 2012

Perfect reason to

get out of bed The best days start with a healthy breakfast

I

t is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; after all, you have just starved yourself for up to 12 hours. It is important to give yourself a nutritious meal to start your day well and to refuel your body, but it’s easy to get bored of breakfast if you have the same thing every day and many people skip it altogether.

Variety is the spice of life so don’t eat the same breakfast every day. Use the ideas below to make breakfast more interesting, more appealing and healthy.

1. Porridge - Use porridge oats or instant oats to make yourself a satisfying breakfast which will keep those hunger pangs at bay. Oats are slow release energy and so will keep you going until lunchtime.

Flavour your porridge with honey, fruit such as berries and seeds or nuts like almonds.

berries. The fibre in the cereal will really help your digestive system and help you to feel full.

3. Scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast - A very nutritious meal and for a treat why not add some chopped smoked salmon to the eggs? Instead of eggs, you can use tofu - stir fry with some soy sauce, onions and peppers for a delicious breakfast.

4. Yogurt and muesli - Mix a low fat yogurt with some low sugar muesli and fruit for a tasty, quick breakfast. A perfect breakfast for when you are running late.

5. Muffins - Find a recipe for some healthy wholegrain muffins and serve with jam or nutritious peanut butter. Make sure you choose a natural peanut butter.

11. Tostada - This is a traditional Spanish breakfast. Skin some tomatoes by cutting a cross on the top and bottom and soaking in boiling water for a couple of minutes, whizz in your blender and spoon over a slice of French bread (baguette) which has been cut length ways and toasted lightly under the grill. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt.

12. Breakfast Sundae - Layer chopped fruit or berries, low-fat yogurt and muesli in a sundae glass and drizzle honey over the top.

13. Homemade bread - If you have a breadmaker with a timer, you could time the breadmaker to finish at breakfast time lovely fresh, warm bread to serve with preserves, honey or peanut butter.

14. Omelettes - Omelettes are quick to prepare and you can enjoy many different varieties. Mushroom omelette is great for breakfast.

2. Wholegrain cereals - Look for cereals which are wholegrain and serve with skimmed milk or soya milk. Add interest by serving with sliced bananas or mix in

15. French Toast (Eggy bread) - Soak slices of wholegrain bread in a mixture of egg and milk and cook on a griddle or in a frying pan for a few minutes. Serve sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar. You can also make a sandwich by spreading the bread with soft cheese and jam or pureed fruit and then dip the whole sandwich into the egg and milk mixture before cooking.

6. Cottage cheese - Mix low-fat cottage cheese with fruit for a quick but nutritious breakfast.

7. Fruit salad - Chop up your favourite fruits and enjoy. You can prepare this the night before if you add lemon juice to keep apples from going brown. Store in an airtight container.

8. Fruit smoothie or shake - Search online for some smoothie and shake recipes to use in your blender. Add protein powder to make a really nutritious breakfast.

9. Fruit, nuts and cheese - For breakfast on the run, grab and apple, chunk of cheese and a few walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts or almonds.

10. Breakfast Pizza - Spread a slice of wholegrain bread with ricotta cheese, add slices of tomato or some chopped tomato, sprinkle with some olive oil and grill - delicious!

16. Pancakes - Mix up a batch of pancake batter the night before and make pancakes for breakfast or reheat a batch of pancakes. Experiment with different fillings or toppings.

17. Burrito - Serve scrambled eggs, tomatoes and cheese rolled up in a tortilla for a quick and tasty breakfast.

18. Chicken sandwich - Grill lean chicken and serve on wholegrain bread.

19. Cooked breakfast - Grill lean meat, tomatoes and serve with scrambled eggs for a traditional English breakfast.

20. Breakfast bars - Search for recipes for healthy breakfast bars or flapjacks.

These bars are a great standby when you need to eat on the run.

— www.streetdirectory.com

Food FRIDAY, MAY 4 , 2012

It’s a A

pancake is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter, and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Most pancakes are quick breads, which use a quick leavening agent such as baking powder, while some use a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Typically, pancakes are cooked one side on a griddle and flipped partway through to cook the other side. Depending on the region, pancakes may be served at any time of day, with a variety of toppings or fillings including jam, chocolate chips, fruit, syrup or meat.

Good Old Fashioned Pancake Ingredients * 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour * 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder * 1 teaspoon salt * 1 tablespoon white sugar * 1 1/4 cups milk * 1 egg * 3 tablespoons butter, melted

pancake walk

Directions 1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Fluffy Pancakes Ingredients * 3/4 cup milk * 2 tablespoons white vinegar * 1 cup all-purpose flour * 2 tablespoons white sugar * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 1/2 teaspoon baking soda * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 egg * 2 tablespoons butter, melted * cooking spray

Directions 1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour”.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into “soured” milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Oatmeal Pancakes Ingredients * 1/2 cup all-purpose flour * 1/2 cup quick cooking oats * 1 tablespoon white sugar * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 1/2 teaspoon baking soda * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 3/4 cup buttermilk * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 2 tablespoons vegetable oil * 1 egg

Directions 1. Place flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, vanilla, oil and egg in a food processor and puree until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Whole-wheat Blueberry Pancakes Ingredients * 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour * 2 teaspoons baking powder * 1 egg * 1 cup milk, plus more if necessary * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 tablespoon artificial sweetener * 1/2 cup blueberries Directions 1. Sift together flour and baking powder, set aside. Beat together the egg, milk, salt and artificial sweetener in a bowl. Stir in flour until just moistened, add blueberries, and stir to incorporate.

2. Preheat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat, and spray with cooking spray. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan for each pancake. Cook until bubbly, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn, and continue cooking until golden brown.

— www.allrecipes.com

Beauty FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Let your lips do the talki Kiss wrong shades goodbye forever “If I had to teach someone just one thing about lip color it would be this: Find a lipstick that looks good on your face when you are wearing absolutely no makeup.”

— Bobbi Brown

lip balm, then applies red lipstick over it with her finger. The result is a gorgeous sheen of red.

You hate the lipstick you just bought Don’t throw out those lipsticks that are just a wee bit off. You can create a great lip-

When to use a lip brush Use a lip brush when applying strong colors. You

The more complicated way to choose lip color While picking the right shade is as easy as going a couple shades darker than your natural lip color, we can delve just a wee bit deeper in the science of shades and skin tone.

Women with fair skin, look great in lipstick shades such as nudes in a slightly apricot shade, pinks and light corals. Stay away from browns, which will appear blah. Those with a medium skin tone can go a bit darker.

You’ll look great in roses, mauves and berries. Skip the bright reds and consider a deep burgundy instead. Deep plum, chocolate or red is fabulous with dark or black skin. According to the editors of Allure’s “Confessions of a Beauty Editor,” women with dark skin “can go in one of two directions: toward brown or purple.

Think caramel or walnut for day, and plum or wine for evening.” www.beauty.about.com

The most perfect trick to finding your best shade of lip color The most flattering lip tones will be one or two shades darker than your natural lip color, according to makeup artist Bobbi Brown. To test shades, apply lipstick or gloss to one lip. If that color is just a shade or two deeper than your bare lip, then you’ve found your shade. Yes, it’s as simple as that. So what to do if you like to buy your lipsticks at a grocery store or department store like Wal-Mart, where you can’t try the lipsticks out before you buy?

You can trust the color printed on the box. Simply hold it up to your lips in the store and check it out in the mirror. Or better yet, check the color out in a window, where natural light shines through.

How to pick the right shade of red Many women wrongly believe they can’t wear red lipstick. The secret to choosing the right red lip color is in the undertones. Pink-skinned girls should opt for cherry red. Those with olive skin can wear fire-engine red. Dark skin looks great with deep reds. One big red lipstick no-no: It’s best not to match lips to your outfit. Don’t want to go all out with red lipstick?

Create a red lip stain with a little trick I got from InStyle Magazine’s August 2007 issue. Makeup artist Angela Levin smoothes on Dr. Hauschka

tion, I find lips look more natural when I line lips after I apply lipstick.

To keep lipstick from wearing off so fast, fill in lips with liner before applying lipstick. This acts as a color base, so when the lipstick wears off you still have color.

color by blending lipsticks you don’t like. For lipstick that’s just a bit too bright, tone down the color with a darker liner before applying a lipstick.

need a mirror and expert application so you don’t paint the outside edges of your mouth.

How to use lip liner While you can line lips before or after lipstick or gloss applica-

BOOKS FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Picture this book C

ome Friday and it is ‘new movie’ release time.

Across the country, from large metros to small city cinemas, movie buffs eagerly await the latest silver screen offerings. Film critics pronounce their star ratings but the final verdict is delivered by the cinema going masses who have always loved a story well told. No wonder then a good script is manna from the heavens, avidly sought for by any film-maker. Bestsellers provide fodder for the movie mill, often making a hit at the box-office.

Meanwhile, the endless debate goes on whether movies based on books are as good as the books themselves.

Doctor Zhivago: An epic saga directed by David Lean (1965) based on Nobel Prize winning author, Boris Pasternak’s book of the same name. This touching love story revolves around a Russian doctor during the turbulent Bolshevik Revolution who, although married, falls for a ruthless politician’s wife. Lara and Yuri’s doomed love unfolds through a series of tragic events that constantly separate the two. In true Russian tradition, a multitude of characters are crafted from all sections of society and are brilliantly portrayed by the cast. Even though the movie ran for over three hours, the spectacular cinematography, excellent performances along with the soul-filling music (Lara’s Theme) made it truly unforgettable.

The Bourne Trilogy: This is a series of spy films based on the popular novels by Robert Ludlum. The three books, Bourne Identity (1980), Bourne Supremacy (1986) and Bourne Ultimatum (1990) follow the fast paced action of Jason Bourne, a former CIA operative suffering from amnesia. The pace keeps up non-stop through all three books and the incredible storyline captivates the reader. It is no surprise then that these were made into films which fascinated audiences the world over. Matt Damon’s brilliant portrayal of the lead character held one enthralled. The reasons for the runaway success of this trilogy are many - the cohesive story line binding the three films, the effective development of each character, not just the hero and the realism of action sequences.

The Bourne series justly deserves both, the critical and commercial success it got.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: This book by Ken Kesey was adapted and made into an unforgettable film directed by Milos Forman (1975) which swept the Oscars collecting five major Academy Awards. Set in the world of an authentic mental hospital, this gripping novel is a disturbing look into the flaws of the system and society as a whole. McMurphy, a sane convict lands at a mental hospital to avoid forced labor and turns everything upside down. He takes on authoritarian, cold Nurse Ratched and the ensuing power struggle between the

two animates the whole book culminating in McMurphy’s tragic demise. The book is moving, filled with humor and proves that the human spirit can be crushed but never extinguished.

Absolute Power: The gripping bestseller by David Baldacci (1996) was his first novel. It immediately caught the fancy of the film industry and within a year was made into a movie by Clint Eastwood who also starred in it. Not only is it a thriller where the hero, a burglar, stumbles on a murder and its subsequent cover up by the Secret Service and the American President, but also an insightful look at the love between the aged hero and his estranged daughter. Filled with mystery, action, suspense and humor, the book and movie are both thoroughly enjoyable.

Q & A/Slumdog Millionaire: This book by Vikas Swarup recounts the story of a poor uneducated waiter in Mumbai, who as the winner of a TV quiz show, is arrested on suspicion of cheating. Through a series of flashbacks based on his answers to each question the author with a light touch highlights the challenges and life of India’s poor. The movie Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle was loosely adapted from this novel and became a big box-office hit.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: This engrossing and wonderful book by CS Lewis (1950), “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” tells the tale of four children who, while playing hide and seek, find a wardrobe which leads to a magical land called Narnia ruled by the evil White Witch. An amazingly believable fantasy adventure follows wherein the children and Aslan, the majestic lion king, free the country.

Andrew Adamson’s vastly entertaining film (2005) was faithful to the book. The grandeur of the movie’s visuals and engaging characters can be enjoyed as much by adults as by children. www.chillibreeze.com

Health FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Go on, be a sport!

Help your kid build the right attitude towards winning and losing

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arly on, children learn how sports-oriented the culture is around them. As the headlines frequently tell us, some parents-and even star professional athletes-seem never to have learned the fundamentals of good sportsmanship. As early as age three and four, children are introduced to basic sports skills such as throwing and catching. By six or seven, those who haven’t mastered these and others may already feel left behind. Because the mainstream culture values competition, first-graders will know who’s the best and who’s the worst at sports in their class.

Catching up can already seem like a hopeless task. This is the time for practice with a parent or a friend-but make sure it’s fun! Parents will need to take care that their own eagerness doesn’t backfire and become pressure for the child. Some parents, eager for their children to succeed in sports as well as with friends, start them off early and give them hours of deliberate practice that risk taking the fun out of the game. Parents often take winning more seriously than their children, who just like to play the game.

Whether a child is a gifted athlete or always the last one picked, sports bring out differences that we can help our children accept. Rather than smooth them over, why not be honest about such differences? Our job is to help our children accept themselves. This will be easier for our children if they can be sure that their self-acceptance is more important to us as parents than their performance in sports. That means that parents should encourage their children to play games for fun, not for winning.

How to help your children learn good sportsmanship Firm expectations: Lying and cheating are no way to deal with losing a game.

Being a good sport, even when you lose, is tough. But congratulating the winners is a sign of real strength. A child who can do this can feel proud. Being a good loser is one of the most difficult things in life.

Sports are a way to learn how, in childhood.

Parents and coaches must help teach that skill.

