5th May 2012

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

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JAMADI ALTHANI 14, 1433 AH

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Teenage suicide bomber slays 24

Iraqi aims to write ‘world’s longest Quran’

No: 15439

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NBA-LeBron’s Heat overwhelm Knicks

150 Fils

Egypt’s military imposes curfew in Cairo district Fierce clashes stoke tensions ahead of vote

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in the

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Saudi reopens Egypt embassy RIYADH: Saudi King Abdullah ordered yesterday the return of the kingdom’s ambassador to Egypt and the reopening of the mission after it was shut last week in the wake of angry protests, state news agency SPA said.

The king “instructed the kingdom’s ambassador to Cairo to resume his post tomorrow, and ordered the reopening of the embassy and the consulates in Alexandria and Suez,” SPA reported, quoting an unnamed official. The decision was announced after the monarch received a top ranking Egyptian delegation, which arrived in the kingdom Thursday on a mission to defuse tension.

Riyadh last Saturday recalled its ambassador after angry protests outside the Saudi embassy in Cairo over the arrest of an Egyptian human rights lawyer in the Gulf kingdom which claimed he was in possession of drugs.

Blasts kill 14 in Caucasus MOSCOW: A double car bombing in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus killed at least 14 people and injured more than 120 just days before Vladimir Putin returns to the Kremlin, officials said yesterday. The attacks late Thursday outside Dagestan’s main city, which authorities said may have been triggered by suicide bombers, were the deadliest in the Caucasus in months and smashed any illusion of increasing stability. The power of the blasts sent huge yellow flames into the night sky, reduced cars to burned wreckage and left a crater in the ground, television pictures showed. A representative of the regional health ministry told AFP that 13 people died on the spot while another victim died later in a hospital.

‘World’s oldest graduate’ SYDNEY: A 97-year-old retired Australian dentist was to receive his masters degree in clinical science yesterday in what Southern Cross University said could make him the world’s oldest new graduate. Allan Stewart, born on March 7, 1915, is already the holder of the Guinness World Records title for being the oldest graduate after completing a law degree in 2006 at the age of 91.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone older had graduated since. “I think I can hang Allan Stewart up my mortar board and academic robes after this one-although I said that after my last degree and then I got bored,” said Stewart, from Port Stephens, north of Sydney, ahead of his graduation ceremony. “I have so much time on my hands these days and I like to keep mentally active.” The clinical science masters is the fourth degree for the great-grandfather, who began his university studies in the 1930s with a degree in dentistry.

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces (unseen) fire a water cannon at protesters during clashes outside the Ministry of Defense in Cairo yesterday. — AP CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling military announced an overnight curfew around the defense ministry yesterday after fierce clashes between troops and anti-military protesters left 59 hurt ahead of landmark presidential polls. “A curfew has been imposed in the Abbassiya square, around the defense ministry and the surrounding streets,” said General Mukhtar Al-Mulla, a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), in a television address.

Earlier troops fired into the air to disperse demonstrators. Military police charged the protesters, chasing them down side streets near the ministry on foot and in military vehicles, firing birdshot and assault rifles into the air amid chaotic scenes, an AFP correspondent reported. The health ministry said 59 people were hurt. “During the clashes in Abbassiya, 59 people were injured... of those five are being treated in hospital,” said ministry official Ahmed Al-Ansary in a statement.

A military source said the army had chased down protesters “with the help of Abbassiya residents and police forces,” arresting 40 people he called “thugs.” The clashes began when some protesters threw rocks at the military police, prompting troops to respond with water cannon and later tear gas. A blanket of thick smoke engulfed

Abbassiya square near the defense ministry, days after deadly clashes there that prompted yesterday’s demonstration.

Bleeding protesters were ferried away by motorbike and ambulances rushed to the scene, an AFP reporter said. State television showed several soldiers wounded. Military police, their shields in one hand, picked up rocks and hurled them back at protesters, who used metal sheets from construction sites to protect themselves. A Belgian photographer with the English-language publication the Egypt Independent was arrested, Egypt Independent reporter Nevine El Shabrawi said.

The Al-Jazeera Misr satellite station reported that soldiers arrested a television crew from the January 25 channel, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Several thousand secular and Islamist protesters had gathered in Abbassiya, some marching there from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, to denounce the ruling military council that took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in last year’s popular uprising. The protest comes just three weeks before Egypt’s first post-revolt presidential election, after which the ruling military is to hand power to civilian rule.

But protesters say they fear the election

will be rigged in favor of a pro-military candidate. Others say they do not trust the SCAF to fully hand power to civilian rule. “We are here to end SCAF rule. We don’t trust them. SCAF is following Mubarak’s example, and we want to protect the revolution,” said Mohammed Badawi from Ismailiya, a member of the Coalition of Revolution Youth.

Another protester from the Nile Delta city of Mansura, Ahmed Gamal, said he feared the election will be “forged.” “After the revolution, there should be an election committee with integrity. Instead they brought a corrupt one,” the 22-year-old said.

Yesterday’s protest comes two days after deadly clashes in the Abbassiya neighborhood which the health ministry said left at least nine people dead, though field medics say more died. On Wednesday, unknown attackers stormed a sit-in near the defense ministry by supporters of Salafist politician Hazem Abu Ismail, who was recently disqualified from the presidential race. Other candidates include former Arab League chief Amr Mussa and Mubarak’s last premier Ahmed Shafiq. The powerful Muslim Brotherhood has fielded the head of its political arm Mohammed Mursi whose main Islamist rival is Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former Brotherhood member. — AFP

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Iran seeks peace in the region: Envoy KUWAIT: Iran constantly seeks to achieve peace and security in the region, unlike allegations which claim that the Islamic Republic is a source of disturbance to other countries, the Iranian Ambassador Rouhullah Qahramani said recently.

Reassuring the strength of relations between Iran and Kuwait as well as other Arab countries, Ambassador Qahramani denied speculation that connects Iran with revolutions resulting from the Arab Spring.

The Iranian envoy asserted that his country “does not seek to create tensions with Kuwait”. Ambassador Qahramani called for the release of Iranian prisoners convicted on spying charges in Kuwait as part of an espionage network he referred to as “alleged”.

“Iran doesn’t have any intervention in Kuwait’s internal affairs and has always maintained good relations with Kuwait”, he said, adding that it’s normal for two neighboring countries to have differences in points of view “but these differences should not necessarily become a source of concern”.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran always believed in peaceful coexistence throughout history”, Ambassador Qahramani said as he expressed confidence in “serious dialogue that leads to successful negotiations with the 5+1 states”.

The Iranian envoy also mentioned dialogue as a way “by which conflicts can be resolved”, after calling for respect for Iran’s sovereignty over its lands, referring to a dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The Ambassador conveyed Tehran’s commitment to “seek efforts to maintain peace and dialogue to resolve disputes with our neighbors without foreign intervention”.

He reiterated Tehran’s support for the Syrian regime and rejected any foreign intervention “that renders the situation in Syria more complicated.” Ambassador Qahramani stated that the Islamic Republic “has no involvement” in the events in Bahrain. — Al-Rai

Former PM to testify in ‘transfers’ on May 14 Panel to confront Sheikh Nasser with ‘data and documents’ KUWAIT: Former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad AlSabah is set to testify on May 14 in front of a parliamentary committee investigating the case in which he is accused of transferring millions of dinars from public funds to private accounts overseas, the head of the panel announced on Thursday.

Committee members reportedly plan to confront the former Premier with “data and documents” that pertain to his relationship in the ‘transfers’ case, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

MP Dr. Faisal Al-Mislem, head of the committee, said investigations will extend until the start of the next parliamentary term, which means they will continue during Parliament’s summer break. “All witnesses already testified in the case can be summoned again if necessary for more information”, Al-Mislem said.

Al-Mislem also indicated that the Foreign Ministry, the department through which the suspicious transactions are believed to have been made, remains “very uncooperative” despite handing over documents the panel asked for.

Abdulaziz Al-Adsani, president of the State Audit Bureau, attended the committee’s meeting on Thursday after he failed to observe an earlier invitation. Reports indicated that AlAdsani did not attend the first meeting as the bureau is assigned by the Cabinet to probe into the same case.

According to sources familiar with Thursday’s meeting, Al-Adsani agreed to attend as a witness, and explained that he is willing to attend future meetings after the bureau finalizes its report. The sources, who spoke anonymously, described AlAdsani’s visit as “cooperative”.

The panel is expected today to meet with Prime Minister, His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, who served as First Deputy

Prime Minister in the previous Cabinet.

In another update, MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel made comments on Thursday on a request submitted by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Sabah, who asked for explanations regarding the topics addressed in a grilling filed against him by the lawmaker.

“The Interior Minister asked me for proof about the spread of weapons in Kuwait”, Al-Juwaihel said, “I reply by asking him whether he would allow me to drive a tank to Parliament or would light firearms be enough?”

According to earlier reports, the minister enquired about some information said to be “ambiguous” and even “could be fabricated” regarding subjects the grilling addresses, which include dual citizenship as well as

alleged violations committed by senior ministry officials.

In that regard, a constitutional expert said a grilling motion can be rendered un-debatable if its presenter fails to provide clarifications that the minister requires.

“Regulations indicate that the griller must provide clarifications should the minister ask for them”, said Kuwait University professor Dr. Mohammad Al-Feeli.

“If the clarifications are deemed insufficient, Parliament can decide whether the grilling is adequate enough to be debated or not”, he added.

Sources with knowledge of Majority bloc thinking say that MPs believe the minister will request the debate is delayed until next week, adding that the clarification request “could be used as a pretext to delay the debate”. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: Minister of Electricity and Water, State Minister of Municipality Affairs Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim carried out a tour to a used tires disposal site at the Abdullah Port area. He issued orders to have the tires isolated as a preventive measure against potential accidents. This step comes following a recent incident in which huge quantities of tires caught fire at the main disposal location in Rahiya. — KUNA

‘Integrated Hospital’ at Central Jail planned

KUWAIT: Jleeb Al-shouyoukh, a largely Asian expatriate neighborhood, presents a deplorable picture with garbage littered almost everywhere and pavements of the thoroughfares crowded with shopkeepers and parked vehicles. — Photos by Foaud Al-Shaikh

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) plans to build “an integrated hospital” inside the Central Jail facility, containing an estimated 250 beds and a full medical staff, specialized clinics and an operating room.

Major General Khaled Al-Dayeen, General Director of the General Department of Correctional Facilities, said the project primarily aims to provide immediate medical care to prisoners instead of transferring them outside the facility. The senior official’s statement came during a press conference held at the Central Jail on Thursday to

announce the Amiri Amnesty. He also announced that salary increases have been approved to staff members in MoI correctional facilities.

Major General Al-Dayeen also spoke of other privileges that could soon be offered to prisoners, including a project to offer the opportunity for a male prisoner to spent private time with his wife. He lauded the “efforts to improve the situation at the deportation detention”, where he said the number of inmates stand at 150 today after reaching nearly 1,100 at one point. —Al-Rai

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Rights bodies urge Kuwait to free bedoon protesters Heal the open wound of discrimination: HRW, Amnesty KUWAIT: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International yesterday issued statements slamming Kuwait for the arrests of stateless residents (bedoons).

Thirteen activists and a journalist detained

by Kuwait’s security forces during an apparently peaceful protest by members of the stateless minority must be released unless charged with a recognizably criminal offence, Amnesty International urged.

Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli, a bedoon rights activist who is currently on trial in connection with his involvement in previous bedoon demonstrations, was among those detained by non-uniformed security officials. On Thursday, some of those arrested were taken to the public prosecutor department, possibly to confirm the basis of their arrest.

On Tuesday, security forces that included masked police reportedly used batons and armored vehicles to disperse about 200 bedoon protesters calling for citizenship and improved rights in Jahra, outside Kuwait City.

“These protests highlight the urgent need for the Kuwaiti authorities to heal the open wound of discrimination against the bedoon community,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Instead of arresting peaceful protesters, the Kuwaiti authorities should step up their efforts to resolve the situation of the bedoon and end the unlawful discrimination against them.”

Many of the bedoon community, of between 90,000 and 180,000 strong, are from

families who have been residing in Kuwait for decades but are denied citizenship.

Considered by the authorities to be illegal residents, they do not enjoy equal rights with

side Kuwait City, after prayers in a nearby mosque. There were conflicting reports on the nature of the unrest. Some reports suggested that some demonstrators resorted to

KUWAIT: Bedoon protesters demonstrate outside the US embassy on Wednesday.

Kuwaiti citizens in access to education, health care or work opportunities.

The demonstrators gathered to demand Kuwaiti citizenship at a square in Jahra, out-

MOC ‘excellence’ allowances KUWAIT: The Ministry of Commerce will soon pay a total of KD4.1 million in allowances to 6,550 employees who received an ‘excellent’ rating in the annual performance evaluation, states a report quoting sources close to Minister Salem AlOthaina.

The allowances were reportedly approved by the Minister before the weekend, which means that they could be paid sometime next week according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The system approved by the Minister allocates a KD2,500 payment for the undersecretary, KD2,000 for assistant undersecretaries, KD1,500 for directors, KD1,250 for supervisors, KD1,000 for heads of department, as well as payments ranging between KD850 and KD650 to lower ranked employees.

The payment process will reportedly be made gradually with priority given to higher ranks.

MEW employees demands Meanwhile, the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) labor union presented a list of demands to Minister Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim. They include classifying MEW staff in state records under a category whereby state employees are paid allowances for working in jobs that contain higher than usual risks, or require more efforts than usual.

Duaij Al-Azmi, Head of the petition committee in the union, explained that staff members working in power plants deal with health risks that include “exposure to chemicals, harmful substances and noise” which can cause damage in the short and long term. He said similar circumstances are found at oil facilities “where staff members are eligible to the said allowances”. —Al-Jarida, Al-Rai

violence and that the police deployed force to disperse the gathering. However, eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that the demonstration was peaceful. The same eye-

witnesses added that police had shown greater restraint than during previous demonstrations in 2011 and early 2012.

Human rights activist Maryam Shah, who observed the demonstration, refuted a report that a car tried to run over a member of the police force and it later emerged that this incident was unrelated to the demonstration.

In November 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee called on Kuwait to end discrimination against the bedoon community, including by amending its nationality law.

In April this year, the Head of the Central Commission for Illegal Residents, a Government body established in 2011, announced that up to 20,000 bedoon are likely to be granted citizenship in the near future.

“It remains to be seen whether the authorities will make good on this latest promise, but even if some individuals granted citizenship no longer face continuing discrimination, other bedoon will remain with their situation unresolved,” said Philip Luther.

“The Kuwaiti authorities must create a program that seriously tackles the problem of discrimination against the bedoon, in line with their international human rights obligations.”

Since 2011 there have been several largely peaceful demonstrations by bedoon. They have been protesting against their continuing statelessness and are continuing to demand Kuwaiti citizenship, which will allow them to access education, health care and work opportunities on the same basis as Kuwaiti citizens.

— www.amnesty.org and www.hrw.org

Kuwait eyes health insurance for students on scholarships KUWAIT: Kuwait could soon come up with a health insurance program to cover citizens studying abroad on scholarships paid by the government or at their own expense, local media reported yesterday. Ministry of Health (MoH) Undersecretary, Dr. Ibrahim AlAbdulhadi, and senior officials from the

Civil Service Commission discussed the subject during a recent meeting.

According to Ministry of Health insiders, the two sides spoke about placing a “legal framework” in cooperation with the Religious Edict and Legislation Department to pass the health insurance program. The discus-

MOH amends norms to open private labs KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health (MoH) has amended the regulations regarding the conditions and specifications to open a private medical laboratory. Health Minister Dr. Ali AlObeidi issued a decision to allow private laboratories to carry out laboratory analysis after meeting all technical conditions requested by the Medical Laboratories Services Department.

These include virus testing, except indicators for AIDS and cancer. The decision stipulates that the Laboratory Technician write down

the Civil ID number of the patient on the test form. The ministry also stipulates that health tests of expatriate laborers for work permits is not allowed.

Health Minister, Dr. Al-Obeidi, issued a decision to reform the permanent committee of the National Program to fight Diabetes as follows: Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health, Dr. Qais Al-Duwairi, and Drs Muneer Al-Arouj, Nawal AlHamad, Rehab Al-Wutayan, Abeer AlBahouh, Latifa al-Mansour and others are members. —Al-Anbaa

sions were held to “address the obstacles that students abroad face”, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Senior officials protest In other news, several senior officials at the MOH physiotherapy department protested in front of the department’s building on Thursday, one day after Dr. Al-Abdulhadi approved a reshuffle decision for heads of divisions in the department. The protestors reportedly demanded that the reshuffle process is put on hold until new conditions and standards for relocating senior officials are put into place.

Separately, a specialist at the Amiri Hospital warned recently that the number of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in Kuwait has increased to 1,200 cases, with an average of 80 cases for every 100,000 people. Dr. Raed Al-Roughani, Neurology and MS consultant, revealed these numbers during a seminar regarding the disease held recently at the Women’s SocioCultural Association.

—Al-Jarida, Al-Rai, Annahar

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Roaming fish vendors pose ‘health hazards’ ‘Catch of the day fish’ imported from Pakistan

THE HAGUE: Lieutenant General Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah with top officials of the Netherlands Interior Ministry. —KUNA

USIP president meets Dutch officials THE HAGUE: Lieutenant General Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Sabah, President of the International Police Sports Union (USIP) and President of Kuwait Police Sports Federation, met top officials of the Netherlands Interior Ministry at the Hague late on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen and expand the USIP. Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf said the aim of his visit was to meet officials of the Dutch Interior Ministry in order to congratulate them on the appointment of Sandro Dirckx, chief inspector of Dutch police, as the new Secretary General of the USIP. “The General Secretariat of the USIP and its offices is now in the Netherlands and we congratulate Holland for this position,” said Sheikh Nawaf.

They also discussed issues related to the work of the General Secretariat of the USIP in the Netherlands. The USIP President said they have a developed a strategy for the next two years with the General Secretariat for the development and strengthening of USIP, including expansion of its membership.

The police chief in the Netherlands, Ruud Bik, Dutch deputy police chief, Patricia Zorko, and Sandro Dirckx participated in the meeting. The delegation from Kuwait included Colonel Abdulrahman Al-Haqqan, General Treasurer of USIP, Lieutenant-Colonel. Khalid Ali Al-Najjar, Deputy Secretary General and Director of the Presidential Bureau of USIP and Major Tareq Al-Saddani, head of the public relations and protocol of the USIP Presidential bureau.

Kuwait’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Hafeez Mohammad Al-Ajmi, also attended the meeting and hosted a lunch in honor of the visiting Kuwaiti delegation. The USIP is the official World Police Sport Union and recognized by the International Olympic Committee. — KUNA

FM to attend GCC meeting in Riyadh KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali will participate in the 93rd meeting of the Finance and Economic Cooperation meeting for the GCC states, to be held tomorrow in Riyadh. The Ministry of Finance said in a press release that the meeting is important due to its proximity to the upcoming GCC leaders’ consultative meeting on May 10, which will also address some paramount economic subjects. Tomorrow’s meeting will touch on the proposals which resulted from the 37th meeting for GCC undersecretaries. The officials will discuss the Kuwait proposal on formulating a pan-GCC audit organization that will monitor the finances of GCC institutes.

The meeting will also touch on issues regarding GCC economic and financial development, as well as customs policy amongst the countries in the Gulf region. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Trucks loaded with seafood bought from Sharq Fish Market drive around Kuwaiti areas every day to offer the items for sale to homeowners and hosts at diwaniyas. The problem in this is twofold. First, the fish are stored and transported without refrigeration or other safe storage conditions. Second, they are sold as ‘catch of the day’ fish from Kuwaiti waters despite being imported from Pakistan.

Salem Al-Failakawi, supervisor of

Sharq Fish Market, warned that the fish sold by these roaming vendors could pose health risks to the public due to the lack of hygienic measures to protect the items from spoiling.

According to Al-Failakawi, this process has been continuing “for a long time under the complete disregard by Kuwait Municipality or the Ministry of Commerce and Industry inspectors”.

“Nearly 200 trucks load up every

day at an open square in front of the market, before driving to diwaniyas around Kuwait”, Al-Failakawi said, noting that in many cases the fish would be deemed unfit for human consumption by the time they reach customers due to bad storage. In addition to obvious health risks, this practice is leaving negative effects on sales inside the Fish Market when it basically offers a free delivery service to customers, AlFailakawi explained. — Al-Rai

Major General Khalil Al-Shamali (inset) with other officials. — KUNA

Amiri decree pardons 1,890 convicts: MoI KUWAIT: Under an Amiri decree, adopted on the occasion of Kuwait’s national days, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) released 1,890 convicts on Thursday.

Amiri Decree No 93 for 2012 totally pardons 410 convicts, reduces the prison terms of 1,337 others and drops deportation rulings for 143 persons. The total number of beneficiaries is 1,890, the Ministry noted in a

statement. This noble initiative by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah stems from the country’s humanitarian stand and commitment to international conventions.

It also waives the fines decided earlier for some law violators, according to the statement.

Major General Khalil Al-Shamali, MoI Assistant Undersecretary for

Prison Affairs Verdict Enforcement Affairs, extolled HH the Amir for the kind gesture.

He also appreciated the efforts by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Sabah, and Minister of Justice and Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Jamal Al-Shehab to facilitate the enforcement of the decree. —KUNA

Policewomen trainers KUWAIT: Lieutenant General Sulaiman Al-Fahad, acting undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, yesterday honored policewomen Lulwa Yousif Salmeen and Israa Ismael Al-Qattan for passing a special training course to become policewomen trainers themselves.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Briton dies of heart attack at Fintas firm Indian found dead in farm

More tires in massive blaze at Amghara

By Hanaan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A raging fire was reported in Amghara yesterday afternoon at a 5,000 square meter area used as a disposal site for steel, wood and tires. Firefighters from seven fire stations participated in tackling flames, which reportedly lasted for less than three hours. No injuries were reported in the incident while ambulances were present at the scene. An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the blaze.

Plan to reduce road deaths 30% by 2015

KUWAIT: A man died of a heart attack which occurred at his work place in a real estate company in Fintas. The British national was reportedly pronounced dead inside the ambulance on the way to Adan Hospital.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the man passed away of natural causes. An autopsy was ordered for the case and filed at the area police station.

American ‘friend’ charged with theft An American woman was held for investigations at Riqqa police station after her boyfriend charged her with theft. According to a security source, the two were spending time together at an Ahmadi Mall when the British man found that KD430 was missing from his wallet. Believing that his friend stole his wallet when he left it in his car glove compartment, the man drove directly to Riqqa police station and told officers about the case.

Investigations are still ongoing with the woman according to the police report.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry assistant undersecretary for traffic affairs, Major General Mustafa Hussein Al-Zaabi, announced that 80 percent of the national project for regulating traffic flow is already achieved as per the ten-year strategic plan to develop traffic and transport in collaboration with the UN Development program.

Al-Zaabi said the project involves building a national data base for traffic and geographic information, building a national center for traffic training and development, enforcing traffic police troops, work to improve road grids and reducing road deaths by 30 percent by 2015.

Drug smuggling thwarted A man was arrested recently at Kuwait International Airport after he attempted to smuggle drugs by hiding them in two bird cages. The Syrian national had just arrived from his home country when the arrest took place. Customs officers found hashish in two cages for rare birds. The suspect was taken into custody to face charges after admitting his smuggling plans. Al-Rai

Arab expatriate held

Suicide An Ethiopian domestic worker was hospitalized with a neck wound inflict-

ed during a suicide attempt committed at a Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh house recently.

The woman was reportedly found bleeding in the kitchen, where she used a kitchen knife to cut her own throat. The homeowners rushed to the kitchen after hearing their housemaid scream, and were reportedly quick enough to stop her from injuring herself more seriously. She was rushed by ambulance to Farwaniya Hospital where she was admitted to the intensive care unit. Medical staff later confirmed that her condition was stable.

The family members told officers, who launched investigations behind the suicide attempt, that the maid was in bad psychological state lately.

Indian found dead in livestock farm An Indian man in his twenties was found dead inside a livestock farm in Kabad recently. Criminal investigators ruled the case a suicide. Police and paramedics rushed to the scene following an emergency call from the property owner. He found his employee’s body hanging from an electric cord tied to a ceiling. After the man was pronounced dead, the body was taken for an autopsy.

Drunks held on boat Three people on a boat cruise were arrested after they were found drunk and in possession of alcoholic drinks.

Coastguards had followed the boat as soon as it set sail from Fintas beach, after growing suspicious of three men on board. They placed the three under arrest after learning that they were intoxicated, and 22 bottles of homemade liquor was found inside the boat.

The three, identified in news reports as two Kuwaitis and one non-Kuwaiti,

were taken to Fintas police station where they were charged with possession and consumption of alcohol.

Police impersonator targets transgenders Sabah Al-Salem police arrested a thief responsible for nineteen mugging incidents, carried out by fooling his victims into believing he was a police detective. Investigations also revealed that the suspect carefully chose his victims from expatriate pedestrians, as well as people referred to in police records as ‘imitators of the opposite sex’. The arrest happened by coincidence after patrol officers witnessed the suspect trying to force two women out of their car after forcing them to pull over. The man was successfully placed under arrest after he resisted.

He later confessed during investigations that he planned rob the two, in addition to being responsible for nineteen previous crimes carried out in a similar fashion. He was referred to the proper authorities to face charges.

Coworkers fight over ‘VIP guest’ A hairdresser was hospitalized with an eye injury, following a fight with her coworker over serving a “VIP guest” at a beauty salon in Farwaniya. The 33year-old Egyptian woman arrived at Farwaniya Hospital with a deep wound above her eye inflicted by an attack with a sharp object. The injury reportedly left the victim with cornea damage, which almost rendered her blind.

She explained to officers that she was attacked by an Egyptian coworker, who demanded that she serve a regular customer of the victim. The attacker was summoned for investigations and held pending further procedures.

—Al-Rai, Al-Watan, Al-Anba

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Hawalli investigators recently arrested an Arab expatriate for breaking many car windows and stealing the contents from the vehicles, said security sources.

Major General Sheikh Ahmed Al-Abdullah, Ministry of Interior acting assistant undersecretary for criminal security affairs, received repeated reports of similar robberies. He ordered a wide scale investigation to indentify the culprit, who was later arrested red-handed with the tools he used, sums of cash he had stolen and some stolen items. The suspect confessed that he usually followed his victims, especially those leaving banks with big envelopes as he knew they had just withdrawn large sums of money. He said he had been using the sums to purchase electronics and had shipped them out of Kuwait. A case was filed and the suspect was referred to the relevant authorities.

Brothels raided in ongoing campaign

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The Criminal Investigations Department continues its widespread campaigns against brothels, as storming continue with warrants from the public prosecution department. Charges against arrested citizens vary. Expatriates will be sent to court and others deported. Led by the Assistant Undersecretary for Criminal Security, teams of detectives have assisted policemen to raid apartments in Riqqa, Salmiya and Hawally.

A two-year-old Kuwaiti boy was taken to Farwaniya Hospital after drinking Kerosene.

Salwa fight A 41-year-old male Kuwaiti complained of chest pain following a fight in Salwa. He was taken to Mubarak Hospital.

A 36-year-old Bangladeshi was injured in the head during a fight near Al-Sahel sports club in Fahaheel. He was taken to Adan Hospital.

A 35-year-old Lebanese man broke his elbow when he

fell from a horse in Kabad. He was taken to Farwaniya Hospital. Three Indian women and a Kuwaiti suffered smoke inhalation during a fire in a Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh building. One of the women had to be taken to Farwaniya Hospital.

Car accidents A car accident near Bayan Palace killed a 57-year-old woman and injured a 21-year-old on his chin, while an 18year-old youth complained of a pain in his arm.

A 24-year-old Kuwaiti sustained a broken foot following a car accident on Second Ring Road near Qadsiya. He was taken to Amiri Hospital.

Two men from Somalia in their mid thirties suffered various bruises and grazes following a car accident in Abdalli area. They were taken to Jahra Hospital.

A car accident on Fahaheel Road near Salwa area resulted in a head injury to a 50-year-old Egyptian. A 32-year-old Indian broke his hand, an 18- year-old male Kuwaiti suffered a laceration on his face and a 25-year-old was bleeding from his nose. They were all taken to Mubarak Hospital.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Souk Al-Mubarkiah Keeping the tradition amid changes

KUWAIT: Aroma of spices, herbs and incense distinguish the vast shopping market of snaking alleys in Souk Mubarkiah. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

Fish selling area in Souk Mubarkiah. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Vendors selling fruits and vegetables at the Souk Mubarkiah. —KUNA KUWAIT: Modern construction has mushroomed in Kuwait removing ancient and old buildings and sites, including the famous walls, but there are some places that retain genuine identity and heritage of the country, such as Souk Al-Mubarkia, situated a stone’s throw from high-rise buildings that house main monetary institutions.

Aroma of spices, herbs and incense distinguish the vast shopping market of snaking alleys, lines of stores and stands, displaying perfumes, tea, coffee, kitchenware, fish vegetables, shoes, clothes and accessories. The souk was named after the late ruler, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, said the researcher, Mohammad Jamal.

One of the oldest sections of the souk is Al-Gharballay market that stretches to Abdullah Al-Salem Street.

It is adjacent to “Al-Magasees” souk where items are sold at prices lower than those offered at other stores. Other souks at the shopping place are the souks of arms, AlManakh, Al-Beshoot, Al-Jet, sweats, meat and vegetables.

The municipality has carried out diverse changes in features and organization of Al-Mubarkia Souk, such as blocking traffic to some of its alleys to restrict movement for pedestrians, organizing exits and entrances to the market.

In the old times, the market place was formed of shacks and vendors’ stands. The first shack, locally known as kichk was built by the late Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah. It was located at

the eastern entrance of the vegetable market, where the ruler used to meet citizens directly to listen to their problems and requests.

The sheikh used to interact with the ordinary citizens at two shacks.

One of them was recently renovated.

And, the late ruler used the old office of the municipality, before it was demolished.

The internal market, one of the main sections of the location and the oldest of the markets, had existed for 250 years, and was known as a booming shopping place during era of the late Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah. Jamal said Al-Gharabally market, once covered with palm leaves, used to include eggs’ stores, in addition to various other goods.

Al-Manakh market was known as destination site for camel caravans, carrying diverse products from the Levant, Iraq and Al-Ihasaa. Its name was derived from the Arabic term, “Nakha,” used in reference to a camel in a sitting posture. Later, it was known as the stock market and till today it included offices for investors, stock and real-estate dealers.

Other attractive parts of the market is souk Al-Beshoot, the traditional dress worn by men in the Gulf region.

In other sections of the location, dealers trade in traditional and ancient sweats, such as muscatiah and Rahash. As to the meat market, Jamal said it was built in 1894 during the era of the sixth ruler of Kuwait, the late Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah.

The arms market still exists nowadays, with about 25 stores, some for repairing damaged guns. — KUNA

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Syrians defy army in anti-regime demos

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Obama unleashes negative barrage on Mitt Romney

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China opens door to ending Chen crisis with study offer

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KHAR: Pakistani security officials examine the site of a suicide bombing in Khar, the main town of Bajaur district, near the Afghan border yesterday. A teenage suicide bomber targeted police in a bustling Pakistan town square, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens in the tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said. — AFP

Teenage suicide bomber slays 24 Attacks will continue until drone strikes end KHAR: A teenage suicide bomber targeted police in a bustling Pakistan town square yesterday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens in the tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said. The Taleban claimed responsibility, saying it had wanted to kill the local chief and deputy of a tribal police force recruited by the government to help defeat the Islamist insurgency in the northwest. Both died in the attack in Khar, the main town of Bajaur district, after a bomber who intelligence officials said was aged 14 to 16 detonated explosives strapped to his chest.

Bajaur has been one of the toughest battlegrounds in Pakistan’s fight against a northwestern Taleban insurgency. The military conducted major offensives there in 2008 and 2009 and has repeatedly declared it secure. Yesterday’s blast was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan since February 17, when 31 people were killed by a suicide attack on

Shiite Muslims in the tribal district of Kurram. “The death toll has risen to 24,” Islam Zeb, the administrative head of Bajaur tribal district said. He had earlier said 20 people were killed.

Raids were later carried out in the surrounding areas of Khar and two men aged 17 and 18 were arrested and suicide jackets found, he said. At least five policemen, including the local tribal police chief and his deputy, were among the dead and 46 people were wounded. Shops and a restaurant were destroyed. Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban, claimed responsibility, saying that anyone involved in “activity” against the Taleban “will be treated with iron hands”.

