RI PT IO N BS C SU THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF
40 PAGES
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
NATO Afghanistan airstrike kills at least 27 civilians
Tehran to build two nuke plants in mountains PAGE 14
PAGE 11
RABI ALAWAL 9, 1431 AH
‘The Hurt Locker’ sweeps board at BAFTAs
NO: 14649
Miller and Miller shine as US dominate Super Sunday
PAGE 37
PAGE 18
MPs see red over women in ‘blue’ Kuwait women’s football team loses 0-17 to Palestine By Khaled Abdullah
KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah, HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and other officials cut the ceremonial cake at the Basic Education Theatre in Shamiya where the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) honored top graduates of its faculties and programs for the year 20082009. — KUNA (See Page 3)
Deqbasi to file info minister’s grilling Panel discusses new budget By B Izzak KUWAIT: Spokesman for the Popular Action Bloc MP Musallam Al-Barrak said yesterday that the long-awaited grilling of the information minister will be filed today by member of the bloc MP Ali Al-Deqbasi. Barrak said the grilling of Information and Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah will be entirely focused on his failure to safeguard national unity and firmly apply the law on violating media. The grilling, which will be the fifth in the current legislative term which began late October, will not be debated in the next regular session of the Assembly on March 2 and is expected to be debated in the March 16 session. Under the law, a grilling cannot be debated until after eight days of its filing and the concerned minister can demand delaying the debate for two weeks. If he wants a longer delay, the Assembly
must vote on the request. Many opposition and tribal MPs vowed to grill Sheikh Ahmad after they accused him of not applying the law against a number of local private TV stations, especially Al-Soor TV, which they claimed aired material deemed offensive to sections of the society and that it undermined national unity. The lawmakers were especially infuriated by a program aired by Al-Soor owner Mohammad Al-Juwaihel in December which they claimed was offensive to Kuwaiti bedouin tribes. Juwaihel was detained for a week and the public prosecution is pressing charges against him in court. On Sunday, the criminal court fined him and four of his staff KD 3,000 each for slandering MP Barrak. The grilling can lead to a no-confidence motion which if passed will mean an automatic dismissal of the minister. Supporters of the grilling say they have the Continued on Page 14
ABU DHABI: Kuwaiti Islamists yesterday demanded the minister of social affairs and labor to open a full-scale investigation into the Kuwait women football team’s participation in an Asian championship in Abu Dhabi. The team, participating in such an event for the first time, lost to the Palestinian team 0-17. “The minister should investigate and punish officials responsible for the participation of the women’s team,” Islamist MP Mohammed Hayef said after the match. The 3rd West Asian Women Soccer Tournament is being hosted by the United Arab Emirates from Feb 20-28. Chairperson of Kuwaiti Women Soccer Committee Sheikha Naemah Ahmad AlSabah selected members of the team to represent Kuwait in the competition, held for the first time in the region. This is also the first time for a Kuwaiti women’s team to participate in a women’s football tournament. The Kuwaiti women’s squad is in Group B with UAE and Palestine. The top two teams from each group moves on to the second round. Jordan are titleholders of the 2005 and 2007 editions of the event which was held in Amman. Although a relatively new sport in Kuwait, women’s football is gaining increasing popularity among players and fans in the country, in the face of Islamist opposition which stands against any outdoor sports activity for women. The defeat in their first match in Group B came as an unprecedented embarrassment for the Kuwaiti team. Liberal Kuwaiti lawmaker Aseel Al-Awadhi defied Islamist MPs’ opposition to women’s sports. Continued on Page 14 Continued from Page 1
150 FILS
Kuwait rejects new Iran sanctions: FM KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah hoped yesterday there would not be more sanctions against Iran in order to avoid more tensions in the region. “We wish our friends (in Iran) can do their best to reassure the international community about the Iranian nuclear program so that there would not be an excuse for imposing sanctions,” he told reporters ahead a tour that will take him to Portugal, Britain, Luxembourg, Belgium and Libya. “There are wise people in Iran,” he believed. But he urged Tehran to fully comply with international legitimacy and IAEA requirements in a bid to stave off more tensions with the international community, which he said would bring negative impacts on the Gulf region. Continued on Page 14
Iran warns airline ban over ‘Gulf’ tag TEHRAN: Iran has threatened to ban airlines from using its airspace if they refer to the waterway between Iran and Arab states as the “Arabian” instead of “Persian” Gulf. The unusual move reflects tension in the region over Iran’s dispute with the United States and its allies over its nuclear enrichment activities and the position of Arabian Peninsula states caught between ties to Washington and fear of Tehran. Gulf Arab states share US anxiety that Iran seeks to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Most of them offer
facilities to US military forces and some have heavily purchased US weaponry in recent years. “The airlines of the southern Persian Gulf countries flying to Iran are warned to use the term Persian Gulf on their electronic display boards,” Road and Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani said in comments in the daily Iran newspaper. “Otherwise they will be banned from Iranian airspace for a month the first time and upon repetition their aircraf t will be grounded in Iran and flight permits to Iran will be revoked,” he added. Continued on Page 14
Unhappy with Israel, EU condemns killing
KUWAIT: Kuwait City’s banking complex is decorated with lights and Kuwaiti flags late yesterday as the state marks its national and liberation days. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat
BRUSSELS: The European Union condemned yesterday the use of fraudulent EU passports by the killers of a Palestinian militant in Dubai, showing its discontent with Israel without referring to it directly. In a short statement, which European diplomats said was intended as a rebuke to Israel, EU foreign ministers said after talks in Brussels that the assassination raised “profoundly disturbing” issues and said citizens’ rights were violated. Dubai has accused Israel of being behind the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. Israel has not
denied or confirmed it played any role but its foreign minister, visiting Brussels, said there was nothing to link it to the killing. “The EU strongly condemns the fact that those involved in this action (the assassination) used fraudulent EU member states’ passports and credit cards acquired through the theft of EU citizens’ identities,” the ministers said. “The EU welcomes the investigation by the Dubai authorities and calls on all countries to cooperate with it.” Diplomats said the statement was intended to put pressure on Israel, but no Continued on Page 14
Libya frees Swiss man, jails another
FRANKFURT: Pilots of German airline Lufthansa take part in a strike at the airport in this central German city yesterday. — AFP
Travel chaos hits Europe as Lufthansa pilots strike FRANKFURT: Thousands of travelers scrambled to find flights, trains, hotel rooms or rental cars yesterday after Lufthansa pilots began a four-day walkout over job security that grounded at least 800 flights. The Lufthansa strike disrupted plans for 10,000 passengers worldwide but that was just the tip of the travel chaos iceberg. Also yesterday, five unions representing French air traffic controllers announced a four-day strike of their own starting today that is forcing the cancelation of hundreds of flights at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. France’s DGAC aviation authority ordered airlines to cancel 50 percent of the flights at Orly and 25 percent of the flights at Charles de Gaulle.
British Airways PLC, meanwhile, faced a renewed threat of cabin crew strikes, after the Unite union announced yesterday that most of its members had voted in favor of a walkout. And Eurostar - the main train alternative to planes between Paris, Brussels and London suffered yet another embarrassing train failure. In Germany, Deutsche Lufthansa AG quickly rushed to get a court injunction to halt the strike and send 4,000 pilots back to work before more harm was done to passengers and shareholders. “This strike is disproportionate,” Claudia Lange, a Lufthansa spokeswoman, told AP. “We hope for a decision within the next 24 hours.” Albert Carles and his wife arrived at Continued on Page 14
TRIPOLI: One of two Swiss business- carrying out the registration procemen held in Libya for 19 months amid a dure,” adding that he would file today diplomatic spat between the two states for a pardon. A car from the embassy of Spain, left for home yesterday as the other man emerged from his country’s which holds the current presidency of embassy to serve time in jail. Rashid the European Union (EU), was part of a Hamdani travelled overland to neigh- convoy that left for the prison. The lawyer said Goeldi, a bouring Tunisia after senior manager at coming out of the Swedish-Swiss engiembassy, where the pair neering giant ABB, had taken shelter, and would be allowed at Ain receiving an exit visa Zara to receive visitors, from Libyan authorities, medical care and the their lawyer Salah Zahaf services of a translator. said. Hamdani, who also Several dozen Libyan carries a Tunisian passpolice had encircled the port, “obtained his exit mission since late on visa and travelled by Sunday in the countroad to Tunisia” in a down to the handover, Swiss embassy car, witnesses said. escorted by a Spanish The pair have been embassy vehicle, the lawyer said. The Swiss TRIPOLI: Swiss busi- caught in the bitter diploforeign ministry said in a nessman Max Goeldi is matic row between statement later that it seen after turning him- Tripoli and Bern since was unable to confirm self in to Libyan author- the brief arrest in July 2008 of Hannibal reports that Hamdani ities yesterday. — AFP Gaddafi, a son of Libyan had left Libya. Max Goeldi, the other businessman, leader Muammar Gaddafi, at a Geneva was later seen emerging from the hotel with his wife. Goeldi surrendered at diplomatic mission, handcuffed and put 2:15 pm (1215 GMT) two hours after the in a civilian car which was escorted end of an ultimatum set by the Libyan away by two police vehicles, an AFP authorities for the Swiss embassy to journalist said. Zahaf said Goeldi was hand him over to serve a four-month jail driven by judicial police to the Ain Zara sentence or face measures. Continued on Page 14 prison near Tripoli “where we are now
HEBRON: A Palestinian youth throws a stone at Israeli soldiers during clashes in this West Bank town yesterday. —AFP
Clashes erupt over Israel heritage plan HEBRON, West Bank: A crowd of Palestinian youths pelted Israeli soldiers with stones and empty bottles yesterday, drawing teargas and stun grenades in the most serious violence to rock this volatile West Bank city in months. The clashes erupted a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enraged Palestinian residents by adding a disputed Hebron shrine to Israel’s list of national heritage sites. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future state,
and saw the Israeli move - a largely symbolic gesture - as a provocation. Hebron merchants shuttered their stores to protest the decision, and some 100 youths burned tires and threw stones and bottles at Israeli forces in the city. The Israeli military said one soldier was lightly wounded, while Palestinians said three protesters suffered from teargas inhalation. Hebron has been a flashpoint for decades. Continued on Page 14
2 NATIONAL Opportunity to instill loyalty to homeland KUWAIT: The National Day and Liberation Day holidays are golden opportunities to both instill the values of solidarity and loyalty to homeland in our young and to express and stress and try to bolster our national unity, prominent Kuwaiti figures stressed yesterday. Interviewed on the occasion of the National Day and Liberation Day holidays, Feb 25 and 26, professor of educational management and planning at Kuwait University Dr. Ahmad Al-Bustan said true citizenship and patriotism is shunning what fosters divide and embracing what breeds unity. He said this comes through a
social process to spread an agreed and deemed acceptable behavior and attitude where the individual feels and expresses pride in his national identity and heritage and where he cooperates to sustain the sense of responsibility and partnership in sustaining a society of law and justice. Amid present day challenges of a tumult of influences and rapid changes in all aspects of life, it is most vital to stress our own identity and what we hold dear to and what is our own unique set of values and norms, he said. The professor further remarked that national solidarity could serve as tool of social devel-
opment and of economic and social reform. It is the only sure and safe route for development if a nation is to reach “satisfactory” and “stable” advancement. Patriotism and responsible citizenship translate into investing individuals’ capabilities and resources for the good of all. This concept and attitude must also be instilled in our young by the school system. Top-most among the duties of today’s schools, he noted, is to stress the value of balance, coexistence, and freedom from restrictive social behavior to guarantee smooth and productive interaction. Professor of social
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
sciences at Kuwait University Dr. Yagoub Yusuf Al-Kanderi meanwhile told KUNA the term “citizenship” is closely connected to a set of other terms which include patriotism, loyalty to a homeland, national identity, clear alliance, national solidarity, and much more. The broad and inclusive terms covers the said terms as well as concept of duties and responsibilities of citizens; the right to social justice, equality, and security on the one hand and the duty of productivity, respect of law and order, and need to do one’s utmost to guarantee the homeland’s best interest on the other. — KUNA
KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace yesterday Chairman of the Kuwaiti-Japanese Businessmen’s Committee Wael Jassem, the Japanese deputy minister of economy, trade and industry, and committee members on the occasion of the 15th annual meeting of the committee in Kuwait. The meeting was also attended by Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah. — KUNA
League of Faculty hosts national celebrations By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: On the occasion of the National Day and Liberation Day celebrations, the Faculty of Arts held the Ayidi Ya Bladi Festival yesterday. The one day event was organized by the League of Faculty and was well attended by students. “Three centers of the Fire Department are participating in this festival,” Khalid Karam, a fireman, told the Kuwait Times. “There is the technical rescuing, the dangerous materials, and the divers centers. We are ready to provide any information asked for by the students.” At the festival, the Kuwait Scientific Club also exhibited different models of airplanes in several different colors. There was also a simulator available for students to experience what it would be like to fly a real airplane. Visitors were able to get a health checkup while at the festival. “Within approxi-
Different public and private institutions participated in the festival. The Fire Department participated in the event with a large booth featuring the different equipment used by the firemen. About six firemen were available to answer the questions of interested students. They also had one of the fire extinguishing vehicles exhibited at the festival.
mately three hours we had about 25 visitors taking tests,” said Ahmad from the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS). “We provided diabetes tests, blood pressure tests, and a first aid demonstration. We also provided information about the services the KRCS offers.” Watana volunteering Group catered the event by offering sweets and coffee free of charge. A few young men tabled products and sold t-shirts featuring the Kuwait flag and other logos. There were private companies sponsoring the event such as Asnan Dental Clinic who provided attractive offers for visitors.
“We offer any visitor who fills out an application form and answer the questions correctly free bleaching. We will also open a file for them free of charge,” stated Ilham, a representative of the clinic. Adding fun and entertainment to the atmosphere was a traditional Kuwaiti band performing traditional folklore music and Al-Ardha dance. The festival was held from 9 am - 2 pm and was attended by officials from the Faculty of administration. Additionally, Sheikha Fareeha, Sheikha Maymouna, Sheikha Aida, actor Ali Juma and other officials.
