28 Jan 2010

RI PT IO N BS C SU THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF

40 PAGES

THHURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010

SAFAR 13, 1431 AH

NO: 14623

‘Chemical Ali’ buried to adulation in hometown

Rescuers pull survivor from Haiti quake rubble

Bank reform battle dominates Davos summit

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150 FILS

United beat City to reach League Cup final PAGE 20

‘Don’t allow Iran attack from Gulf’ Tehran doesn’t want to harm GCC states: Larijani

KUWAIT: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Education Minister Moudhi Al-Humoud look at a portrait of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah during Kuwait University’s annual graduation ceremony yesterday. — KUNA (See Page 4)

Saudis hail victory over Houthi rebels KHOUBA, Saudi Arabia: Saudi deputy seven “in the last several days,” defence minister Prince Khaled bin adding that Riyadh believes that six Sultan said yesterday that Yemeni soldiers are held by the rebels, but can Shiite rebels have been chased out of only confirm that four were held capthe kingdom and did not withdraw of tive. Saudi soldiers at the border area their own accord as they claim. “We of Jebel Al-Doud told AFP that they achieved a clear victory...They did not saw Houthi infiltrators on Tuesday withdraw. They have been forced out,” night.

Major General Saeed Al-Ghamedi, he said at a press briefing near the brigadier commander town of Khouba in for Saudi paratroopers Jazan region near the at Jebel Al-Doud, told border with Yemen, AFP that they were in scene of on-off fighting the “final phase of with the rebels since securing the area”. “By early November. The the end of this phase. leader of the Shiite The war is done,” he rebels, known also as added. “The Houthi Houthis, had forces said they were announced on Monday withdrawing. It is not the voluntary withtrue. We destroyed drawal of his fighters them. We pulverised from positions occuthem,” he boasted. pied within Saudi Sounds of gunfire and Arabia. explosions could still be Prince Khaled heard on the border demanded, however, the withdrawal of JIZAN: Saudi Deputy west of Khouba yestersnipers he said were Defense Minister Prince day afternoon.

Saudi Arabia infiltrating the moun- Khaled bin Sultan tainous borders “from salutes soldiers during a launched operations time to another” and border tour at an army against the rebels, already locked in conurged the Yemeni base yesterday. — AP flict with Yemen’s miliarmy, engaged in sporadic fighting with the rebels, to take tary, after accusing them of killing a control of the borders. “If they are seri- Saudi border guard and occupying two ous, they have to withdraw completely, border villages on Nov 3. Saudi troops including snipers,” Prince Khaled said. undertook their largest mobilisation “If they (snipers) withdraw, and if they since the 1991 Gulf war and began return our six missing (soldiers), and if attacking the rebels from land and air. we become sure that Yemeni armed Prince Khaled said Saudi forces had forces are stationed along the borders... captured 1,500 people, and that the these three steps would prove their number of Houthi captives ranged between 300 to 400, the majority of good intentions,” he said.

He said that 109 Saudi soldiers them smugglers.

Continued on Page 13 were killed in the fighting, including

KUWAIT: Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said yesterday that Arab states in the Gulf should not allow the United States to launch attacks on the Islamic republic from bases in the region. “States in the region which house US military bases should know that these bases must not be used against Iran. The region should not become a launch pad for aggression against Iran,” Larijani told a news conference in Kuwait. Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, all members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, are home to major US military bases. Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Larijani, however, assured Gulf neighbours that Iran “does not want to inflict any harm on the GCC states,” and charged that the United States was scaring the Gulf from

KUWAIT: Ali Larijani is seen during a press conference at the end of his three-day official visit to Kuwait yesterday.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Iran to promote its presence in the region. “I believe that for the sake of having new military bases in the region... and control over its

resources, the Americans and Zionists are trying to scare the region from Iran,” he said. “We feel that certain regional groups in addition to America and the Zionists are trying to create disputes between Iran and the states in the region. We will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,” he said.

Larijani is concluding a three-day official visit to Kuwait during which he met with HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and other leaders. He said he discussed with Kuwaiti officials the security situation in the region, where he said “America is stirring up wars and setting fires”. Kuwait has repeatedly said it opposed any military action against Iran, but has also urged Tehran to respect the Continued on Page 13

Picture released yesterday shows the reconstruction of a single Sinosauropteryx, sporting its orange and white striped tail. — AFP

Visit to work visa now without exit KUWAIT: Immigration departments in various governorates will start from Sunday receiving transactions to transfer visit visas to residency ones for applicants who get work permits without having to leave the country, informed security sources told Al-Rai. The sources explained that this measure is possible now since data systems in the immigration and state security departments have been linked together. Earlier, it had been mandatory for visitors who got work permits or contracts to work in the country to leave and re-enter using the new visas before they could get a residency visa.

in the news Kuwait, Dow in talks

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti schoolboy is pictured with a bronze sculpture by Kuwaiti artist Fadhel Al-Abbar titled “Tug of War” at an exhibition at Al-Adwani Art Hall yesterday. The exhibition is part of the Al-Qurain cultural festival. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Labor law ‘cleansed’ of errors Controversy over ‘Chamber’ law

By B Izzak KUWAIT: Deputy speaker of the National Assembly MP Abdullah AlRoumi said yesterday that he has completed a special fact-finding mission on the labor law which was passed by the Assembly last month.

A controversy erupted over the law when a number of MPs said the copy

of the law sent to the government contained some errors, especially with regards to the number of holidays on Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.

Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi immediately asked Roumi to investigate the issue and asked the government not to publish the law in the official gazette until the law had been revised. Roumi said he found errors

in two articles, article 18 dealing with employment of teenagers and article 68 dealing with public holidays for workers in the private sector.

MPs passed article 68 which stipulates three days of holidays each for Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha, but in the copy sent to the government, it stated only two days on each Eid. Continued on Page 13

Ginger dino shows Cretaceous colours PARIS: Scientists yesterday said they had identified true colours of a dinosaur for the first time, a feat that also explained what role feathers played in the evolution of birds. Using electron microscopes, they identified minute, pigment-carrying cell structures in the fossilised bristles of a small dino that lived in the Early Cretaceous era, some 125 million years ago. From this, they deduct that the mohawk-quiffed carnivore was probably russet in colour and boasted a stripey orange-and-white tail.

The breakthrough scanning technique may not be able to reveal the tint of other dinosaur species that had reptilian scales, say the British and Chinese team. But it yields the first scientificallybacked evidence of a dinosaur’s colour, which eases dependence on “artist’s impressions” of these Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah (left) welcomes the Head of the National Guards HH Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah at Kuwait International Airport yesterday. — KUNA (See Page 2)

KUWAIT: Kuwait is in unofficial talks with Dow Chemical Co to avoid paying a $2.5 billion penalty for scrapping a $17.4 billion petrochemical deal, a Kuwaiti newspaper said. “There are friendly unofficial negotiations with Dow Chemical to settle the $2.5 billion penalty before reaching arbitration,” daily newspaper Al-Rai said yesterday, citing oil sources. Kuwait has offered to pay about $250 million, or 10 percent of the penalty, the paper said. The world’s fourth-largest oil exporter scrapped the petrochemicals deal with Dow in Dec 2008, a month after signing it, due to criticism in parliament.

Plan to boost output KUWAIT: Kuwait aims to raise its oil output plan from the northern fields to 1 million barrel per day (bpd) by 2015, an oil official said in published remarks yesterday. The OPEC country is currently pumping about 650,000 bpd of oil, and 500 million cubic feet of associated gas per day from the northern fields, Hosnia Hashim, an executive in charge of North Kuwait for state-owned Kuwait Oil Company, said in daily Al-Seyassah. KOC is working on a new project in the north to boost production capacity from the offshore area to 500,000 bpd, and 400,000 bpd from the onshore by 2014-15, by using water injection, Hashim said. However, she did not provide details on current output from both areas.

Apple unveils ‘iPad’

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse gestures during a media briefing in his office yesterday. — AP

Lanka prez wins re-election Holed-up rival rejects results COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse won a bruising re-election battle yesterday, but the result was rejected by his opponent who spent the day holed up in a hotel surrounded by troops. The election commissioner said Rajapakse had secured 57.9 percent of the popular vote in Tuesday’s presidential poll - the first since a victory over separatist Tamil rebels

last May ended a decades-long civil war. “This is a victory for the people,” Rajapakse said. “I thank those who voted for me and those who did not. I will work for all of them.” His main challenger, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, received 40.1 percent of the vote, but he vowed to challenge the result in court.

Continued on Page13

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off the “iPad” tablet yesterday, making a big bet on a new breed of gadgets that aim to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops. Jobs, who returned to the helm last year after a much-scrutinized liver transplant, took the stage before a jam-packed theater and showed off a sleek, halfinch thick tablet computer with a 9.7-inch touchscreen that can run movies, books, games and a plethora of media applications.

“What once occupied half your living room can now be dropped in a bag,” said NPD analyst Ned May. “It’s pulling together a variety of needs (in) a universal entertainment device.” Apple hopes to sell consumers on the value of tablet - which will have a price tag starting at $499 - computing af ter other technology companies, including Microsoft Corp and Toshiba Corp, have failed to do so in recent years.

Continued on Page 13

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new iPad as he speaks during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts yesterday. — AFP

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and other dignitaries receiving HH the Head of the National Guards Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah at Kuwait International Airport yesterday.

Kuwait welcomes home Sheikh Salem Al-Ali KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah warmly welcomed HH the Head of the National Guards Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah at Kuwait International Airport yesterday.

They congratulated Sheikh Salem on his recovery and safe arrival back home after a stay overseas for medical checkups. Sheikh Salem was also received by Speaker of the National Assembly (parliament) Jassem Mohammad Al-Khorafi, Vice President of the National Guards Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah, First Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-

Hamad Al-Sabah, and Minister of Amir Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah, as well as several members of the ruling family and senior statesmen.

The Amir sent a telegram to Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah to congratulate him on his recovery and safe arrival back home from an overseas medical tour.

HH the Amir wished Sheikh Salem good health to continue his contributions to the country’s prosperity and progress.

Sheikh Salem Al-Ali has received similar cables from HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti citizens celebrate the return of Sheikh Salem Al-Ali.

Operation Thanksgiving bids final farewell

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: After almost 20 years, Operation Thanksgiving, a charity organization focused on gift-giving to the US servicemen stationed in Kuwait, has finally bid farewell and shut down its charity operation in Kuwait.

The reasons for the closure of its Kuwait base, according to founders and organizers Sheila and Lionel Gittens, are mostly related to logistics, security and policy issues surrounding their operations. Mrs. Gittens outlined the logistics and security issues, but did not elaborate on the policy change issues, while implying that politics have somehow played a role in their decision to end the operation.

“We started this work 16 years ago, and we love what we’re doing. But due to the fact that we have no proper storage and there aren’t enough facilities and other logistical requirements, we’ve decided to cease our operation,” said Mrs. Gittens yesterday. She made the announcement at an event held yesterday at the Gittens’ residence in Mesilla, which was attended by their loyal and enthusiastic donors and supporters.

“As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

After careful consideration and much prayer, we have decided to end our work. This day is the saddest part of our lives,” she continued emotionally, obviously holding tears. Mrs. Gittens explained that their work with Operation Thanksgiving was purely charitable in nature.

“We don’t pay for our volunteers, but people have generously contributed their time and efforts to the success of our operation,” she said. “We relied on donations and people contributing to this work were the most valuable possession we’ve had for this huge responsibility.”

Mrs. Gittens recalled their sometimes difficult but mostly warm and fulfilling work since the organization’s establishment, but was careful to stress to US servicemen that the couple’s decision to shut down the operation does not mean they are now less appreciative of the

Sheila and Lionel with one of the guests

Muna Al-Fuzai with Madam Sheila Gittens

KUWAIT: Sheila and Lionel Gittens addressing the attendees yesterday at their residence. — Photos by Ben Garcia job of the US military.

“The young men and women of the US Armed Forces are the most honorable, courageous people and we salute their sacrifices, their commitment and their mission of securing peace and security. They are America’s finest and I am humbled by their greatness,” she enthused.

Mrs. Gittens said that the current period in Kuwait is not like previous years when the country was battered by ferocious violence, clearly referring to Saddam Hussein’s aggression against Kuwait at the start of the 1990s.

“Today we live in a secure place. Many of my children and grandchildren now call Kuwait

their home. Today Kuwait is an oasis of beauty and peace,” she said. Asked about her future plan after ceasing Operation Thanksgiving, she revealed “I’ll probably concentrate on helping cancer patients from the military and their families, focusing mostly on counseling.”

Operation Thanksgiving began in 1994 when Kuwait was still suffering from the unimaginable damage wreaked by the Iraqi invasion. At that time, the Gittens were still mourning the death of their son, Donny, who passed away from kidney complications. To continue life after the loss of their son, they hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for over 3,000 US soldiers in Kuwait, with the help of other

American expatriates in the country. That was when, with the help of several donors, they first established the annual event known ever since as Operation Christmas Basket (from Operation Thanksgiving).

In 16 years of operation, the group was able to distribute gifts to 264,400 recipients, with the value of the 1.7 million gifts distributed coming to millions of dinars.

“Allow me to thank all our donors and supporters; we couldn’t have done it without you,” said Mrs. Gittens in conclusion. Yesterday’s ceremony also saw the awarding of certificates and plaques of appreciation for their valued donors and supporters.

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Graduates’ Society holds workshop

New press law would harm Kuwait’s int’l relations

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: Implementing the amendments proposed to the press and publication law would put more pressure on the Kuwaiti government’s relations with other countries, according to a Kuwaiti legal expert.

Muhammad Al-Feilly, a Professor with Kuwait University’s law faculty, issued the warning during a workshop concerning the proposed amend-

KUWAIT: The Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to Kuwait Ho Jong visited the Kuwait Times on Tuesday, where he was received by the Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Alyan. The two parties discussed matters of mutual concern in an open and friendly atmosphere. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

GCC broadcast directors’ meeting begins in Kuwait KUWAIT: The ninth meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) broadcast managers began here yesterday at the GCC nations’ joint program production institution, with discussion focusing on promising production projects.

Speaking during the first session, Sami AlEnzi, the head of the Kuwaiti delegation and director of the radio station known locally as ‘the 2nd program,’ welcomed the participating delegations and conveyed to them the greetings of the Oil and Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah and ministry undersecretary Faisal Al-Malik Al-Sabah.

Al-Enzi stressed the significance of the role played by the institution which he described as

the “GCC Media House,” saying that it had “established a single GCC media body that contributed over the past few years to supporting the journey towards GCC unity on all its stages.”

Other delegates attending the meeting include National Assembly advisor Abdullah AlGenibi, deputy of the UAE’s radio network Abdullah Al-Zei’abi, Acting Director of Bahrain Radio Aisha Abdul Latif and the Director of Production and Contact Coordinator with the Bahraini Joint Program Production Institution Badriya Al-Amer. Discussions during the meeting are expected to center on a number of new joint radio program projects. — KUNA

This article has been removed in compliance with the proposed ‘amendments’ to the Press and Publication Law.

This is part of Kuwait Times’ campaign against the proposed amendments.

Hayef demands probe into road accident

KUWAIT: Prince Meteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the Saudi Deputy Chief of the National Guards for Executive Affairs and the accompanying delegation departed the country yesterday after an official visit. Prince Meteb was seen off at Kuwait International Airport by the Deputy Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Head of the honorary mission Jahra Governor Sheikh Mubarak Al-Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah, and top National Guards officials.

MP urges MEW to avert future blackouts in Jahra KUWAIT: MP Shuaib AlMuwaizri has criticized the recurrent power cuts that hit Jahra recently, calling on the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) to work on fixing the problem urgently and return power to homes as soon as possible.

“The Ministry should utilize all efforts in order to ensure that such incidents don’t take place again in the future,” said the MP, commending the efforts made by security officers in maintaining security and public control during

the blackouts.

Al-Muwaizri also urged education minister Dr. Moudhi AlHumoud to take into consideration the situation that Al-Jahra students found themselves in during the blackouts, which left them unable to study and prepare for their scheduled exams, reported Al-Watan.

The MP also expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the five youths killed in Monday’s tragic accident at the Doha junction.

KUWAIT: MP Mohammad Hayef urged the Minister of Interior, Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah to open a probe into the road accident that took place along the ‘Doha intersection.’ This relates to an incident where security personnel failed to respond to an emergency situation immediately after receiving a call.

Hayef was referring to a complaint that was filed by a citizen, stating that he had made an emergency call 25 minutes before the accident took place.

Reportedly, at least 30 sports vehicles had assembled at the said area to perform dangerous stunt driving. However, security authorities failed to respond to his call seriously, as he claimed, which eventually led to fatalities and injuries, reported Al-Watan.

The MP further asked the Minister to tighten security grip in areas where similar illegal activities take place.

February Nights tickets on sale KUWAIT: Tickets for concerts to be held during the ‘Layali February’ (February Nights) event have been on sale since Tuesday. They are available at the Ice Skating Rink and ‘Zain’ branches at the airport, Souq Sharq, the Avenues Mall, and the 360 mall.

The prices of tickets range between KD 5 and KD 80 for the first concert. They range between KD 10 and KD 100 for the other concerts. Also, tickets for the Barney show will be put on sale starting from Jan 29 with prices ranging between KD 5 and KD 60 (for further information, call 18822255), reported Al-Watan.

The workshop, entitled “Questions for discussion about the suggested amendments to the labor law,’ was attended by representatives of Kuwait’s media outlets and NGOs. The discussions about the law were divided into two major sections. The first part saw discussion of the possible reasons for suggesting amendments, while the second examined the possible implications of implementing this law.

Al-Feily began the discussion by suggesting a number of possible explanations for the proposal of the amendments.

“First, the government lacks the ability to regulate this amount of freedom of expression. Second, the government is justifying its failure in handling the crisis over AlSoor TV channel by suggesting the [existing] legislation itself is insufficient. Thirdly, and finally, the government could have triggered the whole issue in order to benefit from the reaction and implement censorship on the local media.”

Saud Al-Enizi of the

ments to the press and publication laws held at the Graduates’ Society headquarters in Bneid Al-Gar on Tuesday evening. “The less state control is practiced over the media, the easier it will be for the government to use the protection of its own legislations against any objections from other countries over anything said in the media,” said Al-Feily, while discussing the possible implications of the recently proposed amendments being passed into law.

KUWAIT: Muhammad Al-Feily addressing the meeting. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh Graduates’ Society said that all the world’s governments are by their nature against freedoms.

“When the constitution was written, it made an exception to the rule; it took more authority from the government and gave it to the people,

but that does not mean that government is not authoritarian by nature,” he asserted. AlEnizi noted that this characteristic of governments is global, citing the “Patriot Act” implemented in the US after 9/11 attacks as an example of this. “[Governments] always

wait for the right moment to take a strike at liberties,” he explained.

Amer Al-Tamimi, the deputy head of the Kuwaiti Society for Human Rights said that the real problem does not lie in the proposed legislation.

“The real problem is that

there are people in the elected authority supporting this, even though they were elected to defend freedoms,” he said.

Al-Tamimi added that the amendments rely on a number of values which oppose social freedom and don’t meet the Kuwaiti constitution’s principles.

Among the other issues discussed by the attendees was the government’s intention to implement censorship over blogging in the country, which they called a “regressive action.”

Speakers also criticized the proposed amendments to the audio-visual law, which would see TV talk shows censored prior to broadcasting.

All those who attended the workshop agreed that the media should not be blamed for the sectarian tensions in the country. “Many of the TV channels that speak in provocative way are either financed by the government, or [individuals] close to the government,” asserted AlFeily, adding, “This is something we need to take into consideration.”

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Amir’s initiatives bolster Arab solidarity KUWAIT: Kuwait marks the fourth anniversary of the Amir’s taking the helm as 15th Amir as the Arab region and leaders stand witness that the many initiatives of His Highness, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, contributed considerably to bolstering Arab solidarity and ending tensions and rift.

Among the initiatives of particular interest is His Highness’ success in reuniting Arab leaders and nations whose relations were extremely tense during his hosting of the Arab Economic, Social, and Development Summit in January 2009. HH the Amir has always expressed concern about national issues and been keen to find ways to unite the Arab nations and develop the people of the Arab world.

Among his other achievements, he led the Arab reconciliation effort between Arab leaders on the sidelines of the Arab Economic Summit hosted in Kuwait in January 2009, as well as holding a meeting for the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, and Egypt at the residence of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. The Kuwaiti monarch has often expressed the strong belief that Arab conflict would have an adverse effect on the nation and did his utmost during the summit to avert such a situation.

He said during his speech at the summit’s inauguration that levels of extremism and hatred had increased, leading many youths to act illegally to express their feelings.

“That has negatively affected the security, stability, and social peace in our societies and threatens the region as a whole,” he noted.

HH the Amir also realized, through his wisdom, that political conflicts would also have a detrimental effect on the economic growth of Arab societies.

His efforts during the summit were fruitful in ending Arab conflicts and His Highness said at his speech at the conclusion of the event that it had provided an opportunity for a historic brotherly meeting and resulted in Arab unity.

At the Arab summit in Doha in March 2009, meanwhile, HH the Amir said that it was important to seriously deal with the weaknesses in Arab joint action.

The Palestinian cause has been a major concern to His Highness the Amir, leading him to call on all Palestinian parties during the economic summit last January to unite and cooperate. During the Arab summit in Riyadh in March 2009, the leaders of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria stressed that the meeting was a start for a new phase of cooperation and coordination regarding the Palestinian cause.

At the Qatar summit, His

Highness said that the Palestinian conflicts and division weakened the political stance of Arabs.

During the 30th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, which was held in Kuwait in December 2009, HH the Amir again urged the Palestinians to end their differences. HH the Amir has also expressed his keenness on ensuring the unity of the Gulf states and their stability and security. This was reflected in Kuwait’s support for Saudi Arabia when the latter nation’s borders were attacked.

The Kuwaiti regent strongly condemned the attacks on the kingdom, stressing that Kuwait supports Saudi Arabia in all actions taken to defend its security and sovereignty.

Any attack on Saudi Arabia is considered an attack on Kuwait and the Gulf as a whole, he emphasized.

The Amir is a statesman of unique caliber and has a great deal of accomplishments to his credit, said KUNA Board Chairman and Director General Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Sabah yesterday. He was speaking as the state marks the fourth anniversary of Sheikh Sabah assuming post as 15th Amir of Kuwait on Friday January 29.

“The statesman’s shrewd policies and foresight guaranteed the state stability, even at the worst of times and facing the greatest challenge”, KUNA chairman added.

Throughout a political career lasting over more than half a century, His Highness the Amir had closely worked with the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and the late Father Amir Sheikh Saad AlAbdulla Al-Salem Al-Sabah to further steer the nation along a path of prosperity and distinction, and His Highness is now inspiring those around him to make the state a regional economic and financial center. KUNA Chairman also noted that Sheikh Sabah’s wise policy puts emphasis on human development and stresses all possible effort be exerted to improve Kuwaiti citizens’ living conditions. “His Highness invests lessons from a long diplomatic and political career as well as close relations with a host of world leaders and figures into establishing a strong position and high status for the state on the international scene.

“Sheikh Sabah’s efforts and good relations were instrumental during the 1990 Saddam occupation of Kuwait, and he was a driving force behind establishing the international coalition which supported the Kuwaiti cause and liberated Kuwaiti territory,” Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij added. Nowadays, His Highness is also playing an influential role to safeguard Arab solidarity and defend Arab causes and genuinely strives to alleviate the suffering of Arab peoples. — KUNA

KUWAIT: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah presenting certificates to the new graduates. (Above left) HH the Crown Prince, the Speaker, HH the Prime Minister and dignitaries attend the ceremony. — Photos by KUNA

Amir sponsors university graduation ceremony KUWAIT: Under the sponsorship of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and in presence of HH the Amir’s envoy HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait University’s annual graduation ceremony for the academic year 20082009 was held at the university yesterday.

The ceremony was also attended

by National Assembly Speaker Jassem

Al-Khorafi, senior sheikhs, Deputy Chief of National Guards Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, HH Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah, Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah AlAhmad, senior state officials and a large group of graduates and citizens.

Addressing the ceremony, Minister

of Education and Higher Education Moudhi Al-Humoud thanked HH the Amir for sponsoring the ceremony, which she said showed his keenness on relentlessly supporting the education process in the country.

She considered that comprehensive development in all fields in Kuwait is the fruit of male and female university graduates from Kuwait University and other private universities, which are now assuming national

responsibility for meeting growing societal development requirements.

The minister congratulated new university graduates, especially brilliant ones, wishing them success in their practical life.

The University Rector Dr Abdullah Al-Fahd, also thanked the Amir for sponsoring the 2008-2009 university graduation ceremony. The Amir’s sponsorship of the event is clear-cut evidence of his unwavering backing for

the Kuwait University to perform its sublime message in serving and developing education in Kuwait.

On behalf of new graduates, the student Dana Maarafi, delivered a speech during the celebration, greatly appreciating HH the Amir’s support for brilliant graduates, something which she said would urge them to exert more effort in their practical life. Finally, the Amir’s envoy distributed certificates among brilliant graduates. — KUNA

FM in London to take part in conferences LONDON: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah arrived in the British capital yesterday to take part in broad conventions on Yemen and Afghanistan due yesterday and today.

Sheikh Mohammad’s delegation, including the director of his bureau, Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and the director of the GCC department, ambassador Jamal Al-Ghanem, was received upon arrival by the dean of the diplomatic corps, the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the UK Khaled Al-Duwaisan, and members of the Kuwaiti diplomatic mission. In remarks he made in Kuwait upon his departure to London, Sheikh Mohammad affirmed that Kuwait along with the other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that are taking part in the two meetings will present certain ideas regarding means of resolving the crises in Yemen and Afghanistan.

The GCC states have drafted certain blueprints for resolving this crisis, he said, adding that the foreign ministers of the member states of the council would hold a coordination meeting ahead of the convention.

The first conference is scheduled to address conditions in Yemen that pose a danger to the stability and security not only in the GCC countries but also in other parts of the world, the deputy premier and foreign minister said. He added that the conference on Yemen would be attended by delegates representing the GCC countries, Arab states and permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Sheikh Mohammad denied that donations will be declared for Yemen at the convention.

Donations for Yemen were declared three-four years ago and they were not disbursed due to the unstable conditions in this country, “because we wanted to ensure that these funds would be spent in a manner that would realize the set objectives such as aiding the development process, combating poverty, hunger and diseases.”

As to the other meeting, he indicated that it would group representatives of states that maintain friendly ties with Afghanistan, and that it was aimed at ensuring that the nation would not plunge into wide-scale chaos again.—- KUNA

MP urges Cabinet to build new universities

KUWAIT: Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra hosted a reception on Tuesday on the occasion of the Republic Day of his country at Crowne Plaza Hotel.

It was attended by the Capital Governor Sheikh Ali Jaber Al-Ahmad AlSabah, Minister of Communications and Minister of Information Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, diplomats and other dignitaries.

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Belgian planning documentary on Kuwait’s pearl-diving history KUWAIT: A documentary film, provisionally entitled “ A Greeting From the Depth of the Seas to My Forefathers” to be shot in Kuwait in July will be a nexus between historical deep sea diving and its current practice as a sport, said Belgian documentary director Peter de Molder yesterday.

In a statement to KUNA, Molder said that the history of deep sea diving in Kuwait began before the advent of

the ancient Sumerian civilization, meaning that it dates back over 5,000 years.

Archaeologists working in Kuwait have already uncovered the oldest pearl ever found, which dates back to that period.

“The oldest tale written throughout earth’s history is the epic of the Gilgamesh king who sailed from a location known now as Kuwait to Bahrain

to look for the flower of eternity, which is a pearl,” said Molder.

The eminent documentary maker continued, “This epic is the oldest tale told recording some of the techniques used by our ancestors in the Gulf region to obtain pearls from the depths of the sea, as well as other techniques used by ancient Greeks to get sponge.”

He also talked about the rudimentary diving equipment used by the

ancient peoples of the Gulf region and Greece some 4,000 years ago, which included heavy weights, olive oil and cotton to protect the eardrums from pressure when diving to great depths.

“Some of the questions to be posed by the movie are on the transfer of knowledge from the Gulf region and vice versa,” he revealed, also pointing out that Belgian free diver Patrick Musimu exceeded the free diving (div-

ing without specialist equipment) world record in this field, diving to 200 meters using one breath in a competition in Egypt in 2005.

The documentary maker also referred to the time-honored songs and poetry traditionally sung and recited during the historical pearl-diving expeditions, saying that his movie is going to document such traditional rituals, particularly in Kuwait. — KUNA

KUWAIT: MP Dulaihi Al-Hajri urged the cabinet to commit to execute development plans regarding establishing new public universities. His request came in light of the increased numbers of students seeking higher education and he asserted the importance of educational development, reported AlQabas.

Al-Hajri added that the country should develop universities equally between all the governorates in light of Kuwait University’s inability to provide the necessary space. He also said that the new universities should be equipped in all essential fields in order to meet the

increasing demand of graduating high school students.

Al-Hajri noted that the Cabinet’s five-year plan already includes a clause to build three universities and he urged the Cabinet to follow through on the projects and establish two universities by the end of next year.

The MP warned the Cabinet of failing to handle the matter with a great deal of seriousness.

He pointed out that the country has all the financial and human resource capabilities to carry out the projects and stressed that private universities are not enough of a successful alternative to public universities.

NATIONAL

Thursday, January 28, 2010

5

Kuwait hosts seminar

Canadians get tax advice

By Ben Garcia

Fatima Al-Awadhi (right) with Sheikha Sheikha Al-Sabah.

Teachers’ Society plans handicrafts exhibition KUWAIT: The Female Retirees Club of the Kuwait Teachers’ Society is prepared to launch its fourth annual handicrafts exhibition at 10 o’clock this morning. The exhibition will last for three days, from Jan 28-30, under the patronage of Sheikha Sheikha Al-Abdullah Al-Khalifa Al-Sabah. Head of the club, Fatima Al-Awadhi, invited all retired women and housewives to attend the fair. The event will be held at the Teachers’ Society location at Sheikh Abdullah AlMubarak Al-Sabah hall in Dasma. She added that this year’s event will feature activities that attendants can participate in.

Al-Awadhi also explained that the exhibition will be in two shifts; one in the day between 9:30 AM and 12:00 PM, and one in the evening between 4:30 PM and 8:30 PM. Participation and attendance is restricted to females only. She expressed gratitude toward Sheikha Sheikha Al-Sabah for her patronage of the event.

This exhibition is part of the various activities that the club has established on the local and the regional level. The group hopes to utilize the capabilities of retired women and housewives and give them the opportunity to participate in various forms of art.

This article has been removed in compliance with the proposed ‘amendments’ to the Press and Publication Law.

This is part of Kuwait Times’ campaign against the proposed amendments

in the news ‘Prefab homes’ improvement KUWAIT: A KD 250 million budget will be allocated to improve the condition of citizens living in prefabricated homes. An agreement on this regard was held between the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister for Development and Housing Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. The Municipal Council Member Abdullah Fahad, praised the Minister for the announcement he made to build homes for citizens that covers area of 600 square meters. MP Askar AlEnizy acknowledged Al-Fahad’s efforts to resolve the issue, and suggested that readymade houses of Al-Sulaibikhat be evaluated, reported Al-Watan. Furthermore, MP Khalid Al-Sultan expressed confidence in the Minister’s commitment, stating that the problem of prefabricated homes in Al-Sulaibikhat will be solved by either relocating residents or providing them with loans to rebuild homes. MP Mohammad Al-Mutair also acknowledged the Minister’s efforts, and hoped for similar coordination to be achieved with all the ministers.

Hospital refurbishment KUWAIT: Operations theaters and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the Chest Disease Hospital’s pediatric section, which is located in the hospital’s old building, is to undergo major refurbishment, which is set to be completed within six months. Dr. Abbas Ramadan, the director of the Chest Disease Hospital, said that the renovation work would allow children currently receiving treatment at Al-Rashid Allergy Center to be transferred to the refurbished pediatric unit later this year. Dr. Ramadan also revealed that he is to meet with the Minister of Public Works next week to discuss the creation of a sea front exercise area for patients, which will include landscaped paths and walking areas.The hospital director also noted that work on the annex connecting the hospital’s new and old buildings would begin shortly, reported AlQabas. The new annex will consist of two floors, the first to be used by administrative and nursing staff and the second to house an Intensive Care Unit.

Life-like guns banned KUWAIT: The possession and selling of fake guns that resemble real ones have been banned as decided by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, reported Al-Qabas. The decision, made directly by Minister Ahmad Al-Haroun, bans any form of fake guns that can cause harm. The Ministry further urged merchants and consumers to cooperate with the ban and no longer purchase trading with these harmful devices.

KUWAIT: A seminar on managing tax issues for Canadians residing in Kuwait was held on Tuesday night at the Marina Hotel in Salmiya.

A number of Canadian expatriates attended the event which was organized by the Canadian Commercial Circle (CCC). Most of the speakers were expert tax consultants.

An international investment advisor Robert Drolet, President of the CCC and Senior Vice President at the Kuwait Project Company (KIPCO) welcomed guests and thanked them for their readiness to share knowledge and expertise on both investment and taxation issues.

“Kuwait and the rest of GCC countries are home to many Canadians whose financial affairs needed professional support and advice.

With this seminar we want everyone to be aware of Canadian policies and issues that need attention.

Brochures available here can be taken home to be shared

with your friends who are not available tonight,” he mentioned.

Wayne Bewick, from Trowbrige, a professional corporation comprising chartered accountants and tax advisors, presented expatriate and international taxation issues to attendees. He briefed the audience about his company’s history and why they were established.

Bewick explained several rules governing Canadian residency for tax purposes and its impact on expatriates living and working in Kuwait.

He outlined the basic principles of tax planning for Canadian expatriates and explained on ways of dealing with property tax back in Canada and issues related to it.

For example, he noted that owners of real estate (rental) property are required to submit 25 percent of gross rate and if they fail to pay, they will be penalized. A similar situation experienced by non-residents and other related tax return issues were also dis-

KUWAIT: Robert Drolet addressing the participants of the seminar at the Marina Hotel.

— Photo by Joseph Shagra cussed. Bewick admitted to the complexities that exist in Canada’s taxation issues and said that every Canadian should be aware of the prevailing law and stated that it is always better to seek professional advice.

They should also receive proper guidance especially related to pre-and-post departure problems.

John Wright, an International Investment Advisor and Financial Planner explained about

some investment opportunities and risk management issues in Canada and how to deal or file health, life, disabilities and critical illness insurances.

He also discussed retirement planning and advised

on minimizing tax payments during retirement by choosing locations in Canada wisely. The seminar was held in cooperation with the Canadian Embassy in Kuwait under the sponsorship of HSBC.

NATIONAL

6

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Press freedom in peril

Proposed government amendments criticized

ʻRestrictions on press freedom will damage Kuwaitʼs reputation globallyʼ he media is a godsend that we are all blessed to have, writes Dr. Munawer Al-Rajhi in AlWatan. Without it God alone knows how dismal our situation might be since its absence would mean that we no longer had the right to the responsible exercising of freedom.

The media has always been considered a means by which people can obtain different viewpoints and give their reactions on topics of interest.

However, this valuable process could be obstructed if restrictions are imposed limiting the people’s abilities to express their opinions.

Furthermore, the media’s functions include five main ones, which are informing and shaping opinions, increasing information and knowledge, entertaining, advertising and raising awareness of the importance of family relations.

These functions cannot be achieved with limitations in place to restrict media workers’ abilities to carry them out.

It’s widely realized that depriving members of a society of their rights to express their opinions and ideas can only result in the destruction of that society since these ideas form essential aspects of a society’s development.

Islam came along at a time when most freedoms were obstructed, working on removing all the obstacles that could impede humans’ expression of their freedoms. This approach stems from Islam’s belief in the importance of humans as the principal components of a successful society, while believing that success can never be fully

T

achieved unless all the members of a society have the rights to practice their freedoms. Therefore, Islam places almost no restrictions on people’s freedom to express their opinions unless in issues through which they can expose themselves to danger or cause harm to others and as long as these freedoms are practiced within a framework of ethics, morals and integrity.

Given all these facts, a question arises, which is: What are the best ways to stop people from violating these principles? In order to achieve this, we need to see the establishment of specialist courts that deal with issues of information. This approach has already been adopted in several other countries, where it is considered the best way of achieving justice since it puts the regulatory control in the hands of the judicial system, rather than leaving such decisions to governments who often base their decisions on the latest political developments.

The excessive penalties contained in the proposed amendments, including possible jail sentences, suspension and large fines, are clearly unsuitable punishments for the 21st century, since nobody has the right to ban people from expressing their opinions or penalizing them for doing so. Therefore, I call on those responsible for these amendments to reconsider their decisions and consult the historical records on how previous amendments to the same law introducing similarly strict penalties led to Kuwait’s status concerning human rights and freedoms falling internationally.

kuwait digest always believed the Pharos doctrine ended with the dawn of Islam, the religion of freedom and responsibility,” wrote Fehaid Al-Hailam in his Al-Rai column yesterday. ‘The Ministry of Information seems to refuse this fact with their silly amendments to

‘I

Pharos and the media the audio-visual law.’

Al-Hailam addressed the Information Ministry and stressed that creating a respectable media cannot be achieved with strict penalties and premeditated control. ‘It can only be achieved by enforcing the current laws equally and

firmly to everyone without favoritism.

Fear of law cannot be created with a KD 200,000 fine or imprisonment, he said. However, it can be achieved with equality and freedom for everybody, and by supporting these values amongst citizens, he argued. The fact that the amend-

ments were suggested at a time when billions of dinars worth of government plans were presented makes this situation quite suspicious, he pointed out. ‘Are they intending to silence us concerning potential mistakes in the development plan,’ he wondered.

He noted that the current audio-visual laws were not imposed against those satellite TV channel owners who tried to split national unity. “This only raises more suspicions concerning the credibility of the government’s intentions,” he concluded

The salad law ’ve always wondered how a fancy restaurant menu include so many varieties of tempting salads - cold, finely chopped, green or any other kind that only experts can recognize,’ wrote Saad Al-Metesh in his Al-Rai column. He pointed out that the best person who can discern between these endless arrays of salads is the minister of information who, in a comment about the proposed amendments to the press law,

‘I

asserted that only one kind of ‘salad’ exists.

‘Arab salads comprise tomatoes, cucumber and a whole lettuce that is served with some knives so that one can slice and chop whichever freely,’ he added.

The writer reassured the minister that the Parliament is made up of men who believe in the freedom of speech. This ‘salad’ bill - the government proposed amendments to the

Audio-Visual Law — should be thoroughly studied to avoid turning Kuwait, that is already proud of its democracy, into a graveyard. ‘MPs will pick up tomatoes and return cucumbers so that you can pickle them,’ he wrote.

‘Long live our legislative power that will blow away the minister’s ‘salad’ law. Down with authorities that wish to ‘chop’ the power of free media!’ he concluded.

Criminal Court to determine constitutionality of amendments KUWAIT: The Criminal Court has recently referred the proposed amendments on the Audio-Visual Law to the Constitutional Court so as to determine the constitutionality of clause number 13 of the proposed amendments.

While journalists and media personnel in Kuwait have been pushing for a more liberalized audio-visual law, the Criminal Court contacted the Constitutional Court to determine the constitutionality of a clause that allows for imprisoning and levying fines on an owner of a TV station and any staff member who shares a direct or indirect relationship with the media. This action was taken after the court was made aware of the seriousness of the particular clause in the amendments. These were drafted by the attorney in charge of overseeing the case in which the Ministry had prosecuted the Scope TV for violating it (the clause).

The attorney provided evidence claiming to prove the unconstitutionality of this clause.

On a separate note, the Cassation Court has received an appeal from the Cabinet asking it to revoke a decision passed by the Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS) to dissolve the boards of both Al-Fahaheel and AlShabab sports clubs.

The said order was passed by the Social Affairs and Labor Ministry, reported AlWatan. Following the court ruling , the defense lawyer of the clubs urged the Ministry to implement the new court ruling with immediate effect.

NATIONAL

Thursday, January 28, 2010

7 Asian held for forgery

Two drug dealers in police custody KUWIAT: Two brothers were arrested after being found in possession of 750 grams of Hashish. Both brothers worked in the government sector, one at the Ministry of Defense, the other at the Kuwait Municipality. The arrests were coordinated with the General Department for Drug Control (GDDC) and

KUWAIT: Abdulrahim Al-Awadi and Tayseer Barakat with other officials cutting the ribbon.

Mubasher International opens new branch

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The Mubasher International Company launched their second branch in the Kuwait International Airport to simplify services for their clients. Their new office focuses on airline ticketing, hotel and apartment reservations as well as car rental services.

This office will be working 24 hours a day said Abdul Rahim Al-Awadi, Chairman of Mubasher. “Opening this office in this vital and important area is a part of our company’s policy to provide the best services.”

Mubasher uses modern and high-tech electronic reservation systems on the internet. “This modern system allows us to reserve hotels and get an immediate confirmation from a hotel at a suitable price for everybody,” he added. “Qualified staff and employees with experience in travelling and tourism will be serving our clients. We will offer various packages and offers such as organizing Umrah trips, marine tours, and many other touristic services,” he added.

Mubasher International is a Kuwaiti Shareholding Company established in 2007. “We are a consortium of well-known travel and tourism agencies in

Forger held A Bangladeshi man was recently charged with forging official documents and illegally accessing the country. He was discovered to have reentered Kuwait using a fake passport. The discovery came after he was taken to Riqqa police station for an absconding case filed against him. Police discovered the forgery when his sponsor couldn’t recognize him. He was taken to authorities.

Domestic dispute A woman recently filed a complaint against her husband for kidnapping their infant child and fleeing to an undisclosed location. A case was opened and a search for the father is ongoing.

Serviceman held A serviceman was arrested after confessing responsibility for six cases of robbery at camps located in Al-Kalaiah and Abdullah Port. The arrest occurred after investigations led police to the suspect’s camp where all the stolen items were found. He was taken to the Public Prosecution.

KUWAIT: Al Awadi cutting the cake. —Photos by Joseph Shagra Kuwait,” he explained. “It’s considered one of the biggest Kuwaiti companies involved in travel and tourism. We directly serve clients at our offices in Qatar, Egypt, and Jordan. We offer further services to areas such as the UK, US, Far East, and Australia,” he concluded.

Mubasher was formed with the objective of servicing the ever-increasing demands of corporate travelers and never-ending needs of leisure travelers.

They offer customers reason-

able hotel rates with their wide and expansive network of 50,000 hotels around the world.

They specialize in cruises, honeymoon packages and island holidays vacations. Mubasher operates a high power state of the art ‘search and book’ engine that caters to the varied and ever increasing travel needs of customers. Their software provides access to a protected website and makes direct bookings.

Host to host connections ensure high-speed transactions and

access to online statements of accounts and management reports. The competition in the travel market works for the benefit of the customers.

“Competition is healthy and is positive for travelers,” said Tayseer Barakat, President of Barakat Travel Co, part of the Mubashar International consortium. “Travel agencies are the intermediaries for airline companies and we welcome their offers because it encourages people to travel.”

Info ministry irregularities KUWAIT: MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan has stated that he is ready to establish a parliamentary committee to investigate financial and administrative violations perpetrated at the Ministry of Information.

AlDuwaisan said that he is already in possession of all the necessary documents demonstrating the ministry officials’ misdemeanors. The MP revealed that he has been conferring with parliamentary colleagues from various political blocs on the subject, all of whom are amenable to the creation of such a committee and willing to be members of it.

Kuwait Army investigators. One of the brothers was arrested at work and when questioned led authorities to his apartment in Khaitan where the rest of his drugs were located.

Authorities also found his brother in possession of illegal material as well. Both were referred to the GDDC for prosecution

Store robbed A cell phone store in Jahra was robbed by a thief who broke in and stole KD 450 worth of recharge cards. The store’s owner informed officials as soon as he discovered the robbery. Investigators were sent to the scene.

Suicide case An Asian man hung himself from the balcony of his apartment located on the fifth floor of a building in Mangaf. Residents gathered but failed to talk the man out of his plans to kill himself. Police responded to the emergency but arrived too late to save his life. A suicide case was opened.

Sexual assault An Islamic studies teacher sexually molested the 14-year-old daughter of his neighbor in Fintas. The assault occurred at the teacher’s apartment where the girl usually goes with her parents for private Arabic tutoring. In their latest class however, the girl’s parents were not available and the teacher took the girl to a separate room, away from his own children, and molested

the girl before letting her go. The girl then rushed to her father and informed him about the situation. The father attempted to confront his neighbor but discovered that he had escaped. He informed police who responded to the situation and found him inside a local co-op. He was taken to the Public Prosecution to face charges of sexually assaulting a minor.

Harassers confronted Two youngsters who harassed a couple of female security guards at a mall were startled when the guards responded by beating them up. Police responded to the fight and put the situation under control. One of the harassers were arrested and taken to authorities while the other escaped. The guards then filed complaints against the youngsters at the Salhiya police station.

Brothel busted Farwaniya police arrested 18 Asian men and women inside a brothel located in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Khaitan. The arrests occurred after authorities were able to confirm the illegal activity. The lawbreakers were sent to the proper authorities.

Nepalese man injured

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A 31-year-old Nepalese fractured his limb and sustained injuries to the head after falling from a height. He was admitted to the Mubarak hospital.

Hit and run case A Bangladeshi expat sustained head injuries after being run over by a car near the Avenues mall. He was admitted to Sabah hospital.

Motor accidents A 30-year-old Egyptian suffered back injuries following a motorcycle accident that

occurred in Hadiya. He was admitted to Adan hospital. In another case, a 22-year-old citizen suffered multiple bruises in a motorcycle accident that took place along the Arabian Gulf Road. He was admitted to the Mubarak hospital.

Egyptian injured A 35-year-old Egyptian fractured his leg in a freak accident that took place along Hawally.

He was admitted to Mubarak hospital.

Corpse found The corpse of a 51-year-old Indian was found in Bneid Al-Gar. The body was referred to the concerned authorities.

INTERNATIONAL

8

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Would-be Gaza migrants face endless hurdles GAZA: Abu Luay sold his wife’s gold to pay for a visa to Germany, but if the Egyptian border does not open soon he will lose his only ticket out of Gaza, where life is an endless struggle against conflict and an Israeli siege. Like him, untold numbers of Palestinians are scraping together large sums of money to pay travel agents for visas in a desperate bid to leave the densely populated Gaza Strip enclave. But theirs is a gamble that rarely pays off. “I sold my wife’s gold to pay the travel office 2,000 dollars (1,400 euros) for a student visa to Germany,” said Abu Luay, a father of four who, like other aspiring migrants interviewed by AFP, asked that his real name not be used for fear it would jeopardize his plans.

Israel has strictly limited travel to and from Gaza, part of an embargo first imposed in 2006 and tightened after a June 2007 takeover of the territory by the militant Islamic Hamas movement. Since then, the only way out is through Egypt, which only rarely opens the Rafah crossing that straddles its border with Gaza. Abu Luay’s threemonth German visa expires in less than a month, but he has been determined to leave ever since a devastating war with Israel a

year ago killed some 1,400 Palestinians and flattened large swathes of the territory.

Thirteen Israelis also died in the 22-day battle, which Israel launched to halt Hamas rocket fire from Gaza, and that ended on January 18, 2009. Since then, Palestinian rocket attacks have dropped by more than 90 percent. But Israel’s closure of all borders with Gaza has been a virtual siege, preventing reconstruction and foreign aid in an impoverished zone where some 80 percent of the population relied on foreign aid to make ends meet.

“Our whole lives have been made up of obstacles and destruction and the siege,” Abu Luay said. “I won’t give up hope. I am going to emigrate with my family, and we won’t come back.”

Sentiments like this, in a place without Western embassies where one could apply for visas, has meant a flourishing trade for travel agents who know the ropes and how to obtain visas through foreign embassies in other Middle Eastern countries. One way out for many Gazans is to travel on a student visa, then stay on illegally after that expires, or move on to another country. The Hamas movement ruling Gaza frowns on emigration, viewing it as a betrayal of the

RAFAH: A Palestinian girl waits with her mother to board a bus bound for Egypt at the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip. —AFP Palestinian struggle for independence, and would shut down anyone openly helping people leave for good.

The owner of a travel agency that provides visa services insisted he only helps students who want to study abroad, but

admitted that some applicants “exploit” the visas to emigrate. Half of the 1,400-dollar visa fee goes to the agency and the other half for university and embassy application fees, said the travel agency owner, who asked that his name and the name of his business not be used. The one organization in Gaza that legally provides emigration services does so under Canadian and Palestinian permits granted a decade ago, and is able to secure visas for only a small number of applicants each year.

“More than 90 percent of the people who come to us do not meet the requirements of the Canadian government,” said Malik AlShawa, the head of the organization, adding that the process often takes several years.

Like most Western governments, Canada usually requires would-be immigrants to have language fluency as well as university degrees and experience in a lucrative profession. In the absence of legal avenues, many Gazans have turned to fly-by-night agents who collect hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars with the promise of securing visas. But often, all they do is use the money to finance their own emigration.

Zahdi, 23, paid an agent 1,500 dollars (1,000 euros) to get European visas for him-

self and a friend, but instead of getting a visa he was left in the cold. “The swindler took off,” Zahdi said. “He escaped to Egypt and is still there. We weren’t the only ones he cheated.” Now, Zahdi’s plan is to obtain a false medical certificate saying he suffers from liver disease and needs treatment in Egypt, where he believes he will be able to get a visa to Europe. “My friend travelled this way, so I am going to do the same thing,” Zahdi said. Forged documents and lies are often the only way to surmount the numerous hurdles in the emigration process.

Muammar, a taxi driver, paid 1,200 dollars to apply for a student visa to Australia, but he was rejected because his grades were too low. “The office manager told me after two months of procedures that my request was rejected by the university because my grades on university entrance exams were less than 65 percent,” he said. But he said he only got back 500 dollars from the agent.

Muammar’s next plan is to have his diploma altered and then send it to universities in Europe. “I’m not happy about what I am doing, but I’m scared and frustrated,” he said. “I might lose one of my children in an air strike or another war. —AFP

Iraqi militants using new tactics to breach security Qaeda claims Baghdad hotel attacks BAGHDAD: Militant groups are finding new ways to foil Iraqi security - hiding explosives in the chassis of vehicles or tucking them into secret compartments, the top US commander in Iraq said as Baghdad was again hit by a sui-

TIKRIT: A relative kisses the lifeless body of Saddam Hussein’s cousin Ali Hassan Al-Majid before his burial in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit in Iraq.—AP

Iraq’s ‘Chemical Ali’ buried near Saddam TIKRIT: Ali Hassan Al-Majeed, known as “Chemical Ali” for his use of poison gas against minority Kurds, was buried late on Tuesday near his cousin, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, a tribal leader said. Majeed’s burial in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit came a day after the feared Saddam aide and military commander was hanged in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

“His body was received late last night by police in Tikrit,” Munaf Ali Al-Neda, a prominent tribal figure in the largely Sunni Arab province, said yesterday. “(Majeed) was buried close to (Saddam’s sons) Uday and Qusay, at the same place where Saddam’s grave is located.” Neda said some relatives of Majeed were present at the quiet burial ceremony in the village of Awja. Majeed’s grave is

outside a building where Saddam is buried, alongside those of Uday and Qusay.

His grave yesterday was covered with Iraqi flags dating back to Saddam’s era. Saddam, who ruled Iraq with an iron fist from 1979 until the USled invasion in 2003, was hanged by the new Shiiteled government in late 2006. Both of his sons were killed by US forces in 2003.

The Saddam gravesite is sometimes visited by Iraqis who are nostalgic about the Saddam era.

Iraqi Kurds and some Shiite Arabs, who suffered in Majeed’s brutal campaigns to stamp out resistance following the first Gulf War in 1991, reacted with joy to Majeed’s execution. Some questioned the timing just six weeks before a March 7 general election. —Reuters

Yemen plans militant rehabilitation center Funding to come from United States SANAA: Yemen will begin building an $11 million rehabilitation centre for returning Guantanamo detainees in three months when it expects to receive funding from the United States, a government official said yesterday.

There are 91 Yemeni detainees left in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Washington suspended transfers to Yemen this month because of a deteriorating security situation in the country, in the throes of a crackdown on a resurgent Al-Qaeda.

Foreign ministers of Western powers, Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey were meeting in London to discuss ways to stabilize Yemen as it grapples with Al-Qaeda, a northern Shi’ite revolt and southern separatism. “Setting up the centre will require $11 million and the US side has announced it is prepared to provide the entire sum,” the official said, declining to be named. Yemen declared open war on Al-Qaeda this month, stepping up air strikes and security sweeps after the Yemen-based regional arm of Al-Qaeda said it was behind a failed Dec 25 bid to blow up a US-bound airliner.

Western powers and Riyadh fear Yemen will become a failed state, allowing Al-Qaeda to exploit chaos and use the country as a base for more international attacks. The Yemeni official said the rehabilitation centre will be located either in the capital Sanaa or in the province of Hadramout, home to a number of moderate religious education establishments. It will be run

by Yemen’s ministry of religious endowments, and will likely be headed by an influential cleric known for his moderate views, the official said, without naming him.

US President Barack Obama’s goal to shut

Guantanamo, which opened in 2002 to hold foreign terror suspects, within a year of taking office went unfulfilled when the first anniversary of his inauguration passed last week. The US Justice Department said on Tuesday an Uzbek Guantanamo detainee had been sent to Switzerland for resettlement, the latest transfer from the facility. Three detainees were sent to Slovakia on Sunday, two Algerians were sent home last week and 12 detainees were sent to Yemen, Afghanistan and Somaliland in late December.

Guantanamo’s Yemeni detainees present a big challenge to the closure of the prison.

Although some have been cleared to go home, the United States says it cannot release them because militant Al -Qaeda cells are active in Yemen and US officials are concerned those released could join the group. The global militant group’s Yemen wing shot to international attention after it claimed a bomb attempt of a US-bound plane on Dec 25.

A task force headed by the US attorney general recommended last week that about 50 Guantanamo prisoners should face indefinite detention and another 35 or so should be prosecuted in criminal or military courts. Earlier this month, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr Al-Qirbi said any new program to reorient militants away from their violent ideology would have to be more comprehensive than an effort the government promoted in 2005 and later shelved. But he said Yemen, the poorest Arab country, lacked the resources to emulate a well-funded rehabilitation program for reformed militants run in neighboring Saudi Arabia. —Reuters

The back-to-back blasts were the latest in a series of major assaults since August that underscore an evolving tactic by suspected Sunni militants to target high-profile government sites with attacks involving high degrees of planning and coordination.

The aim appears twofold: to maximize the blows to the Shiite-led government and exploit security gaps with Iraqi forces now almost entirely in control of checkpoints and patrols as the US military draws down.

Any signs of backsliding on security would hurt the American-backed administration of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, who is using the drop in overall violence across Iraq as one of the pillars of his campaign in March 7 national elections. But Al-Maliki is also under pressure to reach out to Sunnis - who were once favored by Saddam Hussein to fend off Shiite rivals in upcoming voting. Insurgents such as Al-Qaeda in Iraq “have become more creative at how to conduct attacks,” the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Raymond Odierno, told reporters.