No pat reassurances: “You were great!” or “Don’t worry, next time you can win!”-are liable to backfire. Help children face their disappointment and even the anger they feel toward themselves. “How do you think you did?” If the child blurts out: “I stunk!” parents may be alarmed. But the child is pulling himself out of his dejection by sharing such feelings with them.

Empathy: Acknowledge and accept the child’s feelings of anger, frustration and self-doubt. But reserve your right to draw different conclusions from his (“You may think you’re no good, but that’s your opinion, not mine”), and to prohibit unacceptable actions that might arise from these feelings.

Honest appraisal: To a child who insists “I’m no good,” a parent might reply, “You have skills, and maybe you are ready to think about some that you would like to improve.”

A balanced approach: A child may need some help in stepping back, taking

perspective: “Do you think that you’ll be able to have another try when you play again?” The child may be ready to value

how hard he tried, even if he didn’t win. But perhaps most important is the clear message that winning or losing is the child’s

issue, not that parents’. If you’ve been too involved, your child will know and will feel even more disheartened. You’ll need to admit it if you’ve added to the pressure, and to apologize.

Encouragement: Reassure your child that he can get back on track. Let him know that he needn’t be so hard on himself: “It’s hard to keep trying when you feel so discouraged. But if you keep on trying, you’ll feel better.” Whether your child wins or loses, the point of the game is to have fun.

Learning to play as a team A special challenge of team sports is learning to share the glory and the blame.

It’s a struggle for children of any age to keep from venting frustration against teammates and instead to focus on encouraging one another. When the team loses, it’s tempting to protect one’s own self-esteem by singling out others to hold responsible.

Children’s abilities are bound to vary enough for everyone to see when one or two of the children really couldn’t live up to the demands. Then, even children who don’t want to hurt others’ feelings are caught in the dilemma. “Do we tell the truth, or pretend that we all stunk?”

Young “stars” may also need help with their shortcomings - for example, hogging the ball or poor teamwork. The best athletes may also need to work on calming themselves down after making a mistake so that they can learn from it. Coaches and parents can privately offer individual children (the strugglers and the stars) a chance to practice needed skills.

Learning to lose is one of the hardest things a child has to do-but the child must learn how. Parents can help children handle their frustration without hurting the other kids. After a soccer defeat, for example, some children may want to kick the ball - as hard as they can - at the goal, over and over, until they’re spent. Others will collapse into silliness, chasing after each other, tumbling on the ground. Let them.

But if they gang up on a teammate, let them know that they are exhibiting poor sportsmanship: “Sure everyone’s upset about losing. But we’re a team and we’ve got to stick together. That’s a part of playing the game.” Sadly, many coaches and parents make such lessons take a back seat to winning-for younger and younger children.

Teammates may be helped to see that tearing down a player’s self-confidence will only hurt their game. Coaches and parents can model the importance of focusing on the positives, on hopes for the next time. www.burkeathleticclub.org

Education FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Working a beat

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beat is a media term for the area, or topic, a journalist covers. So a beat could be anything from local crime, to national news to Hollywood movies. Beats can be very specific, or broader, depending on the kind of publication you’re working for. A mid-size daily newspaper, for example, will have reporters covering everything from local police goings-on to local sports.

Why you need a beat A journalist’s job is to report the news. To find the news, you need to understand the subject matter and the people you’re writing about. Let’s say you’re working a crime beat for a newspaper in Chicago. One morning the police report that there’s been a murder in a posh neighborhood of the city. Now, in order to write about that murder, you need to know what’s been going on in the city. Is this an isolated incident? Was there a similar crime two weeks ago? Two years ago?

People always discuss the five pillars of journalism or the Five Ws and 1 H— who, what, where, when, why and how — and, the “why,” section can only be filled out by someone with a background and knowledge of their beat. If, for example, you were asked to write about the aforementioned murder in Chicago, and didn’t know anything about the city or the recent criminal activity there, you wouldn’t be able to cover the story in the best way. Because, let’s face it, the story is very different if it’s a random act instead of a potential sign of a crime spree or, let’s say, a serial murderer.

Developing sources The other big reason journalists work beats, aside from developing a deep knowledge of the subject they’re covering, is to develop sources. Sources are people you talk to report a story.

Now some sources are obvious. If we continue with the example of working as a crime reporter in Chicago, you would have regular sources in the police department. Now some would be obvious — you would likely speak to a spokesperson for the department whose job it is to handle reporters (a kind of publicist) — but other contacts might be developed from relations you foster over years of covering a beat.

The scoop on journalism What does it take to be a reporter?

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re you curious about how and why events occur? Do you like looking at things from different perspectives? Do you enjoy solving puzzles? Are you also good at explaining these things to other people?

You may be a natural journalist. If you’re looking to become a journalist, you might want to learn about different types of journalism.

Broadcast journalists, also called news anchors, correspondents and newscasters, typically work for television stations. Some journalists work for print and online newspapers. As a newspaper reporter, you may be called a reporter if you’re working on a factual story, or you may be called a columnist if you’re working on an opinion-based interpretation of facts and events.

If you’re more interested in a cloak and dagger take on journalism, you might find your niche as an investigative reporter. These reporters work for newspapers, magazines and broadcast venues. They can spend weeks or longer working on individual projects that might even require undercover sleuthing.

According to the Dow Jones News Fund, Inc. (DJNF), three out of four college graduates hired for journalism positions in newspapers majored in mass communication or journalism. Many schools offer programs in journalism at both undergraduate and graduate levels. While it’s possible for you to land a job as a journalist without a degree, there are aspects of journalism taught in college that

may keep you out of legal trouble in the professional world. Some of the things you’ll study in a journalism program include: ethics in journalism; conducting research and interviews; basic journalistic writing styles; and photojournalism.

Getting an education is just part of the story. You’ll also need experience. You can begin as early as high school by writing for your school paper. Colleges offer positions on their newspapers and some have broadcast facilities as well. You can investigate internship programs at broadcast and print news facilities of all sizes.

The DJNF advises that many of the larger news agencies rarely hire students directly from school and that you’ll probably fare better by beginning at a smaller, local paper then working your way up. The DJNF also says that each journalist position you take can be considered a stepping-stone to your end goal, and breadth of experience is a positive factor in this industry. www.degreedirectory.org

Write here, write now

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ead widely. Write for your own entertainment; write what you want to, or feel you need to. Don’t think about other readers until you start your second draft, or about money until you’ve started making some.

Read voraciously. Reading will teach you more about writing than anything else. Read both inside and outside your chosen field of endeavor. Write every day. Whether it’s a story, a blog, an editorial, a synopsis, whatever...write. Do your homework. Learn how to format a manuscript. Check out market guides and determine which publications most suit the type of work you write.

Write often and read often. Read a lot in the field of your primary interest, but read other fields as well, to help cross-pollinate your writing. Go to conventions, attend panels, learn about the field and the business side of writing. Join a writing group, network with other writers, soak up information. Its fine to write initially solely for exposure, but don’t wait too long to submit to paying markets. Build your writing credits. If your goal is to write novels, try to find an agent based in

New York who believes in your work. But don’t worry about an agent if you are writing short stories.

If you want to be a writer then you should already be writing. Writers write, it’s quite simple. If you want to be a successful writer then, unfortunately, the answer is exactly the same. There are no special handshakes you need to learn - there is no inside track to success other than being good at writing. Too many wannabe writers are attracted to ‘being a writer’ rather than actually writing. It’s like saying “I want to be a film star” - yeah, well get to work now - stop wanting and start doing. Beside the above, here’s some practical advice: Buy books about writing and read them, buy books about English and read them too, never stop learning about the process and never think you’ve nothing more to learn. Read fiction - never stop reading it.

Keep a journal with one page for every day, and fill that page in. Start a blog, write on message boards. Discipline yourself - keep clicking on that word count. www.creative-writing-help.com

Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 4 , 2012

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ome opera tenors have all the plush roles and get to kiss the divas, but when Australian tenor Stuart Skelton takes the stage, he’s often cast as the lout who abuses women and children, or as a Teutonic hero with more brawn than brains. “I keep getting typecast as all these broken characters, because I don’t really do romantic leads very well,” Skelton, 43, said in an interview as he prepared for an English National Opera (ENO) production of Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman”. He sings the role of the huntsman Erik, whose girl jumps off a cliff to show her devotion not to him, but to the accursed ship’s captain of the opera’s title.

“I’m the ‘before shot’ in the romantic lead pictures - here’s the romantic lead before he went to Jenny Craig (weight loss centres) for three months,” Skelton, who is no Pavarotti but could easily pass for a rugby player, said with a laugh.

“You know, you’ve got to be a credible hero at some level, so that’s why they usually hand me a sword and say, ‘Go kill some stuff’.” A lot of the slaying he’s done over the years, since he made his debut in a leading role in the late 1990s, has been of critics, who don’t seem to be able to get enough of him.

The reviews were sensational when Skelton sang the lead of the child-exploiting fisherman in the ENO production of Britten’s “Peter Grimes” in 2009, and which he will reprise in a concert version for this year’s BBC Proms, and there were raves again when he began the current run of “The Flying Dutchman”. “Skelton’s Erik, beautifully voiced and phrased, has rarely been bettered,” critic Tim Ashley wrote in The Guardian.

This could all go to the head of a self-categorised “heldentenor”, a German term which roughly translates as “heroic tenor” and usually means someone whose voice ranges from baritone to tenor but, perhaps more importantly, has the stamina and lung power to sing Wagner.

Skelton does a lot of Wagner, including a “Flying Dutchman” act of his own, with his last-minute engagement by ENO to sing Erik meaning he has had to commute, sometimes to get there the next day, between London and New York, where he sang Siegmund in Wagner’s “Die Walkure” at The Met. That is indeed heady stuff but what Skelton says he is looking forward to is taking off most of the month of June so that he and his partner, who

Stuart Skelton

makes her living writing for music publications, can be together at their home in Orlando, Florida, where Skelton, who avoids alcohol like a curse while on the road for its drying effect on the vocal cords, says what he likes to do is “drink, and that’s not a joke”. “It’s nice to have a margarita at 11 o’clock in the morning and not care,” he says.

Here’s what else he had to say about what it takes to be a heldentenor, how he shakes off some of the gloomy roles he sings, and one or two of his cocktail favourites: Q: What makes a “heldentenor”, and why isn’t Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez one while you are?

A: “I dont know whether it’s so much a physique thing as a providential physiology of the instrument, and I think the physique and the instrument are things that are separable. At the end of the day, even if I looked like Juan Diego - and there are some days I do wish I looked like Juan Diego and somebody said, ‘Okay, insert incredibly cool-looking tenor here’ - assuming I had the same vocal mechanism, I’d still end up singing the same stuff because that’s what my voice does.”

Q: So heldentenors are born to the breed, with, say, a Rheingold spoon in their mouth?

A: “I’ve been dealing with this recently, I did a master class in New Zealand, and Twitter feed for ENO for an hour, and a couple of people said, ‘I’m a young heldentenor’ and I think that’s oxymoronic. I don’t think you can be a young heldentenor, I think you’re either a young tenor or a heldentenor, but you’re not both....The concept of a young heldentenor scares me a little bit. I don’t think heldentenors specialise until much much later in life.”

Q: It must be hard being typecast as the sociopath fisherman Grimes or the faceslasher Laca in Janacek’s “Jenufa”. How do you get out of role?

A: “Coming away emotionally from ‘Peter Grimes’, some nights you sing it and you come offstage after that final scene before the chorus comes back on, sometimes in two or three minutes everything’s back with your system and sometimes it’s not. I don’t really know what makes the difference between some nights it washes off really easily and sometimes it takes a little while, but I very rarely take it home. It never lasts longer than getting out of costume and showering, all those sorts of things help. And of course, if it’s been a good night there’s the euphoria of it having been a great performance, which is a great counterbalance.”

Q: Roles like that could lead a lesser man to drink. You told one interviewer about a “breakfast martini”, made with bacon and egg white, but what’s in the drinks cabinet for Orlando this coming June?

A: “I do make cocktails, I’m a big fan of cocktails and I love it there. It gets unbearably warm but I love it. And I could have a margarita but it’s usually mandarin vodka, ruby grapefruit juice and sage leaves. Crush them just a little... with ice.” — Reuters

In this film image released by Anchor Bay Films, Briana Evigan, left, and Deborah Ann Woll are shown in a scene from “Mother’s Day.”—AP

other’s Day,” inspired by the 1980 Troma slasher flick of the same name, is notable for a chilling lead performance from Rebecca De Mornay and not much else.

The home-invasion thriller from director Darren Lynn Bousman (who made the second, third and fourth “Saw” movies as well as one of the worst films I’ve ever seen in my life, “Repo! The Genetic Opera”) takes us through all the obligatory steps of the genre: Bad guys enter, assert their dominance and pick people off one by one. The hostages make futile attempts to attack or escape but their actions aren’t as important as the structure itself, which is meant to serve as a crucible of human nature.

That would be all well and good if the characters here were vaguely intriguing, but they’re not even cliched types they’re just sort of bland, and eventually they’re bloody. That makes De Mornay’s quietly commanding, creepy turn stand out even more. She stars as Mother, who steps in to clean things up when her idiot bank-robber sons (Patrick Flueger, Warren Kole and Matt O’Leary) botch a job and then try to hide in what they

“M

believe is their childhood home. Turns out Mother got foreclosed on, and the place now belongs to Beth (Jaime King) and Daniel (Frank Grillo), who were in the middle of a housewarming party. Gnarly, sadistic torture ensues.