Clerics, priests slam Elton John KUWAIT: A number of prominent Muslim and Christian figures in Kuwait have expressed outrage at recent comments made by British pop star Elton John, in which he suggested that Jesus Christ was homosexual, with all those interviewed by Al-Watan stressing that “Christ’s purity is unquestionable”. The singer, an open homosexual who is currently involved in a same-sex marriage in the UK, had previously said that Jesus Christ was a likely a homosexual “due to his great
ability in understanding men’s problems.” Pastor Emmanuel Ghareeb of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait (NECK) expressed his shock at the singer’s statement, saying that despite his own belief in freedom of opinion, he believes at the same time that this freedom should not be used to hurt others, adding that “Christ’s reputation does not need our defense.” Meanwhile, Catholic Church Bishop Camillo Ballin, described John’s
comments as “silly,” adding that homosexuality didn’t even exist at the time of the Christ, “who lived a life for God.” In the Islamic scene, head of the Kuwaiti Society for Human Rights, Dr Adel Al-Damkhi, said that the dignity of religious figures should be protected, adding that insulting a religious figure is an insult to a whole community. He further accused the British star of violating human rights in his statement, noting similarities between this incident, and the publication of car-
toons which slandered Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), while underlining the great reverence in which Christ is held by Muslims, as well. Salafi Assembly member Salem Al-Nashi called for Elton John to be prosecuted “since making accusations without presenting evidence is a violation of the laws.” Al-Nashi asserted that the singer’s statements had hurt millions of Muslims and Christians around the world, noting that homosexuality is considered a sin by all three monotheistic religions.
in the news Khairan Resort celebrations KUWAIT: The Touristic Enterprise Company (TEC) will be launching a range of activities at the Khairan Resort from Thursday to celebrate the forthcoming National and Liberation Days. The events will last until Monday March 1, said the resort manager Adnan Zain Al-Deen, adding that the TEC had worked closely with the Ministry of Information to ensure that the events would be televised live. A wide range of enjoyable activities are taking place as part of the celebrations, with Adnan Zain Althe activities, including several competitions Deen and tournaments in tennis, football, basketball, volleyball, billiards and table tennis, as well as a cycling race for kids, beginning at the resort at 10:00 AM daily. These activities will continue until 3:30 PM before the live entertainment begins at the resort’s Bahara Cafeteria, with a number of popular bands and children’s characters, as well as enjoyable competitions, set to keep the crowds entertained throughout the five-day celebration. HIV-infected mothers give birth KUWAIT: Doctors successfully helped deliver healthy babies to four HIV positive women, reported Al-Qabas. Head of the AIDS, Statistics and Information office at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hind Al-Shoumar, announced that tests performed on the newborns showed that they are not infected with the virus. She further noted that women infected with AIDS, or any other infectious diseases, can still give birth to healthy babies. Al-Shoumar added that the chance a disease will be passed to a child during pregnancy does not exceed 25 percent. She concluded by saying that 97% of AIDS patients in Kuwait are committed to intensive treatments that require precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. Hospital contamination investigation KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr. Helal Al-Sayer has reportedly ordered an investigation into contamination in local hospitals following apparently erroneous media reports which claimed that the health ministry had been investigating the issue for months. The minister issued the order during a meeting with Ministry of Health (MoH) Undersecretary Dr. Ibrahim Al-Abdulhadi and several other senior ministry officials, reported Al-Watan. A MoH official said that the minister had taken the decision in order to pave the way for a number of “bold” new changes which are expected to be introduced shortly.
NATIONAL
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
3
Amir sponsors PAAET honoring ceremony KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) held a ceremony to honor the top graduates of its faculties and programs for the year 2008-2009 at the Basic Education Theatre in Shamiyah, yesterday, under the auspices of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Amir was greeted upon arrival at the venue at 10:30 am by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and Acting Education Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and PAAET Director General Yaqoub Yusef Al-Rifai. Top dignitaries attending the ceremony included His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, senior sheikhs, Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and Acting Parliament Speaker Dlaihi Saad AlHajri. Also attending were the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlHamad Al-Sabah, Amiri Diwan Affairs Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah, and senior state officials, in addition to families of the graduates. The ceremony kicked off with the national anthem and a recitation from the holy Quran and speeches by the Acting Minister of Education, by PAAET Director General, and by a representative of the students honored followed. The Amir left the venue after honoring the students with their certificates and receiving a token on this occasion. Addressing the students and attendees, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and Acting Education Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah said the Amir’s sponsorship of this and like ceremonies and his attendance attest to great care to education and the priority our leadership attaches to educational development and achievement. He pointed out such earnest care would undoubtedly, with the Almighty’s grace, yield fruit and bring our homeland prosperity and advancement. He expressed confidence the graduates would do their best to invest their capabilities and education towards that end, and pride in the devotion and commitment by PAAET staff and officials to improving the learning process and upgrading its outcomes for that same purpose. Both, he said, extend thanks and gratitude to His Highness the Amir for his support. The minister pointed out that as the state currently marks the National Day and Liberation Day anniversaries, we
KUWAIT: HH the Amir and HH the Crown Prince and senior officials during the opening of the graduation ceremony yesterday. — Photos by Kuna
His Highness the Amir presents graduation certificates to students during the ceremony yesterday.
should all pray the Almighty ever bless us with clear vision for the future and sound guidance and solidarity behind our leadership. In turn, PAAET Director General Yaqoub Yusef Al-Rifai greeted the dignitaries and then the graduates, extending his congratulations and expressing pride in their achievement. He recalled that the new generations and that of the graduates heeded the words of His Highness the Amir and the advice he extends in all his speeches, and realize the nature of the time and the hard work required to master
its challenge. They strive to meet the challenge for the prosperity of their homeland, he said. Our sons and daughters fully realize that power and prosperity lie in knowledge, learning, and dignity and honor rather than material wealth and power or might. The latter alone would render man insignificant and shallow, and of no true substance, and therefore, incapable of giving, he noted. Out of this concept, the PAAET seeks to plan its programs and guide its staff and teachers, as well as students, and all the while stresses the all-inclu-
sive approach of focus on academic accreditation as well as sports, recreation, and personal development of students with opportunities of continued education abroad. The PAAET also recognizes the role of the private sector in state administration and development and thus supported the call for setting up a fund for private-sector funded scholarships to support students and graduates’ innovations and creations, he added. The graduates also benefit from efforts to guarantee private sector positions and constant coordination
Orphans of Kuwaiti martyrs, war prisoners honored by AUK By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: As part of its weeklong celebration of Kuwait’s National and Liberation Days, the American University of Kuwait (AUK) hosted a ceremony yesterday honoring the orphans of Kuwait’s POWs and martyrs of the 1990 Gulf War. Fifteen children of Kuwaiti martyrs, aged between 19 and 25 years old, along with a number of AUK students, were honored, receiving certificates from the university’s office of student affairs, a student government association, to express their love and their utmost gratitude and support. The event was attended by Ahmad Al-Awadhi, the director of the Office of Martyrs Affairs and Tim Sullivan, AUK President. Al-Awadhi thanked AUK for hosting such an event, saying that it demonstrated the university’s support for the families of Kuwaiti martyrs. The martyrs’ children deserve our respect as their fathers gave their lives for Kuwait’s freedom, with their children’s lives becoming a symbol of their hope and unity, he stated. He noted that the lessons of the past from the Iraqi invasion have been learned. “We remember the lives of those people whose blood was sacrificed for our country’s freedom and liberation. The children of our martyrs are worth honoring and they deserve our love,” Al-Awadhi concluded. Tim Sullivan said that yesterday’s celebration was part of AUK’s week-long celebration of Kuwait’s National and Liberation Days. “As part of our tradition to support students in their endeavors, we are here to distribute certificates of recognition to the children of martyrs. It was exclusively arranged by Student Life and we are happy that they came up with this cer-
with the Civil Service Commission, from the program to support national labor, and from constant review of programs to meet the needs of the job market and the latest educational and other changes in the world and in our region. Al-Rifai stressed three concepts in his final words; the great value of education and learning; the importance of adopting the innovations of “the other” with care to suitability and true merit away from mere infatuation; and maintaining national solidarity and the best interest of the homeland as focal point of any vision of the future.
Questions over disability rights law
T
KUWAIT: Ahmad Al-Awadhi and Tim Sullivan are flanked here by AUK Student Life officers and some children of martyrs. emony. It is a brilliant idea and we support them fully,” he said. Student Engagement Officer Ayman Shouman explained that through the ceremony, they were able to show their tireless support for their departed or missing loved ones. “For us, martyrs are already
part of our lives and we recognized their contribution to the country’s freedom and liberation,” he said. AUK has organized a series of activities throughout the week to commemorate their country’s National and Liberation Days, including exhi-
bitions and bazaars associated with the memories of Kuwait’s past. The university has also hosted several patriotic concerts to mark the occasion, with its celebrations set to conclude later today with a poetry reading event and a folk-dancing display.
stages of their life. The student expressed gratitude to the devotion and guidance of the PAAET, administration and staff, and even more sincerely to the students’ families, friends, and loved ones, and all those who helped them during their study, by any means and in any form. The graduate concluded her speech with thanks to His Highness the Amir for his sponsoring of the ceremony and for his constant support to educational development in the State of Kuwait, to which the graduates vow to contribute from this day on. — KUNA
kuwait digest he way in which a number of MPs handle the responsibilities bestowed upon them is a serious matter, reflecting their limited vision and shallow thinking, writes Dr. Mohammad AlMuqate’a in Al-Qabas. This proves that they are incapable of carrying this responsibility, or that they are even unwilling to do so after already achieving their goal in reaching the parliament. The reason I bring up this issue is due to the parliament’s recent decision to enforce the disability rights law. Despite the national and humanitarian
KUWAIT: Some martyrs children, currently AUK students, were honored yesterday at a ceremony marking their country’s National and Liberation day. — Photos by Joseph Shagra
On behalf of the graduates, Hind Fuad Al-Nasser said it was a double joy to stand at the ceremony and receive the certificates and be honored for hard work at a time when Kuwait celebrates its National and Liberation Day under the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir. She added that rather than the end of a journey, students see this day as the start of a new phase of their life that better enables them to serve their homeland and try and repay Kuwait in a small measure for its kindness and care, which they enjoyed in the earlier
importance of this law, it was still impossible to avoid flaws being embodied in it, which were demonstrated by the slogans used by MPs during their election campaigns, with promises to distribute gifts, even by illegal means, for the sole purpose of gaining votes. We can see that several articles of the new disability rights legislation were influenced by this philosophy, which established the conditions for privileges to be awarded which were originally allocated for genuinely disabled individuals, enabling those who fake disability to exploit the new law.
Therefore, enforcing this law is poised to create a negative atmosphere, as it will encourage some people to fake disability in order to exploit the privileges which it offers. After all, the same things happened before with the legislation concerning retirement for health reasons and the law to support the Kuwaiti workforce. That being said, I acknowledge the efforts in launching investigations into each case in which it is suspected that an individual is feigning disability that were recently announced by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor in order to ensure that no such incidences can take place.
NATIONAL
4
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
More benefits for employees
Private sector labor law comes into force KUWAIT: The new private sector labor law was officially published on Sunday in the official gazette ‘Kuwait Today,’ meaning that all the articles of the new legislation are now officially on the statute books. While the new legislation failed to include any protection for domestic staff, it intro-
KUWAIT: Members of the Azerbaijan media and press delegation pictured with Editor-in-Chief of the Kuwait Times Abd Al-Rahman Alyan. —Photos by Joseph Shagra
KT hosts Azerbaijani delegation KUWAIT: A media and press delegation from the Republic of Azerbaijan visited the Kuwait Times on Sunday to gain some first-hand experience of the newspaper’s various departments and learn about the Kuwait Times’ vast expertise in the field of local journalism as the first English language newspaper in the Gulf, established in 1961. The paper’s Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Alyan received members of the delegation upon their arrival in the newspaper. The delegation, which is visiting Kuwait at the invitation of the Ministry of Information, included the First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Kuwait, Javid S. Musayev, and the embassy’s Press Attaché, Goshgar A. Zeynalov, as well as journalists and editors of various press and other media outlets in Azerbaijan. The Kuwait Times’ Editorin-Chief received the guests in the newspaper’s diwaniya, where they held cordial discussions on various issues concerning the paper’s establishment, as well as some of the activities it’s involved in and its future plans to ensure that it stays abreast of advances in the press field. The delegates were also given the opportunity to discuss other topics, including the history of Kuwait’s National Day and regional developments. The members of the delegation were also given a guided tour of some of the newspaper departments by staff members before the conclusion of their visit.
MoH suspends doctors’ licenses over non-repayment KUWAIT: A number of Kuwaiti doctors were shocked to receive notices from the Ministry of Health (MoH) informing them that their licenses had been suspended. The health ministry informed the doctors that their licenses had been suspended due to their failure to repay the ministry and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) the monies lent to them for training by these bodies within the agreed period. The issue dates back to the doctors’ public health sector training during which they were given scholarships by foreign universities to study abroad, reported Al-Watan. Shortly after returning, however, they left their positions in ministry facilities, instead opting to go into private practice, meaning that they were required to repay the monies used to fund their scholarships. They insisted that they had previously expressed their willingness to reach an agreement on repaying the monies owed, but had protested against being asked to repay a lump sum of around KD 10,000, on top of monthly repayments of KD 1,000. The doctors have also suggested that the ministry is taking these steps in order to force them to return to work for the public health sector.
Drunk man burns friend’s campsite in Mut’la area KUWAIT: A drunk man, kicked out his friend’s campsite for acting outrageously, took revenge against his friends by setting their tent on fire. Firefighters and police responded to the emergency in Mut’la and extinguished the flames before they could spread. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Suicide Attempt Mubarak Al-Kabeer authorities saved a woman in her 20’s from killing herself when they stopped her from jumping in front of traffic on Al-Thahar Road. She was taken to a police station in the area for investigations. It was revealed that the motive of her attempted suicide was a family dispute.
Forgery Gang Busted Jahra investigators arrested two citizens, one Saudi and three Egyptians, on charges of forging official documents. The gang was found issuing several work permits illegally. They were taken to the proper authorities.
Brawls In a fight between two juveniles on Mut’la road, one sustained severe stab wounds when the other attacked him with a knife. The stabbed youth was taken to Jahra Hospital where he was admitted to the intensive care unit. The attacker was placed under arrest.
Street Vendor Mugged A Bangladeshi man selling foam spray on Kabad Road for the National Holidays celebrations was mugged. Several peo-
ple stole his supply of foam spray in addition to KD 80 in cash and his cell phone.
inmates’ cells. Several prisoners are being questioned in regard to the matter.
Rapists Caught
Missing Citizen Found
Hawally police arrested four Arab men for luring a Filipina woman inside their Salmiya apartment and raping her. The arrest occurred after the woman went to the police station and gave authorities descriptions and information about her assaulters. She identified them after they were arrested and they later confessed to committing the crime.