“Our attacks will continue until (US) drone strikes end,” Ehsan said. It was the third bomb attack in two days in Bajaur, after twin blasts killed five people-including pro-government elders and

security personnel-on Thursday. The violence highlights the insurgency in Pakistan at a time when Islamabad is under renewed US pressure crack down on militants based on its soil, such as the Haqqani network, blamed for a spectacular assault on Kabul last month. According to an AFP tally, around 5,000 people have been killed in attacks blamed on the Taleban and its allies since July 2007, when Pakistani troops raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad, sparking a bloody insurgency.

Documents released by the US Thursday showed that Osama bin Laden had been unhappy with the Pakistani Taleban for killing civilians and that Al-Qaeda leaders wrote to its chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, urging him to mend his ways. Pakistan has also lost more than 3,000 soldiers in the fight against homegrown insurgents but has resisted US pressure to do more to elimi-

nate havens used by those fighting the Americans in Afghanistan. The United States conducts a secretive drone war against Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, despite increasingly vocal public denunciations from the government, which initially gave its tacit approval to the strikes.

Relations between Pakistan and the United States have lapsed into stalemate since the covert American raid that killed bin Laden last May and US air strikes that inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November. Pakistan has shut down NATO supply lines into Afghanistan and last month parliament approved new guidelines on relations with the United States, which included a call for an end to drone strikes. It remains unclear whether the impasse with Washington can be solved before this month’s NATO summit on Afghanistan in Chicago, to which Islamabad has been invited. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Demos as Bahrain opposition says reform ‘not enough’ DUBAI: Thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets yesterday in a demonstration called by the opposition to protest against constitutional reforms that they say are not enough.

The demonstration was called by the Shiiteled opposition under the slogan “Sacrifices for freedom.”

Protesters marched from the village of Shakhurah to the village of Sar just outside Manama, according to the Facebook page of Al-Wefaq opposition group. Images posted on the page showed symbolic coffins being

paraded carrying pictures of people killed during protests that erupted in February last year.

Amnesty International says nearly 60 people have been killed since the protests began in February 2011. “I am Bahraini and dictatorship does not represent me,” said one banner in a picture posted on the social network page.

The protest was staged to denounce constitutional reforms ratified on Thursday by King Hamad. The amendments are aimed at

defusing tension as the strategic Gulf kingdom has failed to return to normality after authorities quelled pro-democracy protests in March last year.

According to the amendments, the king now has to consult the heads of the elected parliament and the appointed Consultative Council before dissolving the legislature. The elected chamber alone now has the right to vote to withhold cooperation from the prime minister and refer its decision to the king, who then has the final choice on whether to

dismiss the premier or keep him in the post.

But the amendments fall far short of the demands of the opposition, which has been pushing for an elected government, not one named by the monarch, and the scrapping of the appointed upper house.

Despite the heavy-handed clampdown, and a massive campaign of arrests and sackings targeting Shiites, protesters have returned to the street, overshadowing the kingdom’s hosting of the Formula One Grand Prix last month. —AFP

Syrians defy army in anti-regime demos Envoy says peace plan ‘on track’ DAMASCUS: Thousands of Syrians rallied yesterday, braving regime gunfire to show their determination to oust Bashar Al-Assad, as the office of international envoy Kofi Annan said his peace plan is “on track.”

The demonstrations came as forces cracking down on dissent reportedly killed at least 14 civilians, including a protester, only hours after UN peacekeepers urged Damascus to make the

from mosques after weekly prayers across the country, calling for President Assad’s ouster, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

One person was killed in the capital’s Al-Tadamon district as government forces used gunfire to disperse demonstrators, said the Britain-based watchdog.

Troops also opened fire on demonstrators in various other cities and

DAMASCUS: Syrian youth spraying anti government graffiti on a wall in this image taken on May 1, 2012. —AFP first move to end nearly 14 months of bloodshed. “The Annan plan is on track and a crisis that has been going on for over a year is not going to be resolved in a day or a week,” the UNArab League envoy’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, told journalists in Geneva.

“There are signs on the ground of movement, albeit slow and small.

“Some heavy weapons have been withdrawn, some heavy weapons remain. Some violence has receded, some violence continues. And that is not satisfactory, I’m not saying it is,” Fawzi said.

Yesterday, protesters emerged

towns, according to activists.

Opposition activists had called for the protests under the rallying cry: “Our commitment (to the revolution) is our salvation”. Anti-regime demonstrations have been staged after prayers each Friday since the revolt against Assad’s iron-fisted rule broke out in March 2011.

Amateur video posted on YouTube by activists showed demonstrators in Irbin, a town in Damascus province, carrying a banner that read: “Dear observers, thank you for your visit and goodbye.” The message was aimed at UN observers deployed in Syria to monitor the UN-backed ceasefire that

went into effect April 12 but has failed to take hold fully.

“One year of killings and you still need observers to know the truth?

Enough lies,” read another banner carried by protesters in a neighbourhood of the capital. More than 600 people have died in violence since the truce, according to the Observatory.

Overall, the watchdog estimates that more than 11,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the revolt against Assad’s regime. Abu Omar, an activist in the Damascus region, told AFP via Skype, that it was clear government troops were not intimidated by the presence of UN observers.

“The security forces seem very much at ease with the situation, as though they’ve been given the green light to go on with the crackdown,” he said. He added that in some regions around the capital, government checkpoints had been beefed up rather than drawn down, as called for by Annan’s six-point plan which also allows for free protests.

Major General Robert Mood, who heads the UN mission to oversee the hard-won ceasefire agreement, had issued an appeal late Thursday for the Assad regime to make the first move to end the violence. “The strongest party needs to make the first move,” he told reporters in Syria, stressing he was referring to the government and army.

“They have the strength, they have the position and they also have the potential generosity to make the first step in a good direction,” he said.

Among yesterday’s casualties were a couple and their child killed by gunfire in the northern city of Aleppo, scene of a bloody raid by government forces the day before in which four university students died.

Another 200 students were arrested in what the Observatory said could prove a turning point of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria’s second city and commercial hub, largely spared the violence shaking the country thus far. —AFP

TEHRAN: Iranian electoral staff check the ID of a voter at a mosque being used as a polling station in Tehran during the run-off parliamentary elections yesterday to decide 65 seats still outstanding in its 290-member legislature. —AFP

Khamenei factions to dominate Iran vote DUBAI: Iranians voted yesterday in a run-off parliamentary election in which allies of hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hoped to complete victory over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative increasingly criticised by the clerical elite.

Khamenei’s expected majority is likely to mean a tougher final year for Ahmadinejad in his second and last term. With reformists mostly sidelined and opposition leaders under house arrest, the vote is a test of the popularity of Khamenei’s clerical establishment rather than an opportunity for fundamental change in the way the Islamic Republic is run.

Sixty-five of parliament’s 290 seats are being contested after Khamenei loyalists led the first round in March. More than 50 percent of seats have already been filled by new members, including a large number of independents, so the Iranian Majles is undergoing an extensive face-lift.

The election will have no major impact on Tehran’s nuclear row with the West or its foreign affairs, which are already determined by Khamenei. Its significance lies in gauging just how deep the rivalry between supreme leader and president has become and it could also throw light on possible contenders for next year’s presidential elections.

Among the five candidates who have already secured seats in Tehran, Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, a key ally of Khamenei and father-in-law to his son Mojtaba, won most votes. “We have to wait for the factions to be formed before we can see what happened. But whatever happens the next parliament will not give him (Ahmadinejad) an easy ride. I doubt he’ll be very happy,” said analyst Mohammad Marandi of Tehran University. The United Front of Principalists - an alliance of conservative group tied to the Supreme Leader - was the largest entity in the first round but analysts say Iran’s political system makes it tricky to forecast candidates’ allegiance.

“This list contains many Ahmadinejad critics ... but many of its candidates are newbies whose true political leaning is uncertain.

As such, we don’t know how they will necessarily behave,” said Iran analyst Reza Esfandiari.

“Political groupings in Iran are not disciplined, and there is no ‘whip’ in the Iranian parliamentary system that coerces MPs to act one way or the other,” he added. The waters are muddied by the fact that many successful candidates appeared on the lists of both the pro-Khamenei Principlist Front and the equally hardline, pro-Ahmadinejad Resistance Front, making it difficult to fathom who can count more on the lawmaker in question. The political persuasion of more than 70 independent candidates elected in the first is also unknown. —Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

South Sudan accuses Sudan of bombing KHARTOUM: South Sudan yesterday accused Sudan of launching an air strike on one of its oil regions, imperilling the chances of a promised ceasefire between the two former civil war foes, but Khartoum denied the charge.

The 1,800 km-long (1,200 mile) border between the two countries had been largely quiet for the past 48 hours, raising hopes that they could begin talks to end a series of clashes over oil exports, border demarcation and citizenship that have pushed them closer towards a full-blown war.

But South Sudan’s army (SPLA) spokesman Philip Aguer said on Friday that Khartoum was again on the offensive. “There was an aerial bombardment in Lalop at Unity state at 4 p.m.

(1300 GMT) on Thursday,” he said, speaking from Juba. “At the same time our position in Teshween was shelled

using ground artillery.”

Sudan’s army spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment, but Sudan’s Information Ministry spokesman denied the allegations.

“This is a lie. The Sudanese government is focusing on protecting its border and rooting out the SPLA from its territories,” said Rabie Abdelatie.

Claims of the attack came after Sudan said it was ready to accede to international demands for a halt to hostilities, albeit with a significant caveat.

“The ministry points out in light of the repeated attacks and aggressions that South Sudan’s army is carrying out ...the Sudanese armed forces will find itself forced to use the right to self-defence,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Limited access to the remote bor-

der areas make it difficult to verify often contradictory statements from both sides. The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution threatening Khartoum and Juba with sanctions unless they stopped fighting and resumed talks within two weeks, endorsing an African Union deadline of May 8 for negotiations to begin.

Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party has shrugged off the threat, saying such US-backed resolutions “aim to punish Sudan and reward the aggressor”, the state SUNA news agency said yesterday.

The African Union has drawn up a seven-point road map for peace that demands both countries withdraw their troops from contested areas and resume talks. Africa’s largest country before the South gained independ-

ence last July, Sudan sits atop some of the continent’s most significant oil resources.

But it lost three-quarters of the oil after Juba’s seceded under a 2005 settlement that ended two decades of civil war. The pipelines to export the oil are all located in the north, however, and a dispute about how the oil wealth should be divided has stoked fears of a return to war. The conflict has brought nearly all oil production to a standstill, damaging both countries’ oil dependent economies.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Sudanese forces of conducting “indiscriminate bombings and abuses” against civilians in the Nuba Mountains and South Kordofan.

It has said the violence may amount to crimes against humanity. Sudan dismissed the charges. — Reuters

Sarkozy leaving door open to political future Runoff vote tally will be crucial

LONDON: Electorial count staff tally the votes for the local elections at Olympia conference centre in London yesterday. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party took a bashing yestertday in mid-term local elections, capping a bad month for the government after Britain slid back into recession. — AFP

Labour makes big gains, UKIP gets record score LONDON: British voters showed their anger against the government’s failure to revive the economy in local elections that saw Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives outflanked on the left by Labour and on the right by anti-European fringe party UKIP. Cameron hopes a likely win for his party’s flamboyant London mayoral candidate, incumbent Boris Johnson, will deliver some positive headlines later yesterday. But the bigger story was the damage to his party’s electoral prospects at national level. “People are hurting, people are suffering from the recession, people are suffering from a government that has raised taxes for them and cut taxes for millionaires. I think that’s what we saw last night,” said Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

Britain tipped into a double-dip recession last week, unwelcome news for a government that has staked its reputation on economic competence. Two years into a painful austerity drive, a recent cut in the income tax rate for high earners went down like a lead balloon with the hard-pressed millions.

Derided as “arrogant posh boys who don’t know the price of milk” by a rebel from within their own ranks, Cameron and his finance minister George Osborne have struggled with a perception that they are out of touch with ordinary voters.

This was reinforced by a row on the so-called “pasty tax”, a VAT hike that raised the price of pasties, a cheap and popular snack. With results declared in 100 of the 181 councils being contested across the country, Labour had gained 475 new councillors while the Conservatives had lost 279 and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners had lost 133.

UKIP, which stands for UK Independence Party, was contesting only a fraction of the total seats up for grabs but where it did field candidates, it averaged a record 14 percent of the vote. This translated into just seven councillors because UKIP’s support is geographically scattered, which makes it hard for the party to win any individual ward. — Reuters

PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to quit politics if he loses the presidency tomorrowday, but one of his closest advisers hinted that he is privately leaving the door open to rekindling his political career in opposition.

Sarkozy’s hopes of winning a second term were fading two days ahead of the runoff vote, as far-right and centrist leaders deserted him and he failed to land a knockout punch on Socialist rival Francois Hollande in a televised debate.

Hollande’s opinion poll lead narrowed to five points in one survey from six-10 points in the past week, suggesting the Socialist’s victory would be tighter than expected. “If he is defeated but scores as much as 48 to 48.5 percent, with governments everywhere being thrown out by the economic crisis, that would be no disgrace. We’ll see what he decides to do,” said Alain Minc, a longtime friend and adviser who speaks to the president almost daily.

“The first question for the right is: will Sarkozy leave. If he is only beaten by a small margin, he remains a very credible force. Will he stay in politics or not?” A likely reshuffle of the right in the aftermath of defeat could allow the ambitious Sarkozy to relaunch himself as the conservatives lick their wounds and weigh up how to deal with a resurgent far-right. Many analysts believe the UMP party, the dominant force in French politics for a decade, could crack under pressure as factions feud over whether to shun or embrace backers of Marine Le Pen’s National Front.

With his electoral prospects battered by the fallout from the economic crisis and widespread dislike of his abrasive personal manner, Sarkozy insisted that if he fails to win a second term, he will bow out of politics.

“I have already said that if the people vote the other way then it would be over,” he told Europe 1 radio. Yet a Socialist defeat of the conservative Gaullists, who have held the presidency

for 17 years, could trigger such a deep shake-up of right-wing politics that anything could happen, Minc said.

He hinted at a possible tussle for power between Sarkozy and JeanFrancois Cope, a 47-year-old former budget minister and government spokesman who harbours his own presidential ambitions and currently heads the UMP. “What happens on the right will depend on what Sarkozy does. Will he quit politics or not? Do you think that if he wants to take over the UMP Cope will resist?” Minc said.

“The second question is, can the right limit the damage in the legislative elections? If it can limit the damage and come back with 250 deputies instead of 320, it will not implode. If it ends up with just 120 deputies, that would be dramatic.” The Socialist Party has built momentum by gradually gaining ground from the UMP in regional, municipal and European Parliament elections since 2004. In 2011 the UMP

lost the Senate to the left for the first time in half a century, and some centrist senators split away to form their own group.

Even if he were to win against the odds on Sunday, Sarkozy would be unlikely to retain the 339 parliament seats out of 577 currently held by UMP and centrist deputies in the parliamentary election next month. If he loses, the conservatives risk far heavier losses.

Le Pen, who scored a surprise 17.8 percent in April’s first-round vote, could help amplify the Socialists’ victory in the parliamentary election by splitting the right-wing vote. Already, the fact that nearly one in five voters backs her has raised existential questions for the UMP. Former President Jacques Chirac formed the Union for a Popular Movement by merging several centreright parties after Le Pen’s father, JeanMarie Le Pen, caused a political earthquake by muscling into the 2002 presidential runoff against him. — Reuters

LA ROCHELLE: France’s incumbent President and UMP ruling party candidate for the 2012 presidential election Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with supporters after a campaign meeting yesterday in Les Sables-d’Olonne near La Rochelle, western France. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Iraqi man aims to write ‘world’s longest Quran’ NAJAF: Hussein Al-Kharsan kneels, bent over a giant sheet of paper, laboriously writing the words of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, in beautiful Arabic script with a traditional wood and feather pen. The 25-yearold Iraqi aims to take an unusual path to fame: writing the longest copy of the Quran in the world. Kharsan says the scroll is to be between 5,500 and 6,000 meters long, or 3.4 and 3.7 miles. His aim, he says, is to set a Guinness World Record.

If that happens, it will be another entry on the Islamic holy text, which expressly prohibits the consumption of alcohol, in a record book conceived by the managing director of a brewery. The copy of the Quran was supposed to be shown this year, when Najaf was to be the Islamic Capital of Culture, but that project has been postponed indefinitely amid serial delays and allegations of corruption. It has not however

stopped Kharsan, who graduated from Baghdad University’s college of fine arts, from continuing his work inside a religious school in Najaf, despite pains in his neck and back from long hours of carefully writing out one verse after another.

“At the beginning, the agreement was to finish the work in six months, on the basis of writing three pages out of 503 pages of the Quran every day,” Kharsan said. “I succeeded at the beginning and worked for 16 hours a day for more than two weeks until I started suffering pains,” he said. “The doctor asked me to stop working for about a month but I refused and told him that I work with the blessings of the Quran. Now I take painkilling pills and work for five hours a day, which means I need about a year to finish.”

Kharsan, who began participating in Arabic calligraphy competitions when he was just nine years old, writes on four pieces

of white paper that are each 1,500 metros long. ‘Leave my mark’-He has succeeded in copying 13 pages of the Quran since he started his work about a month ago. Arabic calligraphy is one of the most prominent forms of Arab and Islamic art. “We are the people of Arabic calligraphy,” said Sheikh Ali Merza, the principal of the school where Kharsan is working on the Quran. “Kufi calligraphy (named after Najaf’s twin city of Kufa) is well known, and when we want to do calligraphy, it is not something new for us because we practiced this kind of art historically,” Merza said.

He added that Kharsan’s work will be displayed in Najaf, even if the Capital of Islamic Culture project does not go ahead.

Guinness World Records does not have any entries for the longest Quran, but the largest printed copy measures two meters high and 1.52 meters wide, and was

unveiled in Russia last November. The smallest copy, printed in Cairo in 1982 and owned by a Pakistani man, is 1.7 by 1.3 centimeters, but still 571 pages long.

The biggest book in the world, meanwhile, measures five by 8.06 meters and weighs some 1,500 kilograms. It is on the life and achievements of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), and was unveiled in Dubai in February. “It is very nice to do work that is related to the Quran or (holy) shrines,” Kharsan said. “This is a blessed work. But at the same time, my name will be part of history, because we compete on an international level.” “I do not take any salary for my work, although there is an agreement that I get a percentage of the budget of the project, which is about 100 million dinars ($83,300).” “I feel proud of what I am accomplishing, and all I want is to leave my mark.” — AFP

Obama unleashes negative barrage on Mitt Romney ‘Romney is coming off a bruising battle’ WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama wants to tell America a few things about Mitt Romney: he is rich and indifferent, bad for women, and might wobble at a fateful moment as commander-in-chief.

Obama’s reelection campaign has unleashed a daily, negative, characterbased slashing of his November foe, ahead of the president’s official campaign kick-off rallies in the crucial battle-

Obama weighed in during his victory lap marking the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, questioning whether Romney would have made the gutsy call to launch a high-risk Navy SEAL raid.

An ad featuring an admiring ex-president Bill Clinton made a similar point.

Hope and change, circa 2008, this is not. Obama supporters point out the president is not alone in going negative:

ARLINGTON: US President Barack Obama, alongside Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (R) and High School Senior Amirah Delwin (L), speaks with graduating seniors and their parents during a roundtable discussion on the interest rates of federal subsidized student loans at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, yesterday. —AFP grounds of Virginia and Ohio today.

In the latest volley, Obama’s camp produced a memo accusing Romney of pursuing an “extreme” agenda towards women, seeking to lock in the Republican challenger’s liabilities with the key electoral demographic.

This followed an ad branding Romney’s attitude towards the middle class as “just what you would expect from a guy who had a Swiss bank account.”

The Romney campaign flexed a true mean streak in the Republican primary.

Hard-charging Romney campaign operatives and outside groups flush with corporate cash are meanwhile readying the next anti-Obama barrage.

But Obama’s tactics reflect a need to amplify Romney’s weaknesses to disqualify him as a potential president at a time when a stuttering economy is clouding his own prospects.

“Romney is coming off a bruising

nomination battle that raised some doubts about his character and wants to reintroduce himself to the American people,” said Professor John Geer, a negative campaigns expert at Vanderbilt University.

“The Obama campaign is not going to allow him to do that without continuing the choir of criticism. They want to raise some doubts about his character and make him look extreme on issues.”

Obama’s attacks also seek to frustrate any bid by Romney to trek to the political center where American presidential elections are often won.

“What the president is doing in terms of campaign tactics, and his strong criticism of Mr. Romney, is not unusual for an incumbent,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University polling institute.

“Elections in which there is an incumbent are referendums on that incumbent, and given the president’s relative lukewarm job approval ratings... his team has obviously chosen to try to demonize the opposition.”

Obama’s assaults partly focus on Romney’s history as a millionaire venture capitalist who Democrats say sent American jobs offshore and turfed people at ailing companies out of work.

Romney says his corporate past makes him the ideal man to turn around the economy, which is giving off conflicting signs of recovery and slowdown in a slow trudge out of the deepest slump since the 1930s Great Depression.

That is where the Swiss bank account comes in, as Obama hints that he, and not his wealthy foe, best understands middle class economic angst.

A Quinnipiac poll Thursday underlined Obama’s challenge, putting the president just two points up on his foe, 44 to 42 percent, in the crucial state of Ohio.

The race in the rustbelt battleground has tightened because signs of an improving economy have ebbed, the pollsters said, sharpening the row on pocketbook issues six months from election day. —AFP

GUANTANAMO BAY: In this file photo US Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn-in President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the US Naval Station, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. —AP

9/11 mastermind, co-plotters to be arraigned WASHINGTON: The self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and four co-accused will be formally arraigned today at Guantanamo Bay, a last step before a long-awaited trial after years of legal delays.

Before a military commission, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four others will be charged with planning and executing the September 11, 2001 attacks that left 2,976 people dead in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

It will mark a decisive stage more than a decade after the most lethal attacks on US soil in modern history. It also comes the same week that President Barack Obama is marking a year since he ordered the US Navy SEALs raid that took down the man behind it all-Osama bin Laden. Mohammed, known as KSM, faces the death penalty for his crimes, along with Ramzi Binalshibh of Yemen, KSM’s Pakistani nephew Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali-also known as Ammar alBaluchi-Walid bin Attash and Mustapha al-Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia.

“There is a desire for justice, it is an important moment for all of us,” said Marc Thiessen, a former speechwriter for president George W. Bush who has defended the Bush administration’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terror suspects.

One of the last steps before the so-called “trial of the century” takes place, the arraignment has generated feverish interest. It marks the second time the United States has tried to prosecute the 9/11 suspects. Out of 200 applicants, 60 journalists have obtained a seat for the hearing at the US naval base in southern Cuba, while another 30 will cover the event from Fort Meade in Maryland using a closedcircuit television feed. “It’s key to have transparency,” the military commissions’ chief prosecutor, Brigadier General Mark Martins, told AFP. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale said that since the special military tribunals resumed last year after being reformed by the Obama administration-to better comply with legal standards-the number of journalists covering the proceedings has “more than tripled.” —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Several arrested in US crackdown on drug thieves CONNECTICUT: US prosecutors in a number of states have charged several suspects with stealing prescription drugs from warehouses and tractor trailers across the country, including two brothers accused of grabbing more than $70 million of prescription drugs two years ago from an Eli Lilly & Co warehouse in Connecticut.

The national crackdown on heists of prescription drugs involved coordinated arrests and indictments in Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida.

The U. Attorney’s Office in New Haven, Connecticut said brothers Amaury Villa and Amed Villa, were arrested in Florida on Thursday in connection with the Eli Lilly burglary in the town of Enfield, Connecticut calling it the biggest known theft in the state’s history. It said the pair were citizens of Cuba, living in Miami.

The brothers were accused of cut-

ting a hole in the roof of the warehouse on March 13, 2010, and partly disabling the building’s security alarm on a night when violent rain and winds lashed the Eastern seaboard. Over the next five hours, they allegedly used a forklift inside the building to load pallets of Lilly’s Zyprexa schizophrenia drug, Prozac anti-depressant and Gemzar cancer treatment into a tractor trailer truck.

Prosecutors said Amed Villa left behind valuable evidence - his fingerprints - on a water bottle found in the warehouse after the burglary.

Simultaneously, US prosecutors in Miami charged Amaury Villa and two other Miami residents - Roberto Garcia-Amador and Suhong Wu with conspiring to sell drugs stolen from the Lilly warehouse.

Another eight suspects were charged in Miami with other thefts, including of various prescription

drugs from warehouses and tractor trailers at truck stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tennessee, as well as diabetes and epilepsy drugs from a warehouse in Virginia owned by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc. “These defendants moved truckloads and pallets of stolen pharmaceuticals from other states to South Florida for storage and ultimate sale,” Miami US Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said in a release. “Along the way, they transported and handled these medications without any regard whatsoever for their proper storage and care, and - worst yet - with a callous disregard for the safety and health of the ultimate consumer.”

Ferrer said the investigation was conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. In New Jersey, federal prosecutors

charged 12 defendants with stealing and selling millions of dollars in prescription drugs, over the counter medicines, and other products. Ten were arrested in Florida, and one in Nebraska, while another is being sought.

Six of the defendants were charged in connection with pharmaceuticals stolen in March 2009 from a product distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG. They were also accused of stealing a tractor trailer a year later in Dallas containing products from Perrigo Co, which makes over the counter medicines.

Prosecutors said one of those six defendants, Ernesto Romero-Vidal, of Hallandale, Florida, acted as broker between buyers and sellers and was also named in the Florida indictment. — Reuters

Neo-Nazi suspected in Arizona murder-suicide Confident case is domestic violence situation: Police

PORT-AU-PRINCE: UN special envoy to Haiti, former US President Bill Clinton, left, talks to Haitian President Michel Martelly while inspecting numerous model homes displayed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haiti’s leaders need to quickly confirm President Michel Martelly’s new pick for prime minister and establish a functioning government within the week, former US President Bill Clinton said in a statement Thursday. — AP

Bin Laden ex-driver’s appeal heard in US court WASHINGTON: A US court of appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case of Osama bin Laden’s former personal driver, who is challenging his terror conviction even though he has been released. Salim Hamdan’s case marks the first appeal in US civilian court of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee over a conviction issued by the special tribunals known as military commissions.

The court could dismiss the case because Hamdan has served his sentence and is no longer in US custody after he was released in his native Yemen in 2009. A panel of three judges asked Hamdan’s attorneys and US government lawyers to provide a response in writing within two months about whether there is still live controversy surrounding the case.

The hearing room was filled with military and justice officials, including the military commissions’ chief prosecutor, Brigadier General Mark Martins, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco and former solicitor general Neal Katyal.

In the first Guantanamo terror trial, a jury of US military officers sentenced Hamdan to five years and six months for providing material support to Al-Qaeda. Taking into account time served, this amounted to only another five months. He was cleared of more serious charges that he conspired and plotted attacks for Al-Qaeda. — AFP

GILBERT: The Neo-Nazi founder of an anti-immigrant border militia is believed to have shot and killed four people before turning a gun on himself following a domestic dispute at a home in a Phoenix suburb, police said on Thursday.

Police believe Jason Todd “J.T.” Ready opened fire at a house in Gilbert on Wednesday, killing his girlfriend, her daughter, the daughter’s boyfriend and the young couple’s toddler daughter. He then shot himself, Gilbert Police Sergeant Bill Balafas said. Ready, 39, founded the US Border Guard group, a private-citizen militia in Arizona that advocated deadly force to stop illegal immigration over the border from Mexico.

Ready had long-held ties to neo-Nazi groups in the United States, the AntiDefamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center said on their websites.

“We are under attack at this very moment but not by invading troops (yet) or communistic threat. ... What or who is it you ask? Just look around your neighborhoods and your schools. Look at the violence on T.V. Look at the border,” Ready said in a posting on his group’s website.

Police identified the dead as Lisa Lynn Mederos, 47, who they said was Ready’s girlfriend; Amber Nieve Mederos, 23; Jim Franklin Hiott, 24; and 15-month-old Lily Lynn Mederos, who was still alive at the scene but later died in a hospital.

Police found the child and the bodies of two adults inside the home and those of the other adults outside. “We feel safe to say that this was a domestic violence issue. There was an argument, and this is purely a domestic situation,” Balafas said.

Amber

Mederos worked at a nearby Wendy’s restaurant, and was reported to be in the process of moving out of her mother’s home because of tensions with Ready, who also lived there.

Her final posting on Facebook on Tuesday evening read: “Time to get the drama out of (my) life and make a better life for me my daughter and my love.” At the time of the shooting, a female witness was in the home.

Balafas said “she heard arguing, she heard gunshots (and) came through a back bedroom and located the bodies.” Officers recovered two handguns and a shotgun from the scene on Wednesday. The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and

Explosives said six grenades were also retrieved from the house by a bomb disposal unit from Luke Air Force base, near Phoenix.

“The reason we contacted them is because it is military ordnance,” ATF agent Tom Mangan told Reuters. He said the explosives were live, and investigators were tracing the serial numbers on them to determine their provenance.

A profile of Ready by the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center said he had attended neo-Nazi gatherings in Nebraska and Phoenix, and railed against Jews and “Negroid immigration” in white nationalist online forums. — Reuters

GILBERT: Police officers and FBI agents walk inside the police tape outside a crime scene Thursday in Gilbert, Ariz. Gilbert police spokesman Sgt. Bill Balafas said Thursday that police believe Jason Todd Ready, 39, a former Marine with ties to neo-Nazi and Minutemen groups, shot four people Wednesday and then took his own life in a suburban Phoenix home. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Bangkok swelters spark debate on city planning in Asia BANGKOK: Five months after the worst floods in half a century, the Thai capital is facing a heatwave with temperatures at three-decade highs, stoking debate over chaotic urban planning that blights many of Southeast Asia’s overcrowded capitals.

The daily average high in Bangkok in April was 40.1 Celsius (104.2 Fahrenheit), the Meteorological Department says, prompting warnings from authorities for residents to be alert for heat-related ailments. Critics say the heat has been exacerbated by poor urban planning in the fastgrowing city of 12 million people - from a thinning of trees by city workers, often to accommodate electrical power lines, to heat-trapping building designs and a small number of parks.

“It is a factor,” Prawit Jampanya, director of the Central Weather Forecast division at the Meteorological Department, said, refer-

ring to the lack of green spaces in trapping Bangkok’s mercury-pumping heat. “Having trees does help to relieve poor air quality and urban heat traps,” he said.

Though a tropical city, Bangkok has fewer trees and green spaces in proportion to its population than other Asian cities. An Asian Green City Index of 22 cities released last year by the Economist Intelligence Unit put Bangkok’s green spaces at 3 square metres per person in the metropolitan area.

That is well below the index average of 39 square metres and contrasts with Singapore, 1,430 km (890 miles) to the south, which has 66 square metres.

Singapore, with 5 million people, is the world’s second most densely populated country after Monaco, but it has made great efforts to expand green areas even as it has urbanised. Its Urban Redevelopment Authority noted in 2010 its green cover had

increased since 1986 as parks and recreation areas were created, even as the population grew nearly 70 percent.

Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, is another victim of rapid development and poor planning, but it has 44 square metres of greenery per person and the government says it wants to plant another 30,000 trees this year to help.

In the Philippines, 13 million people are sweltering in the congested capital, Manila.

High-rise condominiums and commercial buildings have sprouted up and the population is growing fast.

April 30 was the warmest day of the year at 36.6 Celsius, a bit lower than the all-time high of 38.6 Celsius on May 7, 1915. In 2009, Typhoon Ketsana brought massive rainfall and floods into Manila, killing nearly 250 people. That highlighted the impact of climate change plus a lack of urban planning.

“We can’t do anything to expand green areas. What we are trying to prevent is informal settlers occupying the remaining green spaces,” said Francis Tolentino, chairman of Metro Manila Development Authority.

Urban planning in Bangkok can seem arbitrary - from chronic congestion on main roads to obstructed or non-existent sidewalks, and poorly enforced zoning laws that allow homes and apartment buildings next to office towers and shopping malls.

Authorities hope to bring some order to the city with a new urban plan that takes effect from May next year. Chalermwat Tantasavasdi, associate dean at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Thammasat University, says Bangkok’s heat is made worse by outdated building designs that lack the proper insulation needed to keep buildings cool, leading to a rise in energy consumption. —Reuters

China opens door to ending Chen crisis with study offer ‘I really am fearing for my family members’ lives’

KARACHI: Pakistani Islamists carry placards during a protest against US pastor Terry Jones, over the recent burning of the holy Quran by Jones at his Florida church, in Karachi yesterday. Pakistan has strongly condemned the burning of the Quran by Jones. — AFP

US willing to work with N Korea: Clinton BEIJING: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the United States was willing to work with North Korea if it changed its ways, and also said more pressure should be bought to bear on Sudan and Syria.