The methods include wrapping explosives into the gears and slats of vehicle chassis or into carefully concealed chambers, he said. He said Iraqi authorities have requested scanners capable of looking inside sealed portions of vehicles. Iraqi forces have been reluctant to expand the use of bomb-sniffing dogs because of the widely held Muslim tradition that avoids contact with dogs. “They are willing to use them against vehicles,” he said.

“They don’t want to use them against people.”

Odierno’s comments came as Iraq defended the use of a British-supplied bomb-detection device that is the subject of probes about whether it actually works. Britain has banned its export to Iraq and Afghanistan, but Iraqi security forces continue to operate the hand-held units at checkpoints. It’s not certain whether the bombers in this week’s attacks passed through Iraqi inspections before reaching their targets.

But the blasts left officials again facing accusations of security lapses. Meanwhile, an Al-Qaeda group, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility yesterday for three bomb attacks on Baghdad hotels this week that killed at least 36 people, the SITE monitoring group said. “The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the Al-Qaeda front in Iraq, claimed the 1/25 coordinated suicide bombing attack that struck at three Baghdad hotels,” the US monitoring group said. The claim, which could not be immediately authenticated, was made in a “communique issued on jihadist forums” yesterday, according to SITE Intelligence Group.— Agencies

cide car bomb that sheared off the front of the main crime lab. At least 22 people were killed. The Tuesday attack came a day after car bombings struck three Baghdad hotels favored by Western journalists and security contractors.

BEIRUT: A Lebanese army helicopter flies past the USS Ramage as they continue in the search efforts, in Beirut. The pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed into the sea on Monday, of which all 90 people on board are feared dead, flew in the opposite direction from the path recommended by the control tower after taking off from Beirut in thunderstorms, Lebanon’s transportation minister said. — AP

Search intensifies for black boxes of doomed airplane BEIRUT: Authorities were hopeful that the black boxes of an Ethiopian jet which crashed into the sea off Lebanon would be recovered yesterday in order to shed light on why the plane veered off course on takeoff. “The black boxes have not been localized but we have made enormous progress,” an army spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We are sounding the area where the plane went down and are making headway.” He said emergency crews had worked non-stop since the plane went down on Monday but bad weather and murky waters had hampered the search.

“The more the weather improves the more efficient the search,” he said, noting sunny skies yesterday and a calm sea.

Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi also said early yesterday that he was optimistic and that rescuers and salvage crews were making headway. “We are in principle expecting results today,” he said.

Lebanese officials have ruled out foul play and said the bad weather was likely to blame. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 tum-

bled in a ball of fire into the Mediterranean early Monday just minutes after takeoff from Beirut in stormy weather. The Boeing 737-800 bound for Addis Ababa had 90 passengers and crew on board. All are presumed dead and only 14 bodies and some body parts have been recovered so far. Officials are counting on the black boxes to provide answers on the tragedy, especially as to why the pilot of the plane failed to heed instructions by the control tower. Experts suspect that the aircraft may have flown into cumulonimbus thunder clouds which would cause the pilot to lose control of the jet. Officials have cautioned against blaming the pilot.

“We cannot say at this point that there was pilot error because we don’t know what happened,” a defense ministry official said. “The pilot was told by the control tower to steer to the right but the plane went the other way, perhaps because it was too late by then and the plane was overtaken by the storm,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He was an experienced pilot and maybe he was not

able to follow instructions because of the storm.”

Other officials have said that the pilot, who had 20 years of experience and was familiar with the Boeing, had initially acknowledged the instructions before the jet suddenly went off in a different direction.

The defense ministry official said two boats from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as well as a US navy destroyer-the USS Ramage-and a civilian boat from Cyprus were each concentrating their search on a specific area at sea south of the airport and were using sonar equipment to locate the wreckage at a depth of between 50 and 150 meters.

“Of course were are confident we will find the plane but we can’t say when,” he said. He said troops were also combing the entire Lebanese coastline. Also yesterday Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoun Misfin was meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other officials to discuss the tragedy. —AFP

16 killed in central Somalia MOGADISHU: Fighting in Somalia between a pro-government militia and hardline Islamist rebels killed at least 16 people and injured 34 others in the central Galgadud region yesterday, a rights group said.

“More people were forced to flee ... This is a violation of civilians’ rights,” Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of Mogadishu’s Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization said. Residents said the clashes took place in

the central towns of Warhole and Owsweyne and pitted Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca militia against an alliance of Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab insurgents.

Washington says Al Shabaab is Al-Qaeda’s proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, which has lacked a central government for the last 19 years. Both Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab want to impose a harsh version of sharia law on the chaotic country.

Bashir Khayre, a resident of

Warhole, told Reuters that three injured civilians had died of their wounds as fleeing neighbors tried to carry them to safety in another town. “Fighting has now paused, but it is sure to restart because the two groups are not far from each other. The death toll may rise because some injured people ran into the forest,” he said.

Fighters from Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab have fought each other in the past, but have

sometimes teamed up to fight Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca-which advocates a more moderate version of Islam and supports Somalia’s weak Western-backed government.

Violence in drought-ravaged Somalia has killed at least 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven a further 1.5 million people from their homes, helping to trigger one of the world’s most acute humanitarian emergencies. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Obama approves secret operations in Yemen US develops tactics, provide weapons to Yemeni govt WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has approved secret joint US military and intelligence operations with Yemeni troops that began six weeks ago and killed six regional Al-Qaeda leaders, The Washington Post reported. Obama approved a Dec 24 strike against a compound where a US citizen, Anwar AlAulaqi, was believed to be meeting with regional Al-Qaeda leaders, the newspaper said in its yesterday editions. He was not the target and was not killed but since has been added to a short list of US citizens to be killed or captured by the US military’s clandestine Joint Special Operations

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participates in a town hall meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC. — AFP

Qaeda seeks WMD, US ‘unprepared’ for threat WASHINGTON: The United States has not done enough to protect the country against the threat of weapons of mass destruction even as Al-Qaeda appears intent on staging a large-scale attack, reports released Tuesday said. A bipartisan panel warned that the government had failed to adopt measures to counter the danger posed by extremists using WMD, saying the administration lacked plans for a rapid response to a possible biological attack.

“Nearly a decade after September 11, 2001, one year after our original report, and one month after the Christmas Day bombing attempt, the United States is failing to address several urgent threats, especially bioterrorism,” said former senator Bob Graham, chair of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

He said that Washington no longer had “the luxury of a slow learning curve, when we know Al-Qaeda is interested in bioweapons.” In its “report card,” the commission also gave the federal government low marks for failing to recruit a new generation of national security experts and for failing to improve congressional oversight of intelligence and homeland security agencies. The findings came as a former CIA officer wrote in a report that Al-Qaeda’s leaders have been working methodically since the 1990s to secure weapons that could

inflict massive bloodshed.

Although other extremists had looked into obtaining such weapons, Al-Qaeda “is the only group known to be pursuing a long-term, persistent and systematic approach to developing weapons to be used in mass casualty attacks,” wrote Rolf MowattLarssen, who led the CIA’s WMD department.

He acknowledged that the failure to find WMD in Iraq had damaged the US government’s credibility and had spread skepticism about the threat posed by Al-Qaeda getting its hands on nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

“That said, WMD terrorism is not Iraqi WMD,” he wrote in the report released by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He argued that intelligence on Al-Qaeda’s activities was much more extensive and reliable than the information about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs. His report said Al-Qaeda’s efforts to develop biological and nuclear weapons were not “empty rhetoric” and that the group’s leaders appeared to have ruled out smaller-scale attacks with simpler devices.

“If Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants had been interested in employing crude chemical, biological and radiological materials in smallscale attacks, there is little doubt they could have done so by now,” he wrote. In a “highly compartmentalized” opera-

tion, Al-Qaeda had pursued parallel tracks to try to secure the destructive weapons, building a biological lab and separately acquiring strains of anthrax bacteria before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the report said.

The anthrax was apparently never successfully placed in a weapon and scientists working at a lab in Afghanistan had to flee when US-led forces invaded after the 9/11 attacks, it said. In 2003, US officials feared that Al-Qaeda was on the verge of obtaining atomic weapons after intercepting a message from a Saudi operative referring to plans to secure Russian nuclear devices. The sensitive intelligence was passed on to Riyadh and the Saudi government then arrested Al-Qaeda suspects in a major crackdown.

But US officials were never sure if the nuclear plot was disrupted or merely pushed underground. The former CIA officer also said AlQaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in 2003 had called off plans for a chemical attack on New York’s subways “for something better,” a cryptic remark that remains a mystery. The bipartisan commission on the WMD threat, created by Congress, had said in its initial report in December 2008 that it was “more likely than not” that a terror attack using weapons of mass destruction would be carried out somewhere in the world by the end of 2013. — AFP

US groups ‘alarmed’ by China’s business tactics WASHINGTON: Business groups told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top US officials on Tuesday they were “increasingly alarmed” by China’s moves to keep out foreign high-tech companies and urged a firm response by the United States, an influential newsletter reported. “For several years, the Chinese government has been implementing indigenous innovation policies aimed at carving out markets for national champions and increasing the locally owned and developed intellectual property of innovative products,” the business groups said, according to Washingtonbased newsletter, The Nelson Report.

“We are increasingly alarmed by the means China is using to achieve these goals,” the groups said.

They urged the Obama administration to make the issue a top priority and work with the US business community and like-minded foreign governments to develop a “strong, fully coordinated response to the Chinese government.” The letter is

the latest salvo in what is shaping up as an quarrelsome year in US-China trade relations.

Two weeks ago, the world’s biggest search engine provider, Google Inc., threatened to shut its Chinese Google.cn portal and to pull out from China, citing problems of censorship and a hacking attack from within the country.

The Obama administration has backed Google’s criticism, and Clinton urged China last week to drop Internet censorship and investigate the hacking, which some experts say could have been organized

by Beijing. The 19 US business groups did not mention the Google case in their letter to Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Attorney General Eric Holder, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

But they complained China has pursue aggressive “indigenous innovation” programs aimed at promoting high-tech national champions and excluding “a wide

array of US firms from a market that is vital to their future growth and ability to create jobs here at home.”

Their most immediate concern were new rules issued

by China in November to establish a national catalogue of products eligible for significant preferences when Chinese government agencies are making purchases.

The regulation requires any product listed in the catalogue to contain intellectual property developed and owned in China, making it “nearly impossible” for American companies to qualify unless they are prepared to establish Chinese brands and transfer their research and development of new products to China,” the groups said. “This directive targets some of our most innovative and competitive manufacturing and service industries, including computers, software, telecommunications and green technology. Once this system is in place, it is expected to be expanded to other industries,” the groups said. — Reuters

Command, military officials told the Post.

The American advisers do not take part in raids in Yemen but help plan missions, develop tactics and provide weapons, the paper said. The United States is also sharing highly sensitive intelligence with Yemeni forces, including electronic and video surveillance, threedimensional terrain maps and analysis of the Al-Qaeda network, the Post said. “We are very pleased with the direction this is going,” a senior administration official was quoted as saying about the cooperation with Yemen. A Yemeni official was quoted as saying the two countries main-

tained a “steadfast cooperation in combating AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), but there are clear limits to the US involvement on the ground.

Information sharing has been a key in carrying out recent successful counterterrorism operations.” In a newly built joint operations center, the American advisers are acting as intermediaries between Yemeni forces and US military and intelligence officers in the United States to collect and analyze intelligence, the Post said.

US Special Operations forces and intelligence agencies have worked close-

ly with Yemeni counterterrorism forces to target the leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula over the last two months, US officials have said. But the officials declined to provide details about US cooperation or to say whether US aircraft or cruise missiles have been used.

US forces have not taken part directly in the operations, they said. A high-level international meeting in London on Wednesday aims to bolster Yemen’s fight against Al-Qaeda after a Yemen-based AlQaeda group said it was behind the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound plane. — Reuters

Hard labor for Haiti mothers PORT-AU-PRINCE: When the screams of women giving birth die down, you can hear the subdued cries of those babies who made it alive into the chaotic post-quake suffering of Port-au-Prince’s general hospital. The women lie atop mattresses on gravel in the sweltering heat of tents erected in the hospital courtyard. Some have limbs amputated, others pelvic fractures. In Haiti, the joy of parenthood must wait, sometimes forever.

“Women give birth after being pulled from the rubble, their legs or arms amputated, some have deep wounds,” Jean Herby Lafrance, a Cuban-trained Haitian doctor who flew in with a group of Cuban medics last week, told AFP. Before the January 12 quake, thought to have killed 150,000 people, the impoverished Caribbean nation had the highest rate of maternal mortality in the western hemisphere — 670 deaths per 100,000 births.

Fifteen percent of births involved hemorrhaging or other complications requiring operations, according to the United Nations

Population Fund (UNFPA), with an estimated 63,000 pregnant women among Haiti’s affected population. Doctors, nurses and mothers alike labored long. Parents cradled newborns in their arms, some nursed. Most faces were expressionless, stuck between awe at the destruction and the joy of survival. Others smiled in spite of it all.

So far Lafrance had delivered 20 babies, including five by Cesarean section and two premature births brought on by stress from the earthquake. “We’ve had eight women miscarry, some three or four months pregnant,” said the 33-year-old, who has two children of his own at home in Santiago de Cuba.

“We have problems with equipment, particularly for Cesareans,” said Lafrance. “The situation for operations is very critical, we don’t have the material, but we operate anyway. It’s very difficult.”

He said there were no doctors in maternity when he arrived. Today, with volunteers from around the world in Haiti, he said there were enough doctors, but almost everything

else was lacking.

“We have nothing to prepare the women, no compresses, sometimes no anesthetic and the operating tables are incomplete. We need material.” Some women can’t make it to hospital and give birth without assistance in the many makeshift camps that have sprung up in and around Port-au-Prince.

Conditions beyond the capital can be much worse. “Around 7,000 women are expected to give birth in affected areas over the next month, with another 1,000 expected miscarriages,” the UNFPA’s Jemilah Mahmood said. The UNFPA is trying to get basic “reproductive health kits” containing a plastic sheet, a sterile blade to cut the umbilical cord and a clean string to tie it, plus a blanket for the newborn, to pregnant women in Haiti. “Midwives and health centers, when they see someone who is visibly pregnant and about to give birth, they hand this out to them so that if they deliver in the middle of the street, they have a clean delivery kit,” Mahmood said.

More advanced kits are being distributed to the hospitals and health centers that survived the earthquake. Some contain emergency Caesarean section equipment, others things ranging from kidney dishes to gloves.

But while the kits might be a step towards providing slightly more sanitary conditions to women as they give birth, they do nothing to preserve something else that was also taken from Haitian women and girls by the quake: dignity.

Joane Kerez, 20, gave birth to her first child a week and a day after the quake struck in the middle of a square in Port-au-Prince where thousands of displaced Haitians have made their homes, a CARE worker wrote on the NGO’s website. Kerez had only a tarpaulin for privacy, her mother to help her through labor-and a crowd of onlookers gawking as she brought her baby into the world. “I would have rather been somewhere else, in a cleaner place without all those people looking at my body,” Kerez said. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

10

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Trial raises political tensions amid sagging investments KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim goes on trial next week on sodomy charges for the second time, confident he will win and believing the government’s mishandling of a religious row has bolstered the opposition’s political standing. Anwar, 62, was this Southeast Asian country’s deputy premier and prime minister-inwaiting until 1998, when he was ousted from government, accused of corruption and sodomy and eventually jailed at the height of the Asian economic crisis.

In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Anwar said the ongoing row over whether Christians can use the word “Allah”, in which 11 churches and other religious buildings have

been attacked, had hurt “the credibility of the government”. Anwar was released from prison in 2004 after the top court overturned his sodomy conviction, and went on to build up his three-party People’s Alliance coalition. In 2008, the Alliance won its best ever haul in national and state elections, winning more than a third of parliamentary seats and ending up in charge of five of Malaysia’s 13 states as ethnic Chinese and Indian voters deserted the government in droves.

“We are more confident now as compared to 2008, primarily because the government, through their own dubious manner, have managed to alienate Chinese and Indians further,” Anwar told Reuters. A convic-

tion in his upcoming trial could end Anwar’s political career, with the offence carrying a maximum 20-year jail sentence. Sodomy, even between

stock market stood at 20.8 percent at the end of 2009, according to data from stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia, less than the 21 percent in

to describe the Christian God, has exposed combustible political and ethnic fault lines. Christians, including Malay-speaking ones in the

Malaysia’s Anwar confident ahead of sodomy trial consenting adults, is a criminal offense in Malaysia.

Anwar’s trial, which he claims is a political conspiracy against him, could raise political tensions at a time when Prime Minister Najib Razak has pledged to boost sagging foreign investment in the country. Foreign investors withdrew $35 billion between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009.

Foreign ownership of Malaysia’s

March before Najib took over the leadership of the National Front coalition.

COMBUSTIBLE FAULT LINES Najib took power in April last year vowing economic and political reforms to win back voter support, including by minorities complaining of increased marginalization. But the row over the use of “Allah”, which stems from a Catholic newspaper’s successful legal bid to use the word

Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak who have traditionally used the word Allah for God, account for 9.1 percent of the 28 million population.

Anwar’s opposition coalition, which includes the Islamist Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), have supported the use of the word by Christians. The government has appealed the court verdict. “Why is it so difficult for them (the government) to call up the Christians and speak to

them and get the Muslim elements to engage with the Christians? This did not happen,” Anwar said. The row has split opinions among Malays in both the opposition and the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the lynchpin of the ruling coalition that Najib heads.

Both sides are eager not to alienate the majority Malays who form a critical vote bank, but Anwar said that UMNO had “misread the ground” in its bid to consolidate Malay support.

“Ordinary people may not be sophisticated enough to talk about the lack of foreign investment or growth but they know in terms of unemployment and inflation, these are still the big issues.” “But UMNO wants to deflect this by using the race card, (by por-

traying) that the Malays are under threat, the Muslims are under threat,” said Anwar.

Having spent the past several months building public support on the stump in nightly speaking engagements that have drawn large crowds, Anwar said he has seen “an upsurge in interest” in his case. Last Sunday, police stopped him from speaking in his daughter Nurul Izzah’s parliamentary constituency in the capital, because he did not have the required permit for the event.

“Their (the government’s) plan is to get me out of the political scene, so that is why we have made enough preparations for the Pakatan Rakyat to continue with or without me,” he said. — Reuters

Pig heads found at Malaysia mosques Police, religious leaders call for calm as ‘Allah’ row rages KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said severed pigs’ heads were found at two mosques yesterday, in the latest of a spate of attacks on places of worship that have escalated ethnic tensions. The dumping of the heads of four pigs-considered unclean by Muslims-comes amid a row over the use of the word “Allah” by non-

Muslims that has seen violence against 11 churches, a mosque and two Muslim prayer halls. Police and religious leaders called for calm and said that saboteurs may be attempting to stir up ethnic conflict in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim Malay nation that has large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

KUALA LUMPUR: Forensic police place a pig’s head into a plastic bag at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. — AP

China sentences 4 more to death BEIJING: China sentenced four more people to death for involvement in rioting last year in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang, the country’s worst ethnic violence in decades, an official said yesterday. The July 5 violence began as Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group, protested the deaths of Uighur factory workers in an earlier brawl in southern China and then clashed with police in the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi. The crowd scattered throughout the city, attacking majority Han Chinese and burning cars. Nearly 200 people, mostly Hans, were killed, according to the government. Two days later, Uighurs were targeted in revenge attacks.

The Intermediate People’s Court in Urumqi handed down death sentences Monday to four people for “extremely serious crimes” during the riots, said Ma Xinchun, director of the Urumqi government’s press office, confirming details of a report by the official Xinhua News Agency. Ma did not give details of the reported crimes, and government offices in Xinjiang could not immediately be reached by phone.

Another person was sentenced to death with a twoyear reprieve - a penalty usually commuted to life in prison - while eight others were given sentences of up to life imprisonment, Ma said. Based on their names, all those given death sentences appeared to be Uighurs.

The verdicts bring the number of people who have been sentenced to death for involvement in the riots to about two dozen, including nine who have already been executed. Many Uighurs resent Beijing’s heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland, and the region has long been wracked by ethnic tensions that occasionally break out into violence. China says it respects minority rights and has boosted living standards and economies in minority areas such as Xinjiang.

State broadcaster China Central Television reported on its Wednesday evening newscast that senior Communist Party leader Zhou Yongkang said the party’s Politburo would hold a conference later this year “to make a plan to support the development of Xinjiang and promote the long-term stability and prosperity of Xinjiang.” Zhou, who handles law and order issues, spoke at a Politburo meeting Tuesday.

Since last October, some 500 government officials have been sent to Xinjiang to “conduct research and make policy suggestions” for the stability of the region, CCTV said.

“Although progress has been achieved, some new situations and challenges needed to be studied and worked out,” the report said. China has blamed July’s rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. —AP

Does North Korea really want fight?

SEOUL: The two Koreas exchanged artillery shots yesterday in a brief firefight that resulted in no damage but stoked tension on the peninsula. The fight comes as North Korea appears ready to ease security concerns in economically vibrant North Asia by ending its boycott of international nuclear disarmament talks. It has said first it must have talks with the United States on a peace deal to replace an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Here are some questions and answers about the reasons behind North Korea’s tactics:

DOES IT WANT WAR OR PEACE? North Korea wants a little of both. It is trying to signal it is ready to return to the stalled nuclear talks, but on terms set by Pyongyang. The threats against the South, a US military ally that hosts about 28,000 US troops, serve as a reminder to global powers to pay attention to its demands because the North has enough military might to wreck the region’s economy, which is equal to about one-sixth of the global economy. Yesterday’s artillery exchange may have been meant to underline the North’s insistence that a permanent peace accord is needed to replace the fraying truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR N KOREA TO RETURN TO NUCLEAR TALKS? The United States and the other four countries in the long-running nuclear negotiations with the North will have to address Pyongyang’s demands for a peace deal, an end to UN sanctions imposed after its nuclear test in May 2009 and aid to prop up its broken economy. Washington has said it will not bend, but analysts say it may allow a face-saving gesture such as raising the priority of the North’s demands in the six-country disarmamentfor-aid talks if they resume.

WHY DOES N KOREA KEEPING BRINGING UP A PEACE DEAL? The heavily sanctioned state would be able to seek aid from global financial institutions including the World Bank by reaching a peace deal. It would also put pressure on Washington to meet the North’s long-standing demand to remove the US troops from South Korean soil. The North also hopes to delay any disarmament commitments it is required to make by saying peace talks must come first. In the long run, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s military-first rule would probably be undermined by a peace deal. A state of war is essential for Kim. He has asked the people in his impoverished state for years to accept sacrifices in order to help him buy weapons and build a nuclear arms program to prevent a US invasion. Kim would put his paranoid nationalist rule at risk by losing enemies.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON MARKETS? Short-lived military moves that result in little to no damage, such as the exchange of artillery fire yesterday, usually lead to quick blips in foreign exchange and stock trading that have no lasting impact. They dampen sentiment and serve as a reminder of the risks of investing in the troubled peninsula. Financial analysts say markets would only really worry if there were signs of serious armed confrontation.

HOW WILL THIS PLAY OUT? Regional powers are hoping economic pressure forces the destitute North back to pick up where it left off a year ago in the dormant nuclear deal. This means taking apart its plant that produces arms-grade plutonium and allowing in international nuclear inspectors. North Korea will likely keep using military intimidation to better its bargaining

“By looking at the modus operandi of the (pigs’ head) incidents... I think it is the same group that is involved in the previous attacks,” national police chief Musa Hassan told reporters.

“I think they are throwing money (to those carrying out the attacks) to cause such incidents,” he said, warning those responsible not to “play with fire” and undermine national security.

The places of worship have been pelted with Molotov cocktails, stones and paint in tensions triggered by a December 31 court ruling that overturned a ban on nonMuslims using the word “Allah” as a translation for “God”. Nineteen people have so far been arrested for their roles in the attacks. The government argues that the use of the disputed word by Christians, who make up nine percent of the population, could cause confusion and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal for Malaysian Muslims.

The severed heads, discovered in the grounds of two mosques in suburban Kuala Lumpur, were from wild pigs commonly found in Malaysia.

Zulkifli Mohamad, the imam who leads prayers at the Al Imam al Tirmizi mosque where two heads were found, called for calm and said Muslim saboteurs could be behind the latest incidents.

“This is the work of some people to stir racial tension in the country. We are shocked by their actions,” he told reporters. “I want the police to act fast, we ask Muslims to be patient, there is a possibility Muslims could be behind this incident.”

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. “The majority of Malaysians are peace-loving people, the majority of Malaysians would not do this act,” he told a press conference. Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969. The population is 60 percent Muslim Malay, but also includes indigenous tribes as well as large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities-practicing Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.

The row over the use of “Allah” is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Malays and minorities who fear the country is being “Islamized.”

The High Court last month ruled in favor of the Catholic Herald newspaper, which has used “Allah” as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language section.

The ruling was suspended pending an appeal. Malaysia’s Christians argue they have used the disputed word for centuries, in prayer and in translations of the Bible, and that the ban was an erosion of their rights. — AFP

TAICHUNG: Taiwan Air Force crew set up Tien Chien I missiles during a media tour at Taichung airport, central Taiwan, yesterday. China has criticized the US ahead of the expected announcement of new arms sales to Taiwan. — AP

China issues warning over US arms sales to Taiwan Taipei eyes US Black Hawk and Patriot missiles BEIJING: Contacts with China’s military would likely be the first to suffer if Beijing moves to retaliate over upcoming US arms sales to Taiwan - the latest in a flurry of disputes elevating tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu warned that the Obama administration risked damaging ties with China if it proceeds with the arms package deal, which is likely to include Black Hawk helicopters and Patriot missiles.

“Once again, we urge the US side to recognize the sensitivity of weapon sales to Taiwan and its gravity,” Ma told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference. He said failure to halt the sales would “impair the larger interests of China-US cooperation.”

Ma’s comments were echoed yesterday by the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office which handles contacts with Taiwan, considered by Beijing to be a breakaway province. “Our stance of opposing arms sales to Taiwan by any country is consistent and clear,” spokesman Yang Yi said. “We feel that advancing the peaceful development of cross-strait relations is the only real way to benefit Taiwan’s peace and stability.”

Weapons sales to self-governing Taiwan is one of a string of sensitive issues roiling ties between China and the United States that have prompted pointed responses from Beijing.

Last week, China issued a sharp counterattack after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Internet censorship and called on China to investigate cyberattacks against Google. The search giant has threatened to pull out of the world’s most populous online market if Beijing doesn’t relax its Internet censorship. On Tuesday, another government spokesman rebuked Washington for Clinton’s comments, saying they aimed to discredit China.

An editorial in the official People’s Daily the same day accused US politicians of using the issue to “meddle in other nations’ affairs on the one hand and to consolidate American hegemony in cyberspace on the other hand.” Arms sales to Taiwan are mandated by a US law requiring Washington to ensure Taiwan is capable of defending itself from Chinese threats, including the more than 1,000 ballistic missiles pointed at the island. In 2008, China suspended most military dialogue with Washington after the Bush administration approved a $6.5 billion arms package to Taiwan that included guided missiles and attack helicopters.

China’s Defense Ministry warned in a statement earlier this month that arms sales “seriously damaged mutual trust between the militaries of China and the US and create a major obstacle to improving and developing USChina military relations. The min-

istry said it “reserved the right to take further action,” but gave no specifics. Among upcoming exchanges that could suffer: Gen Chen Bingde, the Chinese military’s chief of the general staff, was due to visit the US, while US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, had planned to come to China.

Washington has sought to raise the profile and frequency of such visits, using them as the basis for expanded cooperation in practical areas such as joint rescue drills.

The Pentagon also hopes to build trust with Beijing to convince the Communist government to reveal more about the aims of its massive military buildup. Also potentially at risk are a planned exchange of visits this year by the heads of NASA and China’s national space program and a hoped-for revival of a bilateral dialogue on human rights. Arms sale disputes also highlight Beijing’s complicated relationship with Taiwan, which split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949 and has in recent years forged an increasingly independent identity.— AP

How arms sales to Taiwan will impact Sino-US ties BEIJING: The United States is poised to sell more arms to Taiwan this year following the recent release of air defense missiles to the island, moves that would further strain already tense Sino-US relations. China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. Taiwan says it needs US arms to update its military as China aims 1,000 to 1,500 short-range to mid-range missiles at the island just 160 km away at the closest point. Here are some questions and answers about the arm sales issue.

WHAT ARMS SALES ARE IN THE PIPELINE? The Pentagon is likely to release the final phase of a Patriot missile sale approved as part of a larger $6.5 million package in 2008. Part of the sale was cleared on Jan 6. It is also expected to begin the process of selling Black Hawk utility helicopters to Taiwan and agree to a study on whether Washington could upgrade Taiwan’s submarine fleet. Taiwan has asked for dozens of F-16 jet fighters, a model the island’s military already uses, but the United States has shown little sign of moving on this item.

HOW WILL CHINA REACT? China would loudly protest new arms sales. After the Patriot missile deal was approved this month, Beijing announced it had successfully tested emerging military technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air. Beijing called the Patriot sale an intrusion into Chinese internal affairs and that it threatened to undermine SinoUS ties. The two sides are already at odds over currency, trade and Internet censorship issues. China’s “red line” would be the sale of F-16s, said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief with Defense News, meaning it would take action against the United States. China might, for example, decide to reduce cooperation with the United States on a number of important international issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, cancel official visits or freeze military-to-military exchanges. This month, a Chinese Vice Admiral even suggested putting sanctions on US firms that sell arms to Taiwan.

WHY DOES WASHINGTON KEEP SELLING ARMS? Washington is home to a vibrant pro-Taiwan lobby, which wants the United States to beef up assistance for democratic Taiwan.

Accusations China intentionally keeps its currency undervalued and tramples on religious or other freedoms fuel pro-Taiwan sentiment among US lawmakers, as well. Washington, though it recognizes “one China” and backs Beijing over Taipei diplomatically, is also obligated under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help defend the island.

Taiwan has long seen the United States as its staunchest ally. “There are legal issues and there are moral issues involved,” said Bruce Jacobs, an Asian studies professor at Monash University in Australia.

HOW DO US SALES CHANGE THE BALANCE OF POWER? Analysts say the balance of military power between China and Taiwan is shifting decisively towards Beijing, leaving the island few options without US aid in the event of attack. Taiwan needs more advanced air and naval defenses to counter the modernizing Chinese armed forces. Even with these new weapons, analysts say that without rapid, massive US help, a concerted Chinese assault on Taiwan would eventually succeed. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, January 28, 2010

11

Former French PM faces judgment day in smear trial PARIS: Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin faces judgment day yesterday after a trial in which he was accused of plotting to sabotage his rival Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign to win the presidency in 2007. The so-called Clearstream case has picked through the most rancorous political scandal France has seen for many years, laying bare the bitter enmity between the two when they served together in government under former President Jacques Chirac. Villepin, who became prime

minister in 2005, is accused of trying to manipulate a judicial corruption investigation to discredit the ambitious Sarkozy as the two angled to succeed Chirac to the presidency.

An aristocratic former diplomat who won global fame in 2003 when he denounced the U.S.-led war on Iraq at the United Nations, he risks disgrace, an 18 month suspended prison sentence and a 45,000 euro ($63,410) fine if convicted. But for Sarkozy, who triumphed in 2007, the stakes are also high and a ‘not guilty’

verdict would be a big symbolic blow, particularly given accusations that his status as president is incompatible with his role in the case as a civil plaintiff.

He created a storm at the start of the trial by branding the five defendants in the case as “guilty” in a primetime television interview, allowing Villepin to claim he is himself the victim of the president’s obsessive thirst for revenge. Villepin denies any wrongdoing and a not guilty verdict, coincidentally falling

on Sarkozy’s birthday, would not only be sweet vindication, it could also revive his political career and pose as a potential presidential challenger.

CLEARSTREAM AFFAIR Behind the courtroom battle lies a tangled intrigue worthy of an airport thriller. The affair first emerged in 2004 when an anonymous informant passed a judge investigating a briberidden arms sale a CD ROM purportedly listing thousands of secret accounts held at Luxembourg-based securities clearing house

Clearstream.

The document contained names of dozens of prominent figures from the worlds of politics and business, including Sarkozy who was designated variously as “Nagy” and “Bocsa”, parts of his full Hungarian family name. The list was soon shown to be partially falsified and a search began to find out who was responsible, dragging in Villepin who had ordered a separate inquiry into the names by a senior intelligence official.

Prosecutors say it was Villepin

who prompted the informant, later identified as Jean-Louis Gergorin, a former executive of aerospace group EADS with links to intelligence services, to pass on the list confidentially to the judge, even though he knew it to be false. Gergorin, whom examining magistrates described as having “a notorious obsession with conspiracy”, believed the list, supplied to him by a former EADS associate named Imad Lahoud, showed far-reaching criminal ties in the business establishment.

He and Lahoud, who admitted falsifying the list for motives which have never been entirely clear, are both also in the dock and face prison sentences and 45,000 euro fines if convicted. There are also two other defendants, journalist Denis Robert and former Clearstream auditor Florian Bourges. Whatever the verdict, any party can appeal, although some judicial experts doubt whether prosecutors will want to drag on with the case if the judges decide in favor of Villepin. — Reuters

Wiesel accuses Pope Pius XII of ‘Holocaust silence’ Pope Benedict denounces Nazis’ ‘homicidal folly’ ROME: Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, in a major speech to Italy’s parliament, attacked wartime Pope Pius XII yesterday for his “silence” during the Nazis’ mass killings of Jews.

Wiesel, an Auschwitz and Buchenwald survivor, gave the emotional speech on World Holocaust Remembrance Dayalso the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. At about the same time German-born Pope Benedict, who has defended the actions of his wartime predecessor, was also speaking about the Holocaust at his general audience at the Vatican across the River Tiber.

“Whether at the lowest level of politics or the highest level of spirituality, silence never helps the victims.

Silence always helps the aggressor,” Wiesel told parliamentarians and top officials including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

A source in Wiesel’s entourage later told Reuters the words “highest level of spirituality” were a reference to Pius, who headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958. The question of what Pius did or did not do to help Jews during the war remains a burning issue between Catholics and Jews, and Wiesel’s reference to Pius indicated it shows no sign of being

ROME: Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel delivers an address to the Italian parliament on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday. — AFP resolved.

Ten days ago, Pope Benedict made his first visit to

Rome’s synagogue, where a Jewish leader told him bluntly that Pius should have spoken

out more forcefully against the Holocaust to show solidarity with Jews being led to the “ovens of Auschwitz”.

The Vatican maintains that Pius was not silent during the war, but chose to work behind the scenes, concerned that public intervention would have worsened the situation for both Jews and Catholics in a wartime Europe dominated by Hitler.

At his general audience Benedict, who was drafted into the Hitler Youth and German army as a teenager during World War Two, called the Holocaust a “homicidal folly” that should never be forgotten.

“With an emotional spirit, we think of the countless victims of blind and religious hate, those who underwent deportation, imprisonment and death in those abhorrent and inhuman places,” Benedict said.

Jews have asked that the Vatican’s wartime archives be opened up to scholars so the role of Pius can be cleared up.

In his speech, Wiesel also renewed his demand that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel, be arrested the next time he leaves Iran.

“He should be hauled off to the International Court of Justice to face charges of incitement of crimes against humanity,” Wiesel said. — Reuters

UK’s top lawyer changed mind on Iraq War legality War still dogs ruling Labor Party ahead of election LONDON: The British government’s former top lawyer said yesterday he initially believed a second United Nations resolution was necessary to justify invading Iraq in 2003, but later changed his mind a month before the war. Three days before the March 20, 2003 invasion, Attorney General Peter Goldsmith told parliament that the use of force was legal on the basis of previous UN resolutions. However, giving evidence to an inquiry into Britain’s role in the war, Goldsmith admitted publicly for the first time that his fist impression was that UN resolution 1441, passed in Nov. 2002, did not justify military action.

“At one stage, my provisional view was that taking all these factors into the balance, there wasn’t enough there. The balance came down in favor of saying no, a second resolution is needed,” he told the inquiry.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown set up the inquiry last year to learn lessons from the conflict, but some Labor Party figures fear it

will damage their chances ahead of a parliamentary election due by June, with their party trailing in the polls.

Many Labor members of parliament and supporters remain angry over the government’s decision to support former US President George W Bush in the unpopular war. On Tuesday, the two most senior legal advisers at the Foreign Office in the run-up to the invasion said they believed that the use of force without a specific mandate from the United Nations meant the military action was illegal. Critics of the war have long suspected that Goldsmith was pressured to change his mind by then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Declassified documents from the inquiry have shown that Goldsmith warned then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that he was pessimistic that resolution 1441 could be used to justify military action shortly after it was passed. That was still his view when he provided draft advice to Blair in January

2003 about the legality of military action, but said he had not faced any pressure to change his mind. “The prime minister made it clear that he accepted that it was for me to reach a judgment and that he had to accept that,” he said.

Documents indicated that as late as March 7, 2003 when Goldsmith gave detailed advice to Blair, he cautioned that a second UN resolution was still the safest course of action. But Goldsmith told the Chilcot inquiry he changed his mind after discussions with Straw, the British officials involved in the UN negotiations, and US legal advisers.

He said he had reached a definitive view by the end of February that gave the green light to the use of force, but agreed that the UN resolution was not “crystal clear”. Blair himself will make his eagerly awaited appearance tomorrow, when he will be asked to explain why he sent 45,000 British troops to war in Iraq. — Reuters

Russia 5th-gen fighter to fly by end January World ‘can’t wait forever’ on Iran nuke: Moscow MOSCOW: Russia will test fly by the end of January a new “fifth generation” jet fighter that aims to challenge the United States for technical superiority, an aviation industry source told Reuters yesterday. Fifth-generation jets are invisible to radar, have advanced on-board flight and weapons control systems and can cruise at supersonic speeds. Asked when the new Russian fighter, built by the Sukhoi company, would make its maiden flight, the industry source said: “By the end of this month.” Sukhoi is Russia’s largest exporter of military planes, accounts for a quarter of Russia’s annual arms sales and has a portfolio of foreign orders worth billions of dollars. India is its biggest client.

A spokesman for Sukhoi said the plane would fly “in the near future”. The warplane is seen as Moscow’s challenge to the US-built

Raptor. The F-22 Raptor stealth fighter first flew in 1997. Government and industry officials had said the Russian fighter would make its first flight in 2009, but a top official announced in early December that test flights would not begin until 2010. Analysts have said it could be at least a decade between the first flight of the Russian prototype and the start of commercial production.

In another development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday world powers “can’t wait forever” for Iran to end its defiance over its nuclear program, Russian news agencies reported. Speaking in London after meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lavrov stopped short of supporting new sanctions against Iran, according to remarks quoted by state-run RIA Novosti.

But he warned that Western pressure for

sanctions has been mounting since Tehran refused to accept international offers including a UN-brokered proposal to send its uranium abroad for processing. “We agreed to keep seeking a positive reaction to these proposals,” RIA quoted Lavrov as saying. “It is clear that one can’t wait forever, and our partners are already talking about the need to discuss further measures in the UN Security Council.” The United States hopes vetowielding Security Council member Russia will support new sanctions against Iran if it does not take steps soon to ease concerns about its nuclear program. Tehran says its only goal is nuclear energy, but Washington accuses it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Russia and China have approved three previous rounds of sanctions against Iran but have used their clout to water them down. — Agencies

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanks Israeli President Shimon Peres after he addressed German parliament Bundestag on the international Holocaust remembrance day in the Reichstag building yesterday. — AP

Tehran detains two German diplomats Israel’s Peres calls Iran ‘threat to entire world’ TEHRAN: Two German diplomats have been detained in connection with deadly protests in December, Iran’s state radio quoted an unnamed Iranian deputy intelligence minister as saying yesterday. The report also quoted the intelligence official as saying the Germans had been involved in organizing the riots, but he provided no further details. In Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said he was unaware of any German diplomats having been detained in Iran. He also rejected the allegations that Berlin had had a hand in the protests. At least eight people died in clashes between security forces and opposition supporters across Iran last month. It was the worst bloodshed since the height of the protests following the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last summer.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres called Iran a threat to the entire world in a speech in Hebrew to Germany’s parliament on International Holocaust Memorial Day yesterday and warned against the perils of procrastination.

Peres described the Iranian government as a “fanatic regime” that sponsors international terrorism. Drawing applause from the 622 deputies, he said Tehran’s nuclear pro-

gram “threatens destruction” and represents “a danger to the entire world”.

Peres spoke to the German parliament on the day marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, hailing Germany’s close post-war ties with the Jewish state and using the address to take aim at Tehran. “Like our neighbors, we identify with the millions of Iranians who revolt against dictatorship and violence,” he said. He departing from his text to praise Berlin for its stance on Iran, whose president has called for Israel’s destruction. “We are encouraged by the fact that the new Germany has taken a determined and clear stand on this issue,” Peres said. Germany is one of six world powers seeking to convince Iran to suspend its nuclear work. Western nations suspect Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

It argues its nuclear activity is for civilian purposes. Iran has ignored US President Barack Obama’s end-2009 deadline to respond to an offer from world powers of economic and political incentives in exchange for halting its uranium enrichment program.

Merkel said on Tuesday Iran was running out of time if it wanted to avoid further sanctions.

Peres praised Merkel for telling the US

Congress last year that an attack on Israel was tantamount to an attack on Germany.

Peres, the third Israeli president to speak to parliament, recalled the horrors of the Holocaust in the speech broadcast on national television and how his grandfather was burned to death in a Belarus synagogue that the Nazis locked from the outside.

“This day not only represents a memorial day for the victims, not only the pangs of conscience of humankind in the face of the incomprehensible atrocity that took place, but also of the tragedy that derived from the procrastination in taking action,” said Peres, 86. “Never again ignore blood-thirsty dictators, hiding behind demagogical masks, who utter murderous slogans,” he added. “The threats to annihilate a people and a nation are voiced in the shadow of weapons of massdestruction, which are held by irresponsible hands, by irrational thinking and in an untruthful language,” he said.

Peres, a Nobel peace prize winner for his role in reaching interim peace deals with the Palestinians, was a key figure in the establishment of Israel’s top-secret Dimona nuclear reactor in the 1960s. Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power. — Agencies

UK, Ireland give N Ireland parties 48-hour deadline BELFAST: The British and Irish governments gave Northern Ireland’s bickering parties until tomorrow to agree a way forward on a key power-sharing dispute after three days of talks failed to clinch a deal. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen insisted after the talks broke up yesterday that “progress” had been made and there was scope for an agreement.

The row over policing and justice powers is critical to the future of the province’s powersharing government of Protestants and Catholics, and failure to reach agreement could cause the administration to collapse. But Brown warned that if the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein fail to hammer out a deal within 48 hours, London and Dublin would publish their own plans to move the process forward.

“We believe we have proposals that make for a reasonable deal on devolution of policing and justice, we believe we have proposals that make for a reasonable settlement on all the outstanding issues,” Brown said.

He cautioned however, in regard to the 48-hour deadline: “If we judge that insubstantial

HILLSBOROUGH: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaks to the media at a press conference at Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland yesterday. — AP progress has been made we will publish our own proposals.”

Brown stressed that both Britain and Ireland would prefer the parties to reach agreement themselves.

Transferring responsibility for policing and justice from London to Belfast is one of the final steps to full devolution envisaged in the 1998 accords that ended the province’s longrunning sectarian conflict.

If it is not resolved the Belfast administration may crumble,

which would trigger a snap election. Sinn Fein, which favors a united Ireland and is the largest Catholic party in the province, said it was “deeply disappointed” at the outcome, which it blamed on DUP demands for concessions on controversial Protestant parades. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein said: “I believe we have displayed extraordinary patience and commitment over the past 18 months as we sought to persuade the Democratic Unionist

Party to be partners of progress.”

But he said the DUP’s insistence to make the abolition of the commission which manages the policing of the parades a “precondition” for the transfer of powers “flies in the face” of the search for unity. Brown had remained in Belfast for a third day to try to secure a deal, but was returning to London, where he is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of a 60-nation conference on Afghanistan to be held today.

In a sign of the high stakes, the United States urged the parties to reach agreement. A US official with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London said she offered “support and encouragement” and was monitoring the situation closely, although she had no plans to visit the province. The already sensitive negotiations are complicated by a recent scandal over an affair by the wife of DUP leader and the province’s top minister, Peter Robinson, with a 19-year-old. Robinson has temporarily stood aside as first minister to fight related allegations of financial impropriety, but remains engaged with the political talks. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Pakistan to sell farmland to foreign investors UN raises concerns over land deals DUBAI: Pakistan will press ahead with plans to lease or sell farmland to foreign investors despite United Nations concern over such deals, arguing the land would otherwise lie fallow, Pakistan’s foreign minister said.

Pakistan offered last year to sell or lease 1 million acres of farmland to foreign investors looking to secure food supplies to their countries, which sparked a popular outcry against foreign investors taking over Pakistani land. The United Nations has also expressed concern that

farmers’ rights in developing countries might be compromised if rich countries buy their land. “Many people misunderstood these deals, and we are now trying to explain to them that the land we want to sell is not land that belongs to anyone or even has any existing agriculture activity,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday during a visit to Dubai. “The land we want to offer investors is not used by anyone due to lack of investment, and so we are com-

mitted to going ahead with the deals.” The farmland on offer is in the Western Sindh province and the northwestern province of Punjab, Qureshi said.

Over 60 percent of Pakistan’s population of 170 million directly or indirectly benefits from agriculture revenues, he added. “So every dollar invested in agriculture creates more jobs than any other sector, and I can openly say that agriculture development is the key to alleviating poverty in Pakistan.” Gulf Arab countries,

which rely heavily on food imports, have been seeking farmland in developing nations to secure supplies and have expressed interest in Pakistan’s land offers over the past year.

But no final deals have been signed, Qureshi said.

Violence has surged in Pakistan, especially in the northwest, where the spread of Taliban influence has heightened security concerns.

“Security is an issue that we always get asked about but the overall situation is Pakistan is

unduly exaggerated, we can’t deny or brush aside difficulties we are going through, nor address these problems over night,” Qureshi said. He added that according to “conservative” estimates, his country had suffered losses of $35 billion since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Pakistan said last year it would install a 100,000-strong security force to ensure a stable environment for investment in farmlands in four provinces of the country. — Reuters

Taleban brand London talks ‘a waste of time’ discuss strategies for defeating a spiraling insurgency led by Taleban militants.

President Hamid Karzai is expected to win funding for expanding Afghan security forces and world backing for a new peace scheme aimed at wooing Taleban moderates back into society with the offer of money and jobs.

DAND: An Afghan child talks to Warrant Officer Troy Mccann (right) from 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry during operation Tazi, a village search and security operation in the Dand area of Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan. —AP

India’s ‘miracle’ biofuel crop: Too good to be true?

NEW DELHI: To its fans, jatropha is a miracle crop, an ecofriendly answer to India’s growing energy needs, but some experts are starting to question whether the wonder-shrub is too good to be true. The seeds of the wild plant, which grows abundantly across India, produce non-edible oil that can be blended with diesel, to make the biofuel that is part of government efforts to cut carbon emissions and combat climate change.

That, combined with the shrub’s much vaunted ability to flourish on poorly irrigated land, should make it the perfect crop for wasteland in the droughtprone nation. But new research shows jatropha, which has received huge government backing in recent years, yields less than experts had first predicted and is now being grown on fertile farmland-undermining two of its best selling points.

“Jatropha is being talked of as a crop that will grow on marginal and uncultivated land, and which will not compete with mainstream cultivation,” said Sharachchandra Lele, a senior fellow at ATREE, an Indian environmental research group promoting sustainable development.

“But this is not what is happening in practice. Some state governments are promoting its cultivation on regular agricultural land, where it will displace existing crops, including food crops,” said Lele. “We are basically subsidizing the urban elite’s petrol consumption at the cost of rural livelihoods and food production.” The Indian government has aggressively promot-

ed production of the crop, setting its sights on 11 million hectares of plantations nationwide by next year.

Government policy stipulates that by 2017 all petrol and diesel fuel must have 20 percent biofuel content, one of many moves aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change. K D Gupta, chairman of the Institute of Applied Systems and Rural Development, one of the staunchest backers of jatropha for biofuel, denied that good agricultural land was being used to cultivate the crop. “Farmers are not going to plant jatropha, because other crops are yielding more returns,” said Gupta.

Two Indian research institutes initially reported a yield of 7.5 tonnes of jatropha seeds per hectare (three tons per acre)

under irrigated conditions.

Similarly, a 2007 report by the state-run National Oilseeds and Vegetable Oils Development Board (NOVOD) predicted yields of three to five tons per hectare. But research

by ATREE has shown that yields under normal conditions were less than one ton per hectare and suggested it was doubtful yields could ever reach those touted by the crop’s supporters. The poor results have not dashed the hopes of businesses keen to promote the plant.

“It all depends on how you manage the crop,” said Subhas Patnaik, chief operating officer of Mission Biofuels, which started cultivating jatropha in 2007 and currently owns around 130,000 hectares in five states.

“The whole challenge is how to

get better yields from this crop and once you’re able to prove that to the farmer and to everybody then definitely it is going to be a miracle crop,” said Patnaik.

Gupta said his Institute of Applied Systems and Rural Development had planted two million jatropha saplings over 1,300 hectares mostly in northern India and said it was too early to judge the crop, because it took years to fully develop and produce desirable returns. But ATREE’s Lele remains unconvinced. “Neither for energy security nor for mitigating carbon emissions is jatropha cultivation by any means the first option,” he said. “Much more could be achieved through investments in public transport and reductions in private vehicle use.” —AFP

HASSAN, KARNATAKA: Indian laborers work in a field of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) in the village of Hassan, some 250 kms from Bangalore. — AFP

in the news Bomb kills three children

11 militants killed in NATO-Afghan strike KABUL: The Taleban yesterday dismissed a London conference on Afghanistan’s future as “a waste of time” and repeated their demand that all foreign troops leave the war-torn country. Afghan leaders and their international backers, mainly Western nations with a military presence in Afghanistan, will meet today to

ISLAMABAD: An Afghan girl watches from a makeshift house, in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad. — AP

But the Taleban leadership have repeatedly rebuffed any place at the negotiating table with Karzai and his Western backers, and are steadfast in their demand that all US and NATO troops leave the country.

“There have been similar conferences in the past... none of which have solved the problems of Afghanistan. The London conference will be just the same,” the insurgent group said in a statement emailed to journalists. “The London conference is in fact aimed at extending the invasion of Afghanistan by occupying forces... (It) is just a waste of time,” the statement attributed to the Taleban Leadership Council said.

The militia said that “the only solution to the Afghanistan problem is the withdrawal of all invading forces from Afghanistan immediately.” A purported spokesman for warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister who now commands insurgent fighters separately from the Taleban, also dismissed the summit.

“The London conference will be useless and ineffective. Unless all sides are involved, the talks will not have any effect,” Haroun Zarghon, a spokesman for Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami group, told AFP from an undisclosed location.

Meanwhile, a joint NATOAfghan air and ground assault in northern Afghanistan yesterday killed 11 suspected Taleban militants, including two senior commanders, police said. The operation, which involved attack aircraft and ground forces, targeted a Taleban compound west of the capital of Baghlan province, according to provincial police chief Gen Kabir Andarabi.

NATO did not comment on the report, saying it could not discuss ongoing operations.

Andarabi said no civilian casualties were reported. He said a police source confirmed that 11 militants were killed in the operation near Pul-e-Khumri.

The attack occurred on the eve of an international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London that is expected to focus on a government reconciliation plan aimed at persuading some Taleban militants to switch sides. In a related development, five former Taleban officials were removed from a UN sanctions list earlier this week. President Hamid Karzai has been pressing for the removal of certain Taleban figures from the list, which imposes punitive measures such as a travel ban and an assets freeze.

The United Nations said Tuesday that the sanctions committee approved the removal of Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former foreign minister and confidant of Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, and four others. The UN did not mention the reconciliation plan but said the decision was made Monday after a review of the list. Sanctions had been imposed on the five men in 2001. Karzai has said Taleban who are not part of Al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups “are welcome to come back to their country, lay down arms and resume life.” He plans to seek international support for a new government reintegration plan at the London conference. —Agencies

PESHAWAR: Three children were killed when a bomb exploded yesterday in a village in northwest Pakistan, while other unrest blamed on Taleban militants left 10 people injured and a militia leader dead. Three boys-two brothers and their cousin aged between eight and twelvewere killed as they grazed their families’ goats in Dir district, where the military last year embarked on an offensive to drive out Taleban fighters. “It was a timed device. Three children were killed on the spot. Apparently it is an act of terrorism. The militants want to create fear and terrify the residents,” district police chief Raoof Khan said. In a similar incident earlier this month in northwest Tank district, one boy was killed and five other children wounded when the youngsters mistook a mine for a football and began playing with it, causing it to explode. It was unclear in that incident if the bomb was planted by militants or unexploded ordnance inadvertently imported from Afghanistan as scrap metal.

India, Angola ink deal LUANDA: Angola and India’s state oil companies yesterday inked a deal to boost co-operation in areas of exploration and refining in the two countries as well as other nations. The memorandum of understanding was signed at Sonangol’s headquarters in Luanda by the company’s chairman Manuel Vicente and RS Sharma, chairman of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). It signifies a big step forward in India’s efforts to enter the Angolan mar-

ket, where western countries and China are currently the main players in Africa’s largest oil producer. “We have been pursuing opportunities for the last six or seven years, but today we have signed a memorandum of understanding that shows co-operation between the two companies to work together in the future,” Sharma told reporters. “We agreed that the two companies can also work together for co-operation in India and in third countries.”

Taleban kill militia leader KHAR: Taleban fighters have killed a pro-government militia leader in northwest Pakistan’s Bajaur district, where helicopters have been shelling insurgent hideouts, officials said yesterday. The body of Malik Manaris Khan, 47, was found riddled with bullets early yesterday in Salarzai town, about 20 kilometers northeast of Khar, the main city in Bajaur, which is in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. “He was kidnapped on Monday along with two other tribesmen. Today (Wednesday), we found his dead body,” said Naseeb Shah, a local administrative official, blaming the Taleban movement for the abductions. “He was leading an anti-Taleban lashkar (militia) in his village.” It was the latest in a string of such killings in Bajaur, where antiTaleban militias are particularly strong, angering the Islamist insurgents. Salarzai and surrounding areas also came under fire from Pakistani military helicopters, with shelling targeting suspected Taleban hideouts yesterday morning, security officials said.

Cost of Afghanistan, Iraq tops $1 trillion WASHINGTON: The cost to US taxpayers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 has topped $1 trillion, and President Barack Obama is expected to request another $33 billion to fund more US troops this year. About two-thirds of the money has been spent on the conflict in Iraq since 2003. This year is the first in which more funds are being spent in Afghanistan than Iraq, as the pace of U.S. military operations slows in Iraq and quickens in Afghanistan.

HOW MUCH HAS BEEN SPENT ALREADY? Congress has approved $1.075 trillion dollars for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and “war-related activities” since 2001, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It included the costs in its budget outlook Tuesday.

The war expense topped $1 trillion in December 2009, when US lawmakers approved the fiscal 2010 defense spending bill that included about $130 billion to be spent on the two conflicts through Sept 30, 2010. The $1.075 trillion tally includes $51 billion for diplomatic activities and aid to Iraq, Afghanistan and various other countries that are assisting the United States in fighting terrorism, CBO said.