Sulaibiya investigators located a female citizen, who was reported missing by her husband. The husband filed a missing person report when his wife did not come home after being released from jail. Authorities found the woman in her sister’s home and informed her husband. The case was closed.
Run Over A 33-year-old Egyptian worker sustained several injuries when he was hit by a car driven by an Indian man on a street in Sabhaan while leaving work. Paramedics responded to the emergency call, made by the Indian driver, and took the injured man to Farwaniya Hospital. Police opened a case against the Indian driver.
Fugitives Nabbed Ahmadi police arrested seven fugitives in a recent security campaign, among which were three Kuwaitis. The citizens tried to flee police but were caught between Al-Manghaf and Abu Hlaifah. They were all referred to the proper authorities.
Drugs, phones found in jail Authorities at the Central Jail conducted a security search campaign and found 67 grams of heroin and 13 cell phones concealed in bathrooms near
The new legislation also bans employers from firing staff in an abrupt manner without following the correct procedures, as well as setting severance pay levels, with departing employees to receive two weeks’ salary for each of the first five years of their employment with the company, along with a full month’s pay for each of the subsequent years. The law also established a maximum working week of eight hours per day and six days per week, with all private sector staff having the right to at least one day off per week. All private sector workers also now have the right to a minimum annual paid
Work Accident An Egyptian worker in his 40’s was hurt after falling from the third floor of a building under construction in the Saad Al-Abdullah area. He was admitted to Jahra Hospital’s intensive care unit by paramedics.
Drug Possession A citizen and a Gulf national were arrested at a check point in Um Al-Haiman after police found eight illegal drug pills and three bars of hashish in their vehicle. They were sent to the proper authorities.
leave period of 13 days, reported Al-Watan. On a separate issue, social affairs minister Dr. Mohammed Al-Afasi announced that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) is set to switch fully to its automated system beginning from April 4. Meanwhile, there are plans to establish a new ministries complex for the Ministry of Public Works and Municipality Affairs in the West Shadadiya area, announced minister Dr. Fadhil Safar, with the ministry also set to construct 19 road junctions between Jahra and Shadadiya University. On another subject, the finance ministry announced that Kuwait’s revenue for the
2009/2010 financial year reached KD 14.7 billion, of which KD 6.7 billion was utilized for the payment of expenses, with the total budget surplus set at KD 6.5 billion. Oil revenue for the same period reached KD 13.1 billion, a KD 7 billion on the predicted earnings, while the country’s non-oil revenue reached KD 790 million, a KD 395 million fall on the expected income. The finance ministry’s report noted that the revenue from oil comprised 94 percent of the total, compared to 5.4 percent from nonoil revenue. KD 1.5 million will be automatically allocated from the budget surplus to the Future Generations Fund, the report added.
Grilling of Shamali still stands KUWAIT: MP Khalid Al-Tahous has said that he is still willing to present an interpellation motion against finance minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. Speaking at a dinner for parliamentary correspondents held at his diwaniya on Sunday night, the MP explaining that his only difficulty over the issue was in finding a suitable time to present a grilling given the spate of recent interpellations and the recent controversy over the media laws. Al-Tahous insisted that the Popular Action Bloc (PAB) remains committed to questioning the minister in order to “protect the law and save public funds from being wasted by several bodies affiliated to the finance ministry, such as the Central Bank and the Kuwait Investment Authority.” On the subject of Kuwait’s recent sports crisis, Al-Tahous, in his capacity as a member of the parliamentary sports committee, accused the government of mismanaging the issue, pointing out that the tensions over this subject have continued for three years. Acknowledging the Minster of Social Affairs and Labor’s efforts to apply the law fairly to uncommitted sports clubs, Al-Tahous expressed optimism about the possibility of finding a solution to the crisis “in which eight parties are involved.” The MP said that a solution to the crisis cannot come from the cabinet and parliament, but only through direct intervention by His Highness the Amir in the form of issuing an order to enforce the sports reform legislation. Another issue discussed during Sunday night’s event was the issue of bedoon (stateless) residents’ rights. Al-Tahous condemned the government for its poor handling of the issue, voicing hope that a solution to the crisis could be achieved internally without external pressures. On the subject of Iraqi debts, meanwhile, Al-Tahous said that the PAB believes that the Iraqi government should commit itself to paying the full compensation set by the United Nations, reported Al-Watan. However, he said, on the subject of the country’s estimated $25 billion debt to Kuwait, Kuwait’s parliament can only decide on whether to drop the demand for repayment of debts, switch them to investments in Iraq or trade them for Iraqi water or natural gas.
Smuggler Busted Customs officials at the Kuwait International Airport arrested an Indonesian woman for trying to smuggle 2,000 tablets used for abortion in her luggage. Police searched the woman’s luggage after she drew suspicion from authorities shortly after arriving on a plane from her home country. She confessed to bringing the illegal pills to Kuwait in order to sell them to Asian women working as prostitutes.
duced new private sector employment regulations, including a ban on employing women in most fields and under-15s from working after 10 PM. It also granted mothers-to-be 70 days paid maternity leave, along with giving mothers of young babies a two-hour daily break to breastfeed their child.
Subbiya Highway reopening today KUWAIT: The Subbiya highway is expected to be inaugurated today by the Minister of Public Works Dr Fadhel Safar, as part of the National Holidays celebrations. The announcement was made by Humaid Bushehry, head of the ministry’s public relations department, reported Al-Qabas. The event will take place with participation from senior officials of the ministry and representatives of the firms and engineers who took part in developing the project. The project expanded the size of the road in addition to establishing bridges, cement barricades, drainage systems, as well as protects phone lines, sewage pipes, KOC oil pipes and water supply pipes. As part of the project, the road connected the Abdali Road to Boubyan Bridge.
KUWAIT: State Minister of Municipality Affairs, and Minister of Public Works giving a certificate to Nabila Al-Anjere General Manager of Al-Jazeera Real Estate Development Company, Former Assistant Undersecretary for Tourism Sector. —Photo by Joseph Shagra
Kuwait holds first forum for Municipal Dialogue By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: Kuwait’s First Forum for Municipal Dialogue was held under the Auspices of Dr Fadhel Safer, State Minister of Municipality Affairs and the Minister of Public Works. The forum was organized by the Kuwait Municipality and UN Habitat as part of a process to restructure the urban sector of Kuwait’s capital, Al-Asema. One of the main focuses of the forum was the environment. Speaking on the subject were Dr Adam Al-Mulla, Assistant Dean of Reasearch Studies in Petroleum and Engineering at Kuwait University, Dr Ali Khuraibet General Manager of ECO, an
environmental consultant and Mahomud Karam, Head of Engineering in the Ministry of Public Works. They spoke about how best the country can protect its land and marine resources. They also spoke on a few of the projects they would like to see take place in Kuwait. Nabila Al-Anjere, General Manager for Al-Jazeera Real Estate Development Company, and Former Assistant to the Undersecretary of the Tourism Sector in Kuwait said “there is a shortage of awareness with the people of Kuwait. The Environmental Public Authority does not do enough awareness campaigns. The level of environ-
mental pollution, the rate of chest diseases and cancer are all high very high in Kuwait.” Also on the second day, Abdul Rahman Al-Duaij, and Nabila AlAnjere spoke on how Kuwait should develop. “The capital of Kuwait is the identity of Kuwait. There is too much negligence regarding the Capital and no one supervises it,” Al-Anjere said. “The capital should be a commercial and financial center in the morning, just like any other capital in the world. At night, it should become a tourism and entertainment center. I suggest that all institutions related to art and theater be in the capital. Theaters built in residential areas disturb residents”.
in my view
A question of Sharia?! By Fouad Al-Obaid
O
ver the past decade the Western media has lambasted the rise of militant-Islam, a trend that has been exacerbated by the numerous terrorism acts attributed to people claiming to be Muslim. What has made matters worse is that the Muslim majority has remained silent, failing to condemn vicious acts that are against our very creed. Such inaction has added fuel to a conflict, which has put Islam and the West on course for a head-on collision. Caught up between two realities, a violent minority and Western powers, many leaders in the Islamic world have found it hard to balance the two. Entrenched in a rather delicate position, many in the Islamic world have attempted to remain neutral. One unfortunate consequence of this has been an increase in misunderstanding and vilification by each camp of the other. It has led to a decade of fear of and anxiety about a largely misunderstood religion and region that of the Middle East - in the rest of the world. As I looked into the matter, I came to the conclusion that the majority of people in our region are, for the most part, ignorant of their very own religion. It doesn’t take hours to realize that a majority are mere sheep - as I have stated many times before - who would rather follow commands from preachers than search for answer to their religious questions the way it is mandated in the Quran. In Kuwait, we have seen a trend, the rise of political Islam as a force that has, in my and many others’ opinions, altered and transformed the country’s landscape over the past few decades. We went from being a progressive society open to the world, to one that is being pushed by a number of elements that want to make Kuwait something of a modern Afghanistan! It starts with segregation laws, with legislation to regulate society, to control the way we think through controlling the educational process, by integrating and securing the student governments of universities with the tacit support of pseudo-religious groupings. The force of these groupings is made possible by religious fear that many common people are subject to
based on their ignorance of what religion is all about. Numerous times I have tried to make sense of many sermons and crosschecked them with what is in the Quran and you come to rather interesting digressions. Instead of calling for military Jihad, Islamic preachers should call for an educational Jihad. Instead of praying for the destruction of so-and-so, let them call for the construction of such-and-such. I challenge even those who claim to despise the West to come up with a model that will rival and surpass the West! To those who claim that Sharia is complete and that it is a way of life, I willingly accept such a concept; however, I have no clue as to how Sharia is supposed to come up with solutions to our growing electrical consumption, to traffic congestion, to the lack of parking spaces, to the rapidly shrinking spare water capacity, amongst many crucial issues that our nation is faced with. To those who argue that Sharia is a way of life, I answer perhaps; I am a Muslim and I do believe in God’s commands. I nevertheless also believe that politics is a field that should not be tarnished with religion for a very simple reason; when one is sick and needs surgery, I have yet to see a sane person refuse to be operated on because of a surgeon’s religious belief even the most ardent Muslim, when his life depends on it, will have no issues with going under the blade of a Christian, Jewish or even an atheist surgeon! When we want to construct a house or other building, I have yet to hear of a contract not being awarded because of the architects’ belief system! When we have issues with developing a sewage system, I don’t think that a religious test is a criterion in hiring the right contractor to fix the problem! In a similar fashion, Politics and policy require specialist that are trained in such a field and are able to take the necessary decisions in a timely manner for the well being of all. As to the question of religion, God states that the person who does good deeds does them for him/herself, and the one who does bad deeds, does them to him/herself, warning that we will all be held individually accountable for them. To be realistic, yes, I do believe that there are general guidelines to be adhered to; however, who are we to judge one another, when such a judgment will come our way whether we like it or not? Let us surrender in these matters to the will of God. Email: fouad@kuwaittimes.net
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
NATIONAL
5
Serious action must be taken
Wrong time for privatization of KAC: Economic expert By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: It is a wrong time to privatize Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) at present due to continuing global financial instability and the current situation in the state-owned airline, according to an economic expert. Speaking at a seminar entitled, ‘Kuwait Airways: Privatization and Violations,’ held at the Al-Neif Diwan in Hadiya on Sunday evening, economist Hajjaj Bukhathour said that in the current global recession
KUWAIT: Winners of the competition pose for a group photograph with the organizers yesterday. — KUNA
Young artists thank Formative Arts Society for encouragement KUWAIT: Kuwaiti young artists praised yesterday the role played by the Kuwait Formative Arts Society for the ongoing efforts to promote art work in the country. In separate interviews at the end of the Kuwait festival for formative creativity which ended here Sunday night, artist Najji Elhai said formative art was on the rise in Kuwait and expected to be famous worldwide. He thanked the Kuwait society for organizing such an event, noting that competition was high amongst the participating artists. Fawaz Al-Daweesh said he was proud to win the Sabah Al-Ahmad Award for his ceramic work “Dream-1”, noting that the award is a great moral motivation for him. He said the summer workshop and training organized by the society was a source for the
birth of new artists, thus enriching the Kuwaiti art arena. Competing with his electronic graphic work, Artist Hashim Al-Shamaa, who shared the Fotouh Salman Al-Sabah Award with Khalid AlShatti, said such an art has been spreading all over the world in recent days thanks to the wide use of the information technology. At least 90 artists took part in the festival. They displayed 162 artistic work in competition for three awards presented under the patronage of Amiri Diwan Affairs Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Award was split between Fahad Al-Misbah and Abdullah Al-Otaibi. The event was held under supervision of judges from Qatar, Egypt and Bahrain. — KUNA
All the signs indicate that the privatization is a “corrupt” step, said Boukhathour. “Privatization in general is designed to be a tool for corruption, not reform,” he asserted, adding that corrupt individuals are now targeting those who attempt to expose corruption. Another speaker, Hamad AlMerri, the head of the airline’s workers’ union, said that the company’s assets had been fraudulently evaluated at between KD 115 million and KD 130 million, which he said was a completely unrealistic price for them. Now they’re saying the company’s debts are KD 200 million and the government has to settle those debts before selling the company,” he said. “I wonder how it’s possible to pay KD 200 million in order to sell something for KD 130 million. Al-Merri said that the lack of accountability within KAC had led to many staff members becoming complacent and comfortable with their own misconduct in the realization that nobody would point a finger at them. “If a report indicates that an incorrect decision has caused the company to lose a large amount of money, why aren’t they responsible for that?” he asked. The union head stated that corrupt individuals always maintain a close relationship with Kuwait’s decision makers, believing that this makes them untouchable. Al-Merri said that the source of many of KAC’s problems is the company’s poor management. “The head of KAC’s Sales and Marketing department holds a Geography degree,” he said. “This man launched a route to one country without even conducting a thorough study before-
hand, which has cost the company a KD 700,000 loss - and he didn’t even receive a warning!” MP Jamaan Al-Harbish, meanwhile, said that some individuals from well-connected families in Kuwait are so well protected as to be virtually unstoppable. “The minister might be grilled or removed, but those people will stay in place because they’re protected and untouchable,” he asserted. Al-Harbish also alleged that a number of corrupt practices had sprung up within the company since the government first introduced the privatization legislation in 2008. “With the government announcing that it will give [KAC] employees the choice between being transferred to another public sector job and early, full-salary retirement together with a three-year salary lump sum, people in senior positions are now giving wage increases and promotions to those close to them and transferring them to jobs with additional allowances so that their remuneration will be multiplied many times over,” he claimed. The MP also asserted that changing KAC’s name during the privatization process would lead to it losing a number of privileges worldwide. “The debt of KD 1.2 billion owed to KAC by Iraqi airlines will be lost if the name is changed and KAC’s offices abroad will need to resign their rental contracts for much larger amounts of money,” the MP claimed. Al-Harbish concluded by stating that serious action must be taken over this issue to protect the rights of the state, while those responsible for misconduct must be held responsible for their actions.
governments elsewhere in the world had been bailing out private companies and bringing them under state ownership, while in Kuwait, by contrast, the government was attempting to privatize a state-owned firm. Boukhathour, who is also the Secretary of the Kuwaiti Observatory for Participatory Democracy, continued, “The company needs restructuring and an overhaul before it can be offered for sale; nobody offers their house for sale when it needs maintenance - first you fix it, then you offer it for sale.”