And that’s the point of these kinds of movies, right? To see how far they can push it and see how much we as an audience can stand to watch. Efforts to justify the characters’ motivations in “Mother’s Day” feel like clutter; the killers can just be depraved and the victims can just be clueless and that’s fine. Here, they all have back stories and secrets that prolong the running time and function as filler between the moments in which Mother sweetly, calmly calls the shots. She can serve up a chocolate cake with as much grace and ease as when she orders one of her kids to shoot someone. Sure, it’s a parody of the classically charming sociopath but it’s riveting to watch.—AP

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throb will then seek to save his salivating fans in the final installment of the vampire epic, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn II,” this fall. Sauvaire’s last film was “Johnny Mad Dog,” which also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.—Reuters

obert Pattinson will star in “Mission: Blacklist,” a psychological thriller to be directed by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire that hits the Cannes Film Market in May. The film is based on the novel “Mission: Black List #1,” which was written by a man intimately involved in the capture of Saddam Hussein, military interrogator Eric Maddox. Erik Jendresen, who wrote for and produced “Band of Brothers,” adapted the novel for the big screen.

Jendresen is producing with Ross M. Dinerstein, managing partner of Preferred Content, and Kevin Waller. Embankment Films, Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar’s new sales and distribution company, will shop the rights at Cannes.

“This movie is a gripping, edge of your seat thriller,” Dinerstein said in a statement. “I have been inspired by Robert and Jean-Stephane’s dedication to tell this story in the most authentic way possible, and I’m thrilled to add Hugo and Tim to our team.” Pattinson’s next film, the David Cronenberg-directed “Cosmopolis,” will premiere at Cannes. The “Twlight” heart-

Robert Pattinson

Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 4 , 2012

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carlett Johansson was honoured with her own star on Hollywood’s storied Walk of Fame on Wednesday, saying it proved she must have “made it to the big time.” The 27year-old star, who reprises her role of the Black Widow in the latest Marvel Comics blockbuster “The Avengers,” was joined by co-star Jeremy Renner at the ceremony. “When I was told I was getting this star, I thought to myself, man, I really made it to the big time,” said Johansson, dressed in a figure-hugging black and white ensemble with dizzying geometric patterns.

“You know, no matter what happens from here on out, I made my mark, I’m here to stay, and my family for generations to come will always be able to visit me right here, always.

What a deeply, deeply touching gift,” she added. Johansson, star of “The Horse

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Whisperer,” “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” and “Lost in Translation,” first played the Black Widow in 2010’s “Iron Man 2” starring Robert Downey Jr. Renner, who co-stars as Hawkeye in “The Avengers”-due out in the United States on Friday-paid teasing tribute to Johansson.

“Working with her was tremendous...ly awful,” he joked. “For six months, she continuously threw me around, beat me, stepped on me and wiped the floor with my dignity and self-respect every day-all with a smile on her face.”— AFP

n theory, seeing Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy share the screen should be a delight. In reality, the seriocomic romp “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” merely has its moments, but more often feels heavy-handed, sappy and overlong. Sure, it’ll seem warm and crowd-pleasing but probably only to crowds of a certain age, who may relate to these characters who find themselves in flux in their twilight. Handsome as the film is from John Madden, who directed Dench to her supporting- actress Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love,” it too often spells out too much, and features painfully literal symbolism like a bird taking flight at just the right time.

Still, Dench does some of the loveliest work of her lengthy and esteemed career here as Evelyn, who’s recently widowed after 40 years of marriage and struggling to establish an identity on her own. She’s one of several elderly Brits who travel to a resort in Jaipur, India, that advertises itself as an elegant destination for retirees. There’s also Graham (Wilkinson), a burned-our high court judge with fond memories of India from his youth; Muriel (Smith), a cranky former housekeeper in need of a hip replacement who doesn’t even bother to hide her racism; the bickering married couple Douglas (Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton), who are miserable in their new assisted-living community; Madge (Celia Imrie), who’d rather

Actress Scarlett Johansson poses with actor Jeremy Renner at a ceremony for the unveiling of Johansson’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. — AFP

be out hunting for a rich husband than taking care of her grandchildren; and Norman (Ronald Pickup), who’s similarly been looking for love in all the wrong places.

They all end up on the same flight with dreams of a romantic, Rudyard Kipling-esque adventure waiting for them. Upon arrival, though, they find the place is empty and falling apart, despite the best efforts of Sonny (Dev Patel of “Slumdog Millionaire”), the enthusiastic, young manager who inherited the hotel from his father, to turn it into a palace. Sonny also has his own romantic subplot, having fallen in love with a beautiful, modern young woman (Tena Desae) whom his snobbish, traditional mother doesn’t approve of. Patel is very likable here, playing an inherently ingratiating character with no obnoxiousness.

Eventually, all the guests learn to adapt to varying degrees. Each character experiences an obligatory moment of truth in this colorful, bustling city, but the plot machinations in the script from Ol Parker, based on the novel “These Foolish Things” by Deborah Moggach, feel rather creaky. A lot of the humor is also pretty corny: Indian food is so spicy! Viagra is so exciting! And the Internet is so scary and complicated! Here and there, though, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” wins you over temporarily with a subtle delivery or a poignant exchange.

Dench and Wilkinson have a couple of quietly powerful moments together, and Nighy is just heartbreaking with every sad, dry quip he makes. But mostly, “Marigold Hotel” is old-fashioned, safe and resistant to stray from its comfort zone like visiting a foreign country and only eating the foods you already know you like.

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” a Fox Searchlight Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for sexual content and language. Running time: 122 minutes. Two stars out of four. —AP

In this film image released by Fox Searchlight films, Judi Dench, left, and Celia Imrie are shown in a scene from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”— AP

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he jeweler who designed Angelina Jolie’s engagement ring from Brad Pitt is suing celebrity blogger Perez Hilton for libel over allegations of fraud, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Robert Procop filed the suit in Los Angeles over a posting he says wrongly accused him of criminal and civil fraud over a 1985 diamond necklace transaction. He is seeking more than $500,000 in damages. Hollywood’s hottest couple made it official last month after Pitt proposed to Jolie, with whom he has been for six years. The couple have six children, three of them adopted.

Hilton’s April 17 posting stated that Procop had not only been sued for fraud, but that an $89,000 judgment had been handed down against him, according to the lawsuit filed at the LA Superior Court. It also stated that the buyer thought he was getting a 25.5-carat necklace, but in reality it was only 17.62 carats, the suit says. “The statements that (Procop) was guilty of fraud in connection with a jewellery transaction and that the court in the fraud action had entered a judgment against plaintiff are false,” the suit said. Procop said the claim harmed his reputation, adding that Hilton refused to retract the posting. “As a world-renowned jewellery designer and jeweller, (his) reputation for honesty is of critical importance to his business,” it said.

A spokesman for Hilton was not immediately available for comment. Procop designed Jolie’s engagement ring in collaboration with Pitt. The famous Beverly Hills jeweller, who has designed an entire collection inspired by Jolie, worked on the ring for a year. The April 13 news that Pitt and Jolie-known collectively to fans as “Brangelina”-were engaged put an end to months of speculation about the couple and their plans to marry. Jolie had stoked the media firestorm when she told ABC News in December that “the kids asked me the other day, and I asked them if it was just because they wanted to have a big cake.” Pitt, 48, and Jolie, 36, became close on the set of 2005 film “Mr and Mrs Smith.”— AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Afghan museum highlights country’s

Buddhist heritage A

This picture shows a general view of the damaged remains of the Darul Aman palace in Kabul. —AFP photos

fghanistan, which achieved global notoriety for cultural barbarism when the Taliban blew up the ancient Bamiyan Buddhas, this week opened an exhibition highlighting the country’s rich Buddhist heritage. In sharp contrast to the religious intolerance behind the destruction of the Buddhas 11 years ago, the immaculate exhibition is on display in the National Museum, itself rebuilt with international aid after being destroyed by civil war.

Overlooked by living history represented by the ruins of the neoclassical Darulaman Palace on a neighbouring hillalso a victim of war-the interior of the museum is a sanctuary of quiet arches and marble floors in a violent land. In the entrance hall is a replica of the Great Buddha of Bamiyan, one of two giant standing statues carved into Bamiyan cliffs in Afghanistan’s central highlands in the sixth century. But the polyurethane copy is a poor substitute-unlike the surviving treasures dating from the second century AD that dedicated museum staff managed to hide and protect through 30 years of conflict and turmoil.

One statue shows a lean-torsoed Buddha, reflecting the art of the ancient Greeks introduced by Alexander the Great, who staged one of the many invasions of Afghanistan over the centuries, said museum curator Surkh Kotal. Others show damage inflicted by Taliban fanatics who destroyed many of the museum’s artefacts before their regime was overthrown by US-led troops in 2001 for harbouring AlQaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Among the items spared-many hidden in secret vaults outside the museum are relief carvings depicting the Buddha’s life and other artefacts from former Buddhist monasteries in Afghanistan, mainly south of the Hindu Kush mountains.

One of those behind the protection of the treasures is museum director Omarakhan Massoudi, who joined the museum 34 years ago.”I’m happy we pre-

This picture taken on April 28, 2012 shows an Afghan security officer standing guard in front of the damaged remains of Darul Aman palace in Kabul. served some masterpieces through a difficult time in our country,” Massoudi told AFP, recounting how a decision was made to move major works to secret locations in 1989 as Soviet forces withdrew and civil war loomed. During that war, some 70 percent of the museum’s artefacts were looted and smuggled into neighbouring countries to find their way onto the black market, he said.

The museum, along with the palace on the hill, was largely destroyed as rival warlords unleashed artillery and rocket fire on the capital in a brutal struggle for power.Then came the Taliban, Islamic hardliners who swept to power in 1996.

Towards the end of their rule they destroyed more than 2,000 artefacts, Massoudi said, and blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas as “idols” in March 2001. “We have repaired more than 300 statues.

Some are on display and we will continue this activity in the future,” said Massoudi.

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was “a big tragedy because they were a part of our history, a part of our culture”, he said. Afghanistan, lying on the famed Silk Road trading route connecting east

and west, absorbed Buddhism from India and the religion flourished for hundreds of years before the arrival of Islam in the eighth century. Now, the practice of Buddhism has virtually disappeared from a country where more than 99 percent of the population proclaim themselves to be Muslim. But the museum is dedicated to keeping the nation’s history alive. “We have to be proud about this very rich heritage of Afghanistan, and we need to transfer it to the next generations,” said Massoudi.

In a country still at war, with 130,000 US-led NATO troops helping the government of President Hamid Karzai fight a Taliban insurgency, it is still unsafe for the museum to display some of its most important possessions. The famed and priceless 2,000 year-old Bactrian Gold collection of more than 20,000 gold ornaments, hidden by museum staff during the civil war, has been touring the world since 2006. But closer to home, the ruined grandeur of the Darulaman Palace-clearly visible from the museum-stands as an enormous exhibit reflecting a less than glorious period in the nation’s history. — AFP

Giant Marilyn Monroe statue coming to L.A. area

F Giant Marilyn Monroe statue

orget the Tupac hologram - there’s a new deceased celebrity coming to the Palm Desert area in spectacular fashion. “Forever Marilyn,” a 26-foot statue of actress Marilyn Monroe, is coming to Palm Springs at the end of May, NBC Chicago reports. The statue, which has been installed at Pioneer Court in Chicago since last year, is expected to stay at the corner of Tahquitz Canyon and Palm Canyon drives until next June. The statue, created

by J. Seward Johnson, depicts Monroe in an iconic scene from the 1955 Billy Wilder film “The Seven Year Itch,” when Monroe’s dress is blown up by air from a subway grate. The work was the source of some controversy, with

some detractors calling the statue sexist and others deriding it as just plain ugly. Nonetheless, it became a popular landmark for photo opportunities - a fact in itself that drew jeers from film critic Richard Roeper.

“Even worse than the sculpture itself is the photo-op behaviour it’s inspiring,” Roeper wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. “Men (and women) licking Marilyn’s leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh. It’s not that the sculpture is shocking or sexist or obscene - but it’s definitely bringing out the juvenile goofball in many of us.” The work also became the target of vandals. —Reuters

Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Munch’s ‘Scream’ beats auction record at $119.9 million

T

he only privately owned version of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”one of the most recognizable paintings in history-set a world record Wednesday when it sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

Heated competition between seven bidders took the price to the highest for a work of art at a public auction in just 12 minutes, sparking applause.

“World record,” announced auctioneer Tobias Meyer after bringing down the hammer. The previous record was held

by Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust,” which sold in 2010 for $106.5 million.

“The Scream” is one of four versions of a work whose nightmarish central figure and lurid, swirling colours symbolized the existential angst and despair of the modern age. It was sold

by Norwegian Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and supporter of the artist. He plans to establish a new museum in Norway. On two occasions, other versions of the painting have been stolen from museums, although both were recovered. Copies have adorned everything from student dorms to tea mugs and the work has the rare quality of being known to art experts and the general public alike.

“We’re delighted to say that this magnificent picture, which is not only one of the seminal images of our histo-

ry, but also one of the visual keys for modern consciousness, achieved a world record,” Simon Shaw, head of the Impressionist and modern department at Sotheby’s, said. Reflecting the excitement, Sotheby’s spokesman Darrell Rocha said there had been an “electric” atmosphere during the sale

of a painting that had been estimated to fetch at least $80 million. “A group of seven bidders jumped into the competition early, but it was a prolonged battle between two highly determined phone bidders that carried the final selling price to its historic level,” he said.