HOW MUCH WENT FOR IRAQ AND HOW MUCH FOR AFGHANISTAN? The lion’s share of the spending - $708 billionhas been allocated to the war in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion there in 2003, according to CBO. Former President George Bush launched the Iraq war in a search for weapons of mass destruction, which never were found. CBO said $345 billion has gone to Afghanistan, where the United States invaded to fight Al-Qaeda and topple the Taleban after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. About $22 billion went for war-related activities in other countries, it said. The current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, is the first year that more money has been allocated to Afghanistan ($72.3 billion) than Iraq ($64.5 billion), according to the National Priorities Project, a nonpartisan budget research group that has a running tally of the wars’ costs on its website. The group included some US homeland security spending in those 2010 cost tallies. It examines congressional appropriations, while CBO has access to additional sources, including Pentagon spending reports.

HOW MUCH MORE WILL THESE OPERATIONS COST? Obama announced in December he was adding

30,000 more US troops to the Afghan war effort to join the 68,000 already fighting a resurgent Taleban. Defense officials say he will shortly ask Congress for $33 billion to pay for the cost of the troop surge in fiscal 2010. Future expenses are a question mark, partly because troop levels are uncertain. Obama says he wants to start withdrawing forces from Afghanistan in mid-2011, but that will depend, in part, on conditions on the ground. No departure deadline has been set.

Estimates of the cost per troop per year in Afghanistan vary from $500,000 to $1 million depending on whether expenditures on troop housing and equipment are included along with pay, food and fuel. Medical costs for the injured and veterans’ compensation balloon as time goes on. In Iraq, the US force is supposed to fall to 50,000 by the end of August, from some 115,000 last month. The 50,000 can remain until the end of 2011, under an agreement with Baghdad. A year ago CBO projected that additional costs for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts could be $867 billion over the next decade, if combined troop levels fall to 75,000 by about 2013.

WHY ARE SOME COSTS GROWING? One expanding line item is the money being spent on on Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s troops. CBO said the United States has spent $49 billion to date on training and equipping military and police units in the two countries. “That number may get larger in the future because it is central to our exit strategy, which is preparing Afghanistan to take over security so we can leave,” said Christopher Hellman, research director for the National Priorities Project. Obama is preparing to ask Congress next week for $11.6 billion more to train the Afghan security forces in 2011, draft Pentagon budget documents say.

WHAT ARE THE POLITICAL RISKS? Obama’s Democratic Party has the majority in Congress but is divided over the wisdom of continuing the Afghan war. This means he needs Republicans to get congressional approval of the next tranche of funds sometime this spring. He is expected to get that approval, in part because many lawmakers who don’t approve of sending more combat troops are loath to cut off funds to soldiers in the field. But with Americans tiring of war and getting more concerned about US indebtedness, political pressures are expected to grow for winding down US military operations and their costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. —Reuters

Thursday, January 28, 2010

13

NEWS

N Korea fires 80 shells despite warning shots SEOUL: North Korea fired more than 80 shells into the sea near its disputed maritime border with South Korea yesterday, officials said, sparking an artillery exchange which fuelled tensions on the peninsula. The communist state’s land batteries lobbed about 30 shells in the morning and more than 50 in the afternoon, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ignoring a strong protest from the South, the North said it had every right to carry out an annual live fire drill and would continue the exercise. A day earlier it had declared two ‘no sail’ zones in the area.

The morning barrage lasted more than one hour, Seoul officials said, and South Korean Marines stationed on a nearby island responded with about 100 warning cannon shots. There were no casualties.

The South did not respond to the afternoon’s salvo, which again landed on the

North Korean side of the contested sea border. Analysts said the drill was partly aimed at highlighting Pyongyang’s demand for talks with the United States on a formal peace treaty to end the 195053 war before it returns to nuclear disarmament talks.

They said an escalation was unlikely but not impossible on the border, the scene of deadly naval battles in 1999 and 2002. In the latest clash, last November, a firefight left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. A Joint Chiefs spokesman said they had information the drill would continue through tomorrow. Seoul’s defence ministry vowed in a message to the North to ‘strongly react’ to any provocative acts.

“The North committed a gravely provocative act by declaring no-sail zones in the Yellow Sea in breach of the (Korean War) armistice and the inter-Korean non-

aggression pact,” it said in a statement.

“We expressed grave concerns over the North’s threatening behaviour and demanded an immediate halt to all such activities,” it said. “The military will strongly react to any provocative acts by the North and all the responsibility for consequences will rest with the Northern side.”

The borderline was drawn up by United Nations forces after the war. The North refuses to accept it and says it should run further to the south. The two nations have remained technically at war since their conflict ended only in an armistice. The North, hit by sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs, has sent mixed messages in recent weeks. It is pressing to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South, while the military has threatened its neighbour with war. — AFP

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Rico Dibrivell, 35, is helped by US Army soldiers from the 82nd Airborne after he was found in the ruins of a damaged building Tuesday. — AP

Bangladesh executes Mujib killers DHAKA: Bangladesh yesterday executed the five killers of the nation’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose assassination in a 1975 coup reverberates to this day.

The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed the men’s final attempt to challenge their sentences for killing Mujib, as he was widely known. The President rejected last-minute appeals for clemency from two of the men.

“All five of the killers have now been executed,” deputy law minister Kamrul Islam told reporters at the prison at around 1:00 am, adding that the convicts had all been hanged.

Nearly a thousand people gathered outside the prison in Old Dhaka. Dozens of ruling Awami League supporters were present, holding banners with slogans saying: “Justice at last” and “Do not bury them in Bangladeshi soil”. Coffins for the five had been taken into the jail yesterday evening.

The prison was surrounded by heavily armed Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) troops and

police.

The families of the convicts had been called during the day by the prison authorities. Mahsuza Pasha, sister of one of the convicts - Bazlul Huda - told AFP she had said goodbye to her brother, a former army officer. “My brother is a martyr,” she said. “We haven’t been given justice. I was allowed to see my brother one last time today.” Mujib led Bangladesh to independence in 1971 during a bloody war against Pakistan. He was gunned down at his home, along with his wife and three sons, in a military coup on Aug 15, 1975. His daughter, the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was abroad at the time.

A total of 20 people, including domestic staff, were killed when the group of officers stormed his house, but the murder charges that were brought only related to Mujib’s death. The case was first heard in 1996 when Hasina became premier for the first time and

removed a legal barrier enacted by the postMujib government to protect the accused men. In 1998, 15 men were found guilty and sentenced to death. Three were acquitted in 2001. Of the other 12, six are in hiding and one is believed to have died in Zimbabwe.

Hasina lost power in 2001 to her bitter rival Khaleda Zia, under whose government the courts failed to process the appeal.

Proceedings were only reactivated after Hasina regained power a year ago in a landslide election victory over Zia. Hasina has accused Zia’s late husband Ziaur Rahman, who was the deputy army chief under Mujib, of playing a role in his murder. Hasina, who has yet to comment yesterday’s verdict, is likely to pursue further trials in connection to the 1971 liberation war. She has sought international assistance on how to bring to court those who collaborated with Pakistan during the war. — AFP Following yesterday’s dismissal of

‘Don’t allow Iran attack from Gulf’ Continued from Page 1 resolutions of the international community. Larijani said he had met HH Sheikh Sabah over how to strengthen and cement Iranian-Kuwaiti cooperation in political, economic and cultural areas. He added he had a meeting with HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah on ways and means of wiping out obstacles and barriers impeding closer economic cooperation between both countries. On possible Kuwaiti investments in Iran, Larijani said there are various opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation, and Kuwaiti traders can now invest in Iran.He noted that two-way specialized committees were discussing a project to supply Kuwait

with water and gas.

Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said last week that Western warships stationed in the Gulf are “best targets” for the Islamic republic if its nuclear sites are attacked, Fars news agency reported.

Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to deliver a “crushing response” and hit US targets, including its bases in the Gulf and neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan, if Iran’s nuclear sites are attacked.

Larijani also said Washington and Israel will not “dare launch an aggression on Iran,” over its nuclear program. “Israel will not dare attack Iran because it knows that if it carries out such an action, Iranian missiles will burn its lands,” Larijani said.

The United States and its regional ally Israel, which accuse Iran of seeking atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, have never ruled out a military option to thwart Tehran’s nuclear drive. Iran denies the charges and has continued to expand its nuclear program despite UN sanctions.

Larijani said Tehran is proud of helping the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas which fought wars against Israel in 2006 and 2008, respectively. The Iranian official said that US President Barack Obama has “failed in his policy on the Palestinian cause as the (Israeli) siege on Gaza and the construction of Jewish settlements are continuing.” — Agencies

Labor law ‘cleansed’ of errors Continued from Page 1 Roumi said the errors have been rectified and a new copy will be sent to the government for publication in the official gazette. The law becomes effective from the day of its publication but it is not expected to be implemented in full before the ministry prepares the necessary bylaws for its application. However, MP Saadoun Hammad who was the first to discover the errors and then blame MPs Rola Dashti and Aseel Al-Awadhi for deliberately committing them, said the new copy must be rectified in accordance with the constitution.

A number of MPs meanwhile charged that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1959, has been functioning without a law and called on the

Assembly to issue the necessary law. MP Hammad demanded that a temporary board of directors must be appointed to run the affairs of the chamber until the Assembly issues a new law. MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun said MP Adnan Abdulsamad was the first lawmaker to raise the issue of the chamber of commerce and that he (Saadoun) has sent several questions about if a law exists or not and he never got a reply.

Commerce and Industry Minister Ahmad Al-Haroun, however, said that there is a law for the chamber and it was issued in 1959 even before the constitution was issued in 1962. Haroun, who served as director of the chamber for many years, said the chamber had presented amendments to the law but the Assembly has not studied them.

Separately, head of the budgets commit-

tee MP Abdulsamad said yesterday the committee found “gross violations” in Kuwait Airways Corp, particularly during the transition period for its transfer to a private company. Abdulsamad called on the communications minister to make sure that no one makes any illegal profit before KAC is privatized. The government on Sunday approved a report on the evaluation of KAC ahead of its sale to become a private company.

Meanwhile, MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said yesterday his Development and Reform Bloc will demand the launch of an investigation into the traffic accident that killed at least five Kuwaiti youths. He said the bloc will demand forming an investigation committee to study possible security lapses in the dealing of the interior ministry with the accident.

there’s going to be a third category of device, it going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks,” he said. The iPad has a near life-sized touch keyboard and supports Web browsing. It comes with a built-in calendar and address book, Jobs said, calling it “awesome”.

Despite the buzz surrounding the launch and Apple’s storied golden touch on consumer electronics, the tablet is not necessarily an easy sell, analysts say.

Consumer appetite for such a device category has yet to be proven, though plenty of devices such as Amazon.com’s Kindle ereader are vying for that market. Shares of Apple have generally risen ahead of yesterday’s event. The stock rose 0.5 percent to

$206.92 at mid-afternoon, within reach of its all-time high of $215.59 logged on Jan 5.

As iPod sales wane, Apple is looking for another growth engine and hopes to find one in the tablet. But the move is not without risk. Consumers have never warmed to tablet computers, despite many previous attempts by other companies. In an online poll on reuters.com, 37 percent of more than 1,000 respondents said they would pay $500-$699 for the tablet. Nearly 30 percent weren’t interested, while 20 percent said they would pay $700-$899.

Analysts’ sales predictions for the tablet vary widely, with many believing Apple can sell 2 million to 5 million units in the first year. — Reuters

Apple unveils ‘iPad’ Continued from Page 1 Called the “iPad,” the tablet is Apple’s biggest product launch since the iPhone three years ago, and arguably rivals the smartphone as the most anticipated in Apple’s history. Culminating months of feverish speculation on the Internet and among investors, Jobs took the stage at a jam-packed theater in San Francisco and, with his famed showman’s flair, began displaying the device’s features.

Jobs said there was a need for a new type of device that would sit between a smartphone and laptop computer, and that can perform tasks like browse the Web, play games and display electronic books. “If

Saudis hail victory over Houthi rebels Continued from Page 1 Asked about the reasons behind Houthi rebel attacks on Saudi territory, Prince Khaled said: “I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.” When asked whether the rebels had the backing of Shiite Iran, he said that big arms caches had been discovered, adding: “It cannot be done by themselves.”

The leader of the Houthi rebels, Abdul Malak Al-Houthi, said in an audio message Monday that the rebels’ initiative to withdraw from their last positions in Saudi Arabia was to stop the bloodshed, but warned of an open war if Saudi forces attacked rebel strongholds across the border.

“This is to present a real chance for peace... in the interest of the two peoples that are neighbours,” Houthi said. But “if the Saudi regime maintains its aggression after this initiative, it would be showing that its intention is not to defend its territory, but to invade our areas” in north Yemen, Houthi said. “This would give us the right to open many fronts and launch an open war.” The Yemeni army launched an all-out offensive against the rebels in August, with the aim of eradicating their five year rebellion.

The Saudis relied on artillery and air power to defeat the rebels. Khaled called it an “unconventional war with mountain guerrillas”. Khaled said his country doesn’t

meddle in Yemen’s internal affairs but was drawn in to the fight when the rebels crossed the borders. The rebels had earlier alleged the Saudis were backing the Yemeni troops. He said he hoped the rebels would “return to their senses and devotion to their nation rather than some other country,” in an apparent reference to accusations that the rebels are backed by Saudi archrival Iran. “They are not supposed to have military power. They are supposed to be regular citizens who participate in a national political party in Yemen,” he said. “But to have weapons that match those of the Yemeni army, this means they have other plans.” — Agencies

Rescuers pull survivor from Haiti quake rubble PORT-AU-PRINCE: Stunned rescuers wrenched a survivor from the rubble after 12 days entombed in Haiti’s quake-ravaged capital, where desperate crowds clamoured yesterday for more and quicker relief. Dehydrated, covered in dust and with a broken leg, the 35year-old emerged alive from the ruins of a road in the capital Port-au-Prince called the Rue de Miracles. He was not buried by the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck on Jan 12 but two days later, according to the US military who rescued him, probably by one of the huge aftershocks common after such a disaster. He had survived on small amounts of water and was said to be amazingly well considering his ordeal - the longest of any Haiti quake survivor so far.

Two further tremors Tuesday scared weary, destitute Haitians out of their makeshift camps, and the US Geological Survey warned of more to come for the next month. The January 12 quake killed at least 150,000 people in the Caribbean nation - one of the world’s poorest even before disaster struck - and left hundreds of thousands homeless. In the Cite Soleil slum, several thousand desperate people converged on a walled police compound for sacks of relief supplies, surging against the steel gates as officials struggled to let them in one by one.

Across the capital, ad hoc street committees have hung imploring banners in English and French - “SOS”, “We need help here” and

“We need food and water” - in desperate attempts to attract aid agencies’ attention.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said prisoners who had escaped from flattened jails, including hardened gangsters, could exploit the chaos to step up criminal activities. In a message to a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on the crisis, she also relayed “alarming reports of summary executions of some of those alleged prisoners carried out by angry mobs”.

“Drawing from lessons learned in the past, we must prevent and curb those violations that often occur in post-disaster circumstances,” she added.

There have been consistent reports of looting and sporadic gunfire across Port-auPrince, although like much of Haiti it has suffered chronic insecurity and poverty for decades. Dermot Carty, deputy director of the UN children’s fund Unicef, said it was a “conducive environment” for traffickers to smuggle children out of Haiti. Some 20,000 US troops have been sent in to help distribute food and water, while Vice Admiral Alan Thompson, director of the US Defense Logistics Agency, said it had begun to supply 14 million meals.

With its helicopters constantly rotating overhead and foot patrols in ever increasing evidence, the US military has assumed the dominant role in the aid operation, and has

been largely welcomed by Haitians. Still, a stung US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to defend the operation from criticism it had been badly coordinated with other states and aid agencies and too heavy-handed.

“I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake,” she retorted.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticised developed nations for causing Haiti’s poverty and misery. “The developed world is responsible for what happened in Haiti,” Lula, who authorized $205 million of aid, told the World Social Forum meeting in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. “Perhaps now the earthquake will stir the shame of the human beings governing this planet, and we can now do what should have been done (for Haiti) 40 or 10 years ago.” Donor nations and aid organizations have warned that rebuilding the country will take at least a decade.

Meanwhile NASA said it would conduct flights over tectonic faults in Haiti and the Dominican Republic to capture radar images that could be studied for warning signs of further quakes. And the UN cultural agency UNESCO was sending experts yesterday to assess the damage to museums and monuments, director general Irina Bokova said. — AFP

Lanka prez wins re-election Continued from Page 1 “The victory has been taken away from us by election-rigging and the violation of electoral laws,” Fonseka told reporters soon after the verdict was announced. “We did not get the result because of the wrongs done by them.” In a day of high drama that followed a bitter and vitriolic contest between the former allies, Fonseka was surrounded by heavily armed soldiers in a luxury hotel in central Colombo where he checked in on Tuesday night. The 59-yearold claimed he was unable to leave because he would be arrested or assassinated, but he slipped out unimpeded late yesterday, heading for a safe house in the Sri Lankan capital.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara had said there were no plans to arrest Fonseka but rather to capture around 400 army deserters with him who could pose a potential coup risk. “They have booked 100 rooms. They are highly trained military people. We are suspicious about their gathering. General Fonseka has released nine deserters to the military police,” he said. Fonseka later said they were part of his security detail. “If Udaya Nanayakkara says there are 400 people in this hotel, he must be off his nuts. They want to remove all my security,” he said.

The contest had been a straight race between the two men who engineered the decisive victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who fought

for 37 years for a Tamil homeland. But from close allies on the battlefield they turned into irreconcilable enemies after Fonseka, a political novice, decided to challenge his former boss at the ballot box on an anti-corruption platform.

The rancorous nature of the election campaign and the tit-for-tat accusations of foul play running up to the vote had suggested a contested result was likely.

Independent election monitors have criticised the abuse of state resources by the government for campaigning, as well as violence, on election day particularly in the north. They stopped short of repudiating the vote, however. Four people were killed and more than 1,000 cases of election-related violence were reported to police in the lead-up to Tuesday’s contest. Another two people were reported dead in attacks yesterday.

Rajapakse, 64, is a nationalist who ordered the offensive against the Tamil Tigers that has since been dogged by war crimes allegations. The UN says 7,000 civilians were killed during the final stages of the fighting amid allegations of extrajudicial killings. A total of 80,000-100,000 people died during the near-four-decade conflict, also according to UN figures.

For Fonseka and the assorted coalition of opposition parties that backed him, their next step will be to file a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the verdict. But he suggested he might have to flee abroad because the government had stripped him

of his security, which he said was a deliberate ploy to leave him vulnerable to assassination. “They are behaving like murderers,” he said at the press conference in the hotel, in which tourists, businesspeople and a wedding party mingled all day seemingly oblivious to the show of force outside.

The government said the soldiers were to guard against any trouble from army deserters who they believed were working for the opposition. Fonseka denied this and complained of intimidation. Despite the threat of protests, the defeated father-oftwo, who holds a US Green Card, made no call to his supporters to take to the streets.

Sri Lanka faces an enormous task in rebuilding its war-ravaged economy and is under stiff international pressure to secure a lasting political solution that addresses the grievances of its large Tamil minority.

Rajapakse and Fonseka, who belong to the Sinhalese majority, had both courted Tamil voters during the campaign with pledges of greater political inclusion and investment in the devastated northeast.

India, which has a large Tamil population, congratulated Rajapakse and voiced hope that he would help heal the rift between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. Rajapakse also signalled he was ready to mend faces with Western countries that were critical of the conduct of the war. Britain and the US had held back aid and a trade agreement with the EU was thrown into doubt because of the conflict. — Agencies

Ginger dino shows Cretaceous colours Continued from Page 1 enigmatic beasts. “When I teach my students about dinosaurs, I always say we can learn about feeding, locomotion, reproduction, egg-laying and all that sort of thing,” said lead palaeontologist Mike Benton of Bristol University, western England.

“The two things we don’t know and never will know, are about the noises they could make and the colours they were.

Well, we’ve now discovered evidence that can tell us for sure some aspects of colour in dinosaurs.” The study, published in the British science journal Nature, looked at spectactular fossils recovered in former lake sediments in Liaoning province, northeastern China. Since the 1990s, this area has been a treasure trove of dinosaur remains, especially small theropods - twofooted carnivores - that are believed to have been the forerunners of birds.

The scientists looked at a specimen of Sinosauropteryx, a bristle-covered theropod about the size of a labrador dog, and an early bird called Confuciusornis. Their

quest was the imprint of melanosomes, which are tough, pigment-carrying components found in the cells of feathers and mammal hair. With the help of electronic microscopes that scrutinised the bristles to a millionth of a metre, Benton’s team found the telltale outlines of two kinds of melanosomes, one sausage-shaped, the other spherical.

Called eumelanosomes and phaeomelanosomes, they carry pigments that give black and grey, and shades of brown ranging from light beige to ginger.

Confuciusornis had patches of white, black and orange-brown colouring, the paper surmises. Areas where there were no melanosomes on the fossils were presumed to be white. Benton described this portrayal as a “minimum palette”, as feathers have other hues that are not preserved in melanosomes. The chance of determining the colour of dinosaur skin, which does not preserve melanosomes, is “slight,” he added.

Palaeontologists have battled over whether theropods could have been the template for birds, of which the first

acknowledged specimen, Archaeopteryx, lived around 150 million years ago. Some argued theropod bristles were primitive feathers, which developed into full plumage, with specialised types, over millions of years. Others retorted the bristles were simply pieces of skin or other preserved tissues. “These bristles really are feathers,” said Benton. “If there were bits of skin or connective tissue or something else, they would not contain melanosomes, full stop.”

Another big debating point has been this: why did dinosaurs grow feathers?

Were they for flight, for keeping warm or for display, to court or scare off predators?

“We now know that feathers came before wings, so feathers did not originate as flight structures,” said Benton. “We therefore suggest that feathers first arose as agents for colour display and only later in their evolutionary history did they come useful for flight and insulation.” The eight scientists which carried out the research included Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, arguably the most famous fossil hunter alive today. -— AFP

OPINION

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Violence threatens Philippine elections

By Manny Mogato

S

piralling political violence and the introduction of a new voting system have raised the risk that national polls in the Philippines in May produce the outcome markets fear most of all - a failed election that nobody wins. Asset prices in the Philippines are generally very resilient to violence and lawlessness, particularly in the restive southern islands. And investors have long become accustomed to the “guns, goons and gold” culture of elections in the archipelago.

But even markets that generally take unrest and insurgency in stride would be unsettled by one particularly dangerous scenario, in which the elections do not give any candidate a credible mandate. That could lead to months of uncertainty and further delay overdue efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit. The risk of this scenario becoming a reality remains relatively low.

But with political killings running at an unprecedented level, and doubts surrounding the implementation of automated voting, it cannot be ruled out.

And the uncertainty is likely to act as a drag on markets in the months ahead.

“The constraint we face is that even if we see risk aversion offshore dissipate, the election risk premium may curtail any bullish (sentiment) or optimism in the local market,” said Jun Trinidad, economist at Citigroup in Manila. Nearly 90 people were killed in politically motivated killings across the country last year, even before the start of the 120-day election period that began early this month. The death toll was well above the single-digit level of killings that preceded the election period in previous polls.

Some fear that the new system of automated vote counting, aimed at preventing fraud, could stoke increased violence. “The automation process has changed the rules of the game and politicians who fear they could no longer manipulate poll results are more tempted to eliminate each other,” said Benito Lim, political science professor at Ateneo de Manila University.

Some politicians may also use intimidation to scare voters on election day, resulting in low turnout, he said. A high level of violence will not, by itself, be a major shock for markets - they are used to it. The average death toll for the four-month election period every three years in the Philippines is around 100, government records show.

But if unrest reaches a level that threatens the legitimacy of the election, or if automated vote tallying proves problematic, it would be a different story.

That would impose a much higher risk discount on Philippine asset prices, analysts say. Investors would shun longterm debt papers and shift to short-term holdings or sell altogether and the credit default swap spread would widen.

Antonio Herbosa, managing director at the Center for Global Best Practices, a financial advisory firm, said if the elections failed, the stock market’s main index could tumble below 2,600 points to the lowest levels since July 2009. The index is currently

trading around 2,940 points. The peso, which has been strengthening against the dollar in line with other risky but bullish Asian currencies, would also take a hit, analysts say. If an election failure was solely due to technical problems, the impact on markets would be limited, Herbosa said. “It would be totally a different story if the failure is in the context of the incumbent perceived to be wanting to stay in power,” he said.

Concerns that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might try to hang on to power beyond the constitutional limits of her term have unsettled markets at times over the past year. Most analysts believe it highly unlikely that she would seek to exploit any problem with the elections to remain in office, however.

Arroyo says she shares concerns that the May 10 polls could face problems. Asked by a group of foreign correspondents over dinner at the presidential palace last week if she was worried about the possible failure of the polls, she replied: “Yes”.

“It’s something that has never been tested,” Arroyo said of the computerised tally. But she added: “It might fail in some areas, but not in a national scale.” Manila has yet to launch a comprehensive and effective educational campaign on the new system, with thousands of uneducated voters expected to be disenfranchised.

That increases the risk of violence on and after election day on May 10. Security officials say more than a third of the country’s 1,600 cities and towns are prone to election violence due to the presence of Maoistled and Muslim separatist rebels, Islamic militants, and armed groups of political warlords. The Philippines is perceived by investors and multilateral financial institutions to have done little to impose the rule of law, especially in rural areas, where private armies dominate.

That contributes to an image of uncertainty and insecurity for investors that hurts the longterm economic prospects of the country. The World Bank’s World Governance Indicators, widely watched by investors, have recorded a sharp drop in the image of the Philippines over the past decade.

The Rule of Law indicator has dropped from 52.9 in 1998 to 39.7 in 2008. Indicators are on a scale of 1 to 100, and the lower the number, the less the rule of law is upheld. The decline in the Rule of Law rating for the Philippines puts it below Malaysia at 64.6, Thailand at 54.1, and even Vietnam at 41.6.

Among major regional competitors only Indonesia fares worse at 28.7, but the Indonesian rating has been rising steadily as the rating for the Philippines falls.

To address poll-related violence caused by private armies under the control of political warlords, Arroyo has mobilised the army and police to dismantle about 170 armed groups.

She imposed martial law for more than a week in December on the lawless southern province of Maguindanao to dismantle the 2,000-member civilian militia force of her political ally, the Ampatuan clan, who helped her win the 2004 presidential polls. — Reuters

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

Morocco taps devolution to break Sahara deadlock

By Lamine Ghanmi

P

lans by Morocco to devolve some power to its regions appear unlikely to convince independence campaigners in Western Sahara to accept Moroccan sovereignty over the desert territory. A decades-old dispute over Western Sahara’s future is fuelling tension between Morocco and neighbour Algeria that has scuppered attempts to create an EU-style political and economic union to drag swathes of north Africa out of poverty.

Europe and the United States also fear it is stopping Morocco and Algeria working together to contain Al-Qaedalinked militants trying to impose strict Islamic rule in north Africa. Morocco has been offering limited autonomy for Western Sahara but Algeria-backed independence movement Polisario insists on a referendum with independence as one option. Three years of United Nations-backed talks have gone nowhere. Morocco’s plan for more regional government is designed to address frustrated hopes for more democracy in the kingdom and show Sahrawis deeply suspicious of the authorities in Rabat that they are serious about sharing power, analysts say.

“Autonomy and regionalisation are the same thing. The regionalisation would be autonomy for Western Sahara and a different thing for other regions,” said Taoufik Bouachrine, editor of Moroccan daily paper Akhabar al Maghrib. “Were the plan successful, I think Sahrawis would accept it, but I think regionalisation would just redeploy the same system monopolising wealth and power that we have in Rabat,” he said.

Morocco has poured people and money into Western Sahara, a tract of desert the size of Britain which has lucrative phosphate reserves and

potentially offshore oil. No country formally recognises Rabat’s claim to the territory but its allies France, Spain and the United States have pushed its autonomy proposal as a promising starting point. Moroccan officials have denied the regionalisation plan is part of a diplomatic push on Western Sahara but experts say there is a clear link.

“Autonomy and advanced regionalisation are the same message passing on two wavelengths, to use broadcasting terminology,” said Mohamed Mesari, a former minister and a veteran diplomat. Rabat officials say Western Sahara would be the first “development lab” for advanced regionalisation. In a speech this month announcing the establishment of a consultative body on regionalisation, Morocco’s King Mohammed said he wanted to overcome the stalemate on Western Sahara.

“Morocco cannot limit itself to a standstill while antagonists of its territorial integrity make every effort to impede the UN process aimed at finding a realistic political solution,” he said in reference to Polisario and Algeria.

The territory’s pro-independence activists doubt the reform will prompt more Sahrawis to embrace Morocco.

They say that Morocco - which suffers widespread illiteracy and a yawning wealth divide - needs to address deepseated social problems and a lack of democracy before it becomes a credible alternative for Polisario’s backers.

“Morocco has proposed autonomy before today, and is adding this advanced regionalisation, but the Sahrawis remain fundamentally unconvinced by the Moroccan government, whom they see as having no right to decide their future,” said Sahrawi rights activist Mohamed Moutawakil.

Morocco took over most of Western Sahara after Spain withdrew from its colony in 1975, sparking a war with eth-

nic Sahrawi independence fighters backed by Algeria. The war ended in 1991 when the United Nations brokered a ceasefire on the promise that a referendum would be held to decide the

territory’s future. Morocco blocked the vote, saying it would be impossible to organise fairly. Moroccan political analysts say regionalisation will create elected legislative and executive bodies

to oversee social development with less interference from Rabat. Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar suggested regionalisation could be implemented early next year. — Reuters

US gambles on aid as key to security

By Andrew Quinn

S

een from Washington, the threats can all look the same: deeply divided societies plagued by corruption, poverty and growing Islamic militant movements that harbor deep hatred for the United States. But while Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Yemen may appear similar from a distance, up close each is a very different struggle - a lesson Washington must learn to achieve its objectives in any of them, security analysts say.

US allies met in London for two conferences on Afghanistan and Yemen that will spotlight how President Barack Obama’s policies are evolving to meet the expanding constellation of security threats. Both will underscore a shift from short-term crisis management to long-term nationbuilding - a potential hard sell for a US public exhausted with war and unnerved by record government deficits and high unemployment at home.

With some Republicans raising concern the administration has not responded aggressively enough to the Yemen threat even as it muscles up in Afghanistan, Obama must persuade skittish voters that his strategy will keep the country safe in a world where the next attack could come at any time. “The rise of Yemen illustrates the difficulty the United States is facing in dealing with the network phenomenon of global jihadi terrorists,” said Stewart Patrick, a senior security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“You’ve got the world’s only superpower playing a game of whack-a-mole,” Patrick said, referring to popular game in which players whack down one peg only to see it pop up elsewhere. “There are obviously limitations with that kind of strategy. It leaves the impetus and initiative open to AlQaeda.” In Afghanistan, US plans have focused on the military, with Obama pledging to add 30,000 US troops to the 68,000 already there fighting Taleban militants.

The strategy mirrors that ordered for Iraq by former President George W Bush in 2007, which was credited with reducing violence and setting the stage for a US withdrawal.

Whether it will be effective in Afghanistan is still an open question. With soldiers already on the ground, the United States and allies such as Britain are launching a “civilian surge” to bolster the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Officials hope Afghanistan will emerge from the Thursday meeting with a timeline to take charge of its own security, mechanisms for coordinating development and plans to fight widespread corruption in Karzai’s government.

“It’s very important that we upgrade our civilian side of the mission as the military upgrade their side,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last week. The Obama administration has tripled the number of civilian experts in Afghanistan to nearly 1,000 from 320 a year ago, and hopes to expand that by 20 to 30 percent in 2010.

The emphasis on basic issues like the police force, agricultural development and eduction represents the realization that the only way to deny Al-Qaeda and other extremists safe haven is to give the local population a viable alternative, analysts say. “We are not going to achieve our goals just by having boots on the ground,” said Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, a security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The biggest problem of all in these places is economic.”

Despite the focus on Afghanistan, Yemen moved to the top of the US priority list after a Nigerian man with Yemeni links was charged with attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the failed bombing and promised more attacks on the United States in an audiotape Al Jazeera said on Sunday was of the Al-Qaeda leader. The Arab world’s poorest country, Yemen presents many of the same danger signs as Afghanistan: weak government, destitute population and a history of al Qaeda-linked attacks including the October 2000 bombing of the US Navy destroyer USS Cole. But while diplomats quickly scheduled a London meeting tomorrow to deal with Yemen, the response has been calibrated - a sign lessons are being learned, analysts say. Military officials have ruled out US troop commitments. — Reuters

Marines leave Iraq again - for good?

By Robert Burns

I

t is easily lost in the hopefulness of the Marines’ departure from Iraq hailed in ceremonies as “the final chapter” - that this is not the first time they left in the expectation of never returning. Will it be the last? In Sept 2003 the Marines completed a pullout from Iraq - leaving to the Army the task of winding down the war - only to be called back in March 2004 amid a fastboil insurgency centered in the western province of Anbar. The war, of course, was far from over, but few foresaw the scope of killing and chaos to come.

This time it’s different. The insurgency is diminished, and while Iraq’s episodic political turmoil could upset the timetable for the withdrawal of tens of thousands of US forces this year, it is hard to imagine a circumstance under which President Barack Obama would respond to crisis in Iraq by sending back the Marines.

That’s not to say that Anbar - cradle of the Sunni insurgency that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 - is entirely peaceful or that the security gains achieved over the past three years won’t unravel. Maj Gen Rick Tryon, the Marine commander who handed over responsibility for Anbar at a ceremony Saturday in Ramadi, the provincial capital, struck a cautionary note in describing the progress he has witnessed. “There continues to be a

US army soldiers inspect the site of a car bomb attack in central Baghdad Tuesday. – AP lingering element bent on creating havoc,” he said.

Marines are well acquainted with havoc. It accompanied them into Iraq and then, for a time, took cover in an illusion of peacefulness. By the time of the Marines’ hurried return in March 2004, havoc was back. The following month was the second deadliest month of the war for the Marines: 51 killed in action. The worst was Nov 2004 with 80 combat deaths, mainly in the battle to eject Al-Qaeda from the city of

Fallujah.

The war started well for the Marines. In March 2003 they linked up with the Army’s 3rd Infantry division to capture Baghdad, break the regime of Saddam Hussein and begin what initially looked like a transition from combat to nation building. In late April they moved to south-central Iraq, a predominantly Shiite area that gave the appearance of moving toward peace. The top Marine commander in Iraq at the time, Lt Gen James Conway, noted at a news

conference in Sept 2003 as the last of his Marines were heading home that he had not lost a single Marine to hostile fire in the five months they had been operating in south-central cities like Karbala, Najaf and Hillah.

“We went in with an attitude that the war was over,” Conway said. His point: The focus was on helping the Iraqis get back on their feet and on training their police. Marines used force only when attacked. Conway had a colorful way of illustrating the welcoming atmosphere in which his Marines were operating. “Little kids run a quarter mile on a hot pavement with bare feet to wave,” he said.

In his account of the war, titled “The Strongest Tribe,” author and former Marine Bing West wrote that the south-central part of Iraq was so hospitable to the Marines in the summer of 2003 that the Karbala city council tried to elect a Marine lieutenant colonel its mayor. But in Anbar, the province that stretches west from Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, trouble was brewing - even as the top Army commander in that area was insisting he’d found the key to success.

Maj Gen Chuck Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, told reporters on Nov 18, 2003, that he was aware of a need to win Iraqi hearts and minds, but his soldiers were going to hit and hit hard. He said he was following the advice of a British general in

World War II: “Use a sledgehammer to crush a walnut.” “We’re going to prosecute the war not holding one hand behind our back,” Swannack said.

And he had this to say about the state of affairs that autumn in Fallujah, the epicenter of an insurgency not yet fully understood by the Americans: “The good news is Fallujah has become quite quiet in recent days.” A little less than three months later, Swannack was accompanying Gen John Abizaid, the top US commander for the Middle East, on a visit to an Iraqi civil defense battalion headquarters in Fallujah when insurgents ambushed them, firing rocket-propelled grenades and spraying gunfire but missing their mark.

In March, Swannack’s troops left, replaced by the newly arrived Marines with Conway once again in command.

The insurgency grew more deadly, swallowing Fallujah whole. Years of hard fighting followed, with the low point for the Marines arguably coming in Aug 2006. Early that month in Fallujah, the top Marine intelligence officer in Anbar, Col Pete Devlin, stood before a visitor, Gen. Peter Pace, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and delivered a sobering message: AlQaeda was gaining strength and prospects for winning the war, at least the Anbar part, were dim.

In the weeks that followed, however, the now-famous Anbar Awakening, led by tribal leaders fed up with AlQaeda, took hold. — AP

ANALYSIS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

15

In Moscow, where are the emperor’s clothes ?

By Michael Stott

H

e took office promising cautious reforms but almost halfway through his term, critics say Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s real agenda may be different - to keep the Kremlin seat warm for a return by Vladimir Putin. Nearly two years after his election, analysts say there is scant evidence that Medvedev is implementing promises to open Russia’s controlled political system, modernise its oil-fuelled economy, fight corruption and establish the rule of law.

Local elections in October were dubbed Russia’s dirtiest ever by opposition leaders. NGOs and business chiefs say corruption is as bad or worse.

Kremlin-friendly regional bosses accused of unethical behaviour have been reappointed. And abuses of police and court power are reported each day. “Medvedev has shown he doesn’t want to reform,” said Vladimir Ryzhkov, who served as the last independent deputy in the State Duma (Russian parliament) until changes to election law prevented him running again in 2007. “He keeps doing a few very small cosmetic things to pretend to reform but in fact there are no real reforms.”

Asked to list Medvedev’s achievements since his March 2008 election, the Kremlin said it was preparing detailed information for the press to mark his two years in office in May this year but did not have such information available now.

Medvedev’s spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said the president would focus this year on more reforms to the political system, improving the investment climate, pacifying the troubled North Caucasus and agreeing a nuclear arms pact with Washington.

State-run media has tried to boost the president’s image - an analysis by the Interfax news agency said references to Medvedev in Russian media last year outweighed those to Putin. But pollsters say rising prosperity and greater stability during Putin’s 20002008 presidency has made him much more popular among ordinary people than Medvedev. This popularity continues now in Putin’s role as prime minister. Russia’s elite also respects Putin more. A typical example - Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov referred to Putin several times in a

Reuters interview last month, terming him a “very strong leader of world stature”. He did not mention Medvedev.

Hopes among Western powers that Medvedev would prove a more pliable and accommodating partner than Putin quickly evaporated, as Medvedev led Russia into a brief war with Georgia in 2008. Last year, Moscow raised hopes it would finally enter the World Trade Organisation, ink a nuclear arms reduction pact with the United States and agree to tough sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program only to disappoint on all three so far.

In each case, officials say privately, Putin had the final say, not his f o r m a l superior

Medvedev. This shows where power lies in Russia’s ruling “tandem”. Officials at the Kremlin and at the White House (Putin’s prime ministerial offices) insist publicly that the “tandem” is a close and productive working relationship of two equals who respect each other’s constitutional areas of competence.

An example: Medvedev convened a meeting last week to discuss reforms to Russia’s political system, so dominated by the Kremlin’s United Russia bloc that critics compare it to the Soviet-era Communist Party. But Putin had the last word: “We should continually think about perfecting Russia’s political system. But we must act...in this area with extreme caution,” he said. “The political system must not wobble like runny jelly with every touch”. “Putin’s message was clear,” said one senior diplomat. “There will be no serious political reform in Russia”.

Investors are also clear about where power lies. Asked how Russian markets would react to a Medvedev departure, one chief strategist replied at a Moscow bank replied: “Not a blip.” When asked the same question about Putin, the answer was “mayhem”. Nonetheless, the frequent differences in public tone between Putin and Medvedev have led some Russia-watchers to speculate about arguments between them, or even to suggest a power struggle might be taking place inside the elite.

Promoters of Medvedev are especially keen on spreading that message to bur-

nish his reformist credentials, diplomats say. In this version of events, Medvedev’s lack of reform achievements is explained because he is moving cautiously so as not to upset Putin. Boosters of the president insist that at some unspecified future time Medvedev will move more boldly.

But many close to the circles of power dismiss such talk. Opposition journalist Yulia Latynina has argued that it is impossible to have a struggle between a man who holds all the power (Putin) and a man who has none (Medvedev). Sceptics also argue that Medvedev, a consummate insider who has worked closely with Putin for 19 years, is highly unlikely to have a reform agenda which he has kept secret for so long from his boss - a very well-informed former KGB spy.

Many informed commentators believe that barring an upset such as a major financial crisis, Putin is likely to return in 2012 to the presidency, taking advantage of a constitutional reform extending the next Kremlin chief’s term to six years the most significant political reform Medvedev has enacted. Re-election could take Putin, now 57, through to 2024 before he would be obliged by the constitution to leave office. Putin is more popular and more trusted than Medvedev, said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, an expert on the Russian elite and member of United Russia. “I’m just back from a trip to the provinces and everyone believes Putin will come back in 2012, that’s the popular view. I share this view...Putin has more resources and more support”. — Reuters

Afghan 2011 handover start is carrot and stick

By Emma Graham-Harrison and Sayed Salahuddin

A

pledge to give Afghans the main role in securing several provinces by early 2011 is not the start of a major handover, but instead aims to hurry Kabul in building up security forces and promote a political settlement of the war. If successful, the target laid out in a draft communique for the Jan. 28 London conference will also allow Western politicians to claim concrete progress in a war that has dragged on for more than eight and is increasingly unpopular with home electorates.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a massive handover,” said John Dempsey, a lawyer at the United States Institute of Peace in Kabul, who has discussed the plan with some of the diplomats who drew it up and describes it as “ambitious”. “It is to remind the Afghan government that they are going to have this obligation, so they take building up the army and the police force seriously.

It is also to send the message to the Taliban that the international security forces don’t plan to be around forever,” he said.

Provinces chosen for the handover are likely to be more peaceful northern areas where the insurgency has made fewest inroads, because Afghanistan’s long-neglected security forces would be hard pressed to defend anywhere else. Foreign troops would also keep a supporting role, potentially offering anything from backup on complex raids to air support. “The Afghan forces have not reached the level to be able to take control of all security,” said Noor Ulhaq Olumi, a senior general during the communist regime who is now a lawmaker.

Certainly nobody expects Afghans to be managing the Taliban heartlands, provinces like Kandahar and Helmand, any time soon. UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth admitted on Sunday that the handover would be a long process. Senior Afghans also warned that even the army, considered better trained, equipped and with higher morale than the police, could not man-

age alone everywhere. “What sort of impact have foreign and Afghan troops made so far together, to make us optimistic Afghans alone will be able to do it?” asked former Prime Minister Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai.

The Defence Ministry highlighted Afghan forces’ role securing the capital, where they have formally taken over from foreign troops, but said a national handover would take half a decade. “We have the responsibility for Kabul which is very important and vital and comes under more sophisticated attacks. We are doing ok here,” said spokesman Zaher Azimi.”Afghan forces will be able to take control of all security responsibilities in five years provided they get the pledged scores of aircraft and heavy weapons,” he said.

The handover plans come at a time when violence is at its highest level since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.

Last year was the deadliest of the war for civilians and foreign troops. US President Barack Obama is sending an additional 30,000 troops to try and turn the tide, but has also said he will begin to scale them back by the middle of next year. So Karzai and the West are also pushing plans to lure Taleban foot soldiers away from the conflict with cash, jobs and land, and trying to persuade leaders to sit down and talk about a peace settlement. The withdrawal and negotiations plans are linked.

Insurgent leaders are unhappy about the reintegration scheme for ordinary fighters, but one of the main groups has welcomed the pullout schedule as a possible step towards talks. “We do not see a hindrance to the negotiations provided a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces is set,” said Wali Ullah, a spokesman for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a veteran guerrilla commander who leads the major Hezb-i-Islami group. “With Mr Karzai and (other) Afghans we have no problems.”

The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan also signalled he hoped talks could bring an end to the war, with increased troop levels weakening those Taliban currently resisting negotiations, and forcing them to

accept a deal. “As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there’s been enough fighting,” Stanley McChrystal said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Monday.

“I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past,” he said when asked whether he would be content to see Taliban leaders

in a future Afghan government.

But the spring and summer battles with new troops will key, because without a stronger military advantage, the West may struggle to bring enough insurgents to the table.

“You only talk if you can’t militarily impose a solution, and there is no incentive on the part of the Taleban to

negotiate, so I don’t see how this is possible,” said Kamran Bokhari, at international strategic intelligence firm Stratfor.

“I do think all this has to do with the desperate need for Washington and its allies to show on the home front that they are making some sort of progress in Afghanistan.” — Reuters

Turkey-Armenia deal deadlocked

By Matt Robinson and Ibon Villelabeitia

A

bid by Turkey and Armenia to bury a century of hostility and open their border faces collapse under the weight of a simmering territorial conflict neither side can ignore. Barely three months since the accords were signed with the endorsement of the US, European Union and Russia, Yerevan and Ankara are accusing each other of trying to re-write the texts. The deal would bring big economic gains to poor, landlocked Armenia. Turkey would burnish its credentials as a potential EU entry state and boost its clout in the South Caucasus, a region crisscrossed by pipelines carrying oil and gas to the West.

But Turkey has demanded that ethnic Armenian forces pull back from the frontlines of the disputed mountain region of Nagorno- Karabakh as a condition for ratifying the peace deal. This has aroused fierce resistance in Armenia.

The Turkish condition is aimed at placating close Muslim ally Azerbaijan, an oil and gas exporter which lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh when ethnic Armenians backed by Christian Armenia broke away as the Soviet Union collapsed.

Using energy reserves coveted by Russia and the West as leverage, Azerbaijan has condemned the peace deal, which would see Turkey re-open its frontier with Armenia.

Ankara closed the border in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabakh war. “Turkey has mortgaged its foreign policy to Azerbaijan,” said Hugh Pope of the International Crisis Group think-tank. “It sold the Turkey-Armenia accords as part of its ‘zero problems with neighbours’ policy, but now the Azerbaijan lobby and some hundreds of millions of dollars in oil is challenging all that rhetoric.”

A senior Western diplomat said he was “very concerned” about the fate of the peace process. “We are clearly in a worse situation than we were even a short time ago,” he told Reuters. The deal is the closest the sides have come to overcoming the legacy of the mass killings of Armenians

by Ottoman Turks during World War One, a defining element of Armenian national identity and a constant thorn in the side of modern Turkey. Under the accords, Armenia and Turkey agreed to establish diplomatic ties and open

their common border within two months of parliamentary approval, which is still to come.

But the accords made no mention of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia and Turkey committed to a historical commission to investigate the WWI massacres, which Armenia - backed by several European states and many independent historians - says was genocide. Turkey vehemently rejects the term, saying many Muslims as well as Christians died in partisan fighting.

But the backlash by Azerbaijan, seen by many Turks as their brother nation, has deepened political divisions in Ankara. Azerbaijan has begun selling gas to Russia and Iran, and is seeking to hike the price of supplies to Turkey. Azeri gas is essential if the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline is ever to be built to reduce Europe’s energy dependence on Russia. Following the furious Azeri reaction to the peace deal Turkey rowed back, saying it would only ratify the pact if the Armenians withdraw from Azeri districts captured during the war as a land corridor between NagornoKarabakh and Armenia.

With resentment towards Turkey already on the rise among Armenian nationalists and the powerful Armenian diaspora, analysts say President Serzh Sarksyan could face a bid to unseat him if he plays along with Ankara’s demands.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which killed some 30,000 people, has resisted more than 15 years of slowpaced mediation.

“The impasse was completely predictable and a result of the total neglect of the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict and trying to hope against better judgement that you could delink the Turkish-Armenian relationship from the Karabakh conflict,” said Svante Cornell of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.

To complicate matters further, Turkey last week accused Armenia of trying to re-write the deal with a court ruling reaffirming the state’s constitutional obligation to pursue recognition of the massacres and deportations as genocide.

Analysts say pressure could mount as the 95th anniversary nears in April, when Armenians will again press U.S. President Barack Obama to fulfil a campaign pledge to label the killings as genocide. — Reuters

Another goal pared back - Mideast peace

By Steven R Hurst

T

he bleak domestic realities washing over President Barack Obama’s White House cloak equally dismal prospects for quickly shepherding Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks. As the politically beleaguered president prepared to deliver his first State of the Union policy address yesterday night - the symbolic start of his second year in office - Obama was forced to acknowledge he got ahead of himself when he raised hopes of early success by making Mideast peacemaking a top priority of his new administration.

“I think it is absolutely true that what we did this year didn’t produce the kind of breakthrough that we wanted,” Obama said in a Time magazine interview published last week.

“If we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.”

Solving the Mideast riddle has bedeviled US leaders for six decades. No American leader has managed to foster a breakthrough in the region since President Jimmy Carter’s suc-

cess in negotiating a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1978. Even that, in the end, produced only a cold peace and minimal benefits for remaking relations between Israel and other Arab neighbors.

For most Americans increasingly angry about double-digit joblessness and perceptions of special treatment for the banks that are held responsible for causing the financial misery progress in the Middle East is the least of their worries. For the moment, perhaps. But Obama made such a big deal out of solving the Israeli-Palestinian puzzle because it remains critical to American security. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden continues to cite the conflict - and America’s close links to Israel as a key reason and recruiting tool among Muslims for his terror campaign.

Likewise with Iran, whose leaders call for Israel’s destruction even as they are believed to be moving toward ownership of a nuclear weapon and the missiles that could fulfill that ambition. Obama’s move from optimism and bullishness to pes-

simism has been

remarkable. “It’s an uncharacteristically hone s t assessment for a leader” who put so much store in brok e r i n g M i d e a s t

peace, said Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He served for two decades in the State Department as a senior Mideast policy adviser.

Obama began his peace mission by boldly insisting that the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cease building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land the Palestinians envision as their future state.

“There is a clear understanding that we have to make progress on settlements, that settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward,” Obama said during his first White House meeting with Netanyahu. He was referring to a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks that began in Nov 2007 under former President George W Bush but were broken off in December 2008 with Israel’s shattering attack on the Gaza Strip. Israel said it wanted, once-and-for-all, to end Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel. Hamas, like

key sponsor Iran, calls for Israel’s destruction. The militant Islamic group seized control of Gaza from the more moderate Fatah organization of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose power now is restricted to the West Bank.

Abbas knows Obama is sympathetic to his cause. But he has refused to give ground on settlements even as Netanyahu moderated, going from outright refusal to an offer of a 10-month freeze. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hailed that but Arabs were enraged.

“The Obama administration put Abbas in an unprecedented position, which boxed him in,” said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. By backing his demand on settlements, Obama forced the Palestinian leader “up a ladder” with no way to “climb down.” Regardless, former Sen. George Mitchell, Obama’s special Mideast envoy, returned to Israel shortly after the president acknowledged having underestimated the task of Mideast peacemaking.

“This is just really hard,” Obama told Time. “Even for a guy like George Mitchell who helped bring about the peace in

Northern Ireland. This is as intractable a problem as you get.” To wit: Mitchell’s return last week was greeted by Netanyahu’s claim that two Jewish settlements in the West Bank near Jerusalem would be part of Israel forever. That, after issuing a demand that Israel keep troops along the West Bank border with Jordan even after the Palestinians - should it ever happen - gain statehood.

That would seem to have killed off a return to talks any time soon. Mitchell had boldly said early on that he hoped to organize a peace deal, including a Palestinian state, within two years. Miller warned against despair in Washington despite an absence of major progress after a year of trying. “That would lead to disaster,” he said.

“Obama must continue with some variant of Mitchell staying on case.

He should cut the rhetoric and keep pushing more quietly to see what he can produce.”

Obama appears to agree.

“Moving forward, though, we are going to continue to work with both parties to recognize what I think is ultimately their deepseated interest,” he told Time. A real step down from the high-

focus

Are cracks appearing in Thailand military?

By Martin Petty

A

grenade attack on the office of Thailand’s army chief this month is stoking fears of a worstcase scenario in Thailand’s political crisis - a possible fissure in the military along fault lines that have divided the country. Analysts, diplomats and military sources say it is premature to talk of a split in Thailand’s powerful and politicised army but that festering ideological differences show signs of broadening in one of the most charged climates in decades.

A divide in an institution central to Thailand’s power structure would deepen uncertainty over the outlook for Thailand’s export-dependent $260 billion economy, Southeast Asia’s secondlargest, and raise the prospect of instability in a country seen as a gateway to the region for foreign companies. Large numbers of soldiers of lower ranks and some senior officers, analysts say, are sympathisers of Thailand’s rural, grassroots anti-government, red-shirted protest movement.

In contrast, many of the military’s top brass are at the other end of the political spectrum, allied with royalists, business elites and the urban middle classes, who wear yellow at protests and largely support the present government. The red-yellow divide is growing increasingly intractable. And Thailand’s markets remain vulnerable to a correction, after benefiting from waves of foreign money moving into the Asian emerging markets that rebounded first from the global crisis.

The stock market is off its January highs but is still up around 85 percent from the lows it hit in November 2008.

“When there is chaos and the country is divided, people look to the military to be in control,” said a Bangkokbased security analyst, who asked not to be identified because discussions of the military are sensitive. “But it’s the first time in a generation that we’ve seen military divisions like this. There’s definitely an ideological split.

It’s unlikely there’s any danger just yet, but that all depends on where this crisis will go.”

The Jan 15 attack on army chief Anupong Paochinda’s office - he was not there at the time - and the apparent attempt to cover it up, have eroded public confidence in the military, polls show.

Although there were no injuries, the brazen attack was widely seen as a challenge to Anupong’s authority.

The authorities’ reluctance to arrest their prime suspect, a rogue major general openly allied with an anti-government movement, has raised questions about how the army perceives his influence among parts of the rank-and-file. The infamous Khattiya Sawasdipol - a maverick, self-proclaimed warrior better known as “Seh Daeng” - is dismissed by his critics as a loud-mouthed attention-seeker.

But he enjoys a cult-like following among some soldiers and has made bold public threats to Anupong, warning him of a “gang attack”.

Khattiya is also a close associate of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a twice-elected billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup and the assumed leader of the opposition Puea Thai party and the “red shirt” protest movement - both of which seek to topple Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s military-backed government. “This government has survived because of the military,” added the security expert. “Without its support, it would have tanked.”

The military played a pivotal role in brokering the ruling coalition government to keep Thaksin at bay. But the six-party alliance is looking vulnerable, facing internal divisions of its own and lacking enough popular support to win an election. That raises questions over what the military and its backers would do

if the government falls and if Thaksin’s allies, who they have fought hard to sideline, wrestle back power through an election win for his Puea Thai party.

Convicted of graft while in self-imposed exile, Thaksin is very much back in the picture, forming a provocative alliance with neighbouring Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, and rallying supporters from just over the border. Thaksin’s opponents say he is disloyal to revered 82-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin says his conviction was politically motivated and insists he supports the monarchy.