KUWAIT: The panel of speakers in the seminar (from left to right), Faisal AlDabes, Hamad Al-Merry, Hajjaj Bukhathour and Jemaan Al-Herbesh.
KUWAIT: Some of the attendees of the seminar. — Photos by Ahmad Saeid
6
NATIONAL
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Kuwait pays tribute to fallen soldiers of Liberation War Brave members of coalition forces WASHINGTON: The 19th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony in honor of those killed in the Gulf War was held here yesterday sponsored by the Embassy of Kuwait in Washington and the White House Commission on Remembrance. On this occasion, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said that “the Embassy of Kuwait here in Washington meets up annually with the families of the fallen American sol-
KUWAIT: Health Minister Dr. Helal Al-Sayer and other officials at the official inauguration of the Salman Al-Dabous Cardiac Center. —Photos by Yasser Al- Zayyat
Minister inaugurates Salman Al-Dabous Cardiac Center KUWAIT: The Minister of Health, Dr. Helal Al-Sayer, attended the official inauguration of the Salman Al-Dabous Cardiac Center, which has been operating since Sept 30, 2009. Head of the cardiac unit at the center, Dr Mustafa Redha, said that the center serves the estimated 600 thousand citizens of Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer, reported Al-Qabas. He added that 1,000 annual
catheter operations are expected to be performed at the center and that about 100 patients come to the center daily. Redha noted that the cardiac surgery clinic will be opened soon and be led Dr Riyadh Al-Tarzi. The center will treat cases without having to transfer them to the Chest Diseases Hospital, he added. He noted that the center carried out 120 catheter operations within the
past couple of months and asserted that patients of AlAdan Hospital will be able to start having catheter operations at the center starting next month. Redha further noted the center’s ability to immediately treat patients with heart attacks instead of requiring them to take medications that have harmful side effects on their health. — KUNA
In an address at the ceremony, Sheikh Salem expressed “profound gratitude of my government and the people of Kuwait for the sacrifices of the brave members of the coalition forces who gave their lives to liberate Kuwait from the grip of Saddam Hussein.” He also voiced gratitude for the recovery of the remains of navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher, the last of the American service personnel listed as missing in action from the Gulf War and prayed that there will also be “resolution and closure” concerning some 300 Kuwaitis still missing. Sheikh Salem affirmed that Kuwait has “moved forward” since 1991 “to seize the opportunity of renewal that liberation has offered. He indicated that “At home, we have revived parliamentary democracy. Kuwait’s politics are robust.” He also shed light on women’s rights in Kuwait, saying that Kuwaiti women now can vote and run for elections with four female members in parliament at the present. “We have become the pioneer of the political process in the region and that is thanks to your sacrifice,” the Ambassador noted. As for diplomacy abroad, Sheikh Salem said “Kuwait plays an important role in regional diplomacy. We have been strong allies of the US in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on terror.” For her part, Director of White House Commission on Remembrance Carmella LaSpada told KUNA that this event is “so important for the families. It is beyond words.” She added “we could not have done it without the fantastic generosity and support of the Ambassador and Embassy of Kuwait. “They have been outstanding in what they have done and it is amazing they care so much and how this comforts the families even after 19 years,” LaSpada affirmed. She added “It is comforting to know that people outside their family and friends care and appreciate their sacrifice to liberate Kuwait and that shows that those who
diers who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Kuwait.” He stressed the importance of meeting these families every year “to meet and intercommunicate with them.” The ambassador said that this is a “very important occasion” and one which he is “keen” on holding. It is also of importance to remind those families that Kuwait will never forget the sacrifices they had offered to liberate our country.
Carmella LaSpada died did not die in vain.” She also indicated that it is very important that “if it was not for the Embassy of Kuwait working with us, we could not bring these families together and what is important about that is when they see others who feel the same way; there is an immediate connection ... That matters so much, just to be in the company with the same people without saying a word.” In a speech addressing the attendees, LaSpada expressed gratitude for the “outstanding generosity and support” from the ambassador and the people of Kuwait in bringing together, for the past 19 years, the families of the fallen. She stressed that in war, there are two casualties; those who die in the battle-
front for freedom and those on the home front; the families. “They are all heroes.” For her part, Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the US Department of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth said “today, we are dedicated to honoring the brave Americans who left us all too soon, who did their jobs without hesitation and without question.” Duckworth, who was a helicopter pilot in Iraq and who lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in a rocketpropelled grenade attack, said she was “one of the lucky ones” who made it home. She noted “the real heroes are those that didn’t.” She affirmed that with US President Barack Obama and Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Ambassador Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah — Photos by KUNA Eric Shinseki as “our leaders, we are fully dedicated to doing everything we can to ensure that veterans and their families are being properly cared for.” Other officers delivered remarks during the ceremony, representing the Marine Corps, air force, navy, and army. The ceremony was attended by the families of the fallen, embassies representing the countries of the coalition who served the cause of peace in the Gulf War, in addition to other officials. At the end of the ceremony, flags were placed on the remembrance table that included the Kuwaiti flag and a flag for the missing in Iraq. The Embassy of Kuwait had also held, Saturday night, a dinner banquet for the fami-
lies of the fallen soldiers. During the dinner, the mother of a fallen soldier, Bonnie Howard, whose son, Erin Howard died on the last day of the Liberation War of Kuwait said that she attends this ceremony almost every year as it means so much to her. It means “we have a chance for fellowship,” for the people who are still grieving the loss of their loved ones. “The fact that the Kuwaiti people still remember us after almost 20 years and in light of all that has been going on lately in the world means a lot, that they are still willing to do this for us,” she remarked. She also stressed the importance of not only remembering the fallen soldiers, but also the families of the fallen soldiers. — KUNA
Kuwaiti-Syrian relations deep-rooted: Ambassador
KUWAIT: As part of the celebrations for Kuwait’s forthcoming 49th National and 19th Liberation Days, the Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait, Taher Ahmed Farahat, yesterday opened Egypt’s Military Museum Section at Kuwait House of National Works (KHNW). The section commemorates Kuwaiti-Egyptian cooperation on various issues, from the period of the 1967 and 1973 wars through to Egypt’s part in defending and liberating Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion in 1991. The ceremony was attended by KHNW chairman, Yousef Al-Ameeri, the Egyptian Military Attaché Colonel Ashraf Barakat and a number of prominent diplomats, military attachés to Kuwait and senior Kuwait army commanders. —Photos by KUNA
DAMASCUS: Kuwait-Syrian ties are deep-rooted within a framework of strengthening joint interests and serving the Arab nation, said a Kuwaiti diplomat yesterday. Speaking on the occasion of Kuwait’s forthcoming celebrations of its National and Liberation Days, Ambassador Aziz Al-Daihani praised the strong and historic relations between Kuwait and Syria. The shared views of both nations’ leaders, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, are based on further boosting cooperation and serving Arab interests, he continued. Bilateral relations between the two countries are based on respect, coordination, and joint consultations between their leaders to support legitimate Arab rights, particularly concerning the Palestinian issue, and to achieve comprehensive peace in the region through the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territories, in accordance with the relevant inter-
national resolutions, including the occupied Golan Heights, the ambassador explained. Kuwaiti-Syrian relations are advanced and distinguished, said Ambassador Al-Daihani, with the visits exchanged between the two nations demonstrating that the peoples of both have a mutual understanding on many issues, in addition to strengthening brotherly relations. The ambassador recalled Syria’s courageous stance during the previous Iraqi regime’s occupation of Kuwait, which he said will always remain in the minds of the Kuwaiti people, as well as recollecting former President Hafez Al-Assad’s honorable stand on Kuwaiti rights. On the issue of economic relations, Al-Daihani said that relations between the two countries had leapt forward, in terms of the flow of Kuwaiti investments to Syria, as well as the increase of trade agreements to encourage and protect mutual investments and avoid double taxation. — KUNA
Jahra Hospital to get independent IVF unit KUWAIT: Kuwait’s first independent invitro fertilization (IVF) unit is to open in Jahra Hospital within the next three months, announced a senior medical official on Sunday. Dr. Fahad Al-Khalifa, the head of the Jahra medical directorate, said that the nursing staff for the new unit would be
trained at the current IVF facility within the maternity hospital, adding that all the other necessary work, including the provision of the necessary equipment, had already been completed. On another subject, Dr. Al-Khalifa announced that a new polyclinic is to be opened in Block 5 of Saad Al-Abdullah on
March 3; along with the existing polyclinic in Block 2, this will cover the whole area. On the subject of launching the dialysis center funded by the late Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Dr. AlKhalifa revealed that four contractors have submitted bids to construct the 67bed center, which will cater to adults and
children. The selection of the winning bid, which is to be carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Health, is expected to take place shortly, reported Al-Qabas. The construction of the center, which is to be built beside Jahra Hospital, is projected to cost around KD 3-4 million. — KUNA
KUWAIT: The British Ladies Society officials holding talks with KRCS hairman Barjas Al-Barjas
British Ladies Society hails positive efforts of KRCS KUWAIT: The British Ladies Society (BLS) in Kuwait praised the efforts of Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) and the humanitarian aid it provides. BLS President Julie Whitworth said after a delegation from the British society met KRCS Chairman Barjas Al-Barjas, that the Kuwaiti society was leading in providing aid to those affected by natural disasters. She said KRCS had a quick
response to disasters, adding that the 300-member BLS was ready to coordinate with it to provide services to people of special needs, children, or the elderly. She pointed out that BLS could collect donations during its activities and that its members could be volunteers at KRCS. BLS cooperated with Bait Abdullah, which provides specialized care for children who are not expected to
reach adulthood, by providing psychological, health and social services to children, she said. Meanwhile, Director General of the British School of Kuwait (BSK) Dr Hanan Al-Mutawa said that the school submitted to KRCS donations to Haiti. She pointed out that KRCS had abilities to hold training courses for volunteers, emphasizing that importance of voluntary action. — KUNA
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL
7
Suicide car bomb strikes interior ministry detention centre
Eight family members brutally killed, some beheaded, in Iraq BAGHDAD: Gunmen with silencers killed a family of eight in Baghdad yesterday, beheading some of their victims, amid a spate of deadly attacks less than two weeks before Iraq’s general election. Eleven other people were killed in attacks, including three in a suicide car bombing in west Iraq, and a
BEIRUT: A picture taken on June 4, 2009 shows a Lebanese government employee casting his ballot at a polling station in Baabda, east of Beirut. In a country where 18-year-olds can drive, marry and serve in the army, allowing them to vote would generally be applauded as a boon for democracy. But not so in Lebanon. A move to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 has sparked fears of a shake-up of Lebanon’s political structure. — AFP
Lebanon parliament rejects lowering voting age BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament yesterday shot down a bill to lower voting age from 21 to 18, a proposal which has sparked fears of an upheaval of the multi-confessional country’s power-sharing political structure. Only 34 out of Lebanon’s 128-strong parliament voted in favour of the bill, while 66 abstained and one voted against. Twenty-seven MPs did not attend the session. Lowering voting age to 18 has been an issue for years, with Muslim Shiite parties Hezbollah and Amal pushing for the measure as their young followers are believed to outnumber those of other confessions in Lebanon, which has not had a official census since 1932. The controversial bill has sparked fears of a shake-up of Lebanon’s political structure, a complex power-sharing system between Christians and Muslims that has helped preserve a fragile peace since the end of the 19751990 civil war. Analysts estimate that lowering the voting age would add more than 50,000 Christians to
the electorate, mainly Maronites, and about 175,000 Muslims, roughly equally split between Shiites and Sunnis. Christian Maronite MPs have demanded Lebanon allow expatriates to cast ballots abroad if the voting age is lowered, banking on their ability to rally their diaspora to help balance out internal demographics. “No one is against the content of the bill but the context is problematic,” Maronite MP Alain Aoun told AFP. “Reform should be comprehensive and not selective,” said Aoun, whose bloc is allied with Hezbollah. “We have to show our people that there is no subjectivity in dealing with sensitive issues that affect all Lebanese.” Aoun said his camp also was pushing for a law that would allow descendants of Lebanese emigrants who did not hold citizenship to reclaim Lebanese nationality. Maronites are currently estimated at around 30 percent of the four-million population. — AFP
“A terrorist group carried out at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) a brutal crime against a family in AlWehdah neighbourhood,” the Baghdad Operations Command said in a statement. “This gang killed eight members of this family using silencer pistols.” It added: “The criminals have beheaded some of them.” Baghdad police later said in a statement that they apprehended four people carrying silencers in connection with the murders. “The arrest came after Iraqi security forces got information about them,” a statement said. The police did not immediately identify the gunmen and the motive for the killings was not immediately clear. Beheadings have been the trademark of Sunni insurgents in Iraq, particularly Al-Qaeda militants in the violence that flared after the 2003 US-led invasion. Al-Wehdah is a predominantly Shiite Muslim neighbourhood about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Meanwhile, in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, a suicide car bomb struck an interior ministry detention centre, killing a man, his sixyear-old son and a policeman, said a police officer and a doctor at the city’s hospital. The attack left four other people wounded, including two policemen. Ramadi, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, is the capital of Anbar province and was a key insurgent base in the aftermath of the invasion, but local Sunni tribes have since 2006 sided with the US military. Day-to-day violence has dropped dramatically as Al-Qaeda fighters have been ejected but the city has seen a spate of recent attacks, including three bombings of the provincial governor’s building since October. The violence comes ahead of parliamentary elections on March 7, the second legislative polls since dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted after the invasion. In the centre of Baghdad, a police commando was shot dead by a sniper in Saadun street yesterday while he was checking a car for explosives, an AFP journalist at the scene said. In the restive northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, two Iraqi soldiers were killed when their checkpoint came under fire from unidentified gunmen yesterday morning, police Captain Muwafaq Khadhim said. —AFP
police commando was shot dead by a sniper in Baghdad. Police arrested four men in connection with the brutal killings shortly after announcing the deaths of the eight family members at their Baghdad home, saying the group had confessed to other crimes as well.