Speaking in Beijing at the end of two-days of high-level meetings overshadowed by a crisis over a Chinese dissident who had sought refuge at the US embassy, Clinton sought to underscore that Washington and Beijing could still work together on key international issues. “We see two nations that are now thoroughly and inescapably interdependent,” Clinton said in prepared remarks in the closed door meeting.

On North Korea, where the United States wants China to put more pressure on the isolated nation’s leadership to reign in its nuclear ambitions, Clinton said Washington was still willing to work with Pyongyang if it changes its ways.

“The new leadership in Pyongyang still has the opportunity to change course and put their people first. If they focus on honouring their commitments and rejoining the international community, and on feeding and educating their citizens, the United States will welcome them and work with them,” she said.

Clinton also underscored that the United States and China both permanent members of the UN Security Council - could work together to put similar pressure on Iran over its nuclear program and take strong action against Syrian President Bashar alAssad’s ongoing crackdown against anti-government protests.

US officials say China has been more than willing to consider steps against Iran, which is preparing for a new round of talks with major powers on the nuclear issue, but claim Beijing has not yet played a sufficient role in the international response to Syria’s crisis.

“If we ease off the pressure or waiver in our resolve, Iran will have less incentive to negotiate in good faith or to take the necessary steps to address the international community’s concerns,” Clinton said. —Reuters

BEIJING: China said yesterday that blind activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study abroad, offering a possible resolution to a crisis that erupted when he escaped house arrest and fled to the US embassy. The apparent concession came after Chen said he was in “great danger” and urged China’s government to honour guarantees on his safety, and after he phoned US lawmakers in a dramatic appeal for help to leave the country.

Chen, a campaigning lawyer who exposed forced abortions and sterilisations under the “one-child” policy, unleashed a diplomatic furore when he sought sanctuary at the embassy where he spent six days. US officials said Chen, 40, left Wednesday after Beijing pledged he and his family would be treated “humanely”, but since then he has said he feels abandoned and fears retribution by Chinese authorities. “I am in great danger... I hope the government will respect the commitments to guarantee my rights agreed to between China and the United States,” he told AFP by telephone from the hospital where he is being treated.

China has reacted angrily to the case, demanding a US apology for “interference” in its affairs. But in an announcement that opened the door to a face-saving resolution, the foreign ministry said Chen could apply to leave.

“If he wants to study abroad, as a Chinese citizen, he can apply through normal channels in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement. The comment came as the United States held new talks with Chen to try to establish the next move for the activist, who has said he does not want to go into permanent exile but is seeking a period of rest abroad.

A US diplomat spoke to Chen by phone at the hospital where he is being treated for injuries sustained in his escape, and also met his wife, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jean-Pierre Cabestan, politics professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University, said it was likely the activist would be allowed to leave China. “The Obama administration is

BEIJING: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (L), US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) and Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan (R) attend the joint statment reading for the closing of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Diaoyutai Guesthouse in Beijing yesterday. — AFP putting a lot of pressure on the Chinese to make sure this story will end up nicely for Chen Guangcheng,” he said. “I think the (Chinese) foreign ministry is going to arrange a deal.”

Chen told AFP earlier he was concerned security personnel surrounding the hospital were preventing US diplomats from meeting him. Deputy chief of mission Robert Wang was seen yesterday arriving with bags of what appeared to be supplies, but was asked to leave them at the entrance. It was not clear if he was later allowed access. The United States has scrambled to contain the growing diplomatic row over Chen which erupted days before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing on previously scheduled talks. In extraordinary scenes on Capitol Hill, Chen phoned in to a congressional hearing on his case Thursday to ask lawmakers for help to travel to the United States and appealed directly to Clinton.

“I really am fearing for my family members’ lives,” he said, speaking through a mobile phone held up to the hearing. “The

thing I’m most concerned with now is the safety of my mother and my brother,” he told the hearing, as stunned witnesses and reporters looked on. “I really want to know what’s going on with them.”

Details of how Chen gained entry to the embassy and the circumstances of his departure have been unclear, but The New York Times gave a gripping account of a flight to safety that included a car chase through Beijing.

It said that Chen made his way to the capital where friends had arranged a rendezvous with US officials after hauling himself over walls to escape house arrest.

With Chinese security closing on on them, Chen was pulled into the American vehicle which threw off the tail and headed for the embassy where the activist was secreted in a US Marine dormitory.

Chen, a self-taught lawyer, has since said he felt pressured to leave the embassy, fearing for the safety of his family who suffered repeated abuses at the hands of local officials in their hometown in eastern Shandong province. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Japan to go nuclear-free for first time since 1970 Japan’s nuclear energy policy remains uncertain

MANILA: Former Philippine first lady and now a member of the House of Representatives Imelda Marcos (in purple) is joined by her son, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (R) hours before the first State of the Nation address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino at the House of Representatives in Manila. Imelda Marcos has declared her net worth at $22 million, parliament records show. — AFP

Imelda declares net worth at $22 mILLION MANILA: Imelda Marcos has declared her net worth at $22 million, parliament records show, as she continues to fight the government over her assets more than two decades after the end of her dictator husband’s reign.

The widow of deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared her wealth at 932.8 million pesos in 2011, records released late Thursday showed, which would make her the second richest Philippine politician behind boxing hero and congressman Manny Pacquiao.

The amount declared by Marcos was almost 50 percent higher than in 2010, with the 82-year-old including new assets which were surrendered to the government by the dictator’s cronies.

A popular revolt toppled the dictator from power in 1986, sending the family fleeing overseas. Manila has since been trying to recover the wealth Marcos and his allies allegedly accumulated through graft during his 20 years in office.

The deposed president died in exile in 1989 and his family was allowed to return home, with his widow elected in 2010 to a congressional seat representing the family stronghold.

Before she was elected Marcos had complained of being nearly penniless, despite living in a luxury condominium unit and frequently appearing in public, bedecked with jewellery.

Her lawyer Robert Sison said his client, known for her jetset lifestyle and love of shoes, could not touch much of her declared wealth as it had been seized or sequestered by the government. “The ownership of these properties is being contested and the government is not off the hook,” he told AFP. Sison said her declared worth rose in 2011 because she added assets that had been surrendered to the government

by Marcos cronies, wealth that was previously “overlooked”.

The lawyer said his client was the true owner of the assets and would seek to recover them. —AFP

TOKYO: Japan is set to go without nuclear energy for the first time since 1970 from today, when the last operating reactor shuts down for maintenance, heightening fears of a looming power crunch this summer.

Only one of Japan’s 50 reactors-at the Tomari nuclear plant in northernmost Hokkaido-is operating at present, but it is scheduled to stop for maintenance work which will last more than 70 days.

Resource-hungry Japan relied on nuclear energy for about one-third of its electricity demand until a massive earthquake and tsunami in March last year caused reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Utility firms managed to make up much of the power shortfalls after the nuclear accident by imposing scheduled blackouts on offices, factories and households while cranking up the use of thermal plants and gas turbines.

Since the disaster there has been lingering public distrust over nuclear ener-

gy and all but the one reactor at the Tomari plant are suspended for extra safety checks. Workers at the Tomari plant will move the control rod into reactor No. 3 at about 5:00pm (0800 GMT) today, which will lower power generation to zero, a spokesman at Hokkaido Electric Power Co. (HEPCO) said.

The long-term future of the reactorand Japan’s nuclear energy policyremains uncertain. The government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said two of the offline units at the Oi nuclear power plant, western Japan, are safe enough to restart and that they could help prevent power shortages in the hot summer months.

But it remains unclear if or when the government will gain approval from regional authorities to resume the reactors. The Oi plant’s operator, Kansai Electric Power, which supplies midwestern Japan, including the commercial hubs of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, has

said it could face an electricity shortfall of almost 20 percent if temperatures soar in July.

And the utility said it could remain up to 16 percent short in August as increased air conditioner usage zaps the electricity produced by its thermal fuel plants. Kyushu Electric Power, covering an area further west, as well as HEPCO in the north, also said they will not be able to meet summer demand without nuclear energy.

Increased use of thermal fuel plants hikes costs for utility firms, as well as greenhouse gas emissions for the country. Critics of atomic energy point to continuing efficiencies that have allowed the world’s third largest economy to all but shrug off previous dire warnings of shortages.

A series of anti-nuclear power demonstrations are planned today, the Children’s Day national holiday in Japan, calling for a safer future for younger generations. — AFP

SURABAYA: Members of the Singaporean Navy Commando Naval Diving Unit participate in a joint exercise with Indonesian Navy personnel in Surabaya in East Java province yesterday. The joint military exercise aims to develop military and tactical cooperation between the Indonesian and Singaporean naval forces. — AFP

Afghan asylum seekers on hunger strike in Indonesia JAKARTA: More than 160 Afghan asylum seekers held in Indonesia have been on hunger strike for almost four days demanding transfer to Australia, with some needing hospital treatment, an official said yesterday.

“They started the hunger strike on Monday evening,” Muhammad Yunus Junaid, head of the detention centre on Bintan island near Singapore, told AFP, adding there were 169 asylum seekers, all male and aged 17 to 40.

“They said they could not stand staying in the centre any longer. They want to go to Australia and live a nor-

mal life there,” he said. Forty of the asylum seekers detained at the Tanjung Pinang city detention centre were sent to hospital Thursday and put on drips, some suffering from anaemia and others losing consciousness, Junaid said.

Thirty-five have since been released and are back on hunger strike. Some of the asylum seekers had been locked up for two years before striking to pressure the United Nations High Commission for Refugees into granting them refugee status, which would let them apply to

go to Australia, Junaid said.

Junaid said that about 50 migrants from Myanmar at the same centre also went on a hunger strike last week for three days but they were not granted refugee status. Indonesia is a common transit point for asylum seekers trying to reach Australia, but many of the overloaded, rickety boats do not make it.

In December, a boat carrying around 250 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers sank in Indonesian waters on its way to Christmas Island, with only 47 surviving.

Meanwhile, a Dutchman set himself on fire next to the Dutch embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta yesterday and was hospitalised with serious burns, police said. The 69-year-old set himself alight on a side street and ran to the embassy entrance where security guards tried to extinguish the flames, South Jakarta police chief Imam Sugiarto told AFP. “He was taken to hospital and is suffering from serious burns. We don’t know what his motive was.” The Dutch embassy could not be immediately contacted. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Besieged Afghan media appeals for protection KABUL: Afghanistan’s media representatives are appealing to the government to protect the rights of journalists who are facing a growing number of violent threats in what they see as an undeclared campaign against media freedom.

War and an atmosphere of impunity make Afghanistan one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist.

The Taleban often regard reporters as their enemies and many officials are suspicious of a prying press.

Despite media freedom being protected by the constitution, the relatively large, often Western-backed press corps can face intimidation, abduction or even death for reporting on issues such as corruption and other government failings.

“Day by day, it is getting worse. No one is here to support reporters,” Sediq Zalique, head of investigative reporting at national daily “8 a.m.”, told Reuters yesterday.

Zalique said he had received several threatening phone calls from unidentified

men in what he believes was a response to his articles revealing corruption and drugrunning by officials.

Many Afghans view the government as deeply corrupt. Some media hold back from publishing stories they know will attract the government’s ire. Reporters at Afghan news agency Pajhwok are resorting to self-censorship to avoid the fate of colleagues who have been beaten and detained. Three have been killed over the last decade, its editor-in-chief Danish Karokhil told Reuters, adding that the government had to act to protect the media.

Some government officials acknowledge that authorities are not doing enough. “The Afghan government simply needs to do more to protect media freedoms,” Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Deen Mohammad Mubarez Rashidi told an awards ceremony on Thursday honouring slain radio journalist Sadim Khan Bhadurzoy, who was kidnapped and beheaded in eastern Paktika province in

February. New York-based watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said last month in its annual report that while Afghanistan has experienced a slowdown in targeted killings, it had made no progress in prosecuting the killers of journalists. Afghanistan ranks seventh on the CPJ’s “Impunity Index”, a listing of countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes.

No one has been arrested in connection with the murder of Bhadurzoy. The Taleban denied involvement, though the Islamist militants have targeted journalists in their southern and eastern strongholds in the past.

Increased insecurity in the face of intensifying violence as most Western combat troops prepare to leave by 2014 has also led to greater impunity surrounding threats against reporters, said Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, executive director of the Afghan media development group Nai. Khalvatgar even suggested the govern-

ment could be cracking down on the press in order to send a signal to the Taleban, that it was serious about reconciliation talks and was willing to restrict the meddlesome media to prove it.

“The government is reaching out to the Taleban as peace talks continue. Press freedom is sacrificed along the way,” he said.

Nai, which tracks media infringements, says there were 77 recorded cases of brutality and threats against Afghanistan’s fledgling media between May 2011 and May 2012.

But President Hamid Karzai defended the state of Afghan media on Thursday, telling reporters: “Freedom of the press is one of the Afghan government’s major achievements. We will firmly support it and respect it”.

Karzai also said he would look into the case of television reporter Nasto Naderi, who is serving a short jail term for drinking alcohol - banned in Muslim Afghanistan and was charged with making false accusations against officials. —Reuters

Clinton to fly into new political storm in Dhaka Opposition pledges no disruptions

KABUL: Afghan Shiite Muslim demonstrators shout slogans during a protest in front of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul yesterday. The protesters placed blame on the ruling Pakistani government for the recent killings of Shiite Muslims in Pakistan. —AFP

Nepal cabinet quits, PM to set up unity govt KATHMANDU: All of Nepal’s cabinet ministers have resigned to allow the prime minister to set up a broadbased government including main opposition parties, a spokesman said yesterday, which should help finalise the introduction of a new constitution.

The Himalayan country wedged between giants China and India has been plagued by instability for years even though a Maoist insurgency ended in 2006 and the monarchy was abolished, as the rebels had demanded, two years later.

The mass resignation at midnight on Thursday came after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, a former rebel leader, struck a deal with opposition parties to end turmoil that has hurt the economy and delayed the introduction of the constitution.

“Bhattarai will now take the initiatives to form a national consensus government with other political parties,” the prime minister’s spokesman, Ram Rijan Yadav, told Reuters.

Opposition parties have been pressing for a consensus government before they agree on the new constitution, which is hoped will promote stability.

“It will take a couple of days for the new government to be in place,” Yadav said. Bhattarai was elected prime minister in August last year with the support of smaller political parties. —Reuters

DHAKA: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be forced to walk her second diplomatic tightrope in a week when she lands in Bangladesh today, with Dhaka lurching towards its worst period of political tension in years. Her trip will be one of the few visits in recent years by senior US officials to Bangladesh, and comes after relations between Washington and the poverty-stricken South Asia nation hit a rare chill. Fresh from a diplomatic nightmare in China, where US officials have faced the dilemma of how to deal with prominent activist Chen Guangcheng, Clinton will have to tread carefully again during her 24-hour visit to Dhaka.

Political volatility has become the norm in Bangladesh, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her arch-rival Begum Khaleda Zia -

they are known as the “battling Begums” have fought over the premiership for decades.

Clinton is due to meet Hasina and other senior government officials, as well as opposition leader Khaleda, barely two weeks after Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) staged two countrywide general strikes that lasted five days in all. Her visit was originally planned for early last year but was put back, apparently over Washington’s displeasure with the removal of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh’s pioneering micro lender, Grameen Bank. “This visit is significant because an earlier visit was postponed over the Yunus issue,” Delwar Hossain, professor of International Relations at Dhaka University, told Reuters.

“Now it seems that the stalemate is over.”

SUKMA: Indian local government official, Alex Paul Menon (3R), completes paperwork after being released by Maoist rebels, at Chintalnar police base in Sukma district 481 km northeast of Hyderabad in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh yesterday. Maoist rebels in central India released Menon after holding him hostage for nearly two weeks in the latest of a series of kidnappings by the guerrillas, police said. —AFP

Regardless, Clinton will still land amid simmering tensions after the strike, called in protest against the mysterious disappearance of a former BNP lawmaker. Khaleda’s BNP and Hasina’s Awami League party have accused each other of abducting former lawmaker Ilyas Ali. Five people were killed in clashes between police and protesters during the strikes, three of whom were shot dead, the worst violence in the past three years of Hasina’s rule.

Ali disappeared last month, his abandoned car and mobile phone found by police near his home. Hasina’s government has ordered a probe but police deny BNP charges that they were involved in his disappearance.

The BNP says it wants Ali returned safe and well or it will turn the protests into a singleissue movement aimed at forcing the government to step down and have new elections called. Hasina shows no sign of relenting to the BNP’s demands, with the next elections not due until the end of 2013. Clinton is expected to bring up the harassment of opposition figures, the disappearance of political leaders and human rights violations, and may press for a return to a system where elections were held under a non-party caretaker administration. Bangladesh has lagged behind the region in economic growth, partly because of its history of political instability since independence in 1971, and analysts fear that more unrest could derail its ambition to become a middle-income country by 2021.

Yunus, an economics professor who set up Grameen Bank decades ago, was made to quit his post as managing director supposedly because he had stayed in the job until he was 70, 10 years longer than the legally mandated age for it. Yunus’ friends at home and abroad described the move as a political vendetta by the government against what it saw as a potential future challenger to Hasina. Known around the world as the banker to the poor, Yunus is also a family friend of the Clintons and he is expected to meet Clinton in Dhaka, although that has not been confirmed. —Reuters

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Argentine lawmakers approve YPF takeover

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RBS net loss triples to £1.52bn on debt charge

Business

20

US employment in April picks up substantially

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Qantas slashes $410m as part of budget cuts

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GENEVA: In this file photo, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer introduces the new BMW 6 Grand Coupe. Booming sales in China and new versions of key models pushed automaker BMW AG’s earnings higher by 18 percent yesterday. —AP

Mideast oil poised for tight summer Saudi to remain large net exporter DUBAI: The Middle East fuel oil market is braced for a tightening third quarter as soaring power generation demand is set to curb Saudi Arabia’s exports and Western sanctions could deprive the market of Iranian supplies. But although tighter supplies should push Gulf fuel oil premiums higher and could lift the Singapore ship fuel bunkering market, fears of regional fuel oil shortage are unfounded, traders and analysts in the Middle East and in Asia say.

“Saudi Arabia is likely to remain a large net exporter of fuel oil, with much of this going to Asia,” Riyadh-based HSBC analyst John Tottie said. “As we go into the summer season, the import of lower-sulphur fuel oil may increase, just as it did in 2011... Yet the kingdom is likely to remain a large exporter of high-sulphur fuel oil, given the high fuel oil yield of Saudi’s oil

refineries.” Barclays Capital said in a note last week that Saudi plans to slash crude use for power generation may turn it into a net importer of fuel oil this summer.

“With Iranian volumes likely to be curtailed severely following the sanctions and with the risk that Saudi Arabia turns into a net importer of fuel oil, more than 1 mt (million tonne) of fuel oil exports are at risk of being lost from the market,” London-based analyst Miswin Mahesh said. Asiabased traders who also rely on Middle East fuel oil do not expect major shortages as they anticipate increased fuel oil shipments into East Asia from other producers.

Industry players still point to Western arbitrage cargoes as remaining the main bearish factor for East Asia’s fuel oil market. “Together those two factors - fall in supplies from Saudi and Iran

could be very bullish,” a Singapore-based trader said. “But it will also depends on Singapore strength.” Asia’s fuel oil market fell sharply in early March under the weight of heavy supplies and slow demand. Spot cash premiums for the 180 cst and 380-cst grades have since improved to above $2.00 a tonne though, recovering from a discount low of 10 cents and 50 cents respectively as Western imports fell to three-year low levels in April.

Saudi power generation Saudi Arabia’s plan to reduce direct crude burn for power generation and rely more on natural gas and fuel imports this summer could result in a drastic drop in its monthly average fuel oil exports of around 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes. But several Gulf-based traders say the

drop in supply from the leading fuel oil exporter was unlikely to shock the market, thanks to ample Saudi stocks and alternative fuels.

“They have been building inventories of gasoil, which they will use in summer,” one Gulfbased fuel oil trader said. “It also depends on how much gas they can obtain from the fields. In the end, crude burning may not be much less, but just a bit less,” he said. “They have other options than fuel oil.”

Uncertainty over temperature-driven electricity demand, or how much will be met with gas, make it impossible to predict how much fuel oil will be burnt by Saudi Arabia but there is wide agreement that fuel oil exports will fall. “In the end their available supplies will fall, but I think they will still be able to export,” a second Gulfbased fuel oil trader said. —Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

China shipping profits from sanctions on Iran SINGAPORE: Chinese shipping firms are making huge profits transporting Iranian petrochemicals after EU sanctions against OPEC’s second largest oil producer decimated the competition, ship brokers said yesterday.

EU sanctions prohibiting European insurers and reinsurers from covering tankers carrying Iranian petrochemicals came into effect on May 1, forcing out most of the ships operating in this niche market. China’s insurance firms do not have to abide by the sanctions, and they have the capacity to cover the vessels bringing supplies to the world’s second biggest oil consumer and its second largest economy.

China is Iran’s biggest petrochemicals customer, buying 22 percent of its total exports, which Tehran media said were worth $14 billion in the year ending March 20.

“China seems to be the only one willing and able to do this since they can get Chinese insurers to cover them,” said a Singapore-based ship broker who, like others in the industry, declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Half of Iran’s petrochemical exports go to Asia, and the impact of the EU sanctions offers a glimpse into how

Iran’s much larger crude and oil products trade could be affected once similar European measures are imposed in July. Around 90 percent of the world’s tanker insurance is based in the West, so the sanctions threaten crude shipments to Iran’s top Asian buyers China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Several ship brokers said Chinese firms Sinochem Corp and Nanjing Tankers were the most active in the Iranian petrochemical trade, charging twice as much than usual for shipments. A spokesman for Nanjing Tankers declined to comment, while Sinochem officials were not immediately available. “It is mostly Chinese vessels from Sinochem and Nanjing Tankers that are taking a chance.

The money is good and they have the tonnage,” one of the brokers said. Oil trader Sinochem typically imports between 20,000 and 30,000 tonnes of Iranian petrochemicals a month. An industry official said the sanctions had affected about half of Sinochem’s petrochemical business with Iran. The EU sanctions have created a two-tier petrochemical market, with large premiums available to ship owners able to find replacement insurance to transport Iranian products such as methanol, xylene and caus-

tic soda. Ship owners in the petrochemical trade between Iran and China are asking as much as $100 a tonne for use of a 10,000-tonne tanker, double the rate from a month ago, traders said. Similar increases in freight rates were reported between Iran and India, its second biggest oil and petrochemicals buyer.

“A lot of ships are owned by Western companies, and that will restrict the movement of some vessels but not all,” said Mazlan Razak of consulting firm Nexant Inc. Petrochemicals are typically transported on the smallest tankers with a deadweight tonnage of between 10,000 and 20,000, and require much less shipping insurance than the 300,000-tonne supertankers that dominate the Iran-China crude oil trade.

A typical chemical tanker would require less than $5 million in liability insurance to operate, while a very large crude carrier (VLCC) needs at least $150 million, according to industry sources and Reuters calculations.

The difficulty ship owners face in obtaining sufficient insurance to cover VLCCs due to the sanctions has prompted Beijing to consider offering tankers sovereign guarantees. — Reuters

Argentine lawmakers approve YPF takeover Nationalization bill passes lower house by 207-32 vote

MEDAK, India: In this photograph, engineers from China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP) Material and Equipment Corporation weld carbon steel pipes as part of a gas pipeline for India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. — AFP

India’s Reliance hit with $1.25bn fine MUMBAI: India’s government has asked energy giant Reliance Industries to pay a $1.25 billion penalty for a fall in gas production from its main oil fields, a company executive said yesterday. The government and investors have been concerned for months over Reliance’s declining gas output from its main D6 fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the coast of eastern India. “We have got the letter and will respond to it,” the company executive told AFP, declining to be named.

The oil ministry’s notice to Reliance says it “failed to fulfil its obligations... and wilfully caused breaches, which led to immense loss and prejudice to the government and people of India,” Indian media reported. The reports said Reliance would not be permitted to recover the cost of its investments — $457 million in 2010-11 and $778 million in 2011-12 — from the sale of gas.

Under India’s exploration policy, the government allows firms to first recover their exploration and production costs from oil and gas revenues, and later share profits with the government.

Reliance’s spokesman declined to comment further as he said that the “matter

was sub-judice”. Reliance, controlled by India’s wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani, late last year started arbitration proceedings against the government to help recover its costs, but the ministry has so far refused to take part in the arbitration. Crude oil production from Reliance’s main oil field KG-D6 slid 37.9 percent year-on-year to 4.94 million barrels, said Reliance, when it reported a 20 percent fall in quarterly profit last month. Natural gas production fell 23.5 percent to 551.31 billion cubic feet (BCF), over levels a year earlier.

“Production from the KG-D6 block has been adversely impacted due to unforeseen reservoir complexities,” the company said at the time.

Last year, British energy giant BP paid $7.2 billion to acquire a 30 percent stake in 21 of Reliance’s oil and gas fields. Reliance hopes that BP’s deepwater drilling expertise will give the Indian giant the skills to develop hard-toexploit reserves and find more oil.

Reliance operates the world’s largest oil processing complex in Jamnagar, where two adjacent refineries have a combined capacity to process over 1.2 million barrels of oil a day. — AFP

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s Congress nationalized the country’s biggest oil company, YPF, by an overwhelming lower house vote on Thursday that underscored broad popular support for a measure that threatens to scare off foreign investment. The Chamber of Deputies voted 207-32 in favor of expropriating YPF, clearing the way for President Cristina Fernandez to sign the bill into law. The Senate last week approved the measure by a similarly overwhelming margin.

Fernandez, who has tightened state control of the economy, unveiled the plan to seize a majority stake in YPF from Spain’s Repsol six months after her landslide re-election.

The move drew a swift reprisal from Spain, which curtailed Argentine biodiesel shipments.

Wall Street warns that Argentina risks scaring off investment needed to bolster growth against fallout from Europe’s debt crisis and slower demand from key trade partner Brazil. Business groups have long been put off by Fernandez’s policies, such as her government’s takeover of Argentina’s private pension system in 2008 and, more recently, import and foreign exchange controls that have hurt confidence.

Fernandez justifies the renationalization of YPF - which was privatized in the 1990s after decades as a state-owned company - on the grounds that it failed to boost oil and natural gas production needed to keep up with local demand.

Energy import bills have shot higher, putting Argentina’s prized trade surplus at risk. Repsol denies underinvesting, but the government’s message has struck a chord with Argentines, many of whom are suspicious of foreign companies and

blame the free-market policies of the 1990s for setting the country up for its 2001/02 sovereign debt default and shock currency devaluation.

“All oil companies that operate in Argentina, Repsol and the rest, have to work in the public interest, which in this case means energy self sufficiency for Argentina,” Agustin Rossi, leader of the official bloc in the lower house, shouted during a speech to the chamber just before the vote. “Repsol invested little in Argentina,” Rossi said.

“But it was YPF and Argentine oil that financed Repsol’s growth around the world.”

With the private sector worried more nationalizations may be on the way, attention now turns to how much Argentina will pay Repsol for control of YPF. Officials have said it will be a lot less than the $9.3 billion the Spanish company wants. Relieved of much of its debt burden after the 2001/02

default and bolstered by high international soy prices, the grainsexporting powerhouse fared better than many countries in weathering fallout from the 2008 world financial crises.

The government budget predicts 2012 gross domestic product growth of 5.1 percent, down from 8.9 percent last year. “The goal is for YPF to be aligned with the interests of the country,” Fernandez said in a speech on Thursday. “When corporate interests are not aligned with national interests, when companies are concerned only with profits, that’s when economies fail, which is what happened globally in 2008 and what happened to Argentina in 2001,” she said. Citing similar arguments, Bolivian President Evo Morales this week nationalized the local unit of Spain’s Red Electrica Espanola, adding to the former colonial power’s concerns about investments in the region. —Reuters

BUENOS AIRES: People celebrate during the plenary session to vote a bill nationalizing Argentine YPF oil company. — AFP

business

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

RBS net loss triples to £1.52bn on debt charge RBS, BNP leaner after shedding assets in Q1

MELBOURNE: This file photo shows a Qantas A380 Airbus on the tarmac at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport. — AFP

Qantas slashes $410m as part of budget cuts SYDNEY: Embattled carrier Qantas said yesterday it will delay the delivery of two A380 super jumbos as part of a further Aus$400 million (US$410 million) in spending cuts as it works to turn its business around.

The Australian airline had already announced Aus$500 million in cuts in February, which included job losses for cabin crew and pilots as well as in catering, engineering and ground operations.

Qantas has also been reviewing its maintenance operations to identify how to keep costs down, which could see more jobs go.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said the latest savings would come from delaying the delivery of two Airbus A380s.

Qantas was to receive two of the superjumbos in early 2013, but will now get them in the 2016/17 financial year. Another six A380s will be delivered to Qantas from 2018/19. The changes will cut Qantas’s capital expenditure by Aus$400 million in 2012/13 to Aus$1.9 billion.

Joyce said the decision was consistent with the group’s commitment to financial discipline. “Our priorities remain to build on our strong domestic business, enhance Qantas Frequent Flyer, turn around Qantas International and grow Jetstar in Asia,” he said.

Joyce added that the group’s balanced portfolio left it well-placed amid ongoing high fuel prices and the changing global economy, while taking advantage of growth opportunities in Australia, Asia and elsewhere.

“We are acting decisively now to position ourselves for strong, sustainable growth over the long term,” he said. The latest cuts come after the carrier posted an 83 percent slump in first-half net profit in the six months to December to Aus$42 million. High fuel costs played a part, as did Joyce pulling all Qantas planes out of the skies for 48 hours last October as part of a row with staff over plans to shift the focus of its ailing international arm to Asia.

The airline said yesterday progress continued on shaking up its international operation with benefits of Aus$280-$365 million to be realised across financial years 2012-14, from cost savings and halting loss-making routes. At the same time, it announced a significant boost to domestic flights in an effort to combat Virgin Australia’s assault on its business flyers.

“This will ensure that the group retains a profitmaximising 65 percent domestic market share while delivering the best customer experience in the market,” said Joyce. The changes will see extra peak-hour services between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane while Qantas’s budget offshoot, Jetstar, will raise capacity in its key leisure markets. — AFP

LONDON/PARIS: Royal Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas stepped up their weight loss programmes in the first quarter, taking advantage of improved capital markets to shed assets and satisfy regulators and investors keen for a leaner look. Statebacked RBS is midway through the biggest shrinkage of any bank in the world, and said it has removed 175 billion pounds ($283.5 billion) of its “noncore” assets in the last three years, including 11 billion pounds in the first quarter.

“Excellent progress continues in removing mistakes of the past,” Chief Executive Stephen Hester said. Rivals who fared better during the financial crisis are also in retreat, and France’s BNP Paribas said it had almost wrapped up its plan to sell assets to strengthen its finances. “Eighty percent of the deleveraging is done,” BNP Chief Executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe said in an interview with Reuters Insider television. “We can close everything by the summer.” France’s biggest bank has shed 63 billion euros of risk-weighted assets-including 6 billion euros in its investment bank in the first quarterout of its 79 billion euro target. Banks are racing to meet tougher rules on capital requirements, and the scale of asset sales, or “deleveraging”, is raising concern they are cutting lending and choking off Europe’s recovery attempts.

It could hurt small business lending and also areas like trade and project finance or lending to shipping and aviation industries, all areas where French banks in particular have been among the market leaders. Japanese, US and some stronger European rivals are stepping in to take business, but some impact on growth is seen as inevitable.

Europe’s banks are expected to shed

about 2 trillion euros of assets in the next few years.

Long, painful journey The shrinkage is long overdue and is needed to improve profitability at banks that became bloated during the boom years running up to the financial crisis, investors and analysts said. “The main good news, once again, is the speed of balance sheet progress,” said Investec analyst Ian Gordon in regard to RBS. “I would call it decent progress but obviously it remains a long, painful journey.” A rebound in investment banking activity in the first quarter enabled RBS, BNP Paribas and rivals to

LONDON: People are pictured outside a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in this file photo. — AFP absorb losses from the sale of assets or restructuring. BNP said its net income was 2.9 billion euros, up 10 percent from a year before and beating forecasts. RBS made a better-than-

expected first quarter operating profit of 1.2 billion pounds, up 5 percent on the year and bouncing back from a 144 million pound loss in the previous quarter. At 1158 GMT, BNP Paribas shares were up 3.06 percent and RBS was up 2.77 percent, both outperforming a 0.9 percent rise by the European bank index.