Adding to the combustible political mix is the question of succession of the ageing king, who has been hospitalised since Sept 19, and whether an eventual change of monarch would lead to a change in the balance of power in the military, which has traditionally been closely aligned with the palace. “The primary uncertainty is with the different factions in the military,” said Roberto Herrera-Lim, a risk analyst at Eurasia Group.

“Particularly their loyalties, how they perceive Thai politics today and what they believe to be the military’s role both as an institution and in the current situation.”

After 18 successful or attempted coups in 77 years, the military seems incapable of keeping its nose out of Thai politics and another putsch is not unthinkable if the men in green are at risk of losing their behind-the-scenes political clout. Military juntas are rarely a good thing for policymaking, as was seen in the months after the 2006 Thai coup, when investors discovered how maladroit the armyappointed government was.

While there was no big market fallout immediately after the putsch, the central bank’s decision 90 days later to adopt capital controls measures panicked investors and led to a near 15 percent plunge in the stock market.

Perhaps of bigger concern would be the potential backlash from a divided population whose political consciousness has grown since the last coup.

Another intervention could trigger a far stronger reaction than four years ago, to what would be seen as yet another assault on popular democracy.

As a sign of heightened anxiety, the appearance of soldiers driving 22 armoured vehicles on Monday sparked rumours of another coup. The vehicles in fact were headed for maintenance and the military apologised on Tuesday for creating panic. “Coup, what coup?” read a front-page headline in yesterday’s Bangkok Post newspaper.

Thaksin has also learned from the coup that toppled him and has since recruited his own military muscle alongside allies inside the army, including disgruntled former precadet school classmates, many of which were reassigned after his ouster.

In October, he convinced political heavyweight and influential former army chief Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to become Puea Thai chairman.

Chavalit then persuaded scores of retired soldiers to join the party in what is being seen as a move to create divisions in a normally rock-solid institution.

Thaksin’s critics say he is hoping “red shirt” protests next month will turn violent and trigger military intervention, aiding his return and recovery of $2.3 billion of assets expected to be seized by the Supreme Court on Feb. 26. He denies this.

Doubts remain about the government’s chances of survival and how satisfied the army’s top brass is with Abhisit in charge. The biggest fear is it will grow impatient with the protracted standoff and take matters into its own hands. “There’s still a strong praetorian sense within the military,” added Eurasia’s Herrera-Lim, “that it could decide, on its own, to take control of the country should politics (remain) paralysed.” — Reuters

SPORTS

16

Thursday, January 28, 2010

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Tuesday.

Los Angeles 5, Toronto 3; Washington 7, NY Islanders 2; Atlanta 2, Anaheim 1; Columbus 3, Nashville 2; Phoenix 5, Detroit 4 (OT); Ottawa 3, New Jersey 0; Florida 2, Montreal 1; Chicago 4, Edmonton 2. (OT denotes overtime) Eastern Conference atlantic Division W L OTL GF New Jersey 34 16 1 138 Pittsburgh 33 20 1 172 Philadelphia 26 22 3 155 NY Rangers 24 22 7 137 NY Islanders 23 22 8 141

GA PTS 113 69 152 67 144 55 145 55 164 54

Buffalo Ottawa Montreal Boston Toronto

Northeast 30 14 29 21 25 24 23 20 17 27

Division 7 145 4 150 5 141 8 127 10 142

125 154 146 131 187

67 62 55 54 44

Washington Florida Atlanta Tampa Bay Carolina

Southeast 34 12 23 21 23 21 21 20 16 28

Division 6 202 9 146 8 158 10 132 7 132

145 154 167 157 172

74 55 54 52 39

Western Conference Central Division Chicago 36 13 4 174 Nashville 29 20 3 145 Detroit 25 18 9 135 St Louis 23 21 8 137 Columbus 21 25 9 145

122 145 138 146 182

76 61 59 54 51

Northwest 30 15 32 18 26 20 25 23 16 29

136 127 134 156 176

66 66 58 54 38

Colorado Vancouver Calgary Minnesota Edmonton

Division 6 153 2 170 6 132 4 145 6 135

Pacific Division San Jose 35 10 8 179 128 78 Phoenix 30 18 5 144 139 65 Los Angeles 30 19 3 156 146 63 Dallas 22 19 11 148 168 55 Anaheim 24 22 7 149 166 55 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

EDMONTON: Chicago Blackhawks’ Niklas Hjalmarsson (left) collides with Edmonton Oilers’ Andrew Cogliano during the first second period of an NHL hockey game.—AP

Senators shut out Devils, Capitals advance OTTAWA: The Ottawa Senators extended their run of wins to seven with a 3-0 defeat of the NHL Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Goalie Brian Elliott made 24 saves to earn his third shutout of the season for Ottawa, which crept within two points of Northeast Division leaders Buffalo.

Alex Kovalev and Milan Michalek scored in the first to stake Ottawa to a 2-0 lead.

Jason Spezza scored the Senators’ third goal 15:47 into the second. New Jersey suffered its first loss in ten game away to the Senators.

New York. Capitals star Alex Ovechkin was held in check, but Alexander Semin scored twice for Washington, which netted four goals in the first period.

Brendan Morrison and Mike Knuble also scored in the first period for the NHL’s most potent offense. A change of goalie in the second did little to help the Islanders, as John Erskine and Jason Chimera scored in the middle frame, and Brooks Laich in the third for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals. Washington has scored at least four goals in 10 of the past 11 contests.

Capitals 7, Islanders 2

In Detroit, Shane Doan’s goal 3:50 into overtime capped Phoenix’s comeback from a two-goal deficit to beat Detroit. With goalie

Coyotes 5, Red Wings 4 In Uniondale, New York, Washington also notched a seventh straight win, routing

Ilya Bryzgalov off, Phoenix got goals from Ed Jovanovski and Keith Yandle in the last 1:30 to tie it at 4-4.

Yandle scored twice and Scottie Upshall had a goal. For the Red Wings, Nicklas Lidstrom scored twice, while Pavel Datsyuk and Patrick Eaves also found the net.

meetings. The Blue Jackets built a 3-0 lead with two third-period goals and then held on after Martin Erat and Patric Hornqvist countered with goals for the Predators. Mason, playing in his 100th NHL game, made several late stops, including a save on Hornqvist’s redirect in the final minute.

Blue Jackets 3, Predators 2

Blackhawks 4, Oilers 2

In Columbus, Ohio, Steve Mason made 29 saves to help preserve Columbus’ victory over Nashville. Derick Brassard, Kristian Huselius and Fredrik Modin scored for the Blue Jackets.

The Predators, who lost their fourth in a row, had gone 22-2-2 against the Blue Jackets since the start of the 2006-2007 season, including wins in the previous five

In Edmonton, Alberta, Chicago extended Edmonton’s miserable skid to 11 straight defeats. Jonathan Toews, Troy Brouwer, Dustin Byfuglien and Marian Hossa all scored for the Blackhawks, playing their sixth of eight straight road games.

Fernando Pisani and Ryan Potulny scored for the Oilers, who are in the midst of their worst losing streak since a 12-game

skid three years ago. The franchise record for consecutive losses is 14, set in 1993. The Oilers have won just one of their past 15 at home.

Panthers 2, Canadiens 1 In Sunrise, Florida, Shawn Matthias scored twice in the third period to lift Florida over Montreal. Tomas Plekanec scored for the Canadiens.

Thrashers 2, Ducks 1 In Atlanta, Maxim Afinogenov ended Atlanta’s power-play drought with a thirdperiod goal that secured a win over Anaheim.

The Thrashers were 0-for-13 over a three-game stretch with a man advantage,

“The players are all behind him,” Johnson said. “He’s a huge amount of integrity as a person and as a player. “With guys like Jonny Wilkinson, Lewis Moody, Nick Easter, Simon Shaw, Riki Flutey, Mark Cueto, we are starting to build a core of leadership there to back up Steve.”

Kidney’s aim with Ireland is arguably even trickier: to improve a side that was the only one in world rugby to go unbeaten through 2009.

Kidney, the International Rugby Board’s coach of the year, successfully introduced Jonathan Sexton to his team in November and the 24year-old flyhalf starred with 31 points in two matches.

That doesn’t mean he’s going to keep experimenting through the Six Nations, even with the World Cup coming. The likes of captain Brian O’Driscoll and regular flyhalf Ronan O’Gara look set to conduct the side for some time.

“You can’t pick a player just to develop them,” Kidney said. “Even Brian will tell you he’s still learning all the time.” Wales coach Gatland may be forced into some experimentation at No. 9, with uncapped scrumhalf Richie Rees in its squad after Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel were ruled out injured.

Gatland may accommodate the return of fullback Lee Byrne by giving James Hook a tryout at center alongside Jamie Roberts “He does give us another option in midfield,” Gatland said.

Lievremont has rarely seemed reluctant to make daring selections to his France lineup. His said his selections will be made with shortterm victories in mind, allowing the future to shape itself.

“There are two Six Nations before the World Cup,” Lievremont said. “But whether before or after, it remains the most beautiful tournament in the world and the most important thing is to win it.”—AP

Kings 5, Leafs 3 In Toronto, Dustin Brown assisted on all three of Los Angeles’ second-period goals to engineer victory over Toronto. Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for the Kings, who took an early lead through Drew Doughty.

Nikolai Kulemin soon tied it for Toronto, but Jack Johnson, Jarret Stoll and Ryan Smyth all netted for the Kings in the second.

Niklas Hagman scored twice for the Maple leafs, who lost their fourth straight.—AP

Perry urges Tiger to end self-imposed exile

Six Nations looms with World Cup on horizon LONDON: The Six Nations starts next week and already coaches are looking 18 months ahead to the World Cup. The Six Nations starts on Feb. 6 with the pressure on Declan Kidney, Martin Johnson, Marc Lievremont, Warren Gatland, Andy Robinson and Nick Mallet to identify the promising players able to peak at the World Cup in New Zealand with instant success.

Last year, coaches had the relative comfort of being midway through the four-year gap between World Cups. This time, rugby’s biggest prize is looming on the horizon and that may push them into less conservative selections than they would otherwise make.

“The next World Cup is 18 months away and we are building a good squad,” England team manager Martin Johnson said yesterday.

“We are starting to add a bit of depth to our group, more than ever before. There is competition throughout and that is what you need.” With key players including fullback Delon Armitage and center Riki Flutey back after missing the November internationals because of injury, Johnson said his squad is better than the one that finished second to Grand Slam winner Ireland in 2009.

That could help England to return to the sort of fluidity that helped it finish leading try scorer last year, but with players needing time to get reacquainted, whether that improvement is demonstrated at the Six Nations or later down the line remains to be seen.

Johnson has confirmed Steve Borthwick as his captain, suggesting he will start alongside fellow veteran Simon Shaw, with World Cup hopeful Courtney Lawes maybe waiting a little longer to show he has what it takes to win a regular place in the second row.

The choice of Borthwick was the pragmatic one ahead of what is likely to be an intense opening match against Wales at Twickenham.

including their first power play against Anaheim. But Afinogenov scored from the right circle 4:03 into the third period.

Colby Armstrong gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead early in the second period. Steve Eminger equalized for the Ducks late in the second.

LONDON: Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll (front) leads England’s Steve Borthwick (second right), France’s Dimitri Szarzewski (right), Scotland’s Chris Cusiter (left) Italy’s Leonardo Ghiraldini (second left) and Wales’ Ryan Jones to a photo opportunity during the launch of the RBS Six Nations Rugby tournament.—AP

DOHA: World number 13 Kenny Perry called yesterday for fellow American Tiger Woods to end his selfimposed exile from golf. Woods is taking an indefinite break from the sport after admitting last month he had cheated on his wife.

“Tiger needs to come back for himself rather than his golf and when he does I’m going to give him a hug and shake his hand and tell him if he needs to talk or if I can help in any way, I will,” Perry told reporters on the eve of the Qatar Masters. “Tiger needs to come back as, you know, we (in golf) are his family too.”

The 49-year-old Perry has played in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team events alongside Woods and knows the world number one well.

“I’ve been on the (US) PGA Tour for 25 years and I enjoy going on tour each week because there are 150 guys I am pretty close to that I love to go and hang out with,” added the veteran American.

“If he comes back to us I’m sure he’ll get a lot of support from the players, I really do.” Perry, though, said no player was bigger than the game itself.

“The game of golf will go on with Tiger or without Tiger,” he said. “You had (Ben) Hogan all the way up to Jack (Nicklaus) and Arnold (Palmer) and now you have Tiger stepping in.

“There will (eventually) be somebody else coming in too so this will pass like everything else.”

After being heavily criticised for skipping the 2008 British Open, Perry indicated he would compete in July’s edition at St Andrews.

“I really got crucified when I elected not to contest the 2008 British Open,” he said.”But I finished sixth in Milwaukee and I was able to accomplish my goal and make the Ryder Cup team.

“My whole life has been in America, now I’m comfortable with my life and I want to see the world a little bit. It’s a great opportunity for me to come over here and see what it’s all about and I’m pleasantly surprised.”

Meanwhile, world number eight

Henrik Stenson defended yesterday his decision to rejoin the US PGA Tour this year.

The Swede first joined the PGA Tour in 2007, competing in 15 events and finishing 39th on the FedExCup list. Stenson let his membership lapse in 2008 and 2009 but still won the prestigious Players Championship last May, the biggest victory of his career.

Now he has rejoined the PGA Tour, indicating he will contest the minimum 15 events while also satisfying European Tour membership by playing 12 Race to Dubai-counting tournaments.

“I’ve taken up membership this season so I will spend most of the spring and summer in America until the later part of the season,” Stenson told reporters on the eve of the Qatar Masters.

“There were a couple of different reasons but family-wise it’s convenient to be based over there and have the family in the States and also, all of the big events are in America, from the Accenture Match Play (next month) until the US Open (in June).

“I felt it was time to take up membership again. Great tournaments, great weather and great competition so it’s got a lot going for it but obviously Europe is still my home tour and I’ll be making a few visits here and there,” said the 33-year-old.

Stenson rejected the notion he was pressurised to rejoin the PGA Tour after winning their flagship tournament. “No, there was no pressure on me even though they obviously would like to see the winner of the Players be a member,” he said.

“It was completely up to me. I would almost say it was 90 percent in my mind I would have taken up membership given also that last year was the last year of my exemption from my (Accenture) Match Play win in 2007.”

Stenson, who has joined Britain’s Rory McIlroy by committing to the 2010 PGA Tour, is among nine of the world’s top-20 playing in Qatar this week.—Reuters

SPORTS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

17

No place like home for pressure for athletes at Olympics VANCOUVER: Competing at a home Olympics is a rare opportunity for an athlete, bringing with it weighty expectations that can both inspire and paralyse.

Canadian Olympians have not handled such pressure well in the past and, with the Vancouver Winter Games looming large, must face up to a national reputation for wilting at the big moment.

Canada has hosted the Olympics twice before-the 1976 Montreal Summer Games and the Calgary Winter Games in 1988 — but Canadians are still waiting to celebrate a gold-medal win on home ground.

Canada has invested heavily to make sure its athletes are not kept off the top step of the podium on its own territory for a third time.

The government and corporate sponsors have poured $110 million into “Own the Podium”, an ambitious programme with the stated objective of putting Canada at the top

of the Vancouver medals table with a good number of golds.

Millions more have been put into project “Top Secret” a clandestine operation designed to give Canadian athletes a scientific edge over the competition.

With the help of some of the country’s top researchers, Canadian snowboarders will have new high-tech composite boards to help them in their chase for medals while downhill racers have used missile-guidance systems to trim fractions of seconds off their times. As the days tick down to the Feb. 12 opening ceremony the pressure goes up and the way in which athletes deal with the expectations will be key to them realising their Olympic dreams.

“In Calgary I just took it as another race and that pressure hit me square in the forehead about 10 minutes before I went,” Canadian downhill skier and four-time Olympian Brian Stemmle told Reuters. “It

was like a Mack truck ran straight into me.

“I was suddenly terrified of letting myself down, my country down, my family down, everybody.

“I was worried and nervous about everything. I’m not sure what triggered it but I looked down and saw the Olympic rings on my bib and thought: ‘Holy crap I’m in trouble’. “The whole magnitude of it just hit me,” added Stemmle, who missed a gate and was disqualified. “It’s not just another race; it’s bigger than anything you’ll ever do, especially with it in Canada, it’s going to be the biggest thing they can ever possibly imagine.”

Appearing on the Olympic stage in front of a demanding home audience, athletes could deliver the performance of their careers or suffer a moment that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

“We know it (pressure) is there,” said Robbie Dixon, who is bidding for a spot on

the Canadian Alpine squad. “We all know what’s up and we all deal with it differently.”

Some Canadian Olympians have reacted to the pressure by simply pretending it is not there; others have confronted it. Some prepare by using visualisation techniques or the help of sports psychologists.

Those who have been through the Olympic pressure cooker say that athletes will not know if they have chosen the right preparation methods until they push out of the start hut or hear the crack of the starter’s gun.

For Canadian Alpine skier Kerrin LeeGartner the Olympics were the defining moment of her career, a lifetime of preparation compressed into one two-minute dash for glory.

Lee-Gartner never won a World Cup race nor stood on a world championship podium but at the 1992 Albertville Games in France she delivered when it mattered

most, taking gold in the downhill.

As a little girl the Olympics is what I dreamed of,” Lee-Gartner told Reuters. “I didn’t dream about the World Cup or the crystal globes, it was the gold medal that caught my heart.

“I would never have had the ability to treat it as another race. The Olympics were always special in my mind. “Everything was a building block. My advice to any athlete is be prepared to feel more than you think you will.” No athletes in Vancouver will be under more pressure than Canada’s men’s ice hockey team, and no player under greater scrutiny than Sidney Crosby.

For many residents of the hockey-mad Great White North the Olympics will not be a success unless it includes the men’s hockey gold medal.

Hockey Canada, however, says it has no plans to bring in sports psychologists to help players deal with the immense expectations

since many, including Crosby, will arrive at the Games battle-hardened from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It’s pretty hard to compare because I’ve never gone through it,” said Crosby during the Pittsburgh Penguins recent visit to Vancouver when asked about the Olympics.

“I can imagine there is going to be pressure there but I like to think all the things I’ve gone through before will help me prepare for that. You’ve got to go out there and do the same things.”

While pressure can push athletes to greatness, Team USA general manager Brian Burke, for one, is glad the crushing expectations are on Canada’s hockey team and not his.

“The only pressure that I can see on the horizon right now is the pressure for the Canadian team which is massive and glacial and unrelenting,” said Burke with a smile.—Reuters

Lakers stop Wizards as Knicks pound T’wolves JEONJU: China’s Xintong Huang (left) and Xun Zheng perform their ice dance compulsory dance at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championship. —AP

Zhang and Zhang lead Four Continents JEONJU: World pairs silver medalists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China seized an early lead yesterday at the Four Continents figure skating championships — their last international event before the Olympics.

The Chinese pair pulled off a solid, if restrained, performance, with side-by-side spins showing off their technique and inventiveness and a final death spiral displaying a flair for drama.

Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker jumped into second place going into the free skate, and Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin were in third.

The women’s competition was to begin later yesterday, with Japanese superstar Mao Asada in the final group for the short program.

Asada appeared confident going into the competition, a key setup for the Vancouver

Olympics. The 19-year-old is expected to unleash her trademark triple axel at the Olympics next month in a bid to grab the gold from world champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea.

Kim, who trains in Canada, resisted pressure to compete in Jeonju and chose to remain in North America to prepare for the Olympics.

This week’s competition is Asada’s chance to show she still has the competitive mettle for Olympic gold and to test the strength of her triple axel — a jump few women attempt in competition.

After beating Kim on home turf in 2008 with two triple axels in the free skate, Asada faltered in 2009, finishing second to Kim at the Trophee Eric Bompard and a disappointing fifth at the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow.

She fought back with a fourth straight national title

last month, securing her spot on a strong Olympics team from Japan that also includes Miki Ando and Akiko Suzuki.

Suzuki, also competing at the Four Continents, could pose a threat to Asada’s master plan.

She has notched two impressive first-place finishes this season. In ice dancing, Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje led the field after the compulsories, with Huang Xintong and Zheng Xun of China in second.

Canada’s Allie HannMcCurdy and Michael Coreno were in third, trailed

by American duos Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell, and Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein. The competition continues yesterday with the pairs’ free skate, the second round of the ice dancing competition and the men’s short program in the ancient city of Jeonju, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Seoul.—AP

WASHINGTON: Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant scored 26 points each as the Los Angeles Lakers beat a distracted Washington Wizards 115-103 Tuesday.

The Lakers shot 59 percent and forced six turnovers during a crucial second-quarter run. They had lost six of their previous eight road games and pulled to a 2-2 record midway through their current eight-game swing.

Antawn Jamison scored 27 points to lead the Wizards, who lost the last four games of a six-game homestand.

The game came one day after guard Javaris Crittenton received probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge, the latest fallout from last month’s locker room confrontation between Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas.

Knicks 132, T’wolves 105 At New York, David Lee had 28 points and 10 rebounds as New York rebounded from a lopsided beating by administering one against Minnesota.

Al Harrington scored 26 and Wilson Chandler had 20 despite a strained left groin for the Knicks, who were dealt the worst home loss in franchise history when Dallas beat them 128-78 on Sunday.

New York was on the other end this time, scoring the first 15 points and leading by as many as 36. New York had its highest point total of the season and ended a two-game losing streak, becoming the third team in NBA history to win by 20 or more the game after losing by 50. Corey Brewer made 9 of 10 shots for 22 points in yet another lopsided defeat for the Timberwolves.

NEW YORK: Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ramon Sessions (right) drives past New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game.—AP

NBA results/standings

Mavericks 108, Bucks 107 At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and Jason Terry added 21 as Dallas Mavericks held on late to beat Milwaukee. Carlos Delfino missed a running 10-footer in the lane before the buzzer.

Andrew Bogut hit his first nine shots from the floor and scored a career-high 32 points on 13 of 14 shooting. Delfino chipped in with 22 points for the Bucks, who dropped to 5-18 on the road.

Two days after beating the New York Knicks 128-78 for the largest win in franchise history, the Mavericks tied an NBA record with their 10th consecutive victory in a one-point game. The St. Louis Hawks also won 10 straight one-point games from 1959-1960.

NBA results and standings on Tuesday.

LA Lakers 115, Washington 103; NY Knicks 132, Minnesota 105; Dallas 108, Milwaukee 107; Charlotte 114, Phoenix 109 (OT); Sacramento 99, Golden State 96, (OR = overtime)

Boston Toronto NY Knicks Philadelphia New Jersey

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L 29 13 23 22 18 26 15 29 3 40

Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Indiana Detroit

Central Division 35 11 21 22 18 25 16 29 15 28

.761 .488 .419 .356 .349

12.5 15.5 18.5 18.5

LA Lakers Phoenix LA Clippers Sacramento Golden State

Atlanta Orlando Miami Charlotte Washington

Southeast Division 29 14 29 16 23 21 22 22 14 30

.674 .644 .523 .500 .318

1 6.5 7.5 15.5

Dallas San Antonio Memphis Houston New Orleans

PCT .690 .511 .409 .341 .070

GB 7.5 12 15 26.5

Denver Utah Portland Oklahoma City Minnesota

Bobcats 114, Suns 109

Burgan Bank Team

Burgan Bank tops KBC football KUWAIT: Head of the Sports Committee at the Kuwait Banks Club, Mohammad Al-Mail, who is also the captain of the Burgan Bank football team taking part in the KBC Football League, asserted on the high level of performance and sportsmanship that his team has shown during the tournament, which they lead by seven points collected from two wins and a draw according to a press release.

Al-Mail further acknowledged the Burgan Bank administration for their continuous support to the team and all sports and social events, while wishing luck to all teams participating in the tournament.

At Phoenix, Stephen Jackson scored 30 points as Charlotte scored nine of the first 11 points in overtime to beat Phoenix.

Jackson, who leveled the game at 98-98 on a 3-pointer with 19.9 seconds remaining, hit a 20-foot jump shot on the Bobcats’ first possession of overtime to give Charlotte only its second lead of the game.

Raymond Felton had six of his 17 points in overtime as Charlotte stretched its lead to six. The Bobcats broke a three-game losing streak.

Steve Nash had 23 points and nine assists for the Suns, who have lost seven of their last nine. Former Suns player Boris Diaw had 24 points and Gerald Wallace had 21.

Kings 99, Warriors 96

Mohammad Al-Mail

At Sacramento, California, Beno Udrih scored 24 points and Tyreke Evans had 23 to help Sacramento snap a seven-game losing streak with a win over Golden State. Spencer Hawes had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Kings. In a rare role with significant minutes, Scot May had seven points and 11 rebounds. Stephen Curry had 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Warriors. Cartier Martin scored 20 points and Corey Maggette added 19 points for Golden State, which shot 32 percent. —AP

Western Conference Northwest Division 30 14 26 18 27 19 24 20 9 37

.682 .591 .587 .545 .196

4 4 6 22

Pacific Division 34 11 26 21 20 24 16 28 13 30

.756 .553 .455 .364 .302

9 13.5 17.5 20

Southwest Division 30 15 25 18 24 19 24 20 24 20

.667 .581 .558 .545 .545

4 5 5.5 5.5

KIB defeat Al-Ahli by fife wickets KUWAIT: KIB cricket team beat Al Ahli Bank by five wickets in a cricket match played on Jan 23, Saturday at the E-City Ground in Doha. The match was one of the league matches in the Gulf Bank’s Tournament being organized by Kuwait Cricket Committee.

Al Ahli Bank won the toss and elected to bat first. KIB bowlers displayed good line and length and the opposition found it difficult to score in the end they managed to score 90 runs in 20 overs. For KIB the best bowler was Robin with good support from Dias, Nisar and Sheraz.

KIB began their innings with good strokes from Stanly who scored runs with ease, not allowing Al Ahli Bank bowlers any dominance. The innings was then managed by Khurshid Ali who continued to score runs to ensure victory for a well made 31 runs. KIB cricket team achieved the target in just 14.2 overs.

SPORTS

18 Men’s semi-finalists MELBOURNE: Brief biographies of the men’s semi-finalists at the 2010 Australian Open (prefix number denotes seeding): 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) Age: 28 Grand Slam titles: 15 (Australian Open 2004, 2006, 2007, French Open 2009, Wimbledon 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, U.S. Open 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) Federer’s record speaks for itself, he is the greatest player of his generation, if not all time. His opponents had hoped his motivation might be waning after he became a father and he achieved his life’s goals, winning the French Open for the first time last year then overtaking American Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slams. They were wrong.

10-Jo-Wilfried-Tsonga (France) Age: 24 Grand Slam titles: 0 Tsonga made the final in Australia two years ago when he was unseeded but this is his first appearance in a grand slam semi-final since then. He is nicknamed Ali and celebrates winning by imitating the former world heavyweight champion with some shadow boxing on court. He made it through to the last four by knocking out Novak Djokovic, the man who beat him in the 2008 final, but faces another big hurdle with Federer up next.

5-Andy Murray (Britain) Age: 22 Grand Slam titles: 0 Murray has been in devastating form in Melbourne this year, winning all his matches in straight sets.

His quarter-final victory over Rafa Nadal was the highest quality match of the tournament so far and if he continues to play like that he could win the title. Only history counts against him as it has been 74 years since a British man won a grand slam.

14-Marin Cilic (Croatia) Age: 21 Grand Slam titles: 0 Every grand slam produces a giant-killer and Cilic has taken on the role in Melbourne, beating U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Roddick. His biggest concern ahead of his clash with Murray is that he may be close to exhaustion after being pushed to three fivesetters and spending more than 18 hours on court just to make the semis.

Women semi-finalists MELBOURNE: Brief biographies of the women’s semi-finalists at the 2010 Australian Open (prefix number denotes seeding): 1-Serena Williams (US) Age: 28 Grand Slam titles: 11 (Australian Open 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, French Open 2002, Wimbledon 2002, 2003, 2009, US Open 1999, 2002, 2008) Came into the tournament with her usual injury concerns and her legs heavily strapped but has had no major health problems. Sailed into the quarterfinals without dropping a set or even a single game on serve but almost came unstuck against Victoria Azarenka before winning in three. Has already won the title four times and is a short-priced favourite to win a fifth.

16-Li Na (China) Age: 27 Grand Slam titles: 0 Was two points away from losing her quarter-final against Venus Williams when the American stumbled on her serve and Li seized her opportunity. Li has been a pioneer of Chinese tennis and is about to break into the top 10 rankings for the first time but faces a daunting challenge beating Serena to make the final.

Justine Henin (Belgium) Age: 27 Grand Slam titles: Seven (Australian Open 2004, French Open 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, U.S. Open 2003, 2007) Has been the story of this year’s championship after coming out of retirement earlier this month.

Never even thought about winning the title but is starting to dream about it now after the draw opened for her. Still not quite as sharp as she was at her peak but has lost none of her steely determination and remains an expert at winning the tight matches.

Zheng Jie (China) Age: 26 Grand Slam titles: 0 Another trailblazer of Chinese tennis. Won the doubles here in 2006 then made the semis at Wimbledon two years later.

Made a slow start to the tournament, losing the first set in each of her first three matches, but has been steadily growing in confidence and has genuine hopes of beating Henin, who was one of her idols when she was starting off.—Reuters

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Li defeats 1 sister, readies for next 1 Serena rolls, Venus blown away MELBOURNE: Serena Williams dug herself out of a hole while big sister Venus put herself in one during an eventful Australian Open women’s quarter-finals yesterday.

Defending champion Serena was teetering on the brink of an early departure when she trailed Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 0-4.

The world number one was struggling to match the power and aggression of the 20-year-old from Minsk, who also had Serena on the ropes in the fourth round in 2009 before retiring with illness. But Serena showed all her renowned fighting qualities as she came out swinging, winning 12 of the next 16 games to somehow overhaul Azarenka 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 62. She next plays Chinese 16th seed Li Na, who performed a similar escape act against Venus in the first match on Rod Laver Arena. The imposing Venus blitzed her way through the first set and led 5-3 in the second before imploding under an avalanche of unforced errors, virtually handing the match to the gritty Li 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.

Serena said she surprised even herself with her fight back. “I didn’t expect to win when I was down 0-4 — I was like ‘well at least I am still in the doubles’,” she said. “But I never really count myself out.” With her left knee and right thigh heavily bandaged, Williams was run all around the court by Azarenka.

At 0-4 in the second set, and having not won a point on the Azarenka serve in the set until then, Williams cut a dejected figure and seemed only moments from elimination.

However, she started to swing freely and all the sudden her game returned to its dominant best. “I knew if I could just do a little better and make a little less errors — I made a lot-I knew I could be better,” Serena said.

Azarenka was still playing well, but had no answer to the power surge, with Williams hitting 57 winners to her 22.

Meanwhile Li, who joined countrywoman Zheng Jie in the semi-finals, was ecstatic after her two hours, 45 minute win. “It’s the best day of my whole life,” she said.

“It’s good for both players and it’s good for Chinese tennis.” Li and Venus made 110 unforced errors between them in a poor quality match that will be best remembered for the drama of the fluctuating third set, which featured nine breaks of serve.

Li started nervously and seemed overwhelmed by the occasion as she wilted badly in the first set against the power of the American.

She lost the first set in just 30 minutes and was in real trouble when Venus was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second.

But Li began to swing freely and Venus tightened up, losing her serve, then the set in a tiebreak. “Actually I was nervous in the first set, I mean, Venus played aggressively in the first set,” Li said.

“She didn’t miss a lot of balls. I was feeling more pressure in the first set. Then in the second set I was feeling a little bit better, but still was like 5-3 down. Then I just tried to get more balls back.”

Li’s tiebreak win signalled the start of a see-sawing final set in which both players struggled to hold serve-at one stage there were six consecutive breaks.

Li finally held and came out to serve for the match, only to be broken, but Williams dropped her serve straight away, giving Li another chance. This time she made no mistake as another unforced error from the American gave her the match.

Meanwhile, it has been a long wait but Chinese tennis finally came of age yesterday. Li Na’s upset victory over Venus Williams at the Australian Open coupled with Zheng Jie’s stunning run gave the world’s most populous nation two players in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time.

It has sparked huge interest in China with national broadcaster CCTV, newspapers and websites giving their exploits blanket coverage.

“More history beckons for Chinese tennis,” screamed the Global Times, a headline emulated across the Chinese media. This is reflected by the number of Chinese journalists in Australia to cover the tennis.

They are usually outnumbered by their Japanese colleagues but this year at least a dozen Chinese media are at Melbourne Park-far more than usual.

Li and Zheng have been predicting great things for some time but it is only since they left China’s state sports system to manage their own careers that the pieces have started to fall into place.

In December 2008, the nation’s top four women’s players-Li, Zheng, Peng Shuai and Yan Zi-became the first Chinese athletes to be granted unprecedented freedom in managing their careers.

It has meant they can select their own schedules, coaches and back-up teams, and also not have to hand over a significant portion of their prizemoney to the Chinese Tennis Association.

The move initially raised doubts about whether the players would survive on the WTA tour, but Li and Zheng, in

particular, have thrived.

Li’s come-frombehind 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 upset of Williams is expected to propel her into the world’s top 10 — the first time a Chinese player has made the grade.

Zheng is forecast to move to 20 in the world after her 6-1, 63 quarter-final demolition of Russian Maria Kirilenko. “For Zheng Jie, for me, for my country and my fans, it is a good thing,” said Li, whose bubbly personality and improved English has won over fans.

“Tennis in China right now is getting bigger and bigger. “We have three or four juniors playing here. We have many good players, but right now (for them) it’s step by step. They have to play small tournaments and make an impact.”

Zheng feels that with Li and her doing well and high-profile tournaments like the China Open and Shanghai Masters now on the schedule, the growth of the Chinese game has only just started.

“I feel tennis is very quickly going up (in popularity) in China,” she said. “You can see a lot of the newspapers coming here from China,” she added.

“I think it (started to become popular) from 2004, Li Ting and Tian Tian won the gold medal from the Olympic Games.”

Li and Tian’s Olympic medal was certainly a breakthrough, but so was Zheng and Yan’s Grand Slam doubles title at the 2006 Australian Open, and her run to the Wimbledon semis in 2008.

The growing profile of the game has already trickled down to children in China with many parents now encouraging their kids to play tennis rather than other sports.

“Table tennis and badminton are still the most popular but more mums and dads are taking their children to tennis clubs now,” Yan said. —AFP

MELBOURNE: Li Na of China reacts after defeating Venus Williams of the United States during their Women’s singles quarterfinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship.

—AP

The rise and rise of Chinaʼs women Milestones in the progress of Chinese women’s tennis after Li Na joined Zheng Jie in the semi-finals of the Australian Open yesterday: 2004 August - Sun Tiantian and Li Ting win China’s first Olympic gold medal in the sport in the women’s doubles at the Athens Games.

October - Li Na is the first Chinese to win a WTA Tour singles title, in Guangzhou.

2005 January - Zheng Jie wins her first WTA Tour title at Hobart.

2006 January - Zheng Jie and Yan Zi win China’s first grand slam title in the women’s doubles at the Australian Open.

May - Zheng wins the first all-Chinese final at a WTA event when Li Na withdraws injured from the Estoril final.

June - Li Na becomes the first Chinese player to reach the quarter-finals of grand slam at Wimbledon. Zheng and Yan win a second grand slam doubles title.

July - Li Na and Zheng lead China’s team into the Fed Cup World Group for the first time with a victory over Germany in Beijing.

August - Li Na becomes the first Chinese player to reach the top 20 in the world rankings.

2008 June - Zheng, a 133rd-ranked wildcard, beats top seed Ana Ivanovic on her way to the semi-finals at Wimbledon, the first Chinese to reach the last four at a grand slam. August - Zheng and Yan win bronze in women’s doubles at the Beijing Olympics, while Li Na misses out on a medal after defeat to Vera Zvonareva in the bronze medal match.

2010 January - Zheng and Li Na reach the last four at the Australian Open, the first time China has had two players in the last four at a grand slam. —Reuters

MELBOURNE: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France reacts as he plays Novak Djokovic of Serbia on the way to winning their five set Men’s singles quarterfinal match. — AP

Federer to play Tsonga in semis MELBOURNE: Swiss champion Roger Federer ended Russian Nikolay Davydenko’s winning streak yesterday to reach an unprecedented 23rd straight Grand Slam semi-final where he will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Federer beat his fellow 28-year-old in four sets, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5, and will face the French 10th seed tomorrow.

Tsonga came from a set down to beat ailing third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic in five sets, 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (5/7), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, in a replay of the 2008 decider, which the Serbian won.

The other semi-final, today, sees 14th seed Marin Cilic take on fifth-seeded Scot Andy Murray, both players reaching the last four here for the first time.

Federer had to show the qualities that have netted him three Australian Opens and 15 Grand Slam titles in total to douse an inspired start by the sixth seed.

The Russian was in the best form of his career going into the quarter-final against Federer, with a 13-match winning streak that included the world number one’s scalp in Doha earlier this month. He began in scintillating form, taking the first set and getting an early break in the second.

However, Federer steadied and at one stage won 13 straight games, before holding off a late Davydenko rally to take the match. “I was in a tough situation at 6-2, 3-1 down and 15-40 on my serve, but that’s the beauty of best-of-five sets,” Federer said.

“I wasn’t panicking, I just relaxed and thought if his level drops just a little bit, the whole thing might change for the better and it did. I couldn’t believe the way it changed.

“I’m happy the way I was able to go on an incredible run and get the cushion with the extra break at the beginning of the fourth. “I

mean winning that many games in a row against a player that’s been on fire like this, it’s a great sign.”

The victory continued Federer’s amazing Grand Slam sequence of having never missed making the semi-finals since his third round defeat to Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten at Roland Garros in 2004.

No other player in history has appeared in more than 10 consecutive semi-finals. The win also ensured that Federer would remain world number one when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Davydenko was angry that his serve let him down, but hasn’t given up hope that a Grand Slam is beyond reach. “Australian Open not any more, but my tennis is better. For sure it’s better,” he said.

“I think I still have a chance. I don’t know about this year, but I have a good chance at the French and US Opens.”

After winning the first two five-set matches of his career in successive rounds, Tsonga said he was ready for Federer, but had no illusions as to the enormity of the challenge. “I will be ready,” he said.

“It will be tough though, it’s the best player ever.” Djokovic looked to have the match at his mercy when he swept through the third set playing what Tsonga called “unbelievable” tennis. But he was then troubled by a stomach upset and vomited in the locker room during an injury time-out early in the fourth set.

The Serbian also said he had diarrhoea before the match. The 2008 champion was not the same player after the break, having also had to retire at the same stage of last year’s tournament due to cramping and heat illness.

Djokovic can take consolation from the fact he will be a career-high second in the rankings on Monday. —AFP

Nadal’s exit raises doubts over future MELBOURNE: A year ago, Rafa Nadal was already had six grand titles. At the same age, sprinting along the road to tennis immortality. Federer had just won his first grand slam title.

Twelve months later, the Spaniard has not so Sampras had three. A year later Nadal much slowed to a walk as stopped altogether.

The path ahead is suddenly not so clear, cour- still has six and tesy of a chronic knee injury. No-one, even Nadal, the seventh has never is quite sure how badly damaged the knee is.

It was bad enough to stop him from trying to looked so far defend his Wimbledon title in 2009 and bad away.

—Reuters enough for him to throw in the towel during his quarter-final against Andy Murray at the Australian Open on Tuesday night.

The match was midway through the third set and Nadal was already heading to defeat after losing the first two sets and dropping his opening serve in the third.

Nadal has built his reputation as one of the fiercest competitors in the sport and he cut a forlorn figure as he hobbled to the net to shake hands with Murray, apologising for giving up.

His lame exit raised more questions about his future and could not have been any different than when he won the title in 2009, beating Roger Federer in an epic five-setter.

Federer was reduced to tears as Nadal accepted the winner’s trophy from Rod Laver, the last man to win the coveted grand slam.

It seemed a symbolic moment.

As Federer sobbed in the background, the tennis world was acclaiming the arrival of the new master. It was the fifth time Nadal had beaten Federer in the final of the grand slam.

The first three victoThe path ries were at the French ahead is Open, where Nadal suddenly not ruled so clear for supreme, but he Rafael had also beatNadal en him at Wimbledon and Melbourne Park, which should have favoured the Swiss.

Federer was closing in on Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slams but his claim to the title of the greatest player of all time was suddenly on hold because of Nadal’s meteoric rise. When Nadal won the Australian Open he was 22 and

SPORTS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

19

Egypt, Algeria cool tensions before soccer match CAIRO: Egypt has dropped the trash talk and is making nice with arch-rival Algeria ahead of a new matchup between their soccer teams today — a sharp contrast to their last meeting, which sparked riots in the streets and nearly led to a diplomatic breakdown between the two nations.

But while the tone is calmer, Egypt remains pumped up on a soccer-fueled wave of nationalism. State TV cranks out patriotic songs, flags flutter from buildings, cars, and even in soda commercials.

The fervor has some Egyptians questioning whether this Arab nation of 80 million people, mired in economic and political stagnation, has anything to rally around besides soccer.

The two sides meet today in a semifinal match of the African Cup of Nations, two months after Algeria beat Egypt in a

playoff to qualify for this summer’s World Cup. The 1-0 loss in November sparked days of anti-Algerian riots in Cairo, fueled by the ransacking of Egyptian companies’ offices in Algeria and unconfirmed reports of machete-wielding Algerians brutalizing Egyptian fans after the match, which was held in Sudan.

Amid the fury, the Egyptian government recalled its ambassador in Algiers.

Newspapers stoked the anger with sensational headlines and articles demonizing Algerians. Guests on TV talk shows questioned Algeria’s Arab identity and spoke of the country as steeped in a legacy of blood, hatred and violence.

Even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak entered the fray, telling parliament Egypt would not tolerate “those

who hurt the dignity of its sons.” His businessman son Alaa told Egyptian television: “When you insult my dignity ...I will beat you on the head.”

But ahead of today’s match in Angola, Egypt is making an effort to set aside bitterness and emphasize reconciliation.

Algerian newspapers reported yesterday that authorities in both countries had decided to try to tone down the tensions.

“I hope both Egyptians and Algerians appreciate that they are two brotherly peoples whose relations should not be harmed by a football match,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview published yesterday in Cairo’s Al-Gomhuria daily.

Egypt’s Cabinet yesterday declared that “people and media in both countries should deal with the match in a balanced

way ... and its result should not affect relations.” Even the Cairo-based Arab League weighed in, calling today’s game a chance to “overcome differences” a and show that the two nation’s ties are “far too strong to be affected by a passing crisis.”

Cairo’s newspapers now affectionately refer to the Algerian team by its nickname — The Desert Warriors — and most commentators are lavishly praising its performance Sunday, when it came from behind to beat favorites Ivory Coast 3-2 to reach the Africa Cup’s final four.

“We cannot ignore the pain and suffering (from the November matches) ... but safeguarding the good relations between Egypt and Algeria is far more important than anything else,” 1970s star striker Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafi said on a TV talk

show Monday night. Not that the competition isn’t still hot. In the Algerian capital, flags waved from many cars yesterday, and the leading newspaper said the nation’s reputation was on the line. “We can’t lose if we are to definitively save face,” it said.

In Egypt, the November loss raised a nationalist craze that has not been seen for years. Egypt’s red, white and black flag hangs from many buildings, flutters from car windows and graces giant billboards. Television stations repeatedly air new productions of old patriotic songs.

After the squad beat Cameroon 3-1 on Monday to book the semifinal match with Algeria, tens of thousands celebrated in the streets, waving flags, honking car horns and chanting “Egypt, Egypt.” The enthusiasm may in part be that many

Egyptians see little else to lift their spirits. Economic woes are deepening, hopes for democratic reform are waning. Even Egypt’s diplomatic clout in the Mideast is shifting to players like Qatar and Iran.

Many analysts say soccer is filling a void left by the lack of the compelling national causes that once defined the country — the struggle for independence from Britain during the last century, battles with Israel in the 1950s through to the 1970s, the building of the massive Aswan Dam in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Back in the old days, we sang for the nation’s dreams and battles, even if they were for the construction of a dam,” columnist Hassan al-Mistikawy wrote in Tuesday’s edition of the independent AlShorouk newspaper. “Now we sing for the (football) fans.” — AP

Zaheer fires India to victory Scoreboard

LONDON: Aston Villa’s Richard Dunne (left) vies for the ball with Arsenal’s Eduardo (right) during their English Premier League soccer match at Villa Park stadium.— AP

Downing’s horror miss lets Arsenal off the hook Aston Villa 0

Arsenal 0 BIRMINGHAM: Arsenal survived a shocking miss by Aston Villa’s Stewart Downing to earn a 0-0 draw at Villa Park yesterday.

Arsene Wenger’s side extended their unbeaten run to ten Premier League games but missed the chance to regain top spot after a frustrating stalemate and remain third, two points behind leaders Chelsea who beat Birmingham 3-0.

Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky both struck the woodwork in a drastically different Arsenal team to the one that lost in the FA Cup at Stoke City, but they were under par and would have lost but for Downing’s blunder.

Wenger had protected his first team squad by fielding a virtual reserve side at Stoke but brought back the heavy artillery for this encounter.

The likes of William Gallas, Andrey Arshavin, Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo all returned as Arsenal began their quartet of blockbuster fixtures.

After this game they face Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool and Wenger will be acutely aware how serious his chances of lifting a first league title in six years really are in a few weeks’ time.

Villa should have been on a high after reaching the League Cup final last week with their incredible 6-4 triumph over Blackburn Rovers.

But the home side were strangely subdued in the first half, but for an early effort from Gabriel Agbonlahor that was pushed aside by Manuel Almunia.

Denilson forced an excellent reflex save from Brad Friedel in the ninth minute but it was largely a forgettable opening period.

Ashley Young did wriggle past Gael Clichy just after the half hour to find Downing at the far post but the England international’s half volley was high into the stands.

Arsenal were forced to bring on new signing Sol Campbell for

his second game in four days towards the end of the half when Thomas Vermaelen, recalled after being rested last Sunday, limped off with an injury that ensures he will be doubtful for the visit of United this weekend.

But Arsenal did come close to taking the lead when Cesc Fabregas, who scored twice in the 3-0 win over Villa last month at the Emirates, danced through the home defence before driving a shot against the upright.

Villa should have been ahead five minutes into the second half but Downing produced a contender for miss of the season.

Young swung another inch perfect cross in at the far post and Downing somehow headed wide of an open net with Almunia stranded. Arsenal missed a gilt-edged chance of their own in the 62nd minute, though.

Arshavin raced past James Collins and although his shot was smothered by Friedel the ball eventually found Rosicky who hammered his shot against the underside of crossbar. Neither side could find a winner and a point was not ideal for O’Neill or Wenger. — AFP

Kalinic helps Blackburn sink Wigan Blackburn 2

Wigan 1 BLACKBURN: Blackburn pulled clear of the English Premier League relegation zone as Nikola Kalinic’s late goal clinched a 2-1 win over Wigan yesterday.

Sam Allardyce’s side had slipped dangerously close to the relegation zone in recent weeks but this victory, which followed a league success against Fulham, has rocketed Rovers up to 11th place.

They took the lead through Morten Gamst Pedersen’s first half strike and although Gary Caldwell equalised after the break, Croatia striker Kalinic popped up with his first league goal for Rovers with 14 minutes to play at Ewood Park.

With Chris Kirkland ruled out with a collarbone injury, Wigan boss Roberto Martinez

handed a league debut to Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.

Rovers should have taken the lead in the opening moments when David Hoilett crossed to the far post and Steven Nzonzi headed back into the path of Kalinic, but the Croatian’s close-range shot hit a post and rebounded to safety.

That only delayed the inevitable as Blackburn dominated the early stages and took the lead in spectacular fashion in the 20th minute.

Former Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper Stojkovic sprinted off his line through a crowd of players to punch clear Brett Emerton’s free-kick.

But he made a weak conection and the ball dropped perfectly for Pedersen to smash a long-range strike back past the out-of-position keeper and into the top corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Charles N’Zogbia came close to equalising after half an hour when he whipped in a dipping shot that Paul Robinson tipped over at full-stretch.

Wigan were beginning to get

control in midfield and they threatened again when James McCarthy touched on Hugo Rodallega’s free-kick towards Paul Scharner.

It seemed certain Scharner would dive to head home but he opted not to throw himself at the ball and the danger passed.

The momentum remained with Wigan at the start of the second half and the visitors drew level in the 58th minute.

McCarthy’s corner wasn’t cleared by the Rovers defence and Caldwell rose above Pascal Chimbonda to head home from three yards for his first goal since his recent move from Celtic.

Rovers almost regained the lead instantly when Emerton’s cross found Pedersen, who rose above Mario Melchiot and headed past Stojkovic, only to see his effort cannon off the crossbar.

Allardyce’s side didn’t have to wait long to get the winner. In the 76th minute, Kalinic stooped to reach Pedersen’s corner and the former Hajduk Split star headed home to seal the points. — AFP

DHAKA: Scoreboard on the fourth day of the second and final Test between Bangladesh and India yesterday: Bangladesh 1st innings 233 (M. Mahmudullah 96 not out; I. Sharma 4-66) India 1st innings 544-8 decl (S. Tendulkar 143, R. Dravid 111 retd hurt, MS Dhoni 89; Shafiul Islam 3-86) Bangladesh 2nd innings (overnight 228-3): Tamim c Dhoni b Zaheer 151 Kayes c sub (Karthik) b Zaheer 5 Siddique c Dhoni b Zaheer 55 Shahadat c sub (Mishra) b Harbhajan 40 Ashraful c Dhoni b Ojha 25 Raqibul b Zaheer 5 Shakib c Gambhir b Ojha 7 Mushfiqur not out 10 Mahmudullah c Vijay b Zaheer 0 Shafiul b Zaheer 0 Rubel b Zaheer 0 Extras (b7, lb5, w2) 14 Total (for all out; 90.3 overs) 312 Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Kayes), 2-219 (Siddique), 3-222 (Iqbal), 4-290 (Shahadat), 5291 (Ashraful), 6-301 (Shakib), 7-304 (Raqibul), 8-304 (Mahmudullah), 9-304 (Shafiul), 10-312 (Rubel).

Bowling: Zaheer 20.3-2-87-7 (w1), Sharma 152-50-0, Harbhajan 26-7-75-1, Ojha 22-4-77-2, Sehwag 7-2-11-0 (w1).

India 2nd innings: V. Sehwag not out 0 G. Gambhir not out 0 Extras (b2) 2 Total (for no loss; 0.2 overs) 2 Bowling: Shakib 0.2-0-0-0 Result: India win by 10 wickets to clinch twoTest series 2-0

Cricket helps Afghans defeat war miseries PARIS: World governments meeting today in London will ponder how to win the war in Afghanistan and cricket could be part of the answer. Clearly, cricket alone won’t end Afghanistan’s miseries.

However, the power of sport to help heal, unite and inspire previously divided nations and peoples is well documented. For proof of that, look no further than post-apartheid South Africa’s triumph in the 1995 World Cup of rugby — now the emotional story line for Clint Eastwood’s new movie “Invictus.”

So send troops, send aid, but send cricket bats and balls to Afghanistan, too. Why? Because the sport is proving to be an Afghan strength — one of the few activities in which Afghanistan competes against and handily beats nations far richer and more fortunate than itself.

That is making cricket a source of something in short supply from Afghanistan: good news.

Imagine the David vs. Goliath symbolism if, as it should, Afghanistan defeats the United States when they play on Feb. 11 for qualifying places in this year’s World Cup of Twenty20 cricket.

“Cricket as a sport has an absolutely pivotal role to play. It provides not just hope but it provides a real sense of national identity and an outlet for frustration, for talent, for energy and it’s a global language,” says former England cricketer and soldier Matthew Fleming, who has traveled to Afghanistan to promote the sport there.

Of today’s meeting of foreign ministers and Afghan leaders, he added: “They could do a lot worse than diverting a little bit of the war budget into tangible and optimistic gestures like enabling children to play sport.”

Afghanistan’s cricketing rise has been meteoric. In two inspiring years, its team has clambered one gritty victory at a time from the lowest international divisions to become one of top 16 sides, playing in world cricket’s second tier just below established nations such as England and India, Pakistan and Australia.

“We are the first team in Afghanistan history that is winning a lot of matches,” notes with obvious pride batsman Raees Ahmadzai, speaking in a telephone interview from Sri Lanka, where the squad is training and playing. “That is why the youngsters want to play. The national players are like heroes in Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan’s latest victim, Ireland, has lush pitches, sports facilities and peace that Afghans can only dream of. It is the strongest of cricket’s second-tier nations. Yet the Afghans swatted Ireland aside in the Intercontinental Cup last weekend, handing the three-time champion its first defeat in over five years in that competition. — AP

DHAKA: Zaheer Khan sparked a sensational Bangladeshi collapse with four wickets off eight balls as India swept the series with a crushing 10-wicket win in the second and final Test yesterday.

The left-arm seamer bagged a career-best 7-87 as Bangladesh were bowled out for 312 in their second innings in the opening over after lunch on the penultimate day, leaving the visitors needing two runs to wrap up the series.

The hosts had conceded a 311run lead after India scored 544-8 declared in their first innings in reply to their opponents’ 233.

India, who won the opening Test by 113 runs in Chittagong last week, completed the formality when Bangladesh conceded two byes in the opening over bowled by captain Shakib Al Hasan.

Zaheer finished the match with 10149 to become only the fourth Indian paceman to take 10 or more wickets in an away Test.

He was named both man of the match and man of the series.

“Zaheer’s spell was remarkable as I felt it was a fantastic wicket to bat on,” said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“It was a difficult task to get 10 wickets in the second innings as there was nothing in the pitch to help either fast bowlers or spinners.”

Bangladesh were well placed at 290-3 before losing seven wickets in the space of 22 runs in a dramatic collapse, with Zaheer taking four, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha two and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh one.

Zaheer struck in the morning session’s penultimate over, dismissing Raqibul Hasan (five), Mohammad Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam to complete his ninth haul of five or more wickets in a Test innings.

Raqibul was bowled shouldering arms, Mahmudullah was brilliantly caught by Murali Vijay in the slips and Shafiul was bowled by a delivery that cut in sharply.

Zaheer ended the innings when he bowled last-man Rubel Hossain for no score with his third delivery after the lunch interval. “This particular spell is a confidence-

booster for me,” said Zaheer.

“It was tough for the bowlers as the pitch kept getting slow and low, but once it started to reverseswing there was

something in it for the bowlers.”

There was no hint of collapse in the opening hour as Shahadat Hossain (40) and former captain Mohammad Ashraful (25) took their team’s overnight total of 2283 to 290 with their defiant knocks.

Harbhajan broke the 68-run partnership when he had nightwatchman Shahadat caught by substitute Amit Mishra at long-on. The Bangladeshi batsman hit one six and four boundaries in his 74-ball knock.

“We didn’t bat well for two hours in the match that’s why we lost-first hour in the first innings on the opening day and an hour before lunch today,” said Shakib.

“Every time someone is getting runs, but we need two or three guys to score in each innings and that’s something that we need to improve.”

Ojha put pressure on the hosts when he had Ashraful caught behind and then had Shakib (seven) caught by Gautam Gambhir at square-leg in successive overs.