PARIS: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (left) and France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy give a press conference after a working lunch yesterday at the Elysee presidential palace. — AFP
Sarkozy meets Abbas, backs Palestinian state PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed the creation of a “viable” Palestinian state yesterday but was cautious about repeating his foreign minister’s support for possible recognition of a state before its borders were set. Speaking at a news conference in Paris with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Sarkozy repeated France’s support for statehood for Palestinians but added: “We have always said a viable Palestinian state.” “What we want when we argue for a Palestinian state is a real state, which can give hope and a future for millions of Palestinians. It’s not just an idea,” he told reporters. In a newspaper interview at the weekend, Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner said that to break a stalemate in Middle East peacemaking, some countries might recognise a Palestinian state before its borders were fixed. “One can imagine a Palestinian state being rapidly declared and immediately recognised by the international community, even before negotiating its borders. I would be tempted by that,” he told the Journal du Dimanche. Sarkozy said that Kouchner was thinking of possible ways to bring momentum to the peace process but that France’s goal remained a functioning Palestinian state in clearly set borders. “In Bernard’s comments, there was the thought that if we don’t manage that, then when the time comes, in
accord with our Palestinian friends, we might underline the idea of this state politically, to lift it up a notch in a way,” he said. “But the objective is the idea of a Palestinian state in the frontiers of 1967, with an exchange of territory, just as we have said all along.” The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership said last year it would seek UN Security Council backing for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, referring to the West Bank and Gaza Strip borders as they were on the eve of the 1967 Middle East war. It said the initiative would not be a unilateral declaration of statehood but would aim to secure international support for the eventual creation of a state based on the 1967 borders. —Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
8
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Poland seeks EU backing in spat with Belarus BRUSSELS: Poland urged the European Union yesterday to help persuade Belarus to end a crackdown on its ethnic Polish minority and suggested Minsk’s hopes of ending its international isolation could be at stake. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he would ask fellow EU foreign ministers for their support following the detention of dozens of ethnic Polish activists in the former Soviet republic. “I will talk to my colleagues here and
ask them to show solidarity in helping make Belarus realise what important opportunities it may pass up if she continues the policy of persecution,” Sikorski told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. “There is still time for Belarus to step back and I hope that happens.” Warsaw recalled its ambassador from Minsk last week after police seized a building used by the Union of Poles, an organisation which split in 2005 into a branch
supporting President Alexander Lukashenko and an opposition movement. Police have also detained a number of Union of Poles activists, some of them during a protest rally last week, and Minsk has accused Polish media of “indulging in an anti-Belarusian campaign”. The EU condemned the arrests last week, saying they undermined efforts to strengthen relations with Belarus. Belarus has long been long ostracised in the West over its suppression of dissent
but, hoping to improve ties and reduce its economic dependence on Russia, Minsk has sought to improve its human rights record and has freed some political prisoners. Further damage to its human rights record could have an impact on Belarus’s hopes of joining the World Trade Organisation and boosting trade with the West, diplomats say. Minsk may also seek EU help in talking to the International Monetary Fund, which has a $3.5 billion loan programme for
Belarus. “We should continue and strengthen our policy of conditionality towards Belarus, which is to say that Belarus may aspire to join various Western institutions, provided there is an improvement in the treatment of human rights, national minorities and the opposition,” Sikorski said. He said there was no talk of new sanctions on Minsk. The EU prolonged a freeze on restrictions against Belarus, including a visa ban
against Lukashenko, last November as an incentive for it to carry out further reforms. Poland’s relations with Belarus have soured periodically over the treatment of the Polish minority, which numbers about 400,000 people in the country of 10 million. Warsaw has taken steps to support dissidents in Belarus, running a radio station with Belarusian newscasts and offering scholarships to students expelled from Belarusian universities. — Reuters
Former military chiefs held in Turkey plot probe Erdogan says more than 40 people detained ISTANBUL: Turkish police detained former heads of the air force and navy yesterday among 40 people held in an investigation into an alleged plot to undermine the Islamist-rooted government and trigger a military coup. The swoop,
one of the largest in European Union candidate Turkey against the secularist armed forces, further raised tensions between the ruling AK Party and the military, which has been implicated in several alleged plots in the past year.
MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Jose luis Rodriguez Zapatero (R) gives a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) during a Spain-Turkey summit at the Moncloa palace in Madrid yesterday. — AFP
Four missing after Madeira floods kill 42 FUNCHAL: Emergency crews used sniffer dogs yesterday to search through huge piles of debris for at least four people still missing in Madeira after flash floods and rockslides killed 42 people on the Portuguese vacation island. The dogs scoured heaps of boulders, broken trees and other debris blocking streets. Rescue teams dug cars out of head-high mounds of sludge to see if there was anyone inside. Crews pumped rainwater and mud out of a shopping mall’s underground parking lot in the capital, Funchal, where officials fear more bodies may be found. The parking lot’s two levels were completely submerged. Flash foods gathered speed during Saturday’s storm as rainwater crashed down steep-sided slopes, heaving tons of earth, boulders and trees against buildings and carrying away vehicles. Roads were washed away and bridges collapsed, shunting cars into the raging waters. Officials said most victims appeared to have either drowned or were crushed. Although only four people were officially unaccounted for Monday, officials said there could be more victims because blocked roads and downed phone lines made it difficult to get a complete picture of the damage. Pedro Ramos, a spokesman for Funchal’s main hospital, said his services had treated 151 injured people. Meanwhile, authorities ordered the evacuation of some hamlets as showers raised fears of more landslides. Ankle-deep rainwater washed through Funchal’s muddy streets. Madeira island, with a population of more than 200,000, rises sharply to a central peak. Most large communities are in lowlying oceanside areas, while rural villages often cling to vertiginous escarpments. Locals said the storm was the worst in memory. Officials said a month’s worth of rain fell in about eight hours, unleashing a torrent
of water and mud that swept away people, houses and vehicles. In Ribeira Brava, a village at the foot of a valley about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from Funchal, Mayor Ismael Fernandes appealed for calm and urged people to stay put after residents started fleeing out of fear of a landslide. Some houses and a clinic on the outskirts of Ribeira Brava were evacuated because of concerns that a hillside above the village could give way. When word of that order spread, people rushed to leave Ribeira Brava and traffic jams formed as cars lined up to get out. Rescue teams in more than 400 vehicles, including bulldozers, worked through the night to clear tons of caked mud, boulders and snapped trees, authorities said. “The recovery is going to be a hard work,” resident Miguel Eduardo told Associated Press Television News. “It will
take us a few months to recover.” Almost 120 people forced to leave their homes were staying at a military barracks, according to the regional government. Several main roads remained blocked. Officials hoped to reopen all the island’s roads by the end of the week. Victims in white body bags were taken to Funchal’s international airport, where a makeshift morgue was set up. Among the dead was a firefighter who was swept away as he tried to save a woman, his colleagues said. The British Foreign office said one British national was killed and a few others had been hospitalized on Madeira. The island is popular with British tourists because of its mild climate. Madeira is the main island of a Portuguese archipelago of the same name in the Atlantic Ocean just over 300 miles (480 kilometers) off the west coast of Africa.
The head of the regional government, Alberto Joao Jardim, told people to stay at home if they could yesterday and schools canceled classes for 30,000 students. The floods were so powerful they carved paths down mountains and ripped through the city, churning under some bridges and tearing others down. “A woman came running and said the water is coming and then she started to run, and then we ran with her,” Danish tourist Luna Graigsson told APTN. “It was astonishing that the water came so fast.” The Portuguese government was holding a special Cabinet meeting yesterday and was expected to announce three days of mourning for the victims. It may also grant financial aid to rebuild Madeira’s many destroyed roads and bridges. The regional government says it has no estimate yet of its financial needs. — AP
FUNCHAL: People work to clean out a shop in a street filled with mud and debris yesterday in downtown Funchal, the capital of Madeira Island. Emergency crews used sniffer dogs yesterday to search through huge piles of debris for at least four people still missing in Madeira after flash floods and rockslides killed 42 people on the Portuguese vacation island. — AP
Former Air Force Commander Ibrahim Firtina, former Naval Commander Ozden Ornek and ex-Deputy Chief of the General Staff General Ergin Saygun, were among those held, broadcasters said. Current armed forces chief General Ilker Basbug postponed a trip to Egypt as a result, state-run Anatolian news agency said. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on an official visit to Spain that more than 40 people had been detained in the raids. “I don’t know what the result of this is, but after the security forces have finished this process the judiciary will make its assessment,” he told a news conference. The suspects held in Ankara were flown to Istanbul for questioning over the “Sledgehammer” plot after police raids in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Neither police or the military had any immediate comment. Financial markets, which earlier shrugged off the detentions, weakened slightly in afternoon trade. Shares fell 0.3 percent, bond yields rose from morning levels and the lira currency weakened more than half a percent to 1.5270 lira to the dollar. Wolfango Piccoli from the Eurasia political risk consultancy said the detentions looked set to trigger another escalation in the tense relations between the military and the AK Party. “The government is now embroiled in an open and bitter power struggle with the judiciary and the military, raising the risk of a head-on confrontation that would badly damage political stability,” Piccoli said. Such detentions would have been unthinkable in the past for the military, which has ousted four governments in the last 50 years. However, its powers have waned in recent years due to democratic reforms aimed at securing EU membership. Other senior military officers have been indicted on charges of planning a separate plot to overthrow the AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam. According to previous media reports on the Sledgehammer plan, denied by the military, the army had plotted to provoke Greek fighter jets into shooting down a Turkish military jet. Turkey and neighbouring Greece have longstanding territorial disputes and came close to war in 1996 over an islet in the Aegean, though relations have improved in the last decade. The alleged plot also involved planting bombs in mosques and museums in Istanbul to stir chaos. Last month Taraf newspaper said it had obtained 5,000 pages of documents and tapes on the plan which was aimed at justifying an army takeover in 2003. The military has said documents quoted by the paper were part of a military training seminar but were never meant to be carried out and were not part of a conspiracy. The latest detentions follow a clash between Erdogan’s government and the secularist judiciary over the arrest of a prosecutor who had investigated Islamic groups. That prosecutor has been accused of links to an alleged farright militant network, “Ergenekon”. More than 200 people, including military officers, lawyers and politicians, have been arrested in the case since it came to light 2-1/2 years ago. Critics of the government say the Ergenekon investigation has also been used to hound political opponents. —Reuters
LONDON: Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson arrive together at the Global Investment Conference at the Saatchi Gallery in London, yesterday, where Brown is hosting the Global Investment Conference, a meeting of 250 of the world’s business leaders, academics and entrepreneurs to discuss growth and investment in the United Kingdom. Brown is currently in the midst of a media outcry over claims that he has bullied his staff, and that an anti-bullying charity received calls from staff at his 10 Downing Street office. — AP
Britain’s opposition demands inquiry into Brown behaviour LONDON: Britain’s opposition Conservatives demanded an inquiry yesterday into allegations that Gordon Brown intimidated his staff, claims which have emerged just weeks before the prime minister faces an election. Brown has rejected as baseless and malicious allegations published in a Sunday newspaper that he had terrified staff by shouting abuse at them and in some cases had physically intimidated them. The claims appeared in extracts from a book by a political journalist. They have overshadowed a Labour poll recovery which has seen the ruling party, in power since 1997, narrow the gap on the Conservatives to six points-a margin that could lead to a hung parliament in which no party has an absolute majority. The head of a charity set up to counter workplace bullying said there had been “two or more” calls to its helpline from the prime minister’s office but said she was not accusing Brown of being a bully. She did not say when the complaints were made. “We would have hoped that Gordon Brown would have said that he was looking into this, that due process was being followed and that he takes these issues seriously,” Christine Pratt, who runs the National Bullying Helpline, told BBC Radio 4. With an election to be held by June, the claims inevitably sharpened the focus on Brown’s character as a leader and provoked a political slanging
match. “They are very serious matters and I’m sure that Number 10 Downing Street and the civil service in some way will want to have some sort of inquiry to try and get to the bottom of what has happened here,” opposition Conservative leader David Cameron told reporters. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said the prime minister appeared to be the victim of a political campaign and dismissed calls for an inquiry. “Do you not think we have better things to do than to chase up every rag, tag and bobtail rumour, innuendo and smear that anyone with a book to sell chooses to pump into the ether?” Mandelson said at a conference attended by business leaders. “We’ve got a country to run, that’s what’s important to us. Nobody bullies, nobody tolerates bullying in this government, in any part of this government, period, zero, and that’s it, OK?” Brown, 59, replaced Tony Blair in mid-term in 2007 after serving as his finance minister for a decade. Brown is often portrayed as intense and brooding and critics, some within his own party, say he is an electoral liability. Brown must call an election by June, with May 6 seen as the likely poll date. He has recently opened up more in interviews, showing a more emotional side when discussing the death of his new-born daughter in a television chat show a week ago. — Reuters
Ukraine’s premier presses Yanukovich in parliament KIEV: Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko sought yesterday to force a quick parliamentary vote she hopes will back her government before President-elect Viktor Yanukovich has time to muster support to bring it down. The move by the fiery 49-year-old premier indicated that, though she had reluctantly dropped a legal challenge to Yanukovich’s election, she intended to throw up as many hurdles as possible to him consolidating his power. The Regions Party faction of Yanukovich, whom she refuses to recognise as legitimate winner of this month’s presidential runoff, said on Friday it planned a vote of no-confidence in the government in early March after his inauguration on Feb. 25. But Tymoshenko’s bloc said on Monday it had collected enough signatures to force the vote this week before his swearing-in. “The faction of our bloc in parliament is insisting on a quick consideration of this question ... no later than Wednesday,” Oleksander Turchynov, first deputy prime minister and a close aide of Tymoshenko’s, said in a statement. Tymoshenko’s BYuT bloc appears to feel that the Yanukovich camp, which is busy preparing for Thursday’s inauguration, will not have time to muster the necessary 226 votes for it to succeed this week. She still runs the risk of the vote going against her. But if it is held this week and fails, Yanukovich’s camp will find it more difficult to put together a coalition in parliament to force her out. This would provide a psychological boost for Tymoshenko who at the weekend dramatically dropped her attempt to get a Ukraine high court to back a new presidential runoff vote on the basis of her allegations of electoral fraud. Investors and traders reacted positively to Tymoshenko’s climbdown. The cost of insuring against Ukraine’s default fell and bond prices rallied. The hryvnia currency continued to trade just
below the 8.00/$ mark-for the first time this year, while the Ukrainian Equity Index traded slightly higher. Analysts said however this upbeat mood will be fragile in the longer term as it will follow the twists and turns of Yanukovich’s attempts to consolidate his power. “It is a game of nerves and a game of tactics,” said political analyst Andriy Yermolayev. “BYuT understands that while negotiations are going on for forming a new coalition a forced vote on the government’s resignation might not get the sufficient number of votes,” he said. Tymoshenko said she was withdrawing her appeal because she did not trust a court which had refused to consider evidence showing large-scale cheating by the Yanukovich camp. But she stood by her earlier statements that Yanukovich had not been legitimately elected and that she herself had been robbed of victory by fraud. She lost the Feb. 7 runoff against Yanukovich by a narrow margin of 3.5 percentage points. Yanukovich’s camp, jubilant after Tymoshenko’s weekend about-turn, dismissed her parliamentary move as a PR ruse. “It is nothing more than a straightforward attempt to draw attention to herself with the aim of manipulating public opinion,” the Regions Party said in a statement. There was no immediate announcement by parliament in response to the BYuT’s call for an early no-confidence vote. After a bitter election campaign of smears and insults, Yanukovich has ruled out any alliance with her but she has refused to quit as prime minister. The Yanukovich camp is pressing ahead with trying to forge a new coalition among the opportunistic deputies in parliament which can involve long and tricky horse-trading. If he fails to do this, he may be forced to call early parliamentary election with unpredictable consequences. — Reuters
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL
9
Democrats fear voters will punish party in power
Democrats worried about Obama’s track record WASHINGTON: Democratic governors said Sunday they worry about President Barack Obama’s track record on fighting Republican political attacks and urged him to better connect with anxious voters. Some allies pleaded for a new election-year strategy focused on the economy. “It’s got to be better thought out,” Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said. “It’s got to be
CANCUN: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) waves next to his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon and First Lady Margarita Zavala, upon his arrival in Cancun, Mexico, yesterday. Leaders at the Rio Group summit in the Mexican resort city of Cancun discussed yesterday how to help Haiti rebuild after the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 217,000 people in one of the worst natural disasters of modern times. — AFP
Outside Haitian capital, survivor settlements grow BAS CANAAN: At the foot of rocky hills north of Haiti’s earthquake-shattered capital Port-auPrince, new settlements are sprouting as survivors flee the claustrophobic, rubble-clogged chaos of the stricken city. Led by evangelical pastors, several thousand quake victims, some with little more than the clothes they stand in, have thrown up flimsy dwellings of wooden frames draped in cloth or plastic in plots marked out in the dry earth with machetes. “There’s nothing here, it’s a desert, but we feel safer,” said Jean Oswald Estcyr, as members of his family put up the stick supports that will frame their new home. In the hills around, hundreds more such crude homes are going up. The shanties look the same as the sprawling crowded tent encampments that cram every space and cranny of the wrecked capital-except that they are sited several miles (kilometres) outside the city in a parched no-man’s land not far from where mass graves hold the bodies of thousands of quake dead. Haitian President Rene Preval now says the final toll from the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake, one of the most lethal natural disasters in modern history, could reach 300,000.