BNP said its return on equity-a key measure of profitability that most banks have struggled to get above 10 percent in recent years-was 11.5 percent in the first quarter. At RBS, it was 11 percent for its core business, and 21 percent at its investment bank. The retrenchment does come at a cost, however. RBS said it incurred 460 million pounds of restructuring costs in the first quarter, including 271 million pounds as the investment bank is shrunk to focus on its debt market strengths.

BNP absorbed “adaptation” costs of 84 million euros and lost another 74 million on the sale of loans in the first quarter. Societe Generale ditched 6.4 billion euros in investment banking assets in the first quarter, losing 226 million euros due to the discount they were sold at. Lloyds, also part-owned by the UK taxpayer, was this week praised for the pace it was shrinking, but there are concerns that revenues at its core business will also by affected by the process. There are also clear signs the strong start to the year in capital markets has fizzled. Bonnafe warned capital markets activity had seen a “less positive” start to the second quarter, echoing comments made

by Barclays, Deutsche Bank and others.

The euro zone crisis continues to hang over all of Europe’s banks, with investors on alert for problems flaring again in Spain and sending financial markets skidding. — Reuters

Two years on, Greeks count cost of austerity ATHENS: A few years ago, in what seems now like another world, Dina was getting job interviews, Gerassimos was preparing for retirement and Maria had no idea she would be defending workers’ rights. But on May 2, 2010, Greece’s good times came to an abrupt end as the government turned to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for 110 billion euros ($145 billion) to save it from bankruptcy. The price ordinary Greeks have had to pay for this and a second bailout has been high, with the effects felt across the population, old and young, rich and poor.

This Sunday, the two parties that have dominated Greek politics since the end of the military junta in 1974 are expected to get their comeuppance when voters go the polls. One such voter is 28-year-old Dina Karamani, who has just moved into her own place after years of sharing digs with students while at university, or back with mum and dad in the Piraeus port area of Athens. She spent a long time looking for the first roof over her head before finding a two-room flat within her budget of 250 euros ($329) per month. If things get really tight, she says, she could always get a lodger.

“I live in fear of losing it,” Dina told AFP. She has managed to put a bit of money aside since she started doing

translation work at home, which earns her around 500 euros ($650) per month, enabling her to live while she completes her thesis on medieval history. But she’d like to do something different.

“I have been looking for months but haven’t found a job. I haven’t even had any interviews. Back in 2006, I worked for an hour and I got a lot of replies to my applications,” she says. She spends time presenting on an amateur radio station that “gives a different perspective on Greek current affairs”, one of her few ways to forget her worries.

Maria Chira, meanwhile, considers herself lucky to be unaffected. She still has her job of 14 years at oil firm Hellenic Petroleum and her monthly salary of 1,200 euros ($1,577) plus bonuses.

But she needn’t look far to see that not everyone is as fortunate as herself: her husband’s hair-products firm has seen revenues slump 30-40 percent, while her mother has lost out in 7,000 euros ($9,200) in pension payments. The pain being felt by others inspired the bubbly, 40-something mother-of-two to run for election for a post on the works council of her company in mid-May. “I never thought I would take on this kind of responsibility,” she said. “I see it as my duty now that the rights of the workers are under attack.” — AFP

business

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Rolls-Royce makes gains from demand for aircraft Sees good growth in 2012 profit, sales

SUVA: Gio Vakaloloma (left) removes coconut husks with a machete to prepare them for sale at his roadside stall. Koroi is among the one-third of Fiji’s 840,000 population who live below the poverty line in conditions far removed from the postcard idyll of beaches and cocktails normally associated with the Pacific island nation. —AFP

Oil falls to 3-month low LONDON: Oil fell to three-month lows of under $115 per barrel yesterday ahead of a US payrolls report and was set for its steepest weekly fall since December due to concerns over the health of the global economy and easing fears over supply disruption. The jobs data will help investors gauge the outlook for demand growth in the world’s biggest oil consumer amid renewed worries its recovery may be faltering. Businesses outside the farm sector are expected to have added 170,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters survey.

By 1144 GMT, Brent crude oil futures lost $1.10 to $114.98 a barrel, lows not seen since early February this year. US crude fell by $1.49 to $101.05, levels not seen since mid-April. “Many funds are still on the long side of crude oil, but the global economic recovery remains something a bit elusive,” said Olivier Jakob from Zug-headquartered consultants Petromatrix.

Analysts are seeing increasing downside risks to prices.

Nic Brown, Natixis head of commodities research, said the bank’s models indicate fair value for Brent at $110 a barrel.

“Anything north of $120 contained a large amount of political premium as the negotiations between Iran and the West appeared to make some progress, and clearly some of the premium has been taken out,” Brown said. “The very tight supply picture from earlier in the year has also eased a little.”

Oil and commodities plunged across the board on Thursday as slower-than-expected growth in the US services sector sparked a wave of selling and prices crashed through technical support levels. Brent has so far fallen by more than 4 percent this week, its steepest slide since the week ended Dec. 18, while US oil has lost more than 2.7 percent, its biggest weekly decline in a month.

“There is a lack of directional conviction in terms of the absence of strong fundamentals or economics news, so you’re looking at the market coming off the highs of the February rally,” BNP Paribas head of commodities strategy Harry Tchilinguirian said. “CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) data over the last couple of weeks has seen investors cutting back on exposure to futures, so with less support in terms of commitment and a low volatility environment, people are taking profits on oil.”

Oil prices also came under pressure after industry data provider Genscape reported that crude inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for US futures hit a fresh record high on May 1. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is working hard to bring down prices that jumped towards $130 a barrel earlier this year, its secretary general said on Thursday, and is pumping much more than its official target even as exports from member country Iran dwindle.

“We are seeing a slightly easing situation as far as the supply-demand balance is concerned against the backdrop of the global economic growth and OPEC production levels,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“There is a downside bias to oil prices.” —Reuters

LONDON: British aero enginemaker Rolls-Royce expects profits to rise again in 2012 as it continues to benefit from airlines’ need for more fuel-efficient planes and the relentless demand for travel to and from Asia’s burgeoning megacities. Rolls, the world’s secondlargest maker of aircraft engines behind US group General Electric, said yesterday it had made a good start to the year and that its key civil aerospace unit, which accounts for half of group sales, would lead strong profit growth at the group this year.

“For the full year, the group continues to expect good growth in underlying revenue and underlying profit with cash flow around breakeven as we continue to invest in future growth,” Rolls, which makes engines for planemakers Airbus and Boeing, said in a statement.

Global airlines will buy $3.5 trillion of aircraft over the next 20 years to meet demand for travel to and from emerging markets - especially in Asia - and renew ageing fleets in the West, according to the world’s big two planemakers.

The predictions underscore soaring demand for narrowbody or single-aisle jets such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, the backbone of many airlines.

Analysts forecast that 20,000 narrowbody planes will be produced in the next 20 years. Rolls, which reported a 21 percent rise in 2011 profit, has more than 5,000 engines - worth some 52 billion pounds - on order. As well as airlines’ switch towards more fuel-efficient aircraft, growth last year was boosted by the acquisition of German enginemaker Tognum and the sale of its stake in International Aero Engines.

A new joint venture between Rolls

and US rival Pratt & Whitney to develop the next generation of engines for the mid-sized aircraft market is expected to be officially formed this year. Airlines are investing in new lightweight planes to lower fuel costs, which are soaring.

European carriers Air France-KLM and Lufthansa this week reported results battered by higher fuel costs. Industry body IATA expects the global airline industry to suffer in 2012 because of a

index by 23 percent in the last year.

“Things move slowly in aerospace and defence, but for Rolls-Royce, a super tanker with positive momentum, that is just fine,” said Investec analyst Andrew Gollan.

“The stock is at an all-time high... we continue to see upside over time.” The company, whose website says a RollsRoyce powered aircraft takes off or lands every 2.5 seconds, said its new Trent

NORTH CHARLESTON: The sun shines on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner built for Air India after it was rolled off the production line at Boeing’s new production facilities in this photo. —AFP toxic mix of high fuel prices and the euro zone debt crisis.

Shares in Rolls-Royce, which have risen 16 percent in 2012, were flat at 859 pence by 0815 GMT, valuing the company at around 16 billion pounds ($26 billion). Its shares have outperformed the FTSE All Share aerospace and defence

XWB engine took to the skies on board an Airbus A380 flying test bed during the first quarter. Rolls-Royce is expected to post an average pretax profit of 638 million pounds for the first six months of 2012, and 1.44 billion pounds for the full-year, according to a Thomson Reuters analyst poll. —Reuters

Australia’s central bank cuts forecasts SYDNEY: Australia’s central bank slashed its growth and inflation forecasts yesterday, citing sluggish exports due to global turmoil and the robust Australian dollar, which is squeezing local industries. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it expects growth of 2.75 percent for the 12 months to June 2012, compared with the 3.5 percent previously forecast, due to the economy performing “weaker than expected”.

Inflation was expected to be 2.0 percent over the same period, the RBA said in its quarterly statement on monetary policy, with the consumer price index falling “very sharply” to about 1.5 percent in the early months of 2012.

It had previously flagged inflation of 2.25 percent. “Some components of the economy exceeded expectations while others underperformed over the past year, but overall, economic growth was weaker than expected,” the RBA said.

The bank said weak export growth was the main reason Australia’s economic performance had come in short of expectations, with the bullish local dollar weighing on manufacturing and other industries.

Sluggishness in the global economy because of Europe’s debt problems had also hit exports, with a slower-thanexpected recovery from flooding to coal and farming land in 2011 an additional factor. On the domestic front, the RBA said demand had expanded “by only a little less than was forecast”, with productivity and confidence both muted and employment “barely” growing in the past 12 months. The dovish outlook comes just days after the bank lowered its official interest rate by a shock 50 basis points to 3.75 percent due to weaker economic conditions-its largest cut since February 2009. Canberra in November scaled back its own forecasts to growth of 3.25 percent for the 2011/12 financial year from four percent predicted last May. Treasurer Wayne Swan is due to update national forecasts when he hands down the budget next week, but he said the RBA’s figures were roughly in line with the government’s own and showed the economy was in an enviable position.

“The Australian economy is expected to outperform every other major developed economy in the next couple of

years,” Swan told reporters. “We have an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, we have growth returning to about trend, we have solid consumption in our economy and we have a record pipeline of investment in the resources sector.”

The Treasurer acknowledged that the economy was lopsided, with miningrelated sectors thriving as others were hit by the exchange rate, which is why he said the government was trying to push the budget back into surplus by 2012-13 with aggressive cuts to defence and other spending.

“There’s no doubt that we’ve got to have belt-tightening across the board, returning to surplus is really important,” Swan said. The RBA forecast growth of between 2.5 and 3.5 percent for the year to June 2013 and 3-4 percent for the following 12 months, saying strength in the mining sector would continue to buoy the Australian economy. Though it had moderated somewhat in recent months, the “near-term risk of a severe contraction” due a worsening of Europe’s debt woes remained “the most obvious risk to global growth forecasts,” the RBA added. —AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Ripples of revolt over tyranny of economic data WASHINGTON: Yesterday the US government was to publish the latest snapshot of the labour market, a guidepost marking the path of the world’s largest economy. Regardless of the outcome, billions of dollars will change hands on Wall Street, currencies will shift, tilting the calculus of global trade, and governments will find it cheaper or more costly to borrow. The report may even help decide who will occupy the White House after November’s elections. Charles Biderman does not care.

While other investors are busy predicting how many jobs the economy created last month (162,000 is the average guess) and what the unemployment rate was (most guess 8.2 percent), Biderman, a portfolio manager, is unimpressed.

“The media nitwits will report whatever the number as if it were the gospel truth,” he recently told clients of his firm, TrimTabs Investments. He was only slightly less disparaging about his Wall Street

brethren: “Those who need the action will trade the number as if it means something.” Biderman and other critics argue the Bureau of Labour Statistics’ figures amount to little more than guess work, based on a pitifully small sample of data, which in any case is subject to heavy revision. “The BLS says that they have 90 percent confidence that their monthly estimate is accurate to within plus or minus 100,000 jobs either way,” he explained.

“That means that if yesterday’s number is reported as 100,000 new payroll jobs, in reality the job gain could be anywhere from 0 to 200,000. And the nitwits would treat the 100,000 number as the gospel truth.” “This is nuts.” After months and years of conflicting and oscillating economic data, that kind of critique strikes a chord. Recent reports have shown a rise in manufacturing jobs, another showed a steep drop, one showed a drop off in

retail hiring, another showed the retail sector going gangbusters.

Rarely is data free from “noise” the type of oneoff quirks that make it difficult to take figures at face value. Recently that noise has included a unseasonably warm winter and the shifting dates on which Easter falls and Chinese New Year. In short, the daily deluge of data can leave little more than a stupefying smog of statistics. But others argue that is not reason to blame the messenger.

After all, the government and other data providers openly explain their methodology and frequently remind consumers that one datum does not a trend make. Part of the reason for frustration may be that people who would not normally pay a great deal of attention to economic data now take a keen interest, according to Aparna Mathur, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute.

“I think since the start of the recession people

have become more aware of the jobs numbers and anticipate them every month as an indicator of what’s happening with the economy in general,” Mathur said. Jason Schenker, president and chief economist of Prestige Economics, says many of these people have a poor understanding of the data and may misread or ignore salient details.

“People have a low level of numeracy and so some of the underlying developments are completely overlooked,” he said. Mathur believes the way the unemployment figures are reported understates the depths of the problem, but it is still a good measure of the state of affairs. “I am sure it has problems like all other surveys, but I would not call it a poorly done survey.” “I think the employment numbers are a good way of judging the health of the economy,” she said. Frustrated Americans are not yet ready to shoot the messenger, but a few are starting to take pot shots. — AFP

business

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

US employment in April picks up substantially Private sector payrolls seen gaining 175,000 WASHINGTON: US employers likely increased hiring in April, although not enough to lower the country’s 8.2 percent jobless rate, keeping pressure on President Barack Obama ahead of his November re-election bid. Employers likely added 170,000 workers to their payrolls last month, according to a Reuters survey of economists, up from March’s meagre print of 120,000. That would allay fears the US economy is los-

around the world, could rattle nerves at the White House. Weak US growth and high unemployment create a formidable headwind for Obama, who entered office during the darkest days of the 2007-09 recession.

His Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, repeatedly has accused Obama of doing too little to foster job growth.

The unemployment rate, which soared to as high as 10 percent during Obama’s

NEW YORK: People seeking jobs wait in line to speak to over 60 employers at an employment fair May 3, 2012 in the Queens borough. —AFP ing momentum. But it also could dampen hopes that a stretch of strong winter hiring signalled a turning point for the economic recovery.

“We’re still growing just gradually,” said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Hiring is coming back into line with what you would expect with sluggish growth.” The Labor Department will release the April employment report yesterday at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). The report, which regularly sets the tone for financial markets

first year in the office, is seen holding steady at 8.2 percent. After holding near 9 percent for most of last year, it fell sharply over the winter. Still, it remains about 2 percentage points higher than its average over the last 50 years, and the US Federal Reserve thinks it probably will not post a full recovery for at least several more years. Nevertheless, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month the central bank is providing enough support for the economy, and an as-expected jobs report is unlikely to alter that stance.

Weather reports So far this year, the labour market has given mixed signals. During the winter, fast growth in payrolls led many analysts to think the economy was turning a corner. Then jobs growth braked in March, fuelling fears the recovery was losing momentum. Most economists think mild weather muddied the waters, boosting hiring in the winter but making March look weaker because companies had pulled hiring forward.

The consensus forecast for payroll gains in April is just below the average of the last six months. That’s because economists think the weather effect is still dissipating. “It’s not that there’s something wrong with the economy.

Employment just got ahead of itself,” said Robert Mellman, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

The report is expected to show the private sector accounted for all the job gains in April, adding 175,000 new positions, with manufacturing registering another strong month. However, a report from payroll processing firm ADP on Wednesday showed US companies added only 119,000 jobs last month, suggesting economists’ forecasts could be on the high side.

Public payrolls are expected to contract for the seventh time in eight months as state and local governments struggle with funding shortfalls, though the pace of public-sector job losses is slowing.

Wall Street analysts see economic growth holding at a lackluster 2.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter, matching its pace in the first three months of the year.

Average hourly earnings are seen rising 0.2 percent, while the length of the average work week is seen steady at 34.5 hours. Even if hiring does slow a bit in the spring, a stable work week reinforces the view that economic growth remains on track. “This shouldn’t set off alarm bells,” said Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays in New York. —Reuters

Brazil’s Lula slams rich countries, IMF RIO DE JANEIRO: Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday slammed rich nations for managing the world crisis by calling for belt-tightening by the poor while benefiting themselves from the financial system. In his first public address after seven months of treatment for larynx cancer, Lula, looking weak and walking with a cane, attended a seminar on investment in Africa sponsored by the state Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).

He used the occasion to take European countries to task for tackling the crisis with austerity measures and by injecting an enormous amount of money into the financial system. “They are calling for austerity by the poor, the workers and governments of the most economically fragile countries. But at the same time, they accepted packages and packages of financial resources injected in the financial system which precisely benefit sectors responsible for the speculation that trigger the crisis we are currently experiencing,” he added.

“They are punishing victims of the crisis and awarding prizes to those who are responsible for it. This is a big mistake,” Lula said. He noted that rich countries were dealing with the crisis by “slashing public investment, cutting salaries and workers’ benefits, increasing unemployment and raising the minimum retirement age.” “The logic could be summarized in this way: the financial system enjoys all the necessary support so as not to suffer from the crisis. But workers, retirees, the most fragile and the poorest, are helped by no one,” Lula noted.

Lula’s successor, President Dilma Roussef, has also repeatedly criticized what she called the “monetary tsunami” unleashed by the monetary expansion of the eurozone. Brazil, Latin America’s dominant power and the world’s sixth largest economy, has been blaming the appreciation of its currency, the real, on a “currency war” waged by developed countries, which are flooding the market with dollars through cheap credit.

The foreign currency influx into countries such as Brazil, which offers high interest rates, leads to a stronger real and increased imports, and makes Brazil’s exports more expensive. Lula, who ruled from 2003 to 2010 and pulled 28 million Brazilians out of poverty, also indirectly took aim at the International Monetary Fund, an institution in which Brazil and fellow emerging powers seek a greater voice.

“It seems that multilateral institutions lack the authority and the governance to assert their decisions,” the former president added. He recalled that in 2009 the world’s top 20 rich and emerging powers had agreed on tighter regulation of financial markets and voiced regret that there was no follow through. —AFP

Carlyle flat in stock market debut NEW YORK: Shares of Carlyle Group LP ended trading almost flat on Thursday, in line with a low-key ceremony to mark its $671 million stock market debut and one day after the private equity firm had to discount its original IPO price range. Shares closed at $22.05 after opening at $22, the level at which Carlyle priced its IPO after discounting it. Given that shares of all of its major peers ended their first day of trading below their opening price, it was a triumph of sorts in an otherwise underwhelming offering.

Investors are eyeing Carlyle’s IPO to gauge how the stocks of financial institutions are valued. Alternative asset managers are the most intricate of investment firms, with the complexity of their internal workings weighing on their valuations. Carlyle shares opened flat and then climbed as much as 2 percent as they began their debut on the Nasdaq. They hovered above $22 for most of the day but momentarily fell as low as $21.85, below the IPO price, in afternoon

trading. “All year we’ve seen really the only companies that have done well in this market are high-growth technology companies, consumer names that target the high end and companies with particularly profitable business models,” said Jim Krapfel, an equity analyst with Morningstar.

“With Carlyle, it doesn’t fit into any of these three buckets and has issues related to its industry such as opaque business models, limited financial disclosures, risks to higher taxation, greater regulatory oversight and a limited partnership structure that places minority shareholders at a distinct disadvantage.” Financial firms have struggled with their IPO debuts so far this year, posting an average first-day return of just 4.9 percent, compared with an average pop of 13 percent across all industries, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.

On Wednesday, shares of EverBank Financial Corp priced at $10, below the

expected range of $11 to $12. The Floridabased lender had also cut its range from $12 to $14, as well as the number of shares on offer to 19.2 million from 25.2 million.

“Financial stocks have the overhang of Europe as well as mortgage and interest rate pressures and it’s difficult for these companies to go into the market at a big premium,” said Josef Schuster, founder of Chicago-based financial services firm IPOX Schuster LLC. “They’re tied to the global business cycle which is quite weak.”

Investors point to TPG Capital LP, which has $48 billion of assets under management and has diversified beyond buyouts, as the next major private equity firm likely to go public. David Bonderman, TPG’s co-founding partner, said earlier this year that TPG had no immediate plans for an IPO. But he left the door open by noting that moves by TPG’s competitors to go public gave them an advantage in having more capital

available to seed new funds and launch more product offerings.

Pride in market performance Carlyle’s 30.5 million share initial public offering was priced at $22 on Wednesday, below its expected price range of $23 to $25 per unit, giving it a market value of about $6.7 billion. The discount did not directly affect Carlyle’s owners as they did not sell shares in the IPO. Carlyle sold about 10 percent of itself by issuing new shares, diluting the owners’ stakes. Still, the value of their firm proved lower than they had hoped.

Some large institutional investors were leery about investing in Carlyle because of the poor after-market performance of its peers, according to people close to the deal. Others stayed away from the deal because it would have forced their investors to fill out a burdensome partnership tax form known as a K-1. This further reduced the size of the investor pool on the large deal. —Reuters

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Jolie to gain weight before wedding www.kuwaittimes.net

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Vogue slaps worldwide ban on under-16 models PAGE 28

Brooke Lampley, Christie’s Americas Director for Impressionist and Modern†Art, talks about Buste de Diego

by Alberto Giacometti at Christie’s April 26, 2012 in New York. The sculpture is part of the Impressionist and Modern Art sale. — AFP

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

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ngelina Jolie reportedly wants to gain 10lbs before her wedding. The svelte actress is set to tie the knot with her partner of seven years Brad Pitt this summer and is keen to put on a bit of weight as she wants some curves to fill out her dress. So she and Brad - who raise six children together - have reportedly asked British chef Jamie Oliver to give her recipes for hearty yet healthy meals. A source told the Daily Star newspaper: “Angelina has decided she’d like a more shapely figure when she weds Brad and is hoping to gain ten pounds. Brad and Ange have asked Jamie to suggest some recipe ideas for them. “Ange never cooks so Brad’s now knocking up some English dishes like shepherd’s pie and sausage and mash.” Brad - who was previously married to Jennifer Aniston - is also keen for Angelina to gain a few pounds as he prefers her when she has a curvier figure. The source continued: “Brad would love her to have curves like she did when they met on ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ in 2004.

“Jamie has been to Brad and Ange’s home numerous times.

They have a similar sense of humour and are all down to earth.”

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ebra Messing has spoken for the first time about her marriage breakdown. The former ‘Will and Grace’ star and her producer husband Daniel Zelman announced their 11-year marriage was over last December, bringing an end to a relationship that began in 1990 when they met at college. The split coincided with Debra - who has a seven-year-old son Roman with Daniel - relocating from Los Angeles to New York to shoot new TV show ‘Smash’ and she admits the amount of changes in her life were tough for her to deal with. In an interview in the June issue Ladies’ Home Journal magazine, she said: “It’s like 20 years. It’s a very long time. When I say the move to New York was traumatic, it was traumatic because every aspect of

my life was going through a huge change.” Although when Debra said her vows she thought she was marrying for life, she thinks the concept of marriage is becoming outdated because of changes in modern society.

She added: “I think the idea of a partner for life is incredibly romantic. But now we’re living to 100. A hundred years ago people were dying at age 37. Till death do us part was a much different deal.” Debra is now believed to be dating her ‘Smash’ co-star Will Chase - who separated from his wife, Broadway star Stephanie Gibson, last year.

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olin Firth says being goodlooking is a hindrance in modern society. The Oscarwinning actor - who is a sex symbol for many women - believes beautiful people are often dismissed as being vacuous and stupid by others just as much as they are celebrated for their attractiveness. Colin thinks the stereotype leads to beautiful people having to work extra hard to earn respect for their intellect. He said: “There was a time when a beautiful person was considered something fine and to be celebrated. “Now a beautiful person is assumed to be shallow and flaky. If you are beautiful in today’s society, you are presumed to have no substance. “I think a lot of talented and very bright people who are also physically beautiful have to work very hard if they don’t want to just lean on their looks ... I think someone that has the mind of a professor and also looks like they’re in ‘Baywatch’ would just upset people off because they don’t want them to have all of that.” Despite his incredible success, the 51-year-old actor also revealed his parents are not particularly impressed by his career choice. ‘The King’s Speech’ star’s father David was a history lecturer, while his mother Shirley is a religious academic and they only seem to be proud of his work if he

appears in a Shakespeare production. Colin - who is married to Italian director Livia Giuggioli - told website The Talks: “I think they quite like it when I play a role that they consider to be rather worthy of the profession, a role where calling yourself an actor isn’t an apology. It will inevitably be something Shakespearean that they consider superior. When I just prance around in ‘Mamma Mia!’, or something like that, I’m not sure how they reconcile themselves with the son they produced.”

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

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ame Helen Mirren would “have a glass of champagne and sit on the throne” if she was the Queen of England.

The British actress - who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in movie ‘The Queen’ - does not “covet” the role but would enjoy it if she was given the opportunity to be the head of state for just a day. She said: “I couldn’t handle the rules the queen has to live by at all and very few of us could. It’s a golden cage really. You’re never alone in that role you are always surrounded by security. I think that’s why she loves Balmoral because she can be on her own for a while. “If I were queen for a day, I would like breakfast in bed and then I’d sneak out incognito and go shopping in Zara. “At the end of the day, I’d have a glass of champagne while sitting on the throne - and then I’d happily hand it all back. It’s not a role I’d covet for the long-term.” Having met Queen Elizabeth a num-

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ooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman will make guest appearances in a forthcoming ‘The Simpsons’ episode. The ‘New Girl’ actress will reprise her role as Mary Spuckler - the daughter of Cleetus who Bart Simpson came close to marrying in season 19 - and she will be joined in the same episode by characters voiced by Natalie, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sarah Silverman. The quartet will lend their vocal talents to the roles of four of Bart’s former girlfriends when the 10-year-old boy goes on a romantic pilgrimage to visit his former love interests. ‘The Simpsons’ consulting producer Tim Long, who wrote the episode, is quoted by Entertainment Weekly as saying: “It was a way to acknowledge that for a 10-year-old boy, Bart has gotten a lot of action.

“We thought it might be fun to borrow/pay homage to/steal an idea from ‘High Fidelity’ and have him go on a romantic pilgrimage and visit

the girls that he dated and try to figure out how the hell he screwed things up with each of them ... I don’t want to give away too much, but he realizes that maybe there’s something wrong with him after all.” The ‘Moonshine River’ episode will see Bart briefly meet former flames Gina (Sarah), Darcy (Natalie), Jenny (Anne) and Nikki (Sarah) before learning that Mary (Zooey) has relocated to New York, so he tries to track her down in an attempt to reconcile his relationship with her. Tim joked: “Any resemblance between this episode and ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s is completely coincidental.” The episode will air in the US this autumn as part of the animated program’s 24th series, which will also feature vocal cameos by Steve Carell, Fred Armisen and Jennifer Tilly.

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he Coldplay frontman contracted the debilitating condition - a persistent ringing in the ears which also causes severe headaches - over 10 years ago and he has now started wearing earplugs in a bid to protect his hearing from getting worse after doctors warned it could end his career. He said: “I’ve had tinnitus for about 10 years, but since I started protecting my ears it hasn’t got any worse - touch wood. “The band use moulded filter plugs, or in-ear monitors. You can use industrial headphones but they look strange at a party.” Chris who insists his children, Apple, seven, and Moses, five, wear ear protectors when they attend his gigs with wife Gwyneth Paltrow - believes the root cause of his condition was listening to loud music as a teenager. He said: “Looking after your ears is unfortunately something you don’t think about until

ber of times, the 66-year-old actress believes there is a “sense of naughtiness” behind her steely exterior. She told Woman and Home magazine: “It’s terribly overwhelming. Your mind goes blank, but she is so lovely and so sparkly - and very adept at putting you at your ease. “There’s a sense of naughtiness there in her eyes. But there’s also a real understanding you don’t overstep the mark with her. “The fact that the queen stayed on course as a person is amazing. She has never got too fat, or too thin. She has stayed unbelievably consistent and followed a steady course. She’s an incredible example to us because of that.”

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elena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton are too “lazy” to get married. The couple - who have been together 11 years and have children Billy, eight, and fouryear-old Nell - famously live in adjoining houses because they need space from one another, though the actress insists this doesn’t mean their relationship isn’t serious.

She said: “We’re not [married], actually. Not through any kind of ... Through laziness, really. “Our houses are married.

It is very good to have. You definitely need your space.”

Helena and Tim have worked on seven movies together and the 45-year-old actress thinks it is important that she gets to see him work otherwise she would worry about the filmmaker’s stress levels and unhappiness when he came home in the evenings. Speaking to Daniel Radcliffe for Interview magazine, she said: “He is very stressed. Directors are. The stress level - it’s a battle. I mean everything that can go wrong goes wrong. “But then again, what’s great about working with Tim - when you’re involved with him is that I get to see that on set, he’s having fun. But if I didn’t get to go on set, I’d think he was suicidal for six months. “I love seeing him work. It’s a really good thing. It’s very healthy to do, every so often.” The ‘Dark Shadows’ star insists she would be “insane” if she turned down any roles she is offered by Tim because she thinks he is a “genius”, though there are also practical reasons for their frequent collaborations. She explained: “It makes sense for me. I’ve got two children with the man. It doesn’t make any sense to be going around the other side of the world and doing some other thing. “It’s Tim Burton. He’s a genius. You can’t turn him down just because you go out with him and have two children together. It would be insane. It would be positively wrong, and stupid.” there’s a problem. I wish I’d thought about it earlier.” Chris isn’t the only famous tinnitus sufferer. Rapper Plan B has also been stricken by the condition for some time - but initially thought he was just hearing passing trains. He said: “At first I thought it was trains rushing by as I live near a railway line. It’s caused by years of being subjected to loud music.”

‘Cars’ hitmaker Gary Numan is no longer able to mix music after damaging his hearing. He said: “I didn’t look after my ears and I’m in trouble.” All three stars are backing a new charity campaign, Action On Hearing Loss, which aims to get more people to wear ear defenders at gigs and clubs.—Bangshowbiz

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Helm, stars salute Amnesty International in song O ne of the last studio recordings

by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Levon Helm was also one of the closest to his heart. Helm, his longtime friend and producer Larry Campbell and a crew of musicians and technicians recorded the rhythm track for the new Amnesty International 50th anniversary commemorative song “Toast to Freedom” last summer and helped recruit stars like Ewan McGregor, Kris Kristofferson, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, Carly Simon, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Rosanne Cash and many others to join the effort. “We were both really passionate about this cause,” Campbell said in a phone interview. “When we recorded the original rhythm track for this, it was such a great day. Everybody was just completely in the spirit of the cause, the spirit of the song and the spirit of the music. One of the great things about working with Levon was he always made playing music a joyful event. And I know he wanted to see this thing through as far as he could.”

Campbell said Helm had hoped to support the release of the album with live performances, including yesterday’s debut on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” until his health failed.

The pioneering drummer of The Band died April 19. “He would’ve been out there on the Leno show had circumstances been different,” Campbell said.

“I just feel like his spirit was so much in line with the spirit of this song that he’ll be missed when we do it.” The idea for the song began with producer Carl Carlton and entrepreneur and for-

mer music industry executive Jochen Wilms, who approached the human rights organization.

Campbell said Carlton had much of the lyrical idea in place when he was invited to join the effort as co-producer and co-writer, adding music and a

Other stars who joined the effort included Blind Boys of Alabama, Donald Fagen, Eric Burdon, Mahalia Barnes, Matthew Houck and Shawn Mullins.