India, the topranked Test side in the International Cricket Council rankings, will now clash with number two South Africa in a two-match series at home starting on February 6. — AFP

DHAKA: Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan delivers a ball during the second Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium.—AFP

Australia, Pakistan in U-19 final WELLINGTON: Australian captain Mitchell Marsh plundered 97 from 110 balls to lead his side to victory over Sri Lanka yesterday and set up a showdown with Pakistan in the final of the under-19 cricket World Cup. The Australian innings at Lincoln, near Christchurch, was built around a near flawless knock from Marsh, who was called to the crease in the second over with Australia at 3-1 in reply to Sri Lanka’s 205.

By the 22nd over, Australia were teetering at 93-5 before Marsh and Tom Triffitt (50) put on 78 for the sixth wicket. When Marsh fell in the 38th over, caught and bowled by Rumesh Buddika, he had his side in sight of victory at 171-6.

Australia lost two more wickets before reaching their 206-run target with nine balls to spare. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, only to be blitzed by the Australian fast bowling of Josh Hazlewood, who took four for 26,

and Alister McDermott, who finished with two for 43.

By the 11th over Sri Lanka were 35-5 and only late resistance from Kithuruwan Vithanage (40), Akshu Fernando (52) and captain Chatura Peiris (39) carried them past the 200 mark.

Pakistan, who beat the West Indies by four wickets in the first semi-final on Monday, are the only unbeaten side in the competition, while Australia were beaten by South Africa in pool play. — AFP

Chelsea ease their way back to the top of EPL Chelsea 3

Birmingham 0 LONDON: Chelsea eased their way back to the top of the Premier League after two goals from Frank Lampard and a first half strike from Florent Malouda sealed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Birmingham City.

This was a telling response from Carlo Ancelotti’s side who had slipped from first to third, behind Manchester United and Arsenal, since their last league outing.

Chelsea overwhelmed a Birmingham side who arrived at Stamford Bridge on the back of an impressive 15-game unbeaten run and with the reputation as one of the topflight’s form teams. However, Alex McCleish’s side were no match for the London club who established control with two first half goals before completing the win through Lampard’s expertly taken second in the final minute.

There were clearly no grounds for complacency within the home camp, Chelsea having been held to a scoreless draw by McCleish’s men when the teams first met at St Andrews last month.

That was the first time in 34 games Chelsea had failed to score, and no other team has denied them since.

And it quickly became clear there would be no repeat of the Midlands club’s impressive rearguard display this time around with Ancelotti’s side

taking just six minutes to break down the visiting defence.

Chelsea’s attacking play has reached new levels since the turn of the year with the London club rattling in 14 goals in their previous three games.

That return has been achieved without Didier Drogba who has been absent on Africa Cup of Nations duty and was again missing, along with Ivory Coast team-mate Salomon Kalou, having returned from Angola too late to be considered for selection.

Once again, though, the striker’s absence wasn’t felt as Chelsea easily carved Birmingham open with their first meaningful attacking move.

The architect of the goal was Joe Cole who easily beat City left back Liam Ridgwell before floating a cross towards Malouda.

Much of Birmingham’s success this season has been down to their defensive strength but they were woefully exposed as Malouda rose unchallenged and headed home from six yards.

Birmingham responded positively with Cameron Jerome’s deflected shot almost catching Petr Cech.

That, however, was the sum total of the visitors’ attacking efforts in a one-sided first half that showcased Chelsea as a team on top of their game. Joe Cole was in impish mood, demanding the ball and making darting runs that appeared to bewilder the Birmingham defence while Nicolas Anelka’s unselfish work helped drag holes in the visiting back-line.

Cole twice flashed powerful shots close to Joe Hart’s goal before teeing up John Terry for a snapshot that brought a smart save out of the City keeper. — AFP

LONDON: Manchester United’s English forward Wayne Rooney (fifth right) scores the winning goal during the English Carling Cup semi-final second leg football match at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Manchester City. — AFP

Man United put out City lights MANCHESTER: Wayne Rooney’s 91st-minute header secured a 3-1 victory for Manchester United over rivals City at Old Trafford and carried the holders through to a League Cup final meeting with Aston Villa.

The England forward struck with a close range header from a Ryan Giggs cross following a well-worked short corner and clinched a 4-3 aggregate semi-final victory, denying City what would have been a place in their first major final for 29 years.

On an evening of high drama at Old Trafford, former United forward Carlos Tevez-scorer of both goals in City’s 2-1 first leg victory last week-was again prominent as his 75th minute goal tied the aggregate scores at 3-3.

After a goalless first half, Rooney sent Giggs racing clear in the 51st minute and, after City appeared to have halted the attack, Michael Carrick’s pass found veteran midfielder Paul Scholes who finished clinically from a dozen yards.

In the 70th minute, the tie looked decided after Darren Fletcher laid a Nani pass into the path of Carrick who scored with a precision ‘pass’ into the corner of the City goal.

But Tevez struck five minutes later, flicking the ball powerfully into the home goal from eight yards after United failed to deal with Craig Bellamy’s cross.

The build-up to the second leg had been intense; the feud between Tevez and Gary Neville, the FA warning both clubs about their behavior, City’s chief exec Garry Cook appearing in a televised rally in which he gloated to his club’s fans that they would become “the biggest

defending header with Rooney poised to connect.

Tevez was being jeered by home support every time he touched the ball and his former fans were far from impressed when he went down heavily after Rio Ferdinand appeared to accidentally catch the Argentine under the chin with his trailing arm.

But City, full of pace and daring on the counterattack, looked capable of adding to their slender first leg

Rooney slaps down noisy neighbors and the best in the world.”

There had also been a major operation by Great Manchester Police, who made a number of pre-match raids around the region in an effort to avoid the crowd trouble that had marred the first leg. Against this backdrop, the game started at a frenetic pace with United playing Rooney as a solitary striker ahead of a five-man midfield.

Nani, so impressive in helping Rooney score four in the weekend league victory over Hull, forced young City defender Dedryck Boyata to make a superb

advantage. In the 22nd minute, Shaun Wright-Phillips landed a perfect cross for Bellamy whose effort was well kept out by Edwin van der Sar before Tevez tested the keeper with a diving header.

United responded with Giggs’ latching onto Fletcher’s neat lay-off and drawing a fine save from Given before the Irish keeper was again alert in keeping out Giggs’ dangerous cross after a rare slip by Boyata.

If anything, the second half opened in even more intense fashion than the first with defender Micah Richards being allowed to advance to the edge of the

United area before testing van der Sar. Tevez was booked for a nasty hack at Rafael, joining Scholes in the book for a first half foul on Wright-Phillips and the mood darkened further when Bellamy appeared to be hit by a coin thrown by United fans as he took a City corner.

A minute later, Scholes levelled the aggregate score and, shortly after, had a hand in another promising attack which ended with a goalmouth scramble and Fletcher seeing his shot deflected to safety. Boyata had to defend heroically, again, to keep out a Nani cross while Carrick did well in flicking over a threatening Richards header but, after Carrick had doubled United’s lead, a miss by Rooney looked in danger of becoming the game’s turning point.

The moment came in the 72nd minute from Patrice Evra’s left-wing cross which Rooney, off-balance, directed wide. Three minutes later, Tevez equalised the aggregate score and United were back at square one.

A late Carrick shot and weak header from substitute Emmaneul Adebayor both failed to threaten the keepers and the semi-final appeared to be heading for extratime until the late drama. — AFP

Everton pile on misery for Sunderland Everton 2

Sunderland 0

LIVERPOOL: Tim Cahill and Landon Donovan fired Everton to a 2-0 win over free-falling Sunderland as the Merseyside club’s revival gathered steam at Goodison Park yesterday.

Cahill’s seventh-minute header was quickly followed by Donovan’s first strike since his loan move from Los Angeles Galaxy and Sunderland never looked like recovering.

Steve Bruce’s strugglers, who went into the match with only one win in their previous 12 league matches, handed new signing Matthew Kilgallon a debut in defence and had influential midfielder Lee Cattermole back after more than a month out with a hamstring injury.

Everton recalled Leon Osman in place of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and had injury victims Mikel Arteta, James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe, as well as loan signing Philippe Senderos, on the bench.

Everton needed only seven minutes to take the lead through Cahill. After making good progress down the left, Leighton Baines cut the ball back for Marouane Fellaini who, in turn, sent in a cross to the near post. Cahill met it with a clever, flicked header that found the far corner of Craig Gordon’s net. Baines and Cahill were both involved in Everton’s second with the defender punting a long ball forward and Cahill heading it into the path of Donovan, who beat Gordon from the edge of the area with a low left-foot drive. It was the United States international’s first strike since joining Everton earlier this month.

Kenwyne Jones, who had been dropped to the Sunderland bench following weeks of speculation about a move away from the Stadium of Light, was introduced midway through the first half after Kieran Richardson went off with an ankle injury. But Everton continued to dominate and Cahill could have claimed his second of the night after Louis Saha’s knockon found him in the six-yard box but the Australian could only manage an uncharacteristically weak header. — AFP

LONDON: Everton’s Marouane Fellaini (behind) vies for the ball against Sunderland’s Lorik Cana during their English Premier League soccer match at Goodison Park. — AP

EPL results/standings Aston Villa 0 Arsenal 0; Blackburn 2 (Pedersen 20, Kalinic 76) Wigan 1 (Caldwell 58);Chelsea 3 (Malouda 5, Lampard 32, 90) Birmingham 0;Everton 2 (Cahill 7, Donovan 19) Sunderland 0 Played Tuesday: Bolton 1 (Lee 35) Burnley 0; Portsmouth 1 (Webber 76) West Ham 1 (Upson 52); Wolves 0 Liverpool 0; Tottenham 2 (Crouch 27, Bentley 60) Fulham 0.

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Tottenham Liverpool Man City Aston Villa Birmingham

22 23 23 23 23 21 22 22

16 16 15 12 11 10 10 9

3 2 4 5 5 8 7 6

3 5 4 6 7 3 5 7

55 53 59 44 40 42 29 21

18 19 25 24 26 30 18 22

51 50 49 41 38 38 37 33

Everton Fulham Blackburn Stoke Sunderland Wigan Bolton West Ham W’hampton Burnley Hull Portsmouth

22 22 23 21 22 21 21 22 22 22 22 21

7 7 7 6 6 6 5 4 5 5 4 4

8 6 6 7 5 4 6 8 5 5 7 3

7 9 10 8 11 11 10 10 12 12 11 14

32 26 25 19 30 24 29 29 17 22 20 19

34 26 40 26 40 46 42 38 38 44 46 33

29 27 27 25 23 22 21 20 20 20 19 15

Avenues to host expo ‘Outline on Kuwait Economic History’

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Policy-makers must redesign, control, institutions: Schwab

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Geithner says he acted properly in AIG bailout

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

Business warns regulation may crimp recovery Concerns over divergent rules and Obama banks plan at Davos

DAVOS: Chairman of the Soros Fund Management, George Soros, is seen during a meeting over lunch with the media, at the opening day of the Annual Meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos.—AP

Obama bank levy Premature: Soros DAVOS: Billionaire financier George Soros said yesterday US President Barack Obama’s plan to impose a tax on large banks was premature and his wider proposals to rein in banks’ activities may not go far enough. “To tax the banks when they are doing everything they can to get out of a hole is the exact opposite of the policy you are trying to pursue,” Soros told a meeting on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Obama has said Wall Street banks should pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout.

Soros, who made his fortune placing large bets in financial markets, said he was in favour of Obama’s other more sweeping reform, which aims to prevent banks from engaging in proprietary trading or investing in hedge funds or private equity funds.

But he said the proposals may fall short. “Some banks will spin off their investment banks and they will be very substantial and they will be too big to fail,” Soros said.

He acknowledged massive financial and trade imbalances, particularly between the United States and China, would need to be addressed in order to prevent future bubbles. This would require China to let its exchange rate rise against the dollar.

“The case for revaluing the renminbi is getting stronger and stronger,” he said. — Reuters

US new home sales fall, fan fears about recovery WASHINGTON: Sales of newly built US single-family homes fell unexpectedly in December, data showed yesterday, the latest indication that the government-led housing recovery might be losing some steam. The Commerce Department said sales fell 7.6 percent to a 342,000 unit annual rate from an upwardly revised 370,000 units in November. It was the second straight month that new home sales declined.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected new home sales to increase to a 370,000 unit annual pace from November’s previously reported 355,000 units.

US stock indexes fell on the data, while government bond prices held at higher levels. “This isn’t good news. It should put some pressure on the market, especially coming after the disappointing outlooks we saw,” said Dan Cook, senior market analyst at IG Markets in Chicago.

New home sales for the whole of 2009 fell 22.9 percent to a record low 374,000 units, the department said. The data came as the Federal Reserve deliberated on monetary policy. The US central bank is expected to leave overnight lending rates near zero.

At its meeting in December, the Fed announced it would end purchases of agency mortgagebacked securities in March. The program has depressed mortgage rates, contributing to the housing market’s healing in recent months.

But the housing market recovery is showing some signs of fatigue after a surge in sales as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a popular tax credit, which had been scheduled to expire in November. It has since been expanded and extended until June this year and while analysts expect home sales to

pick up as a result, they reckon the pace will not be as strong as witnessed with the initial tax credit.

“This was again related to the potential ending of the home buyer tax credit and then they put it back on, so that caused a lot of uncertainty. If you don’t start seeing a rebound by February in these home sales then I would start to get concerned,” said John Canally, economist at LPL Financial in Boston.

The housing market was the main catalyst of the most painful downturn in 70 years and renewed weakness could hobble the economic recovery. Despite the slump in sales there were a few bright spots in yesterday’s report. The median sale price for a new home rose 5.2 percent last month from November to $221,300, the highest in seven months and the biggest rise since April 2009. Compared to December 2008, the median sale price fell 3.6 percent.

The number of new homes on the market last month dropped 1.7 percent to 231,000 units, the lowest level since April 1971.

However, December’s weak sales pace left the supply of homes available for sale at 8.1 months’ worth, the highest since June 2009, from 7.6 months in November.

Separately, US mortgage applications fell for the first time in a month last week as demand for home refinancing loans dropped sharply. Demand for loans to buy a home also fell, but on a smaller scale, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Its index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, fell 10.9 percent to 513.0 in the week ended Jan. 22. — Reuters

DAVOS: Global business leaders warned Western governments yesterday that a populist crackdown on the financial industry could crimp a fragile recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s.

The worried response to US President Barack Obama’s plans to curb big banks and a British assault on bankers’ pay came as 2,500 business leaders and policy makers met at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Surveys produced for the annual conference showed global economic confidence on the rise after deep gloom in 2009 and a cautious return to hiring, especially in emerging markets.

But the spectre of uncoordinated, heavy-handed regulation and government intervention in the economy was the biggest cloud on many business leaders’ horizon.

Uncertainties over whether China will rein in its feverish pace of growth and concerns about how Greece will tackle its debt crisis also weighed.

Obama jolted markets on Jan. 21 with proposals to force commercial banks to cut ties with hedge funds and private equity funds and stop proprietary trading, and to make the financial sector pay for a massive taxpayer bailout.

Barclays President Bob Diamond challenged Obama’s effort to limit the size of big banks and restrain risk-taking, telling the opening forum session: “I’ve seen no evidence that suggests that shrinking banks and making all banks smaller or more narrow is the answer.”

“If you step back and say large is bad, and we move to narrow banking, the impact of that on banks and on global trade, the global economy, would be very negative.”

Standard Chartered bank CEO Peter Sands said there was a growing risk that fragmented regulatory initiatives would “create enormous amounts of complexity” and encourage financial companies to arbitrage among regulators.

A study by accountancy giant Pricewaterhouse Coopers showed business confidence bouncing back after the sharpest drop in economic activity since World War Two, prompting more industry leaders to start hiring again. The survey of 1,200 chief executives in 52 countries found 39 percent of industry bosses aimed to hire extra staff in 2010, while 25

DAVOS: National Bank of Kuwait Group Chief Executive officer Ibrahim S Dabdoud (left) speaks as United Kingdom Barclays president Robert E Diamond looks on during the discussion ‘Rethinking Systemic Financial Risk’, during the first day of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos yesterday. —AFP percent planned more job cuts, down from nearly half who slashed jobs last year.

But recruitment will be on a modest scale and mostly in booming emerging economies such as China and India, rather than in the developed world, the report showed.

Obama’s proposed curbs on Wall Street drew guarded support from European governments but could complicate efforts to build a global consensus on financial regulation in the G20 grouping of major economies.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet played down transatlantic differences, telling the Wall Street Journal the proposed US reforms were “relevant and interesting” and shared the same aims as European measures. Not all bankers were critical of Obama’s plan.

The CEO of Italy’s biggest retail bank, Corrado Passera of Intesa Sanpaolo , said it was a good idea to reward banks that did less proprietary trading and lent more to the real economy, for instance by allowing them lower capital ratios.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a champion of regulation and state industrial policy

Qatar expected to award power plant deal this year DOHA: Qatar, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, is expected to award a deal for a new 2,000 megawatt power plant this year, a senior official from the Qatar Power Company said yesterday.

The small Gulf Arab state faces a potential power shortage of around 300-350 megawatts (MW) from late 2012 without the new plant, said Abdulsattar Al-Rasheed, executive managing director of Qatar Power Company during a MEED conference. Power demand in the Gulf Arab state was growing at an average of around 10 percent per year, he said. Qatar has one of the highest growth rates in the region, fuelled by the start up of a number of giant projects to export gas, and is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The new power plant would cost around $2.5 billion and $3 billion to build, he said. If the contract was awarded by the end of this year, the plant could be built in time to meet 2012-2013 demand, he said.

Without it, peak summer demand in 2013 would hit 9,400 MW, while supply would be around 9050 MW. Power demand in the Gulf peaks in the summer when the population cranks up air conditioning units. Demand in 2010 would peak at 6,572 MW, Rasheed said, while maximum available supply would be 7,589 MW. Qatar could start exporting up to 600 MW of electricity to its neighbors through the Gulf power grid this summer, he added. That was the maximum volume of power the grid could handle, he said.

Last year, a deal for Qatar to sell 400 MW to Kuwait during the summer fell through. The deal failed because the Gulf grid was unready to handle such large volumes, Rasheed said. Industry sources at the time said it was because of a dispute over price.

Qatar may sell to Kuwait this summer, he said. “If they have a shortage, we have a surplus,” he said. Qatar Electricity and Water Company, Qatar’s power plant operator, has made its first bid for a plant outside Qatar, Rasheed said. The plant was in the Gulf region, but he declined to give further details. Qatar Power Company is 55 percent owned by Qatar power plant operator the Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC). A 2,000 megawatt plant called Mesaieed A, in the industrial port of Mesaieed, would complete start up this year, he said. — Reuters

who has demanded a “moralisation of capitalism”, was to give the keynote address later on Wednesday.

Against a backdrop of public outrage over bumper bonuses for bankers whose institutions were saved by taxpayer intervention, aides said Sarkozy would insist there must be no return to the excesses of financial speculation and deregulation.

Perhaps anticipating such criticism, Jacob Frankel, chairman of JPMorgan Chase International, said there was a danger of going to the other extreme.

“We are falling into the trap of excessive interventionism, excessive protectionism,” the former Bank of Israel chief said.

US economist Nouriel Roubini, who had warned that the 2008 financial crisis was coming, said loose US monetary policy was now fuelling asset price bubbles that would cause the next bust.

“It’s become too much, too fast, too soon and US monetary policy is being exported to the rest of the world,” Roubini told a forum session.

In contrast to many speakers, he said he was not concerned about over-regulation but about a return to business as

DAVOS: ‘The Davos Debates’ booth is pictured in the Davos Congress Center on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) yesterday.

Thirty heads of state and government and 2,500 business and academic elite start the 40th anniversary Davos forum to hammer out ways to fend off new storm clouds hanging over the global economy. —AFP usual.

Jonathan Nelson, CEO of US private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, urged governments and the financial sector to stop fingerpointing and focus on improving management.

“We need to get away from the blame game. We all share

responsibility for what happened here... There was reckless lending, there was reckless borrowing too, all against a background of public policy that (made it) desirable,” he said.

Some of the most high-profile bankers, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd

Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, pulled out of this year’s Davos meeting.

But the CEO’s of two major bailed-out US banksCitigroup’s Vikram Pandit and Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan — were due to attend. —Reuters

UAE markets edge up; sentiment negative MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS DUBAI: UAE benchmarks edged higher yesterday, easing away from seven-week lows, but most Middle East stocks fell, tracking losses on world markets as investors become more risk averse.

Qatar’s benchmark fell to a six-month low, Kuwait made its largest decline for three weeks and Saudi Arabia retreated to early-January levels. Across the globe, investors are becoming cautious as they fret about a monetary squeeze from central banks and the impact of tightening US banking regulations. Dubai’s index rose 0.6 percent, trimming its losses to 13.2 percent this year, and further instability is forecast.

“Earnings season will provide both positive and negative leads, which will keep the market volatile in the short term,” said Jithesh Gopi, head of research at SICO investment bank.

“People are aware that the information coming out of Dubai is very much lacking in quality and quantity.”

Dubai builder Arabtec rallied, but is down 25 percent since agreeing to sell a majority stake to Aabar Investments through convertible bonds.

Union Properties plunged to a sevenyear intraday low, extending losses since Credit Suisse slashed its price target on the developer to near zero.

“Arabtec, which most people thought had sufficient liquidity to survive without a capital increase, is now looking at a 70 per-

cent dilution for a capital injection, said Robert McKinnon, ASAS Capital chief investment officer. “So it makes you wonder how much of a dilution might be needed at other companies like Union Properties.”

“That’s effectively what the (Credit Suisse) note is saying the target price may be extreme, but when you look at Union Properties’ assets and its liquidity, it needs a capital injection and that would require minority shareholders to take a major hit,” McKinnon said.

Saudi Arabia’s index slipped to a threeweek low. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) fell for a second day as investors belatedly reacted to a 10-percent, threeweek slide in oil prices.

“Investors are looking at companies’ financial statements and trying to see where growth will come and whether petrochemicals prices will hold,” said Youssef Kassantini, head of portfolio management at Rasmala Investment Saudi. Kuwait’s Zain fell 5.3 percent, slumping to a 35-week low, weighing on the country’s index.

“Expectations for Q4 earnings are weighing heavily on Zain and there is some serious selling pressure is coming through,” said Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House head of asset management for the Gulf. “Zain is a bellwether stock, so when it comes under pressure, the rest of the market does too.”

National Industries Group (NIG) fell 7.5

percent after Moody’s Investor Services downgraded the Kuwait firm, maintaining a negative outlook. “NIG is a widely held stock and so its downgrade is having a negative impact on the market,” added Hameed.

Egypt’s Orascom Telecom fell 3.2 percent after cash-short investors reduced their positions ahead of a planned $800 million rights issue.

HIGHLIGHTS The index rose 0.6 percent to 1,565 points.

ABU DHABI The benchmark edged up 0.1 percent to 2,602 points.

SAUDI ARABIA The measure fell 0.1 percent to 6,253 points.

EGYPT The index rose 0.3 percent to 6,587 points.

OMAN The index climbed 1.2 percent to 6,518 points.

KUWAIT The index slipped 1.3 percent to 6,975 points.

QATAR The measure fell 1.1 percent to 6,503 points.

BAHRAIN The index rose 0.2 percent to 1,474 points. — Reuters

BUSINESS

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Avenues to host expo ‘Outline on Kuwait Economic History’ KUW AIT: In the context of its celebra tions of the Independence a nd Libera tion Da ys, Kuw a it sha ll w itness the first Exhibition of its ra nge tha t ha ndles Kuw a it’s economic history, under title of: “Outline on Kuw a it Economic History”, due to be held a t the AVENUES Ma ll, being jointly orga nized by Multa qa Media Group. A number of esta blishments, compa -

National Bank of Kuwait , Gulf Bank, AlShaya Group, Chamber of Commerce, and the Kuwaiti Fund take part in the first exhibition that narrates Kuwait’s Economic History

Shoaa Al-Qati, Public Relations and Marketing Manager at Mabanee Company.

nies a nd ba nks w ill pa rticipa te in the Exhibition, in the forefront of w hich is the Na tiona l Ba nk of Kuw a it, Gulf Ba nk, Moha mma d Humood Al Sha ya Compa ny, Kuw a it Cha mber of Commerce & Industry, a nd the Kuw a it Fund for Ara b Economic Development, a long w ith the Center of Resea rches a nd Studies on Kuw a it a nd Kuw a it Phila telic a nd Numisma tic Society.

Passion for the past Al-Qati said that many Kuwaitis are desirous to know about their inveterate past to benefit from it and learn lessons from the journey of their ancestors in building our modern country and identify their sufferings through this journey for more than three decades. There are a lot of issues which are still not known to many of our new generation, or they do not know clearly. This is the objective of the Exhibition as to identify these aspects through the rare photos it will display, the historic documents and highbred properties, Al-Qati added.

Pre and post-oil era Worth mentioning is that the Exhibition is intended to avail the chance to several companies and Kuwaiti establishments to display their history and contribute to building the Kuwaiti economy through the photographs and documents they possess and other instruments; specifically this Exhibition is the first of its range in Kuwait and in

Talal Owyed Al-Shameri wins $50,000 in Zain lucky draw KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications operator in Kuwait and across Middle East and Africa, has announced the name of final and last Lucky Draw Dr Talal Owyed Al-Shameri winner of the US $50,000 13th prize.

The Contest allowed automatically allowed any eeZee prepaid customer to enter the weekly Lucky Draw contest for a chance to win $50,000 every Week.prepaid customers to enter the weekly draw with minimum of just 5 KD to recharge the eeZee prepaid line .

Zain Kuwait’s CCO Mohammed Al-Shehab said, “the company has managed to create an added value through this promotional offer that has seen considerable and huge success which is evidenced by the sizeable participation by the company’s prepaid customers.

“In addition to its commitment to providing added value to its customers through the services and offers it launches, Zain’s intent at the same time on creating a spirit of fun and adventure among its customers through the products it offers from time to time,” he added.

AlShehab said “the strategy of Zain declares 2010 “the year of belongingness and challenge” also that zain’s strategy is based on customer centricity and direct contact with zain’s customers.

He continued by stressing that Zain-Kuwait will always continue providing the best services and offers in line with the wishes and aspirations of its customers, adding that the company has always lived up to the expectations of its customers through providing them with unique services that are commensurate with the levels of their desires and needs.

Al-Shehab Concluded that Zain will continue offering innovative services and attractive offers to Zain prepaid and Postpaid customers all over 2010, especially in the month of February as Zain is Sponsoring

the region which narrates and chronicles parts of the history of local companies and establishments and the scope of their contributions in building the Kuwaiti economy.

The Exhibition endeavors to confirm the magnitude of the role played by the Kuwaiti private sector throughout long decades, especially in the pre-seventies era of the last decade, when it was a boom period for this sector which assumed the responsibility of building, development and renovation.

The Exhibition confirms also the scope of contribution by many Kuwaiti companies and establishments in assuming the burden of the initiative to realize added value to the Kuwaiti economy, specifically a lot of these companies and establishments exercise their business in various economic sectors since more than 100 years and are still exercising their development roles.

The Exhibition includes two phases; namely the pre-oil era and the post-oil exploration era, and the developments occurred in the Kuwaiti society, contains a large group and rare photos, historic documents and literatures that narrate various chapters of this history, along with the historic properties associated with this history.

Shoaa Al-Qati, the Public Relations & Marketing Manager of Mabanee Company said, “The AVENUES hosting of this unique event of its range and its participation in organizing comes in the framework of the keenness to share with the Kuwaiti people in their celebration of the most important; yet the dearest occasion to their hearts, namely the independence and liberation anniversary.

Al-Qati went on to say that the AVENUES is always keen to interact with the various national activities which confirm the spirit of loyalty to this country, either through the hosting of such activities or providing full support to their organizers to realize further benefit and enjoyment to its visitors to make it a location more than shopping.

The concept of the Exhibition gains its magnitude from its intellectual and cultural content, whereas the chance is availed to all visitors of the Mall to peruse various aspects of the Kuwait economic history, specifically the pre-oil exploration phase, in which our ancestors endured huge sufferings until Kuwait reached its present position, Al-Qati added.

Al-Qati identified also that the Exhibition’s contents of photographs, historic documents, and antique properties, which narrate parts of the Kuwaiti history, is deemed a chance to everybody to identify a lot of the eminent and splendid aspects in the Kuwaiti history.

The yearly February Carnival “ Hala February and Zain AL-Layali “promising Zain customers of many delightful supersizes and great promotions and gifts dedicated through the planned activities and celebrations during the big patriotic and national event in Kuwait.

Talal Owyed

Emirates NBD drops S&P as ratings agency DUBAI: Emirates NBD, one of the Gulf region’s top banks, said yesterday it will stop working with Standard & Poor’s (S&P), as the lender cited its recently-completed merger for dropping the ratings agency.

Dubai-based Emirates NBD, 56 percent owned by the Dubai government, said that after the merger of Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai, credit ratings are no longer required for these subsidiaries, reducing the need to have four agencies.

Emirates NBD’s decision comes after Dubai Holding, owned by the emirate’s ruler, dropped S&P which earlier withdrew its rating on one of its units. S&P was not immediately available to comment.

Emirates NBD said it will continue to work with Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Capital Intelligence “who either have a presence in or long-standing coverage of the UAE, to provide independent monitoring and rating of its financial strength.” S&P cut several Dubai-based banks in December and said more cuts may come.

The ratings agency at the time lowered its credit rating on Emirates Bank International to BBB from A-, because of the unit’s exposure to Dubai-related entities.

Dubai has been in the eye of a debt storm since the emirate late November announced it sought a payment standstill on billions of Dubai World’s debt. Emirates NBD is one of the regional banks most exposed to Dubai World. JPMorgan analysts estimated the bank’s exposure to Dubai to be around twothirds of its loan book, likely to weigh on the bank’s annual results which are due in February. - Reuters

Filmstar Madhavan inaugurates the new Joyalukkas showroom in Karur.

Joyalukkas opens showroom in Karur Joyalukkas, the world’s favorite jewelry retailer, opened their latest showroom on Kovai Road, Karur on 17th January, 2010. The glittering showroom was inaugurated by Madhavan, the brand ambassador of Joyalukkas Jewelry, in the presence of large gathering that included several VIPs and other dignitaries.

The ceremonial lamp at the inauguration was lit by former MP K.C.Palanisamy, V Senthil Balaji MLA-Karur and District Panchayath Chairman Poovai Ramesh Babu.

The Kovai Road showroom is another signature addition to the growing number of Joyalukkas retail showrooms in Tamil Nadu. The showroom displays traditional, chic and contemporary designs from India and abroad that are designed to appeal to the discerning residents of Karur. The showroom features all the Joyalukkas world class jewelry brands such as Sparx, Tre’stelle, Perfekt, Spring, Florentina, Resham, Trisha, Aamira, Madhubani, teens and twenties and Zenina, plus a host of Platinum, precious Stone jewelry collections, Silver items and jewelry.

Globally, Joyalukkas has set benchmarks for quality, service and choice and is one of the most trusted jewelry retailers in the world. “Our Karur showroom located on Kovai Road like all Joyalukkas showrooms promises to bring an exceptional shopping experience to its residents and we are glad to be a part of this wonderful city. We are targeting the quality, tradition and design conscious woman of Karur who demand quality and want to choose from a wide range of traditional and contemporary jewelry. With the vision of making jewelry shopping more convenient, we intend to be in every catch-

ment area within Tamil Nadu. With an expertise spanning over five decades, we are sure that our distinctive designs, quality and service will be welcomed and appreciated by the residents of Karur” said Joy Alukkas, Chairman of Joyalukkas Group.

The Joyalukkas Karur showroom is consistent in design with the rest of the Joyalukkas showrooms and offers exclusivity and a welcoming feel. The showroom is conveniently located within the city ensuring ease of access for customers. “Our aim is to appeal to women of all nationalities who love jewelry and are looking for traditional, chic and contemporary styles along with a wide choice in jewelry. The Joyalukkas standard of product, price, choice and service is assured to the Karur residents,” added Joy Alukkas.

Speaking on the occasion, Madhavan, the brand ambassador for Joyalukkas said, “I feel proud to be associated with a brand of Joyalukkas’s stature, which stands for trust, value, choice and exceptional service. Customers can rest assured that with Joyalukkas they will be dealing with a jewelry chain that truly understands their needs and has the international experience to introduce them to jewelry trends around the world”.

According to a company representative, the Karur opening will be followed with more showrooms openings across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in the year 2010.

Joyalukkas’s competence in the jewelry business is evident from the unique patterns and styles that has won the hearts of customers and accolades from various renowned jewelry bodies across the globe. The ISO certified jewelry chain currently has 75 showrooms in eight countries across the world.

Kuwaiti delegation to attend economic meet in New Delhi NEW DELHI: The Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum is organizing a two-day international conference on-Beyond the Meltdown: Search for Options-in New Delhi, mainly to promote Islamic Banking in India and also attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from the Middle-East nations.

This was formally announced jointly by Dr Manzoor Alam, the chairman of Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum, and Dr K Rahman Khan, the Deputy Chairman of India’s Upper House Rajya Sabha and also the Patron of the Forum. Dr Manzoor Alam is also a former economic adviser to Saudi Arabia.

A large number of foreign delegates from the Arab world are scheduled to attend the conference, prominent among whom are Suleiman N. Al-Qimlas, the Deputy Chairman of Kuwait’s Bayt Al-Mal Investment, Abdurrahman El-Khereiji, the Managing Director of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Khereiji Co, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Dr Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Dammas AlGhamdi of Bank Al-Jazira, Jeddah.

Suleiman N Al-Qimlas will lead the Kuwaiti delegation at the conference, which would be inaugurated by India’s External Affairs Minister Somanhalli Mallaiah Krishna. Explaining the basic tenets of the conference, Dr K Rahman Khan told media persons that a separate session in the conference has been dedicated to promote

Islamic banking in India, both to enable savings from nearly 15 percent Muslim population in the country and also to attract FDI from the Arab world.

He added that a large section of the Muslim population was averse to making savings because there was a limited scope of Islamic banking in India presently.

“We submitted a memorandum with the Prime Minister of India late year, and he has formed a committee to explore the possibilities of introducing Islamic banking in India on a large scale. Also, Islamic banking was supported by Financial Reforms Committee which submitted its recommendations to the Government of India recently. So why don’t we lay stress on introducing and promoting Islamic banking in India,” Khan told KUNA. He said that there was much scope of investments from the Middle-East, as at present it was very minimal.

“Through this conference, we want to showcase India as an excellent and safest investment destination, particularly in infrastructure. We already have an Arabic company (Dubai-based EMAAR) already making investment in India. One of EMAAR’s projects in India is to construct and develop the Commonwealth Games Village.

We want to attract more such companies in India. India is best positioned to absorb most part of $3.5 trillion worth of Arab investments,” he added. — KUNA

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

.2830000 .4590000 .4020000 .2720000 .2780000 .2550000 .0045000 .0020000 .0776790 .7568070 .4020000 .0750000 .7419170 .0045000 .0500000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2861500 .4610100 .4043730 .2747730 .2704480 .0543150 .0395420 .2575940 .0368130 .2036880 .0031810 .0062610 .0025100 .0034060 .0041920 .0779470 .7594070 .4046970 .0763460 .7436230 .0062200

.2920000 .4680000 .4100000 .2820000 .2790000 .2640000 .0075000 .0035000 .0784600 .7644130 .4180000 .0790000 .7493730 .0072000 .0570000 .2882500 .4642670 .4072290 .2767190 .2723640 .0547000 .0398220 .2594130 .0370740 .2051310 .0032030 .0063050 .0025280 .0034300 .0042220 .0784440 .7642510 .4075640 .0768330 .7483660 .0062640

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2882500 .4642670 .2767190 .0768330

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 287.000 Euro 414.600 Sterling Pound 473.000 Canadian dollar 285.600 Turkish lire 198.310 Swiss Franc 281.700 Australian dollar 265.100 US Dollar Buying 285.000 ASIAN COUNTRIES Japanese Yen 3.189 Indian Rupees 6.284 Pakistani Rupees 3.394 Srilankan Rupees 2.509 Nepali Rupees 3.942 Singapore Dollar 207.400 Hongkong Dollar 36.980 Bangladesh Taka 4.152 Philippine Peso 6.252 Thai Baht 8.744 Irani Riyal - Transfer 0.301 Irani Riyal - Cash 0.292 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 55.250 Egyptian Pound 52.963 Yemen Riyal 1.379 Tunisian Dinar 219.920 Jordanian Dinar 405.500 Lebanese Lira 193.920

Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

6.325 37.080 GCC COUNTRIES 76.574 78.890 745.940 762.600 78.202 GOLD 222.000 115.000 59.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

Selling Rate 287.300 273.340 465.470 408.400 275.470 704.180 761.850 78.200 78.845 76.640 405.415 52.940 6.230 3.405 2.510 4.170 6.205 3.200 8.715 5.540 3.950

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 287.250 3.410 6.245 2.520 4.165 6.250 78.245 76.720 763.700 52.880 468.400 0.0000306 1.550 408.100 5.750 411.900 278.700

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 287.100 409.050 465.900 273.900 3.160 6.235 52.880 2.512 4.155 6.225 3.409 764.100 78.200 76.550

BUSINESS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

23

Provisions booked by banks in the GCC region KUWAIT: In a presentation for the performance of the GCC banking sector, KIPCO Asset Management Company (KAMCO) Research Department presents a detailed analysis for the financial statements for 58 banks with the purpose of shedding the light on the repercussions of the crisis on the financial position of the banking sector in the GCC Region which represents a key sector for any country’s economy.

I. GCC Banks’ Loan Loss Provisions booked during Full Year 2008: During 2008, GCC banks have witnessed record levels of provision for doubtful loans where together recorded total provisions of $7.1 billion. Provisions booked during FY 2008 represent a notable 243% increase from those booked during 2007 which recorded $2.1 billion, while provisions that had been booked during 2006 recorded $1.44 billion.

These figures show the brutal effects that high levels of provisions had on GCC banks during the fourth quarter of 2008

KAMCO Research Report GCC Banking Sector registering $4.95 billion, or 70% of 2008’s provisions, during that quarter alone.

Provisions by Kuwaiti banks during 2008 were remarkably higher than peers recording $3.1 billion, representing around 43% of total provisions booked by GCC banks in the same year, which include a provision of $1.38 billion booked

by Gulf Bank on the back of losses incurred from trading in derivatives, representing 45% of total Kuwaiti banks’ provisions. Banks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the largest two banking sectors in the GCC with total assets of $341 billion and $283 billion respectively, have booked provisions of $1.39 billion and $1.84 billion, respectively. During Q4-08, Kuwait banks recorded the highest level of provisions in compari-

son with their peers in the GCC Region of $2.8 billion followed by Abu Dhabi banks which booked total provisions of $587 million over the same period.

II. GCC Banks’ Loan Loss Provisions booked during 9M-09: Tight credit market conditions coupled with uncertainties in stock exchanges and property markets, which plagued financial markets, caused the GCC banking sector to witness its provisioning on credit facilities to escalate in the 9-month period ending September 2009. The total value of loan loss provisions surged to $6.76 billion in 9M-09 up from $2.16 billion booked during 9M-08. It is worth noting the sharp rise in provisions that took place in the last quarter of 2008, as it stood at a staggering $4.9 billion. This as a consequence

caused the sector as a whole to end 2008 with provisions totaling $7.1 billion, an amount that is significantly higher than that recorded in 9M-08. The rise in provisions from 9M-08 to 9M-09 is attributable to the rise in non-performing loans across banks along with the excessive leverage by investment companies as well as family businesses prior to the start of the financial crisis. We expect a surge in non-performing loans during Q4-09, mainly on the back of slowdown in economic growth, debt and insolvency problems faced by Dubai’s Government Related Entities and the Saudi groups, SAAD & Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi Group, in addition to the weak performance of the majority of the GCC equity markets and the devaluation in the prices of financial assets and properties.

Following along, in terms of the total value of provisions set aside by banks within the GCC for 9M-09, the UAE takes the lead as its banking sector’s provisions account for 33%, or $2.23 billion, of the total provision booked by GCC banks over

the same period. This surge came on the back of insolvency problems faced by property developers in Dubai triggered by the exhaustive losses incurred by investors and the devaluation in property prices.

Kuwaiti banks have followed with total provisions of $1.94 billion, and hence representing 29% of aggregate provisions booked by GCC banks. In addition, Saudi banks recorded $1.8 billion worth of provisions in comparison to the $336.5 million of provisions registered by Qatari banks.

Although Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar’s provisions represent a smaller share of total GCC bank provisions, each respective country’s banking sector provisions’ rose significantly in 9M-09 as seen in Oman, for example, provisions rose from $18 million in 9M-08 to $214 million in 9M-09. As a result this illustrates that GCC countries and financial system are not immune to the effects of the global financial crisis.

Moreover, total provisions booked by the GCC banking sector since the start of the financial crisis in September 2008,

have reached $11.7 billion of which $4.72 billion or 40% booked by Kuwaiti banks. It is worth noting that the provisions of Gulf Bank reached $1.76 billion, representing 37% of the total provisions booked by Kuwaiti banks since the start of the financial crisis in Sep-08. This figure is relatively high when compared to the total provisions recorded by UAE and Saudi banks over the same, which stand at $3.31 billion and $2.30 billion, representing 28% and 20% respectively of aggregate provisions booked by GCC banks. However, Saudi and UAE banks’ provisions are expected to increase over the last quarter of 2009 as a consequence of banks’ exposure to Dubai World’s debt as well as the debt of Saudi conglomerates SAAD Group and Al Gosaibi Group. The asset quality of GCC banks might deteriorate further in 2010 which in turn will force banks to book additional provisions, ultimately placing a downward pressure on banks’ bottom line results and a further deterioration in profitability and capital adequacy ratios.

Rebuild, Redesign, Rethink

Richard Quest interviews Klaus Schwab

CNN’s Quest Means Business

Policy-makers must redesign, control, institutions: Schwab

By Richard Quest The fire is out. It is time to build the new house.

That is the underlying theme of Davos 2010, or more elegantly expressed in Davosian-speak as Rebuild, Redesign and Rethink. The founder of Davos Klaus Schwab defines these three Rs as rethinking values, redesigning financial systems and rebuilding institutions.

Of course this is much easier said than done.

Last year few sat around and hesitated over preventing financial Armageddon. Now there are plenty of arguments about what should come next.

Lots of these different agendas will be up for debate at the World Economic Forum.

Klaus Schwab admitted in his interview with me, “Everybody will try to push his own interests.” I guess there is nothing wrong with that.

However, to build something that will withstand the next financial hurricane, it is essential that it has strength and depth. Everyone needs to guard against weak plans simply because they are acceptable to all. That is not rebuilding, redesigning and rethinking; it is a recipe for ruin.

For more information on Davos please visit www.cnn.com/davos * Tune in to CNN International each evening at 1900 GMT (or your local time) to watch Richard Quest on ‘Quest Means Business’. www.cnn.com/qmb

QUEST: The policy makers-they must redesign the way they control the system, and the institutions that do it. And then that rebuilding of trust. Trust-trustagain, you going to hear it a lot over the week. But changes must be something

Oil eases towards $74 as dollar firm LONDON: Oil prices eased towards $74 a barrel yesterday, under pressure from a firmer dollar, although the previous day’s news of an unexpected drawdown in US crude stockpiles continued to offer support.

US oil for March delivery fell 19 cents to $74.52 a barrel by 1410 GMT, after touching a fiveweek intraday low of $73.82 on Tuesday. London ICE Brent for March fell 18 cents to $73.11.

The dollar was trading close to four-month highs against a basket of currencies, as investors awaited the outcome of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the day, and the prospect of unchanged interest rates.

A stronger dollar makes commodities priced in the US currency more expensive for those holding other currencies.

“We’ve established quite a good base, and the only bullish thing out there are the crude stocks from the API,” said broker Christopher Bellew at Bache Financial in London.

US crude inventories unexpectedly fell by 2.2 million barrels last week as imports fell by 1.5 million bpd to 8.31 million bpd, according to the American

Petroleum Institute’s weekly report. “We’ve fallen a long way, and bumped along at around $72, and I think we are gradually starting to recover,” Bellew said.

Inventories had been expected to gain 1.4 million barrels, a Reuters poll showed. “The API report was mixed and will not help the market to move out of its current lethargy,” said independent oil analyst Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix. US distillate inventories, a fuel category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell by 2 million barrels versus an expected 1.7 million-barrel decrease. Gasoline stocks grew by 916,000 barrels, less than the 1.1-million gain forecast.

“The drop in imports and reduction of US Gulf crude stocks needs to be attributed to short-term weather delays and should translate into largerthan-expected builds in weeks to come,” Jakob said.

Traders on Wednesday await the release of government inventory statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at 1530 GMT. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

(ICBC), the country’s largest bank, said it had stopped rolling over some loans in order to slow credit growth after a surge at the start of the year.

In its mid-January report, the International Energy Agency pegged China’s 2009 oil demand growth at 572,000 barrels per day, a rise of 7.2 percent.

Analysts see the ICBC’s surprise loan curbs as prudent steps and conducive to sustainable growth.

“We expect refined fuel demand to increase around 7.5 percent from a year earlier...up from a rise of around 2.7 percent in 2009,” said Gong Jinshuang, a market researcher with top energy group CNPC. Lending curbs and steps by the central bank to mop up some of the cash sloshing around in the banking system have weighed on global investor sentiment, driving Chinese stocks to a threemonth low and also hitting overseas markets.

However, Chinese officials have made clear that they do not want to freeze lending, only to see banks lend more evenly to avoid the kind of surge that now seems to be occurring. —Reuters

SCHWAB: It is. And people are thinking much more why the fire happened. And such a reason why we have us seen rethinking, redesigning, and rebuilding. And when we talk about rethinking, we speak mainly about values. When we speak about redesigning, we speak about the systems, like the financial system. And rebuilding the institutions.

QUEST: Is there a danger that this year becomes a bit self congratulatory, that, “Well, we did very well. We looked into the financial abyss, but we didn’t fall over?”

SCHWAB: Not at all.

Because first, don’t forget it was the G20 heads of states and government which prevented the fall over. And the price for not being fallen over, still would have to be paid. And we see now, in terms of the debts of governments, in terms of fiscal pressures, and I think people are very concerned that the crisis will have a next phase which still has to be defined.

QUEST: The idea of rebuilding, redesigning, and rethinking-I sometimes wonder-it’s a nice slogan, but what does it mean? And for the participants

people can believe in short and long term. So reshaping this post crisis worldfreezing Davos is tackling a different climate. The forum’s founder Klaus Schwab joined me to discuss exactly how different it was from a year ago.

Klaus Schwab, founder WEF coming here is there a danger that it becomes grandiose, woolly talk?

SCHWAB: Why should it become grandiose, woolly talk when you have let’s say people who spent five days who come

from all stakeholder groups of global society, and they are all concerned. When I was talking to the people in advance of this meeting, you see the degree of concern which now prevails society, and I should say busi-

Kuwait’s exports to Japan surge 51.3% TOKYO: Japan’s trade deficit with Kuwait widened for the second straight month in December, with exports from Kuwait jumping more than 50 percent year-onyear, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.

Kuwait’s exports to the world’s second-largest economy grew 51.3 percent from a year earlier to JPY 11.59 billion ($129.3 million), while imports from Japan shrank 2.6 percent to JPY 1.85 billion ($20.6 million), the ministry said in a preliminary report.

As a result, Japan’s trade deficit with Kuwait soared 69.0 percent in December to JPY 9.74 billion ($108.7 million) from a year earlier, marking the red ink figure for the 23rd straight month. Japan is Kuwait’s top oil buyer with accounting for 20 percent of its total crude exports, while the nation is the third-biggest exporter to Kuwait after the US and Germany.

Japan’s trade deficit with the entire Middle East advanced 50.6 percent to JPY 817.91 billion ($9.12 billion). It’s Middle East-bound exports dropped 25.1 percent from a year earlier to JPY 212.23 billion ($2.37 billion), as demand of automobiles, steel and machinery, which accounted for 75.5 percent of Japan’s total exports to the region, declined. Shipments of vehicles to the Middle East fell 31.1 percent. December imports from the Middle East to Japan rose 24.6 percent to JPY 1. 030 trillion ($11.49 billion), buoyed by a 25.4 percent increase of crude oil and petroleum products, which accounted for 98.8 percent of Japan’s total imports from the area. However, shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell 31.2 percent. — KUNA

ness leaders, and government leaders.

QUEST: Because, sir, many of the banker who come here this year...

SCHWAB: Two hundred forty...

QUEST: ... come here on an orgy of bonuses, and-and of-and a systemic failure to reorganize a year after the crisis. That’s why people question it.

SCHWAB: Yes, but they still are coming. And they know this issue will come up very much on the agenda. So you see here a certain degree of openness, at least to discuss the issue.

QUEST: Do you fear of-with the bankers here, and who are coming this year-do you fear that they are going to use this as a lobbying tool against regulatory reform, whether it’s from the Obama administration, the British government or the European Union. They’re going to basically lobby for their own vested interest. Or is that a proper use of Davos?

SCHWAB: I think Davos is built on dialogue. Of course everybody will try to push his own interests. But at the end you become aware that it’s not only your interests that count, but there are other groups who have different interests. And if you can find under that in the process of interaction in Davosyour own point of view-I think then we have done a great achievement.

Kuwaiti-Sudanese commercial relations progress steadily KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti-Sudanese commercial relations developed enormously in the last few years, with an increase of Kuwaiti investments in Sudan by $6 billion, economic advisor of the Sudanese embassy in Kuwait, Omar Farajallah said here yesterday.

In a statement to KUNA, Farajallah said Kuwait and Sudan relations were strong and historical, adding that Kuwait was an important part of the Arab economic structure due to the fact that a number of Arab economic organizations’ headquarters were based in Kuwait.

Kuwait was amongst the biggest contributors to Sudanese economy and has several investments in the country, stated the official.

He stressed that Sudan was not affected by the global financial crisis, which attracted the Arab and Gulf investors,

considering that Kuwait is the top leading investor in Sudan in a number of corporations including Sudan Airways, Heglig Petroleum Services Company, Zain mobile telecommunications company, and Marwa dam for generating electricity energy, he noted. The Sudanese economic advisor said that called investors to invest in his country and benefit from the motivations and guarantees provided by the local investments law. Sudan is a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and a member in the Arab Investments Guarantee Corporation which reflects the strength of guarantees of the foreign investments in the country, he noted. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), played a great role in constructing Marwa dam, and Sudan’s while Nile sugar project. — KUNA

GE’s advanced ultrasound diagnostics applications at Arab Health 2010

BAGHDAD: Jiang Jiemin, Chairman and the General Manager of CNPC (left) and Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani, are seen during an oil deal signing ceremony, in Baghdad yesterday. Iraq and a consortium led by China’s National Petroleum Corp have signed a final accord to develop a prized southern oil field. — AP

DUBAI: The advanced ultrasound systems showcased by GE Healthcare, the healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), at Arab Health 2010, currently ongoing at the Dubai International Convention Centre, are tailored for improved image quality and data management.

GE’s LOGIQ E9 general imaging ultrasound system Breakthrough 2010 - one of the highlights at the premier healthcare exhibition - has new transducers and software enhancements to provide improved image quality and productivity to pediatric, vascular and cardiac imaging.

“The Breakthrough 2010 enhancements extend LOGIQ E9’s extraordinary imaging, expert tools and easy workflow

to more clinical specialties.

Innovative Agile Acoustic Architecture, E-Series transducers, expert tools like fusion and a new cardiac suite of tools combine to create amazing capabilities that are truly expanding the boundaries of ultrasound,” said Michael Stockhammer, GE Healthcare General Manager, General Imaging Ultrasound, EMEA. Seven new transducers are being introduced in this Breakthrough 2010 covering cardiac, vascular and pediatric applications. Vascular enhancements in this release include Auto IMT (intima media thickness) and Cardiac tools include Q-Analysis, Tissue Velocity Imaging, CW, ECG, Color MMode and more.

LOGIQ P6 Breakthrough -

The new features of the LOGIQ P6 general imaging system include enhancements to help improve image quality, workflow and sonographer comfort.

Continuing the tradition of migrating advanced feature sets throughout the GE ultrasound portfolio, this system now benefits from advanced image optimization algorithms that provide improved 2D image quality.

Venue 40 - The new Venue miniaturized ultrasound product line is the first new product validated under GE’s healthymagination initiative, which is focused on improving quality and efficiency, increasing access, and reducing costs. An intuitive touch screen interface makes Venue 40 easy to use and clean, especially for clinicians who use ultrasound to make

immediate care decisions, or guide procedures in Interventional Radiology.

Voluson E8 Breakthrough 2009 Voluson E8 Breakthrough 2009 includes innovative features to help provide improved workflow efficiencies, outstanding image quality, increased automation and improved speed for advanced imaging applications.

A significant architecture enhancement is the new Dynamic Rendering Engine which helps provide stunning next-generation 3D rendering.

This extensive Breakthrough can help clinicians stay on the forefront of women’s healthcare.

ViewPoint Breakthrough 2010 - Features to help increase efficiency and quality for practices of all sizes were introduced

for the ViewPoint Ultrasound Reporting and Image Management solution.

Highlights of Breakthrough 2010 include updates in vascular reporting as well as new thyroid reporting. Another new feature is Cluster Server Support, which enables users to run two separate servers at a time to help ensure greater availability and less downtime Arab Health, the Middle East’s premier healthcare expo is held from January 25 to 28, 2010. GE Healthcare is the Platinum Sponsor of the exhibition and the Commercial Gold supporter of three key conferences on Anesthesia, Molecular Imaging & Nuclear Medicine and Middle East Imaging and Diagnostics, being held on the sidelines of the event.

24

BUSINESS Chairman says company in better position than Sept 2009

Union Properties upbeat on 2010, to sell assets DUBAI: Dubai developer Union Properties expects 2010 to be better than last year as it completes and hands over projects, and will look to sell assets to help cover debts, its chairman said yesterday. The third-largest developer by

market value in the Gulf emirate, where property prices have tumbled by some 50 percent since their peaks, has been hit hard by the financial downturn heightening concerns over its debt position.

WASHINGTON: The first production Boeing 787 takes off on its inaugural flight at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The airplane maker and defense contractor said yesterday, it expects to earn $3.70 to $4 per share this year. — AP

Boeing cautious in outlook for 2010 MINNEAPOLIS: Boeing gave a cautious outlook for 2010 after dealing with program delays and declining orders in 2009.

The airplane maker and defense contractor said yesterday it expects to earn $3.70 to $4 per share this year. Wall Street analysts were expecting $4.26. Boeing says the guidance accounts for lower production of its 777 aircraft, some smaller defense programs, and “market risks.”

Airlines have struggled during the recession, and aircraft orders have fallen. The

International Air Transport Association said yesterday that airlines saw passenger demand drop 3.5 percent, the worst falloff the industry has recorded. Boeing posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.27 billion on Wednesday, reversing an $86 million loss from a year ago. The profit of $1.75 per share was ahead of analyst expectations and shares rose almost 3 percent in premarket trading. Quarterly revenue rose 42 percent to $17.94 billion.

Results in last year’s fourth quarter

were held down by a strike and a charge for delays of its new 747-8. Boeing said it plans to fly its new 747-8 “in the near future.” The new version of its 41-yearold plane is longer and can fly greater distances than its predecessors.