Sotheby’s employees pose with Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s 1895 pastel on board version of ‘The Scream’ at Sotheby’s auction house in central London in this April 12, 2012 file photo. — AFP

“Scream’s” success means there are just three other works that have sold for more than $100 million. One is the Picasso nude, another is Picasso’s “Boy with a Pipe” which sold for $104.1 million in 2004, and the fourth is Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man” sculpture which fetched $104.3 million in 2010.

The version of “The Scream” sold Wednesday was executed in 1895 and is the only one not held by Norwegian museums. It also features a poem inscribed by Munch in which he explains his inspiration for the work, which depicts “the great scream in nature.”

Olsen said he was “very pleased” and said he hoped “the publicity given by this sale will increase interest in Munch’s work and awareness of the important message that I feel it conveys.” “The scream shows for me the horrifying moment when man realizes his impact on nature and the irreversible changes that he has initiated, making the planet increasingly inhabitable.” The sale was the high point of the auction of Impressionist and modern works at Sotheby’s. Rival Christie’s held a more muted auction Tuesday.

Both houses turn to contemporary art next week, with Mark Rothko’s 1961 painting “Orange, Red, Yellow” expected to sell for $35 million to $45 million at Christie’s. — AFP

Art fair fight?

UK’s Frieze launches in New York N

ew York’s contemporary art scene is undergoing a major shake-up this year, with Britain’s hugely successful Frieze Art Fair opening its inaugural US edition on Friday just weeks after the established Armory Show closed its doors. Organisers of both events sought to play down the element of competition, although the Armory admitted it had felt obliged to up its game this year, knowing a rival upstart was moving in on its turf. “I don’t see it as a problem,” said Noah Horowitz, managing director of Armory, when asked about what threat Frieze posed. “It’s caused us to really react in a positive way,” he said in a telephone interview.

“Competition can bring out the best in people. The fair we put on this year was our strongest edition in many years.” Around 60,000 people visited Armory in March despite a reduction in the number of participating galleries to 225 from 275 in response to criticism the show had become too big. New York is arguably the most important city in the world for contemporary art collecting, and the global market for the finest works is booming, so perhaps there is room for two fairs in the city during the spring rather than one.

But the risk is that key galleries and buyers will gravitate towards one or the other. For Matthew Slotover, co-founder of Frieze in London that has quickly become one of the key events in the increasingly crowded art market calendar, the element of rivaly is new. When he and business partner Amanda Sharp launched their first Frieze Art Fair in a giant marquee in London’s Regent’s Park in 2003, they were alone. “It’s an odd situation for us because we’re not aggressive,” he told Reuters. “In London there was nothing comparable and so it was a much more comfortable situation. The reason we are doing a fair in New York is

because many significant galleries asked us to.

“I don’t like talking about competitors as I don’t want to bash them or praise them either.”

Frieze runs from May 4-7 and will be held in a temporary snake-like tent on Randall’s Island-the location across the East River is a potential barrier to attracting the large and affluent crowds necessary to a fair’s success. Slotover admitted Frieze was the only major contemporary art fair “crazy” enough to opt for a temporary structure, but believed the sense of freshness was what people wanted. “Art is supposed to be this surprising and challenging thing people like new things. People have said how important that is for them.”

Auction record The majority of visitors to Frieze’s 180 galleries are likely to be members of the public with neither the means no inclination to buy, but who want a snapshot of the contemporary art world combined with the glamour of the venue. But there will also be plenty of serious collectors, many of them in New York for the series of auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s held at the beginning of May each year.

“It’s a key moment in New York and galleries often have their best shows on this week,” Slotover explained. “It’s a logical time to do a fair.

There is a cross-over between the auction and gallery market, although not a 100 percent crossover.” He said he was hoping that the sale of Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream” at Sotheby’s on Wednesday night would set a positive tone for the fair opening two days later.

“If that goes for a massive sum, that puts people in a good mood for the rest of the week. I hope it does well,” he said, speaking before the auction took place. The painting in fact fetched

$120 million, making it the most valuable work of art ever sold at auction. Armory’s Horowitz argued that holding a fair at the same time as the auctions was a “double-edged sword”.

“There’s a danger in holding a fair during auction week, as people may be looking to see prices in the secondary market before putting their money into the primary market.” It is not only New York that runs the risk of art fair fatigue-

events have cropped up around the world to tap into the growing base of collectors, including from emerging powerhouses like Russia, China and the Middle East. —Reuters

“Wire figure”, “Turc 2” and “Turc 1” of the “Triadic Ballet” by German artist Oskar Schlemmer are displayed in the Barbican centre in central London on May 2, 2012 as the venue prepares to host a major exhibition of the Bauhaus school of art. The largest in the UK in over 40 years, the exhbition includes works created between 1919 and 1933, and includes over 400 pieces. The exhibition runs from May 3 - August 12, 2012. — AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Australia Fashion Week

Models parade Marvel Comics inspired apparel during the Berserkergang Summer 2012/13 show by ‘Romance Was Born’ at Fashion Week Australia in Sydney on April 30, 2012. The annual event showcases over 75 collections by renowned Australian and Asian designers. — AFP

Blindness can’t stop him:

Sightless man has vision for fashion, TV series

H

e’s been blind since age 15. But nobody can say that Mason Ewing lacks vision. Overcoming a nightmarish childhood, Ewing, 30, has been a successful fashion designer in Paris. For the last six months, however, his mind has been set on Hollywood, where he hopes to create a teen comedy and a dramatic series for television. Born in Cameroon to an American father and a Cameroonian mother and raised in France, his own life has been filled with drama.

His mother, a seamstress and dressmaker, was murdered when Ewing was 4, he said. As an older child, Ewing remembers watching fashion shows and seeing glamorous top models like Naomi Campbell on the catwalk. “I decided to work in fashion and follow in my mother’s footsteps,” he recalls. Separated from his father, he lived for a time with a great-grandmother in Cameroon. But, Ewing said, his life took a dark turn at age 6 when he was sent to stay with relatives near Paris.

He remembers being routinely beaten and abused for seven years. He was whipped with belts, his arms were burned by candles, and he was forced to stand with his arms extended as he held heavy books in his hands, he says. “I lived with my uncle and aunt and they began to

fight me. They would awaken me at 4 in the morning to clean the house and wash dishes. When I wet the bed in fear, they took my head and bashed it on the bathtub,” he recalled. “They poked my eyes and put pigment in them.”

Ewing was bashed and kicked in the head so often that he suffered a seizure that landed him in the hospital, where, he said, he was in a coma for three weeks. When he awoke, he was blind.

The “pigment” Ewing mentioned is actually a peppery African hot sauce, according to a friend and associate, Raffael Becker, who translates for him. He said Ewing is convinced that the spicy hot sauce is to blame “for burning his optic nerves and killing the cells of his eyes.” “I don’t know why they did this to me,” Ewing said. “It was just wickedness.”

French authorities eventually intervened and placed young Ewing in a series of foster homes. He studied physical therapy in college before deciding in 2001 to pursue his childhood dream of fashion design.

His Parisian fashion styling work ranged from evening gowns to Braille-lettered T-shirts. Translating what Ewing could see only in his mind’s eye was a challenge. He was able to recruit artists willing to sketch the designs he

Mason Ewing says he’s the world’s only blind fashion designer after losing his sight because of child abuse. described, including an elaborate “Marie Antoinette” gown-a flowing, billowing dress accented with swoops of golden-brocaded fabric. Able to see only vague combinations of light and shadow, Ewing discovered his blindness had enhanced his ability to distinguish the textures of silks, lace, linen and cotton twill. —MCT

Technology FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Moving files made easy NEW YORK: Moving digital files between your work and home computers can be a pain. Add smartphones and tablet computers to the mix, and you’ve got yourself a giant headache. Google Inc. unveiled its solution to the problem last week, while two other companies, Dropbox Inc and Microsoft Corp, improved their existing offerings. The idea is to leave your files on their computers, so that you can access them from any Internet-connected device, wherever you are. That means you can stop emailing big files to yourself, and you can stop carrying those USB thumb drives that fill up quickly, especially when transferring photos and video. These services also make it easier to share documents with others. The three services I tried are free, though you’ll have to pay if you need more than your allotted storage. Google Drive, Dropbox and Microsoft’s SkyDrive share many core features.

You can store just about any type of file photos, videos, songs, spreadsheets and more - on distant servers operated by those companies. All you need is a Web browser and an Internet connection. To upload a file to the online storage service, you simply move the file’s icon to the browser window.

The original file remains on your computer.

To access a file from another computer, you simply go to the service’s website and log in.

You can make changes on that computer and move the file back online. You can create Web links to entire folders or specific files for sharing.

You can install free software to simplify these transfers. The software creates a special folder on your computer for that particular service. Anything you add to it will automatically get transferred to your online storage. If you or colleagues make changes from another computer, the original version gets automatically updated. A subset of features is also available through apps for mobile devices. You can pull up photos and other documents on the go, though it’s not designed for making too many changes. One drawback with all three services: You can lose metadata associated with these files.

Attributes such as the file’s creation date can change in transfer. The contents aren’t affected, with one major exception I’ll discuss as I compare the individual services.

BlackBerrys. Google doesn’t have a version for iPhones or iPads yet; its app only works on Google’s Android system. Microsoft doesn’t make one for Android, though it has one for its own Windows Phone system besides the Apple devices.

Winner: Dropbox

This screenshot provided by Google demonstrates the new Google Drive service using a desktop computer.—AP photos view the content, though you’ll have to go through extra steps to create a “shared folder” for others to edit documents. With SkyDrive, you can give people editing capabilities with that link. In fact, you can give some people a view-only link and others a link with editing privileges. You can share via email and decide whether recipients can edit documents. You can also post content to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks directly from SkyDrive.

Google Drive also lets you choose whether links come with editing capabilities.

But unlike SkyDrive, you can’t create viewonly links for some and editing links for others. It’s one or the other for particular files and folders. You can also email items as attachments or as a link to your Google Drive account. Dropbox and SkyDrive can automatically turn the photos you share into galleries, so that friends can view them through an interface that resembles what you’d get on Facebook or a photo-sharing site.

Winner: SkyDrive, with the most options for sharing.

• Search Not surprisingly, the best search options come from Google, the Internet search leader.

Searching on Google Drive is fast and versatile. You can search not just by file name, but also the contents of documents in a variety of popular formats. It uses an opticalcharacter reader to pull out text from newspaper clippings and brochures you scanned.

I was impressed that it found multiple references to “cockatoo” embedded in some scanned brochures. Dropbox searches based on file names only. SkyDrive searches contents of documents in Microsoft formats Word, PowerPoint and Excel - but it won’t even index the file names for other types, including photos.

Winner: Google Drive • Software Dropbox has the most software options.

For desktops, there’s a Linux version besides ones for Windows and Mac computers. Microsoft and Google support Windows and Macs only. Microsoft’s software won’t work on Windows XP, an older, but still widely used system. It also won’t work on earlier versions of XP’s successor, Vista. So many SkyDrive users will be stuck with the Webbased interface.

Dropbox also is the only service to offer phone apps for both Apple and Android devices. It’s also the only one to support

• Storage The services give you plenty of free space for word processing, spreadsheets and other basics, but not enough for extensive storage of photos and video. You get 2 gigabytes for free on Dropbox, 5 GB on Google Drive and 7 GB on SkyDrive. Those who used SkyDrive before April 23 can claim 25 GB of free space, though others might be eligible too.

Dropbox lets you earn additional free space by recruiting friends or performing such tasks as installing Dropbox’s software.

Signing up for additional free accounts gets cumbersome, so count on paying if you need more. An extra 100 GB will cost $50 a year on SkyDrive and $59.88 on Google Drive, while 100 GB including the free space will cost $199 on Dropbox. Cheaper plans with less storage are available.

Winner: SkyDrive, with the most free storage and cheapest upgrade plans.

• Sharing All three let you share content by creating links. On Dropbox, friends with that link can

This screenshot provided by Google demonstrates the new Google Drive service using a web browser.

• And the rest ...

Dropbox has a handy feature for restoring files you accidentally deleted or overwrote.

That means you can go back to an earlier draft of a document if you change your mind - up to 30 days, or forever if you have a paid account. For truly sensitive files, a few extra steps are needed to permanently erase them.

SkyDrive will automatically shrink larger photos to save space if you use its Web interface, unless you notice and uncheck a small box. Some people may like that, as it’ll speed up file transfers. But if I had deleted my originals before noticing that, I could have lost them forever. I didn’t get any warnings ahead of time. That’s enough for me to lose confidence in the service.

Google Drive offers to convert files to Google’s online documents format. That makes it easier for multiple people to collaborate. When you make changes to a spreadsheet from your computer or phone, it will pop up seconds later on all the other screens where it’s open. Collaborating through Dropbox and SkyDrive gets clunky. As a bonus, files in Google formats don’t count toward the storage quota.

One annoying thing about Google: Under standard settings, if you upload the same file three times, it will get stored as three separate files on Google Drive - all with the same name. It ought to just replace the file - after asking, of course - and perhaps keep an older version hidden away as Dropbox does.

SkyDrive wins on storage and sharing, but it ought to be more forthcoming about shrinking originals.

Google’s nifty search features make it the best choice overall. After all, storage does little good if you can’t find what you need.

At the same time, I’m uneasy about relying on Google for even more of my online life. Google Drive doesn’t currently run any ads, and the company says it has no plans to use your documents - such as your private diaries - to target ads elsewhere. But Google’s recently revised privacy policy allows the company to do so if it ever changes its mind.