Delays in delivering humanitarian aid, especially shelter materials to protect against upcoming rains, have prompted many survivors to flee the stench and squalor of the crippled capital to seek living space in barren plains to the north. “In Port-au-Prince, a lot of the houses are destroyed, and there are many people living among the rubble. It smells,” said Britus Jeancean, 32, a mason, explaining why he and his family chose to move to this scrubby wasteland outside the city. But the new shanty settlements pose another headache for the international relief operation which has been struggling to get food, water and plastic sheeting out to the more than 1 million homeless, most of them camped out higgledy-piggledy in the spaces and streets of Port-au-Prince. If anything, these refugees from the city have even less than their urban counterparts-no nearby food outlets or water sources and no sanitation, to judge from the pungent smell of human excrement and acrid smoke that wafts across the mushrooming settlement. “We need tents, tarpaulins, water cisterns, toilets,” said Jeancean. “We wanted to live better, and we can do it, if we have help,” he added. — Reuters
Democrats fear voters will punish the party in power. The titular head of his party, Obama has watched his own popularity drop over the past year. He will bear at least some responsibility for the outcome in November, and Democrats are looking to him for political fixes. In interviews at the National Governors Association’s weekend meeting, several Democratic governors faulted the White House for losing the communications war against Republicans over what Obama has accomplished in his first year. “We fought back only sporadically and pretty ineffectively,” Rendell said, adding that “right out of the box, we lost the spin war” on the $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed in 2009. Several Democratic colleagues agreed, and lamented that voters thought Obama focused too much on overhauling the US health care system. Others fretted that Obama may appear to be out of touch with the concerns of Americans. “I think he’s got more work to do on that,” said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, an Obama friend and ally. Even as they raised concerns, Democratic governors insisted that the White House has started turning things around. “The stars are aligning,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. During a reception honoring governors at the White House, Obama thanked Republican and Democratic governors alike for helping to stabilize the economy. “Each of you in your own respective
more proactive.” And, he said, Democrats must hit back just as hard as they are hit by Republicans. Eight months before the first midterm Congressional and gubernatorial elections of Obama’s presidency, most Americans are frustrated with — even angered by — persistent unemployment and gridlock in Washington.
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama with National Governors Association Vice-Chairman, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, yesterday, in the State Dinning Room of the White House in Washington. — AP states saw how brutal it was,” the president said. “It is worth reminding ourselves of how urgent the situation was and worth this organization taking extraordinary credit for helping to right the ship.” Earlier in an interview, Gov. Mike Beebe of Arkansas urged Obama to focus more on the economy and limit his actions on the health care system to changes that would bring down the cost of medical treatment in the United States. He called Obama’s poll numbers
“terrible” in Arkansas because voters don’t think he’s focused on their top priority, the economy. “People are unhappy,” he said. “Now, in fairness, he didn’t create this problem, but they want to see him fix it.” While praising the White House’s communication’s efforts, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered this advice to Obama: “Rapidly decide what we’re doing on health care and then move to jobs and the economy.” “We need a national economic strate-
gy,” he added. Among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, Patrick said he and Obama faced the same vexing political issue in 2009: They were so busy dealing with an economic crisis that it was hard to stay in touch with voters. “If you don’t know what happens at the point where policy touches people, you’ve got a problem,” the Massachusetts governor said. Patrick said he will connect better with voters on the campaign trail, making sure they know that he understands their plight. He suspects Obama will do the same while campaigning for Democrats. Obama has other challenges. Patrick said Obama must walk a fine line between pushing back on Republican criticism and not looking overly partisan. “If you don’t hit the bully back, you’re just going to keep getting hit,” Patrick said. “On the other hand, people don’t want that tit for tat.” He said he hasn’t been in touch with the White House communications team but noted, “I’m sure they’re struggling with that.” Markell said Republican lawmakers have effectively put Obama on his heels by blocking Democratic initiatives. “The challenge has been to get through the clutter of ‘No,”’ he said. Rendell told ABC, “They just need to take a deep breath, look at what happened and revamp their strategy.” Easy for him to say. Later, the Associated Press asked Rendell what, specifically, Obama should do to right his political ship. “I don’t know,” he said. — AP
Police handler left dogs to bake to death: Court LONDON: A police dog handler went on trial yesterday accused of leaving his two devoted German Shepherds to bake to death in his car last year when he became distracted by paperwork. Police constable Mark Johnson, 39, was suffering from
depression and obsessive compulsive disorder leading to him forgetting his dogs, 18-monthold Jay-Jay and Jet, 7, for seven hours on one of the hottest days of the year. “Jet and Jay-Jay suffered excruciating pain when their handler Pc Johnson left them in
the boot of his private motorcar,” said Paul Taylor, prosecuting the case for the RSPCA charity. “Pc Johnson’s usual routine would have been to have transferred them to a police vehicle which had an air cooling unit but he did not transfer them and
went about his business,” he told Nottingham Magistrates’ Court. On June 30 last year, Johnson drove his black Ford Mondeo estate to Nottinghamshire Police’s HQ in Arnold, just north of Nottingham shortly before 7 a.m., the Press Association
reported. He planned to move the dogs to a police car but it was off the road as the air conditioning system was being fixed. He found another car but there were no mats in the back and when he went to find some he became distracted by a police briefing.— Reuters
10
INTERNATIONAL
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Obama statue returns to public view in Jakarta JAKARTA: A statue of Barack Obama as a boy has been placed at the Jakarta elementary school the US president once attended, after its display in a public park prompted backlash in the Indonesia capital. The relocation late Sunday of the bronze statue, a week after it disappeared from public view, was a low-key event officiated by the school’s principal and three local education officials. Scores of proud students had been among the crowd of 500 watching when Jakarta’s mayor unveiled the statue in the nearby park in December. The likeness based on a childhood photograph shows a 10year-old Obama smiling at a butterfly perched on his outstretched thumb. The late night schedule was aimed at finishing before almost 500 students arrive for school yesterday, not an
attempt to keep a low profile, said the main fundraiser for the statue, Ron Mullers. The statue’s removal from the park also was done on a Sunday night. Many Indonesias are proud of Obama’s connections to Indonesia, but detractors of the statue’s park display argued an Indonesia hero should be honored instead. A Facebook campaign attracted more than 50,000 supporters of the statue’s removal, and court action was initiated to force it. Mullers accused them of politicizing a statue meant to inspire Indonesian children to follow their dreams. “This is a statue of boy named Little Barry who went to this school; it’s not President Obama,” Mullers said. Opponents had mixed feelings about the statue’s new position at Menteng 1 Elementary
School where it remains clearly visible from the street through a front gate. Heru Nugroho, leader of the Facebook campaign to remove the statue, said he was “not happy,” but declined to comment further. Another opponent involved in the court action, Yenni Rosa Damayanti, said she was satisfied that the statue was no longer in a public park. “We should not erect statues of other countries’ presidents in public parks when so many of Indonesia’s heroes are not immortalized,” she said. She added that she didn’t mind the new location because the school had history with Obama. Central Jakarta Education Office head Zainal Soleman and Vice Principal Solikhin, who goes by one name, helped three laborers set the statue in its wet
concrete base. Soleman said it was welcomed by the school. “It will inspire and motivate the children every day,” he said. The statue’s original cost was $10,000 but the relocation increased it to $50,000, according to Mullers, an American living in Jakarta. Sponsors provided the additional money, he said. “It wasn’t cheap, but I’m glad it’s now in the best place for it,” said Mullers, who chairs the Jakarta-based Friends of Obama Foundation. He said the president’s staff has indicated Obama plans to visit the school and sign the statue’s pedestal during his first presidential trip to the country in late March. Obama, whose American mother married an Indonesian after divorcing his Kenyan father, went to school in the capital from 1967 to 1971. — AP
Arroyo expresses caution about longer-term implications
Philippine army claims victory over militants MANILA: The Philippine military said yesterday its killing of a “ruthless” Abu Sayyaf commander had inflicted a major blow on the Al-Qaeda-linked group, as it pursued his fellow militants on a remote island. The military reported it shot dead six members of the Muslim militant network in the jun-
gles of lawless Jolo island on Sunday, with high-profile leader Albader Parad among the victims. “It is a big blow in the sense that he (Parad) is a very notorious and ruthless leader,” Lieutenant General Benjamin Dolorfino, head of military forces in the south, told AFP by telephone.