They scheduled sessions when they could - a challenge, trying to coordi-

File photo shows Levon Helm performing with the Levon Helm band during the Heroes of Woodstock concert at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY. —AP few suggestions. The story is based on the initial founding of Amnesty International by Peter Benenson. The British lawyer said the idea for the organization came after he read about a pair of Portuguese students who were arrested after making a toast to freedom in a bar. After Helm and crew laid down the rhythm track an international recruitment process began.

nate four dozen artists. Some recorded overseas or on the West Coast. Others traveled to Helm’s studio in Woodstock, NY “Then it came time to assemble the whole thing,” Campbell said, “which was like putting together a 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzle because you want to make it sound like a complete work, something that’s cohesive, and that it actually has the proper

peaks and valleys and tension and release - all the things that make a good song.”

The song continues a long relationship between Amnesty International and the creative community, which has helped spread the word of its mission almost from the start in 1961.

McGregor said in a statement it is important to draw attention to the group’s cause. “For people that are in situations where they are denied any kind of voice ... those of us that have one should be loud on their behalf,” he said. “We should be able to use our voice to draw attention to their struggle and to put pressure on the people that are oppressing them to let them know that we are here and we don’t accept what they are doing. That it’s not right and it’s against our human code.”

Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a phone interview from London that the group chose to release the song on Thursday, World Press Freedom Day, to support the cause of open media in places like Syria and China. And he sees much progress as Amnesty celebrates 50 years. “If you take just one year, what’s happened in the Middle East and North Africa, what those people are doing, I characterize that as a human rights revolution,” Shetty said. “You cannot turn on the TV without seeing a discussion of human rights, which you’d never see before. It’s a real resurgence of people power, the resurgence of ideals of justice, fairness and freedom.”—AP

New Zealand’s

‘Drearns Bogan’ heavy metal doctorate

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Fans of US pop diva Lady Gaga pose before her concert in Hong Kong. The eccentric star, who has a record number of almost 22 million followers on Twitter, kicked off her world tour in Seoul on April 27 and will play three concerts in Hong Kong followed

by Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.

A fan of US pop diva Lady Gaga poses before her concert in Hong Kong.

A fan of US pop diva Lady Gaga sports a pair of shoes and a ‘tattoo’ similar to one her idol wears.

New Zealand researcher has earned a doctorate studying the social habits of heavy metal fans, or “bogans” as they are known in the country. Dave Snell began his research at Waikato University in 2007, intent on using psychological tools to look beyond the stereotypical image of bogans as anti-social and potentially dangerous outsiders. Snell, himself an avid headbanger, graduated this week after completing his thesis entitled “The everyday life of bogans: identity and community among heavy metal fans”.

Backed by a NZ$100,000 ($81,000) grant, he attended heavy metal concerts to study bogans in a social setting and interviewed them to see how belonging to the group affected other aspects of their lives. Snell found that while his subjects used similar physical cues such as long hair, acid wash jeans and a predilection for black T-shirts to identify themselves as bogans, they did not confirm to one personality type. He said there was no evidence metal fans were less able to participate in activities such as employment than other groups, they just toned down their appearance in so-called “normal” settings.

“My research shows that you can’t just slot people into distinct personality types, like those psychometric tests that HR (human resources) people sometimes use,” he said. —AFP

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

‘The Perfect Family’ Review

is far from perfect Samuel L Jackson slams film critic over

‘Avengers’ S

amuel L. Jackson is sick of all these critics trashing his movie. Jackson, who plays S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury in the upcoming superhero epic “The Avengers,” virtually eviscerated New York Times critic A. O. Scott on Twitter on Thursday, after Scott wrote a lessthan-glowing review of “The Avengers.” In his Twit-fit, Jackson suggested that Scott should find a new profession, writing, “#Avengers fans, NY Times critic AO Scott needs a new job! Let’s help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do!”

While Scott didn’t outright pan the film in his review, which was published Thursday, he did throw a few jabs at the men-in-tights extravaganza, calling it “a snappy little dialogue comedy dressed up as something else, that something else being a giant A.T.M. for Marvel and its new studio overlords, the Walt Disney Company.” Oh, and he added that the film suffers from a “grinding, hectic emptiness” and “bloated cynicism.”

Jackson’s reaction, as seems to happen so often in the Twitterverse, prompted a reaction of its own. Movie website The Film Nest tweeted, “Disappointed to hear @SamuelLJackson respond irrationally to negative review of #Avengers. People aren’t entitled to their own opinion?” Naturally, the actor couldn’t let that stand and fired back, “That is My Opinion! @TheFilmNest & what’s irrational about it? They aren’t going to fire his jaundiced ass & You & I

Know It!” Jackson’s attack on Scott sparked a flood of support for the scribe from his journalistic colleagues, who circled the wagons in his defense. “@AOScott His call for you to lose your job only supports your point about ‘glowering authoritarianism’ in pop culture,” New Yorker music critic Alex Ross wrote, referencing a line from the review. “Well said!”

New York magazine TV columnist Matthew Seitz chimed in, “The latent fascism of fanboy culture manifests itself through Samuel L. Jackson.

“A few negative reviews in hundreds? Get ‘em, boys!” Meanwhile, Mike Ryan, senior writer for HuffPo Entertainment, cracked, “I’m just going to guess that Jackson has never read your positive ‘Revenge of the Sith’ review.” In a bit of interesting timing, Jackson was the subject of a lengthy, glowing profile in NYT Magazine over the weekend. During the profile, Jackson sought to distance himself from other celebrities who’ve become too pampered to endure everyday experiences.

“I walk the streets, take the train, it’s real simple,” Jackson professed. “Some actors create their own mythology- ‘Oh, I’m so famous I can’t go places, because I created this mythology that I’m so famous I can’t go places.’ “ Enduring the opinions of film critics, apparently, is another matter.

Maybe Jackson should just sic The Hulk on Scott?

“The Avengers” opened yesterday.— Reuters

Jewel to play June Carter Cash in Lifetime biopic

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Jewel

ewel will play country-music legend June Carter Cash in a lifetime biopic about the former wife and musical partner of Johnny Cash, the network said Thursday. The TV film, which bears the working title “The June Carter Cash Story,” is based on her son John Carter Cash’s book “Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash.”

Following the singer’s life from her early beginnings to her stormy marriage to “Ring of Fire” singer Johnny Cash, the biopic will begin filming in early summer in Atlanta, for a premiere later this year. Allison Anders (“Gas, Food Lodging”) will direct. Cash, who died in 2003 at age 73, was also portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the 2005 film “Walk the Line.”—Reuters

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s sure as the Pope resides at the Vatican, the Catholic Church won’t be organizing busloads of parishioners for fieldtrips to go see “The Perfect Family.” That’s because this slight satirical comedy has as its center a woman so slavishly devoted to the church that she has worn blinders for years that keep her from seeing that her own family is falling apart. The film’s title, “The Perfect Family,” is meant to be ironic with a neon yellow highlighter through it.

A matronly Kathleen Turner tears with gusto into the role of Eileen Cleary, a seemingly devoted wife and mother who spends her days volunteering at her local parish, helping with communion, bringing meals to the elderly and serving on church committees. It’s when Eileen is nominated for her local church’s Catholic Woman of the Year award, with its promise of a prayer of absolution administered by a visiting high ecclesiastical muck-a-muck that will bring forgiveness for all her sins, that the hypocrisy of her situation becomes glaringly apparent, eventually even to her. While Eileen has been busy crossing herself and genuflecting, her disaffected husband (Michael McGrady) has been going to AA meetings, her unhappy fireman son (Jason Ritter) has left his wife and kids for a manicurist, and her lawyer daughter (Emily Deschanel) - though still in the closet to Mom - is pregnant and planning to wed her female partner.

There’s more than a whiff of datedness to “Perfect Family.” Other than possibly the gay daughter getting hitched to her girlfriend, the supposedly shocking revelations seem so commonplace today that a viewer keeps wondering if this isn’t a mediocre William Inge play from the 1950s or early ‘60s that has been pulled out of a drawer somewhere, dusted off and mistakenly attributed to screenwriters Paula Goldberg and Claire V. Riley.

What keeps the movie - directed in workmanlike fashion by first-timer Anne Renton - watchable is Turner’s passionate performance and solid work by McGrady, Ritter and Deschanel. In smaller roles, Richard Chamberlain, sporting a

variable Irish accent, turns up several times as Eileen’s clueless local priest, as does Sharon Lawrence as her condescending chief rival for the Catholic Woman award.

The movie never pushes its satire too far and is the poorer for it. One keeps wishing “Perfect Family” would go overboard rather than keeping such a short leash on itself. Audiences can judge for themselves at home on May 4, as the comedy will be available on VOD the same day it hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

A viewer (at least one of a certain age) can’t help flashing back to “Serial Mom,” the 1994 John Waters comedy in which Turner played a similar role as an uptight mother intent on protecting her model family. What one wouldn’t give for a scene in “Perfect Family” to match the one in “Serial Mom” where Turner’s crusading matriarch beats a woman senseless for having the temerity to wear white after Labor Day. Now there’s an issue worth getting upset over.—Reuters

This handout photo provided by Red Bull and taken on May 1, 2012 shows of four times breakdancing world champions, Berlin dance troupe ‘Flying Steps’, Pierre ‘Punisher’ Bleriot and Vartan Bassil inside Pula’s 2000 year old Roman amphitheatre two days prior to the first show of the Red Bull Flying Bach World Tour, a cultural clash of breakdancing with the classical music of Johann Sebastian Bach at Pula, Croatia. The world tour visits 13 countries over seven months. — AFP

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Deathbed wish gives Ivory Coast first -

all women orchestra

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t took a mother’s last wish, and a man to make it happen, but Ivory Coast now has its first all-women orchestra in what is hailed as a little “revolution” in this fiercely patriarchal society. “Why is it so surprising to see women play instruments?” asked Landry Louoba, one of the 10 women in the Bella Mondo band. The energetic Louoba plays percussion-and has the biceps to prove italongside a drummer, a pianist, a bassist, singers and other musicians, most in their 30s.

The man who got things started is promoter Charly Maiwan, a Canadian from Montreal who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and made a promise to his mother, a passionate music lover, on her deathbed.

“You always told me you’d have me sing, but my time has come, I’m leaving. Promise me that now you’ll make the women of the world sing,” he told AFP, recalling his mother’s words. In 2007, Maiwan, who travels regu-

The 10-member Ivorian women’s band Bella Mondo performs on March 8, 2012 to mark International Women’s Day at the Golfe Hotel in Abidjan. — AFP photos

larly to Africa, contacted Nadine Levry, an Ivorian singing in nightclubs in the economic capital Abidjan. She liked the idea and contacted bass player Prisca Allou. Bella Mondo was born, and quickly recruited eight other members with a repertoire that ranges from reggae, afro-zouk and a local dance music called zouglou, to oldies and some of their own compositions. “This adventure must continue and attract other women,” said percussionist Louoba.

“It’s the right time for our revolution,” added Josiane Labi Luo, one of the group’s four singers whose goes by the stage name “Jo Labi”. “Revolution”, in fact, is the title the women chose for their first album, scheduled for release in 2013 and a testament to their will to overcome both the country’s unbending macho ethic and the turmoil from a decade of armed rebellion and political conflict that claimed 3,000 lives last year alone.

‘Society viewed us badly’ A hairdresser by trade, Levry, the band

leader and a mother, recalls the difficulty she had selling the idea to her own family.

Through sheer perseverance she finally obtained their “blessing”, but blamed such trouble on Ivorian society as a whole. Women remain sidelined in both political and economic circles in the Ivory Coast, said Salimata Porquet, a women’s rights activist who heads a non-governmental organisation called the Peace and Security Network for Women in ECOWAS (the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States).

“There is still much to do to reach malefemale parity, a promise that was never kept”

by President Alassane Ouattara since he took office last May, she charged, noting there are only six women in the 35-member government and 30 in the 253-member parliament.

Yet “in Ivory Coast, 60% of households are headed by women, after a decade of political, military and socio-economic turbulence that has disrupted social structures, triggered layoffs, closed factories and torn apart families,” Porquet said, adding: “This is the state of

affairs in much of the continent.” As for the orchestra, “the attitude of men was oppressive at first,” said Levry. “Society viewed us so badly...

Women are only meant to cook, make children and take care of the house.” The “revolution” they’ve undertaken is “to show that women can play instruments, sometimes even better than men!” she said. The women perform in elegant dresses of African wax cloth and have played across Abidjan, but their “headquarters”, as they call it, is a club called “Pams” in the trendy district of IlPlateaux.

March 8, International Women’s Day, brought an official “blessing” of sorts when they were asked to perform at a governmentplanned gala hosted by former prime minister and now speaker of parliament Guillaume Soro. And the milestones continue. In July the orchestra is scheduled to play in Montreal at a women’s music festival organised by Maiwan, as well as some gigs in Europe. Other requests are coming in but the group’s manager, Dominique Tahi, said the band “lacks instruments” and is pressing authorities for help.

For band leader Levry, there’s another wish: “If Ivorian people would have a positive attitude towards what we’re doing and support us, that would really help.” — AFP

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Visitors walk past newly built “heritage” buildings in Beijing’s historical Qianmen street.

Asia’s

architectural treasures ‘vanishing’

A

sia’s architectural treasures, from a Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan to an ancient city in China, are in danger of vanishing under a tide of economic expansion, war and tourism, experts said Thursday.

The Global Heritage Fund named 10 sites facing “irreparable loss and destruction.” “These 10 sites represent merely a fragment of the endangered treasures across Asia and the rest of the developing world,” Jeff Morgan, executive director of the fund, said, presenting the report, “Asia’s Heritage in Peril: Saving Our Vanishing Heritage.”

The architectural gems from Asia’s ancient and sophisticated cultures are struggling in the face of economic expansion, sudden floods of tourists, poor technical resources, and areas blighted by looting and conflict-in other words, the pressures of rapidly modernizing Asia. “We’re looking at these millennial civilizations leapfrogging into the 21st centu-

ry at a kind of pace that is unheard of, unprecedented,” said Vishakha N. Desai, president of the Asia Society, which hosted a conference based on the report. Kuanghan Li, head of Global Heritage Fund’s China program, underlined the urgency in a presentation on work to preserve Pingyao, one of

A crowd of visitors gather to admire the newly built ìheritageî buildings in Beijingís historical Qianmen street on April 22, 2012. — AFP photos

Workers lay pipes along a street by a newly built “heritage” building.

China’s last surviving walled cities. The stunning fortifications are impressively maintained and floodlit.

But “up to 20 years ago, there were hundreds of similar walled cities left in China,” she said. “They have been demolished.” Experts said that global architectural preservation efforts are poorly coordinated and targeted, with the UN cultural body UNESCO focusing almost entirely on sites in already wealthy European countries, rather than in places like Latin America or Asia. More than 80 percent of UNESCO World Heritage sites are located in the 10 richest states, the Global Heritage Fund said. Elsewhere, “heritage is being dramatical-

ly undervalued,” Morgan said, warning that the endangered sites were doomed without quick help. “We’re going to lose them on our watch in the next 10 years.”

Shirley Young, head of the US-China Cultural Institute, said the importance of such work goes beyond being “just about beautiful buildings, beautiful sites.” “I think we’d agree,” she said, “that a world without history is a world without soul.” Still, experts highlighted stories of inspiring success stories. John Sanday, a specialist who has spent years trying to bring Angkor and other Cambodian sites back from the brink of collapse, showed dramatic before-and-after photographs of majestic temples that he first encountered two decades ago.

“The trees had literally just taken over and strangling the building, pulling it apart,” he said, pointing to ruins that had been made structurally sound once again-although now under threat from tourism. “We really hope with a concerted effort we can save these

places,” Morgan said.

The top 10 endangered sites in Asia, according to the Global Heritage Fund, are: 1. Ayutthaya in Thailand, a former Siamese capital known as the “Venice of the East.”

2. Fort Santiago in the Philippines.

3. Kashgar, one of the last preserved Silk Road cities in China.

4. Mahasthangarh, one of South Asia’s earliest archeological sites in Bangladesh.

5. Mes Aynak, an Afghan Buddhist monastery complex on the Silk Road.

6. Myauk-U, capital of the first Arakenese kingdom in Myanmar.

7. Plain of Jars, a mysterious megalithic site in Laos.

8. Preah Vihear, a Khmer architectural masterpiece in Cambodia.

9. Rakhigari, one of the biggest, ancient Indus sites in India.

10. Taxila, an ancient economic crossroads in Pakistan. — AFP

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

T

The editors said they would not knowingly work with models ‘who appear to have an eating disorder’. — AFP

he editors of all 19 editions of Vogue around the world pledged to use only healthy models no younger than 16 on their editorial pages in an attempt to shift fashion’s approach to body image. Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue’s flagship US edition, and Emmanuelle Alt of Paris Vogue, which touched off a furor in 2010 with a photo spread featuring a 10year-old girl, are among the editors who agreed to the pact.

“Vogue believes that good health is beautiful,” said Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Conde Nast International and a scion of the New York publishing family that privately owns the world’s most influential fashion title.

“Vogue editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the well-being of their readers,” he said in a statement. The editors said that in a six-point pact to appear in their respective June issues, they would pledge not to knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or with those “who appear to have an eating disorder.” “We will work with models who, in our view, are healthy and help us to promote a healthy body image,” they said.

The editors will also instruct modeling agencies not to send them underage models, require casting directors to check models’ ID prior to photo shoots and encourage “healthy backstage working conditions,” including food options. Fashion designers, meanwhile, will be encouraged-though not obliged-to “consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample (dress) sizes... which encourages the use of extremely thin models.”

“We will be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image,” the editors’ pact concludes. In an email to AFP, a Conde Nast spokeswoman said the initiative was being “implemented locally as is appropriate in each market by the individual editions.” The Model Alliance, launched by New York-based fashion models in February to campaign for better working conditions, said it welcomed Vogue’s “impressive lead” and hoped other magazines would follow suit. “The use of underaged models is linked to financial exploitation, eating disorders, interrupted schooling, and contributes to models’ overall lack of empowerment in the workplace,” it said in a statement.

“We simply believe that 14 is too young to be working in this very grown-up industry, and we’re glad that Conde Nast International is making this commitment.”

In a recent survey of 241 New York-based models posted on its website (www.modelalliance.org), the Model Alliance found that 54.7 percent had started working between the ages of 13 to 16.

Sixty-four percent said they’d been asked by their agencies to lose weight. “Eating disorders are not uncommon,” according to the survey. “Models report that drug use in the workplace is rampant. And more than two-thirds of models say they suffer from anxiety or depression.” — AFP

F

ashion house Paco Rabanne, which launched a women’s ready-to-wear line last year, has dismissed its artistic director, Manish Arora of India, by a “mutual agreement,” it said yesterday. “We are most grateful to Manish for the work accomplished and the energy that he displayed all along this project,” it said in a statement. “The strong media impact of the past two seasons has enabled Paco Rabanne to partake with strength in the universe of contemporary fashion,” it added, without explaining why Arora was leaving.

Arora, who has his own line of apparel in an array of psychedelic colours and snappy prints, presented a critically acclaimed collection for Paco Rabanne in March. His first creations for the Paris-based Spanish fashion house, unveiled in September last year in its first show since 2006, featured exaggerated shoulders and hips reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s silhouettes of the 1980s.

Arora, a Bombay native who lives in New Delhi, said in the statement: “Revisiting the Paco Rabanne fashion was a very enriching experience and an exceptional artistic and human adventure.” He added: “I am, today, happy to have accomplished the mission I was trusted with in order to cast this iconic brand back into the spotlight.”— AFP

File photo shows Gwen Stefani is joined by her son Kingston on the runway after her L.A.M.B. fashion show held during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. —AP

Stefani squeezes in fashion, music around her sons

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A file picture shows Indian fashion designer Manish Arora posing on September 26, 2011 in Paris. — AFP

wen Stefani is no stranger to multitasking, juggling her music career - she’s wrapping up a new album with No Doubt - and her fashion projects, which include the debut of the newest Harajuku Mini collection at Target next week. But, Stefani says, it’s her sons that mostly keep her on her toes. Some days, running Kingston, 6, and Zuma, 4, back and forth to school, doing homework and tucking them into bed seems to take up the biggest part of her day. “I like to be with them whenever I can, of course,” the 42-year-old singer-designer says.

Her mother was very hands-on, and Stefani says that’s what she’s striving to do. Some of her favorite memories include wearing Holly Hobbie bonnets and velvet dresses with lace collars that her mother made for her. “Growing up, I had a really amazing mom who

was really creative. She made stuff for every holiday, and I learned how to sew. ... She has really good style and I feel like my parents let me be creative - but they’d always check my skirt length,” Stefani says.

“They were strict.”

Stefani has been designing her LAMB line for women for nine years, so, she says, this collaboration on a children’s line came pretty easily because she knows the design and manufacturing process, has more ideas than she knows what to do with, and has learned to edit herself for a clear, consumer-friendly message. —AP

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Evangelista fights French tycoon over child support F ormer supermodel Linda Evangelista clashed in court Thursday with Frenchman FrancoisHenri Pinault over child support for her son fathered by the Gallic tycoon, one of France’s wealthiest men. In what could be one of the most expensive child support cases ever, Evangelista wants $46,000 a month for 5-year-old Augustin, including a bodyguard, a driver and a 24-hour nanny, according to a list by Pinault’s lawyers.

Evangelista’s attorney William Beslow disputed the amount, but gave no figure for how much the Canadian ex-model is seeking to support “Augie” from billionaire Pinault. Dressed in dark glasses and Louboutin high heels, Evangelista arrived 15 minutes late for the hearing in a Manhattan family court, before the 49-year-old Frenchman took the stand first. Pinault, who heads the PPR luxury goods conglomerate whose brands include Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, testified for more than an hour, and was pressed at length about his “incredible” wealth.

Beslow had the French businessman describe his many businesses, positions, homes and luxury holidays spent with his three other children, but never with Augustin, who was born in October 2006. Speaking in English, Pinault said he had only known the ex-model for four months, and they had only spent seven days together, when she announced she was pregnant in early 2006. “I asked Linda what were her intentions with the pregnancy, we were dating for four months, we had been together seven days, I didn’t know her very well,” he said, avoiding looking at Evangelista, 46.

“She told me if I didn’t want to be involved to raise that kid, she would understand and she would take care of the kid... I was not involved in the decision of having the baby.” Conceding that he broke off their relationship, Pinault added: “Then of course, I told her I would recognize the baby, which I did. I would take my responsibility and I did.” The businessman acknowledged that he

had not paid any child support for Augustin, but said he was the first one to raise the issue in 2007.

“I received a demand that was not reasonable,” he said.

Pinault continued his testimony yesterday.

Evangelista will take the stand after him, in a case expected to last four days. The record for a US child support ruling is currently held by rapper Sean “P. Diddy”, who was ordered in 2005 to pay $19,000 a month to his former lover Misa Hylton Brim, with whom he had a son, Justin, now 18. Pinault has been married since 2009 to actress Salma Hayek, with whom he has a four-year-old daughter, Valentina. He also has two other children from a previous marriage. — AFP

Australia Fashion Week

Models parade creations during Malaysian designer Winson Tan’s ‘Dicotyledon’ show at Fashion Week Australia in Sydney yesterday. The annual event showcases over 75 collections by renowned Australian and Asian designers. — AFP photos

Malaysian designer Winson Tan waves after his ‘Dicotyledon’ show.

Bogart sues Burberry over ‘Casablanca’ photo

T

he estate of Humphrey Bogart is suing British-based clothes company Burberry over use of the Hollywood icon’s name in what it said was an advertising campaign. But Burberry has filed a countersuit, insisting it did not breach Bogart’s rights by using a photo of Bogart wearing one of its trenchcoats in the movie “Casablanca,” and seeking damages from the actor’s estate. Both companies filed their legal action in the United States on Wednesday, a couple of weeks after the estate raised the issue with the classic English clothing company.

The Bogart Estate filed its action in Los Angeles, saying Burberry used the trench coat picture from the final scene of Oscar-winning 1942 classic “Casablanca,” on Twitter and Facebook, without its permission. “Just as Burberry needed to obtain (Harry Potter actress)

Emma Watson’s consent before using her name and image to promote Burberry’s brand and products, it needed to obtain permission from the Bogart Estate to use Humphrey Bogart’s name,” said lawyer Michael O. Crain. “Burberry’s business hinges on respect for its own intellectual property rights, so it is quite surprising to see that it apparently has so little respect for the clear rights of others.” But Burberry counter-sued in New York, saying the photo was licensed from photo agency Corbis for editorial use. It said Burberry first contacted it about the issue on April 10.

Burberry said the image was used in the context of a historic “timeline” of the British company, used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, showing the development of its “culture, products and people” over the decades. “Burberry’s use of this photo and descrip-

tion were intended to reflect on the long history, significance and influence of Burberry fashion in society,” said the Burberry lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. “Burberry’s use of the image... was not directly connected to the sale of any merchandise, but rather was a historical positioning of the image within an educational project along with numerous other photographs...”—AFP

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

KEY BISCAYNE: In this photograph taken by AP Images for LG Electronics, a mom blogger enjoys pampering in celebration of the 20 minute time savings of LG’s new TurboWash laundry technology at the Mom 2.0 Summit. — AP

Kaspersky Tablet Security: Advanced protection for your Android tablet

K

aspersky Lab introduces the all new Kaspersky Tablet Security, a tailored solution for protecting Android-based tablets. In developing the program Kaspersky Lab’s specialists factored in all the specific characteristics of tablets, with the result being a specialized security solution that ensures both protection against malicious and fraudulent software, and the inviolability of personal data in case of loss or theft of a device.

Kaspersky Tablet Security provides the ultimate protection against all kinds of cybercriminal activity, specifically designed for Android-based tablets.

Its anti-virus engine, working together with cloud-based protection technology, efficiently blocks all malicious programs, even new and previously unknown ones. Kaspersky Tablet Security also introduces the Web Protection feature, which helps block malicious or fraudulent websites when using the Android browser.

With Kaspersky Tablet Security you can be sure that the data on your Android tablet stays secure. It also keeps you away from harmful websites that aim to steal your social networking or online banking account details.

Kaspersky Tablet Security can also remotely block a lost or stolen device or wipe all its personal data. The program can determine the location of a lost or stolen tablet, not only via GPS, but also via mobile network data (GSM) or the coordinates of the nearest Wi-Fi access point. And the Mugshot function can secretly take photos of a person using a lost or stolen tablet with its builtin camera, and then transfer the photos to the owner of the device. The interface of the product is crafted specifically to suit Android-based tablets, recognizing their similarities to, as well as differences from, smartphones and PCs. Victor Dronov, Senior Product Manager of Kaspersky Lab, commented: “The number of devices you use in your everyday life is increasing. The Internet and your favorite apps always being to hand, even on the go - this is great. But at the same time, should a mobile device be lost, all our personal data can be put at risk: email messages, social network access, passwords, mobile banking data, photos, videos and more. Besides, malicious and fraudulent programs can also cause much inconvenience, or worse financial losses. With Kaspersky Tablet Security users can forget about these risks and enjoy the mobility of their digital life.”

Main features Anti-Virus: Protection from malicious and fraudulent software in real time Cloud Protection: Provides immediate reaction against new

and emerging threats Web Protection: Detects and blocks dangerous URLs and web-pages, including phishing websites Web Management: A web interface for remote control of a device Anti-Theft: Sophisticated data protection in all circumstances Find: The ability to search for a lost or stolen device using GPS, GSM or Wi-Fi Block and Data Wipe: The ability to block a device and wipe personal data Mugshot: The ability to secretly take photos from the device and send them to the owner Tablets: The best of both the PC and Smartphone worlds In terms of both design and ease of use tablets are similar to smartphones, while with regard to functionality they more closely resemble laptops. Viewing the Web, emailing, instant messaging, and even viewing and editing documents are all handled effortlessly on a tablet - with none of the attendant bulk of a laptop.

However, tablets have also inherited the limitations of both smartphones and laptops: Like smartphones, tablets can easily be lost or stolen; like on laptops, the information stored on a tablet can be detailed, sizable, important and confidential. Besides, the risk of loss of this information exists not only if a device is lost or stolen, but also as a result of a malware attack.

According to Kaspersky Lab data, in December 2011 the number of instances of malware targeting mobile devices exceeded 6400. Malicious applications created specifically for the Android platform are on the rise (making up 65% of mobile malware applications), and can be distributed even via the official Android Market online shop. What’s more, the malware targeting this platform is the most complex and sophisticated of all.

The tablet market is developing fast. As a forecast published by analysts Gartner shows, in 2015 almost 300 million tablets will be sold, with Android’s market share steadily increasing. Judging by the rise in the popularity of tablets, it is clear that the number of attacks on these devices will also rise, with the main target for the cybercriminals being users’ personal data.

Main features of Kaspersky tablet security Desktop-class anti-malware protection Kaspersky Tablet Security provides excellent protection from malware for Android-based tablets. The virus database is regularly updated with small, frequent updates that won’t affect perform-

ance. An anti-virus scan can either be scheduled or run ondemand at any time. To better fight new and emerging threats, Kaspersky Tablet Security introduces support for the cloud-based security network. Last, but not least, Kaspersky Lab’s product for Android-based tablets seamlessly integrates with the default Android browser to effectively detect and block malicious web pages and URLs. Block and Data Wipe functions In case of loss or theft of a tablet the user can remotely block it via Web Management. This function allows the user to enter a message that will appear on the screen of the lost device, for example to show the contact details of the owner to help enable its return. Also, if the tablet contains important personal or corporate data, the user can also completely delete them using Data Wipe.

Locating a tablet with find Using this function the owner of a device can increase the chances of its being returned by getting information on its location: its coordinates can be obtained remotely from the device’s GPS module - if it has one. However, should this be impossible either due to a lack of installed GPS module or there being no signal - information on the nearest GSM cellular base station or Wi-Fi access point can be obtained from the device. In the latter cases only approximate coordinates of the device’s whereabouts can be obtained, but they can still help in locating it.

Mugshot function: Remotely taking photos and sending them to the owner’s personal account on the Web Central portal This function can secretly take photos of a person who may have found or stolen a tablet using the camera on the front of the device. The tablet discretely takes a series of photos should someone perform certain actions on it like mouse clicks, slides or taps.

The photos are then sent to Web Central to be viewed by the owner, who could then, for example, pass them to the police.

Remote control via Web Management The Web Management feature provides all the necessary tools to control your tablet via a user-friendly web interface. It allows to activate anti-theft functions and control their state as well as receive device location data and view photos taken by the Mugshot feature. The tablet automatically connects itself to the Web Central server at designated intervals and, should it receive commands from the owner, implements them.

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Facebook execs tackle mobile concern in IPO video SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook Inc executives tackled concerns about the company’s mobile strategy during a video presentation for its IPO road show. The company plans to raise $10.6 billion, making it the largest initial public offering ever in Silicon Valley. On Thursday, Facebook released a 31-minute road show video featuring founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Vice President of Product Chris Cox. Investors have expressed concerns over how Facebook will increase advertising revenue as more people access the social network through small mobile devices.During a presentation on advertising, Sandberg said

mobile is a key area of growth for Facebook, and that the company would use sponsored stories to generate more advertising income.

Advertisers pay Facebook to highlight certain stories. These sponsored posts recently started running on the News Feeds of Facebook mobile users.

“Today only a small fraction of our ad impressions are sponsored stories, which gives us room to grow,” Sandberg said, adding that these paid posts were a “natural part of the Facebook mobile experience.”

Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman said the company would invest heavily in mobile, even if the payoff takes a long time. The road show, which is intended to persuade investors to buy Facebook shares, starts on Monday. —Reuters

Harvard, MIT unite to expand online education BOSTON: Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are teaming up to expand their online education programs-and they’re inviting other institutions to come on board. Called edX, the $60 million joint venture builds on MIT’s existing MITx platform that enables video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback, online laboratories and student-paced learning. “EdX represents a unique opportunity to improve education on our own campuses through online learning, while simultaneously creating a bold new education path for millions of learners worldwide,” said MIT president Susan Hockfield in a statement.

A first set of four or five courses, taught by Harvard and MIT faculty, is to start in September this year, with the two Boston area universities offering “as broad an initial set of courses as possible.” In a joint statement, they proposed to share edX-overseen by a non-profit organization led by Anant Agarwal, director of MIT’s computer science lab-with other schools and organizations. “Because the learning technology will be available as open-source software, other universities will be able to help edX improve and add features to the technology,” they said.—AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: File photo shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiling during the f/8 conference . — AP

Samsung reveals new flagship Galaxy smartphone NEW YORK: Samsung Electronics Co.’s latest Galaxy phone will have a high-definition touch screen that’s nearly twice the size of the iPhone, while being thinner and lighter than Apple’s phone. The Galaxy line has emerged as the biggest competitor to the iPhone. Samsung said the Galaxy S III will go on sale in Europe on May 29 and in the US this summer. The Korean company showed off the phone Thursday at an event in London. Like previous Galaxy phones, the S III will run Google Inc.’s Android software. The processor, or “brains” of the device, will be upgraded to include four computing cores.