If you aren’t bothered by that, Google Drive is the service you’ll want. Otherwise, Dropbox is a fine alternative, especially if you expect to use it a lot on a variety of phones or an iPad. Whatever you choose, I recommend that you keep your original files somewhere, even if you have to buy an external storage drive.

These services are good for backups and sharing, but what SkyDrive did to my photos made me realize they are all too new to fully trust.—AP

Stars

FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Aries (March 21-April 19) A person in business is happy to extend you a favor today. You should be receiving helpful advice regarding a financial matter. You are doing well to keep your financial books in good order. This is a time when new information tends to come to light in which a change in plans or outlook is needed to preserve some information or project. Keep your eyes open and your ear to the ground. Be sure you have all your facts straight when you make a presentation or proposal. Your energy is high! You feel in harmony with yourself, the entire world and everybody in it. Others can feel this, so they in turn are drawn to you, making this a successful day for any kind of group endeavor. Best of all, relations with the opposite sex are at a peak.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Dealings with insurance agents are favorable today.

There is a passion for details in the work that you do—also, a need to do just the right thing at just the right time in order to bring positive attention to your accomplishments. In time, you will become more natural in your routine and learn new ways to create advancement opportunities. This can be hard on the digestion if taken to extremes just now! The satisfaction of a job well done is one of your greatest incentives.

There could be a turning point in your philosophical outlook. There are no idle thoughts. All thinking produces form at some level. There are new energies in your love relationship this evening. These energies bring about a positive change in how you view a person or situation.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) A closed mind believes the future and the present will be the same. This is a period when you take your work quite seriously. You want to put forth the effort involved to get things scheduled and organized. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down, so to speak. This is an excellent time to be alone and get things accomplished. The possibility of being able to spend newfound finances is strong at this time—care and judicious thought must be given to the practical use of money. This evening is an excellent time for spiritual growth and a deeper understanding of the forces that move the world.

Creative, musical or artistic sources of self-confirmation can be enjoyed this evening; sing, dance. You could encourage others to discover their talents as well.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You have an increased interest in working partnerships or group activities. The pace of your professional life speeds up now. Mental stimulation from others is important to you now and it is a good idea to make every effort to cooperate and compromise with others. A current project should be very successful. Your ingenuity works like a charm and your ability to make the most out of any situation rises to the occasion. There are optimism and foresight today, making it an excellent time to plan a trip or a vacation. You are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul—think positive. You are likely to hear some good news now regarding something of importance to you. You enjoy good relations with family members this evening.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Although you would rather not work in groups, it may be the best way to accomplish your goals. This is a great time to weigh the pros and cons of any business venture or investment. Resist the temptation to live beyond your means!

Moderation is the right answer for now. Be sure to keep an open mind about all ideas or proposals today, paying attention to all the details involved. You make progress in many different areas of your life. You are cheerful and friendly to all, making you popular with others. Enjoy the good conversations and laughter with others this afternoon. It is what we do with our hearts that affect people most deeply. We love from heart to heart. The mood this evening is perfect for a love relationship.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) The more flexible you are today the better—friends or family may rely on you to lend a helping hand when it comes to emotional quandaries. Be supportive; do not expect too much.

Extra care is needed in all contractual transactions: read the fine print and do not become stuck with a white elephant. Other people give you an opportunity to declare a grateful attitude. If possible, give yourself more time to think about some business changes. A wonderful spring afternoon can be enjoyed while bike riding through a park. Being more closely involved with another person may well become your highest priority now. Marriage, contracts and partnerships are seen as keys to success and happiness; and they have plenty of lessons to teach you.

Libra (September 23-October 22) A disciplined approach to work, health and others of life’s essential routines is especially important now. Look for innovative areas to explore in business or for investments. Pay attention to the flashes of inspiration you get from time to time. Also, be sure your facts are straight before you make decisions that are detrimental to your future. Attention to detail is necessary to make any dream into a reality, but it is highly important now. To you dreamers of impossible dreams, you just might make them come true today. Good luck! Nothing negative can stand before the light of peace. This evening is a great time to reflect and understand your own situation. Use your charm for all it is worth and drop a few compliments in the right places.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Good fortune comes your way today in many different ways. This day marks a time of building to last and appreciating the important matters. It may be time for a school reunion soon, but this year there is a healing about to take place and you don’t want to miss it. You are appreciative of most everything and everyone in your life and you are eager to express your gratitude. This just automatically puts you in a good mood with an open and forgiving mind. You may be paying bills later today and realize how much you have accomplished this last year. You are getting rid of some old debts and may be quite pleased at your progress. Set aside a little time this evening to plan some future fun activity with friends or family.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) There are circumstances that can influence your emotional nature but it does not take long before you return to your peace loving self. Our capacity to be happy and useful cannot truly be hampered by external conditions. Others watch and learn by your actions.

Care should be exercised if investments are made at this time—check your resources. Long-term investments in agriculture, industry and construction might work for you. This is a good time to network with others.

Doing just about anything with friends or family at this time will bring much joy. Do not be afraid to elicit the help of others for any problem you have at this time. You are good to express your appreciation for their ideas. Enjoy the chatter this evening.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) If you want peace, you must give up the idea of conflict entirely and for all time. There could be some difficult times at work the remainder of this week—forgetful people and lost objects seem to persist. There will be opportunities to regroup, retry and begin again. Perseverance, however, is crucial during this—fortunately—short period. You may even question your position and the possibilities of going in another direction with your work. This is a time when you enjoy good relations with family members and the financial position may improve because of your association with a relative. This may be the best time to ask for guidance. Optimism is good, especially when it comes to love and romance. This is the time for a healing.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Your mind seems full of the desire to heal and make happy. This is what you teach and you may have the opportunity for teaching positive thinking. There are opportunities today to plot your path to a good financial future. For investments you might check out the companies that make paper goods . . . there are stock improvements along this line. You may find that the recent leak in your own finances is from giving your money away to other people.

Understand that these were not considered loans. If you are unattached, you may want to scan the horizon for someone new. It is a good time to think about improving your surroundings. Set aside time to bring more oxygen into your living quarters with green plants: herbs, aloe vera, etc.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You are supersensitive today, of course this can be rewarding as well as damaging, depending on how you handle it. If you focus on others, your understanding will enable you to fit into any group.

This ability is helpful in any job. If, however, you become caught up in your own feelings, you are likely to see only what you want to see. Save final decision-making for another day; if possible. Sometimes if one just waits a while, frustrations smooth out. What the mind perceives can often be unreliable—careful. You may be receiving information through sound and thought. Personal growth programs that are positive work toward manifesting your professional or personal goals. Today and tomorrow are good times to begin a new personal goal.

COUNTRY CODES Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African Republic 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands)0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062 Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686

Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK)0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

W h a t ’s O n FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Korean Embassy organizes Korea Week

A

s part of its ongoing effort to increase the level of contacts and interaction between the Korean and Kuwaiti peoples, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kuwait is organizing the Korea Week from May 8th to 11th in the Korean Embassy located in the diplomatic zone 2 in Mishref.

The Korea Week provides a unique chance for Kuwaiti people and other residents to get acquainted with Korea and its culture as it offers many programs including tasting Korean food, buying Korean art crafts and products, learning about Korean Culture and meeting and befriend of Korean people.

Korea Week is full of excitement and all are welcome to come and enjoy the entertainment.

The week composed of various programs such as Korean food festival (May 8th), Korean traditional wedding ceremony and Kids Hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) fashion show (May 8th and 9th) and K-Pop Contest (May 10th). And also Korean Market selling Korean food, Korean foodstuff, Korean art craft and stationery will be organized while charity bazaar will sell small items donated from Korean Community and Kuwaiti volunteers. In addition to this, participants will be able to try beautiful Hanbok, Korean calligraphy, Hanji (Korean traditional paper) art craft, and Tal (Korean traditional Mask) making. This week of events highlights also the Kuwaiti culture. We are really proud of mentioning that a group of forty Kuwaiti volunteers from the Korean Culture Diwaniya are taking part in preparing for this event. The group will also organize a corner for Kuwaiti Culture in addition to a Charity Bazaar.

To make the whole event more vivid, dancing teams from the Kuwaiti side such as the B-boy dance team, Electrik crew, Hip hop dance team, 965 crew, will also join the K-pop contest as special guests. On May 11th, the classical music concert will be held in Abdulaziz Theater and middle and high school Korean students who are living in Kuwait will play classical music. We are really confident that our guests will enjoy all activities. Come and enjoy Korean Culture nights.

Country Kidz rule ‘Battle of the Bands’ 2012

T

he Don Bosco Past Pupils Association organized the ‘Battle of the Bands Simply Unplugged 2012’ with Dawliah as its main sponsor. Audience members watched several bands put on their best set in their rivalry for the prize and recognition.

The list of bands that performed included The Raptors, Scorpions JR, Music Makers, Explosive, Pretty Pink, Freak M Out, Frequenzy, Cooljulia, Beauty n the Boyz, Dark Angels, 4 Ways Only, Styx Divas, 4 Dimension, Styx, Country Kidz, Stripes and Twisted Fate. The lively dynamic of these music bands displayed the great potential in the young and their enthusiasm to display their skills and talents.

The competition was divided into two categories, Juniors and Seniors. Juniors

included those below 16 years of age and Seniors was made up of those above 16.

In the Juniors section, Country Kidz finished first to win their third Gold in a row and retain their title as champions. One of the judges even mentioned that Country Kidz were complete performers and no other band had come close to their performance. Styx Divas made quite an impression on the judges to bag the second place.In the Seniors Section, Stripes came first with Twisted Fate winning second place. The competition was judged by Caesar Fernandes, Founder of KuwaitMusic.com, Hashim Al Nasser, Lead guitarist of the band Jelly Shot and Rico, a Guitar & Keyboard performer.

These kidz have passion in what they do...music..., having started very young and

had commitment from parents...all are below 15 years. They have good knowledge on new music and able to perform at ease, use thier own imagination and variations in playing the instruments. All kidz play more than one instrument. Their coach and music instructor were the real mentors who allowed the kidz to bring out the talent. One of the judges commented that “these kidz already possess stardom and have all what professionals bands represent”.

Many among the audience, including parents met with the band after the event and asked them what is the secret of winning for three (3) consecutive years in a row! With a flash of beaming smiles, “they all said in unison...hard work, practice, discipline and a williness to perform in style”!

Announcements Yoga with the Golden Era Club The Golden Era Club presents ‘The Eight Fold Path to Yoga’ on Fridays, 11th and 25th May; 5 to 7 pm. Yoga here! Yoga there! Yoga everywhere! Yet, few comprehend Yoga’s true nature! Join Yoga Guru - Aacharya Shashikala Pushkarna - on this unique journey to the true ‘union’ between the mind, body and spirit. All seniors (60+) are cordially invited. Venue- House #34, next to AbuTammam Intermediate School for Boys, Sate Alhusari St., Block 2, Rumaithiya. For details call 97172788/ 66208183 or drop a line to goldenera60@yahoo.com Indian overseas congress Arts competitions 2012 Indian Overseas Congress, Kuwait is conducting 6th Arts Competitions, 2012, on the 11th and 12 May 2012 at United Indian School. IOC once again welcome the growing buds of the Indian expatriate community in Kuwait from various disciplines to test their talents and competency in the field of arts. The winners of this prestigious competition will be awarded with trophies and medals later in the IOC function. The competitions are for Elocution, Solo, Poetry Recitation, Classical Dance, Folk Dance, Group Dance (Cinematic), Indian Patriotic Song, Mono Act, Drawing/Painting and Poster Poetry writing. Although the competitions are meant for children from various disciplines, Elocution, Solo and Indian Patriotic Song Competitions will be held for contestants above 18 years also. The closing date of receiving entry forms is 4th May, 2012. The entry forms are available at the following places: Abbassiya - Hidine Super Market, Sakina Book Stall; Salmiya - Uduppi Restaurant, Sakina Book Stall; Riggae - Al Dallah Super Market, Fahaheel -Royal Mobile Services and Sales. Filled forms can be sent to fax : 24331461 or Email : iockuwait@yahoo.com Or delivered to Sakina Book Stall, Abbassiya.

Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main

A

fter hosting memorable recent event for noble cause “Ambassadors of Comedy” with International artist Aron, Dean & Nitin, ICS now geared up with full package of cultural entertainment in “Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main”.

ICS now hosts renowned playback singer from Bollywood Abhijeet & world fame theater cum comedy king Umar Sharif from Pakistan on 18th May Friday, at 7 pm sharp. The Chief Guest for the event will be Ambassador of India, Kuwait. Also guest of honor will be prominent personalities from Kuwait & respected embassies from different countries. Abhijeet Bhattacharya, the name needs no introduction. He has given his voice for actors such as Shahrukh Khan, Anil Kapoor Mithun Chakraborty, Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Saif Ali Khan, Bobby Deol, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgan, among many others.

Umar Sharif World Fame Theater & Comedy King Umar Sharif

Basketball tourney

D

on Bosco Oratory - Kuwait invites all to attend the finals of their Annual Open Basketball Tournament held at Indian English Academy School (IEAS), Salmiya on May 5, 2012. 6:30pm Don Bosco Oratory (A) v/s Street Squad - 3rd and 4th place. 7 pm Ladies exhibition match.

7:30 pm Pac man v/s Don Bosco Oratory (B) - Grand Finals.

became one of the most well known stage performers in Pakistan after his extremely popular 1989 comedy stage plays Bakra Qistoon Pay and Buddha Ghar Pe Hai. In both he starred with another comedy legend Moin Akhter. Much of the success comes from the fact that he started to record his shows and the videos were rented out.