Its closest competitor is the larger Airbus A380. Demand for the A380 has been weak, though. Operating profits in Boeing’s defense unit fell 6 percent to $829 million. Revenue rose 6 percent to $8.55 billion. — AP

UAE bank First Gulf’s Q4 net profit up 27%

ALTOONA, Iowa: Caterpillar equipment is seen at the Ziegler CAT dealer in Altoona, Iowa. Caterpillar Inc, the world’s biggest mining and construction equipment company, said yesterday that its fourth-quarter profit was dragged down by the sluggish economy, though it expects 2010 sales and revenues to grow as much as 25 percent. — AP

Caterpillar Q4 profit falls; cautious outlook PEORIA: Caterpillar said yesterday that its fourth-quarter profit tumbled as its dealer inventories dwindled, the same reason the company expects sales and revenue to rebound this year.

Leading the way will be China and other developing countries where the world’s biggest mining and construction equipment company has seen an increasing share of its business go.

Though sales will pick up sharply next year, Caterpillar’s profit expectations for the year, about $2.50 per share, falls short of what many analysts were looking for. Company shares slid $1.56, nearly 3 percent, to $54.29 in premarket trading. It was the end of a terrible year for Caterpillar, which hadn’t seen sales and revenue slide so badly since the 1940s.

The company’s outlook could be yet another signal that a global economic rebound may be slow in coming, particularly for developed countries like the United States. Because of its size and scope, Caterpillar is considered a barometer of economic health across a broad spectrum of industries. The company said it expects a rougher time for North America, Europe and other developed regions during the recovery.

The company slashed more than 20,000 jobs last year as customers stopped buying equipment to ride out the recession with the inventory on hand. They can usually so only so long, and Caterpillar said it now expects sales and revenues will climb 10 percent to 25 percent from last year’s $32.4 billion. The company said dealers cut new machine inventories by more than $3.3 billion and new engine inventories by more than $600 million last year. Inventories now are more in line for the current economy and with huge job cuts from 2009, the company said it will be in a good position when the recession loosens its grip. “We expect 2010 will be a better year than 2009, and Caterpillar is in an excellent position to benefit from growth in the world economy,” Chairman and CEO Jim Owens said in a statement.

Caterpillar predicts the world economy will grow more than 3 percent this year, with interest rates staying low and demand for most commodities improving. Caterpillar’s earnings in the fourth quarter slid 65 percent to $232 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with $661 million, or $1.08 per share, a year ago. — AP

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s First Gulf Bank yesterday reported a fourth-quarter net profit of 855 million dirhams ($232.8 million), up 27 percent from a year earlier, beating analyst forecasts.

The lender, Abu Dhabi’s second-largest by market value, reported a full-year profit of 3.31 billion dirhams, an increase of 10 percent over the previous year. About 75 percent of the annual earnings were generated by the lender’s core banking business, a bank statement said.

“Our core banking businesses will undoubtedly continue to be of ultimate strategic importance to the Group,” Andre Sayegh, chief executive officer, said in the statement. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an average fourth-quarter profit of 681.6 million dirhams.

Revenues increased 31 percent, while expenditure decreased 5 percent, the statement said.

The bank’s board of directors recommended a dividend of 0.50 dirham per share.

“Throughout the year there were consistent signs of growth from the bank,” said Deepak Tolani, analyst at Al Mal Capital, which raised FGB to ‘outperform’ in December.

“Even with the heavy provisioning by the bank in the third quarter, it’s still a positive year because revenues were growing consistently.”

In November, FGB’s $500 million three-year bonds were said to be six times oversubscribed.

“FGB has been more conservative ... they benefited from primarily being based in Abu Dhabi and having a relatively small exposure to Dubai and even outside,” said Murad Ansari, banking analyst at EFG Hermes. — Reuters

“I am very positive about 2010 because there is a major project in the DIFC that will be completed, a Ritz Carlton tower that will be handed over to investors around May ... and the company will book profits on this,” Khalid bin Kalban told Reuters in an interview.

“We are in a much better position than three months ago ... From a liquidity point of view, debt rescheduling, and cash, we are in a much better position,” he said.

Kalban said the firm’s 6.5 billion dirham ($1.77 billion) debt position, which it was due to begin paying back in 2010, is now due in 2011.The first payment is about 700 million dirhams.

Its shares tumbled 5.6 percent yesterday closing at their lowest level since February after hitting a 7-year intraday low, and extended losses after Credit Suisse slashed its price target on the stock to 0.03 dirhams from 0.80 dirhams on Monday. The index ended 0.6 percent higher.

Credit Suisse said even if Union Properties overcame its current liquidity squeeze, there would not be much equity value left after meeting its debt obligations.

Kalban told Reuters he expected the firm’s fourthquarter operating profit to be about 200 million dirhams before taking provisions and full-year about 450 million dirhams.

“Union Properties’ liquidity issues are a big concern,” said Samer Al-Jaouni, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co in Dubai. “There is uncertainty over whether a third party can come in help the company and it’s a very difficult environment in which to find financing. The stock will be under big pressure for the coming days.”

The property developer, which rivals Emaar Properties and Deyaar fell into the red in the last two quarters. Kalban said the firm is finalizing the sale of two large supermarkets in Dubai worth in total about 150 million dirhams. The firm, which last year suspended its Formula One theme park, is also in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in its subsidiary, Emirates District Cooling (Emicool).

He told Al-Arabiya television earlier yesterday the company was in a “good” financial position with regard to operating revenue and will focus on the speedy delivery of units to its customers.

Kalban said some shareholders of Union Properties and rival developer Deyaar had discussed a possible merger but with no outcome, although this had not been discussed at board level. — Reuters

Thursday, January 28, 2010

MNSS assures its customers KUWAIT: In response to the published news, that Toyota would halt temporarily the production of the some models at plants in the US and Canada in the first week of February: “The recall is only a part of the Toyota production policy, that insures no matter how minor an issue is, still Toyota will take drastic majors and steps up to take responsibility, and that’s what made Toyota the number one automotive company worldwide in terms of customer’s confidence and satisfaction” said Mr. Mubarak CEO MNSS, exclusive dealers for Toyota in Kuwait, as he assures MNSS customers in Kuwait.

“So far, we have not received any directive from Toyota regarding recalls in the GCC or the region. Based, on the published information, we know that this pedal issue is a rare case situation and happened in cold countries, and had no damage to any of Toyota drivers. Additionally, all our cars comply with GCC quality standards” he added. “However, this is a customer-driven move by Toyota, and clearly defines the transparency policy of the brand, and incase it was found that some models that have limited sales in the region might be recalled, we at MNSS assure our customers that we will comply with the high quality standards set for their satisfaction, and in turn we shall guarantee our cus-

tomers that full implementation of such decision will take place immediately”.

Whether this issue will affect models in the GCC, Mubarak said the fact that certain models available in Kuwait and the US doesn’t make them the same because each region would have its own parts supply and specs. GCC specs are different from the US and hence sometimes what applies to the US doesn’t apply to our region”.

He added “in this instance, a small limited number of vehicles might be affected, but we are waiting from TMC to confirm this especially our region is a hot region unlike Canada and the United states. Upon this confirmation, we will contact our customers and fix this issue. In the mean time, we assure all Toyota drivers that there is nothing to worry about and they can continue enjoying driving their Toyota’s.

Mubarak re-iterated Alsayer Group commitment to customer safety and transparency and assures all their customers that they will never compromise their safety at any cost.

In spite of the fact that suspending production and sales could have a big impact on TMC depending on how long it lasts, yet TMC takes every possible measure to insure that customer confidence is intact.

WASHINGTON: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (right) is pictured with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis before President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announce economic initiatives for struggling middle class families. — AP

Geithner says he acted properly in AIG bailout WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers yesterday he acted properly in the 2008 bailout of AIG and the subsequent disclosure of payouts from the insurance giant to major banks. Geithner, facing increasing heat over his role in the bailout when he was president of the New York Federal Reserve, said the actions were aimed at financial stability and that authorities “did not act to help foreign banks.”

“Congress granted the Federal Reserve emergency authority precisely so that the government had some capacity to act to contain a systemic financial crisis,” he said in testimony prepared for delivery to a congressional panel. “Not to have used that authority at that time would have been deeply irresponsible.”

Geithner also maintained that he was not involved in a decision to withhold information about AIG’s payouts that some have called a “backdoor bailout” of those firms including Goldman Sachs and a number of foreign banks. “I had no role in making decisions regarding what to disclose about the specific financial terms of... payments to AIGs counterparties,” he said.

Overall, Geithner offered an impassioned defense of the role of the central bank and other authorities to rescue AIG in the face of what appeared to be a financial system meltdown in September 2008. “We did not act because AIG asked for assistance,” he said.

“We did not act to protect the financial interests of individual institutions. We did not act to help foreign banks. We

acted because the consequences of AIG failing at that time, in those circumstances, would have been catastrophic for our economy and for American families and businesses.”

Geithner’s remarks were prepared for delivery to the House of Representatives Government Oversight Committee on his role-when he was president of the New York Federal Reserve-in the controversial AIG bailout.

The Fed provided a loan of $85 billion to AIG in September 2008 in what would be the first portion of a staggering bailout worth some $180 billion.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, who has also taken heat over AIG and his economic stewardship, has welcomed congressional efforts to look into the AIG bailout. — AFP

Siemens to stop doing business in Iran FRANKFURT: German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG will stop doing business in Iran by the middle of 2010, the company said yesterday, as international pressure grows to isolate the country over its disputed nuclear program.

Siemens CEO Peter Loescher made the announcement at the annual shareholders’ meeting in Munich yesterday, but spokesman Wolfram Trost said the decision had been made already in October.

“We will not accept any new contracts from Iran after

the middle of this year,” Trost said yesterday, noting the decision “reflected the country’s situation globally.” The company has come under fire from Western nations, including Germany and the United States, for continuing to do business in Iran, whose government they say is developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists the program is for civilian uses only.

Trost said Siemens’ business with customers in Iran amounted to about §500 million ($700 million), or about

0.7 percent of the company’s total revenue in fiscal 2009.

“Our activities in Iran are only civil projects; we’re not involved in any weapons or nuclear programs. We are in the field of infrastructure, energy and health care there,” he said.

Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, praised the move as a “courageous decision” and said he hoped other European companies would follow suit. “We need a coalition of responsible companies

that recognize the threat posed by Iran,” he said in a statement.

Before Tuesday, Michael Spaney, a spokesman for the activist group Stop the Bomb, said it would continue to demand that Siemens stop its trade with Iran. “Iran business deals support directly the Iranian regime, undermine international efforts for sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program and is a stab in the back for Iran’s freedom movement,” Spaney said in a statement. — AP

Oleg Deripaska (right), CEO of UC Rusal, talks to reporters at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange during the debut of the company in Hong Kong yesterday. Shares of Russian aluminum giant UC Rusal slipped in their first day of Hong Kong trade yesterday following a $2.2 billion initial public offering clouded by concerns over the company’s massive debts. — AP

BUSINESS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Global economic crisis also values crisis: Davos poll PARIS: Two-thirds of people around the world think the global economic crisis is also a crisis of ethical values that calls for more honesty, transparency and respect for others, according to a World Economic Forum poll.

Almost as many name business as the sector that should stress values more to foster a better world, said the poll for the Forum’s annual Davos summit that opened yesterday. Only 12.9 percent of the 130,000 people polled said businesses were primarily accountable to their shareholders.

Another 18.2 percent said clients and customers, 22.9 percent named employees and 46 percent cited all of them equally.

“The poll results point to a trust deficit regarding values in the business

world,” the Forum said in a statement.

“Only one-quarter of respondents believe that large multinational businesses apply a values-driven approach to their sectors.” The poll was conducted through Facebook in France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.

A large majority of 67.8 percent said the current global economic crisis was “also a crisis of ethics and values.”

Only 62.4 percent of younger respondents aged 18-23 agreed here but the total jumped to 78.6 percent for those over 30 years old.

The highest “yes” votes came in Mexico (80.1 percent), South Africa (77.4 percent), Indonesia (72.8 percent) and the United States (70.7 per-

cent). France was lowest at 60.3 percent.

Only 19 percent of total responses thought faulty ethics played no role in the current economic crisis, according to the poll that can be downloaded at http//www.weforum.org/faith.

Sixty percent said businesses large and small should stress values more, compared to 23 percent for politics and 16.1 percent for global institutions.

Asked which values were most important in the global political and economic system, 39.3 percent said honesty, integrity and transparency, 23.7 percent chose respecting others, 19.9 percent said considering the impact of actions on others and 17 percent said preserving the environment.

The survey showed several varia-

tions according to countries. “Religion and faith are most likely to drive values in the United States, Saudi Arabia and South Africa,” it said.

France and Germany are way ahead of others in saying firms are primarily accountable to their employees, while Israelis led both among those who said businesses were most accountable to shareholders and among those saying to clients and customers.

While two-thirds of respondents saw an ethical crisis, only 54.2 percent believed that universal values-a possible basis for a more moral approach to business-actually exist.

Among rich nations, Germany was far ahead (64.9 percent) of the United States (49.9 percent) and France (37.6 percent) here. — Reuters

President to push populist themes like curbing Wall Street

DAVOS: A general view taken through barbed wire shows the Alpine resort of Davos yetserday one day before the opening of the 40th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF in Davos. — AP

S Africa inflation jumps but rate cut still possible JOHANNESBURG: South African consumer inflation shot above the central bank’s target range in December but is expected to ease in the next few months, raising the chance of another interest rate cut.

Consumer price inflation (CPI) rose to 6.3 percent from a 5.8 percent year-on-year increase in November, according to data released by Statistics South Africa yesterday, exceeding the South African Reserve Bank’s 3 to 6 percent target range. However it was slightly below forecasts and was distorted by a base effect, analysts said.

“It was mainly influenced by technical factors and we expect it to return below the targetrange in March. It also underscores yesterday’s decision to leave interest rates unmoved,” said Ronel Oberholzer, senior economist at IHSGlobal Insight.

The rand was slightly firmer after the data was released while government bonds strengthened, with the 2015 yield extending its fall to 8.475 percent, a drop of 9 basis points for the session. The central bank left the repo rate at 7.0 percent on Tuesday, saying inflation risks were balanced and predicted CPI would be outside the band but would retreat in March.

Andre Roux, head of fixed income at Investec Asset Management, said the inflation data pointed to a rate cut in March to bolster a slowly recovering economy.

“The Reserve Bank has a more cautious inflation forecast than this, so a good number

like the one we had today means that they will have to revise their forecast down, thus raising the prospects of a rate cut in March,” he said.

The central bank had forecast 6.5 percent inflation in December, just above economists’ forecasts of 6.4 percent.

On a monthly basis, December’s CPI stood at 0.3 percent after remaining flat in November but the data is not seasonally adjusted. It was below forecasts for a rise to 0.4 percent.

The statistics agency said inflation averaged 7.1 percent last year, having eased back into the 3 to 6 percent target range in October, for the first time in 2-1/2 years. The central bank warned on Tuesday, though, that expected big increases in power prices posed a risk to the outlook. South African power utility Eskom has asked for tariff increases of 35 percent a year over the next three years.

The central bank slashed interest rates by 5 percentage points between December 2008 and August 2009 to help stimulate an economy that was languishing in its first recession since 1992.

After a split decision to leave rates flat on Tuesday, central bank Governor Gill Marcus did not rule out another interest rate cut. Although the economy grew in the third quarter, consumers remain restrained due to high debt levels and the effects of a million job losses during the recession.

Labor federation COSATU-an influential ally of the ruling ANC-has demanded more rate cuts to help boost domestic demand. — Reuters

Canon’s Q4 profit surges on brisk camera sales TOKYO: Canon’s fourth quarter net profit soared more than fivefold from a year earlier, as global stimulus measures helped drive demand for new cameras. The camera and office equipment maker said yesterday its net profit for the October-December quarter totaled 61.56 billion yen ($669 million), up from 11.62 billion yen last year.

It forecast sales and profit for 2010 to grow on an annual basis for the first time in three years as the global economy recovers. Operating profit for the quarter more than doubled to 92.13 billion yen ($1 billion) from 35.83 billion yen, while sales fell 4 percent to 954.06 billion yen ($10.4 billion).

The Tokyo-based company credited growing sales of its profitable digital single-lens reflex cameras, which offset lackluster demand for its printers and copy machines.

Governments around the world have pumped their economies with cash and consumer incentives to spur household spending. In Japan, for example, families received cash handouts last spring as well as incentives to buy eco-friendly appliances.

For 2009, Canon Inc. posted a 57 percent fall in net profit to 131.65 billion yen ($1.4 billion) on 22 percent lower revenue of 3.21 trillion yen ($34.9 billion).

Operating profit declined 56 percent to 217.06 billion yen ($2.4 billion).

Canon blamed the global downturn and a stronger yen for weighing on its full-year earnings. Then yen averaged 93.21 to the dollar during the year, up about 10 percent, the company said.

It expects conditions to keep improving as the global recovery strengthens, and projects sales and profit to expand for

the first time in three years.

“Although China and emerging nations with significantly expanding economies are expected to continue enjoying steady growth, deteriorating employment conditions and other factors make it difficult to predict the economic prospects for developed countries even though they are projected to realize positive growth,” the

company said in its earnings report.

It forecast net profit to rise 52 percent to 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion) on 8 percent higher sales of 3.45 trillion yen ($37.5 billion). Unlike many Japanese companies, Canon’s fiscal year matches the calendar year. The company reports earnings under US accounting rules. — AP

TOKYO: A man walks by a Canon digital camera sales counter at a store in Tokyo yesterday.

Canon’s fourth quarter net profit soared more than fivefold from a year earlier, as global stimulus measures helped drive demand for new cameras. — AP

Obama to recast agenda to focus on jobs, deficit WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will vow to revive US job growth and tame soaring budget deficits in an address yesterday that will recast his agenda after his worst political setback since taking office a year ago.

Obama’s annual State of the Union address to Congress follows the loss by The speech will also reflect a starkly new political reality for Obama, who promised to bring wholesale change to Washington but now must pick up the pieces of a legislative agenda left in tatters by the Massachusetts loss.

Obama must chart a course for his drive to overhaul the healthcare system, which is imperiled now that Democrats now longer hold a “supermajority” of 60 votes in the Senate that would overcome Republican procedural hurdles.

“The big mystery to me is, what on earth does he say about healthcare?” said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He noted that Obama has sent mixed signals about whether he wanted to try to salvage the sweeping legislation or seek a scaled-back bill.

Another priority, setting caps on carbon emissions to fight climate change, is expected to be pushed aside for now, though Obama will still discuss it in his speech.

The healthcare and climate bills dominated Obama’s domestic agenda for much of last year.

This year, when congressional elections loom in November and many of Obama’s Democratic allies fear losing their seats, he will emphasize on job creation, fiscal restraint and tighter financial regulations. Obama will highlight economic improvement and try to dispel the idea that the healthcare push shifted his focus. The economy was shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month when Obama took office but it has begun to slowly grow again, though unemployment remains stubbornly high at 10 percent.

Countering Republican efforts to paint him as a big spender, Obama is expected to propose a three-year freeze on many domestic spending programs and outline other measures to rein in the US budget deficit. The spending freeze will not be applied across the board.

For example, education will see a 6.2 percent increase this year.

Obama will also call for the creation of a bipartisan panel to recommend how to rein in the deficit, which soared to $1.4 trillion in the 2009 fiscal year.

The deficit is forecast at $1.35 trillion in 2010, near its highest levels as a percentage of gross domestic product since World War Two, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

In a symbolic gesture, Obama will also call for freezing salaries of senior White House officials and other political appointees for a savings of $4 million in fiscal 2011, according to a senior administration official. White House aides have played down the idea of “rebooting” the Obama presidency, but experts said a course correction is imperative if the president intends to help his party avoid crushing losses in November’s congressional elections. “It would be political malpractice not to adjust to changing circumstances,” said William Galston, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. — Reuters

his Democratic party of a pivotal US Senate seat in Massachusetts. His feistier side is likely to be on display as he emphasizes populist themes like slapping new curbs on Wall Street and offering tax credits to struggling middle-class families.

NEW YORK: Specialist Robert Tuccillo (right) directs trades at the post that handles Cablevision Systems Corp. and Madison Square Garden, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. —AP

Sentance says BOE may find it hard to keep CPI on target LONDON: The Bank of England may find it difficult to keep inflation on target as long as import and services prices keep rising strongly, Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance said yesterday.

In a speech in London, Sentance said that the economy was facing opposing pressures which the BoE would have to consider when it updated its forecasts for next month’s Inflation Report.

“If the headwinds from the financial crisis and the consolidation of public finances dominate the outlook, the balance of risks to inflation are likely to be to the downside,” he said, according to the text of his remarks.

“But if the tailwind from the global economy, a competitive exchange rate and a recovery in confidence are felt more strongly, then the margin of spare capacity could be eroded more quickly. In that scenario, there will be more upward pressure on infla-

tion.”

Gilt futures edged lower after the comments as markets interpreted them as relatively hawkish, though most analysts expect the BoE will not start raising rates until much later in the year.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess which of the two outcomes this MPC member favours,” said Alan Clarke economist at BNP Paribas. Speaking a day after figures showed that the British economy crawled out of an 18-month long recession in the last three months of 2009, Sentance said that he did not think a double-dip was likely but noted that the pace of recovery was highly uncertain.

“The pace of any tightening of monetary policy will depend very much on the recovery,” he said in a question and answer session after his speech.

In his speech, Sentance also said fiscal

policy could be tightened more aggressively after the election or the record budget deficit could act as a bigger drag on the economy.

He said that inflation-which hit 2.9 percent in December, well above the 2 percent target-was likely to rise further in the first few months of the year and while the BOE had predicted this would be temporary, there was now a lot of uncertainty about the outlook.

“While the resilience of inflation is most likely due to the impact of rising import prices, that is not the only possible explanation. Business surveys suggest that the margin of spare capacity within firms is not as high as we might expect,” he said.

“At the same time, the increase in unemployment we have seen so far over the recession is considerably less than in the last two major recessions.” — Reuters

ECB chief Trichet backs US bank plan: Report FRANKFURT: European Central Bank President JeanClaude Trichet has offered support for a US plan to limit the size and scope of large banks but stressed the need for global coordination, a report said yesterday.

Trichet also urged US lawmakers to confirm Ben Bernanke for another term as Federal Reserve chairman, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bank-reform plans outlined by the White House last week “go in the same direction of our own position, namely ensuring that the banking sector focuses on financing the real economy”, Trichet told the newspaper.

Under US President Barack Obama’s plan, limits would be placed on the market share of the largest US financial firms and proprietary trading by banks restricted.

European countries including Germany and France have pushed for international con-

sensus on a new regulatory framework for the banking system.

The ECB was “examining (the Obama proposals) with great care,” Trichet said according to the report, amid

concerns over whether influential euro-zone members Germany and France would approve measures that would limit their own banks, Deutsche Bank AG and BNP Paribas SA. Trichet, who

arrived yesterday for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, also called on bankers to remember their role in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, the report said. — AFP

NEW DELHI: An Indian rickshaw-puller transports empty drums in New Delhi yesterday. India’s wholesale inflation rose sharply in December, data showed in mid-January 2010, bolstering market expectations of monetary tightening by the central bank when it meets later this month. — AFP

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BUSINESS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Poised for recovery, US economy lurches forward CHICAGO: Americans are feeling better about the economy, home prices are on the rise and companies are forecasting a brighter 2010.

While no one doubts the economy has a long way to go to come back from the punishing recession, the reports Tuesday were signs of progress for a recovery that has proceeded in fits and starts.

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction,” said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody’s Economy.com. “But on the other hand, we’re moving there from a very low point. And we’re still at a very low point.” Consumer confidence rose in January for the third straight month, the Conference Board said Tuesday. People said they felt better about the economy and were more willing to buy

big-ticket items like cars and refrigerators.

The group’s consumer confidence index now stands at its highest level since the financial meltdown in September 2008. But at 55.9, it’s a far cry from readings of 90 or higher that indicate an economy on solid footing.

Consumer sentiment, a gauge of Americans’ willingness to spend money on everything from Valentine’s cards to vacations, is closely watched by experts because personal spending fuels 70 percent of the US economy.

“Confidence remains incredibly depressed,” Capital Economics analyst Paul Dales wrote in a research note. “This all suggests the legacy of the recession will live long in the mindset of consumers.” Still, there are unmistakable signs of progress. Home prices rose slightly in November, the sixth straight month of increases, according to Standard &

Poor’s and Case-Shiller. Fourteen of the 20 cities in their survey notched gains from October to November. Rising prices are important to the economic recovery because they make homeowners feel wealthier and lead them to spend more money.

Corporate America appears more optimistic these days, too. Delta Air Lines said Tuesday demand for business travel is picking up. Johnson & Johnson says more people are buying its Aveeno and Neutrogena skincare products. Yahoo Inc says online advertising is finally beginning to snap out of its yearlong slump.

Apple recorded its most profitable quarter ever, selling twice as many iPhones from October to December than it did before and one-third more Macintosh computers. And Corning says its quarterly profit almost

tripled on surging sales of glass for flatscreen televisions and computers. Auto sales, which suffered a terrible year in 2009, are expected to climb in 2010. That means brighter outlooks for industries that supply chemicals for paint and steel for frames and ship cars and trucks around the US It’s all encouraging news to people like Steve Rynish, who, for the first time in weeks, decided on Tuesday to go out for lunch. The insurance claims adjustor reined in his spending in the downturn, taking his own home-made lunch to the office sometimes five days a week. His health insurance premiums are rising and his 401(k) tax-deferred retirement account is still shrunken, but Rynish says he sees signs the picture is improving. “It feels like things have reached a point and they’re hanging there,” said

Rynish, 54, of Milwaukee, who stopped by a TJMaxx store to pick up a rug for his house on his way to grab a bite. “I’d like to see more people back to work.” It’s those fears — about job security more than anything — that may prevent a more vigorous recovery. In December, unemployment lingered at 10 percent, just shy of the 26-year high reached in October. And many experts expect that figure to worsen before improving later this year.

“The most important thing to consumers is the availability of jobs,” said Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner. “And on that front there has been very little progress.” People who feel more secure about their jobs feel more comfortable spending money, fueling the nation’s economic engine. To sustain a strong rebound, the economy will need people to spend more and companies to hire

more. Most economists predict the nation’s economic growth strengthened in the October-December quarter, to an annual pace of 4.5 to 5 percent. The government’s first estimate of the gross domestic product for the fourth quarter comes Friday.

Much of the growth probably came from government efforts to support the housing industry and broader economy, as well as rebuilding of inventories by manufacturers.

As that activity fades, growth is expected to slow in the first half of this year. Even though the economy continues to lose more jobs that it gains, Zane Laing of Portland, Oregon, said she’s still feeling rosier. She’s seeing more customers buying clothes at the Gap store where she works. “It’s inspiring me personally,” the 31-year-old said. “I feel like I’m OK in my job.” — AP

US-bound shipments continue to decline

Japan’s exports grow for first time in 15 months TOKYO: Japan’s exports grew for the first time in 15 months in December as robust Asian demand fueled recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Exports jumped 12.1 percent from a year earlier to 5.4 trillion yen ($60 bil-

lion) in the month, the finance ministry said yesterday. Asia-bound exports, which account for more than 50 percent of Japan’s total shipments, surged 31.2 percent to 3.0 trillion yen, the ministry said.

TOKYO: Automobiles for export park at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo yesterday. Japan’s exports grew for the first time in 15 months in December as robust Asian demand fueled recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy. — AP

Spain’s BBVA bank says net profit fell in 2009 MADRID: Spain’s second largest bank, BBVA, reported yesterday a drop in net profit in 2009 with a 94 percent fall in fourth-quarter profits as it set aside more money for bad loans due to the recession.

Net profit fell to 31 million euros in the fourth quarter compared to 519 million euros a year earlier as the bank set aside 1.05 billion euros ($1.47 billion) in provisions, BBVA said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast net profit for the period of 1.07 billion euros and the worse-than-expected results caused shares in BBVA and other Spanish banks to fall.

For the full year, the bank said net profit dropped by 16.1 percent to 4.21 billion euros. BBVA booked 5.47 billion euros in provisions for the full year, an increase of 86.1 percent over 2008.

“This demonstrates the substantial efforts made in loan-loss provisioning.

This was particularly high in the last quarter owing to a detailed analysis of the group’s more problematic portfolios which allowed for the anticipation of the possible effects of the current outlook for the year 2010,” it said.

Bad loans as a proportion of total lending climbed to 4.3 percent at the end of December from 2.3 percent a year ago and from 3.4 percent at the end of September. The group is strug-

gling with an economic recession in Spain, brought about by a collapse of the country’s once booming property market which has led many developers and homeowners to struggle to meet their loan payments.

The Spanish economy, the fifth largest in Europe, contracted 0.3 percent in the third quarter, its fifth straight quarterly decline, even as the entire euro-zone officially joined the United States and Japan in emerging from recession during the same period.

The downturn has sent the unemployment rate soaring to nearly 20 percent, the second-highest rate in the 27-nation European Union after Latvia. —AFP

Japan’s exports to China soared 42.8 percent to 1.1 trillion yen on brisk sales of cars, plastics and organic chemicals. The results underscore the rising importance of emerging Asian economies in Japan’s struggle to sustain growth.

The country has emerged from its worst recession since World War II but its prospects are threatened by deflation, a resurgent yen and persistently weak domestic demand.

“Asia is driving this improvement,” said Goldman Sachs economist Chiwoong Lee. Goods of all types — from machinery to electronics - are benefiting, he said.

China last year surpassed the US to become Japan’s biggest export market for the first time since comparable figures became available in 1979.

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday cited Asia’s rapid growth in narrowing its forecast for economic contraction this year. It now projects gross domestic to fall 2.5 percent this fiscal year through March, better than its previous prediction of a 3.2 percent decline.

On the deflation front, however, the central bank expects prices to keep falling for another couple of years. It pledged to maintain an extremely easy monetary policy to help boost prices.

A resurgent yen also poses a vexing problem for the country’s exporters. A strong yen reduces their international competitiveness and erodes the value of overseas earnings. The Japanese currency has gained about 3 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year. Exports to the European Union increased 1.4 percent to 641.3 billion yen, up for the first time in 17 months. US-bound shipments, however, continued to decline, down 7.6 percent to 832.7 billion yen. Imports in December fell 5.5 percent to 4.9 trillion yen, leading to a trade surplus of 545.3 billion yen, the ministry said.

For the 2009 calendar year, exports tumbled 33 percent to 54.18 trillion yen, while imports plunged 35 percent to 51.37 trillion yen, according to the ministry. — AP

SEOUL: A street vendor warms herself while waiting for customers in Seoul yesterday. South Korea’s economic growth slowed in the final three months of 2009 on weakness in manufacturing, construction and exports, a sign that the country’s vigorous recovery from the depths of the global meltdown a year ago is losing steam. — AP

S Korea’s current account surplus hits record high SEOUL: South Korea’s current account surplus swelled to a record high in 2009, a big turnaround from a deficit the year before when foreign investors fled the country.

The country’s broadest measure of trade and investment ended $42.67 billion in the black last year, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. The figure was an all-time high, said BOK statistics official Kim Sung-hwan. South Korea had recorded a deficit of $5.78 billion in 2008, the first dip into the red in the current account since a shortfall of $8.29 billion in 1997 when the country was hit by the Asian financial crisis. Investors in the country’s stock market had been withdrawing funds from South Korea as the world economy slowed during 2008. The global financial crisis later in the year added to the capital flight. Propelling the turnaround in 2009 was a substantial widening in South Korea’s goods trade surplus from $5.67 billion in 2008 to $56.13 billion last year, the central bank said in a statement.

Also, the capital and financial account recorded a net inflow in 2009 of $26.45 billion, a big reversal from the previous year’s net outflow of $50.08 billion, according to the BOK. South Korea’s benchmark stock index slumped 40.7 percent in 2008 as foreign investors sold shares at a record pace. They returned in force in 2009, however, and the stock market surged 49.7 percent. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy, which oversees commerce, reported earlier this

month that South Korea’s trade surplus hit an alltime high in 2009 of $41 billion. Trade recovered from a deficit of $13 billion in 2008, also the country’s first since 1997.

The current account statistics came a day after the Bank of Korea announced that South Korea’s economic growth sputtered to a near halt in the final three months of 2009 following vigorous expansions the previous two quarters as exports and consumer spending shrank. Gross domestic product grew 0.2 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 compared with the previous quarter, the central bank said Tuesday. GDP had expanded 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the strongest performance in more than seven years.

Economists shrugged off the latest number largely as a necessary correction and said South Korea — Asia’s fourth-largest economy — is likely to grow close to 5 percent this year from 2009’s 0.2 percent annual gain. Kwon Goohoon, economist at Goldman Sachs in Seoul, said the economy is expected to grow 4.8 percent in 2010 on strong exports, a recovery in capital spending and restocking of inventories.

“We expect sustained global economic growth to help boost demand for Korean exports,” he wrote in a report Tuesday. He also said that the weaker-than-expected economic growth in the fourth quarter means that the central bank will not raise its key interest rate from a record low 2 percent until the third quarter. — AP

Airlines suffered record traffic drop in 2009: IATA

HONG KONG: A trader looks up at the Stock Exchange in Hong Kong yesterday. Hong Kong shares were 0.54 percent higher by the break as dealers picked up bargains following five straight days of losses. — AFP

GENEVA: International airlines suffered their biggest decline in traffic since 1945 last year as passenger demand fell 3.5 percent, the International Air Transport Association said yesterday.

Freight also fell, by 10.1 percent, as “full-year 2009 demand statistics for international scheduled air traffic ... showed the industry ending 2009 with the largest ever post-war decline,” IATA said in a statement. “In terms of demand, 2009 goes into the history books as the worst year the industry has ever seen,” said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the world’s biggest airlines’ association.

“We have permanently lost 2.5 years of growth in passenger markets and 3.5 years of growth in the freight business,” he added.

Passenger traffic had improved in the final months of 2009, after a slump triggered by the financial and economic crisis. In December, passenger traffic increased by 4.5 percent in December compared to the same month the previous year, and by 1.6 percent over

November, latest IATA data showed. While airlines had continued to cut capacity and flights, yields were still five to 10 percent below 2008 levels by the end of last year.

IATA predicted a slow recovery for cash-strapped carriers.

“Revenue improvements will be at a much slower pace than the demand growth that we are starting to see,” said Bisignani. “Profitability will be even slower to recover and airlines will lose an expected $5.6 billion in 2010,” she added.

The industry association warned last month that airlines faced another turbulent year after they racked up an estimated 11 billion dollars in losses in 2009 despite a recovery in passenger traffic.

“We are ending an Annus Horribilis that rings to a close the 10 challenging years of an aviation Decennus Horribilis,” Bisignani told journalists last month.

IATA represents some 230 carriers that account for more than 90 percent of scheduled air traffic, but does not include most of the budget airlines. — AFP

BUCHAREST: IMF mission chief Jeffrey Franks addresses the media during a press conference in Bucharest yesterday. — AFP

IMF, EU to resume crisis aid to Romania BUCHAREST: The International Monetary Fund and European Union announced yesterday they will resume crisis aid to Romania, two weeks after the recession-hit country passed an austerity budget.

“We are pleased to announce we have successfully completed discussions on review of (our) joint support programme,” IMF mission chief Jeffrey Franks told reporters in Bucharest.

“We will present to the executive board in February a document allowing to proceed with next disbursements which will

combine second and third tranches”, he added.

The IMF will unblock 2.3 billion euros in February while the EU will unlock one billion euros ($1.4 billion) in March. In November, the IMF, EU and World Bank had put on hold any new disbursement of their 20billion-euro rescue package amid a political crisis that paralyzed the Balkan country.

The move had come as a severe blow for Romania whose economy is expected to shrink by seven percent in 2009 after 10 years of growth. However,

the formation of a stable centreright government at the end of December and the approval of an austerity budget mid-January, based on a 5.9 percent public deficit (compared to 7.3 percent in 2009) cleared the way for resuming disbursements, according to IMF and EU officials. European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia commended “the Romanian authorities and the Romanian people for the efforts made during this global crisis to limit the deterioration of the budget deficit”. — AFP

Thursday, January 28, 2010

TECHNOLOGY

27

Apple tying content delivery to devices

Dying news media may seek salvation in Apple tablet SAN FRANCISCO: Struggling US newspapers and magazines may seek Internet Age resurrection in a so-called “Jesus tablet”-a computer expected to grab the spotlight yesterday at a much anticipated Apple event here. A notebook-sized version of an iPod Touch that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is expected to show the world could try to do for newspapers what iTunes did for music and what the App Store did for mini-programs for

Harry Stewart, 13, plays a video game while he exercises on a treadmill in the basement of his home in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010.

Smart phones, MP3 players, laptops and other devices are the air kids breathe — perhaps too deeply, judging from a new study that shows children ages 8 to 18 devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes a day consuming some form of media for fun. — AP

Technology use up with kids; parents losing ground Like many working parents, Beverly Flaxington armed her daughter with a cell phone in fifth grade , about 11 years old , when the time came for her to venture out alone. At first, it was a great way to stay in touch. That was then.

Now 13, Samantha’s grades have slipped drastically, and she is obsessed with texting, Facebook and her laptop, sometimes falling asleep in her clothes clutching her phone. When her texting exceeded 2,000 messages a day, her parents shut off the function from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on school nights, and Sam “just went nuts.” “She slammed doors. She accused us of being overly conservative when all of her friends are able to do things at night,” said the mom in Walpole, Massachusetts.

“She didn’t speak to me for three days. She broke things. You’re left with the choice of do I make her a leper because she’s not a part of this or do I just spend all of my time fighting.” Smart phones, MP3 players, laptops and other devices are the air kids breathe, perhaps too deeply, judging from a study that shows children ages 8 to 18 devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes a day consuming some form of media for fun. That’s an hour and 17 minutes more than they did five years ago, said the study’s sponsor, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. And today’s children are champion multitaskers, packing content on top of content for an even heavier onslaught.

“This is a game changer,” co-author Donald Roberts said during a panel discussion when the survey of 2,002 young people was released Wednesday. “We’re really close to kids being online 24/7.” Children, the survey showed, now spend more time listening to music, playing games and watching TV on their cell phones than talking on them. Perhaps more surprising: Only about three in 10 said their parents have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV or playing video games.

Not all parents consider all that time spent on

technology a bad thing. Craig Kaminer’s 19-yearold and 16-year-old boys have laptops, high-speed Internet connections, Xbox, HDTV, iPhones, video chat, iPods, GPSes, DirectTV with DVR, Kindles and digital cameras.

“They’re connected to the Internet, each other and us from the second they wake up until they go to sleep,” said Kaminer, of St Louis, Missouri. “In general, they’re very grounded and handle the balance well.” Others, though, find balance elusive.

Things changed for Betsy Tant in Knoxville, Tennessee, when her 11-year-old daughter received an iTouch for Christmas. “She’s obsessed with it all of a sudden,” said Tant, 40.

“That really caught me off guard. She’s had a computer for a while, but now she wants to check her e-mail all the time. We’ve had to set limits.” Tant considers herself an exception in the limit-setting department, refusing to provide her daughter text service, for instance. Many parents she knows don’t bother. “It gets them out of their hair, I think,” she said. With so much temptation, Internet-equipped mobile devices, better home connectivity, video gaming online and off, social media and TV-like content on any device, many parents say schoolwork is suffering. The researchers warned that further study is required to link media use with any impact on the health of young people or their grades. But 47 percent of heavy media users among those surveyed said they earn mostly Cs or lower, compared with 23 percent of light users. The study classified heavy users as consuming more than 16 hours a day and light users as less than three hours. Flaxington, 49, learned in November that her teen went weeks without turning in homework in math and other subjects, so they arranged for her to complete assignments at the end of the day at school, where cell phones are banned and computers were not available. “It was impossible to get her to focus at home,” Flaxington said.— AP

TOKYO: An employee of Japanese weather forecasting company Weathernews displays some of the 700 pod-shaped pollen counting robots called “Pollenrobot”, which are ready to be shipped as nationwide monitors to observe pollen levels ahead of the coming hay fever season, at the company’s headquarters in Chiba City, suburban Tokyo last week. The Pollen-robot, which has two LED eyes and glows a range of five different colors to indicate pollen levels, will be placed outside houses and can send reports recording pollen, temperatures, humidity and air pressure to the company through the Internet. — AFP

New technology gives 3-D views of arteries WASHINGTON: Cardiologists could soon have 3D images of patients’ coronary arteries at their fingertips and better treat heart disease thanks to a new software unveiled by researchers on Tuesday.

The technology, which has just been tested for the first time on people, remains in the early stages of testing, according to a feasibility study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, an American Heart Association journal.

“This is very exciting technology that holds great promise,” study investigator John Carroll, a professor of medicine and director of interventional cardiology in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Colorado in Aurora, said in a statement. The study allows doctors to assess more accurately and rapidly the length, branching pattern and angles of heart arteries, as well as any blockages. Cardiologists currently use two-dimensional X-ray images shot from different angles to visualize arteries inside the body. They also inject contrast

dye into a thin tube-a catheter-inserted into a patient’s leg artery and threaded up to the heart to produce shadow images during a cardiac catheterization procedure. Although it uses existing X-ray systems, the new software could reduce the need for several of the images, thus reducing patients’ exposure to radiation and contrast dye while also decreasing the time doctors need to analyze the images, the study’s authors explained. The researchers compared standard 2-D images to automatically generated 3-D computer images of the coronary artery systems of 23 patients. “This is the first in-human use,” Carroll explained. “The next step is to test it in multiple centers around the world. In addition, we’ll formally test it to see the impact on clinical care.” Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the United States. It is responsible for 17 million deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Philips Healthcare funded the study.— AFP

Newspapers and magazines that have gone digital to stay relevant in an Internetobsessed culture have seen print advertising revenue evaporate as stories and images are freely indexed and shared online. Apple has led the way in conditioning people to pay for applications, games, and other content for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Apple has reportedly been in talks with online news, magazine and book publishers and yesterday’s event could include the launch of a version of iTunes for content generated by those outlets.

Digitally frustrated newspapers or magazines may choose to focus on “fee-for-service” electronic readers, according to Dan Kennedy, assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University in Boston. “It could be there are some publishers feeling as though they have been buying into the new media ecosystem, the blogosphere, for 10 years and haven’t gotten one thing out of it,” Kennedy told AFP. Kennedy had in mind media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who advocates reining in how websites and search engines use stories crafted by professional news organizations. The News Corp. chairman has also been openly critical of the experience of reading a newspaper on the black-and-white Kindle e-reader from Amazon. Publishers are placing bets on smartphone and e-reader platforms, according to a recent survey by the US Audit Bureau of Circulations, which is entrusted to track paid readership of publications.

More than half of the respondants said they believe that smartphones will be a vital way to distribute their publications within three years. Nearly 42 percent said the same about ereader devices. News publishers are looking to Apple for a tablet that lets people browse and buy content in ways that expand on simply reading by adding interactive multimedia and reference features, said DigitalTrends.com analyst Scott Steinberg.

“There’s a real opportunity for Apple to raise the bar here,” Steinberg said. “Not only by making digital publications accessible to the mainstream reader, but also seamlessly interweaving online features, apps and streaming audio/video content to enhance the general reading experience,” he added.

Reviving traditional news operations will take more than an Apple miracle device, according to Gaines, whose FLYP magazine incorporates video, animation and other “dynamic” content to adapt to techno-tastes.

“It is not going to be a simple matter of just re-purposing the content of the New York Times or anyone else for this new device,” Gaines said. “It is reimagining what people want in this new media. We are early in a stage of transformation of what it means to publish or to read,” he said. An Apple tablet will be hampered at the start by “unsatisfying” 3G broadband networks, short battery life, and people’s yen for a flexible device that can be rolled up and stuffed in a pocket, according to Gaines.

“I just don’t think this will be the killer device just yet,” Gaines said of what Apple has in store. “It will certainly point the way. It’s all coming.” Efforts to lure people into paying for content on an Apple tablet could be thwarted if the hardware comes with a high price and is coupled with monthly telecom service provider charges. “I’m minimally excited about it, plus I know I can’t afford one,” Kennedy said of an Apple tablet. “It seems some publishers are hoping it is an attempt to do the Web all over again and this time make it a closed system.”

Such an effort in an Internet world of unfettered content would have very limited success, he said. “I think the biggest problem with the tablet is that it doesn’t replace anything,” Kennedy said. “It is just one more thing you have to carry around. “It is not going to save the world, not by any stretch.”— AFP

smartphones. It will be notable,” said Jim Gaines, a former corporate editor at Time Inc. who is now editor-in-chief of FLYPmedia. “I don’t think this device is the messiah for print, but it is very possible that its descendents will be.” Apple’s winning tactic of tying content delivery to devices could be more significant than the hardware rolled out as the California firm’s latest creation.

CALIFORNIA: Workers apply the Apple logo to the exterior of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in preparation for an Apple special event in San Francisco, California. — AFP

China says no curb on Google mobile technology BEIJING/WASHINGTON: China sought to head off concerns about curbs on Google phone technology yesterday, as US business groups urged Washington to tackle “alarming” measures against foreign hightech companies in China. Google’s threat to quit China this month over hacking and US criticism of China’s Internet censorship has irritated ties between the two economic giants, already hurt by disagreements over currency exchange, trade and US arms sales to Taiwan.

In soothing words for investors, a Chinese official said Beijing would not seek to stand in the way of Google’s Android mobile phone platform in the Chinese market. The spokesman for China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhu Hongren, was responding to a question about whether use of the Android application in China would be affected by the Internet giant’s complaints against China.

“I think there should be no limit on the use of any system as long as it complies with regulations in China, it has sound negotiations and cooperation with telecom operators and obeys relevant rules and requirement,” Zhu told a news conference.

“The Chinese telecommunication market is an open market.” The Ministry oversees China’s mobile telephone sector. Zhu’s remarks appeared to underscore that the Chinese government does not want to scare investors by directly attacking Google, and is instead directing its ire at the USgovernment, which state-run newspapers have accused of “politicizing” the dis-

pute.

Two weeks ago, Google threatened to shut its Chinese Google.cn portal and pull back from China, citing problems of censorship and a hacking attack from within the country. It is still filtering sensitive content on Google.cn. The Obama administration backed Google’s criticisms. Last Thursday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China to drop Internet censorship and investigate the hacking.

US business groups have fired their own broadside at China, calling on top US officials to pressure Beijing on moves to keep out foreign high-tech companies. The appeal, in a letter to top US officials including Clinton, comes as China formulates regulations for policies meant to encourage domestic industry to ascend the value chain.

Foreign industry fears that incentives for government purchasers to prioritise domestically developed products could lose them valuable contracts.

“For several years, the Chinese government has been implementing indigenous innovation policies aimed at carving out markets for national champions and increasing the locally owned and developed intellectual property of innovative products,” the business groups said, according to a text made public by the Business Software alliance.

“We are increasingly alarmed by the means China is using to achieve these goals.” Signatories urged the Obama administration to make the issue a top priority and work with the business community and for-

eign governments to develop a “strong, fully coordinated response to the Chinese government.”

A showdown between Google and the Chinese government could possibly hurt mobile phone makers who had bet on the Android system to increase sales in the world’s biggest mobile market. Motorola Inc has bet its turnaround on Google’s mobile software and China. Phones running on Android, an open-software platform for mobile applications, are also being developed by several Chinese firms, including ZTE Corp and Huawei.

Last week, Google postponed the launch of two mobile phones in China that use its Android platform. After first fending off criticisms from Google and Washington, Chinese officials and state-run media have launched toughly-worded warnings to the Obama administration that have the hallmarks of a concerted counter-campaign.

The People’s Daily, the main mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party, said yesterday that the Google dispute had added to strains that have created a rocky start for China-USrelations in 2010.

“All of this means that Sino-US relations face severe challenges,” said the paper. It said the worries included USarms sales to Taiwan, trade, and speculation that President Barack Obama may meet exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama. “If these issues are mishandled, they will have a powerful destructive effect on Sino-US relations, and may even affect the broader development of relations.” — Reuters

Facebook may ‘lock in’ its Internet dominance LOS ANGELES: College senior Alyssa Ravasio gave up MySpace on the day she got a Facebook account and never looked back. She has already lost interest in Twitter. But how does Facebook know it can keep her loyalty? The brief history of the Internet is littered with the ghosts of Websites that people have abandoned in their relentless pursuit of something newer, faster, better and cooler.

Tech-savvy Ravasio, a 21year-old UCLA student designing her undergraduate degree around the Internet’s impact on society and communication, is irked by changes privately owned Facebook has made. But for now, she says, Facebook is keeping her allegiance because of a concept called “technological lock-in.”

In other words, the site has become an essential part of her life.

“I think Facebook is the most valuable Internet commodity in existence, more so than Google, because they are positioning themselves to be our online identity via Facebook connect,” Ravasio said. “It’s your real name, it’s your real friends, and assuming they manage to navigate the

privacy quagmire, they’re poised to become your universal login,” she said. “I would almost argue that Facebook is the new mobile phone. It’s the new thing you need to keep in touch, almost a requirement of modern social life.”

Technological lock-in is the idea that the more a society adopts a certain technology, the more unlikely users are to switch. It’s the reason why the QWERTY keyboard layout, devised for typewriters in the 1870s, is still the standard despite the development of several more logical configurations. And Facebook, which has more than 100 million users in the United States and 350 million worldwide, appears to have nearly achieved technological lock-in, according to web marketing research company Comscore.com.

In December, for example, Facebook recorded nearly 112 million unique visitors in the United States, compared to 57 million for MySpace and 20 million for Twitter, according to Comscore. Users also spent much longer on Facebook, averaging 246.9 minutes in December, compared to 112.7 minutes on MySpace and 24.3 minutes on Twitter. “It’s

something that feeds on itself,” Comscore director Andrew Lipsman said. “The more people who come into the network, the more connected they become to each other and there actually becomes a greater cost to leaving the network.”

“At some point it becomes a critical mass,” he said. “It becomes so strong that its difficult to unlock and I think Facebook has reached that point.” Skeptics might say that the same argument could have been made for MySpace just a few years ago, when it reigned supreme among social networking sites to the extent that few American teens would be caught dead without an account.

But those who study web trends say that MySpace, while wildly popular, never quite reached the worldwide domination of Facebook, which then-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg started in his dorm room in 2004. Facebook initially limited membership to Harvard, then universities, a move that heightened the draw for teens. And once Facebook opened registration to anyone in 2006, it was flooded with members between the ages of

25 to 45.

Tim Groeling, a professor of communication studies at UCLA, said that because it was possible to sign up for Facebook without dumping MySpace, many young people had accounts on both sites until the center of gravity slowly shifted to Facebook.

“MySpace wasn’t focused as much on the social networking aspect, which they seem to enjoy. It wasn’t quite the tightknit social machine that Facebook seems to be,” he said. “Facebook has a certain amount of lock-in that’s going to be hard for people to get past,” Groeling said. “It’s possible it could happen, but it has to overcome a high threshold of user cost. It’s their game to lose at this point.”

Ravasio says that, technological lock-in aside, Facebook could potentially lose her if it keeps annoying her, as it did when it abruptly changed a default privacy setting so that members’ pictures were public. “All these (Internet) companies saying they’ll figure out how to monetize later seem to be forgetting that ‘monetizing’ has historically always meant a degradation of user experience quality,” she said.— Reuters

HEALTH & SCIENCE

28 PARIS: If running is your thing, you may want to throw away those pricey sports shoes and just do it barefoot, according to a study released yesterday. Three-quarters of runners who wear shoes land squarely on their heels-about 1,000 times for every mile run. But even well-cushioned sports shoes that help distribute weight across the foot cannot fully absorb the shock of these blows: 30 to 75 percent of regular runners each year suffer repetitive stress injuries.

By contrast, the vast majority of unshod runners don’t hit the ground with their

heels, landing instead on the sides or balls of their feet, the study found. The practice is especially common in several east African countries where long-distance running is nearly a national past time. In 1960, for example, a shoeless Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the 1960 Olympics marathon in record time.

By not “heel-striking,” barefoot runners avoid painful and potentially damaging impacts that concentrate the equivalent of two or three times one’s body weight on to a coin-sized surface. “People who don’t

wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor at Harvard University and lead author of the study. “By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision,” he said in a press release.

The merits of shoelessness are hotly debated in specialty magazines and online forums, and major manufacturers have started to make thin-as-skin shoes in anticipation of new markets. But up to now, there has been little scientific evidence supporting the

claim that barefoot is better. Lieberman and colleagues helped fill this void by studying the gaits of three groups of runners in the United States and Kenya: barefoot, shod, and those who had converted to shoeless running. “Most people today think that barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain,” the study found. “All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot.” But making the switch to barefoot running is not simply a matter of

Thursday, January 28, 2010

kicking off one shoes, the authors caution.

Running unshod or in so-called “minimal shoes” requires the use of different muscle groups. “If you’ve been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in calf and foot muscles,” Lieberman said. The study, published in the British science journal Nature, also bolsters evidence suggesting the human foot evolved for rapid upright motion, said William Lungers, a professor at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York.

“Bipedalism”-walking on two feet-”has been

around for millions of years, and we have been unshod for more than 99 percent of that time,” he wrote in a commentary, also in Nature.

A radical reshaping of the foot about two million years ago, including shorter toes and a fully-arched foot, probably occurred to enhance our ability to move quickly over sustained periods. “Our endurance running abilities may have evolved to enable our ancestors to engage in ‘persistence hunting’,” the ability, in other words, to run down one’s prey, he said.—AFP

Mali fights genetic disorder Sickle Cell Research Centre co-operation between Mali, France and Monaco

KHAO YAI: Picture taken on December 16, 2009 shows Thai farmer and a former illegal logger Boonrod Muangchan collecting mushrooms at his farm in Khao Yai, northeastern Thailand. Thailand’s exotic wildlife is under threat from poachers and loggers, but a new project that turns the former criminals into mushroom farmers is aiming to help everyone. —AFP

Thai poachers turn funghi KHAO YAI: Nuan Muangchan began to illegally log rosewood as a teenager, creeping at night into Thailand’s largest national park and hiding from animals and rangers to smuggle out her loot. “One time I jumped off a cliff to escape the authorities,” the 43-year-old recalled, rolling up her sleeve to display her marked limbs.

“I still have the scars on my arms and legs.” Thailand’s lush jungles are under daily attack by illegal loggers and poachers, but conservationists in the country’s northeast are turning to an unlikely remedy-the common mushroom.

A project that turns former wildlife criminals into funghi farmers is proving a surprising success, giving villagers a decent wage while helping to slow the destruction of forests in the Khao Yai National Park, a World Heritage Site. Under the scheme, set up by Thailand’s Freeland foundation, Nuan now has her own business as a mushroom farmer and no longer relies on precious rosewood, prized for its perfumed sap, as her only means of regular income. And she has persuaded her 33-year-old nephew Boonrod to join her in abandoning the illegal work.

Boonrod said he earns 300 dollars a month from his mushroom farm a relatively good income in this impoverished rural belt, and enough he said to stop logging. “Once I started my own business growing mushrooms I started to get a steady income,” said

PARIS: French researchers said Tuesday they had found a promising new target in the fight against Alzheimer’s, the debilitating brain disease that causes irreversible memory loss and dementia. In laboratory experiments, a team led by Etienne-Emile Beaulieu of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) uncovered what could prove a critically important interaction between two types of proteins.