JOLO: Filipino soldiers place an identification tag on the body of suspected Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad after he and five others were killed in an encounter in the jungles of Jolo in southern Philippines Sunday. Parad, top commander of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, is accused of the abduction of three International Red Cross workers on Jolo early last year. — AP
US says Taiwan air force needs help TAIPEI: Taiwan’s fighter jets would fall short in combat against military rival China, the US government said in a report yesterday that could lead to new weapons sales sure to anger Beijing. Many of Taiwan’s roughly 400 combat aircraft would not work in action due to age and maintenance problems, while protection of the island’s airfields little more than 160 km (100 miles) from China was a major issue, the US government’s Defense Intelligence Agency said in the report, released in Taiwan. The one-off report, ordered by Congress, says upgrades are needed as China gets stronger. The United States is Taiwan’s top arms supplier but also wants to improve its ties with Beijing. China reacted angrily last month after President Barack Obama’s administration
unveiled its first arms package for selfruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, saying it would impose unspecified sanctions on the companies involved. Another jolt in Sino-U.S. relations could shake markets in Asia further after their bout of nerves over the reaction to last month’s $6.4 billion US weapons proposal. “Although Taiwan has nearly 400 combat aircraft in service, far fewer of these are operationally capable,” the report says. “In recent years, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has increased the quantity and sophistication of its ballistic and cruise missiles and fighter aircraft opposite Taiwan, which has diminished Taiwan’s ability to deny PRC efforts to attain air superiority in a conflict,” it says. Taiwan is seeking 66 new US-made F-16 fighter jets, but Washington officials wary
of another China backlash have hedged on the request, saying they must evaluate Taiwan’s overall defence needs. Congress may use the report to pressure the Pentagon into approving the F16s, said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief with Defense News. Beijing has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT fled to the island. China has threatened to attack if Taiwan tries to formalise its de facto independence. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognising “one China”. But it remains Taiwan’s biggest ally and is obliged by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help the island defend itself. — Reuters
Guard recalls brush with suicide bomber JAKARTA: A guard at an Indonesian hotel recalled yesterday a chilling exchange with an Islamic suicide bomber seconds before the extremist detonated his explosives in a room full of businessmen. JW Marriott employee Dikdik Ahmad Taufik was asked to give testimony at the trial of Amir Abdillah, 34, a suspected member of the terror network blamed for twin suicide attacks on Jakarta hotels which killed seven people in July. He said he saw a man walking across the lobby towards him wearing a baseball cap low on his head, wheeling a suitcase and nursing a backpack on his chest. “I was in the hotel lobby, security was very tight with a metal detector,” Taufik told the South Jakarta District Court. “In front of the lounge I met a man carrying luggage and a backpack on his chest, he was wearing a brown jacket. I asked him what he wanted and he told me ‘I want to deliver these things to my boss’.” The man was 18-year-old suicide bomber Dani Dwi Permana, and Taufik had questioned him just metres (yards) from
his target: A meeting of mainly Western businessmen in an alcove off the lobby. Security camera footage of the attack showed an alert Taufik speak to Permana as he walked unsteadily but directly toward the meeting room, but the Islamist fanatic did not pause to make his response. A minute or two later the lobby of the up-market hotel was devastated in a flash of heat and splintered debris as the bomber triggered his device a short distance away down a narrow corridor. “I’m sure that the explosion originated from the man’s bag,” Taufik said from the witness stand. Five people were killed in the meeting room where the CastleAsia consultancy was having a regular breakfast get-together, including two Australian diplomats and a well-respected company executive from New Zealand. Seconds later another Islamist blew himself up in a restaurant at the adjacent Ritz-Carlton hotel, killing two Dutch tourists as well as himself. Malaysian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammad Top allegedly organised the
attacks as part of his Al-Qaeda-inspired “holy war” on the West. Noordin was killed by police in September. His alleged driver, Abdillah, could face multiple death sentences if convicted on charges that include carrying out an act of terrorism, providing explosive materials and harbouring terrorist suspects. In a separate trial, alleged conspirator Syaifudin Zuhri bin Jaelani told of his long friendship with Noordin, who was one of the most wanted terrorists in Asia. Calmly painting a picture of the often casual contacts that bind terror networks together, he said he had “stood as a witness” at Noordin’s last marriage in 2006. He also said he had studied “holy war” under two leaders of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Dujana and Nasir Abbas. Dujana is now behind bars and Abbas is working with the Indonesian police. Two of his fellow students were executed in 2008 for their roles in the 2002 Bali bambings which killed more than 200 people, mostly Western tourists. — AFP
“He always played a big role as far as the effectiveness and capability of the group is concerned.” Parad, who was believed to be in his late 20s, made world headlines last year when he led an Abu Sayyaf cell that kidnapped and threatened to behead three Red Cross workers on Jolo. The trio-a Filipino, a Swiss and an Italian-were released after many months. The Abu Sayyaf was set up in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, according to the Philippine military, and has been blamed for the nation’s worst terrorist attacks. These include the bombing of a passenger ferry in Manila Bay that killed over 100 people in 2004, as well as many kidnappings of foreigners and Filipinos. The Abu Sayyaf is fighting for an independent Muslim state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, and is infamous for staging kidnappings-forransom to raise funds. Dolorfino said Sunday’s killings, which occurred after the military acted on tips from informants, gave hope the Abu Sayyaf could finally be crushed. “Without the leaders, the members will be directionless and, if no new leader emerges, they may crumble,” said Dolorfino. Dolorfino said the Abu Sayyaf was now believed to have only 330 fighters on Jolo, with another 61 on nearby Basilan island. This is down from a peak of about 1,200 fighters in 2002. He said the military was pursuing Abu Sayyaf members in the jungles of Jolo on Monday in a bid to capitalise on the previous day’s success, with Umbra Jumdail, one of the group’s top two leaders, on its radar. The reported eroding of the Abu Sayyaf’s strength has coincided with US soldiers being stationed in the southern Philippines since late 2001 to help train local troops in how to battle the group. However, supported by sympathetic locals, the Abu Sayyaf has shown a persistent ability to conduct attacks and its militants have killed dozens of Filipino soldiers in recent years. A roadside bomb believed planted by the Abu Sayyaf also killed two US soldiers on Jolo in September last year. Even in Sunday’s clash, one Filipino soldier was shot dead, the military reported. And while welcoming the military’s success on Sunday, President Gloria Arroyo’s spokesman expressed caution about the longer-term implications. “They say that when a leader dies, somebody immediately takes his place,” press secretary Crispulo Icban told reporters. Nevertheless, Dolorfino insisted there were no signs of significant new Abu Sayyaf leaders emerging. “We have not seen any new member who has the reputation of the current leaders. We have not seen any influential sub-leaders who might take the leadership when the current leaders are neutralised,” he said. The US embassy’s spokeswoman in Manila, Rebecca Thompson, congratulated the Philippine military for Sunday’s “success”, saying this would improve security in the south. — AFP
JAKARTA: Workers put finishing touches on the newly set-up bronze statue of “Little Barry” depicting US President Barack Obama as a boy at the Menteng One primary school yesterday in the affluent Menteng district of Jakarta where the young future US president attended in the late 1960’s. The statue was removed from a nearby park following opposition by some groups earlier in the month and placed at the school late on February 21. Obama will travel with his family to his childhood home in Jakarta in March, a visit greatly anticipated in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. — AFP
Japan govt support drops further in blow to premier TOKYO: Support for Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government has slipped further, a newspaper poll showed yesterday, adding to the leader’s woes ahead of a midyear election that his party needs to win to avoid policy deadlock. Hatoyama’s Democratic Party took power after an election for the more powerful lower house last year, but it needs to win a majority in the upper house to drop an awkward coalition with two smaller parties to smooth policy-making. Support for the government has fallen to 37 percent from 41 percent earlier this month, a poll of more than 2,000 voters by the Asahi Shimbun daily showed. Disapproval was at 46 percent. The poll follows another blow for Hatoyama on Sunday, when a candidate backed by his party lost an election for governor in southern Japan, in a sign of voter frustration over a scandal ensnaring the party’s No.2 executive, Ichiro Ozawa. The weekend gubernatorial vote was seen as the first test for the Democrats after three of Ozawa’s current and former aides were charged for misreporting political funds. Ozawa acknowledged yesterday that the scandal was one of the reasons for the loss. “I am very sorry that I caused trouble to everyone due to my failings and clearly this (the scandal) was not a plus,” he told a news conference. Ozawa added that he would keep trying to gain the voters’ understanding as he travels around the country ahead of an upper house election expected in July. Hatoyama echoed Ozawa’s sentiments, saying he intended to fight the election with Ozawa in his key post. While a majority of voters want Ozawa to step down from the party’s secretary-general post, his
departure could delay policy-making because he is seen by many as the real power behind the government and can make tough decisions when others can’t. Ozawa is also known for his campaigning mastery, and is regarded as vital for the party before the upper house vote. It was still unclear if Ozawa would step down, given the chances that the Democrats could try to woo the the public with policies ahead of the upper house vote, said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. “If the government can fill the news with positive achievements, the scandal won’t be the only thing in the news,” he said. “I don’t think Ozawa will quit immediately. The question is, will things improve in the spring?” The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party turned up the heat on Monday, boycotting debate over the budget for the year starting in April after the Democrats failed to agree to have Ozawa appear to explain the scandal. The ruling coalition is likely to force the budget through, although that could upset voters who are also calling for Ozawa to explain about the scandal. Hatoyama’s government is hoping to win back voters with efforts to slash wasteful spending and bring down Japan’s huge public debt, now around twice the size of the country’s gross domestic product. Standard and Poor’s said last month it would cut Japan’s rating unless the government produced a credible plan to rein in debt and lift growth for the deflation-ridden economy. Still, there is relatively little chance that S&P will downgrade Japan’s sovereign rating this year unless there is a major economic shock, analyst Takahira Ogawa said yewsterday. — Reuters
N Korea proposes military talks with rival South SEOUL: North Korea yesterday proposed a March date for military talks with wartime rival South Korea, just days after threatening to conduct live-fire drills at the border. Pyongyang last week designated eight coastal “firing zones” along the east and west coasts, a month after firing a barrage of artillery shells toward the western maritime border it shares with South Korea. However, there were no signs North Korea was moving to carry out any drills, Seoul’s Joint Chief of Staff said yesterday. The two Koreas technically remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. The waters off the west coast are a frequent flash point, with Pyongyang refusing to recognize the border drawn by the United Nations at the close of the war. North Korea also remains locked in a standoff with the international community over its nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang quit ongoing disarmament talks and conducted an atomic test last year, earning tighter UN sanctions. The impoverished regime has reached out in recent months, but wants the sanctions lifted and a peace treaty formally ending the war as part of the nuclear negotiations. On Friday, North Korea vowed to bolster its “nuclear deterrent” unless the US abandons what it calls a “hostile” policy toward Pyongyang. The proposed military-level talks with South Korea would focus on the two Koreas’ joint factory park in the northern border town of Kaesong. Seoul was still considering
HWANGHAE: This undated picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on February 21, 2010 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (C) inspecting the Hwanghae Iron and Steel complex in Hwanghae province in North Korea. — AFP whether to accept the proposal for talks March 2, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. Meanwhile, South Korea’s navy said it will deploy eight advanced patrol aircraft as part of scheduled plans. The aircraft are armed with missiles capable of striking land-based artillery along the North Korean coast, a naval official said, requesting anonymity because of department policy. Meanwhile, South Korea’s navy will deploy eight more advanced maritime patrol aircraft this year to guard against any military threats from North Korea or elsewhere, the navy said yesterday. The first of eight refurbished P-3CK aircraft from the United States will be delivered to a naval unit on Tuesday, a navy statement said.
The countries’ disputed Yellow Sea border has been tense since a firefight last November left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. In late January the North fired some 370 shells into the sea near the borderline. Last week it announced new naval firing zones off its shores, banning shipping from them until yesterday, although no firing has so far been reported. South Korea, a close US ally, already has eight P-3C Orion aircraft built by Lockheed Martin in service. The navy said the more advanced P-3CKs would carry better surveillance equipment and weaponry, such as Harpoon Block II air-to-ground missiles, to hit “the enemy’s coastal artillery units or missile launchers.” No cost figures were given. Yonhap news agency said the eight new planes would cost a total of 550 million dollars. — Agencies
INTERNATIONAL
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
11
India says Pakistan talks to focus on terrorism LONDON: Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said yesterday that Indian concerns about militant groups based in Pakistan would form the main focus of her talks on Thursday with her Pakistani counterpart. Rao meets Salman Bashir in New Delhi for talks to try to end a diplomatic freeze which followed the November 2008
attack on Mumbai, blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. “Our core concerns about terrorism will find essential focus (in Thursday’s talks)”, she told a conference in London. India broke off the formal peace process, known as the composite dialogue, after the attack on Mumbai. The
two countries held several high-level meetings on the sidelines of international conferences last year-the last was between their foreign ministers in September. But New Delhi has refused to resume the composite dialogue until Pakistan takes more action against Pakistan-based militant groups it blames for attacks in
India and in Indian Kashmir. “Effective action against such groups by the government of Pakistan is an absolute must,” Rao said. No breakthrough is expected on Thursday-India’s focus is on curbing terrorism, while Pakistan wants talks on all issues, including disputed Kashmir. But the two countries are expected to try to
find a way back into some kind of talks. “Obviously we would like to keep the door to dialogue open,” Rao said. She said India and Pakistan should move forward in a “slow and deliberate” manner and that Kashmir was an issue which must be discussed bilaterally. Without talks, the region is vulnerable to an escalation in tensions and some ana-
lysts say any fresh Mumbai-style attack could trigger Indian retaliation. The nuclear-armed countries have fought three full-scale wars since independence in 1947. The two countries have also long competed for influence in Afghanistan and Pakistan is deeply suspicious of a rise in India’s presence there after the fall of the
Taleban in 2001. It accuses India of using Afghanistan as a base to create problems inside Pakistan, including backing Baluch separatists in its Baluchistan province. India denies the accusations, saying its focus is on development. “India is an important neighbour and we share undeniably close ties,” Rao said. — Reuters
Afghanistan cabinet condemns airstrike
NATO air strike kills 33 Afghan civilians SRINAGAR: An activist from Kashmir’s opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) looks on during a protest against alleged human rights violations by Indian troops in Srinagar yesterday. Dozens of activists protested against alleged human rights violations, increasing arrests and atrocities on civilians. The insurgency against Indian rule in the Himalayan region erupted in 1989 and has claimed more than 47,000 lives, according to an official count. — AFP
Anti-India clashes in Kashmir leave 12 hurt SRINAGAR: Police used tear gas and wooden batons yesterday to disperse hundreds of angry protesters who attacked them with rocks as part of a demonstration in the Indian portion of Kashmir over the recent arrest of more than 100 people. At least 12 people, including two television cameramen and one photographer, were injured as the nearly 500 protesters clashed with police in the main business district of Srinagar, said Hemant Lohia, a police officer. The protesters accused Indian forces of using excessive force to quell recent anti-India demonstrations and demanded the release of more than 100 people arrested in the past two weeks during a crackdown on street protests. Those arrested have been charged with disturbing public peace and attacking property. Another eight people have been taken into custody under the Public Security
Act, which empowers police to detain people for two years without trial for their alleged involvement in separatist activities, Lohia said. Kasmiris have been protesting the deaths of two young men who they say were killed by Indian forces. Early this month, authorities arrested one India border guard and suspended 14 others for their suspected involvement in the shooting death of one of the teens. The government has ordered an investigation into both deaths. Kashmir, which is predominantly Muslim, is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the Himalayan region, where rebel groups have been fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown. — AP
KATHMANDU: In this photo taken on July 9, 2009, Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav stands to attention for the national anthem at parliament to present the new government’s program for the next fiscal year in Kathmandu. Two years after landmark elections ended centuries of royal rule, lawmakers in Nepal are scrambling to complete a new constitution that will shape the future of the troubled Himalayan nation. — AFP