Yes Sir Eid, No Sir Eid, followed “Bakra Qistoon Paey” that was the world’s first drama in the history of video drama to be recorded on the video cassette. His drama made a record popularity all over the world. He has written more than 100 stage plays, few films and books those are based on Poetry and hit plays or dramas.

Indian cultural Society as committed to bring young talents & also to promote talents from Kuwait, there will be new fragrance of voice from Bollywood Tarannum Malik will join as a co- singer.

So join @ Dr Kamil Al Rayes Auditorium, AIS opposite Police Station Maidan Hawally Kuwait. For information log on to www.icskuwait.com / ics.kuwait@gmail.com / novestin@gmail.com

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

TV Listings FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

03:30 03:55 04:25 05:20 05:45 06:10 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:10 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:50 13:15 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 22:25 22:55 23:50

Baboons With Bill Bailey Baboons With Bill Bailey A Panda Is Born Going Ape Wildlife SOS Wildlife SOS Orangutan Island Wild Animal Orphans Natural Born Hunters The Really Wild Show Cats Of Claw Hill Must Love Cats A Panda Is Born Animal Precinct Animal Cops South Africa Dolphin Days Dolphin Days RSPCA: On The Frontline Wildlife SOS A Panda Is Born Animal Battlegrounds The Really Wild Show Wild Animal Orphans Natural Born Hunters Dogs 101 America’s Cutest Pet Wildlife SOS Going Ape Orangutan Island Animal Battlegrounds Saving A Species Safari Vet School Safari Vet School Wildlife SOS Animal Cops Phoenix

03:00 Newsday 03:30 Hardtalk 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 World Business Report 04:45 BBC World News 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 World Business Report 05:45 BBC World News 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 World Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 Sport Today 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 Hardtalk 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 BBC World News 11:00 GMT With George Alagiah 11:30 GMT With George Alagiah 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 13:30 Impact With Mishal Husain 14:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 14:30 World Business Report 14:45 Sport Today 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 Hardtalk 16:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 16:30 The Hub With Nik Gowing 17:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 18:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:30 World Business Report 19:45 Sport Today 20:00 BBC World News America 20:30 Hardtalk 21:00 BBC World News 21:30 World Business Report 21:45 Sport Today 22:00 BBC World News America 22:30 Asia Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News 23:30 Asia Business Report 23:45 Sport Today

03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05

The Amazing World Of Gumball Ben 10 Adventure Time Powerpuff Girls Generator Rex Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

05:30 05:55 06:00 06:25 06:50 07:15 07:40 08:05 08:55 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:25 11:50 12:15 13:05 13:30 13:55 14:45 15:35 16:25 17:15 17:40 18:05 18:30 18:55 19:20 20:10 21:00 21:50 22:00 22:50 23:40

00:00 18 02:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 11:45 14:00 16:00 17:45 20:00 21:45

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Angelo Rules Casper’s Scare School Eliot Kid The Amazing World Of Gumball Adventure Time Regular Show Grim Adventures Of...

Courage The Cowardly Dog Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Powerpuff Girls Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Ed, Edd n Eddy Ben 10: Alien Force Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders Camp Lazlo Powerpuff Girls Angelo Rules Grim Adventures Of...

The Amazing World Of Gumball Adventure Time Regular Show Ben 10 Generator Rex Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Courage The Cowardly Dog Star Wars: The Clone Wars Cow And Chicken Codename: Kids Next Door Ben 10 Chowder

The Butterfly Effect 3: RevelationsThe Godfather III-18 Ong Bak 2-PG15 Ip Man-PG15 Ballistica-PG15 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 Ip Man-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 Mirrors 2-18 Shutter Island-18

01:00 Nine Dead-PG15 03:00 Ice Dreams-PG15 05:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 07:00 The Tempest-PG15 09:00 Ice Dreams-PG15 11:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 13:00 Like Mike-PG 15:00 Ramona And Beezus-PG 17:00 Freakonomics-PG15 19:00 Attack The Block-PG15 21:00 MacGruber-18 23:00 Jonah Hex-PG15

03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00

The Simpsons 10 Items Or Less Friends The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Seinfeld Weird Science Dharma And Greg Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Friends The Simpsons Seinfeld Breaking In Dharma And Greg The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Weird Science Friends Seinfeld Dharma And Greg 10 Items Or Less Breaking In The Daily Show Global Edition The Colbert Report Global Edition Weird Science Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Perfect Couples The League Breaking In The Tonight Show With Jay Leno The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

The Colbert Report Enlightened Hung American Dad Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Revenge Boardwalk Empire Live Good Morning America Switched At Birth Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Desperate Housewives Revenge Live Good Morning America Switched At Birth The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice House The River Boardwalk Empire

03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

Desperate Housewives Revenge Friday Night Lights Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street Royal Pains The Closer Desperate Housewives Revenge Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Royal Pains Parenthood Emmerdale

16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice House The River The Tudors

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00

Street Kings 2: Motor City-18 Fade To Black-18 Bad Guys-18 Red Faction: Origins-PG15 Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow-PG15 A Way With Murder-18 StreetDance-PG15 Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow-PG15 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 Gothika-18 The Clinic-18

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Coldblooded-PG15 The Out Of Towners-PG15 Guarding Tess-PG 16 To Life-PG15 Vice Versa-PG Paper Man-PG15 Elevator Girl-PG15 13 Going On 30-PG15 Paper Man-PG15 Post Grad-PG15 Without A Paddle-PG15 The Joneses-PG15

00:30 2:22-18 02:30 Babies-18 04:00 Miracle-U 06:15 Spartacus-PG15 09:30 Who Is Clark Rockefeller-PG 11:30 Hollywood, I’m Sleeping Over Tonight-PG15 13:30 The Rookie-PG15 15:45 The Associate-PG15 18:00 The Horse Whisperer-PG15 21:00 Posse-18 23:00 Body Of Evidence-R

01:00 Miracle-U 03:15 At Risk-PG15 05:00 Alabama Moon-PG15 06:45 Robin Hood (2010)-PG15 09:00 Ramona And Beezus-PG 11:00 Sundays At Tiffany’s-PG15 13:00 Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-PG15 15:30 Prom-PG15 17:30 The A-Team-PG15 20:00 Thor-PG15 22:00 Hall Pass-18

00:00 The Nimbols: Part I-FAM 02:00 The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland-PG 04:00 D’fenders-PG 06:00 Cher Ami-PG15 08:00 The Nimbols: Part I-FAM 10:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 12:00 The Little Engine That Could-FAM 14:00 The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland-PG 16:00 The Nimbols: Part II-FAM 18:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 20:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 22:00 The Little Engine That Could-FAM

01:00 WWE NXT 02:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 03:00 Super Rugby 05:00 Scottish Premier League 07:00 Snooker World Championship 10:00 This Week in WWE 10:30 Live Super Rugby 12:30 Live Super Rugby 14:30 Futbol Mundial 15:30 European Tour Weekly 18:00 Live Snooker World Championship 20:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 22:00 Futbol Mundial 23:00 Live Snooker World Championship`

SHUTTER ISLAND ON OSN ACTION HD

00:30 Super Rugby Highlights 01:30 NRL Full Time

02:00 02:30 03:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 10:30 11:30 12:00 16:00 16:30 18:30 21:00 21:30

Futbol Mundial Total Rugby Snooker Futbol Mundial SPL Highlights Premier League Darts Trans World Sport SPL Highlights Live Snooker World Championship SPL Highlights Super Rugby AFL Premiership Futbol Mundial Live Super League

01:30 02:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:30 12:30 14:30 15:30 19:30 21:30 23:30

Trans World Sport Premier League Darts World Cup Of Pool Golfing World Total Rugby AFL Highlights Live AFL Premiership Live NRL Premiership Golfing World Live European PGA Tour Super Rugby Live Top 14 NRL Premiership

00:00 00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 12:30 14:30 16:30 22:00

UFC Unleashed WWE NXT PrizeFighter WWE Bottomline UFC Unleashed Live UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown Live V8 Supercars Futbol Mundial Live NRL Premiership Live NRL Premiership Live Scottish Premier League Live Sevens World Series Live Pro 12

00:00 MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris Matthews 01:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 02:00 Live NBC Nightly News 02:30 ABC World News W/ Diane Sawyer 03:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 04:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 05:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/ Lawrence O’Donnell 06:00 NBC Nightly News 06:35 ABC Nightline 07:00 ABC World News W/ Diane Sawyer 07:30 Live NBC Nightly News 08:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 09:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/ Lawrence O’Donnell 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 17:57 Live MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris Matthews 18:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 19:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 20:00 MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 21:00 MSNBC Newsnation 23:00 MSNBC The Dylan Ratigan Show

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Pawn Stars Deep Sea Detectives Swamp People Deep Wreck Mysteries UFO Hunters Battlefield Detectives Deep Sea Detectives Pawn Stars UFO Hunters Battlefield Detectives Pawn Stars Deep Sea Detectives Swamp People Deep Wreck Mysteries Battlefield Detectives UFO Hunters Swamp People Deep Wreck Mysteries Battlefield Detectives UFO Hunters Pawn Stars Europe’s Forgotten Tsunami Planet Egypt Decoded

FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Hospitals Sabah Hospital Amiri Hospital Maternity Hospital Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital Chest Hospital Farwaniya Hospital Adan Hospital Ibn Sina Hospital Al-Razi Hospital Physiotherapy Hospital

ACCOMMODATION

24812000 22450005 24843100 25312700 24849400 24892010 23940620 24840300 24846000 24874330/9

Room available in New Riggae in a central AC flat without kitchen facility for single, non-smoker, south Indian executive bachelor.

Contact. 99515956.

2-5-2012

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

112

Sharing accommodation for decent bachelor (non smoking) or working ladies.

Location: Amman street, opposite to Al Rashid Hospital, Salmiya, building no: 44 2nd floor, room no: 10.

Contact: 66232356, 50223132. (C 3976) 26-4-2012 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya, single bachelor accommodation, double bedroom flat, rent KD 40/-, from May 1st. Contact: 99162583 (C 3968) 23-4-2012

Prayer timings Fajr: Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

Sharing accommodation available with Pakistani family in Kheitan, bachelor or couple.

Please contact: 99868113. (C 3972)

03:45 11:46 15:21 18:23 19:45

FOR SALE Volvo 940, model 98, KD 750. Tel: 66464874.

(C 3983) Household goods at throwaway prices, beds, sofa sets, cupboards, lamps, dishwasher, deep freezer, dining table with 6 chairs, heaters, curtains, computer table, CD players, Ikea racks, roller blinds, Tel: 99510519 / 66210509. (C 3981) 3-5-2012

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

SITUATION VACANT Required English speaking nanny / maid. Please call 99824597. (C 3982)

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist 25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Sports FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Giambi lifts Rockies over Dodgers

TORONTO: Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion (right) celebrates his three-run homer with teammates Jose Bautista and Yunel Escobar (obscured at rear left) during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers. —AP

Blue Jays power past Rangers 11-5 TORONTO: Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer and Kelly Johnson added a two-run drive to power the Blue Jays to an 11-5 win over Texas on Wednesday, giving the Rangers consecutive losses for the first time this season.

Toronto piled on six runs in the fourth inning, chasing Texas starter Matt Harrison (3-2) who allowed eight runs - tying his career worst - in just 3 1-3 innings. He has given up 15 runs over 8 1-3 innings in his past two outings. Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero (4-0) gave up six hits in eight innings and struck out a seasonhigh six.

Orioles 5, Yankees 0 In New York, Jake Arrieta pitched eight scoreless innings to steer Baltimore past New York. Arrieta (2-2) tied a career best with nine strikeouts and did not issue a single walk as the Orioles earned a rare series win in New York with a team pitching effort not seen since the days of Jim Palmer and Mike Flanagan.

The Yankees were held to two runs or fewer in three straight home games for the first time since 1978. New York starter Ivan Nova (3-1) was aiming to match Roger Clemens’ team record of 16 straight winning decisions, but took the loss.

Rays 5, Mariners 4 In St. Petersburg, James Shields became the first pitcher in the American League to notch five victories this season, guiding Tampa Bay to a narrow win over Seattle.

Shields (5-0) allowed five hits and struck out 11 over six innings to win his sixth straight decision over two seasons matching the longest winning streak of his career.

Sean Rodriguez hit a two-run homer for the Rays off Blake Beavan (1-4) in the third and Luke Scott added a solo shot in the sixth which glanced off the centerfielder’s glove and put the hosts up 5-4.

Athletics 4, Red Sox 2 In Boston, Brandon McCarthy held Boston to one run over 6 23 innings, leading Oakland to victory. McCarthy (2-3) improved to 8-0 against AL East clubs dating back to 2009.

Daniel Bard (2-3) took the loss, allowing four runs over 5 1/3 innings for the Red Sox, who have lost seven of their past eight in Fenway Park.

Indians 6, White Sox 3 In Chicago, Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner homered to lead Cleveland over Chicago. Santana hit a three-run shot in the fifth inning that landed well behind the Indians’ bullpen beyond right field. Hafner added a two-run shot in the ninth.

Four Cleveland relievers combined for three scoreless innings, extending the bullpen’s shutout streak to 15 2-3 innings.

Joe Smith (1-0) picked up the win and Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances. Chicago reliever Will Ohman (0-1) took the loss.