The iPhone and most other high-end phones are “dual-core,” but there are some quad-core devices on sale already.

The added computing power will be put to use in the S III’s expanded voice-command features. When the phone screen is off, owners will be able to “wake” it up by saying “Hi, Galaxy.”

They can then give further spoken commands. When Apple launched the iPhone 4S last year, it also made advances in voice recognition a central selling point.

Samsung will sell a pad that charges a phone placed on it, with no need to connect a cable. Palm Inc.’s last smartphone had a similar feature when released three years ago, but it never became popular. Samsung said the phone will go on sale in 145 countries with 296 phone companies, making it the company’s biggest launch so far.

Australia warning over smouldering iPhone incident SYDNEY: Australia’s air safety watchdog warned yesterday of the potential dangers of lithium battery-powered devices after an iPhone that had undergone unauthorised repairs started smouldering on a flight to Sydney. In the incident last November on Australian carrier Regional Express a crew member used a fire extinguisher on a passenger’s phone that began overheating and giving off smoke in the cabin.

An investigation by the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) found that a small metal screw had been misplaced in the phone’s battery bay. The stray screw punctured the battery casing, causing an internal short circuit that led to overheating, which increased as the battery reacted and began to break down. It found that an “unauthorised repair facility” had failed to exercise appropriate quality control on the iPhone when it was being fixed. The ATSB said passengers should be aware of the safety measures related to flying with lithium battery-powered devices.

“When travelling with mobile phones, laptops and other portable electronic devices, or just their batteries, passengers should, wherever possible, carry them in the cabin, and not in checked-in baggage,” it said. —AFP

This product image provided by Samsung shows the latest phone in the company’s Galaxy line. — AP

This undated product image provided by Samsung on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 shows the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, 10-inch version.

In the US, Japan and Korea, the phone will use fourth-generation, or 4G, networks for faster data downloads. Samsung didn’t say which carriers would sell it, but the previous Galaxy model was sold by all four national US wireless carriers: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Samsung doesn’t release phone shipment figures, but most analysts believe its smartphones outsold Apple and its 35.1 million iPhones in the January-to-March period. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley believes Apple and Samsung together accounted for virtually all the profits in the phone industry in the first three months of 2012, with three-quarters going to Apple by virtue of its singular focus on the highpriced iPhone.

Samsung and Apple have a complicated relationship.

They’re rivals in the smartphone and tablet-computer markets and fight each other in court over patents. But Samsung is one of Apple’s largest suppliers of chips and displays, and Apple is one of Samsung’s largest clients.

The Galaxy series debuted in 2010. The screen size has increased with each version: The Galaxy S had a screen that measured 4 inches diagonally. It was followed by the S II, at 4.3 inches. The S III screen has a 4.8-inch screen. Meanwhile, the iPhone screen has stayed the same size, at 3.5 inches, but the recent models pack more pixels into the screen, for a sharper display. — AP

TV listings

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:25 06:40 Cody 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:35 10:00 10:25 11:45 12:05 12:30 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:00 18:45 19:10 20:25 20:50 22:05 22:30 22:55 Cody 23:20 Cody 23:45

00:45 Untamed & Uncut 01:40 Human Prey 02:35 In Search Of The King Cobra 03:30 Bite Of The Living Dead 04:25 The Animals’ Guide To Survival 05:20 Going Ape 05:45 Wildlife SOS 06:10 Vet On The Loose 07:00 Gorilla School 07:25 Crocodile Hunter 08:15 The Jeff Corwin Experience 09:10 Natural Born Hunters 10:05 The Really Wild Show 11:00 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 11:25 Bondi Vet 11:55 Dogs 101 12:50 Wildlife SOS 13:45 Must Love Cats 14:40 Safari Sisters 15:05 Safari Sisters 15:35 Big Five Challenge 16:30 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 17:25 Panda Adventures With Nigel Marven 18:20 Mutant Planet 19:15 Mutant Planet 20:10 Nick Baker’s Beautiful Freaks 21:05 Austin Stevens Adventures 22:00 Baboons With Bill Bailey 22:55 Into The Lion’s Den 23:50 Animal Cops Philadelphia

00:00 BBC World News 00:10 Weekend World 00:30 Tim Marlow On...

01:00 BBC World News 01:30 Horizons 02:00 BBC World News 02:10 Imagine 03:00 BBC World News 03:30 Fast Track 04:00 BBC World News 04:10 Riots And Revolutions: My Arab Journey 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 The Record Europe 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Click 07:00 BBC World News 07:10 Weekend World 07:30 Tim Marlow On...

08:00 BBC World News 08:10 World Football Focus 08:30 Horizons 09:00 BBC World News 09:10 The Doha Debates 10:00 BBC World News 10:10 World Features 10:30 Newsnight 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Our World 12:00 BBC World News 12:10 Weekend World 12:30 BBC World News 13:00 BBC World News 13:15 Sport Today 13:30 Fast Track 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 Dateline London 15:00 BBC World News 15:10 Imagine 16:00 BBC World News 16:30 Final Score 17:00 BBC World News 17:10 Riots And Revolutions: My Arab Journey 18:00 BBC World News 18:15 Sport Today 18:30 Fast Track 19:00 BBC World News 19:30 Click 20:00 BBC World News 20:10 World Features 20:30 Dateline London 21:00 BBC World News 21:10 The Doha Debates 22:00 BBC World News 22:30 Middle East Business Report 23:00 BBC World News 23:10 World Features 23:30 Our World

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:00 03:25

Duck Dodgers The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Jetsons Puppy In My Pocket Popeye Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes

CARRIERS ON OSN ACTION HD 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:55 08:20 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:30 11:50 12:10 12:35 13:00 13:50 14:40 15:05 15:55 16:20 16:45 17:15 18:05 18:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:15 22:35 23:00 23:20 23:45

Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races The Flintstones A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Popeye Classics Wacky Races Pink Panther And Pals Dexter’s Laboratory Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Jelly Jamm The Garfield Show The Looney Tunes Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Yogi’s Treasure Hunt Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Wacky Races The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Garfield Show The Flintstones Dastardly And Muttley Looney Tunes Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Tom & Jerry Top Cat Top Cat Pink Panther & Pals The Garfield Show The Looney Tunes Show Hollyrock-A-Bye-Baby Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries The Garfield Show Duck Dodgers The Flintstones Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Popeye Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley New Yogi Bear Show

00:15 01:10 01:35 Junior 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:25 08:15 09:10 10:05 10:55 11:50 12:45 13:40 14:35 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 20:05 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

00:35 01:25 01:50 02:40 03:35

Miami SWAT Destroyed In Seconds American Chopper: Senior vs Desert Car Kings X-Machines Miami SWAT How It’s Made How Stuff’s Made Coal How Stuff’s Made Really Big Things Building The Biggest Extreme Engineering X-Machines Man, Woman, Wild Dual Survival Ultimate Survival Ultimate Survival Oil, Sweat And Rigs Swamp Loggers Gold Divers Gold Rush Storm Chasers River Monsters Man vs Fish With Matt Watson Extreme Fishing Curiosity Weed Wars Gold Divers

Moon Machines The Tech Show Nextworld The Future Of...

Weird Connections

04:00 Weird Connections 04:25 Stunt Junkies 04:50 Stunt Junkies 05:20 Smash Lab 06:10 Moon Machines 07:00 Head Rush 07:03 Sci-Fi Science 07:30 Weird Connections 08:00 Eco-Tech 08:55 Nextworld 09:45 The Future Of...

10:35 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 13:55 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 14:45 Head Rush 14:48 Sci-Fi Science 15:15 Weird Connections 15:45 The Tech Show 16:10 Eco-Tech 17:00 Space Pioneer 17:50 The Future Of...

18:40 Scrapheap Challenge 19:30 Catch It Keep It 20:20 Cool Stuff & How It Works 20:45 Cool Stuff & How It Works 21:10 Sci-Trek 22:00 Scrapheap Challenge 22:50 Catch It Keep It 23:40 Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2011

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:30

Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers

Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Suite Life Of Zack And So Random Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Jessie A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Twitches Good Luck Charlie Suite Life On Deck Shake It Up Shake It Up Jessie Wizards Of Waverly Place So Random Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Lemonade Mouth Austin & Ally Shake It Up Shake It Up Twitches Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Sonny With A Chance

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:20 American Dragon 06:45 Rekkit Rabbit 07:10 Pokemon: Black And White 07:35 Phineas And Ferb 08:00 Kick Buttowski 08:30 Rated A For Awesome 09:00 Mr. Young 09:30 Iron Man Armored Adventures 10:00 Kickin It 10:30 Scaredy Squirrel 10:55 Zeke & Luther 11:20 I’m In The Band 11:45 Phineas And Ferb 12:10 Rekkit Rabbit 12:35 Iron Man Armored Adventures 13:00 Rated A For Awesome 13:25 Kid vs Kat 13:45 Zeke & Luther 14:10 Fort Boyard - Ultimate Challenge 14:35 Kickin It 15:00 Phineas And Ferb 15:25 Timon And Pumbaa 15:50 Pair Of Kings 16:15 Iron Man Armored Adventures 16:40 Zeke & Luther 17:05 Mr. Young 17:30 I’m In The Band 17:55 Rated A For Awesome 18:20 Kickin It 18:45 Phineas And Ferb 19:10 Scaredy Squirrel 19:35 Pokemon: Black And White 20:00 Rekkit Rabbit 20:25 Iron Man Armored Adventures 20:50 Kick Buttowski 21:15 Pair Of Kings 21:40 Phineas And Ferb 22:05 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:30 Kid vs Kat 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:25 00:55 01:25 02:20 03:15 03:40 04:10 05:05 06:00 07:50 08:20 09:15 10:15 11:10 12:05

Kendra Style Star THS THS Behind The Scenes Extreme Close-Up Sexiest Extreme Hollywood 30 Best & Worst Beach Bodies Behind The Scenes E! News Bridalplasty Giuliana & Bill Giuliana & Bill E! News

13:05 Scouted 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Khloe And Lamar 16:25 Khloe And Lamar 16:55 Ice Loves Coco 17:25 Ice Loves Coco 17:55 E! News 18:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 19:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 20:55 Style Star 21:25 Fashion Police 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:30 01:20 02:05 02:30 02:55 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

The Haunted Psychic Witness I Was Murdered I Was Murdered On The Case With Paula Zahn Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Psychic Witness Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery ER Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Exorcist Files The Haunted A Haunting

00:00 Solo 01:00 Departures 02:00 Nomads 03:00 Extreme Expeditions 04:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 05:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 06:00 Adventure Wanted 07:00 Meet The Amish 08:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 09:00 Deadliest Journeys 09:30 Cycling Home From Siberia With Rob Lilwall 10:00 Graham’s World 10:30 Graham’s World 11:00 Destination Extreme 11:30 Destination Extreme 12:00 Weird & Wonderful Hotels 12:30 Weird & Wonderful Hotels 13:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 14:00 Adventure Wanted 15:00 Meet The Amish 16:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses (Pilot) 17:00 Treks In A Wild World 18:00 Departures 19:00 Meet The Natives 20:00 Food School 20:30 One Man & His Campervan 21:00 Bondi Rescue 21:30 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 22:30 Danger Men 23:30 Pressure Cook

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

Salvage Code Red Inside China’s Mystery Mummies Britain’s Greatest Machines Caught In The Act Dangerous Encounters Dogtown Taboo Salvage Code Red Inside China’s Mystery Mummies Caught In The Act Hunter Hunted Nat Geo Amazing!

TV listings

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Somewhere In China Master of Disaster Taboo Megastructures World’s Deadliest Animals Situation Critical Lockdown Adventure Wanted Departures

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 India) 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Wild Chronicles Striker!

Bear Nomad Outback Wrangler Bandits Of Selous Expedition Wild Animal Fugitives Catching Giants Swamp Men Tiger Man The Living Edens Zambezi Africa’s Secret Seven Africa’s Deadliest Wild India (aka Secrets of Wild Night Stalkers Built for the Kill 4 Wildlife Rescue Africa Hunter Hunted Hooked Built for the Kill 4 Wildlife Rescue Africa Hunter Hunted Hooked Africa’s Deadliest

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 India) 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Wild Chronicles Wild Chronicles Striker!

Bear Nomad Outback Wrangler Bandits Of Selous Expedition Wild Animal Fugitives Catching Giants Swamp Men Tiger Man The Living Edens Zambezi Africa’s Secret Seven Africa’s Deadliest Wild India (aka Secrets of Wild

00:00 02:00 03:45 06:00 08:15 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Carriers-PG15 Mirrors 2-18 Shutter Island-18 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 The Craigslist Killer-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 Collateral-PG15 The Craigslist Killer-PG15 Top Gun-PG15 Collateral-PG15 The Hit List-18 Hidalgo-PG

03:30 Happy Endings 04:00 Friends 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Weird Science 06:30 Dharma And Greg 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Friends 08:30 New Girl 09:00 Seinfeld 09:30 30 Rock 10:00 Modern Family 10:30 Dharma And Greg 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Weird Science 12:30 Friends 13:00 Seinfeld 13:30 Dharma And Greg 14:00 Happy Endings 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 30 Rock 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Weird Science 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Parks And Recreation 18:30 2 Broke Girls 19:00 The Office 19:30 Man Up! 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 American Dad 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00

American Idol Smash Survivor: One World Glee Boardwalk Empire

05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Good Morning America Switched At Birth Castle The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View American Idol Glee Castle Good Morning America The Invisible Man The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Warehouse 13 Criminal Minds Sons Of Anarchy Top Gear (UK) Boardwalk Empire

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 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

Parenthood Survivor: One World Combat Hospital American Idol Smash Glee Parenthood Survivor: One World Castle The Chicago Code American Idol Glee Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Castle Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Royal Pains Warehouse 13 Criminal Minds Sons Of Anarchy

22:00 Top Gear (UK) 23:00 The Tudors

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:15

Gothika-18 The Clinic-18 Carriers-PG15 StreetDance-PG15 Spider-Man-PG The Warrior’s Way-PG15 A Lonely Place For Dying-PG15 Spider-Man-PG Tremors-PG15 Tupac: Resurrection-18 Hidalgo-PG From Within-PG15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Idle Hands-18 Post Grad-PG15 Elevator Girl-PG15 Paper Man-PG15 13 Going On 30-PG15 Snow Dogs-PG Frank McKlusky, C.I.-PG15 The Country Bears-PG Snow Dogs-PG Knucklehead-PG15 Stealing Harvard-PG15 Jack Goes Boating-PG15

00:45 I Capture The Castle-18 02:45 Posse-18 04:45 The Horse Whisperer-PG15 07:30 Hollywood, I’m Sleeping Over Tonight-PG15 09:15 The Nutty Professor-FAM 11:00 The Associate-PG15 13:15 Witch Hunt-PG15 15:15 The Nutty Professor-FAM 17:00 The Deep End Of The Ocean-

00:00 Paranormal Activity 2-18 01:30 Sundays At Tiffany’s-PG15 03:00 Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-PG15 05:15 Ramona And Beezus-PG 07:00 Prom-PG15 09:00 Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming-PG15 10:45 The Winning Season-PG15 13:00 City Of Life-PG15 15:00 B-Girl-PG15 16:30 Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming-PG15 18:00 Dear John-PG15 20:00 Spy Kids: All The Time In The World-PG 22:00 Unknown-PG15

00:00 The Nimbols: Part II-FAM 02:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 04:00 The Little Engine That CouldFAM 06:00 The Nimbols: Part II-FAM 07:45 Christopher Columbus-PG 10:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back-PG15 12:00 The Prince Of Dinosaurs-PG 14:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 16:00 Legend Of Sleeping Beauty-PG 18:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back-PG15 19:45 The Karate Kid-PG 22:15 The Prince Of Dinosaurs-PG

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 Politicsnation 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 Ed Show 10:00 MSNBC Morning Joe 13:00 MSNBC Documystery 14:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 16:00 MSNBC Up With Chris Hayes Saturday 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 Live ABC 20/20 21:00 MSNBC Documystery 22:00 MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry

Night Stalkers Built for the Kill 4 Wildlife Rescue Africa Hunter Hunted Hooked Built for the Kill 4 Wildlife Rescue Africa Hunter Hunted Hooked Africa’s Deadliest

00:00 Monsters-PG15 02:00 Thor-PG15 04:00 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-PG 06:00 Uncorked-PG15 08:00 The Karate Kid-PG 10:15 Lies In Plain Sight-PG15 11:45 Thor-PG15 13:45 Shanghai-PG15 15:30 The Karate Kid-PG 18:00 Jane Eyre-PG15 20:00 Spy Kids: All The Time In The World-PG 22:00 The Marc Pease ExperiencePG15

01:00 Shrink-18 03:00 Freakonomics-PG15 05:00 Like Mike-PG 07:00 Ramona And Beezus-PG 09:00 Freakonomics-PG15 11:00 The Making Of Plus One-PG15 13:00 Tomorrow, When The War Began-PG15 15:00 Sounds Like Teen Spirit-PG15 17:00 Brighton Rock-PG15 19:00 Page Eight-PG15 21:00 Vampires Suck-PG15 23:00 Jackass 3.5-R

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Enlightened 02:30 American Dad 03:00 New Girl

PG15 19:00 Don’t Look Back-PG15 21:00 Antwone Fisher-PG15 23:00 Phone Booth-PG15

LIKE MIKE ON OSN CINEMA

00:00 03:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 10:00 10:30 12:30 14:30 15:30

WWE SmackDown Super Rugby Live UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed Snooker World Championship European Tour Weekly Live Super Rugby Live Super Rugby WWE Vintage Collection Live Top 14

17:30 18:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

Futbol Mundial Live Super Rugby Live Super Rugby UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed

00:00 European PGA Tour 04:30 Top 14 06:30 SPL Highlights 07:00 Live AFL Premiership 10:00 Super League 12:00 Live Snooker World Championship 16:00 Futbol Mundial 16:30 Live Snooker World Championship 20:00 Trans World Sport 21:00 Live Snooker World Championship

01:30 Super League 03:30 Snooker World Championship 06:30 Total Rugby 07:00 Super Rugby 09:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 09:30 Live AFL Premiership 12:30 Live NRL Premiership 14:30 Live European PGA Tour 18:30 V8 Supercars 19:30 Live Super League 22:00 Live Prizefighter

00:00 03:00 05:30 06:30 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 12:00 21:30 23:30

Live UFC Prelims Live UFC V8 Supercars Live V8 Supercars UAE National Race Day UAE National Race Day Mobil 1 The Grid Live V8 Supercars WWE SmackDown Live Sevens World Series UFC V8 Supercars

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 10:00 13:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 Andes 23:00

Pawn Stars Deep Sea Detectives Planet Egypt Decoded UFO Hunters Battlefield Detectives Deep Sea Detectives Mega Movers Lock N’ Load With R. Lee Ermey Mega Movers Planet Egypt Decoded UFO Hunters Mud Men Pawn Stars Storage Wars American Restoration IRT: Deadliest Roads ‚Äì The Swamp People

00:00 The Skinny Dip 00:30 Distant Shores 01:00 Intrepid Journeys 02:00 Planet Sports 03:00 People Of The Sea 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Food Tripper 06:00 Glutton For Punishment 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Sophie Grigson In Thailand 08:30 Sophie Grigson In Thailand 09:00 Flavours Of Greece 10:00 How To Holiday Greener 11:00 Secrets Of Bangkok 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Third Class Traveller 14:00 Planet Food 15:00 Food Tripper 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Distant Shores 17:30 Distant Shores 18:00 Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Floyd On Africa 21:00 Food Tripper 22:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 23:00 Globe Trekker

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Korean Embassy organizes Korea Week

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Indian Lawyers’ Forum bids farewell

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ndian Lawyers’ Forum, Kuwait gave an emotional farewell to their executive member Sudheer Ramachandran and his wife Kavitha Sudheer, who are leaving Kuwait for good.

The send-off gathering which was organized in Swad Restaurant Auditorium, Abbasya was presided over by Indian Lawyers’ Forum President Thomas Panicker.

For and on behalf of the Forum members, Panicker presented the memento to Sudheer and Kavitha and wished both of them and their son all the very best.

Suresh Pulikkal, Rajesh Sagar, Mohammed Baseer, Vinod Kumar, Vidya, Jazeena, Sudhir Nambiar, Sumod also addressed the gathering and wished the couple and their son all success to their

future. Sudheer in his speech enumerated the importance of Forum’s services to the community and its members. He said he benefitted personally by being a member of the Forum. He thanked the Forum members and shared his mixed feelings with the gathering. Vote of thanks was proposed by Shivadas, the Treasurer of the Forum.

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 8-11 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 8), Korean traditional wedding ceremony and Kids Hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) fashion show (May 8 and 9) and K-Pop Contest (May 10). 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 11, the classical music concert will be held in Abdulaziz Theatre and middle and high school Korean students who are living in Kuwait will play classical music. Come and enjoy Korean culture nights.

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. For more details, please contact: 24316426, 66110570, 66853100, 99827113, 99576162, 99325841.

People of Uttrankhand state form association It gives us pleasure to inform you that we, the people of Uttrankhand \ state from India, have decided to form an Association which will soon be registered with Indian embassy Kuwait.

Nearly 200 people have already been connected and have given their valuable views and suggestions. All people have given their positive response. Anyone from Uttrakhand who is interested in joining the Association can contact Ravindra Singh Rawat on 6609 4925, dhirendrasrawat@hotmail.com for more information.

Intensive Free Arabic Course in IPC IPC is opening an intensive Basic Arabic Course for ladies commencing from June 3-July 8, 2012. The class will be from 5 -7 pm and 3 days a week. Registration is on! For information, call: 22512257.

Iranian Contemporary Art Date: 23rd April to 10th May, 2012 These

are images of conflations and juxtapositions. Sabzi’s paintings signify the crossroad of cultures and evoke one of the most pertinent signs of the multiculturalism that has been the hallmark of the arts in late twentieth and early twentyfirst centuries. His art represents that humanized perspective where in memory persists across cultural zones, even when and where it has no relevance. So many of his works speak of conditions where values and perspectives seep through the chinks of any culture’s shield of protection. They are about the kind of interconnectedness that can no longer be undone; they are about the end of purity and the end of searching for origins and essence.

Sadu House Opening: 7 May 2012 5pm-8pm Exhibition Hours: 8 May, 9am - 1pm & 4- 8pm, 9 May, 9am - 1pm For its launch exhibition, Zen Crafts presents the richness of Gulf handicrafts, blending traditional and modern design to create unique and expertly crafted contemporary pieces. An exquisite limited collection of hand-woven textiles inspired by the bedouin art of Sadu weaving, and award-winning designer/ silversmith Nedda El-Asmar’s take on the modern mabkhar, the Gulf’s iconic incense burner, will be unveiled. Join us on this cultural journey from Kuwait to Laos and Brussels in the brand’s quest for new interpretations of our Gulf heritage. Sodu House is located in Kuwait City, on Gulf Street, next to the Kuwait National Museum. For more Information

please call 99402406 or email info@zericrafts.com Visit www.zericrafts.com Open House for Indian Citizens The Ambassador of India will be holding an Open House for Indian citizens to address their problems/grievances on Wednesdays of the second and the fourth week of every month between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs at the embassy.

In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day. To ensure timely action/follow-up by the Embassy, it is requested that, wherever possible, Indian citizens should exhaust the existing channels of interaction/grievance redressal and bring their problems/issues in writing with supporting documents. It may be mentioned that Embassy of India’s Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizen on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the consular officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall. For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) could be contacted. Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances. Similarly, a labor wing Help Desk functions from 0830 hrs to 1300 hrs and 1400 hrs to 1630 hrs in the Labor Hall to address the labor related issue. There is also a 24X7 Help Line (Tel No. 25674163) to assist labors in distress. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned Attaches in the labor section and the head of the labor wing could be contacted.

what’s on

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the Embassy. The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency.

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EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait.

Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at ■■■■■■■

Decennial year celebration at IIS

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pril 4, 2012, was an extraordinary day in the history of IIS (India International School), a day for all of us to rejoice and celebrate the greatest event with fun and frolic. During the early part of the day, Director Malayil Moosa Koya addressed the staff members with his inspiring speech. Following this a prayer session presented devotionally in PowerPoint charged up everyone with the spirit of devotion, enthusiasm and commitment. The morning session was made pleasant with scrumptious breakfast. IIS successfully completed its 10 glorious years of imparting quality education in terms of curricular and co-curricular activities. It is indeed a matter of pride that IIS has served as a beacon of light and had been a ladle of knowledge since its inception in the year 2002. The school has always striven to provide holistic and value based education to its students realizing very early that the overall development of a student is the foundation for a successful human being.

The management, staff and students take the legitimate pride in being a witness to this historic moment-”Decennial year celebration”. It’s a time to reminisce the unfailing guidance of the Almighty and the untiring efforts of our pioneers who have been journeying for 10 remarkable years to lay a strong foundation for their school. A special assembly was organized by the students of junior and senior sections.

The programme began with the recitation of Holy Quran by Nabeel and its translation by Deeba. Following this a spectacular dance performance was presented by our talented students of class XI with graceful steps and excellent coordination. A spiritually motivating song was presented by the junior sec-

tion. As we celebrated this joyful event, we saluted with honour and extended our warm and heartfelt felicitations to all the students who joined the school in the year 2002.

Following this a magnificent dance was presented by the students of junior section. Their graceful dance displayed the joy and happiness filled with enthusiasm for this remarkable day. The momentous programme was graced by the presence of Director Malayil Moosa Koya, Principal F. M. Basheer Ahmed, Vice Principal Narinder Kaur, and KG HOS MShifana Muizz.

Moosa Koya extended his warm wishes to everyone on this delightful

occasion. He proudly congratulated everyone on this auspicious occasion. In his address he emphasized -that the school today is the collective reflection of the aspirations, achievement and hopes of all who have passed through its portals. He assured myriad of accomplishments and unfettered happiness in the years to come. Principal F.M. Basheer Ahmed addressed the gathering. He extended his heartfelt congratulations, warm greetings, prayerful wishes and cordial felicitations to the students and each and everyone associated with IIS fraternity.

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy has moved. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies.

Registration information can be emailed to cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227 or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine).

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EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed tomorrow on account of ‘Buddha Purnima’.

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EMBASSY OF KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturday to Thursday Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.

Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com

ICSK wins first prize in Inter School Debate Competition

T

he Indian Community School Students have proved their mettle by becoming victorious in the Inter School Debate Competition held at FAIPS (DPS) on 22nd April 2012, as part of the COM-FEST. The group of students comprising of Sara Tariq (XII-G), Fathimath Zahra (XII-E) and Sheethal Rajiv Menon (XI E) of the Commerce Stream of ICSK brought the laurel of First Prize to ICSK. Congratulations to the winners.

■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NEPAL The Embassy of Nepal will be moving from its current location to a new place in Jabriya, Block 8, St. 13, House No. 514, effective from 15th April, 2012. Till the new telephone connections are installed, the Embassy may be contacted by email: info@nepembku.org

Health

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

East Asians short-sighted for snubbing outdoors Bright sunlight could prevent myopia PARIS: Snubbing the outdoors for books, video games and TV is the reason up to nine in ten school-leavers in big East Asian cities are near-sighted, according to a study published yesterday.

Neither genes nor the mere increase in activities like reading and writing is to blame, the researchers suggest, but a simple lack of sunlight. Exposure to the sun’s rays is believed to stimulate production of the chemical dopamine, which in turn stops the eyeball from growing elongated and distorting the focus of light entering the eye.

“It’s pretty clear that it is bright light stimulating dopamine release which prevents myopia,” researcher Ian Morgan of the Australian National University told AFP of the findings published in The Lancet medical journal. Yet the average primary school pupil in Singapore, where up to nine in ten young adults are myopic, spent only about 30 minutes outdoors every day-compared to three hours for children in Australia where the myopia prevalence among children of European origin is about 10 percent.

The figure in Britain was about 30 to 40 percent and in Africa “virtually none”in the range of two to three percent, according to Morgan. More than other groups, children in East Asia “basically go to school, they don’t go outside at

school, they go home and they stay inside. They study and they watch television,” the scientist said.

The most myopic school-leavers in the world are to be found in cities in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, where between 80 and

90 percent were affected. Of these, 10 to 20 percent had a condition called high myopia, which can lead to blindness.

“Most of what we’ve seen in East Asia is due to the environment, it is not genetic,” said Morgan, contrary to the common belief 50 years ago.

The researchers, collating the findings

of studies from around the world, stressed that being a bookworm or computer geek does not in itself put you at risk. “As long as they get outside it doesn’t seem to matter how much study they do,” explained Morgan.

“There are some kids who study hard and get outside and play hard and they are generally fine. The ones who are at major risk are the ones who study hard and don’t get outside.”

The scientist said children who spent two to three hours outside every day were “probably reasonably safe”. This could include time spent on the playground and walking to and from school.

“The amount of time they spend on computer games, watching television can be a contributing factor. As far as we can tell it is not harmful in itself, but if it is a substitute for getting outside, then it is,” said Morgan.

He said ways must be found to get children to spend more time in reasonably bright daylight without compromising their schooling. “It is going to require some sort of structural change in the way a child’s time is organized in East Asia because there is so much commitment to schooling and there is also a habit of taking a nap at lunchtime, which is from our perspective prime myopia prevention time.” —AFP

brief

US to partner with Big Pharma CHICAGO: The US government will help drug companies find treatments for a host of diseases through a new collaboration in which researchers will test experimental drugs provided by manufacturers. The National Institutes of Health said on Thursday that Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Eli Lilly and Co have agreed to make 24 compounds available for a pilot phase of the project, the biggest of its kind ever launched in the United States.

Some couples get pregnant after EVF NEW YORK: Despite the label of being “infertile,” some couples who have tried fertility treatments are later able to have a baby naturally, according to a new study from France. In some instances from the research, the parents had had another child previously using in vitro fertilization (IVF) — while in other cases the couple had a baby even after an unsuccessful experience with IVF. Triplets fare well as teenagers: Study NEW YORK: Although triplets are usually born early and smaller than other babies, they may be faring well by the time they are teenagers, a small study suggests. The study, which followed 19 sets of triplets, found that by about age 14, the teens were in the “normal” range as far as health-related quality of life and behavior.

Even at higher genetic heart risk, lifestyle helps NEW YORK: It’s no secret that healthy habits do your heart good.

But a new study helps confirm that lifestyle also matters for people who have a genetically increased risk of heart problems. The study, reported in the American Journal of Cardiology, focused on men who had at least one parent who’d had a heart attack before the age of 55.

Chin implants surge in popularity BOSTON: Over the last year Dr Darrick Antell has performed up to three or four chin implants a day, reflecting a national trend that has seen chin augmentations emerge as the fastest growing plastic surgery trend of 2011. After about a 45-minute outpatient procedure and a bill ranging from $3,500 to $7,500, New York-based Antell’s patients emerge with what he said is a confidence boost: an athletic, youthful look from a more prominent chin.

Hong Kong warns mainlanders over emergency births HONG KONG: Hong Kong yesterday warned expectant mothers from mainland China against rushing to emergency wards without prior bookings, saying they were putting their babies’ lives at risk.

The Hospital Authority (HA) said there were 116 cases of “non-local mothers” going to emergency departments (AEDs) in the southern city last month, of which only 39 had bookings for maternity services. The warning comes as the former British colony of seven million people struggles to cope with demand for maternity services from mainland women, tens of thousands of whom come to the southern city every year to give birth.

The government has imposed quotes and toughened border controls amid protests from local women about shortages of beds and rising costs of maternity care. “The HA reiterated and appealed to the non-local expectant mothers that it is a high-risk behavior to rush to AEDs at the last minute to deliver, posing risk to both the mother and the baby,” it said in a statement.

Emergency wards lack standard staffing and facilities as well as antenatal records, and were not equipped to deal with complicated cases, it said.

“Even in public hospitals with obstetric services, their service capacity will be filled by previously booked cases, leaving little room for non-booked cases,” it added. “The HA appeals to non-local expectant mothers to make proper and appropriate delivery arrangements for the well-being of both themselves and their babies.”