The telltale symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases have been linked to an overabundance in the brain of the tau protein.

Beaulieu and colleagues discovered that another protein known as FKBP52, which also helps regulate immune responses,

Boonrod. “I love the forest, I want to protect it. I feel sorry for what I did in the past.”

Education levels are low in the northeastern region of Isan and most villagers are landless, with many relying on daily hire for farm or construction work to provide for their families.

As well as giving potential mushroom farmers all the start-up tools they need, the Freeland foundation also trains up park rangers, who arrest an average of two poachers or loggers every week. But they said that prosecution alone has not been effective in reducing wildlife crime.

“We have to use two strategies: push and pull. The rangers push the poachers out of the forest but we need to pull the villagers into an alternative occupation and convince them to change,” said Mukda Thongnaitham from Freeland.

The group estimates there are more than 500 poachers and loggers at work every day in the exotic wilderness of Khao Yai, home to 800 species of animals including reindeer, gibbons, sambar deer, and bison. Even tigers are rumored to still roam the forests. But all of the animals are vulnerable to poaching, with parts of bears ending up in places as far away as Japan and South Korea, where customers prize them for their use in traditional Asian medicine, and deer and wild boar meat fetching high prices as a delicacy at local markets.

may slow or prevent that damaging accumulation. “It’s an ‘anti-tau’ weapon located within the cells,” Beaulieu said at a press conference in Paris.

“We want to boost the efficiency of this weapon and find pharmaceutical ammunitionnew drugs-to accelerate its action so that it can destroy unwanted tau,” he told journalists.

The study was published this week in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Developing such a drug may take a long time, he said, “but in two or three years we should be able to find a way to at least make an early diagnosis.”

Certain biochemical markers of the illness probably appear 10 or 15 years before clinical symp-

In its efforts to reduce these illegal activities, the Freeland project consulted villagers on their skills and surveyed the local market to see what would sell, before plumping for mushrooms as an alternative income source.

The funghi are grown in bags filled with sawdust, gypsum, lime, rice bran and magnesia sulphate, and cooked in an oven to keep out germs.

The farmers take their pasteurized formula, add mushroom spores, and leave them to grow in nursery barns at home, where the first harvest is ready within a month. The organic oyster mushrooms are sold at the local market and have proved so popular that the farmers cannot grow enough. “At this stage we still cannot meet the market demand so we need to expand this project to other villages,” said Mukda, who hopes to begin growing yanagi or straw mushrooms, and shiitake, which can fetch a higher price.

The produce is only sold at the local bazaar for now, but in future it is hoped the mushrooms will be distributed to bigger markets. “If we make it here we can create more work and generate more income in the community,” said Mukda. Nuan is busy building new barns to expand her funghi farm and said the work has given her a new sense of worth.

“When I see the green of the forest and the white and black of the mushrooms I feel proud,” she said. “I’m happy we no longer destroy nature, we are pure.”— AFP

toms, he added. Further experiments based on the results reported Tuesday will begin soon with geriatrics patients at the Charles Foix d’Ivry Hospital outside of Paris, he announced.

Beaulieu is best known as the inventor of the RU-486 “abortion pill”, first developed in 1980.

Other researchers said the link between the two types of proteins was important, but remained skeptical of an early breakthrough for treatment.

“Everything reported here was done in the laboratory,” said Philippe Amouyel, director of France’s National Scientific Foundation for Alzheimer’s disease.

“This lead must be followed up, but for the moment there is no direct link to Alzheimer’s,

and no demonstration that it works on patients,” he told AFP. There are hundreds of proteins that interact with tau, and further research is needed to see how the interaction between FKBP52 and tau fit into the larger puzzle of the disease, he added. Alzheimer’s has also been associated with amyloid beta proteins that accumulate around neurons in the brain, forming plaques.

An estimated 37 million people worldwide, including 5.3 million in the United States, live with dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease causing the majority of cases, according to the World Health Organization.

As populations age, this figure is projected to increase rapidly over the next 20 years.—AFP

BAMAKO: Mariam Diallo has lost six family members to sickle cell disease, including a son, but a new research centre in Mali has raised her hopes that her toddler may be saved from the terrible affliction. “My son died of pain in front of my eyes, I will never forget it,” she told AFP of the inherited blood disease that ravaged her family and many others in Africa where it predominates. In the Malian capital Bamako, the recently opened Sickle Cell Research Centre is the result of co-operation between Mali, France and Monaco and is meant to improve the lives of those suffering from the disease.

One of the most common genetic disorders, sickle cell disease causes blood cells to take the shape of a crescent instead of being smooth and round, thereby blocking blood flow and leading to chronic pain, infections and tissue death. The disease “mutates the red blood cells. The blood doesn’t receive oxygen. Complicated cases can lead to death,” Dr Dapa Diallo, director general of the centre told AFP during a tour of the facility. According to the Monaco website, between 6,000 and 7,000 babies in Mali are born every year with sickle cell disease, leading to a significant number of physical and functional handicaps.

“And 50 percent of deaths are recorded before the age of five if there is no medical followup,” explains military doctor Karim Camara, deputy director general of the centre. The 3.5 million-euro (4.9 million-dollar) project will enable up to 3,000 sufferers to receive care and be monitored, as there is no cure for the disease. The World Health Organization said in 2006 that sickle cell disease was “the cause of five percent of deaths of children under five years”, a figure which reached 16 percent in some west African nations.

Inaugurating the building on Friday, Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure said the specialised centre was “the best equipped in west Africa” and would be “open to all the sick in our neighbouring countries seeking medicine.” “It is a Malian centre, but also a centre for all Africans. They can come and be treated, the doors are always open for them.”

Equipped with state of the art equipment, the centre’s orange buildings stretch over 5,000 square metres, where clinical research will take place, and specialists will receive training.

“The new equipment is adapted to the complications of the disease,” according to French doctor Alain Dorie, the only expatriate permanently employed at the centre.

“Today when a sickle cell disease sufferer goes to a hospital, he is prescribed a blood transfusion and he must just manage. But here, when he has a ‘blood crisis’, when he arrives we take charge,” he said.

According to French haemotologist Gil Tchernia “the purpose of the centre is also to detect the illness from birth.

Because if it is detected early, treatment is easy and effective.”

Monaco and the French Pierre Fabre Foundation will each donate between 100,000 and 135,000 euros a year until 2012 to the centre which is also financed by Mali.

The 45-year-old teacher Diallo, herself a sufferer of the disease, plans to take her 18month-old, born with the disease, to the centre for tests next week. “He has violent headaches, I don’t know what he has exactly. It is a terrible disease. “I am also sick, but thank God, for the moment, I am fine.”—AFP

US recalls two million WASHINGTON: The US Food and Drug Administration has recalled more than two million needles made by a Japanese firm over fears they can introduce silicone fragments in patients’ bodies. The FDA said in a statement Tuesday that Nipro Medical Corp. had taken back products made between January 2007 and August 2009 after inspections in October last year showed between 60 and 72 percent of the needles were defective.

The needles are used to access ports implanted under the skin of chronically ill patients so that blood can be withdrawn or medications infused

repeatedly. Testing showed that when the needles were inserted into the port they sometimes produced slivers or “cores” of silicone, which could be flushed into the patient’s body with adverse results.

Although 20 manufacturers produce the needles, only those made by Nipro were found to frequently result in coring.

“We will continue to work with manufacturers to address coring issues as quickly and thoroughly as possible,” said Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.—AFP

LA to close hundreds LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles on Tuesday gave final approval to an ordinance slashing the number of medical marijuana dispensaries, which have grown to almost 1,000 since sale of the drug for medicinal use was approved in 1996. By a 9-3 vote, the Los Angeles City Council said 187 dispensaries would remain open for now, but it intends to reduce the number to no more than 70 over time.

Business owners and people taking marijuana by prescription vowed to take legal action

against the ordinance, including the possibility of raising the issue in a referendum. The ordinance, which also includes a series of new restrictions on the sale of marijuana, will take effect after being signed by the mayor. It will close down hundreds of dispensaries in the city, where between 800 and 1,000 shops have sprung up since 1996, thanks to legal loopholes in the sale and distribution of marijuana.

The new rules require that marijuana dispensaries be at

least 1,000 feet (300 meters) from schools, public parks and libraries, and must close by 8:00 pm. California law stipulates physicians must have no relation with dispensaries and can only prescribe marijuana as a therapy, allowing patients to apply for a license to purchase and sell the drug. The ordinance comes one year after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a debate on the possibility of taxing marijuana to help recessionhit state finances.—AFP

CONNECTICUT: This summer 2009 photo released by the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, Conn, shows Thaao, an Andean condor believed to be the oldest one living in captivity. The condor, who arrived in 1993 from the Pittsburgh Zoo, died Jan. 6, 2010, at nearly 80 years of age. —AP

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Embassy information EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA The Embassy of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka will celebrate the 62nd Anniversary of Sri Lanka’s National Day at the Embassy premises at 8:30 am on 04.02.2010. The ceremony will include the hoisting of the national flag, reading of National Day messages, remembrance of national heroes, religious ceremonies followed by a reception. All Sri Lankan nationals and wellwishers are cordially invited for the event. Sri Lanka Embassy - Block-l0, Jabriya, Kuwait.

(Tel. 25339140, 25339150)

Crowne Plaza Management Team. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

Christine Nabil Public Relations Executive (left), Michel Emad Marketing Manager (Middle), Samer Sadad Shabestan Manager (right).

Shabestan Restaurant opens at 360 Mall

By Rawan Khalid he management of Shabestan Iranian restaurants organized a media dinner event at the new Shabestan Restaurant in 360 Mall on Tuesday. The press and media persons graced the dinner event enjoying authentic Iranian delights in an ambience that takes you to the heart of Iran.

The Iranian hospitality is well known around the world. In its traditional best, Shabestanís delicious platters have been its speciality since itís opening in 2001, and after experiencing enormous success, the Crowne Plaza hotel management decided on opening Shabestan at different locations around Kuwait. The hotel management set upon a plan to brand the Shabestan Iranian restaurant by having its branches in Crowne Plaza hotel, Multaqa Al Shaab complex that includes 6 other signature restaurants under one roof and now at the 360 Mall, which has gained guestís appreciation. Shabestan serves mouthwatering dishes in a new and unique way highlighting original Persian hospitality.

Shabestan restaurant chain invites its guests to explore Persian delights served in an atmosphere filled with the Iranian theme. Shabestan promises opening more branches for those unforgettable moments in the coming future.

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Ahmed Al-Serafi the Crowne Plaza Hotel Manager seen during the dinner.

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya is happy to inform the general public and visitors to Kenya of a reduction in the cost of tourist visas by 50%, continuing through all of 2010. Additionally, in recognition of the family travel segment, Kenya is giving a complete waiver of visit fees to children aged 16 years and below. Visitors are urged to take this opportunity and experience unique Kenyan beach holidays on palm fringed, sandy beaches, safaris in the country’s famous national parks, and activity based tourism. For more information contact the Kenya Embassy located at Surra, block 6, Street 9, Villa No.3. Tel. 25353314/ 25353362 or visit the Mission’s websites www.kenyaembkuwait.com & www.magicalkenya.com. Official timings are 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sundays through Thursdays.

EMBASSY OF GREECE

The interior of the restaurant.

The Embassy of Greece has the pleasure to announce that with a view to promote business interaction and commercial relations between Greece and Kuwait and to present further support for the Kuwaiti importers, it requests all Kuwaiti Companies dealing with or representing Greek Companies in Kuwait to contact this Embassy as soon as possible and to provide by fax or e-mail the following information: (Name of the company, tel no, fax no, e-mail, type of business, name of the Greek companies/clients). The Embassy’s contacts are as follows: e-mail: gremb.kuw@mfa.gr; fax: 24817103, and tel no: 24817100, 24817101, 24817102.

EMBASSY OF INDIA

Adel Kayed Food and Beverages Manager in Crowne Plaza (middle) amidst the staff of Shabestan.

Regency Hotel celebrates associates party n appreciation and recognition to their hard work throughout the year, The Regency hotel held the Associates Party in the magnificent newly reopened Futhouh Ballroom.

The Associate Party was an exciting fun-filled event featuring a number of activities; a rich buffet setup, raffle draw on valuable gifts, competitions, and DJ. The Associates were welcomed in the spacious foyer of Futhouh ballroom by Renato Moretto, General Manager, Samar Qubti - Human Resources Manager, Jacintha Lobo Assistant Human Resources, Tesy Thomas Training Manager and other department heads.

"We are delighted to express our sincere appreciation to our associates when it comes to delivering memorable experiences within the hotel because without them it is impossible. They are the key to the success of our hotel." said Mr. Renato Moretto, General Manager Samar Qubti - Human Resources Manager commented: "We are so proud of our professional team of associates who go above and beyond to delight our guests. Our continuous success and excellence in hospitality are definitely a tribute to their great spirit to serve."

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Greetings appy birthday to dear Abu Salah, who is celebrating his second birthday today.

Best wishes from Abu Salam, Abu Zair Azmi Arshad Ayub, Ghufran Azmi, Tabreez Guddu.

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PASTCOS [Pala St. Thomas College Old Students Association] Kuwait Chapter welcomes internationally reputed statistics professor & researcher Dr. K. K. Jose Kanichukattu, Principal, St. Thomas College Pala, Kerala recently at Kuwait International Airport. President Lalgi George, General Secretary Tomy Cyriac, Treasurer Sunny Joseph, Vice President M.P Sen, and Abbassiya Area Convener George Varghese and others represent PASTCOS to welcome their Principal to Kuwait as Chief Guest for the Xmas & New Year celebrations and the grand release ceremony of PASTCOS Directory 2010.

The Embassy of India has further revamped and improved its Legal Advice Clinic at the Indian Workers Welfare Center, and made the free service available to Indian nationals on all five working days, i.e. from Sunday to Thursday every week. Kuwaiti lawyers would be available at the Legal Advice Clinic daily from Monday to Thursday, while Indian lawyers would be available on Sundays.

Following are the free welfare services provided at the Indian Workers Welfare Center located at the Embassy of India: [i] 24x7 Helpline for Domestic Workers: Accessible by toll free telephone no. 25674163 from anywhere in Kuwait, it provides information and advice exclusively to Indian domestic sector workers (Visa No. 20) as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. [ii] Help Desk: It offers guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal, and other issues (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iii) Labour Complaints Desk: It registers labor complaints and provides grievance redressal service to Indian workers (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iv) Shelters: For female and male domestic workers in distress; (v) Legal Advice Clinic: Provides free legal advice to Indian nationals (Embassy premises; Kuwaiti lawyers 3 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Thursday; Indian lawyers 2 PM to 4 PM on Sunday); and (vi) Attestation of Work Contracts: Private sector worker (Visa No. 18) contracts are accepted at the Embassy; 9 AM to 1 PM; Sunday to Thursday; Domestic sector worker (Visa No. 20) contracts are accepted at Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO), Hawally, Al-Othman Street, Kurd Roundabout, Al-Abraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday.

EMBASSY OF PHILIPPINES The Embassy of the Philippines wishes to inform the Filipino community in the State of Kuwait, that the recent supreme court decision to extend the registration of voter’s applies only in local registration in the Philippines under Republic Act no. 8189 and does not apply to overseas voters which is governed by Republic Act no. 9189, hence it has no impact on the plans and preparations on the conduct of overseas absentee voting. The overseas absentee voting for presidential elections will start on 10 April 2010 and will continue uninterrupted until 10 May 2010 daily at the Philippine Embassy. Registered overseas absentee voters are advised to schedule their days off in advance to avoid complications in their schedules. Qualified voters are encouraged to get out and vote.

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

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Kuwait Cricket Academy inaugurated he General Secretary and Treasurer of Kuwait Cricket, Haider Farman, announced the establishment of the Kuwait Cricket Academy for the development of young children in Kuwait to learn this enjoyable game, one of the most popular in the world, opening a new era in the history of Cricket in Kuwait. The Academy has been inaugurated with the intention of providing free coaching to all children both Kuwaitis and expatriates who wish to learn this popular sport. It will also help Kuwait to build formidable teams at various age levels to participate in International events more competently in future. The Academy is being run by Cricket Australia trained and ACC certified coaches, who are members of the Kuwait Cricket Coaches Panel.

More than 160 children in the age group of 9-16 participated in the inauguration day of the Academy, which was held at the Entertainment City cricket grounds at Doha on Saturday, 23 January 2009. The Doha Cricket pitch became vibrant with the enthusiasm and devotion of the aspiring young cricketers and a dedicated officials and trainers. The boys were from different schools ranging from Arabic, Indian, Pakistani and International schools. The boys comprised of various nationalities including Kuwaiti nationals, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladesh, etc. The coaching activities were planned by the Kuwait

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Cricket Coaches Panel led by the Director for Coaching Sameer Desai who is a Level 3 coach. The boys were split into various groups, with each group going through various stages of skill acquisition in rotation with a Asian Cricket Council and Cricket Australia certified coach.

The boys got acquainted with basic stance, grip and bat swing with Level 2 coach Murli Kutticode, who also showed them the proper cricket attire and equipment worn by the batsman. The next group was learning the basics of front foot defense and front foot drive with Level 2

coach Ayoub Shaikh. Another group was learning the method and merits of hook and pull with Arshad Shams who is also a Level 2 certified coach.

After the batting drills each group had the opportunity to learn some fielding and bowling skills. Basic catching technique was shown by level 2 coach Tahir Khan, while effective leg spin bowling technique was being taught by Level 1 coach Aamir Kidwai. Kaleem Ul Hasan, the General Secretary of the Coaches Panel was himself immersed in teaching the young lads the basics of fast bowling in his group. Each coaching plan included a short skill progression game to enhance its development and understanding in the young boys.

Senior Level 2 coach Arjuna Amaratunga and coach Steve Boyland from Kuwait English School, who heartily volunteered his services, were busy conducting the warm up sessions and later organizing games between various age level groups.

Kuwait Cricket distributed more than 150 colorful T-shirts to all the senior age participants and some juniors. The whole ground was filled with colorful children from all nationalities, gleefully mixing with anyone, screaming their hearts out in an environment full of merriment and thrill of playing cricket. The event was carefully monitored by Asad Baig, Kuwait Cricket, Director General and Head of

We owe ecology an apology

Administration. Asad Baig had his hands full with the parents and teachers from schools discussing future possibilities and opportunities.

The whole program activities was monitored under the watchful eye and supervision of Sameer Desai, along with Emad Al Jassem who is member of the Kuwait Cricket Board and also an ACC/CA certified Level 2 coach and physio. The coaching activities were supported by Level 2 coach Tariq Rasool. The registration and admin support was controlled by the Level 1 certified female coaches Nida Mirza, Sandra Almeida and Jasleen Kaur of the Coaches Panel.

Speaking to the guests after the training session, Haider Farman spoke to the youngsters the importance of cricket in the sports world and asked them to excel in the gentleman’s game. He detailed the training schedule and said that Coaching will be conducted every Saturday at the Entertainment City grounds and gradually the number of days will be increased and more training venues will be added. It is also the intent of Kuwait Cricket to soon commence coaching for girls in a similar fashion. Kuwait has already participated in the ACC Women’s and U-19 Championships last year, with great feedback from member nations on the performance of the young girls who participated.

Special welcome was accorded to the aspiring Kuwaiti cricket trainees.

The event was also attended by Kuwait Cricket Board members Yousef Ali Bash who is one of the senior most Kuwaiti national cricketers still passionately involved in the game and retired Major General Saeed Mubarak who has recently joined the Board, exhibiting tremendous support and keen interest. Chairman of Kuwait Cricket Council Jeff De Lange also attended the program going over each station to watch the coaching session up close.

Director for Umpires and Council member Mohammed Riaz Choudhry was also available giving his valuable feedback to the day’s program.

The first day’s coaching program ended in the afternoon, with the boys exhausted but delighted with the joy and great fun they had in learning and playing cricket all morning. It was a unique experience for them strengthening their passion for playing the great game. The officials were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the budding cricketers. It signified a great culmination of the inaugural day of the Kuwait Cricket Academy with the promise of many more training sessions on continuous basis, huge participation and tremendous entertainment to all those who love cricket and are willing to learn and have the joy of playing this game skillfully.

Hearty welcome to the new parish priest he Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait, His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCI installed Father Andrew Francis, OFM Cap as the new Parish Priest of Our Lady of Arabia Parish, Ahmadi.

The solemn occasion began with a Holy Mass which was celebrated by his Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCI. It was first time in the history of the Vicariate of Kuwait that a Holy Mass was celebrated by priests from the Capuchin Order, the Salesaians, the Carmelites and was presided by a Bishop of the Comboni Mission. After the Holy Mass, in a very solemn and pious celebration, Fr. Andrew Francis, in the presence of His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin and Fr. Varghese Chemboli , Vice Provincial of the Capuchin Order, took the oath facing the altar. The occasion was very special as Our Lady of Arabia was handed over to the Capuchin Order from the hands of the Carmelites, who have served the Vicariate since 1953.

A large number of priests from the Vicariate were also present to bless the new Parish Priest. The out going Parish Priest Fr. Teo Fernandes OCD was also present during this occasion. The parishioners were present in large number.

After the installation of the new Parish Priest, Father Andrew Francis, there was a small felicitation programme.

His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin was welcomed by flowers. His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin, congratulated the new Parish Priest Fr. Andrew and assured him of all the support and prayers of the faithful of the Vicariate and

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(Standing from left to right) Fr.Selva Raj Arockiam OFM Cap., Fr. Francisco Pereira, SDB, Fr. Harry D’Souza, OFM Cap, Fr. Tom OFM Cap, His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCI, Fr. Andrew Francis OFM CAP, Fr. Varghese Chemboli, OFM Cap, Vice Provincial of the Capuchin Order, Fr. Gasper Fernandes, OFM Cap, Fr. Teo Fernandes, OCD, Fr. Ben Barrameda) welcomed him to the Vicariate.

The Vice provincial of the Capuchin Order, Father Varghese Chemboli, who was present during the occasion also congratulated Fr. Andrew and express his gratitude to His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin for his constant support and guidance to the clergy. Fr. Andrew also thanked the Almighty for entrusting this important task to him and thanked all who had sup-

KKIC mementos released he mementos to commemorate the Kuwait Kerala Islahi Center (KKIC) Second Islamic Seminar to be held from 24-27th February 2010 are released by the Press & Channel committee chairman Sidheek Valiyakath by giving the first piece to English program committee chairman Haris Idid. The function was held at Faiha Husainan Dewaniya. Prominent leaders attended in the function. The items are Clock, Flask, Cups, pens, tea glasses etc... The items will be available in the Women’s conference to be held at four areas next week. TP Abdul Azeez welcomed the gathering and PN Abdullatheef Madani presided over the function. Mementos Convener Sakeer Koyilandi, Syed Mohammed , Sadathali, Saleh Batha and Abdurahiman Payyoli were present.

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armel School, Khaitan, organized an exhibition titled, “Whose Earth Is It?”, providing an excellent opportunity for the children to showcase their creativity.

“Save The Earth”, “We Salute Those Who Don’t Pollute”, “Be The Solution To The Pollution”, “Today’s Wastage Tomorrow’s Shortage!”, “Water: Conserve It, We Deserve It”, “Give Water A Hand And Make A Difference”- were a few selected slogans which the students came up with as supportive headers.

The three-day long exhibition was meant to inculcate in the children the values of preservation, conservation and sensitivity

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towards the environment. It was a mission well accomplished.

The inauguration of the exhibition was graced by K.N. Rao - the First Secretary of Labour of the Indian Embassy; Abdullah AlBasri - head of the Ministry of Private Education and Hassan - Executive Manager of Ateeqi Group International and other distinguished guests. Hamad Al-Ateeqi - The School’s sponsor’s presence was profoundly missed.

The exhibition was a squad-wise competition on the topics - Land, Air, Water and Disaster Management where in our competent and knowledgeable students from the

middle-school (Classes V-VIII) displayed their enthusiasm, creativity and awareness of the changes in the climatic conditions.

The recent Copenhagen Summit was also re-echoed in the working models, charts and PowerPoint presentations.

Our judges, guests, parents and well wishers were impressed by the display and were highly appreciative of the exhibition that has generated interest towards saving our earth for the future.

The school acknowledges the wholehearted co-operation of the parents, teachers and students in making the exhibition a successful and positive reality.

ported him with prayers. Fr. Tom, definitor incharge of the Capuchin Order, Kuwait also thanked the Almighty and his superiors. The Vote of Thanks was extended by the out going Parish Priest Fr. Teo Fernandes OCD who took this opportunity to thank His Lordship , all the priests and the People of the Vicariate for having supported him during his five year term in Kuwait.

INFORMATION

32

Thursday, January 28, 2010 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 777 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada始a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha始a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554

EMERGENCY 112

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah

22617700 25625030/60

Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.

Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons: Dr. Abidallah Behbahani 25717111 Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290

(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535 Dentists:

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists:

Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari

25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr

25329924

Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Kuwait Airways Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines

22433377 24379900 177 22477631 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/2433141 22456700 22412284/5 22453820/1

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 Republic 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)

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

Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia 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

00240 00291 00372 00251 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

Thursday, January 28, 2010

33 ACCOMMODATION Separate room available in Hawally Tunis street, Near Al Ghanim in 2 bedroom/bathroom C-A/C new flat with separate bathroom & balcony with family.

Contact: 99380453.

(C 20252) Furnished single room accommodation available in a flat for executive Muslim bachelor in Abbassiya, near Hi Dine supermarket. Contact: 99702105. (C 20254) Flat available with household items in Abbassiya, hall very big and one spacious bedroom and kitchen items in good condition. Contact: 97143540. (C 20253) One room for rent, 2 bedroom flat for couple or two decent bachelors near Hi Dine supermarket, gents camp building from 25th January.

Contact: 65500258, 66041367.

(C 20255) To let from 1st February 2010, one furnished large bedroom with separate toilet in B始neid Al Gar area, for 1 decent executive bachelor.

Contact: 60046720 for details. (C 20256) 28-1-2010 Sharing accommodation available near Amiri hospital, Sharq, couple or working ladies or bachelor. Contact: 67766273. (C 20247) 27-1-2010 Sharing accommodation available with a Keralite Christian family in Abbassiya with separate bathroom in a C-A/C flat from 26th January. Call: 99412951. (C 20241) Room with attached bath available in new C-A/C, two bedroom, two toilet, flat in Abbassiya, to share with Sri Lankan couple. Contact: 66552905. (C 20245)

Two rooms available C-A/C in Salmiya near Indian Public School, starting from 1st Februry for single, couple or working ladies. Contact: 97972920. (C 20240) Accommodation available in Farwaniya behind Crowne Plaza in a flat, G. floor, prefer Goan or Manglorean, rent KD 50. Contact: 97277454. (C 20242) Sharing accommodation available in Hawally behind Dar Al Shifa hospital with two bedroom + 2T, central A/C and shaded car parking. Contact: 99485424.

(C 20243) Sharing accommodation available for Indian, working ladies in a two bedroom, CA/C flat in Maidan Hawally, opposite 4th Ring Road, near Al Safat American Medical Center with a Keralite lady with all facilities.

Call: 99325130, 25649970.

(C 20246) 26-1-2010

Nissan Urvan, 10 seater bus, model 2009, done 17,000 kms only, white metallic, excellent condition, cash price KD 4,500. Contact: 97213518. (C 20251) 28-1-2010 Mitsubishi Gallant, model 2003, silver gray color, very good condition and insured up to October 2010, price fixed KD 1050. Please call: 97563505. (C 20249)

Sharing accommodation, bachelor or family, central A/C building, bathroom attached, near Garden store. Contact: 65662085, 66274078. (C 20236) 25-1-2010

Household items for sale, kitchen cabinets, couch love seat, etc. ATV 50cc E-ton runs great! Call any time 67039015. (C 20248) 27-1-2010

Furnished sharing accommodation available for a Keralite bachelor or family in Abbassiya. Contact: 66577233. (C 20234) 24-1-2010

Toyota Corolla 2009, white color, run only 15,000 km, excellent condition, price KD 3,850, Contact: 66050484, interested person only. (C 20239) 26-1-2010

FOR SALE Toyota Corolla, model 2006, golden color, very good condition, insured up to 11/2011, km only 80,000.

Price KD 3,000. Mobile: 99316392.

Toyota Corolla Xli 1.6L, model 2009, silver color, excellent condition, done 25,000 kms only, cash price KD 3,850.

Contact: 66211779. (C 20250)

lashkaranath@yahoo.com (C 20238) 28-1-2010 Proposals invited for Keralite Marthomite boy, 30, 172, MoH male nurse, from CSI, Marthomite girls working in Kuwait. Going for vacation in June. Contact: mathewmerin@hotmail.com 27-1-2010

CHANGE OF NAME Old name: Vinodkumar Raghavan Ezhuthassan, Passport Number F 9952256, new name: Vinodkumaar Raghavan Ezhuthassan. (C 20216) 25-1-2010

SITUATION VACANT

A lady cook is needed to work for a single Arab American man in an apartment located in Salmiya. She must know how to cook Arabic and Chinese food. The job also requires light cleaning. Working hour is 2 pm to 8:30 pm. Salary is KD 100.

Tel: 66417504. (C 20244) 26-1-2010

No: 14623

Lancer 2007, full option, Glx, km 68,000, super condition, KD 2100. Tel: 60048674. (C 20235) 25-1-2010 25620738. (C 20214)

SITUATION WANTED

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited for Keralite RC boy 30/170/ BA/DME working KRH Kuwait from professionally qualified girls. Email: abilashdk@gmail.com / abi-

Indian male, (MBA Finance) with 2.5 years Accountant experience in India, currently seeking for job, proficient in Tally 9,SAP fico, MS Office.

Holding valid transferable visa no. 18. Contact: 65547019,

Sri Lankan maid, 15 years experience in Kuwait, 3 years experience in US, cooking, cleaning, ironing, good with children, fine with pets, excellent English, prefers American or British family. Contact: 97918699. (C 20237)

Jazeera Mihin Lanka Bahrain Air Emirates Kuwait Gulf Air Etihad Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Arabia Jazeera Jazeera Thai Wataniya Airways Sri Lankan United A/L Jazeera Wataniya Airways D.H.L. Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Iran Air Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Singapore A/L Kuwait Jet A/W Wataniya Airways Oman Air Egypt Air Jazeera Jazeera Gulf Air Middle East Qatari Emirates Kuwait K.L.M. Kuwait Indian Jazeera Jazeera Safi A/W Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Egypt Air India Express Lufthansa Bangladesh Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Pakistan

Dubai Colombo/Dubai Bahrain Dubai New York Bahrain Abu Dhabi Riyadh Jeddah Sharjah Isfahan Mashad Bangkok Beirut Colombo/Dubai Washington DC Dulles Bahrain Cairo Baghdad Dubai Cairo Dubai Dubai Jeddah Bahrain Ahwaz Riyadh London Cairo Singapore/Abu Dhabi Doha Mumbai Jeddah Muscat Alexandria Damascus Sanaa/Bahrain Bahrain Beirut Doha Dubai Geneva/Frankfurt Amsterdam Beirut Chennai/Ahmadabad Doha Bahrain Kabul Abu Dhabi Dubai Cairo Luxor Kozhikode/Mangalore Frankfurt Dhaka Dubai Bahrain Lahore

Departure Flights on Thursday 28-01-2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Jazeera 0528 Assiut 00:05 Shaheen Air 442 Lahore 00:15 India Express 394 Cochin/Kozhikode 00:30 United A/L 981 Washington DC Dulles 00:40 Indian 576 Goa/Chennai 00:50 Bangladesh 046 Dhaka 01:00 Pakistan 216 Karachi 01:10 Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt 01:20 K.L.M. 0447 Amsterdam 01:25 Kuwait 203 Lahore 02:20 Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa 02:30 Kuwait 283 Dhaka 02:55 D.H.L. 371 Bahrain 03:15 Turkish A/L 1173 Istanbul 03:15 Emirates 854 Dubai 03:50 Etihad 0306 Abu Dhabi 04:10 Qatari 0139 Doha 05:00 Cargolux 792 Hong Kong 05:20 Jazeera 0164 Dubai 07:00 Wataniya Airways 1020 Dubai 07:00 Jazeera 0524 Alexandria 07:20 Wataniya Airways 2000 Cairo 07:30 Jazeera 0112 Abu Dhabi 07:35 Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat 07:40 Jazeera 0446 Doha 07:40 Gulf Air 212 Bahrain 07:45 Wataniya Airways 1120 Bahrain 07:50 Jazeera 0422 Bahrain 07:55 Wataniya Airways 2300 Damascus 08:10 Kuwait 545 Alexandria 08:30 Jazeera 0256 Beirut 08:35 British 0156 London 08:55 Kuwait 671 Dubai 09:00 Jazeera 0170 Dubai 09:00 Kuwait 551 Damascus 09:10 Kuwait 561 Amman 09:15 Kuwait 771 Riyadh 09:20 Jazeera 0456 Damascus 09:25 Arabia 0122 Sharjah 09:35 Kuwait 101 London/New York 09:35 Emirates 856 Dubai 09:40 Qatari 0133 Doha 10:00 Iran Air 606 Mashad 10:15 Etihad 0302 Abu Dhabi 10:20 Cargolux 794 Singapore 11:15 Saudi Arabian A/L 6520 Jeddah 11:15 Wataniya Airways 2002 Cairo 11:30 Gulf Air 214 Bahrain 11:40 Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 Jazeera 0342 Bahrain/Sanaa 11:50 Jazeera 0172 Dubai 12:00 Kuwait 541 Cairo 12:00 Jazeera 0432 Mashad 12:05 Wataniya Airways 2100 Beirut 12:05 Jazeera 0492 Jeddah 12:15 Kuwait 1541 Cairo 13:10 Kuwait 785 Jeddah 13:40 Egypt Air 611 Cairo 13:55

Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Thursday 28/01/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 0263 Beirut K.L.M. 0447 Amsterdam/Bahrain Gulf Air 2112 Bahrain Ethiopian 620 Addis Ababa D.H.L. 370 Bahrain Turkish A/L 1172 Istanbul Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 0305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 0138 Doha Cargolux 792 Luxembourg Kuwait B02 Cairo Cargolux 794 Luxembourg Jazeera 0637 Aleppo Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 0603 Luxor Jazeera 0527 Alexandria Jazeera 0529 Assiut British 0157 London Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Jazeera 0161 Dubai Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 332 Trivandrum Kuwait 675 Dubai Kuwait 344 Chennai Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 0121 Sharjah Qatari 0132 Doha Iran A1r 605 Isfahan Etihad 0301 Abu Dhabi Saudi Arabian A/L 9800 Jeddah Wataniya Airways 1121 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Jazeera 0447 Doha Jazeera 0165 Dubai Kuwait 204 Lahore Jazeera 0425 Bahrain Jazeera 0113 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 1021 Dubai Kuwait 772 R1yadh Egypt Air 610 Cairo Syrian Arab A/L 341 Damascus Jazeera 0171 Dubai Kuwait 672 Dubai Wataniya Airways 2301 Damascus Egypt Air 621 Assiut Nas Air 745 Jeddah Jazeera 0525 Alexandria Jazeera 0257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 2001 Cairo Kuwait 678 Muscat/Abu Dhabi Saudi Arabian A/L 500 Jeddah Kuwait 562 Amman Kuwait 552 Damascus Jazeera 0457 Damascus Qatari 0134 Doha Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 546 Alexandria Royal Jordanian 800 Amman

Time 00:05 00:10 01:05 01:45 02:15 02:15 02:35 03:00 03:25 04:35 04:45 04:45 05:05 05:25 05:35 06:10 06:30 06:40 06:45 07:45 07:55 06:05 08:10 08:10 08:30 08:55 09:00 09:15 09:35 10:00 10:45 10:45 11:00 11:05 11:05 11:10 11:20 11:20 12:40 12:55 13:00 13:05 13:25 13:35 13:55 14:00 14:05 14:10 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 15:00 15:10 15:30 15:40

0173 403 344 857 118 215 0303 510 0493 0125 0217 0433 519 2101 227 982 0427 2003 473 1025 542 674 0177 786 614 617 774 104 1542 458 618 572 1201 0647 618 0459 0343 217 402 0136 859 174 0445 502 981 0449 0429 215 0117 0185 612 606 389 636 043 1029 1129 205

16:05 16:40 16:50 16:55 16:55 17:05 17:15 17:15 17:30 17:40 17:40 17:45 17:45 17:50 18:05 18:15 18:15 16:20 18:30 18:40 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:35 19:40 19:45 20:00 20:05 20:15 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:55 21:05 21:20 21:35 21:40 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:15 22:15 22:25 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:15 23:30 23:40 23:45 23:55 23:55

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

Syrian Arab A/L Wataniya Airways Kuwait Jazeera Egypt Air Nas Air Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Saudi Arabian A/L Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Royal Jordanian Qatari Kuwait Bahrain Air Mihin Lanka Gulf Air Etihad Emirates Arabia Jazeera Kuwait Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Thai Wataniya Airways Kuwait Sri Lankan Wataniya Airways Jazeera Kuwait Iran Air Kuwait Wataniya Airways Jet A/W Oman Air Jazeera Egypt Air Singapore A/L Gulf Air D.H.L. Kuwait Middle East Falcon Jazeera Qatari Kuwait Emirates K.L.M. Kuwait Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Egypt Air Jazeera Kuwait

342 1024 673 0216 622 746 0176 1200 0426 0458 505 773 501 613 801 0135 617 345 404 216 0304 858 0126 0262 543 511 0184 0116 2010 0448 0428 520 2102 285 228 1028 0512 361 616 351 1128 571 0648 0240 618 457 218 171 675 403 102 0188 0137 301 860 0445 205 0480 0526 415 613 0502 411

Damascus Dubai Dubai Isfahan Assiut Jeddah Dubai Jeddah Bahrain Damascus Jeddah Riyadh Beirut Bahrain Amman Doha Doha Bahrain Dubai/Colombo Bahrain Abu Dhabi Dubai Sharjah Beirut Cairo Riyadh Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharm El Sheikh Doha Bahrain Bangkok Beirut Chittagong Dubai/Colombo Dubai Sharm El Sheikh Colombo Ahwaz Cochin Bahrain Mumbai Muscat Amman Alexandria Abu Dhabi/Singapore Bahrain Bahrain Dubai Beirut Bahrain Dubai Doha Mumbai Dubai Bahrain/Amsterdam Islamabad Sabiha Alexandria Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta Cairo Luxor Bangkok/Manila

14:00 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:50 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:25 15:30 16:00 16:10 16:10 16:20 16:25 16:30 16:35 17:35 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:10 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:40 18:50 19:00 19:05 19:05 19:10 19:15 19:30 19:50 20:20 20:25 20:55 21:00 21:10 21:20 21:25 21:35 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:50 22:55 22:55 23:00 23:25 23:45 23:45 23:50 23:55

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 883

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) Workday projects are

interrupted often today. Your work may not be on the same time schedule of others and they may seem short tempered. Be patient now as this will call for a day to stay to yourself and if you feel the need to talk, talk to a friend apart from work. This would be a good time to alleviate the tension with laughter or at least find some way to lighten the stress that others may be experiencing.

Education, advertising and travel play a big part in today’s activity and it is all positive. Be aware that there are governing factors that present likelihood for experiences beyond your surroundings today. You could be making deliveries. If you are in publishing or writing, you can advance your career. Rest and enjoy the evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Respect, status and

achievement are central goals for you as a new phase begins in your life. Creating a structure to empower and maintain your ideals and principles become a high priority. You take the initiative and gain support from those around you now. Do not push too hard or others will think you have turned power hungry or control oriented. You may have to work very hard at pacing yourself and remember that some things are not on your timetable. Recycling may be a concern now—there has been enough time to instill new habits and you may encourage others to join in the process to improve the planet. Talking with your friends and family, you may find subjects that make you analyze and psychoanalyze your own thinking.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. United States physiologist (born in Germany) who did research on parthenogenesis (1859-1924).

5. A light touch or stroke.

8. A federal agency established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products.

11. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

12. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event.

13. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

14. A doctor who practices veterinary medicine.

15. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element.

16. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

17. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

18. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonic scale in solmization.

20. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.

24. A doctor's degree in dental surgery.

27. A village of huts for native Africans in southern Africa.

29. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.

33. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

34. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

35. Grayish baboon of southern and eastern Africa.

38. Sweet pulpy tropical fruit with thick scaly rind and shiny black seeds.

40. The quantity contained in a keg.

44. A percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance.

46. Jordan's port.

48. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.

49. A French abbot.

51. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.

52. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

53. A small cake leavened with yeast.

54. The sign language used in the United States.

DOWN 1. Rock that in its molten form (as magma) issues from volcanos.

2. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

3. Take in solid food.

4. A nonmetallic largely pentavalent heavy volatile corrosive dark brown liquid element belonging to the halogens.

5. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part.

6. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

7. The cry made by sheep.

8. An emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight).

9. (Irish) Mother of the Tuatha De Danann.

10. The biblical name for ancient Syria.

19. A public promotion of some product or service.

21. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

22. A small tent used as a dressing room beside the sea or a swimming pool.

23. Emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design.

25. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

26. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

28. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

30. A state in southeastern United States.

31. The square of a body of any size of type.

32. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

36. A constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula.

37. Jordan's port.

38. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

39. A quantity of no importance.

40. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series).

41. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

42. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

43. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

45. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

47. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

48. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

50. A small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Your wishes can come true today as everything is working in your favor. There may be a particular fraternity or sorority, club or group you want to join. Now is a good time to join a group. Your intuition is keen and it will lead you in a good direction; listen. You have been thinking of making a few changes in your wardrobe lately. Making a good impression is very important to you. A sense of harmony prevails most of the time with you and you will also find that you can speak your mind and call your own shots in many areas of your life.

Financial security and enjoying the finer things in life receive a high priority. You are most pleasant and you will find your friends enjoy having you around and involving you in many of their activities.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Making sure your goals are getting off the ground, you will spend some time now to become better focused. Conferences or educational interests are positive moves. From now through the end of this month you can enjoy the beginnings of a fitness program. You will be sure to follow safety precautions—it just makes sense.

You may have a tendency to rush things in order to get the results you want—pace yourself. Take care of the equipment that you use, including your automobile. You will find a great sense of security from your friends and family now. You are learning more about the inner you—this becomes more evident all year long as you become more self-assured. You extend to others a most comfortable state of being.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Long-range perspectives from foreign places are possible early this year. Purchase several notebooks for your personal use. Perhaps a blue notebook for your dreams by your bedside and a red one for your passions or thoughts and a green one for your health projects or changes that you might want to create. These notebooks or journals will give you the opportunity to express ideas and feelings and create solutions. Time seems to slow down this afternoon, but it gives you an opportunity to finish unfinished business. Try to see the lighter side of the emotional issues temporarily coming into your life— a sense of gratitude for the people that have given you wisdom is a good thing. You may have insights or breakthroughs in your thinking.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) If you know that, your job will lead to rewards you will work long and hard. You are a smart businessperson and others look to you for answers in many areas. You may have an urge to express some critical information to another today—you are attentive to add encouragement. Respect, status and achievement are central goals for you and you pass those qualities along to others as you conduct business in the best possible way.

Creating a structure to empower and maintain your ideals and principles become a high priority. By taking on greater responsibilities, you become an inspiration to many. A family situation can be helped this evening.

Respect for others is important and may be as simple as the art of listening.

Libra (September 23-October 22) A job change is not appropriate at this time. However, if you feel it is time, do only the basics by sending out a few resumes to see if you get a response. Your humor is certainly in fine shape. As you refresh others, you, will have renewed strength. You keep your words positive and upbeat and you seem to have a sincere knowing that what you do in this world leaves a mark. It is up to you to make sure it is a positive mark. Through the end of the month, you could be more thoughtful than active. Pay attention to the amounts of food you eat; easy does it. The exchange of ideas becomes a focal point. Learning, knowing a little about many things, staying in touch and on top of the latest developments are the things that satisfy a need for mental stimulation.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You will find,

suddenly, that your work has become more productive and more people-oriented. Perhaps computer integrated.

Working and networking with others in your work or interests will help you to build your confidence. You and your loved one will be working together to improve finances, health, friendships, relationships, contracts, commitments and agreements.

Make it a habit to focus your thoughts and actions so that you will not become scattered or confused. Figuring out how to organize projects and people are apt to become a topic of special interest. Opinions are not enough just now: they must be backed by authority or evidence; and above all, practical worth and application. This is a period of intense study and thought.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) There could be a new job or promotion waiting for you today. Young people may enjoy your company as well. You could be working on a creative project that will draw attention to you. There is a lot of activity and you need to focus on doing the best you can right now. Stop when you can and divert your attention to adjust to the atmosphere. Delay large acquisitions and laborious exercise for now. Be ready to reevaluate your motives as well as your methods of working.

Admiration as well as achievement becomes important to your career now. Now, others will appreciate you more than ever; you create things that stir their hearts. This is child’s play; this is romance; this is taking a chance. Enjoy a relaxing evening with your loved one/s.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) There

yester

Yesterday’s Solution

to

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321

Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn

0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228

Word Sleuth Solution

are energies for opportunities with expansion and optimism. This could mean travel, excessive spending and opportunities to return to school or take a class. Instant gratification is one of the temptations you may fall into now. This is a practical and materialistic kind of focus; one that emphasizes the making and spending of money. Learning what really counts is an important lesson that may be learned the hard way. People know that they get good results from your hard work. They may take advantage of you, particularly if you do not set limits. You are passionate in many areas of your life but there are few as passionate as you are when it comes to knowledge. You may have found a good book for this evening . . . romance is also possible!

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) There is much drive and inspiration for disciplined work. You win reward, recognition and authority through hard work and knowing the score. A friend could present you with a challenge this afternoon. Viewpoints between you and this friend may need review. Close relationships offer a lot of potential for growth and change. Continued interaction with neighbors over community concerns may create some round table discussions. This is good, as it will bring about some facts upon which the group can base their communication when talking with authorities. Could this be trouble in zoning laws?

Family matters are positive today and you will find this a good time to play board games or help young ones with homework.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Your ability to communicate is at a high. Fate favors you in the work place. You will find this a perfect time to be assertive and to move forward in your career decisions. You will benefit from analytical insights and getting to the heart of things. Your friend has some news in which they need advice. You will not be able to solve this problem but your listening ear will help them to focus on an answer. You will find yourself shopping or looking at real estate this afternoon.

Whether you want to sell or buy, you will want to get some legal advice.

Work on your tax papers tonight; you may uncover some important information for changing this year’s tax return to the positive. You may decide to end this day with music. There could be romance.

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TV PROGRAMS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Orbit listings / Show listings AMERICA PLUS 00:00 Lost 01:00 Janice Dickinson 02:00 Grey’s Anatomy 03:00 The Closer 04:00 One Tree Hill 05:00 Lost 06:00 GMA Recorded 08:00 GMA Health 08:30 What’s the Buzz 09:00 One Tree Hill 10:00 The Closer 11:00 Ally McBeal 12:00 One Tree Hill 13:00 The Closer 14:00 Ally McBeal 15:00 GMA Live 17:00 GMA Health 17:30 What’s the Buzz 18:00 One Tree Hill 19:00 Without a Trace 20:00 The O.C. 21:00 ER 22:00 Cold Case 23:00 Supernatural ANIMAL PLANET 00:50 Animal Cops Houston 01:45 Shark after Dark 02:40 Untamed & Uncut 03:35 Planet Earth 04:30 Animal Cops Houston 06:20 Lemur Street 06:45 Monkey Business 07:10 Aussie Animal Rescue 07:35 Vet on the Loose 08:00 Wildlife SOS 08:25 Pet Rescue 08:50 Animal Precinct 09:45 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:40 Aussie Animal Rescue 11:05 Animal Cops Houston 11:55 Planet Earth 12:50 Wildlife SOS 13:15 Pet Rescue 13:45 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 14:40 Shark after Dark 15:35 Lemur Street 16:00 Monkey Business 16:30 Pet Rescue 16:55 Vet on the Loose 17:25 Wildlife SOS 17:50 Aussie Animal Rescue 18:20 Animal Cops Houston 19:15 Austin Stevens Adventures 20:10 Bull Shark: World’s Deadliest Shark with Nigel Marven 21:10 Animal Cops Houston 22:05 Untamed & Uncut 23:00 Austin Stevens Adventures 23:55 Animal Cops Houston BBC ENTERTAINMENT 00:25 Casualty 01:25 Coast 02:25 Mission Africa 03:25 Goldplated 04:15 Casualty 05:55 Mission Africa 06:35 Bargain Hunt 07:20 Balamory 07:40 Tweenies 08:00 Fimbles 08:20 Teletubbies 08:45 Yoho Ahoy 08:50 Tommy Zoom 09:00 Balamory 09:20 Tweenies 09:40 Fimbles 10:00 Teletubbies 10:25 Yoho Ahoy 10:30 Bargain Hunt 11:15 Coast 12:15 Amazon Abyss 13:15 The Weakest Link 14:00 Eastenders 14:30 Doctors 15:00 Bargain Hunt 15:45 Cash In The Attic 16:15 Blackadder II 16:45 2 Point 4 Children 17:15 The Weakest Link 18:00 Doctors 18:30 Eastenders 19:00 Casualty 19:50 Casualty 20:40 Model Gardens 21:00 The Weakest Link 21:45 Doctors 22:15 Eastenders 22:45 Massive 23:15 Carrie & Barry 23:45 Jack Dee: Live At The Apollo BBC LIFESTYLE 00:05 Ching’s Kitchen 00:30 Masterchef Goes Large 01:20 Cash In The Attic Usa 01:45 Hidden Potential 02:10 Living In The Sun 03:00 Ainsley’s Gourmet Express 03:30 Ching’s Kitchen 04:20 Masterchef Goes Large 05:20 Cash In The Attic Usa 05:45 Hidden Potential 06:10 Living In The Sun 07:10 The Clothes Show 08:00 Antiques Roadshow 08:50 Cash In The Attic Usa 09:35 Hidden Potential 10:00 Gary Rhodes’ Local Food Heroes 11:30 Living In The Sun 12:20 Antiques Roadshow 13:10 The Clothes Show 14:00 Gary Rhodes’ Local Food Heroes 15:35 Daily Cooks Challenge 16:30 Cash In The Attic Usa 16:50 Hidden Potential 17:15 Antiques Roadshow 18:05 The Clothes Show 18:55 Living In The Sun 19:45 Daily Cooks Challenge 20:40 Masterchef Goes Large 21:05 Ainsley’s Gourmet Express 21:35 Ching’s Kitchen 22:00 Superhomes 22:50 A Week Of Dressing Dangerously 23:40 Boys’ Weekend BBC WORLD 00:00 Bbc World News - U 00:30 Hardtalk - U 01:00 World News Today: Business Edition - U 01:45 Sport Today - U 02:00 Bbc World News - U 02:30 Hardtalk - U 03:00 Bbc World News America - U 04:00 Bbc World News - U 04:30 Asia Business Report - U 04:45 Sport Today - U 05:00 Bbc World News - U

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

Asia Business Report - U Asia Today - U World News Today - U Bbc World News - U Hardtalk - U Bbc World News - U World Business Report - U Bbc World News - U World Business Report - U Bbc World News - U World Business Report - U Sport Today - U Bbc World News - U World Business Report - U Sport Today - U Bbc World News - U Hardtalk - U Bbc World News - U Bbc World News - U World Business Report - U Sport Today - U World News Today - U World News Today - U Bbc World News - U Hardtalk - U Bbc World News - U Kill Or Cure? - U World News Today - U Bbc World News - U World Business Report - U Sport Today - U Bbc World News - U Hardtalk - U World News Today - U Bbc World News - U Click - U

CARTOON NETWORK 00:15 Out of Jimmy’s Head 00:40 Chop Socky Chooks 01:05 Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends 01:30 Cramp Twins 01:55 George of the Jungle 02:20 Adrenalini Brothers 02:45 Gadget Boy 03:10 Ed, Edd n Eddy 03:35 Class of 3000 04:00 The Powerpuff Girls 04:15 Robotboy

CINEMA CITY 01:00 Fight Night - 18 03:00 I Me Wed - PG15 05:00 Fight Night - 18 07:00 Double Whammy - PG15 09:00 Silver City - PG 11:00 The Man from Earth - PG 13:00 The Gold Retrievers - PG 15:00 An American Rhapsody - PG15 17:00 The Vanishing - PG15 19:00 Kiss of Life - PG15 21:00 Life or Something Like it - PG 23:00 Ghostwood - 18 CNN INTERNATIONAL 00:00 Connect The World 01:00 Backstory 01:30 World Sport 02:00 The Situation Room 03:00 World Report 04:00 World Business Today 04:30 World Sport 05:00 World Report 06:00 Anderson Cooper 360 07:00 World Report 07:30 International Correspondents 08:00 World Report 08:30 Backstory 09:00 World Report 10:30 World Sport 11:00 World Report 11:30 World Business Today 12:00 World Report 12:30 International Correspondents 13:00 Larry King 14:00 World Report 14:30 World Sport 15:00 World Report 16:00 Amanpour.

16:30 Vital Signs 17:00 World Business Today 18:00 International Desk 19:00 The Brief 19:30 World Sport 20:00 Prism 20:30 Vital Signs 21:00 International Desk 22:00 Quest Means Business 23:00 Amanpour.

23:30 World One

Lars And The Real Girl on Show Movies 1 04:40 The Secret Saturdays 05:05 Chowder 05:30 Ben 10 05:55 Best Ed 06:20 Samurai Jack 06:45 Cramp Twins 07:10 Eliot Kid 07:35 The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack 08:00 My Spy Family 08:25 Chowder 08:50 Best Ed 09:15 Chop Socky Chooks 09:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 10:05 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 10:30 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 10:55 Skunk Fu! 11:20 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 11:30 Squirrel Boy 11:55 Robotboy 12:20 Camp Lazlo 12:45 The Powerpuff Girls 13:10 Class of 3000 13:35 Ed, Edd n Eddy 14:00 Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends 14:25 Codename 14:50 Ben 10 15:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 15:40 Squirrel Boy 16:05 Eliot Kid 16:35 George of the Jungle 17:00 Skunk Fu! 17:25 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 17:50 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 18:15 The Secret Saturdays 18:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:05 Casper’s Scare School 19:30 Total Drama Action 20:00 The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack 20:25 Chop Socky Chooks 20:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 21:05 Ed, Edd n Eddy 21:30 Skunk Fu! 21:45 The Secret Saturdays 22:10 Ben 10: Alien Force 22:35 The Life & Times of Juniper Lee 23:00 Camp Lazlo 23:25 Samurai Jack 23:50 Megas XLR

DISCOVERY CHANNEL 00:00 Destroyed in Seconds 01:00 Miami Ink 02:00 Street Customs 2008 02:55 American Chopper 03:50 Chop Shop 04:45 Mythbusters 05:40 Factory Made 06:05 Ultimate Survival 07:00 Extreme Engineering 07:55 Chop Shop 08:50 Street Customs 2008 09:45 How Do They Do It? 10:10 Mythbusters 11:05 Ultimate Survival 12:00 Destroyed in Seconds 12:30 Destroyed in Seconds 12:55 How Do They Do It? 13:25 Factory Made 13:50 Fifth Gear 14:15 American Chopper 15:10 Miami Ink 16:05 Mythbusters 17:00 Ultimate Survival 18:00 Destroyed in Seconds 19:00 Street Customs 2008 20:00 How Do They Do It? 20:30 Factory Made 21:00 Eyewitness 21:30 Eyewitness 22:00 Against the Elements 23:00 Decoding Disaster DISCOVERY SCIENCE 00:40 Mega World 01:30 What’s That About?