Royals 3, Tigers 2 In Detroit, Chris Getz’s infield single in the ninth inning lifted Kansas City over Detroit. Tigers pitcher Joaquin Benoit (0-1) gave up a double to Mike Moustakas, who advanced to third on a groundout and scored when Getz hit a grounder that was too deep into the hole for the shortstop to make a strong enough throw to home. —AP

DENVER: Colorado’s Jason Giambi launched a three-run homer in the ninth inning, lifting the Rockies to an 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

The Dodgers had scored twice in the eighth, but Colorado bounced back for three in the bottom half for a 5-3 lead.

Los Angeles tied it with two runs in the ninth.

L.A. reliever Jamey Wright (1-1) walked the first two batters he faced in Colorado’s ninth, and they were bunted over to second and third base. With first base open, the Dodgers elected not to walk Giambi, who hit Scott Elbert’s pitch long over the centerfield fence. Carlos Gonzalez earlier hit two home runs for the Rockies.

Nationals 5, D’backs 4 In Washington, Ian Desmond hit a game-ending two-out homer to give Washington victory over Arizona. In the sixth inning, Bryce Harper stumbled as he tried to catch a fly ball but managed to take the catch in his ungloved right hand.

Harper, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft, had his first multi-hit game with two doubles, including one leading off the ninth inning that set the stage for Desmond’s winning shot.

The Nationals snapped their own fivegame losing streak and ended the threegame winning streak of the Diamondbacks.

Washington’s Henry Rodriguez (1-1) struck out two in the top of the ninth to earn the win. Arizona’s J.J. Putz (0-2) blew the save and took the loss.

Braves 15, Phillies 13 In Atlanta, Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning to give Atlanta victory in a run-fest against Philadelphia and the Braves overcame Carlos Ruiz’s seven RBIs to outlast the Phillies.

The seesaw game saw the Braves rally from a 6-0 deficit, then come back from four runs down in the eighth, while withstanding Carlos Ruiz’s seven RBIs for for the Phillies.

Dan Uggla led off the Atlanta 11th with a single. Jones just missed a homer on a ball that went barely foul, then connected against Brian Sanches (0-1), ending the Braves’ eight-game losing streak to the Phillies.

Brian McCann hit a grand slam for Atlanta. Befitting a crazy game, he was poked in the eye with an errant high-five from a teammate. It was the highest scoring extra-inning game in the majors for six years.

Cardinals 12, Pirates 3 In St. Louis, Carlos Beltran drove in a career-best seven runs with a pair of three-run home runs and RBI single in the first three innings, leading St. Louis over Pittsburgh.

Cardinals rookie pitcher Lance Lynn (5-0) joined James Shields as the major leagues’ only five-game winners, allowing three hits in 6 2-3 innings with six strikeouts. Lynn has a 1.61 ERA as the replacement starter for Chris Carpenter, sidelined indefinitely with shoulder nerve issues.

Pirates starter A.J. Burnett (1-2) entered with a 1.38 ERA but trailed 4-0 after six pitches. He surrendered 12 runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Astros 8, Mets 1 In Houston, Wandy Rodriguez gave up only one run in seven innings as Houston completed a three-game sweep of New York. Rodriguez (3-2) lowered his season ERA to 1.64.

Chris Johnson had four hits, homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs for the Astros, who had their first series win since the season-opener.

Johnson’s first homer of the season off Chris Schwinden (0-1) was a three-run shot that put Houston up 3-0 in the second inning.

Johnson went deep again in his next at-bat, this one a two-run homer that

worst with seven walks and lasted only 3 2-3 innings.

Cubs 3, Reds 1 In Cincinnati, Jeff Samardzija (3-1) gave up only three hits in 7-2/3 innings to lead Chicago over Cincinnati. Bryan LaHair and Ian Stewart hit solo homers a major outburst for the power-challenged Cubs - as Chicago opened the rain-shortened series with only their third multihomer game of the season.

They managed only nine home runs in April, the fewest in the majors.

LaHair’s shot off Bronson Arroyo (1-1) gave him six for the season.

DENVER: Colorado Rockies pinch hitter Jason Giambi (23) heads for home after hitting a walk-off home run off Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Scott Elbert during the ninth inning. — AP

MLB results/standings Toronto 11, Texas 5; Kansas City 3, Detroit 2; Houston 8, NY Mets 1; Colorado 8, La Dodgers 5; San Diego 5, Milwaukee 0; Baltimore 5, NY Yankees 0; Washington 5, Arizona 4; Chicago Cubs 3, Cincinnati 1; Oakland 4, Boston 2; Tampa Bay 5, Seattle 4; Atlanta 15, Philadelphia 13 (11 innings); Cleveland 6, Chicago White Sox 3; St. Louis 12, Pittsburgh 3; LA Angels 9, Minnesota 0; Miami 3, San Francisco 2 (10 innings).

American League Eastern Division W L PCT Tampa Bay 17 8 .680 Baltimore 16 9 .640 Toronto 14 11 .560 NY Yankees 13 11 .542 Boston 11 13 .458 Central Division Cleveland 12 10 .545 Detroit 12 12 .500 Chicago W Sox12 12 .500 Kansas City 7 16 .304 Minnesota 6 18 .250 Western Division Texas 17 8 .680 Oakland 13 13 .500 Seattle 11 15 .423 LA Angels 10 15 .400

GB 1 3 3.5 5.5 1 1 5.5 7 4.5 6.5 7

pushed the lead to 5-0. It was the first career multi-homer game for Johnson and first by an Astro this year.

Marlins 3, Giants 2 In San Francisco, Giancarlo Stanton homered in the 10th inning as Miami recovered from blowing a two-run lead in the ninth inning and beat San Francisco.

Stanton sent a slider from Santiago Casilla (1-0) into the bleachers to end a wild game that saw struggling Marlins closer Heath Bell blow his fourth save in seven chances. Steve Cishek (3-0) relieved Bell for the final six outs to take the win.

Giants starter Barry Zito tied a career-

National League Eastern Division Washington 15 9 .625 Atlanta 15 10 .600 NY Mets 13 12 .520 Philadelphia 12 13 .480 Miami 10 14 .417 Central Division St Louis 16 8 .667 Cincinnati 11 12 .478 Milwaukee 11 14 .440 Houston 11 14 .440 Pittsburgh 10 14 .417 Chicago Cubs 9 15 .375 Western Division LA Dodgers 17 8 .680 Arizona 13 12 .520 San Francisco 12 12 .500 Colorado 12 12 .500 San Diego 9 17 .346

.5 2.5 3.5 5 4.5 5.5 5.5 6 7 4 4.5 4.5 8.5

Padres 5, Brewers 0 In San Diego, Jeff Suppan pitched five scoreless innings to win his first game since 2010, guiding San Diego past Milwaukee.

Suppan (1-0), called up from the minors to start in place of the injured Cory Luebke, did not pitch in the majors last year. The 37-year-old combined with three relievers for the shutout.

The Padres won their first series of the season by taking two of three from Milwaukee. Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo (1-3) allowed three runs over six innings. —AP

Sports FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

McIlroy, Westwood head strong Quail Hollow field CHARLOTTE: World number two Rory McIlroy and third-ranked Lee Westwood head a strong field assembled for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina at a venue that typically produces elite winners.

The list of former champions includes Vijay Singh (2005), Jim Furyk (2006), Tiger Woods (2007), McIlroy (2010) who is eager to be back at the course where he clinched his maiden PGA Tour victory.

“It’s always nice to come back to somewhere where you’ve had success at,” the mop-haired U.S. Open champion told reporters at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

“I’ve got great memories of this course and of this tournament from 2010. I’ve played some great golf here and played not so great golf here last year, but I’m looking forward just to get back out on the course.” The Northern Irishman, already acknowledged as an extraordinary talent, stunned the golfing world with his victory at Quail Hollow where he closed with a course record 10-

under-par 62 to blow away a top-quality field by four shots.

“It was nice to get that first win in the United States, the second win of my career,” he recalled. “A lot of European players come over here and struggle to win, so to come over here and get a win early was nice.

“It gave me the confidence to know if I came over here a little bit more that I did have good chances of winning tournaments here.”

McIlroy has since won his first major title with an eight-stroke triumph in last year’s U.S. Open but he faces a tough field this week which also includes world number five Hunter Mahan, seventhranked Woods and 10th-ranked Phil Mickelson.

“This is one of our best regular Tour events that we have,” said American lefthander Mickelson. “It’s one of the best courses tee to green I think we play all year and it’s really a fun tournament for us. “When this tournament came into existence, it was done right, right from

the beginning, and so it didn’t really need to evolve too much. A lot of the members here are members at Augusta (National).

“They know how the greatest tournament in the world (the Masters) is run.

They implemented a lot of those subtleties and nuances into this tournament right from day one, and it’s every bit as good from day one as it is today.”

Woods will certainly command much of the attention this week as he returns to the PGA Tour for the first time since tying for 40th at the Masters where he completed his worst performance as a professional.

The former world number one failed to break 72 in any of his four rounds but believes he has solved the ball-striking problems which plagued him at Augusta National.

“At the Masters, I was kind of struggling with my ball-striking a little bit,” Woods said earlier this week. “(Swing coach) Sean (Foley) and I fixed it. It had to do with my posture. My setup wasn’t

quite right, as well as my takeaway so we worked on that. I just needed to do hundreds of (repetitions). “I’m getting dialed in.”

Woods, a 14-times major champion, took a week off after the April 5-8 Masters and has since spent the past fortnight working on his game.

Having ended a two-and-a-half-year title drought on the PGA Tour by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, he likes his prospects of securing another victory this week.

“If I can do the things that we’ve been working on, and get my posture and my takeaway dialed in, then yes, I have a good chance,” said Woods.

Former US Open champion Lucas Glover will launch his title defense at Quail Hollow in Thursday’s opening round.

Glover, who beat Jonathan Byrd in a playoff for last year’s Wells Fargo Championship, has been grouped with fellow American Kyle Stanley and Britain’s Westwood.—Reuters

Spurs thrash Jazz

WASHINGTON: New York Rangers right wing Marian Gaborik (10) celebrates his winning goal against the Washington Capitals with teammates Carl Hagelin (62) and Marc Staal (18) during the third overtime period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series.—AP

Rangers edge Capitals in triple overtime WASHINGTON: New York’s Marian Gaborik scored in triple overtime to give the Rangers a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on the wee hours yesterday morning, taking a 2-1 lead in their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Brad Richards was near the backboards before sending a pass in front to Gaborik, who ended the marathon by sliding the puck between the pads of rookie goaltender Braden Holtby. It was Gaborik’s first goal in nine games. Henrik Lundqvist had 45 saves for New York. Holtby stopped 47 shots for the Capitals. Ryan Callahan gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the second period. John Carlson tied it for the Capitals later in the period.

The game started at 7:40 p.m. local time and ended at 12:14 a.m.. There will be a two-day break before the teams meet for Game 4 tomorrow in Washington.

Predators 2, Coyotes 0 In Nashville, Pekka Rinne made 32 saves as he returned to his dominant form, helping Nashville defeat Phoenix and cut the series deficit to 2-1. David Legwand and Mike Fisher both capitalized on errors to score for the Predators just 76 seconds apart in the first period. After giving up nine goals on the road as the Predators fell behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven matchup, Rinne - a Vezina Trophy finalist - was rarely challenged by the lackluster Coyotes. He helped the Predators overcome the suspensions of forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn, who were punished for violating unspecified team rules. The series will continue in Nashville today.—AP

SAN ANTONIO: The San Antonio Spurs handed Utah its second-heaviest playoff loss, beating the Jazz 114-83 on Wednesday to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA first-round series.

The Spurs cruised on autopilot after a 20-0 run in the second quarter that stunned the Jazz, who had vowed to play better after a one-sided defeat in Game 1. But this loss was even more humiliating.

San Antonio’s Tony Parker scored 18 points and was not subject to the hard fouls he was supposed to have coming, while the Utah frontcourt of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap wasn’t any more imposing on offense.

Jefferson scored 10 points, and Millsap had nine.

The only bigger embarrassment for the Jazz in the playoffs was a 42-point loss to Chicago in the 1998 NBA Finals. It was the most lopsided postseason win for the Spurs since beating Denver by 28 in 2005. San Antonio’s playoff record is a 40-point victory over Denver in 1983.

Tim Duncan finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs. Game 3 is tomorrow in Salt Lake City.

Pacers 97, Magic 74 In Orlando, Danny Granger had 26 points and nine rebounds to lead Indiana to a comfortable road win and a 2-1 series lead over Orlando.

Roy Hibbert added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who regained home-court advantage with the victory, riding good shooting early and building a 29point lead in the fourth quarter.

They also dominated scoring underneath thanks to a 46-33 rebounding edge and have outscored the Magic 81-43 in third quarters in the series.

Glen Davis’ 22 points topped the Magic, who never led, struggled to get any scoring in the key, and made a series-low five 3-pointers. Game 4 is tomorrow in Orlando.

Grizzlies 105, Clippers 98 In Memphis, O.J. Mayo scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to guide Memphis to a win over Los Angeles that squared the series 1-1.

The Grizzlies blew a 27-point lead in losing Game 1 on Sunday but got back to their physical style on Wednesday.

Rudy Gay also scored 21 points as Memphis showed off its depth with six players reaching double figures.