Hong Kong’s next leader, chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying, has said he will ban pregnant mainlanders whose husbands are not from Hong Kong from giving birth in local hospitals next year. He has also said the children of such women will not be guaranteed residency rights as they have been in the past. —AFP

Health

BASSIKNOU: A Malian child and his parents wait to be treated at Mbere refugee camp, near Bassiknou, southern Mauritania, 60 km from the border with Mali yesterday. The fighting in Mali has left more than 60,000 people internally displaced, and a similar number have fled to Mauritania and neighboring countries. —AFP

Drug giant Cipla cuts cancer drug prices NEW DELHI: Indian drugs giant Cipla said yesterday it has slashed by up to 76 percent prices of generic medicines used to treat brain, lung and kidney cancer in what the company called a “humanitarian move”. The step comes two months after India’s patent office allowed another Indian drugmaker to make a sharply cheaper version of an anti-cancer drug produced by Swiss giant Bayer in what was seen as setting a precedent. “This initiative of price reduction is a humanitarian approach by Cipla to support cancer patients,” company chairman Y.K. Hamied said in a statement, which said the price reduction would be only for drugs sold in India.

“Drugs constitute a significant proportion of the overall cost of cancer treatment and a reduction in costs can greatly relieve the burden,” he added. There are 2.5 million cases of cancers diagnosed in India every year, according to the World Health Organization, with most patients receiving inadequate treatment due to the high cost of drugs. —AFP

Vitamins E, C no help against vision disorder NEW YORK: Taking vitamins E and C may do nothing to protect aging eyes from macular degeneration-the leading cause of vision loss in older adults, a new clinical trial finds. Researchers had been hoping the vitamins, both antioxidants, could shield against the tissue erosion that occurs in macular degeneration. The condition involves damage to the center of the retina, which makes it hard to see fine details.

Smith & Nephew’s profit rises LONDON: Artificial hip and knee maker Smith & Nephew said the early fruits of a restructuring program and a strong performance in knee implants delivered a better-than-expected 5 percent rise in first-quarter trading profit. The group, which also makes wound therapy products, reported trading profit of $252 million, $10 million better than analysts expected, on revenue 3 percent higher at $1.08 billion.

Can portfolio theory save lives?

NEW YORK: With US biomedical research under assault by everyone from patients to Congress for turning so few scientific discoveries into treatments, a leading finance expert says decisions about what studies to bankroll should be made the same way pension funds, mutual funds, and university endowments decide how to invest their money. Those decisions should be guided by “financial portfolio theory,” argues a paper published Wednesday in the science journal PLoS ONE. Applying portfolio theory to how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) allocates its $30 billion annual budget could cut the total years of life lost by patients by anywhere from 28 percent to 89 percent, the researchers calculate.

Health

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Hunger haunts wealthy US suburbs, too NEW YORK: Hunger lives in unexpected places. In fact, there isn’t a county in America that’s free of it, according to Elaine Waxman, vice president of Feeding America, a national umbrella organization for more than 200 regional food banks.

That can make it tough for advocates who want to help people low on food, even in “nice” places such as Montgomery County, Waxman said Thursday at the “Beyond Hunger” conference in Center City.

“It’s a difficult conversation to have with people who don’t want to see hunger where they live,” she added.

Waxman and others gathered as part of the first national anti-hunger conference held in Philadelphia. It’s being run by the Center for Hunger-Free Communities at Drexel University’s School of Public Health.

More than 325 people are attending the conference, which mixes academics, antipoverty advocates, philanthropists, and people from low-income communities

across the country. It runs until Friday at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel on South Broad Street.

Joining Waxman in a session titled “There Is No Hunger Here” was Patrick Druhan, director of food resources and nutrition at the Montgomery County Community Action

Development Commission. “In a county like Montgomery, there should be no hunger, and yet we have it,” Druhan said. Nearly 11 percent of the county is “food insecure,” which describes people who don’t always have enough food during the year to live active, healthy lives.

That translates into 83,000 people. In comparison, 22 percent of Philadelphia is food-insecure, which represents 331,000 people. Hunger is also part of Chester County, listed as the 24th wealthiest county in America, according to Phoebe KitsonDavis, program manager of the Chester County Food Bank. “You would think we shouldn’t have to worry about food insecurity,” she said, adding that 9 percent of Chester County children under 18 live in poverty.

In recent years, the number of people accessing county food cupboards has increased as much as 60 percent, KitsonDavis said. When a child in a suburban

school is lethargic, frequently ill, or having academic trouble, most people don’t think to ask, “Are you hungry?” she said. “But many of the families we’re working with are hungry and nutritionally deficient.”

Kitson-Davis said she and other advocates were trying to get farmers in the county to grow more food for the poor. In communities considered well-off, being hungry can be humiliating.

Betty Burton, who runs Serving Hands, a food-distribution agency in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, knows firsthand how hard it is for a person in a community of rich neighbors who needs help feeding his or her family.

“People who work in the food pantry may have gone to school with people coming in for food,” Burton said. She’s seen people leave empty-handed in such circumstances. “They’d rather go home hungry than deal with people knowing they’re having trouble,” Burton said. —MCT

CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345 00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251

112 Prayer timings Fajr: Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:43 11:46 15:21 18:23 19:46

Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Holland (Netherlands) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Ibiza (Spain) Iceland India Indian Ocean Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Majorca Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands

00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689 00241 00220 00995 0049 00233 00350 0030 00299 001473 00590 001671 00502 00224 00592 00509 0031 00504 00852 0036 0034 00354 0091 00873 0062 0098 00964 00353 0039 00225 001876 0081 00962 007 00254 00686 00965 00996 00856 00371 00961 00231 00218 00370 00352 00853 00389 00261 0034 00265 0060 00960 00223 00356 00692

ACCOMMODATION 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

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, cur-

tains, computer table, CD players, Ikea racks, roller blinds, Tel: 99510519 / 66210509. (C 3981) 3-5-2012

SITUATION VACANT Required English speaking nanny / maid. Please call 99824597. (C 3982) 3-5-2012

I, Naranga Valappil Gaffer, holder of Indian passport No. E2897263 hereby change my name to Jafar Narangavalappil. (C 3984) 5-5-2012

AIRLINES Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air

Clinics

CHANGE OF NAME

171 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22921555 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901 22456700 22958787

Rabiya

24732263

Rawdha

22517733

Adailiya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Khaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Qadisiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

information SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines JZR QTR JZR SAI ETH PIA GFA UAE ETD OMA DHX FDB MSR QTR JZR THY DHX FCX JZR KAC BAW KAC JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD BAB GFA JZR MSR IRM JZR MSR KAC GFA FDB KNE KNE QTR KAC SVA JZR QTR RJA KAC JZR QTR KAC IRC KAC JZR SVA JZR ETD UAE SVA GFA UAL JZR JZR KAC ABY KAC

Arrival Flights on Saturday 5/5/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 539 CAIRO 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 239 SIALKOT 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 370 BAHRAIN 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 503 LUXOR 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 201 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 362 COLOMBO 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 5066 MASHAD 201 DAMASCUS 610 CAIRO 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 57 DUBAI 460 MEDINAH 472 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 562 AMMAN 500 JEDDAH 325 NAJAF 6130 DOHA 640 AMMAN 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 134 DOHA 538 SHARM EL SHEIKH 6791 MASHAD 118 NEW YORK 535 CAIRO 2388 JEDDAH 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 510 RIYADH 215 BAHRAIN 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 176 GENEVA 127 SHARJAH 502 BEIRUT

Time 0:15 0:20 0:30 1:30 1:45 2:05 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:50 2:55 3:10 3:20 3:25 3:55 4:35 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:15 6:30 6:35 6:40 7:15 7:30 7:45 7:50 8:05 8:15 8:20 8:20 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:20 9:30 9:35 10:00 11:05 11:25 11:55 12:30 13:30 13:40 13:40 13:45 14:10 14:15 14:25 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:15 15:30 15:55 16:00 16:00 16:05 16:20 16:35 16:55 17:20 17:20 17:25 17:30 17:40 17:45 17:45 18:00

KAC JZR KAC BAB KAC FDB MSR KAC KAC JAI KAC IRA AXB OMA MEA KAC QTR GFA KNE ALK SYR KLM JZR UAE ABY QTR KAC JZR KNE DHX FDB AIC RBG GFA UAL JZR DLH THY

542 125 786 438 104 63 620 618 674 572 774 607 393 647 402 790 146 221 474 229 341 415 135 859 129 136 614 513 476 372 61 975 3553 217 981 239 636 772

CAIRO BAHRAIN JEDDAH BAHRAIN LONDON DUBAI ASSIUT DOHA DUBAI MUMBAI RIYADH MASHAD KOZHIKODE MUSCAT BEIRUT MEDINAH DOHA BAHRAIN JEDDAH COLOMBO DAMASCUS AMSTERDAM BAHRAIN DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA BAHRAIN SHARM EL SHEIKH JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI CHENNAI ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN AMMAN FRANKFURT ISTANBUL

Airlines AIC UAL DLH KLM THY SAI ETH PIA UAE FDB OMA DHX ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR JZR GFA THY BAW FDB JZR ABY JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR KAC KAC FDB ETD

Departure Flights on Saturday 5/5/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON 637 FRANKFURT 413 AMSTERDAM 773 ISTANBUL 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 240 SIALKOT 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 200 DAMASCUS 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 126 SHARJAH 534 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 133 DOHA 537 SHARM EL SHEIKH 101 LONDON 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI

18:15 18:30 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:35 19:40 19:50 19:55 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:25 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:00 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:40

Time 0:05 0:25 0:30 0:55 2:15 2:30 2:45 3:20 3:45 3:50 3:55 3:55 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:40 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:10 8:25 8:25 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:35 9:40 10:00 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:15

BAB JZR GFA JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR MSR KAC JZR IRM GFA FDB MSR KNE KAC KNE JZR KAC RJA JZR KAC SVA QTR QTR KAC IRC ETD SVA JZR JZR QTR UAE GFA JZR ABY SVA UAL JZR KAC FDB BAB JZR MSR KAC KAC JAI IRA KAC KAC OMA MEA GFA KNE DHX ALK SYR KLM ABY KAC UAE FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR KNE DHX FDB QTR AXB RBG GFA KAC

437 356 214 324 541 165 501 776 619 785 176 5065 220 58 611 461 673 473 124 617 641 512 789 505 6131 135 773 6792 304 9389 238 538 141 858 216 134 128 511 982 266 613 64 439 184 621 283 153 571 604 331 351 648 403 222 475 171 230 342 415 120 381 860 102 137 301 205 554 477 373 62 147 394 3554 218 411

BAHRAIN MASHHAD BAHRAIN AL NAJAF CAIRO ROME BEIRUT JEDDAH ASSIUT JEDDAH DUBAI MASHHAD BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO MADINAH DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN DOHA AMMAN SHARM EL SHEIKH MADINAH JEDDAH DOHA DOHA RIYADH MASHHAD ABU DHABI JEDDAH AMMAN CAIRO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN SHARJAH RIYADH BAHRAIN BEIRUT BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DHAKA ISTANBUL MUMBAI ISFAHAN TRIVANDRUM KOCHI MUSCAT BEIRUT BAHRAIN JEDDAH BAHRAIN COLOMBO DAMASCUS DAMMAM SHARJAH DELHI DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI DOHA KOCHI ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BANGKOK

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

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

C R O S S W O R D

6 6 6

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday始s Solution

ACROSS 1. Support resembling the rib of an animal.

4. Filled with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise or shock.

10. Lacking self-confidence.

13. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event.

14. Any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits.

15. The corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm.

16. An awkward and inexperienced youth.

17. The weather in some location averaged over some long period of time.

19. A city in northwestern Syria.

21. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

23. An Anatolian language.

25. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

26. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh.

28. Having the head uncovered.

32. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

35. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

37. Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers.

39. Not agitated.

41. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

42. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

43. (Bible) The archangel who was the messenger of God. 48. Straggling shrub with narrow leaves and conspicuous red flowers in dense globular racemes.

52. A sudden very loud noise.

55. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

56. English actor noted for his portrayals of Shakespeare's great tragic characters (1789-1833).

59. (used of count nouns) Every one considered individually.

60. Capital and largest city and economic center of Peru.

61. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

63. The United Nations agency concerned with international maritime activities.

64. The 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

65. Jordan's port.

66. The habitation of wild animals.

DOWN 1. A summary that repeats the substance of a longer discussion.

2. A Dravidian language closely related to Tamil that is spoken in a hilly section of southwestern India.

3. A confusion of voices and other sounds.

4. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

5. Stem of the rattan palm used for making canes and umbrella handles.

6. A blue dye obtained from plants or made synthetically.

7. A republic in central Africa.

8. The compass point midway between northeast and east.

9. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

10. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

11. The bottom of a shoe or boot.

12. Fabric comprising a fitted part at the top of a garment.

18. (Old Testament) The wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac.

20. A genus of Ploceidae.

22. Alternatively, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae.

24. A state in midwestern United States.

27. Counting the number of white and red blood cells and the number of platelets in 1 cubic millimeter of blood.

29. A rare heavy polyvalent metallic element that resembles manganese chemically and is used in some alloys.

30. Bulky grayish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail.

31. Made of fir or pine.

33. An informal term for a father.

34. A resource.

36. Group of people related by blood or marriage.

38. The state of owing money.

40. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

44. Any competition.

45. Adorned by inlays.

46. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

47. Toward the inside of the cheek.

49. An elaborate song for solo voice.

50. An inclined surface or roadway that moves traffic from one level to another.

51. A town and port in northwestern Israel in the eastern Mediterranean.

53. The highest level or degree attainable.

54. A unit of subjective loudness.

57. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

58. Tag the base runner to get him out.

62. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

Feel free to print out this crossword puzzle for your personal use. You may also link to it. However, this web page and puzzle are copyrighted and may not be distributed without prior written consent.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Troubled Leiria to abandon Portuguese Premier League

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

FA Cup Final Chelsea v Liverpool Aljazeera Sport +7 Aljazeera Sport +5 Aljazeera Sport +3

16:15

English Premier League Arsenal v Norwich Abu Dhabi Sports HD

11:45

Spanish League Athletic de Bilbao v Getafe Aljazeera Sport +7

19:00

Valencia v Villarreal Aljazeera Sport +4

19:00

Sevilla v Rayo Vallecano Aljazeera Sport +10

19:00

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Relegation is ‘irreversible’, says club LISBON: Portuguese Premier League club Leiria will quit the championship after mass resignations caused by delayed salaries left them with only eight players to field in a match last weekend, Leiria said yesterday, “This situation made Leiria’s relegation irreversible and it will force the club to withdraw from the Premier League, with all its subsequent consequences,” Leiria wrote in a statement.

Bottom-of-the-table Leiria lost 4-0 to Feirense last weekend, with the club’s president hailing the bravery of the eight players who took to the field.

The Portuguese League was not immediately available to confirm if it had received a formal request from Leiria to abandon the league. Although Porto have already claimed the title this season, Leiria’s exit could trigger shifts in the standings and affect the battle for European spots as one of the possible implications of a forfeit is that all of the club’s results are revoked. Under that scenario, thirdplaced Braga, who lost one of their matches against Leiria, would move three points further ahead of fourth-placed Sporting ,who beat Leiria twice, and cut the gap to second-placed Benfica to one point. Leiria are scheduled to play Benfica today. Last weekend, Portugal’s professional players’ union said that 16 Leiria players had submitted resignation letters after several months without pay. The

Wenger joins the 900 club

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18:45 Arsene Wenger

Chelsea eye stadium at an iconic landmark LONDON: Chelsea confirmed yesterday they have submitted a bid that would see the club convert London’s iconic Battersea Power Station into a 60,000-seater stadium. The club said that it wants to buy the 39-acre site, whose centerpiece is the giant red-brick power station and four giant chimney stacks that were famously depicted on the cover of Pink Floyd’s seminal 1977 album “Animals”.

Chelsea said in a statement on its web site that its proposed plans for the site would see the key features of the building retained in what could become “one of the most iconic football stadiums in the world”. Battersea Power Station, the largest brick building in Europe, ceased to provide electricity in 1983 but is now a protected or ‘listed’ building. Various plans to redevelop the site over the years have stalled, prompting Chelsea to mount a bid for the building as they look for alternatives to their current home at Stamford Bridge.

“Chelsea Football Club can confirm to our fans that we have today submitted an offer, with our property development partner Almacantar, to acquire the 39-acre Battersea

club acknowledged only 13 requests on Friday and said they would demand compensation from the players. They said they could resolve the salary issue but the players would not accept a deal. “The unjustified absence from practices and from the match against Feirense was a violation of the players’ duties as professionals,” the club said, adding that it had seriously damaged the club’s reputation and finances.

“We have the right to demand compensation for all the damage resulting from this situation”. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said Leiria’s departure would badly hit the country’s reputation. “If the Leiria situation is confirmed, this is a very bad moment for Portuguese football,” FPF boss Fernando Gomes told journalists.

“The salaries delay, financial difficulties and the bad image that Portuguese football has systematically projected is not at all desirable”. The Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) is studying new financial protection mechanisms to avoid a repeat of the situation and has said that Portugal’s sovereign debt crisis has impacted severely on professional football. “What I regret the most is for the athletes, their families, the coaches and the club’s staff that are involved,” Gomes said, adding that the FPF would do everything within its means to solve the problem. — Reuters

Power Station site,” Chelsea said in a statement. “Battersea Power Station is one of London’s most famous buildings and has the potential to become one of the most iconic football stadiums in the world.” The club cautioned however that several other parties were interested in the site “and there is no certainty that we will be successful”. “We must also stress that making an offer for the Battersea Power Station site does not mean the club has made a definitive decision to leave Stamford Bridge,” the club added.

However the club outlined its plans to incorporate the key features of the power station into its new stadium.

“The four iconic chimneys and wash towers along with the Grade II* listed west turbine hall and control room will be restored and retained in their original locations and provide a unique architectural backdrop to a worldclass stadium with a capacity of around 60,000 seats,” the statement said. The development also provides for a shopping centre, affordable housing and office space, while Chelsea would also contribute to improving transport links to the area. —AFP

LONDON: Arsene Wenger takes charge of his 900th game as Arsenal manager against Norwich today looking for the victory that will keep his side on course for Champions League qualification. Away wins for Tottenham and Newcastle on Wednesday night brought both clubs to within a point of the third place Gunners, who host the Canaries today lunchtime in the only Premier League fixture of the day. A home win would therefore extend that advantage to four points ahead of Newcastle’s home game with Manchester City on Sunday and Tottenham’s trip to Aston Villa the same afternoon.

Tottenham are currently fourth, ahead of Newcastle on goal difference. Chelsea, who are in sixth, could still catch all three of the teams above them and would further complicate matters by winning the Champions League, which would mean only the team that finishes third will qualify for next season’s competition, provided it is not Chelsea. It was no surprise therefore that Wenger, who saw his side draw 1-1 at Stoke City at the weekend, wanted maximum points from the two remaining games, the last of which is a trip to West Bromwich Albion.

“For us it is important to win our remaining games,” said the Frenchman, whose first game as Arsenal manager was a 20 win at Blackburn Rovers in October 1996. “Anything less will not guarantee third place and automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League group stages. “I feel that this year the players have shown fantastic mental qualities and we have improved. You could see again at Stoke that this team is ready for a fight. Defensively I thought we were solid and we are now fully focused on finishing the season strongly and claiming third place. ”Norwich have little to play for except pride and finishing as high as they can in their first Premier League season since 2005 as they are now safe from relegation.

That had never been a real threat anyway for Paul Lambert’s side, who had given Arsenal a tough time at Carrow Road earlier in the season when the Gunners came from behind to win 2-1 thanks to a brace from top-scorer Robin van Persie. The Canaries have wobbled of late, losing at Blackburn in between heavy home defeats by Manchester City and Liverpool but winger Elliott Bennett promised the fans they would not be going through the motions at the Emirates Stadium. “It’s massively important to end on a high, because it would be a shame to waste all the hard work and the great things we’ve achieved this season - and haven’t achieved in the last few games. We will be looking to give a good account of ourselves at Arsenal,” he said. — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Italian league preview

Juventus look for Inter derby favor ROME: Juventus will be hoping their oldest rivals Inter Milan can do them a favor by winning their city derby against AC Milan tomorrow. The Serie A title race has come down to the final two matches of the season with Juve leading the reigning champions by a single point.

Milan must beat their cross-city rivals to ensure they make it to the final game of the season in with a chance of taking the title. If they fail to do so, Juve know they can claim a record 28th scudetto crown with victory at Cagliari, in a match being played in Trieste due to the Sardinians’ unplayable pitch.

It’s an awful position for Inter to be in as whatever they do, they will help one of their two hated rivals. But they too have an objective, although one that has now become a little more distant following their 3-1 defeat at Parma on Wednesday. Inter are chasing third place and a Champions League qualifying finish but they trail Napoli and Udinese by three points. Even if they win their final two matches it may not be enough, although if they want to play in Europe at all next season, the minimum they must do is maintain their four-point lead

over seventh-placed Roma. And club president Massimo Moratti insists they will try to win and let fate decide which of their bitter rivals takes the scudetto crown. “We’ll play the derby with the usual spirit, it’s a unique match and we’re not favorites,” said Moratti.

“This year it’s one or the other (Milan or Juve) who will do it, I don’t know which would be better (for us).” Juve could have been already halfway there but they threw away victory at home to Lecce on Wednesday. They led 1-0 from the ninth minute and played the last 35 minutes with a numerical advantage.

But despite creating a host of chances to finish off their relegation threatened opponents, they blew victory five minutes from time when a mistake from goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon gifted Andrea Bertolacci an equalizer. Coach Antonio Conte admitted after that blip that his side may have let the sniff of glory get to them.

“The prize was a big one (had they won) and maybe that took away a bit of our lucidity,” he said. “I’m a fatalist, if things happen it’s because they were meant to.”

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri was simply relieved to

have closed the gap at an unexpected time.

It also means they can guarantee they take the race to the final day by beating Inter, something that would not have been the case had Juve triumphed against Lecce. The Turin giants have the edge in head-to-head meetings with Milan, meaning the rossoneri have to make up two points to win.

And Allegri believes Cagliari have ample motivation to fight for a point against Juve. “Football is strange, we know that, we’re still behind but it’s better than it was before,” he said. “Nothing’s changed, we had to win every match before and we still do now. “Cagliari need one point to be safe (from relegation) so who knows.”

Napoli travel to Bologna and Udinese host Genoa in the race for third, although if either drop points than Inter and Lazio, who travel to Atalanta, could come back at them. At the bottom Cesena and Novara have already been relegated and Lecce need to make up three points on Genoa to survive as they host Fiorentina, who like Cagliari and Palermo still need a point to be mathematically safe. — AFP

FA cup preview

Liverpool aim for FA Cup swansong LONDON: Liverpool will bid to put a positive gloss on a lacklustre season today as they attempt to seal a rare domestic double against bitter rivals Chelsea in the FA Cup final. Kenny Dalglish’s return to Anfield last year and the subsequent lavish outlay in the transfer market had fuelled optimism among Liverpool fans that the club were poised to re-emerge as a force in English football. But a frustratingly inconsistent Premier League campaign has raised more questions than answers about Dalglish’s reign, with Liverpool’s dreams of a swift return to the Champions League being extinguished weeks ago.

Fulham became the latest side to ransack Anfield on Tuesday with a 1-0 win, a result that leaves Liverpool on course to register their worst record at home since the 1948-49 season. Yet if Liverpool can overcome a weary Chelsea at Wembley, Dalglish will be able to point to a season that has yielded two pieces of silverware following his side’s League Cup win over Cardiff City in February.

While the Premier League remains the priority, the Liverpool manager insists that a domestic cup double is proof that solid progress is being made.

“Any competition you enter, you want to do the best you possibly can in,” Dalglish said. “In the league it is 38 games and at the end you finish in a position which tells you how successful it has been. “In cup competitions there are obviously not as many games and if you get beaten, you are out. “There is an obsession with the Premier League simply because of what it holds for every club and the value financially for every club, the rewards you get for finishing in the top four and getting in the Champions League. “But there is a satisfaction from winning a cup competition, which you don’t get from finishing fifth or sixth in the league.”

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was adamant that while the club needs to “address the problem” of their league form, a win over Chelsea would allow the Merseysiders to look back on the season with pride. “It is a successful season. This club is all about winning big trophies and the FA Cup

COBHAM: Chelsea’s Spanish striker Fernando Torres (center), English midfielder Frank Lampard (left) and English defender John Terry attend training on the eve of their English FA Cup final football match against Liverpool at Chelsea FC training yesterday. — AFP certainly comes under that,” said Gerrard.

“We will assess the season after the weekend.

If we can look back and say we have won two cups, we will be happy.” Today’s final is the 33rd meeting of the two teams since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and began to bankroll the most successful era in the London club’s history.

Chelsea, however, could be forgiven for viewing today’s final as an unwanted nuisance, as interim manager Roberto Di Matteo attempts to juggle his resources on three different fronts. The Blues’ hopes of a top-four finish were dealt a severe blow on Wednesday after a 2-0 defeat at home to Newcastle United that left Di Matteo’s men four points off the Champions League places with only two games left. That defeat means Chelsea’s passage to the final of the Champions League in Munich on May 19 has

assumed even greater importance, with a victory over Bayern Munich now looking their best bet of a place in next season’s competition.

While Di Matteo may be tempted to give a rest to key players with one eye on Munich, the Italian insists Chelsea will be motivated by the prospect of a successful day out at Wembley. But Di Matteo, scorer of the second-fastest goal in FA Cup final history after scoring from long-range in Chelsea’s 1997 win over Middlesbrough after only 42 seconds, acknowledged his side’s schedule had taken a toll. “My players have given everything,” Di Matteo said. “We’ve been asking them to push and push and push and they’ve done well. We’ll regroup and pick them up.

We’ve got a big game, a great final today and we’ll go again. “We’ll look forward to the FA Cup final. It’s a great event and the motivation is going to be there.” — AFP

Celtic coach hit with a new ban GLASGOW: Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been handed an immediate three-match touchline ban for confronting referee Euan Norris after the Hoops’ Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Hearts.

In his latest run-in with the Scottish Football Association’s disciplinary system, Lennon received a six-match ban on Thursday but half of the punishment was suspended until the end of next season.

The former Celtic midfielder, who has just served a two-match ban, received no punishment for a further two rule breaches relating to comments made on Twitter hours after the game.

Lennon speaking after Celtic, who’ve already won the Scottish tile, had beaten St Johnstone 1-0 in a Premier League match at Parkhead on Thursday, promised to learn from his latest ban. “All I will say is that I got a fair hearing, I think the punishment is pretty fair as well,” said Lennon. “I expected to be punished. I have apologized to the referee in correspondence and he has responded and he is grateful of that and we move on.

“The judicial panel don’t want to be punishing people, but when you cross the line I expected to be punished and I have been and I am going to learn from this,” he added. “I will have a suspension hanging over my head and that is a warning for me. “If I step out of line again I could get three matches plus and I don’t want that,” Lennon said.

Earlier, an SFA ruling read: “The judicial panel found Mr Lennon in breach but imposed no further sanction based on the fact he was not responsible for the posting of the actual tweet.”

After the match in question, Lennon ran onto the Hampden Park pitch to confront Norris over a Hearts penalty award that came when a Marius Zaliukas shot hit the arm of Joe Ledley and then brushed against Victor Wanyama.

Celtic were then denied a penalty of their own when the ball struck Hearts defender Andy Webster. A tweet from Lennon was posted shortly after the game, where he said: “Referee told players he thought Wanyama handled...feel so sorry for players and fans..I think it’s personal myself.” He then re-tweeted a comment from a Celtic supporter that suggested the club “pack our bags and get out of this league that is run by crooked £SFA officials”. Lennon served a twomatch ban for accusing referee Willie Collum of a “criminal” decision in not awarding Celtic a late penalty in their 1-0 defeat by Kilmarnock in the Scottish League Cup final. — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

SPANISH LEAGUE PREVIEW

Madrid toast success ahead of Granada trip MADRID: Real Madrid travel to Granada yesterday with celebrations in full swing after clinching their 32nd league title, while Barcelona fans will say goodbye to Pep Guardiola in their final home game against Espanyol. Jose Mourinho’s Madrid side beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 on Wednesday to start the festivities in the capital, with Real bringing Barca’s recent dominance to an end with their first championship since 2008. It has been a remarkable story for the Portuguese coach, who has now claimed titles in Portugal, England and Italy, as well as Spain, and Mourinho is in no doubt over which has been the toughest.

“This has been the hardest and noone has given us an inch during the season,” he said. “It has been crazy how many points we have managed to pick

up. We have played football of a very high quality and now we can enjoy what we have achieved.” Mourinho arrived at Real in 2010 with the unenviable task of wresting the title back from a Barca side that has been described as one of the best of all time for their dominance of the European game in recent seasons and their style of quick passing football.

Now in his second year, Mourinho’s meticulous work on the training ground has paid off and while they may not be admired to the extent of Barca for the way they play the game, Madrid have still set a new record of 115 goals so far this season. “These players deserve it, people have seen and cannot be in any doubt of that. I dedicate this to all the people who have helped and suffered

with the team,” said Mourinho. “I know what these celebrations are like as I have now won seven league championships, but the next is always hardest.”

While the league title is won, the battle continues for top scorer and Lionel Messi’s hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Malaga means that he is now two ahead of Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo with 46 goals. The game also saw Messi reach 68 goals overall and break Gerd Muller’s record for a European season set in 1972-73. Barcelona’s derby clash with Espanyol will be an emotional occasion for Guardiola, who will take charge of the team for the last time at Camp Nou after deciding to step down following four years of unprecedented success including three league titles and two Champions League trophies.

Valencia are now favorites to win third place and they go into their home game with Villarreal three points ahead of fourth-placed Malaga, who have a tricky match away to Europa League finalists Atletico Madrid. With two games to go, the battle remains tight below them, with Levante-who are away to Real Mallorca-and Atletico currently occupying the Europa League positions. At the other end of the table, relegated Racing Santander play thirdbottom Real Zaragoza, who are in desperate trouble and need Sevilla to do them a favor against Rayo Vallecano.

Sporting Gijon are all but condemned after they crashed 3-2 at home to Villarreal and face Real Betis, while elsewhere, Bilbao meet Getafe and Osasuna take on Real Sociedad. —AFP GERMAN LEAGUE PREVIEW

SCOTTISH LEAGUE PREVIEW

Motherwell match a chance to say thanks GLASGOW: Rangers defender Steven Whittaker believes today’s game against Motherwell is an opportunity for the players to thank the fans for their support in what has been a turbulent season. The Ibrox club, which was docked 10 points for entering administration in February, face Stuart McCall’s side in their final home game of the season. It is likely to be an emotional afternoon for the players, with many expected to head for the exit in the summer despite the club’s administrators Duff and Phelps announcing American businessman Bill Miller had been given preferred bidder status for the Ibrox side this week.

And Scotland international Whittaker, who scored in Wednesday’s 5-0 defeat of Dundee United, has appealed to the supporters to turn out in numbers for the match. “It has been the strangest season. I don’t think anyone could have imagined anything like this back in July,” Whittaker said. “But it’s the circumstance we are in and we’ve tried to adapt the best we can. “It has been really tough to play with it in the background the last few months, but the supporters have been absolutely brilliant - they have stood by us and we want the chance to applaud that. “It will be quite an emotional day for everybody because we have really been through such a difficult time since February.

“The biggest way for us to thank the support is by putting on a decent performance.” Ally McCoist’s side clinched second spot in the Scottish Premier League with the win over Dundee United in midweek. And given the £900,000 of a difference between second and third places, it is a position Rangers desperately needed to nail down.

“It’s great for us. After going into administration and the 10 point deduction the title really slipped away from us so it was all about consolidating second place and we managed to do that,” Whittaker said.”For our own pride as much as anything we wanted to make sure we finished second.

“We were gutted at the way we lost to Celtic and were determined to make up for it.” Rangers will be without captain Steven Davis and Sasa Papac through injury for the match against Motherwell while striker Kyle Lafferty remains suspended for a breach of club discipline. Old Firm rivals Celtic, 1-0 victors over St Johnstone on Thursday, take on Dundee United tomorrow. Having clinched the championship in early April the Hoops have little to play for and defender Charlie Mulgrew admits the players are already looking ahead to next season. “I think it’s important we do everything we can to prepare for the Champions League qualifiers, that’ll be massive for everybody here,” Mulgrew commented.

“We’ll look to do better than this year. Next year we’ll look to win the league again, and a run in the Champions League would be great, but first we have to prepare right and qualify. —AFP

Arsenal-bound Podolski out to lift ‘threatened’ Cologne BERLIN: Arsenal-bound Lukas Podolski is hoping to be fit to help Cologne in their battle to stay in the German league against his former club Bayern Munich today on the last weekend of the Bundesliga. The 26-year-old Germany striker confirmed on Monday he has signed for the Gunners for next season, but with Cologne 16th in the league they need at least a point to give themselves a chance of staying up.