02:20 Sci-Trek 03:10 Fantastic Food Factories 04:00 Beyond Tomorrow 04:50 Race to Mars 05:45 How Stuff’s Made 06:10 Green Wheels 06:40 One Step Beyond 07:10 What’s That About?

08:00 Junkyard Mega-Wars 09:00 Race to Mars 10:00 Fantastic Food Factories 10:55 How Stuff’s Made 11:20 Stunt Junkies 11:50 What’s That About?

12:45 Green Wheels 13:10 One Step Beyond 13:40 Race to Mars 14:35 Fantastic Food Factories

15:30 16:25 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:40 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50

Science of Beauty How Stuff’s Made Junkyard Mega-Wars Brainiac Mega World The Future of...

Brainiac How It’s Made Mythbusters The Future of...

Brainiac

DISNEY CHANNEL 00:00 My Friends Tigger and Pooh 00:20 Handy Manny 00:45 Special Agent Oso 01:10 Lazytown 02:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:45 Handy Manny 03:10 Special Agent Oso 03:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 04:00 Fairly Odd Parents 04:25 Hannah Montana 04:45 I Got A Rocket 05:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place 05:35 Phineas & Ferb 06:00 Higglytown Heroes 06:10 My Friends Tigger and Pooh 06:35 Handy Manny 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:20 Lazytown 08:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:00 Handy Manny 09:25 Special Agent Oso 09:45 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 10:10 Fairly Odd Parents 10:35 Hannah Montana 11:00 I Got A Rocket 11:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 11:45 Phineas & Ferb 12:10 Suite Life On Deck 12:35 Replacements 12:55 American Dragon 13:20 Kim Possible 13:40 Famous Five 14:05 Fairly Odd Parents 14:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:55 Replacements 15:15 I Got A Rocket 15:40 Wizards Of Waverly Place 16:00 Hannah Montana 16:25 Sonny With A Chance 16:45 Fairly Odd Parents 17:10 Phineas & Ferb 17:35 Suite Life On Deck 18:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 18:25 Hannah Montana 18:45 The Replacements 19:00 Jonas 19:25 Suite Life On Deck 19:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 20:15 Sonny With A Chance 20:40 Hannah Montana 21:05 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 21:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 21:50 The Replacements 22:00 American Dragon 22:25 Kim Possible 22:50 Famous Five 23:15 Fairly Odd Parents 23:35 Phineas & Ferb E! ENTERTAINMENT 00:15 Streets Of Hollywood 00:40 Thsc 01:30 25 Most Stylish 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 Ths 07:45 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 Ths 11:05 Ths 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Reality Hell 13:40 50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up 15:25 Behind The Scenes 16:15 E!es 17:10 Perfect Catch 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Streets Of Hollywood 19:15 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 19:40 Ths 21:20 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Dr 90210 23:50 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties EXTREME SPORTS 00:00 Strikeforce 01:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 2008 02:00 Ticket To Ride 03:00 Strikeforce 04:00 Fim World Motocross Championships 2009 05:00 Ride Guide Snow 2008 06:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 07:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 2008 08:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 09:00 I-Ex Season 2 10:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 2008 11:00 Ticket To Ride 12:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 13:00 I-Ex Season 2 14:00 Ride Guide Snow 2008 15:00 Ticket To Ride 16:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 17:00 I-Ex Season 2 18:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 2008 19:00 Disposable Hero 20:00 Ride Guide Snow 2008 21:00 I-Ex Season 2 22:00 Ticket To Ride 23:00 Disposable Hero FOX SPORTS 01:00 The Golf Channel - TBA 02:00 Golf Central International 02:30 The Golf Channel - TBA 03:00 NHL: Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins 04:00 NHL: Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild 07:00 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships Ladies Short Program Spokane, WA 09:30 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 11:00 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Illinois v Penn State

23:15 Laura’s Stern - FAM

13:00 European Tour Commercialbank Qatar Masters Rd. 1 17:00 Torneo de Verano Mar Del Plata, Argentina 19:00 NHL: Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild 22:00 Torneo de Verano Mar Del Plata, Argentina

SHOW SERIES 00:00 House 01:00 House Of Saddam 03:00 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 04:00 Law And Order 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 House 07:00 C.s.i. New York 08:00 Lipstick Jungle 09:00 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 10:00 Law And Order 11:00 C.s.i. New York 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 14:00 10 Years Younger (usa) 15:00 Lipstick Jungle 16:00 House 17:00 Eureka 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Huey’s Cooking Adventure 19:00 Hotel Babylon 20:00 Bones 21:00 Demons 22:00 Secret Diary Of A Call Girl 23:00 Lipstick Jungle

FRANCE 24 00:00 News And Magazines - U 00:30 News And Magazines - U 01:00 The France 24 Interview - U 01:30 News And Magazines - U 21:00 The Paris Talk - U 21:30 News And Magazines - U MGM 00:00 Madonna: Truth Or Dare 01:55 The Fantasticks 03:20 Masquerade (1988) (1988) 04:50 Wisdom 06:40 The Hunting Party 08:30 The Pride And The Passion 10:40 The Glory Stompers 12:05 Miracle Beach 13:30 Bikini Beach 15:10 Cooley High 16:55 Women Vs. Men 18:20 The Heavenly Kid 19:50 The Hawaiians 22:00 Mannequin 23:30 Hair NAT GEO ADVENTURE 00:30 Jailed Abroad 01:30 Jailed Abroad 02:30 Destination Extreme 03:00 Madventures 03:30 Surfer’s Journal 04:00 Bondi Rescue 04:30 Destination Extreme 05:00 Madventures 05:30 By Any Means 06:30 Jailed Abroad 07:30 Jailed Abroad 08:30 Destination Extreme 09:00 Madventures 09:30 Surfer’s Journal 10:00 Bondi Rescue 10:30 Destination Extreme 11:00 Madventures 11:30 Nomads 12:30 Bondi Rescue 13:00 Bondi Rescue 13:30 First Ascent 14:00 Finding Genghis 14:30 Destination Extreme 15:00 Madventures 15:30 Surfer’s Journal 16:00 Bondi Rescue 16:30 Destination Extreme 17:00 Madventures 17:30 Nomads 18:30 Bondi Rescue 19:00 Bondi Rescue 19:30 First Ascent 20:00 Finding Genghis 20:30 Destination Extreme 21:00 Madventures 21:30 Surfer’s Journal 22:00 Bondi Rescue 22:30 Destination Extreme 23:00 Madventures 23:30 Nomads

SHOW SPORTS 1 01:00 Premier League 17:00 Futbol Mundial 17:30 Premier League World 18:00 Live Dubai International Horse Racing Carnival 22:00 Premier League

The Last Mimzy on Super Movies

NAT GEO WILD 00:00 Wild Russia 01:00 Polar Bear Alcatraz 02:00 Monkey Thieves 02:30 Monkey Thieves 03:00 Dam Beavers 04:00 Hidden Worlds 04:30 Snake Wranglers 05:00 Frogs - The Thin Green Line 06:00 Wild Russia 07:00 Polar Bear Alcatraz 08:00 Monkey Thieves 08:30 Monkey Thieves 09:00 Dam Beavers 10:00 Hidden Worlds 10:30 Snake Wranglers 11:00 Sharkville 12:00 Ancient Creatures 13:00 Planet Carnivore 14:00 Rescue Ink 15:00 Humpbacks - Inside The Pod 16:00 Hidden Worlds 16:30 Snake Wranglers 17:00 Sharkville 18:00 Ancient Creatures 19:00 Planet Carnivore 20:00 Rescue Ink 21:00 Humpbacks - Inside The Pod 22:00 Hidden Worlds 22:30 Snake Wranglers 23:00 Sharkville ORBIT NEWS 1 00:00 ABC Now Bell/ Good Money LIVE 00:30 ABC NOW Top Line / Inside the Newsroom 01:00 ABC NOW Ahead of the Curve (as live) 01:30 ABC NOW World News Webcast + Daily Download 02:00 ABC Nightline 02:30 ABC World News Live 03:00 NBC Nightly News Live 03:30 ABC World News (Wed) 04:00 NBC Today Show 07:00 NBC Nightly News (Wed) 07:30 ABC Nightline Live 08:00 ABC World News (Wed) 08:30 NBC Nightly News (Wed) 09:00 Newshour with Jim Lehrer 10:00 ABC Nightline 10:30 NBC Nightly News (Wed) 11:00 ABC World News Now Live 12:30 NBC Early Today Live 13:00 ABC America This Morning Live 14:30 NBC Early Today 15:00 NBC Today Show Live 19:00 ABC Now Money Matters / Bell 19:30 ABC NOW / Good Money 20:00 MSNBC Live Dr. NANCY 21:00 MSNBC Live Andrea Mitchell Reports 22:00 PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer 23:00 MSNBC Countdown w/K. Olbermann ORBIT NEWS 2 00:00 MSNBC Live 01:00 MSNBC Live Hardball 02:00 MSNBC News Live The Ed Show 03:00 MSNBC (As Live) Hardball 04:00 MSNBC Live Countdown w/K. Olbermann 05:00 MSNBC Live The Rachel

Maddow Show 06:00 MSNBC (as live) Countdown w/K. Olbermann 07:00 MSNBC (As Live) The Rachel Maddow Show 08:00 MSNBC (As Live) Hardball 09:00 MSNBC (as live) Countdown w/K. Olbermann 10:00 MSNBC (As Live) The Rachel Maddow Show 11:00 MSNBC (As Live) The Ed Show 12:00 MSNBC (as live) Countdown w/K. Olbermann 13:00 MSNBC First Look (Live) 13:30 MSNBC Way Too Early w/W. Geist (Live) 14:00 MSNBC (taped) Hardball 15:00 MSNBC (taped) The Ed Show 16:00 MSNBC (taped) Countdown w/K. Olbermann 17:00 MSNBC Live Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan 18:00 MSNBC Live Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan 19:00 MSNBC Live 20:00 MSNBC (taped) Hardball 21:00 MSNBC (taped) Countdown w/K. Olbermann 22:00 MSNBC (taped) The Rachel Maddow Show 23:00 MSNBC Live PLAYHOUSE DISNEY 08:00 Special Agent Oso 08:25 Handy Manny 08:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:15 Imagination Movers 09:40 Chuggington 10:10 Handy Manny 10:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:50 Special Agent Oso 11:15 Imagination Movers 11:40 My Friends Tigger and Pooh 12:05 Chuggington 12:20 Chuggington 12:55 Handy Manny 13:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:30 My Friends Tigger and Pooh 13:50 Imagination Movers 14:10 Little Einsteins 14:30 Handy Manny 14:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:20 Jo Jo’s Circus 16:10 Higglytown Heroes 17:00 Happy Monster Band 17:05 My Friends Tigger and Pooh 17:30 Happy Monster Band 17:35 Handy Manny 18:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 18:25 Special Agent Oso 18:50 Chuggington 19:00 Imagination Movers 19:25 Handy Manny 19:50 Chuggington 20:00 Special Agent Oso 20:15 Little Einsteins 20:40 Handy Manny 20:50 My Friends Tigger and Pooh 21:00 End Of Programming SHOW COMEDY 00:00 Friends 00:30 Seinfeld 01:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Sit Down, Shut Up 02:30 The Book Group 03:00 Home Improvement 03:30 The Colbert Report 04:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 04:30 The Colbert Report 05:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 05:30 Will And Grace 06:00 Two And A Half Men 06:30 Home Improvement 07:00 Rita Rocks 07:30 Ellen 08:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 08:30 8 Simple Rules..

09:00 Watching Ellie 09:30 Malcolm In The Middle 10:00 Will And Grace 10:30 Two And A Half Men 11:00 Til Death 11:30 8 Simple Rules..

12:00 Ellen 12:30 Watching Ellie 13:00 Rita Rocks 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 14:00 Home Improvement 14:30 Malcolm In The Middle 15:00 Friends 15:30 Seinfeld 16:00 Ellen

16:30 Watching Ellie 17:00 Rita Rocks 17:30 8 Simple Rules..

18:00 Will And Grace 18:30 Two And A Half Men 19:00 Til Death 19:30 Malcolm In The Middle 20:00 Gavin And Stacey 20:30 Seinfeld 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Comedy Central 23:00 Nut Case 23:30 Til Death SHOW MOVIES 1 01:00 Kings Of South Beach - 18 03:00 Lars And The Real Girl - PG 15 05:00 Definitely Maybe - PG 15 07:00 Chasing The Horizon - PG 15 09:00 First Sunday - PG 15 11:00 Grace Is Gone - PG 15 13:00 Picture This - PG 15 15:00 First Sunday - PG 15 17:00 Grace Is Gone - PG 15 18:30 Eagle Eye - PG 15 20:30 The House Bunny - 18 23:00 How To Lose Friends And Alienate People - PG SHOW MOVIES 2 00:00 Things We Lost In The Fire PG 15 02:00 White Palace - 18 04:00 Moll Flanders - PG 15 06:00 Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day - PG 15 08:00 Pootie Tang - PG 15 10:00 Taina - Uma Aventura Na Amazonia - PG 11:45 Save The Last Dance - PG 13:45 Terms Of Endearment - PG 15 16:00 Taina - Uma Aventura Na Amazonia - PG 18:00 Save The Last Dance - PG 20:00 Brick Lane - PG 15 22:00 Seven Pounds - PG SHOW MOVIES ACTION 01:00 Bloodrayne 2 : Deliverance - 18 03:00 Termination Point - PG 15 05:00 Rogue - PG 15 07:00 Highlander: The Source - PG 15 09:00 Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow PG 15 11:00 Street Fighter - PG 13:00 The Forbidden Kingdom - PG 15 15:00 Redbelt - PG 15 17:00 Ming Ming - PG 15 19:00 The Invincible - PG 15 21:00 Twins Effect 2 - PG 15 23:00 Chocolate - PG 15 SHOW MOVIES COMEDY 00:00 Knocked Up - 18 02:30 Mr. Bean’s Holiday - PG 04:00 Making Mr Right - PG 15 06:00 Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid PG 08:00 Mr. Bean’s Holiday - PG 10:00 The Game Plan - PG 12:00 Dennis The Menace Strikes Again - PG 14:00 Manhattan Murder Mystery PG 16:00 The Game Plan - PG 18:00 Dennis The Menace Strikes Again - PG 20:00 Standing Still - 18 22:00 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - 18 SHOW MOVIES KIDS 00:15 Genghis Khan - PG 02:15 Yogi’s Great Escape - PG 04:00 The Totenwackers - PG 06:00 Hammer Boy - PG 07:30 Mostly Ghostly - PG 10:00 Barbie - And The Diamond Castle - FAM 11:45 Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses - FAM 13:30 Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus - FAM 15:00 Laura’s Stern - FAM 16:30 Yogi Bear And The Magical Flight Of The Sp - PG 18:15 Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus - FAM 19:45 Barbie - And The Diamond Castle - FAM 21:30 Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses - FAM

SHOW SPORTS 2 01:15 Premier League 05:00 Scottish Premier League 07:00 Premier League 11:00 Weber Cup Bowling 12:00 Premier League 14:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 15:00 Scottish Premier League 17:00 Weber Cup Bowling 18:00 Scottish Premier League 20:00 Gillette World Sport 20:30 Premier League 22:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 23:00 Dubai International Horse Racing Carnival SHOW SPORTS 3 01:00 Scottish Premier League 05:00 Weber Cup Bowling 06:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 07:00 Scottish Premier League 11:00 World Of Golf 11:30 PGA European Tour Highlights 12:30 European Tour Weekly 13:00 Live PGA European Tour 17:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 18:00 Premier League World 18:30 European Tour Weekly 19:00 PGA European Tour 23:30 Barclays Premier League Highlights SHOW SPORTS 4 01:00 NCAA Basketball 03:00 Bushido 04:00 UFC - The Ultimate Fighter 07:00 WWE SmackDown!

09:00 Rat Race 09:30 UFC All Access 10:00 UAE National Race Day 10:30 FIM World Cup 11:00 Bushido 12:00 WWE SmackDown!

14:00 LG Action Sport 15:00 Rat Race 15:30 UFC All Access 16:00 NCAA Basketball 18:00 UAE National Race Day 19:00 NFL Game Day 19:30 FIM World Cup 20:00 WWE ECW 21:00 UFC - The Ultimate Fighter 23:00 NCAA Basketball SUPER COMEDY 00:30 The Jay Leno Show 01:30 Notes From The Underbelly 02:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 03:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 03:30 Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon 04:30 Jimmy Kimmel Live 05:30 The Jay Leno Show 06:30 Notes From The Underbelly 07:00 Frasier 07:30 All Of Us 08:00 The Tonight Show With Conan O’ Brien 09:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 10:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live 11:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 11:30 Frasier 12:00 Notes From The Underbelly 12:30 All Of Us 13:00 The Jay Leno Show 14:00 The Tonight Show With Conan O’ Brien 15:00 Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon 16:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live 19:00 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 19:30 All Of Us 20:00 The Jay Leno Show 21:00 The Tonight Show With Conan O’ Brien 22:00 Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon 23:00 HUNG 23:30 Jimmy Kimmel Live SUPER MOVIES 01:00 Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist - 18 03:00 Final Destination *3* - PG15 05:00 Blood Diamond - 18 07:00 The Last Mimzy - FAM 09:00 The Timekeeper - PG 11:00 How to Eat Fried Worms FAM 13:00 Happy Feet - FAM 15:00 Dancing Trees - PG15 17:00 Zodiac - PG15 19:00 The Good German - PG15 21:00 The Secret Life of Bees - PG 23:00 The Reaping - 18

Star listings (UAE timings) Star Movies 16:00 American Idol 17:00 East West 17:50 Charlie’s Angels 18:00 The Unit 18:50 Starsky & Hutch 19:00 American Idol 20:00 East West 20:50 Charlie’s Angels 21:00 The Unit 21:50 Starsky & Hutch 22:00 [V] Tunes 23:00 How I Met Your Mother 23:30 NGC Program 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 7th Heaven 03:00 The Simpsons 03:30 The King Of Queens 04:00 Beauty And The Geek 05:00 Cops 05:25 Cops

05:50 06:00 06:50 07:00 08:00 08:50 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00

Jackie Chan Adventures Bones Charlie’s Angels American Idol East West Jackie Chan Adventures How I Met Your Mother The Bold And The Beautiful 7th Heaven Charlie’s Angels Bones Starsky & Hutch [V] Tunes Cops The Simpsons The King Of Queens Beauty And The Geek

Granada TV 21:00 Vroom Vroom (Series 2) 22:00 Emmerdale 22:30 Coronation Street

23:00 Vroom Vroom (Series 2) 00:00 The Springer Show 01:00 Coach Trip (Series 1) * 02:00 Action Thursday: Bloodlines 03:30 Young, Posh and Loaded 04:00 Art Crime 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 The Springer Show 07:00 Coach Trip (Series 1) * 08:00 Action Thursday: Bloodlines 09:30 Young, Posh and Loaded 10:00 Art Crime 11:00 Emmerdale 11:30 Coronation Street 12:00 The Springer Show 13:00 The Chopping Block (Series 1) 14:00 Action Thursday: Murder City (Series 2) 15:30 Young, Posh and Loaded 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street

17:00 The Springer Show 18:00 The Chopping Block (Series 1) 19:00 Action Thursday: Murder City (Series 2) Channel [V] 22:00 [V] Plug 22:30 The Playlist 23:00 Loop 00:00 Backtracks 01:00 Double Shot 02:00 [V] Plug 02:30 The Playlist 03:00 Loop 04:00 Parental Control Double Bill 05:00 [V] Tunes 06:00 Double Shot 07:00 Backtracks 08:00 Loop 09:00 [V] Plug 09:30 Double Shot 10:00 Backtracks

11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00

[V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Loop Videoscope [V] Tunes Backtracks [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Loop Videoscope [V] Tunes

Fox News 20:00 Happening Now 22:00 The Live Desk 00:00 Studio B with Shepard Smith Live 01:00 Your World with Neil Cavuto 02:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 03:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 04:00 The FOX Report with Shepard

Smith 05:00 The O’Reilly Factor 06:00 Hannity 07:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 08:00 The O’Reilly Factor 09:00 Hannity 10:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 11:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 12:00 Fox Report 13:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 14:00 The O’Reilly Factor 15:00 FOX & Friends First Live 16:00 FOX & Friends Live 18:00 America’s Newsroom National Geographic Channel 20:00 ABOUT ASIA -Rivers And Life : Ganges 21:00 Wild Wednesday -Dam Beavers 22:00 Wild Wednesday -Predator CSI :

Mutant Devils 23:00 Wild Wednesday -Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy : Borneo 4 00:00 Inside -FIFA Club Championship Toyota Cup 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -Rivers And Life : Ganges 02:00 Big, Bigger, Biggest -Sky Wheel 03:00 Predator CSI -Whale That Blew Up 04:00 Animal Extractors -Break-In Bear S1-2 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -Rivers And Life : Ganges 06:00 Asteroid! The Doomsday Rock 07:00 Dam Beavers 08:00 Inside -FIFA Club Championship Toyota Cup 09:00 Nat Geo Junior -Monkey Thieves : Rising Forces 11 09:30 Nat Geo Junior -I Didn’t Know That : S2-05

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he ‘Grease’ actor, who is a trained pilot, flew the speciallyborrowed plane to the Caribbean nation’s capital Port-auPrince to help the 1.5 million people who are believed to be homeless in the capital following the earthquake.

Travolta flew in the Qantas Airline aircraft full with ready-to-eat rations for survivors of the disaster with his wife Kelly Preston. Speaking on his return flight, the 55-year-old actor said: “We have an ability and a responsibility to help make a difference.” Last week, he said: “I have arranged for a plane to take down some volunteer ministers and some supplies and some medics. “I hope that inspires others as well. It’s needed.” Travolta is among a number of A-list celebrities to take action after the disaster struck.

Last week, George Clooney fronted a TV telethon to raise money for the Haiti relief effort, with celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, Justin Timberlake, Madonna and Cameron Diaz taking phone donations totaling $58 million from the public. Meanwhile, a charity single is being organized my music mogul Simon Cowell, with a host of singers including Rod Stewart, Cheryl Cole, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams recording REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’.

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8th in 2008, and was the favorite choice of US women. Screen cowboy John Wayne-a fixture on the list since it began in 1994, despite his death in 1979 — slipped to 7th, but Will Smith, Harrison Ford and Angelina Jolie all dropped off the Top 10 completely in 2009. The Harris Poll was conducted online in the United States between Dec 7-14 among 2,276 adults.

Top 10 list for 2009 1.

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Clint Eastwood Johnny Depp Denzel Washington Sandra Bullock Tom Hanks George Clooney John Wayne Meryl Streep Morgan Freeman Julia Roberts

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Cage’s Vegas home sells for nearly $5m real estate broker says a Las Vegas mansion that belonged to Nicolas Cage before it was foreclosed on sold for nearly $5 million its first day on the market. Records show Cage owes millions of dollars to the IRS in unpaid taxes. The Oscar-winning actor has said he’s had to sell numerous assets because of his finances. Kenneth Lowman, owner of Luxury Homes of Las Vegas, says the 14,300-squarefoot, bank-owned home sold for close to the asking price of $4.95 million. Lowman says the sale was expected to close yesterday. The buyer wasn’t identified. Cage sued his former business manager in October for $20 million, saying the man’s advice led him toward ruin. A finance director in Rhode Island said this month that Cage owed roughly $128,000 in unpaid taxes on a mansion there.

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Sheen phoned his daughters from prison harlie Sheen phoned his daughters from prison on Christmas Day . The ‘Two and a Half Men’ star - who was arrested on December 25 for allegedly attacking wife Brooke Mueller - was keen to speak to his two girls, Sam, five, and four-year-old Lola, so used his call from jail to contact ex-wife Denise Richards. The actress who divorced Charlie in 2006 after turbulent relationship revealed: “I got a call on Christmas - a collect call from Charlie. He told me he and Brooke had gotten into a fight but didn’t want to say more because the prison was recording the conversation. “He said he didn’t want the day to go by without him saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to the girls.” Denise

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voted favorite movie star in US

aula Abdul has been offered a $1 million deal to appear on ‘Dancing With The Stars’. The 47year-old singer and choreographer has reportedly been offered the huge sum as a Development Deal by network ABC. If she agrees to be part of the ballroom show, they will then also allow her to become a judge on the US version of ‘The X Factor’. The former ‘American Idol’ judge - who controversially left the show’s panel last year after seven series - is said to have met with media mogul Simon Cowell about joining his stateside version of reality show ‘The X Factor’, which is a direct rival to her previous program. Simon was also a judge on ‘American Idol’ but announced earlier this year he is leaving to start his new project. It is not yet clear whether Paula will compete on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ or appear in another capacity, such as a judge, but ABC have reportedly been trying to get the 80s idol on board for a number of years. A source close to Paula told website MSN.com: “She’s been wanting to make her mark on a network long term. “She’s had reality shows and such, but she hasn’t had one place to develop the Paula brand. If ABC were to give her that chance, she’d probably do it, even if being on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ was the trade-off.”

Paula has until March 22, when ‘Dancing With The Stars’ begins, to make up her mind.

Will Abdul go ‘Da nc i

John Travolta flies emergency supplies to Haiti

ovie fans just made Clint Eastwood’s day. The star of “Dirty Harry” and 2008’s “Gran Torino” was voted America’s favorite movie star of 2009, ousting Denzel Washington from his three-year hold on the top spot in an annual Harris Poll, released on Tuesday. Sandra Bullock, the Golden Globe and People’s Choice winner for her starring role in the movie “The Blind Side”, was the most popular female movie actress, reentering the Top 10 and coming in 4th place, overall. Bullock, 45, seen as a favorite for her first Oscar in March, did well with 33- to 44year-old US moviegoers, particularly those in the southern United States. But Eastwood, 79, who has managed to combine acting with Oscar-winning directing stints in the last 10 years, reigned supreme with men, Republican and Independent voters and those over 45-years-old. “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor Johnny Depp jumped up to the No 2 spot from

and Charlie - who was released on bail and will appear in court next month - split when she was five months pregnant with Lola, and while the 38-year-old beauty is sad her girls come from a broken home, she knows it was the right thing to do. She told US TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey: “I was terrified and relieved that I had the courage to do it. Our daughters didn’t ask to be born into our conflict... It was impossible to make our marriage work.

“Charlie and I are in a good place now... It’s taken a lot of work on our part.” The Sheens have a Feb 8 court date in Colorado in the aftermath of a domestic violence incident that brought police to their home there on Christmas Day.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Hathaway to announce Oscar nominations

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nne Hathaway will be among the first to learn who’s up for an Oscar this year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says the 27year-old Hathaway will join motion picture academy president Tom Sherak to announce Academy Award nominees on Feb 2. Sherak and Hathaway will reveal

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nominations in 10 of the 24 categories at an early-morning news conference at the academy’s Beverly Hills headquarters. Hathaway was nominated for an Oscar last year for her leading role in “Rachel Getting Married.” Her other credits include “The Devil Wears Prada” and “The Princess Diaries.”

Intruder arrested at Boyle’s house usan Boyle was startled to find an intruder in her home. The man was on the stairs as Susan returned to her modest house in West Lothian, Scotland, and upon being discovered turned and ran past the scared music star. The ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ star had only just arrived back home after a day in the recording studio, laying down vocals for Simon Cowell’s charity single to aid the victims of the recent earthquakes in Haiti. A friend told The Sun newspaper: “Susan got home to find an intruder halfway up her stairs. She was with another female, who was dropping her off, and only expected to be with her for a couple of minutes - but it is just as well she was. “Susan is unharmed but is obviously very, very shocked.

The guy has seen her come in and bolted out straight past Susan.” Police were called and the Lothian and Borders force confirmed a man was being held last night. The multi-million selling singer - who lives alone - is now worried she may have to quit her home over safety fears. Local police previously fitted the property with a panic alarm after Susan spotted two strangers peering through a window last year. Meanwhile, Susan has spoke of her “honor” at being able to contribute to Simon’s charity single, a cover of REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’. The 48-year-old singer said: “”It is just awful what is happening in Haiti. I’ve seen some of it on the TV and it’s so sad. “To be asked to do this with all these talented singers is just great, it’s such an honor. It would be lovely to meet Rod Stewart, being a fellow Scot.” Other stars appearing on the record include Robbie Williams, Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis and Kylie Minogue.

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Danny DeVito refuses to look in the mirror he ‘Matilda’ star - who is just 5ft tall - doesn’t like seeing his reflection as it makes him over-analyze his looks, especially when it comes to his facial hair. He said: “I took all the mirrors in my house down, because I would always ask myself if I have to shave or not. Sometimes I stay like this for three, four days, till I am overgrown, so I can’t see anything anymore.”

Although he is one of Hollywood’s smallest actors, Danny insists he isn’t worried about his lack of height. He said: “I always played the 1m 52cm meter-character, from Penguin in ‘Batman’ to ‘Twins’ with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Whatever, I was always that tall. But I don’t have a problem with my height.” The 65-year-

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old actor also revealed he is an over-protective father. Danny - who has two daughters, Lucy, 26, and Grace, 24, and a 22-year-old son Jacob with actress wife Rhea Perlman told newspaper Bild am Sonntag: “I am very calm now, very balanced. OK, now I am lying.

I am totally crazy and not dependable in reality. “I’ve got an Italian heritage! I have a very close look at the boys who come near my daughters.”

— BangShowbiz

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Music & Movies

Doherty fined for carrying heroin in court abyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was fined yesterday for walking into a court last month with heroin in his pocket. The British singer, who has a history of drug arrests and once dated supermodel Kate Moss, was at Gloucester Magistrates’ Court in western England to learn his punishment for the Dec 21 incident, the Press Association reported. Doherty, 30,

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appeared in court before Christmas to be fined for careless driving, but as he was being escorted from the premises security guards saw heroin fall from his pocket. He was immediately arrested and later charged with possession of the illegal drug.

“Either this was sheer stupidity or a ploy to get more publicity,” judge Joti Boparai said yesterday.

Doherty was fined 750 pounds

($1,200) and 85 pounds in costs.

Boparai ruled that, because Doherty was paying for drug treatment privately, it would not be worth taking money from the “public purse” to put him on a rehabilitation order.

Doherty’s lawyer Bruce Clark said the singer felt “very stupid” after being caught with heroin worth nearly 200 pounds in his pocket, but that he had not known it was there.

“He has a great many items of clothing-suits and clothes going into the hundreds,” Clark told the court.

“There were residual drugs which he had left in one coat pocket. He didn’t necessarily choose the coat for himself. “He is a recovering heroin addict and has received some very sophisticated medical treatment. He had been an addict for some years and is a very well

known, famous musician with a huge international reputation.” Clark played down the example set by Doherty to his fans. “I have never got drunk because I was under the influence of Ernest Hemingway. It doesn’t work that way.” The lawyer added that Doherty was using medical implants which cancel out the effect of heroin. “It’s working for him,” he added. —Reuters

Indulge in the latest seasons on OSN et ready ladies: Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice double billing is back!

Showseries dynamic duos of our favorite dramas return this month with the latest seasons packed with rivalries, romance, grudges and betrayals.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the entertainment bounty that OSN has lined up for you.

Fashion combined with girl power what’s not to love about this show?

America Ferrera is back in braces and clashing colors, which can mean only one thing: Ugly Betty is back with a fabulous fourth season from the divavicious world of high fashion on Showseries from February 1st every Monday at 21:00 KSA Have you been missing your weekly dose of murder and sabotage in suburbia? The lovely ladies of Wisteria Lane return to our living rooms with a sizzling sixth season of Desperate Housewives on SHOWSERIES from February 1st every Monday at 21:00 KSA. With Edie out of the picture and a new housewife on the block, Mike’s much-anticipated wedding isn’t the only scandal happening on Wisteria Lane!

Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice left us stunned with the show’s most shocking, emotional and powerful finales to date. Our medical double bill kicks off with Private Practice from February 3rd every Wednesday at 20:00 KSA on SHOWSERIES. Returning with a third season about the personal and professional lives of a group of passionate doctors featuring steamy storylines and a dazzling cast.

Grey’s Anatomy follows on at 21:00 KSA and over the past five seasons the Emmy Award winning hit has been a roller coaster ride of emotion, tragic and depressing at times, yet touched with hope and plenty of heart leaving us to wonder what does the eagerly anticipated season six hold in store?

Make an appointment to be entertained and indulged every Monday and Wednesday this month with the latest seasons of Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy two years ahead of any other network exclusively on OSN.

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Ugly Betty

Grey’s Anatomy

Desperate Housewives

Private Practice

Bhutto remembered at Sundance n ambitious documentary featured at this week’s Sundance Film Festival is taking a dual-track approach to delve into the fascinating life of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s assassinated former prime minister. Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O’Hara’s “Bhutto,” in competition at the major independent film showcase in the mountains of Utah, examines the many contours of Bhutto’s life, a woman as loved as she was controversial. But it also goes a step further, managing in just under two hours to place her tragic story in the broader context of Pakistan’s history and its troubled relations with rival neighbor India after independence.

“That was the most difficult thing-making sure that we are giving you an enormous amount of information,” co-director Hernandez told AFP. “And to make it entertaining was the only way to do that.” Ultra-slick editing, dynamic music and graphics, animation-the directors pulled out all the stops to captivate their audience. Producer Duane Baughman was quick to acknowledge that his “goal was to make it as commercial, as active, as exciting, as moving as commercial movies.” It may be 115 minutes on the silver screen, but “that was the very minimum to get the story,” he added.

“We don’t feel like there is anything extraneous in there that we could have cut without losing something. Of course, every filmmaker feels that, but when you are talking about a country and a person, it’s pretty tough.” And yet the highly polished, produced aspect of “Bhutto” manages not to take away from its documentary strength.

The entire Bhutto family, friends and biographers sketch the portrait of a female figure who twice clinched victory as prime minister-the first woman to occupy such a high post in any Muslim country-and was on a third run for power when she was killed in a gun and suicide attack two years ago. —AFP

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Bin Laden’s ex-driver in the spotlight at Sundance alim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s one-time driver who spent seven years locked up at Guantanamo, is in the spotlight once again, this time in a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. The second part of Laura Poitras’s trilogy on post-September 11, 2001 America, “The Oath” is competing for a prize at the independent cinema showcase nestled in the mountains of Utah through Sunday.

Her first piece in the series, “My Country, My Country” (2006) earned Poitras an Academy Award nomination. “As a filmmaker, it makes me nervous to release this film because I know how it can be seen in different ways,” she said in an interview. “But I knew it from the beginning. It is so politically

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Hamdan’s bid to join jihad. “He’s clearly an unreliable narrator and I know he can make some people angry, but in the film, we really wanted to make the audience struggle with that,” Poitras explained. “He is also an antihero type character, which I think is much easier to do in narrative... Somehow, doing it in a documentary, showing somebody that you can’t trust, who is dangerous, it’s more difficult to accept. Because I think we are used to documentary being about people who are sympathetic or heroic.”

As a counterpart to Abu Jandal, the documentary retraces Hamdan’s journey to the US military prison reviled around the world, using his letters and interviews with his US lawyers, who Poitras hails as “heroes.” —AFP

&B singer Mary J Blige and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” during a fundraising segment for Haiti relief at this year’s Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy said yesterday the duet will be available for download at iTunes.com/Target following the show, with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross to benefit earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

The 52nd annual Grammy Awards will air live Sunday on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Music’s biggest night will also include performances by album of the year nominees Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, the Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift. —AP

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‘Avatar’ sinks ‘Titanic,’ tops all-time box office vatar” has surpassed “Titanic” as the highestgrossing movie worldwide, giving director James Cameron a remarkable double a week before his scifi spectacular is expected to rack up a slew of Oscar nominations. Gregg Brilliant, a spokesman for the News Corp-owned studio 20th Century Fox, said Tuesday the worldwide box office total for “Avatar” stands at $1.859 billion, beating the $1.843 billion racked up

by Cameron’s romantic drama “Titanic” in 1997-1998. “Avatar” broke the record in a little over six weeks.

The film has enjoyed an unbroken reign in most countries, including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Australia.

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An ambitious documentary featured at this week’s Sundance Film Festival delve into life of Benazir Bhutto. —AFP

This undated photo from a defense counsel news release shows Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan. —AFP

incorrect to make a movie about terrorism.” The film follows the daily routines of Hamdan, who was set free in Yemen in January after nearly two months at a political security prison following his release from Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Jandal, Hamdan’s brother-in-law and a former bodyguard of Al-Qaeda chief bin Laden. Abu Jandal, who Poitras describes as “quite brilliant and very charismatic,” now drives a cab in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Questioned at length by the US authorities after 9/11, he takes an uncanny pleasure in blowing hot and cold, defending “holy war” and antiWestern sentiment in one breath while condemning attacks by militants in the next.

But his fragility also crops up when he shares his sense of guilt and regrets at being behind

Blige, Bocelli duet to raise funds for Haiti

The data are not adjusted for inflation.

Ticket sales got an additional boost from premium prices for 3-D screenings. Fox said 72 percent of worldwide sales come from 3-D engagements. The actionadventure movie, starring Sigourney Weaver, is set in 2154 and tells the tale of a disabled ex-Marine sent to Earth to infiltrate a race of 10-foot blue aliens and persuade them to let his employer mine their homeland for natural resources.

More than five years in the making, it was reportedly one of the most expensive films with a budget of at least $300 million, due partly to its high-tech special effects and the creation of a new language used by the extra-terrestrial Na’vi race. Despite some industry skepticism last year, the movie was released in

December to glowing reviews and went on to win a the Golden Globe for best drama earlier this month.

Tom O’Neil, an awards pundit at www.TheEnvelope.com, said “Avatar” was not just a sure bet for a best picture Academy Award nomination on Feb. 2, but a leading contender to win the top Oscar on March 7. It is also expected to dominate the technical categories. “It is the Oscar front-runner,” O’Neil told Reuters. “It won the Golden Globe, it has conquered the global box office and it has won universal praise.” “The only cliffhanger is, will the notorious snobs in the Academy finally appreciate sci-fi?” he said, noting that a science fiction movie has never won a best picture Oscar. —Reuters

Cambodian secretary of state Kao Kim Huon (L) offers a certificate to US film director Oliver Stone during a ‘Bridges’ dialogue towards creating a culture of peace at the University of Cambodia in Phnom Penh yesterday. Stone visited Cambodia, Thailand as a keynote speaker in the 3rd Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) event series ‘Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace. —AFP

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Fashion

Dior delivers whinnying couture collection orget the “it” bag.

With its haute couture collection of refined riding clothes, Dior on Monday invited the chic women of the world to saddle up and ditch their handbags for a truly useful accessory: the riding crop.

Christian Dior designer John Galliano looked to the lady equestrians of the 19th century-old Amazons in nipwaisted jackets and flowing skirts-for a spring-summer 2010 collection of skirt suits in fine red and gray wool, worn with veiled top hats, lace up boots with towering heels and, of course, whips.

Kylie Minogue, one of a gaggle of A-list guests, said she was sure such an accessory could come in handy. “I’m sure I could make a few moves with a riding crop,” the pop star-dressed in a black-and-white check Dior dress-told The Associated Press.

Besides the equestrian garb-built on a variation of Dior’s iconic Bar jacket, with heavily draped peplums-the collection also included short cocktail dresses covered in outrageous embroidery and jeweltoned ball gowns that had the long, stately silhouette of a John Singer Sargent painting. Knockouts in the ravishing collection included a shell pink halter gown with a cascading train in tobaccocolored silk and an olive green halter jacket and draped pencil skirt, worn with fuchsia leather gloves and bracelets hung with dangling, egg-sized chunks of amber. Galliano “had the vision of the ladies riding in the morning, taking afternoon tea in the short dresses and the gorgeous ball gowns for the evening,” said Minogue, who was flanked

by Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung and French actress Nora Arnezeder.

Other front-row guests at the show, one of the highest profile of Paris’ haute couture displays, included Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, designer Pierre Cardin, French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand and Paz Vega.

The Spanish actress said she knew how to ride, but didn’t like to because “I once fell off and now I’m afraid of horses.” But if getting back in the saddle meant getting to wear clothes from the ultra-exclusive, made-tomeasure collection-with pieces starting in the thousands of euros (dollars) — Vega said she’d hop right on.

“I love the aesthetic of riding, so elegant, so chic, feminine but with a masculine touch,” she told The AP. “Sign me up!” Galliano, who always appears in costume to take a final bow, strutted the catwalk in white jodhpurs, a velvet jacket with tails, boots with a considerable heel and the summer’s next big accessory-a swishing whip. —AP

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Models present creations by British designer John Galliano for Christian Dior during the spring-summer 2010 haute couture collection show on January 25, 2010 in Paris. —AFP photos

British designer John Galliano acknowledges the audience following the Christian Dior spring-summer 2010 haute couture collection show on January 25, 2010 in Paris.—AFP

International Wedding Expo at Al-Riqai Hotel

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The annual International Wedding Expo, held from Jan 23-27 was officially launched on Sunday at the Ramada Al-Riqai Hotel. The exhibition, organized by Ava Expo, featured over 80 participants who displayed their various products. Many designers participated in the exhibition including Adham Sirideen, Ayman Sirideen, Alan Atelier and others. It was held under the auspices and attendance of Sheikh Duaij Al-Khalifa AlSabah.

The exhibition included wedding dresses, groom and bride seating areas (Koosha), and several other forms of wedding necessities and decorations.

Some designers and companies specialized in this field came from as far away as Lebanon to display their services on the local market. Several catering and wedding preparation companies and agencies also participated. The exhibition does not only cater to brides but also featured different styles of evening

dresses. Those expecting to attend a wedding could find their outfits, shoes, accessories and other wedding needs under one roof. A visitor would also find watches, make-up, cosmetics, skin care, bags and much more.

The fair is now held twice a

year so as to reach a larger audience. “We hold the wedding exhibition twice a year in different places so everybody can come and visit us and buy what they need. Our second fair will be held in November at the AlDura Ballroom in the Hilton Resort and Hotel,” said Sahar

Hawash of Ava Expo.

“The designs presented at the exhibition will definitely meet all tastes. There are many unique designs for daras (traditional dresses) that can meet women’s needs starting from her engagement party until her wedding day,” she added.

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Fashion

Lebanese designers at Paris Fashion Week articipating in Paris Fashion Week, the Spring/Summer 2010 Couture show of Lebanese designer Georges Chakra in Paris, at L’Ecole Nationale SupÈrieure des Beaux Arts.

Drawing inspiration from nature’s beauty, Chakra’s collection treads the fine line between reality and fantasy, while staying true to the feminity of women. A collection of forty three dresses was presented characterized by varying geometric lines, contemporary designs, contrasting hues combined with delicate necklines and asymmetrical cuts.

All shades reflect summer tonalities: flamboyant pink-orange of sunset, flashes of metallic blue, sparkling gold and silver and the eternal beauty of black and white, create unparalleled elegance and sophistication. Textures came in an endless variety ranging from luscious layers of chiffon, tulle, organza, lace, to satin and silk embroidered with sequins, feathers, rhinestones and pearls.

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BASIL SODA The Beirut native once worked under Elie Saab, and it’s easy to see the imprint Hollywood’s favorite Lebanese designer left on his work: Like Saab, Soda also turns out ravishing red carpet-ready gowns, heavy with fancy beadwork. But his springsummer collection, had a hard, rockprincess edge. Some of the looks, with peaked shoulders and fringes of gold chains and little razor-shaped metal appliques, felt like what Balmain would look do if the Paris-based label ever brought hemlines down below the upper thigh.

ZUHAIR MURAD Zuhair Murad has long been known for artistry in colour & fabric - and while he shows his couture collection in Paris, this Lebanese born designer has stayed true to his roots. While he does maintain a second showroom in Paris, his home base is in Beirut. —Agencies

Models present creations by Lebanese fashion designer Zuhair Murad as part of his Haute Couture SpringSummer 2010 collection presented in Paris, Tuesday.

Models present creations by Lebanese fashion designer Georges Hobeika Haute Couture spring/summer 2010 fashion collection presented Monday in Paris. —AP Models present creations by Lebanese fashion designer Georges Chakra for his Haute Couture spring/summer 2010 fashion collection presented in Paris, Monday. —AP

Models display creations at the end of the presentation of the Haute Couture Spring Summer 2010 collection

by Lebanese fashion designer Basil Soda in Paris, Tuesday. —AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Luck or divine intervention? Haitian voodoo heritage intact tanding amid jumbled statues of horned deities and human skulls, Marianne Lehmann looked at a collection of voodoo objects she has collected over 30 years and pondered how easily it could have been lost. “It’s a lesson.

All the pieces could be destroyed,” said the 73-yearold Swiss citizen. For years, Lehmann has talked about setting up an ethnographic museum and center of voodoo culture, but Haiti’s devastating January 12 earthquake has added new urgency to the task. “There is some damage, but it’s not major,” she said, standing amid overturned statues and broken jugs in her Petionville home.

“Some people say that we had protection, because the

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the Catholic Church and representing various qualities, including the defects of mankind.

Lehmann’s collection began some 30 years ago, when an impoverished Haitian offered to sell her the three-horned statue of a secret society, but she never imagined she would become the owner of a veritable treasure trove of some 3,000 voodoo pieces. Her passion quickly grew, and her mother in Switzerland mortgaged her home so Lehmann could buy a place to live and store her treasures in Petionville. Her four children, all born in Haiti, tease her about her collection.

“They sometimes say to me ‘You’re broke, sell one of your pieces of junk,’” she said

A voodoo vendor waits for customers at a market in Port-au-Prince on January 26, 2010. —AFP neighboring houses were severely damaged, but ours wasn’t,” she added mischievously. Neither superstitious nor a practioner of voodoo, Lehmann has been in Haiti since 1957 and has made it her mission to “protect this sacred art.” “I can’t stop accommodating these objects because they will be lost.

Each piece I don’t buy is lost for the nation,” she said. She cast a maternal glance at the alters adorned with machetes and skulls. “Some pieces can perhaps be frightening, but that is a response to the incredible violence of slavery,” she explained.

Voodoo is derived from African traditions that persisted in Haiti after a slave rebellion that led to the country’s independence in 1804.

In Haiti today, the saying goes that the country is “60 percent Catholic, 40 percent Protestant and 100 percent voodoo.” Haitians seek assistance from a God described as a “grand master” through some 401 lesser deities often associated with the saints of

laughing. Patiently, she has documented the significance of each item, created a foundation and sought the funds to start a museum. Her collection has already caught the attention of international museums. “At the moment, 369 of my best pieces, particularly large mirrors... used during ceremonies to invoke the spirits, are on display overseas,” she said. In recent years, Lehmann’s pieces have toured Geneva’s Museum of Ethnography and Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum and will soon be displayed at ethnography museums in Berlin and Ottawa. “We’ve already collected some 100,000 dollars for a future museum, but we estimate it would require a budget of three million dollars,” she said. And the January 12 quake that killed some 150,000 people in and around Haiti’s capital has made one thing very clear.

“We absolutely must ensure the building is built to withstand earthquakes,” she said. —AFP

MoMA to stage Cartier-Bresson retrospective

A person looks at a photo by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, in Paris in 2003. —AFP ew York’s Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday announced plans to stage the first major retrospective in the United States for three decades of French photography master Henri Cartier-Bresson. The exhibition from April 11 through June 28 will comprise 300 prints from 1929-1989, a fifth of them never shown before. The main focus is on Cartier-Bresson’s most productive decades, from the 1930s to the 1960s, showing his “uncanny talent for seizing lasting images from the flux of experience,” MoMA said in a statement.

The first of 12 sections in the exhibit is devoted to his surrealist stage, when he used a Leica camera “to invent a

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new brand of creative magic.”

The second highlights his photojournalist work after World War II, including his depictions of political and social upheaval in Asia.

The other ten parts are divided into themes, including daily life in the East, West and in his native France. There are sections on the United States, the Soviet Union and China.

“Taken as a whole, the exhibition presents Cartier-Bresson as a keen observer of the global panorama of human affairs and as the author of the fullest, most varied, and far-ranging account of the modern century that any photographer has produced,” the statement said.

Cartier-Bresson died in 2004, aged 95. —AFP

Members of the Viking Jarl Squad surround their leader or ‘Guizer Jarl’ on a Viking galley ship during the annual Up Helly Aa Festival, Lerwick, Shetland Islands. Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian vikings in the Shetland Islands and has employed this theme in the festival since 1870.

The event culminates with up to 1000 ‘guizers’ (men in costume) throwing flaming torches into a Viking longship. —AFP

After Mamma Mia!, fans can sing along with ABBA I

f singing along to ABBA classics on the “Mamma Mia!” soundtrack is not enough, fans have the chance to perform alongside 3-D, holographic versions of the Swedish quartet at a new exhibition dedicated to them.

ABBAWORLD, opening yesterday at London’s Earls Court, aims to cash in on the ABBA craze, with Mamma Mia! already Britain’s biggestselling DVD and a musical of the same name filling theatres around the world.

Members of the band at the opening night late on Tuesday said the 25-room display, featuring original costumes, film footage and memorabilia from their heyday, was more “down to earth” than some visitors might expect. “It’s unexpected, it’s less glamorous, I think, than people probably expect but very true to the story,” Bjorn Ulvaeus told Reuters on the red carpet.

Bandmate Anni-Frid Lyngstad agreed. “It’s very down to earth in a way which I like really because it’s like how we started, humble people, doing the things we liked a lot and eventually had a great success with,” she said. “It’s nice

to kind of come back to where it once began.” With the backing of the band, which has declined to reform and tour

despite pressure from fans and financiers eyeing potentially huge profits, the exhibition will tour the world.

ABBA big in Britain The choice of London as a launch point is partly explained

by ABBA’s enduring popularity

in the country. Exhibition organizers said the group went global in Britain, rather than their native Sweden, with the tri-

Fans of the film ‘Mamma Mia’ arrive in costume for a special screening of the film at the O2 arena, London on January 24, 2010. —AFP

umph of their song “Waterloo” at the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton in 1974. ABBA’s music plays throughout, with hits like “Dancing Queen” and “The Winner Takes It All” reminders of what made the band of two couples, now divorced, one of the most successful acts in pop history with sales approaching 400 million records. The band broke up in the 1980s. Also featured is the seaside cabin where band members composed some of ABBA’s greatest hits and even a helicopter like the one featured on the cover of the “Arrival” album.

Interactive elements include quizzes, a mixing desk and the hologram sing along. Mats Daleskog of Touring Exhibitions, the company behind Abbaworld, said the music was designed to create an emotional response. “With ABBA, it’s the songs that make it, it’s the memories we’re trying to create some kind of a roller coaster of emotions coming in here with a sing-a-long, with the technique available today,” he said.

Adult tickets to the show cost from around 20 pounds ($32) each, and the exhibition runs until March 28. —Reuters

Met’s Picasso mishap Couture not a crime worst fear for parents at Singapore prison A F

trip here. A misplaced elbow there. The stumbling art student who tore a Picasso tapped into the worst fears of clumsy grown-ups and every well intentioned parent who dares venture into big-people museums with small children.

Signs demanding DO NOT TOUCH don’t mean much when accidents happen, especially when the culprits aren’t old enough to read but are small enough-and antsy enough - to dash through barriers. The Moment for Julee Morrison of Taylorsville, Utah, came at Elvis Presley’s Graceland, a huge attraction in Memphis, Tenn., with more than 600,000 visitors a year.

All she wanted to do was feed her then 4-year-old son’s interest in the King. The boy was regaling his family with fun facts when his little brother disappeared.

“We were in line at the gravesite when I glanced around and there on top of Elvis’ grave was my 18month-old. He had squeezed through the rod-iron gate. I was horrified!” she said.

Morrison was too big to follow him, resorting to bear crackers as a bribe to get him in

This image provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows ‘The Actor,’ a painting from Picasso’s rose period. —AP her clutches. “Eyes were burning on my neck.” On the same three-week, cross-country trip, her little escape artist climbed over faux boulders to get to a dinosaur at a museum out West. “I bent over to tie my 4-year old’s shoe. When I stood up, Zac had scaled the boulders and headed into the

exhibit to touch the dinosaur,” she said.

Politely worded rules for kids and adults on how to avoid damaging sometimes priceless work are plastered on museum Web sites, especially those that have opened their doors to splashy, crowdpleasing exhibitions, special events that sometimes include alcohol service-and tipsy guests-and art appreciation classes for young and old.

The woman who lost her balance and fell onto Picasso’s “The Actor” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last week was attending an art class when she stumbled. The museum’s director, Thomas P. Campbell, is pursuing a review of policies and procedures in the aftermath of the 6-inch (15-centimeter) tear that restorers will repair.

While near misses are more common than direct hits, serious damage has been done by the clumsy.

In 2008, a 9-foot (2.75meter)-tall ceramic totem by Costa Rican artist Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez and on view at the Royal Academy of Arts in London broke into pieces after a visitor tripped into it. —AP

ashion police on the prowl for the latest trends were held captive at a Singapore prison recently when it housed couture instead of inmates. Queenstown Remand Prison, which was decommissioned last year, was the site of the world preview of the ck Calvin Klein Spring 2010 collection, which featured the brand’s signature clean lines, drawing comparisons from many guests to the stark linear layout of the jail. “I think the clothing looks like it’s designed for this venue,” said Tom Murry, president and chief executive officer of Calvin Klein Inc. While models togged in outfits from the collection lined up in a row between the prison cells, guests milled about the inmates’ courtyard, its

barbed-wire fences intact, as they listened to a DJ spin tunes from the watchtower. “We thought what a great space to give the feeling of curiosity, intrigue, apprehension,” explained Kevin Carrigan, global creative director, ck Calvin Klein.

The show was the first time a commercial event was held on the premises of the 388-cell prison, which will be torn down shortly. Its inmates were moved to another prison in August, as part of a plan to centralize all prisoners in one location.

Although most of the interior of the jail was boarded up, fashionistas were still able to peek into certain cells to watch images projected onto walls as part of an installation project linked to the clothing presentation. —Reuters

China woman wants Jessica Alba surgery to win boyfriend back Chinese woman is so keen to win back her exboyfriend that she plans to undergo plastic surgery to transform herself into his favorite actress: Hollywood star Jessica Alba. The 21-year-old, who identified herself as Xiaoqing, told the Shanghai Daily that she had met with doctors at a plastic surgery clinic in the eastern Chinese city who offered to do the work for free. “I have made my deci-

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sion,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “I’m not only doing it for my ex-boyfriend, but for myself. I am a psychologically weak person. I want to do something to challenge myself and build a strong personality through it.”

Liu Qi, an official at the Shanghai Time Plastic Surgery Hospital, said the woman would need eyebrow lifting, eyelid reshaping and nose reconstruction to look like Alba, the star of

Jessica Alba “Sin City” and “Fantastic Four.”

“There’s no worry about the expense and it is technically practicable,” Liu was quoted as saying. “But the face-lift is irreversible and we hope that she would take it seriously.” —AFP