Mike Conley had 19, Zach Randolph 15, Marreese Speights 11 and Tony Allen 10. All-Star guard Chris Paul led the Clippers with 29 points. Blake Griffin had 22, and Mo Williams and Nick Young 11 apiece. Game 3 is tomorrow in Los Angeles.—AP

SAN ANTONIO: Spurs’ Tony Parker (front) of France is fouled by Utah Jazz’s Al Jefferson during the third quarter of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series.—AP

Sports FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Kuwait advance in Asian Squash Championship KUWAIT: Kuwait made it to the round of 8 in the 16th Asian Squash Championship being held at Salem Al-Sabah International Squash Complex, by defeating Pakistan 2-1, which is one of the most significant home of squash in Asia.

Kuwait’s player Salem Fayez played Pakistan’s Nasser Iqbal and Fayez lost 3-0. In the second match, Kuwait’s champion Abdallah Al-Muzayyen was able to defeat Farhan Mahboub 116, 11-6, 11-8 as Al-Muzayyen gave his best performance and showed great confidence. In the third and deciding match Ammar Al-Tamimi gave the most entertaining performance in front of Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman with a score of 8-11, 77-7, 117, 11-7.

The win came as Zaman thought the match was in his grasp after winning the first game, but Al-Tamimi was able to rebound, and used all shots in the book to hold Zaman in his tracks and regain momentum. Kuwait now tops group four, followed by Pakistan.

In Group One India was first followed by Jordan, in Group Two Malaysia was first and Japan second, in Group Three Hong

Kong topped the group and Korea placed second.

In the round of eight Kuwait will play Korea, Pakistan meets Hong Kong, India will face Japan and Jordan play Malaysia.

In the women’s category Hong Kong and Japan qualified from Group One, while Malaysia and India did the same from Group Two, which means Hong Kong meet Japan and Malaysia play India and the winners will meet in the women’s final.

The winning Kuwaiti players expressed their pleasure after beating Pakistan. Abdallah Al-Muzayyen said “our win over Pakistan represents a great achievement for Kuwait Squash Association, which planned for such feats. He said training was hard during the camp in Egypt, and proved fruitful. AlMuzayyen thanked all those who contributed to supporting the players in order to improve their skills.

Ammar Al-Tamimi considered his match with Pakistani player Farhan Zaman as one of the most important and most sensitive matches because it was the deciding one, and “I played with great concentration and remained calm, and that helped in getting the win.”

LISBON: Argentina’s Juan del Potro waves to supporters after his victory over Rui Machado of Portugal in the Estoril Open tennis tournament match. — AFP

Del Potro in Estoril quarters

LOUISVILLE: I’ll Have Another trains in preparation for the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. — AFP

Bodemeister favorite for Kentucky Derby CHURCHILL DOWNS: Bodemeister was installed as the early favorite for tomorrow’s 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after drawing perfectly in barrier six at Wednesday’s post position draw.

Oddsmakers posted the three-year-old colt, who won last month’s Arkansas Derby by almost 10 lengths, at the top of the betting line at 4-1.

Trainer Bob Baffert, already a three-time winner of the Run for the Roses, had less luck with his other runner, Liaison, which drew the outside pole in the 20-horse field.

“You gotta take what they give you,” said Baffert, who is still recovering from a heart attack he suffered during the Dubai World Cup in March.

Union Rags, a winner in four of his six career starts, was listed as the 9-2 second choice after drawing the coveted post position four. “The horses around him maybe don’t have that much speed, so that pushes us closer to where Bodemeister will be,” said trainer Michael Matz. “It looks like it came up OK;

we’ll have to be running from the start.”

Take Care Indy, the surprise winner of the Florida Derby, drew three while the Irish-trained Daddy Long Legs, who secured his place in the $2.2 million race by winning the United Arab Emirates Derby, landed the dreaded number one hole. It has been a quarter of a century since a horse drawn on the rails has won the mile and a quarter (2,000 metres) race.

Most of the favorites fared well in the draw. Gemologist, rated a 6-1 chance after winning the Wood Memorial, will break from 15, a wide barrier which should suit his style of racing, while Blue Grass Stakes winner Dullahan (8-1), drew five.

Hansen (10-1), the winner of last season’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, drew 14. “I wanted 14 or 15 from the start, so I’m excited,” said Kendall Hansen, who bred and owns the near-white colt.

A total of 21 colts were entered for the race with My Adonis listed as a reserve should any of the 20 runners scratch before today. — Reuters

ESTORIL: Juan Martin del Potro celebrated the start of his pre-French Open campaign with a 6-1, 6-0 hammering of Portugal’s Rui Machado to reach the quarterfinals of the Estoril Open yesterday.

Del Potro, the top seed and defending champion, was playing an ATP match on the surface for the first time this season after winning two clay Davis Cup rubbers at home in April when Argentina defeated Croatia.

Despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise, the 23-yearold Argentinian admitted Machado had tested him as he looks to build his form.

“I played well for only my first match after Davis Cup. The score might not have looked it but he’s dangerous on clay,” said Del Potro, who won his last title at Marseille in February, prior to a semi-final in Dubai against Roger Federer.

“But I played much better than him and took all of my break points.” A year ago, Del Potro arrived at the Estadio Nacionale ranked ranked 46th and unsure of his game after missing much of 2010 following wrist surgery.

However then, the 2009 US Open champion dug deep to claim his first title in the country with a final victory over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Now ranked a more respectable 12th, the Argentinian added: “I’m pleased with my performance, this was good for a first match of this part of the season.” Victory over Machado improved Del Potro’s 2012 record to 24-6 ahead of his semi-final against two-time champion Albert Montanes today. Montanes, seeded seventh, advanced to last eight with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over American Bobby Reynolds.

In the women’s event, Italian top seed Roberta Vinci reached the semi-finals by defeating Russian seventh seed Nadia Petrova 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

“I’m playing very well again this season,” said the 29-year-old Vinci, who won three clay trophies in 2011. “It is some of my best tennis. I’m more consistent now than when I was young.” Estonian Kaia Kanepi, the number six seed, upset Czech fourth seed Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Spanish compatriot Silvia SolerEspinosa 6-3, 6-3. — AFP

Sports FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

Preview

FA Cup final offers Torres and Carroll chance of glory LONDON: Either Fernando Torres of Chelsea or Andy Carroll of Liverpool, who have both hugely under-achieved since their record-breaking transfers last year, will claim one of English soccer’s major prizes when their teams meet in the FA Cup final tomorrow.

Torres, at least, has recently shown glimpses of why Chelsea paid 50 million pounds ($81.10 million) to Liverpool for him in January last year - a record fee between British clubs.

The Spaniard has scored four goals in his last three games, including last week’s solo effort at Barcelona which sealed Chelsea’s place in the Champions League final on May 19.

He also scored his first hat-trick for Chelsea in their 6-1 win over Queens Park Rangers on Sunday but failed to hit the net in Wednesday’s 2-0 home defeat

by Newcastle United and in total has scored only 12 times for Chelsea.

Carroll became the most expensive British player of all time when Liverpool paid Newcastle United 35 million pounds for him to replace Torres, but has scored only 11 goals in 54 matches for Liverpool

since. At least his late header against Everton in the semi-final at Wembley three weeks ago guaranteed Liverpool a return to the London stadium for the final.

Now the two strikers, both dropped from their national sides and both remarkably unproductive in front of goal, have the chance of lasting redemption and a place in their club’s folklore as an FA Cup winner. Despite the focus on the Premier League, and a late kickoff for this year’s final rather than its traditional 1500 start, the FA Cup is still one of soccer’s grand occasions.

The match is being shown live to a huge global audience in more than 120 countries and, as everyone in football never tires of saying, the money is all very well but winning silverware is what matters. Liverpool have already picked up a trophy this season with a win over Cardiff City on penalties in the League Cup final in February.

Their league form though, has been erratic and continued to disappoint on Tuesday when a side showing nine changes from the previous game lost 1-0

at Anfield to Fulham - the first time Fulham had won a match there in 30 attempts over 78 years.

Coach Kenny Dalglish though, saw no relationship between his team’s latest setback and Saturday’s final.

“It will not affect tomorrow but that doesn’t mean the performance is right and it is not something you want to dismiss easily,” he said.

“It is not correct to go about your work in that way but if we had come in and won 4-0 it wouldn’t have made any difference to tomorrow either.” He was pleased, though, that Carroll was back after missing Saturday’s 3-0 win at Norwich City.

“There were some positives. It was nice to see the big lad back. He had a niggle at the weekend but he is fit and back and played 90 minutes so that is good for us.”

Despite their League failings, Liverpool have the chance to complete a rare domestic FA Cup and League Cup double, emulating Arsenal’s in 1993, their own in 2001 and Chelsea’s in 2007.

Chelsea have been the outstanding

cup side in the country over the last few years and have the chance of winning the first half of a cup double of their own, with the Champions League final against Bayern Munich just over two weeks away.

They are bidding to win the FA Cup for the fourth time in six seasons, the best success rate in the competition since The Wanderers won it five times in the first seven years of its existence between 1872 and 1878.

The only comparable modern record is Arsenal’s three wins in four seasons between 2002 and 2005. Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo, who has transformed their season since taking over from Andre Villas-Boas at the beginning of March, has a special affinity with the FA Cup and holds two records that can never be broken.

His goal after 43 seconds for Chelsea in the 1997 win over Middlesbrough was the fastest ever scored in the final at the old Wembley and his winner against Aston Villa in 2000 was the last FA Cup final goal there before the stadium was demolished.—Reuters

Libertadores Cup sparkles with brilliant goals RIO DE JANEIRO: Boca Juniors and Vasco da Gama scored two of the season’s best Libertadores Cup goals on their way to 2-1 victories in the first leg of their last 16 ties on Wednesday.

Juan Roman Riquelme finished off a fine team goal to open the scoring for Boca against Union Espanola in Buenos Aires while Vasco’s Diego Souza struck a superb individual effort for their second against Lanus in Rio de Janeiro.

Six times champions Boca needed a last-minute goal from Uruguayan striker Santiago Silva, heading home substitute Pablo Mouche’s cross, to secure their victory over the Chileans at La Bombonera.

Boca took a first half lead when midfielder Pablo Ledesma sent over a high cross, Silva played it back to striker Dario Cvitanich who laid off for Riquelme to shoot inside the base of the far post. The Chilean side equalised in the 72nd minute when a poor clearance by the Boca defence allowed striker Sebastian Jaime a free run across the face of goal before shooting past goalkeeper Agustin Orion. Less than two minutes later, midfielder Walter Erviti almost restored Boca’s lead when he darted past three defenders only to see his shot come back off the near post.

Espanola had Uruguayan central defender Diego Scotti sent off in added time for chopping Riquelme down and he will miss next Wednesday’s second leg in Santiago.

“At home you always have to win... It’s a pity they scored against us,” the shaven-headed Silva told Fox Sports. Jaime said: “(Our) goal is going to be important, we’re going to validate it in Chile.” Vasco striker Alecsandro volleyed the 1998 South American champions ahead in the 25th minute at the San Januario. Midfielder Diego Souza then put the Brazilian side two up just before halftime when he did a ‘sombrero’, looping the ball brilliantly over a defender at close quarters, and volleyed past goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin.

Uruguayan Mario Regueiro pulled one back for Lanus just past the hour to give the Argentine side an away goal that could be decisive in the return leg in Buenos Aires.

Corinthians successfully defended the only unbeaten record in the competition with a 0-0 draw away to Emelec in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil.

The Brazilian side were a man short for most of the second half after forward Jorge Henrique was sent off in the 52nd minute for a second booking.—Reuters

AMSTERDAM: Ajax soccer players with captain Jan Vertonghen (center holding the trophy) celebrate clinching the Dutch Premier League title after defeating VVV Venlo with a 2-0 score at ArenA stadium.—AP

Ajax clinch Dutch title ROTTERDAM: Coach Frank de Boer hailed Ajax Amsterdam’s second successive Dutch title as the better of the two under him after his side clinched their 31st championship with a 2-0 win over VVV Venlo on Wednesday.

Siem de Jong netted a rebound after eight minutes to put De Boer’s team ahead and the striker added a second 13 minutes into the second half to start the celebrations.

“For the fans, last season was special because they waited so long for the third star on the shirt,” De Boer, who took over from Martin Jol in December 2010, told reporters. “But for me and my staff this one feels more beautiful seeing what happened this season.

“All the injuries we had and then the turbulence through all the problems in our board, but we stayed loyal to our vision,” added the coach who also won

five titles with Ajax as a player.

Having been sixth in the league trailing PSV Eindhoven by eight points after 20 games, Ajax put together a run of 13 straight wins and lifted the championship with a match to spare. They have 73 points, six more than arch-rivals Feyenoord. Feyenoord coach Ronald Koeman praised De Boer for his craftsmanship.

“I know Frank well, and he did a great job and won a deserved title,” he said. “Nobody gave a dime for the chances of Ajax when we beat them at the end of January, but Frank stayed calm despite all the board turbulences.”

“He never used it as an excuse and kept everything far away from his players and that deserves a big compliment,” added Koeman.

Feyenoord remain second, in a Champions League qualification place,

following a 4-1 win over Heracles Almelo, one ahead of PSV Eindhoven, who were 5-0 winners over ADO Den Haag.

Otman Bakkal scored from a rebound after a Ruben Schaken effort which hit the post and three goals within 11 minutes from Jerson Cabral, Sekou Cisse and Schaken sealed Feyenoord’s win.

Jeremain Lens opened the scoring for PSV midway through the first half, while Toivonen added two against Den Haag who had Kevin Visser sent off in the final minute.

Heerenveen climbed to fourth with 64 points as they fought back from 2-0 down to beat Twente Enschede 4-3.

Twente, who won the Dutch title in 2010, are sixth with 60 points and condemned to join the play off for a Europa League berth.—Reuters