Podolski missed training on Thursday with an upset stomach, but coach Frank Schaefer is confident he will have his Germany star fit to face Bayern, who will finish second in the table.

“Bayern won’t give us anything for free, they will be playing their top team and will give everything.” said Podolski before being taken ill. “We have to hold our possession and fight hard, we have to remember how we beat them 3-2 last season at home.” Munich are buoyed by Thursday’s news that Dutch star Arjen Robben extended his contract until 2015 with his team set to take on Chelsea in the Champions League final at Munich’s Allianz Arena on May 19. In contrast, Cologne cannot finish higher than 16th, but with Hertha Berlin, who host Hoffenheim, just two points behind, they cannot afford to lose.

The side which finishes 16th in the German league faces a two-leg play-off against the team third from top in the second division in the next two weeks with a place in the top flight at stake.

Podolski says he hopes Cologne can safeguard their future and will do all he can to keep them in the German league before he leaves. “Of course, I definitely want us to stay up,” said Podolski, who spent three seasons at Bayern from 2006 until 2009 but failed to make his mark. “After my departure, I will keep my fingers crossed that the club continues to function. “I hope it won’t be the case that once Podolski is away, everything falls apart. “I hope that they go forward with the new board and build in the next few years everything which

Cologne’s striker Lukas Podolski was promised to me back then.”

With the German league already decided, champions Borussia Dortmund will be presented with the Bundesliga shield yesterday regardless of the result in their final home match against Freiburg. Jurgen Klopp’s team, which has amassed 78 points, could make history as they look to break Bayern’s

record of 79 points, achieved twice at the start of the 1970s, for the most points collected in a German league season. Dortmund will be waving goodbye to Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios who has signed a deal with Chinese club Guangzhou for next season having lost his place in the starting team to Poland’s Robert Lewandowski. —AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

NFL star Seau’s family considers brain study Third suicide by former NFL player since 2011 OCEANSIDE: Football great Junior Seau’s family is considering having his brain studied for evidence of football-related injuries after the retired linebacker killed himself at his California beach front home, the family’s pastor said on Thursday.

Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowl (all-star game) selection who played for 20 years in the National Football League, was found unconscious at his home by his girlfriend on Wednesday with a gunshot wound to the chest and a revolver nearby, police said.

An autopsy conducted by the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Seau killed himself. But the coroner’s office was awaiting family permission for outside researchers to examine the brain of the longtime San Diego Chargers star for damage from repeated head injuries. Seau’s death at age 43 comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of the effects of repeated blows to the head in football, and

the potential for such injuries to contribute to depression and longterm health problems in players.

The Seau family’s pastor, Shawn Mitchell, a former chaplain for the Chargers, said Seau likely suffered concussions during his long football career. “He would go in head-first,” Mitchell said of Seau, who lived in Oceanside, just north of San Diego.

After meeting with Seau’s family, Mitchell told Reuters in a phone interview family members were “considering” having his brain studied for evidence of injuries.

The pastor made his comment in response to a question about the possibility of sending the brain to Boston University, which has a highprofile center that conducts research on the long-term effects of repetitive brain trauma. The center has examined the brains of other former NFL players. Robert Boland, associate professor of sports management at New York University, said the fact that Seau was found to

have shot himself in the chest may be significant, given that retired football player Dave Duerson did the same thing last year, and left a note asking that his brain be studied.

“I think that was a lot of people’s first thought, and it was mine,” Boland said. “My sense would be that because Duerson did that as well, it preserved their brains for study.” Experts said a standard autopsy would not reveal evidence of permanent brain injuries from concussions, and the San Diego medical examiner’s office said it did not conduct such studies. Seau was not widely known to have suffered from concussions, but experts said he probably did. “It’d be hard to believe a linebacker would escape concussions,” Boland said. The brain damage caused by concussions has the formal name “chronic traumatic encephalitis.” It is known outside the doctor’s office as boxer’s dementia.

SUING THE LEAGUE Over 1,500 former football players have sued the NFL over head injuries. On Thursday, 100 other retired players filed a lawsuit against the league on the same grounds in federal court in Atlanta. The league disputes the claims in the suits, which accuse it of concealing links between football and brain injuries.

“Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement. “It stands in contrast to the league’s actions to better protect players and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions.” The league has focused in recent seasons on health and safety issues. It has cracked down on hits to the head, and stiffened rules that bar players from using their helmets as a weapon through head-first contact, which is subject to fines and suspension for repeat offenders. — Reuters

Cink shares Quail Hollow lead Woods, Mickelson open with 71s

Engr Duaij Al-Otaibi

Shooting season ends; Kuwait shooters prepare for Olympics

By Abdellatif Sharaa KUWAIT: Kuwait’s shooting will conclude the activities of The Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Annual Tournament today. Social Affairs and Labor Minister Lt General (Rt) Ahmad Al-Rujaib will represent The Amir in the closing ceremony. The President of the Asian and Kuwait Shooting Association and Vice President of ISSF Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud AlSabah, along with other shooting officials will also grace the occasion. This will mark the end of the local shooting season, as Kuwait’s shooters get ready for their International and Olympic events. The President of the Arab Shooting Federation, member of the ISSF Administrative Council and Vice President of KSF Engr Duaij Al-Otaibi thanked HH the Amir for his generous support to sports in general and shooting in particular. Al-Otaibi said the Amir’s support was crowned by his order to hold an annual Grand Prix in his name. He also thanked the organizing committee, the media and all departments at the KSF.

NORTH CAROLINA: While Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson made uneven starts, Stewart Cink birdied his last three holes to surge into a three-way tie for the lead in Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. American Cink, seeking his first PGA Tour victory since his playoff win at the 2009 British Open, fired a sevenunder-par 65 to end a humid day at Quail Hollow Club level with compatriots Ryan Moore and Webb Simpson.

Australian John Senden, Britain’s Brian Davis and American Rickie Fowler, DA Points and Patrick Reed had matching 66s as golfing heavyweights Woods and Mickelson had to settle for 71s. US Open champion Rory McIlroy threeputted to bogey his final hole for a 70, British world number three Lee Westwood carded a 71 and 2009 US Open winner Lucas Glover launched his title defense with a 72. Cink, who has mainly struggled for form since pulling off his first major victory at Turnberry in Scotland three years ago, was delighted to remain bogey-free despite not playing his best.

“It was a good round,” the 38year-old told reporters after sinking a 20-footer on his final hole, the par-four ninth. “It wasn’t a great round, far from perfect, but I had a few putts go in the hole and managed my misses pretty well. “I wouldn’t go so far as to

say I’m back ... but it’s still good to see something like this and give yourself a little bit of confidence,” added Cink, who has recorded only one top-25 finish in 10 starts on the 2012 PGA Tour. Woods, champion here in 2007, put himself under early

pressure after bogeying two of his first six holes on his return to the PGA Tour for the first time since last month’s Masters.

FRONT-NINE ERRORS “I made too many mistakes on the front nine,” the 14-times

CHARLOTTE: Stewart Cink of the United States hits his tee shot on the fourth hole during the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship at the Quail Hollow Club yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. — AFP

major champion said after mixing four birdies with three bogeys. “I didn’t get up and down a couple times and made a couple bad shots on the wrong side of the hole. “I didn’t take care of the par-fives and I had an easy up and in at eight, which I messed up there. I’ve got to obviously not make those little mistakes like that tomorrow.”

McIlroy, who closed with a course record 62 to blow away a top-quality field by four shots at the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship, was let down by his usually accurate driving. “I didn’t hit many fairways and if you do that around here, it makes it a lot more difficult to score,” the 22-year-old said after carding four birdies and two bogeys.

“Conditions out there were pretty much perfect. Seventy probably wasn’t enough out there but it’s okay. I’ll go out tomorrow and see if I can do a little better.” Four-times major champion Mickelson was briefly derailed by a triple-bogey at the par-four fourth where he hit his tee shot out of bounds. “I played pretty well today and hit a lot of greens but made one mistake with the triple there,” left-hander Mickelson said after a five-birdie display. “That was a really poor tee shot. “Fortunately I came back to shoot one under. I’ll try and come out tomorrow and shoot something in the mid-60s and get into the weekend ... if I can get a hot round, I’ll get right in it.” — Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Kentucky Derby looms as wide open race LOUISVILLE: Today’s $2.2 million Kentucky Derby is looming as one of the most open in its 138 years with at least 12 of the 20 entrants having a genuine shot at winning America’s famous and revered horse race. That does not bode well for the eternal hope the Run For the Roses will produce another champion to emulate the likes of Secretariat and Seattle Slew by winning the Triple Crown but it does offer the promise of a classic race.

“This is one of the toughest Derbies I’ve been in probably the last 10 years,” said Bob Baffert, the trainer of the 4-1 race favorite Bodemeister. “It’s a really competitive field.”

With no standout horse from this year’s capacity field of three year old colts, but plenty of regally-bred thoroughbreds in great form, Bodemeister was promoted to the head of the betting lists after winning last month’s Arkansas Derby by an eye-popping nine and a half lengths.

But Baffert, who has won the Kentucky Derby three times and is recovering from a heart attack he suffered last month, was not making any bold predictions despite getting the stamp of approval from bookmakers. “I’ve brought some really good horses here, and they were the best horse, but they got beat so I don’t want to get myself too pumped up,” he said. Union Rags, the sentimental favorite for the race, was listed at the 9-2 second pick, despite being beaten in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on his first run on the dirt at Churchill Downs, as well as the recent Florida Derby.

His trainer Michael Matz won the 2006 Derby with the ill-fated Barbaro, who was lurking as a real contender to complete the Triple Crown before breaking down, but said it was unfair to compare the two. “Barbaro was undefeated, Union Rags has lost two races by a total of a length and a half,” Matz said. “They’re both big, good-looking, fast and athletic (but Union Rags) still has to live up to what Barbaro did.”

Bodemeister and Union Rags drew in the first six post positions as did Take Charge Indy, the surprise winner of the Florida Derby. He will be ridden by Calvin Borel, who won the race three times between 2007 and 2010.

‘NO RESPECT’ “Nobody has really looked at us,” said Chuck Sandford, owner of Take Charge Indy.

“He’s been under the radar. We win a Grade I and we’re still under the radar. He’s like the Rodney Dangerfield of horses, absolutely getting no respect.” All of the main favorites fared well in the draw, even the horses that wanted to draw wide. Hansen, the all-white colt who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, will break from 14 while the unbeaten Gemologist, who finished off his preparations with a stylish win in the Wood Memorial, was just outside him in 15. Gemologist’s trainer Todd Pletcher won the Derby two years ago with Super Saver and has given Gemologist a similar lead-up into today’s race. “He is doing as well as he could possibly be doing,” said Pletcher. “However good he is, I think that’s what we’ll see today.”

The lone international entrant this year is Daddy Long Legs, trained in Ireland by Aiden O’Brien. He booked his place in the field by winning the United Arabs Emirates Derby but drew barrier one, a notoriously difficult gate to win from because of the risk of being boxed in on the tight, oval track. “I know the draw is not ideal but we can’t change that,” said TJ Comerford, O’Brien’s travelling head lad.

“We’re here now and hope for the best.” An expected crowd of 160,000 will cram into Churchill Downs while tens of millions of people will watch on television as the race, steeped with tradition including the singing of My Old Kentucky Home and the drinking of Mint Juleps, unfolds. — Reuters

LOUISVILLE: Sabercat trains on the track in preparation for the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. — AFP

Bodemeister bucking history in Derby bid LOUISVILLE: Trainer Bob Baffert is counting on talent to overcome a lack of experience when he sends early favorite Bodemeister out today in the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby.

Bodemeister was dazzling in winning the Arkansas Derby by 9 1/2 lengths, but the colt did not race as a two-yearold and has just four career starts. Such lightly raced horses have not fared well historically in the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel in US flat racing’s Triple Crown. The last Kentucky Derby champion who was unraced as a two-yearold was Apollo in 1982.

Bodemeister’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, relishes the challenge. “Listen, it’s daunting going against history, long history,” Zayat said. “But if he does it, he becomes a special horse.” The 1 1/4mile Kentucky Derby is the first of the trio of races that make up the Triple Crown, along with the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. The last horse to complete the coveted treble was Affirmed in 1978. Bodemeister drew the sixth post in the full 20-horse field on Wednesday and was installed as the early 4-1 favorite. Oddsmaker Mike Battaglia admitted there was little to choose between Bodemeister and Union Rags, a Grade I winner who drew the fourth slot and was made the 9-2 second choice.

Unbeaten Wood Memorial winner Gemologist was the 6-1 third choice out of the 15th post. “I haven’t had two favorites this close since Street Sense and Curlin (in 2007),” said Battaglia, who has been making the Derby morning line since 1975. “It was very close.

Bodemeister’s Arkansas Derby was huge. He got a big number, it was 10 points higher than any other horse on

the Beyer (Speed Figures) scale, which bettors look at.” Union Rags trainer Michael Matz said he would have preferred a higher gate than five, but with little speed in the stalls around him, “I don’t see why he can’t go right behind Bodemeister or be right with him.

“Julien Leparoux is going to have to come and let him run a little bit, but I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world. My original thought, I wasn’t crazy about it, but the way everybody is, I don’t think it is so bad,” Matz said.

Trinniberg, the expected pace-setter, starts from post nine. The speedy Hansen starts from 14. Twenty-one horses were actually entered for the race. My Adonis is on the also-eligible list and could get in if a horse scratches

by Friday morning.

Creative Cause has had some hoof issues and did not go to the track on Tuesday or Wednesday but was still scheduled to run as of the draw. The Aidan O’Brien-trained raider Daddy Long Legs, had the misfortune to draw the first post. The colt finished 12th of 13 in the Breeders Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs last year, but O’Brien said that was due to a poor start rather than the dirt.

He has attempted to condition Daddy Long Legs to a US-style start, but while eight horses have won the race from the rail since the starting gate was introduced in 1930, the last to do so was Ferdinand in 1986. When the Baffert-trained Lookin At Lucky broke from the rail as the favorite in 2010, the son of Smart Strike got slammed at the start and finished sixth. Baffert admitted he heaved a sigh of relief when Bodemeister avoided the number one post. —AFP

Nadal: Olympic gold the pinnacle of sport MADRID: Winning a gold medal for your country at the Olympic Games is the greatest achievement in tennis, world number two Rafa Nadal said yesterday, while also leaving the door open to a possible return to Spain’s Davis Cup team in September. After his triumph in Beijing four years ago, Nadal will be chasing a second Olympic singles gold in London, when the event in July and August will be staged on the grass courts of Wimbledon’s All England Club.

In an interview with Reuters, the 25-year-old said that for him personally the Olympics ranked above the four grand slams in prestige. “The Olympic Games is very special for many reasons and in my opinion the biggest one because you are representing your country,” Nadal said as he prepares for the Madrid Masters event starting next week. “You have the feeling that you are with all the Spanish sportsmen representing our country,” added the Mallorcan, who beat Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez to win the gold in 2008. Nadal’s pride in representing the Iberian nation was evident as he helped them to a fifth Davis Cup triumph in last year’s final against Argentina but he said afterwards he would not play in the competition in 2012 due to the congested calendar. However, he is now not ruling out returning to the team for September’s World Group semifinal at home to United States, when the holders will continue their bid for a fourth title in five years. “There remain a lot of months, a lot of important events, so I cannot think about it when I am here in Madrid preparing for an important tournament like this one,” Nadal said. “So let’s see how the season goes and I will wait until that date(before deciding).”

PERFECT KNEE Nadal’s season was disrupted in March when he was forced to pull out of his Sony Ericsson Open semi-final against Andy Murray in Miami due to a recurrent knee problem. He returned to fitness in time to claim a record eighth straight Monte Carlo Masters on his favored clay last month and went on to become the first player to win two events seven times at last week’s Barcelona Open. “I am okay,” he said when quizzed about the injury. “I’ve played two weeks back to back in Monte Carlo and Barcelona with no problems,” he added.

“That’s very important for me, a lot of confidence for my mind. And the answer: the knee is now perfect.” Nadal, a 10times grand slam singles champion, is due to begin the defense of his French Open title in Paris at the end of this month. — Reuters

sports

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Rugby Preview

All eyes on Paris in penultimate round of Top 14

Kuwait Squash team cruise to semi finals

By Abdellatif Sharaa KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Squash Team qualified for the semi finals rounds of the 16th Squash Asian Championship by defeating South Korea 3-0 in round 8 of the championship. Kuwait’s victory came after the outstanding performance by Salem Fayez, Abdallah AlMuzayyen and Ammar Al-Tamimi. In the women’s category, four matches were held- India beat Malaysia; Hong

Kong beat Japan, China defeated Sri Lanka and Korea saw off Iran. In the semi finals of this category India will meet Korea as Malaysia face off with Hong Kong. Kuwait’s player Ammar AlTamimi expressed his pleasure after the defeat of the Korean team.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s Squash Association Secretary General Dr Hussam Barakat said the Asian Championship is among the strongest in the world, because the high ranked

teams in the world are participating in the event. These include India and Pakistan. They contributed to elevating the technical level of the championship. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kuwait Iftikhar Aziz said the 16th Asian Championship is successful by all standards. He said the championship witnessed strong and enjoyable matches due to the high caliber players.

PARIS: The penultimate round of Top 14 action will see all eyes turn to the French capital as the two Parisian clubs, Racing-Metro and Stade Francais, meet in a clash that could ensure the former’s spot in the play-offs. Leaders Clermont and second-placed Toulouse have already qualified for the semi-finals of the playoffs, which involves the first six finishers of arguably Europe’s toughest domestic rugby union league. Should Racing beat Stade at Stade de France today, they will build up an insurmountable lead of six points over their city neighbors. But if they lose, Stade will edge ahead and the fight for the final places will go to the wire in the final round of games on May 12. Boasting 41 internationals in their respective squads, Racing (22.4 million euros; $29.5m) and Stade (21.3m euros) enjoy the third and fourth largest Top 14 budgets after Toulouse (33.1m) and Clermont (24.1m).

Failure to qualify for the play-offs would be seen as highly disappointing for two such big clubs. “We really want to play this game,” said Racing scrum-half Sebastien Descons. “We’re absolutely not thinking about (dropping out of the top six).

“During the season we were far from the qualifying places. We’ve got ourselves back up there, patiently and without fearing anything. “We’ve won matches we should have lost. We can’t wait to play. But we’ll be in the top six at the end of the season. It just remains to be seen where we finish.”

Racing coach Pierre Berbizier will still be without long-term injury victim Benjamin Fall (knee), the France winger/full-back who recently made his comeback in the reserves. But Berbizier will welcome back Lionel Nallet to the team beaten by Biarritz last time out, while Fiji winger Sireli Bobo and scrum-half Mathieu Loree also return. For Stade’s Michael Cheika, Argentine playmaker Felipe Contepomi, France hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, lock Pascal Pape and Italian captain Sergio Parisse will be in the squad for the team that last went down 32-29 to Toulon in the Challenge Cup semi-final.

Julien Dupuy will likely start at the base of the scrum, with George Smith, who played at centre against Toulon, regaining his usual spot in the back row. Above Racing and Stade, third-placed Toulon hosted Toulouse, Montpellier entertain Biarritz in yesterday’s action, and Castres are at home to Clermont. Clermont will have to do without the services of five players for the remainder of the regular season following the bruising loss to Leinster in the European Cup semi-finals. Wingers Julien Malzieu and JeanMarcellin Buttin, full-back Lee Byrne, lock Nathan Hines and flanker Julien Bonnaire all picked up knocks against the Irish side and will need to take time out to recover, the club said.

At the other end of the table, bottom-placed Lyon (31 points) face a must-win match away to Perpignan (45 pts), while secondbottom Bayonne (42) host mid-table Agen (48) and Brive-level on 42 points with Bayonne-play Bordeaux-Begles (45). Bayonne centre Lionel Mazars said his team were under no illusion about hard their outing against Agen will be. “We’ll play at home against a team that, mathematically, still haven’t ensured that they’ll stay up, even if they’re in a very good position to do it,” Mazars said.

“Even if Agen have less pressure than us, they’ll not gift us anything.” —AFP

Bulls overcome Rebels Steyn produces masterclass MELBOURNE: Morne Steyn produced another metronomic goalkicking display slotting 16 points with his boot, adding a try and setting up two others as the Bulls overcame a spirited Melbourne Rebels 41-35 in their Super Rugby match yesterday. Steyn managed five conversions and two penalties, and did not miss a shot at goal, as the Bulls won their fourth successive match.

“It was pretty exciting from the stands, high intensity, good attacking from both sides, maybe not the best defensively from us

but good to get the win,” Bulls captain Pierre Spies said. “We needed these points,” he added of the victory that propelled them to the top of the South African conference on 42 points, one ahead of the Stormers who have a bye. The match was one of milestones for the Melbourne side, with Mark Gerrard making his 100th Super rugby appearance, while club captain Stirling Mortlock was making his first of the season from the replacements’ bench after he recovered from a long standing calf injury.

It was also their first match since they parted ways with enigmatic flyhalf Danny Cipriani, who has returned to England early. The former England international has signed with Sale for next season. The first half was helterskelter as both sides secured a bonus point by scoring four tries each with Melbourne’s captain Gareth Delve crashing over after the hooter had sounded to vindicate his decision not to take a penalty shot at goal and ensure the match was evenly poised with the Bulls leading 31-28.

The second period, however, failed to live up to the first as both sides adopted a more conservative, patterned approach for the first 20 minutes before Steyn’s deft chip kick ahead was gathered by JJ Engelbrecht to crash over and break the shackles. Cooper Vuna struck back immediately for the Rebels for his second try, with Kurtley Beale adding his fifth conversion, before Steyn slotted a 72nd minute penalty for the Bulls to give them a 41-35 lead that they held until the final whistle. —Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Pacman in background as Mayweather eyes Cotto LAS VEGAS: For once Floyd Mayweather set the bluster and bombast aside as he looked forward to his battle yesterday with Miguel Cotto for the Puerto Rican’s World Boxing Association super welterweight world title. “Miguel is a true warrior, a tough champion, and to go down in the Hall of Fame as one of the best, you have to face the true champions out there,” Mayweather said as the two met the press on Wednesday.The American’s gracious words were a stark contrast to the kind of vitriol he has directed at Manny Pacquiao-the Filipino fight king who has evolved into Mayweather’s nemesis even as a mega-fight between the two has repeatedly failed to materialize.

The mention of Pacquiao was enough to set Mayweather off on a

diatribe on Tuesday, although he insisted he bore Pacman no ill-will.

“Just speaking my mind,” Mayweather said. “When you have two fighters who get to this level there’s no losing.

That’s the ultimate goal is for the top fighters to meet each other.

Somebody got to win and somebody got to lose when you get to this level.”

Cotto, meanwhile, has been unapologetic in the build-up to the fight even as pundits bemoan the fact that it’s not a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown.

“I didn’t care about hearing one more thing about that,” Cotto said in a Los Angeles publicity stop prior to the bout. “If people want to see that (Mayweather-Pacquiao) fight, they have to wait until I beat Mayweather.”

This week the 31-year-old Cotto, a

three-division champion, promised to end Mayweather’s unbeaten run.

“I’m a quiet guy, and I prefer to talk in the ring,” said Cotto, who brings a record of 37-2 with 30 knockouts to the bout. “I had a tremendous camp in Orlando. All the work that we put in will bring me the victory Saturday night. “No matter what, I am going to use what I have to fight Floyd. I’m prepared for his style.

“I am going to be the first guy to beat Mayweather.” Mayweather, needless to say, has other ideas, even though he’s stepping up in weight to challenge for Cotto’s title. Mayweather hasn’t fought at 154 pounds since beating Oscar De La Hoya in a split decision in 2007. In his last fight, Mayweather came off a 16-month layoff to knock out Victor Ortiz and take

the World Boxing Council welterweight title in September, a triumph that took his record to 42-0 with 26 knockouts.

Cotto easily retained his WBA super welterweight title in December with a technical knockout of Antonio Margarito. He pounded Margarito, who fought the last few rounds with his right eye shut, the result of a barrage of strategically aimed left hooks from Cotto. While the bout is projected to be a clash of Mayweather’s speed and precision against Cotto’s tough physical presence, Mayweather said it might not pan outthat way.

“I don’t have to be moving and running,” he said. “I just have to box. I just have to take my time and whatever happens, happens. Whatever plays out, plays out.” — AFP

World cricket waits on Windies revival LONDON: It is a measure of how much things have changed since the West Indies’ glory days that the overwhelming feeling amongst home cricket fans ahead of their tour of England is sympathy. From the mid 1970s through the 1980s the West Indies dominated world cricket with as fearsome a battery of fast bowlers as the game has known and dynamic, hard-hitting batsmen. They seemed to reserve their most pulverizing displays for England, the old colonial power.

Yet the English crowds, while they feared for the safety of their own batsmen and the figures of their bowlers, had no trouble relishing the exuberant skill of the West Indies. Fast forward a generation, and this seems scarcely credible: the West Indies arrive in England having won just two out of their last 30 Tests. For what was once a world-beating side to be reduced to a three-Test series, mostly in May, ahead of world number one England’s showpiece encounter with South Africa is undeniably sad. Whether it is a lack of planning, inconsistent selection and questionable administration, many of the West Indies’ wounds are self-inflicted.

But certain developments in world cricket have been unkind to their cause. For example the cash-rich Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament cuts across the West Indies’ domestic season. And that offers players a financial lifeline if, they are in dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board.

And that of course is just what happened with the hard-hitting opener, former captain Chris Gayle. That may be good for Gayle-and indeed any other players who have fallen out with a WICB, whose “general incompetence” was criticized recently by former Wisden editor Scyld Berry. But the West Indies have missed Gayle’s runs during an international exile of more than a year.

It does appear though that he will be available, after completing his IPL duties, for the one-day matches against England that follow the Tests. Against this backdrop the tourists, recently beaten 2-0 in a home Test series by Australia, have arrived in cold, wet England, where the seam-bowler friendly conditions could suit the likes of West Indies quick Kemar Roach. “I am quite confident our guys can put the English batsmen under pressure,” said West Indies captain Darren Sammy ahead of the tour opener against Sussex at Hove, which starts today. But do the West Indies have the batsmen to counter the conditions in which they expect their bowlers to thrive?

Certainly, in the experienced left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, now officially ranked the world’s best batsmen, they have a cricketer for whom the adjective ‘gritty’ was invented. Here is a man so experienced in salvage missions it is little wonder he hasn’t been asked to raise the Titanic.

Chanderpaul however is a middle-order batsman and even he can only do so much if those above him fall cheaply. To his credit Sammy, whose team showed glimpses of their potential against Australia, didn’t duck the issue. “Stats don’t lie and it is fair to say our top order has looked vulnerable,” he said. “It did not click against Australia, but the selectors still have shown faith in Adrian Barath and Kieran Powell.

“They are quite young, they are still learning on the job.”

Sammy has won plaudits for his leadership skills but doubts remain over whether he is worth his place in the side. — AFP

NEWWARK: New Jersey Devils’ Bryce Salvador (left) checks Philadelphia Flyers’ James van Riemsdyk during the third period of Game 3 of a secondround NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Newark, NJ. — AP

Kings thump Blues Devils ground Flyers NEW YORK: The giant-killing Los Angeles Kings pushed the St Louis Blues to the brink of elimination with a 4-2 home victory in Game Three of their Western Conference semi-final on Thursday. Buoyant after successive road wins, the eighth-seeded Kings scored through Justin Williams, Dwight King, Mike Richards and Drew Doughty to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the bestof-seven playoff series. “I’m impressed with our team right now,” Kings head coach Darryl Sutter told reporters. “It’s not about individuals. We didn’t give up many shots but we could have managed the puck better in our zone. “I think we were really good. This was as good of a third period we’ve played in three months.”

Williams opened the scoring with a wrist shot in the first period and, though Chris Stewart replied for the Blues with a backhanded goal early in the second, King and Richards put the home team 31 ahead. Stewart scored his second of the night early in the third period before

Doughty sealed the win for the rampant Kings with a slap shot. Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick made 18 saves and his team are now poised to reach the Western Conference final for the first time since 1993, when they made their only trip to the Stanley Cup Final. The Kings, who upset the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round, will aim to sweep the second-seeded Blues in Game Four in Los Angeles today.

DEVILS WIN In the Eastern Conference, Alexei Ponikarovsky scored late in overtime to earn the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 home victory over the Philadelphia Flyers and a 2-1 lead in their semi-final. Left wing Ponikarovsky, who assisted in New Jersey’s second goal of the game, struck with a backhanded shot on his own rebound with 2:39 remaining to put the Devils in control of the best-of-seven series. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur produced a gritty performance with 25

saves to shade Philadelphia’s Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 27 at the other end. “Winning this game in overtime is a big plus,” Brodeur told reporters. “We play another big one and we can really put the pressure on them in the next game if we play well. It’s a good team on the other side.”

Philadelphia’s Brayden Schenn struck first with a wrist shot but the Devils responded with goals just 20 seconds apart from Patrik Elias and Ilya Kovalchuk, who missed Game Two with a lower body injury, to lead 2-1 after the first period. Matt Carle tied it for the Flyers in the second period before Zach Parise’s wrist shot for the Devils in the third was matched by Philadelphia’s Danny Briere, who chipped a rebound over Brodeur’s pads, to take the game into overtime. The Devils, who had scored four third period goals to blow away the Flyers 4-1 on Tuesday and level the series, killed off two penalties in overtime and outshot the Flyers 31-28 in Game Three. — Reuters

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012

Sports

Kuwait Squash team cruise to semi finals

46

NEW YORK: Chris Bosh #1 of the Miami Heat fights for a loose ball in the fourth quarter in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in the 2012 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden in New York City. — AFP

LeBron’s Heat overwhelm Knicks Thunder roll over Mavericks NEW YORK: LeBron James woke from a thirdquarter slumber to lead the visiting Miami Heat to an 87-70 thumping of the New York Knicks on Thursday and a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series. Miami dealt the Knicks a record-setting 13th successive playoff defeat dating back to April 2001 and put themselves on the brink of reaching the second round. No NBA team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs. In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder left the defending champion Mavericks on the verge of being swept after crushing them 95-79 in Dallas to lead 3-0 in their series.

Kevin Durant led the way with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting for the Thunder whose lead was cut to 50-45 early in the third quarter before they broke the game wide open with a torrent of three-pointers. Russell Westbrook fin-

ished with 20 points and Serge Ibaka with 10 points and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma City shot 42 percent from the field while holding their opponents to 34 percent. “We knew these guys were tough here in their building, they have so many great players,” Durant told reporters. “But we just wanted to come out with a sense of urgency on both ends, and we did a great job.”

Game Four is in Dallas today. In New York, James sat out the last seven-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter after picking up his fourth personal foul in a ferocious defensive struggle at Madison Square Garden that Miami led 58-56 going into the final quarter. Two three-pointers and a follow-up from under the basket, all from James, powered the Heat to a 10-point lead after 89 seconds of the fourth quarter, which they blew out to 15 to put the game out of reach.

EXPLOSIVE RETURN “I just wanted to make plays and help our team win,” James said of his explosive return to the court. James led the Heat with 32 points, including 17 in the final stanza, and Dwyane Wade added 20, with 10 in the third quarter to carry Miami in James’s absence. New father Chris Bosh, who left New York to be with his wife Adrienne in Miami for the birth of their child and returned just before the game, contributed nine points and 10 rebounds. Before his fourth-quarter burst, James had a frustrating game, committing eight turnovers in an ugly offensive showing from both clubs as players had a hard time dealing with the clawing defense played. “It was a good team win,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “Coaches like those kinds of wins, when you are not necessarily playing well, and certain parts of the game were

ugly.” Struggling even more was New York’s premier scorer, Carmelo Anthony, who shot a woeful seven-of-23 from the floor to lead the losers with 22 points.

“They’re loading up on him, they’re doubling him and forcing him to take jump shots,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said about the pressure put on Anthony. “Their defense was awfully good. Got to give them credit.” The Knicks shot a miserable 31.9 percent from the floor, and James said the Heat’s game ball went to forward Shane Battier for the job he did covering Anthony. The undermanned Knicks, playing without Amar’e Stoudemire who badly cut his left hand after hitting a fire extinguisher case in anger after New York’s Game Two loss, must now sweep four games to advance against last year’s NBA Finals runner-up. Game Four will be played at the Garden tomorrow. — Reuters