Nepal party seeks to restore king KATHMANDU: Hundreds of supporters of Nepal’s deposed king were arrested as they enforced a general strike yesterday demanding a referendum on restoring the monarchy and country’s status as a Hindu state. Police arrested more than 200 supporters of the National Democratic Party Nepal who were forcing vehicles off the streets and closing down shops, said Home Ministry spokesman Jayamukunda Khanal. Party leader Kamal Thapa said more than 600 supporters were detained and several were injured during clashes with police. Thapa accused officers of using excessive force. He said the party plans to block the prime minister’s office, key ministries and government offices today. It was the first time the National Democratic Party Nepal, the only party to support the deposed monarchy, called a general strike. It has maintained a low profile since the centuries-old monar-
chy was abolished in 2008 and the king dethroned. Nepal was also declared a secular state at the same time. Schools and markets were closed and vehicles stayed off roads yesterday in the capital Katmandu and surrounding areas because of the strike. Kathmandu police chief Ganesh Chetri said there were a few minor clashes but no major violence was reported. Pro-democracy protests in 2006 forced thenKing Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule and restore democracy. The king was stripped of power and Nepal was declared a republic in 2008. Nepal still suffers from political instability nearly four years after democracy was restored and a peace process ended years of communist insurgency. A new constitution was supposed to be written by May 2010, but the main political parties have struggled to agree on a new document. — AP
MARJAH: A NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan has killed 33 people after an aircraft fired on civilians mistakenly thought to be insurgents, the Afghan government said yesterday. The Afghan cabinet condemned the killings near the border of Uruzgan and Dai Kondi provinces as “unjustifiable”. Such casualties are a major source of anger among Afghans and Sunday’s toll was the highest number of civilian deaths in months. The incident was not part of Operation Mushtarak, the major NATO-led offensive to clear Taleban militants out of neighbouring Helmand province in the south. Nonetheless, it could still hurt Afghan government and NATO efforts to win support from the local population under a plan to wrest control of Taleban strongholds before the start of a gradual US troop withdrawal in 2011. “Initial reports indicate that NATO fired Sunday on a convoy of three vehicles ... killing at least 33 civilians, including four women and one child, and injuring 12 others,” the Afghan cabinet said in a statement. Civilian casualties have caused friction between the Afghan government and foreign forces in Afghanistan, who have launched two big offensives in the past eight months in a bid to turn the tide of a growing Taleban-led insurgency. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement civilians had been killed as they approached a joint NATOAfghan unit, but did not say how many. An investigation has begun, it said. “We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives,” US General Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in the ISAF statement. “I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission,” he said. US Marines say they have taken extra caution to avoid civilian deaths in a major NATO offensive in Marjah in Helmand, Afghanistan’s most violent province. Civilian deaths have long undermined local support for US and allied Afghan troops. At least 12 people were killed in a poorly targeted rocket strike the day after Operation Mushtarak started this month. Taleban fighters continue to put up stiff resistance to Marine units from scattered areas in Helmand, although NATO’s main focus now is on clearing up roadside bombs and bunkers. — Reuters
Taleban behead Sikh in Pakistan PESHAWAR: Taleban militants in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt kidnapped and beheaded a Sikh after relatives failed to pay ransom for his release, an official and a Sikh community member said yesterday. Jaspal Singh was one of three Sikhs abducted in Bara, a town in Khyber district, in late January, an administrative official told AFP by telephone from the area on the Afghan border. His body was found on Sunday in the neighbouring tribal district of Orakzai. “Militants later handed over the dead body to his relatives,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. New Delhi condemned the “barbaric act”, which came just days before India and Pakistan are to resume dialogue for the
first time since the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, which suspended peace talks between the arch rivals. “All issues concerning the relations between the two countries, depending upon time permitting, will be taken up,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters in New Delhi. A senior member of the Sikh community in Pakistan’s northwestern capital Peshawar said two other Sikhs were still in captivity. “The Taleban gave an ultimatum of February 20 to pay the ransom. They killed him on the same day,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety. Sikhs and Hindus are tiny communities in
Pakistan. In the last year, hundreds have fled their homes after receiving death threats from the Taleban and other militant groups in the increasingly unstable northwest. Most Sikhs and Hindus living in Khyber pay annual protection to local militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, the Sikh community member said, blaming the umbrella Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP) for the beheading. “This is a matter of money. Now Taleban are also demanding that we pay money,” he told AFP. TTP has become the most dangerous militant group operating in Pakistan, where a wave of suicide and bomb attacks carried out by Islamist militants have killed more than 3,000 people since July 2007. — AFP
MARJAH: Captain Stephen Karabin, US marine commanding officer with 1/3 marine Charlie Company, carries a bag filled with packets of crisps he bought at a shop in a market in Trikh Nawar on the North Eastern outskirts of Marjah yesterday. The market was reopened by US marines after its closure on February 9, the day the marines pushed the Taleban out of the area following an overnight helicopter assault. — AFP
OPINION
12
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF ESTABLISHED 1961
Founder and Publisher
YOUSUF S. ALYAN Editor-in-Chief
ABD AL-RAHMAN ALYAN EDITORIAL : 24833199-24833358-24833432 ADVERTISING : 24835616/7 FAX : 24835620/1 CIRCULATION : 24833199 Extn. 163 ACCOUNTS : 24835619 COMMERCIAL : 24835618 P.O.Box 1301 Safat,13014 Kuwait. E MAIL: info@kuwaittimes.net Website: www.kuwaittimes.net
issues
Free US Muslims from collective punishment By Sahar Aziz
T
he recent discovery of attempted terrorist plots by Muslims in America has prompted overreaching accusations of radicalisation of an entire religious group. As a consequence, pressure is mounting on Muslim American leaders to engage in elusively defined counter radicalisation. But rather than spend limited resources on programs that assume collective guilt, efforts are better spent redirecting existing grievances towards the exercise of constitutionally protected dissent. Focusing on counter radicalisation is misguided for two reasons. First, the current discourse on radicalisation comes dangerously close to repeating past mistakes of confusing legal political dissent with illicit activity. Second, there is insufficient evidence of systemic unlawful radicalisation of Muslim Americans. Most people would agree that adopting violence to propagate a political agenda is radical and warrants punishment. However, in a troubling bout of amnesia, American public discourse has reinvigorated the misuse of the term “radical” to label both criminal activity and unpopular political dissent. Let’s not repeat past mistakes. During the Red Scare, following the first world war, and McCarthysim in the 1950s, immigrants and religious minorities were scapegoats for fears of communism. After being labelled as radicals, many were deported and imprisoned en masse. Since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, the Muslim American community has been the subject of heightened scrutiny by the government and the public. And with each new allegation of a few individuals’ terrorist activity, the collective suspicion of over six million Muslims in America grows. Take, for example, the case of the Somali American youth who, unbeknownst to their parents, returned to Somalia to fight in the civil war on behalf of a terrorist organisation. These are only 20-some individuals out of nearly 100,000 Somalis in America. Nonetheless, the bad acts of a handful from a minority religious population have led some government officials and members of the public to conclude systemic radicalisation among Muslims. Consequently, Muslims are experiencing increased profiling at airports and surveillance in their mosques. Some believe their religious leaders are targeted for deportation or coercive tactics by law enforcement and, in the case of Detroit-based Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, unlawfully killed. Many Muslim Americans feel they are treated as a fifth column as their loyalty to America is questioned merely because of the bad acts of a handful of young men. Indeed, their fears are reasonable in light of a new Gallup Poll in which over 50 per cent of Americans held a “not too favorable” or “not favorable at all” view of Islam. In another unrelated case, five young Muslim men flew to Pakistan to allegedly join a terrorist organisation, again unbeknownst to their families. Their behaviour refuelled charges of radicalisation among Muslims in
America. Putting aside their guilt or innocence, is it fair to impute their acts on six million individuals who also happen to be Muslims? Of course not. Such collective punishment undermines the fundamental American principle that individuals should be accountable for their own behaviour and not acts committed by others of the same ethnic, racial or religious background. This principle was upheld after the uncovering of the Unabomber and the arrest of Timothy McVeigh. All white males were not suddenly suspected of criminal activity. Thus, concluding systemic radicalisation of Muslims based on unrelated bad acts of a handful of individuals demonstrates a glaring double standard. Moreover, labelling people accused of unlawful activity as radicals, as opposed to criminals, risks confusing unpopular political viewpoints with illegal activity. The First Amendment protects dissent, especially unpopular dissent. Being a radical is not illegal so long as one does not violate a specific law - a distinctly American tenet currently upheld by the aptly titled “tea partyers” actively opposed to US President Barack Obama. While Muslim Americans who criticise American policy on whatever grounds, religious or otherwise, are as protected as their outspoken compatriots, Muslims may fear their dissent will be mischaracterised as indicia of unlawful radicalization. Rather than hastily proclaim widespread radicalisation and demand youth who have no direct link to those accused of engaging in terrorism be targeted for counter radicalisation initiatives, we should be training youth of all backgrounds how to express dissent. These are difficult times for the American people. Americans of all stripes are frustrated with, if not disenfranchised by, their government. Our country is spending billions of dollars on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The unemployment rate is the highest in decades, most profoundly among youth. Many Americans, including Muslims, oppose our military involvement abroad on political or religious grounds while others oppose it because they believe the money is better spent on our economy and job creation. However, unlike their compatriots, many Muslim Americans may not feel at liberty to express their grievances in light of suspicions of their collective radicalisation. Hence community leaders concerned with the alleged terrorist activity of a handful of Muslim youth in America should focus their efforts on teaching youth to channel their grievances into legitimate dissent. Encourage them to speak out and speak freely about their views on the war, the economy and other policies. Teach them how to legally organise, protest, contact elected officials and participate in grassroots campaigns. And when they do, the government should not misinterpret their dissent to create a 21st century version of the Red Scare. NOTE: Sahar Aziz is a civil rights lawyer with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee in Washington — CGNews
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.
Early poll could intensify Nigeria power struggle By Nick Tattersall
N
igerian elections could be held as early as November if reforms being reviewed by parliament are approved, limiting Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s time in charge and intensifying the struggle over who will succeed him. Jonathan’s assumption of executive powers last week ended immediate concern that President Umaru Yar’Adua’s near three-month absence in a Saudi hospital would bring government to a halt and tip Nigeria into constitutional crisis. But it did not resolve the broader issue of who will be leading Africa’s most populous nation and its biggest energy producer after elections, which will determine whether economic and political reforms accelerate or stagnate. Nigeria’s political kingpins are jockeying for influence over who the country’s next leader should be, leaving their minions - including ministers and parliamentarians - treading water until it becomes clear which way the pendulum will swing. It is an uncertainty many of the country’s most powerful people want resolved. “The time is very short,” said James Ibori, a member of the Elders’ Committee of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who was instrumental in Yar’Adua’s rise to power in 2007. “We expect the National Assembly to pass the crucial aspects of the electoral reforms by April 2010. This will kick start the process of the party primaries leading to an early election hopefully by November,” he told Reuters. Parliament is considering electoral reform legislation but the key to the timing of the next polls - presidential, parliamentary and state elections - lies in an influential Dec 2008 report by former Chief Justice Muhammadu Uwais, some of whose elements could be made law.
His report suggested the elections should take place at least six months before the presidential term expires, allowing time to settle the sort of legal challenges that dogged the first half of Yar’Adua’s term and undermined his authority. Two committees - one from each house of parliament - will meet next week to hammer out consensus on reforming electoral laws and Uwais’ recommendations will be on the table. “We will try to take a look at the whole aspect of electoral laws so that disputes are resolved before winners are sworn in. These are the things we are turning around our minds,” said Senate spokesman Ayogu Eze, who sits on one of the committees. Maurice Iwu, head of the INEC electoral commission, said the commission would meet in mid-March and announce a timetable. The race to succeed Yar’Adua appears wide open. An unwritten agreement in the PDP that power rotates between Nigeria’s regions suggests the next president should be a northerner. But should Jonathan, a southerner, perform well in coming months he could win support even from northern factions. “Many names are being mentioned, ranging from septuagenarians to the younger generation, from business-asusual politicians to reform-oriented technocrats,” said Nasir El-Rufai, a northerner who was a senior member of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. One of a younger generation of politicians pushing for more rapid liberal reforms, El-Rufai was among the first public figures to openly suggest he could support a Jonathan candidacy. “The argument of turn-by-turn or rotational presidency has come under attack vociferously by no other people than northerners themselves,” he told Reuters. “For me ... and many Nigerians of northern
extraction, what is important is to have a president who will move our nation to its rightful place immaterial of where he comes from.” If the electoral reforms championed by Uwais are passed, the PDP primaries could be completed by as early as August. The party has bought itself time by refusing to declare Yar’Adua incapacitated, a move which would mean Jonathan being sworn in and appointing a
new deputy, likely to be a northerner who could become the de facto candidate for the elections. But any shift in the balance of power is deeply sensitive in Nigeria, a country of 140 million split between the Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, scores of ethnic groups and myriad other factions seeking a share of state resources. The principle of rotation has meant presidential aspirants play a long game,
thinking not just of who will run for the immediate term but also building alliances to give them a better shot when power swings to their region further down the line. Years of careful brinksmanship by some of the country’s most powerful figures could be upset by a Jonathan candidacy. “The primaries may be very divisive ... especially if the rotational agreement is jettisoned,” Ibori said. — Reuters
Ground NASA monkey experiments By Ian Smith
T
o many people, the image of a monkey’s face peering out from an astronaut’s helmet is comically absurd and more suitable for the cover of MAD magazine than any reputable academic journal or serious government publication. To others, pictures of terrified monkeys and chimpanzees strapped into spaceships are tragic artifacts of a less enlightened time. But just when we think that we’ve left science-fiction behind, it sneaks up from behind and bites us. While the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is no longer going to the bizarre lengths of actually sending monkeys into space, it is currently planning to fund another cruel and pointless experiment on this planet. The agency has announced that it will spend $1.75 million to fund an experiment in which up to 30 squirrel monkeys will be exposed to dangerous levels of space radiation. If the experiment, which was submitted to NASA by Harvard animal experimenter Jack Bergman, moves forward, monkeys at New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory will be blasted with a single harmful dose of radiation that is intended to crudely re-create the long-term exposure that astronauts may experience during extended trips to deep space. The monkeys would then be transported to Harvard’s McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, where the devastating physical and mental effects of this irradiation would be assessed by restraining the monkeys for behavioral tests each week, Monday through Friday, for at least four years. Never mind that many decades of such studies - ended in the 1990s - were found to be unreliable and ineffective, showing scientists that monkeys aren’t good proxies for humans in space radiation studies. And never mind that the biological effects of a
single, large dose of radiation aren’t comparable to the continuous, low-level exposure that astronauts experience during long missions in space. Apparently, NASA has extra cash - our tax dollars - to throw away. For the monkeys, this is likely to mean brain tumors, blindness, brain damage, premature ageing, skin damage, and even premature death. But the physical ailments, as bad as they are likely to be, are only part of the problem. In their natural rainforest homes, squirrel monkeys live in large social groups with as many as 500 members and traverse miles of treetops in a single day. They can live for up to 20 years. At McLean Hospital, the monkeys will be housed singly in steel cages, isolated from their peers, and will struggle to cope with severe physical and mental distress that will ultimately cut their lives short. Nearly 90 percent of monkeys who are caged alone in laboratories show signs of severe psychological trauma such as frantic cage-circling, hair-pulling and self-mutilation. These symptoms are exacerbated by the frequency with which the monkeys will be ripped from their cages and forced to perform in experiments. When PETA first learned of this study, we suspected that its ethical and scientific merits hadn’t been thoroughly considered. Now we’ve obtained documents that have confirmed our suspicions. NASA has apparently violated its own grant guidelines and the Code of Federal Regulations by agreeing to fund the controversial experiment before the animal experimentation oversight committee at Brookhaven National Laboratory had even assessed the ethical and scientific merits, as is required. NOTE: Ian Smith is a research associate in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Laboratory Investigations Department — MCT
Greek crisis stirs old grievances with Germans By Paul Taylor
“D
ear Greeks,” the open letter began. “Over the years, we Germans have given some 9,000 euros for each of you Greeks.” “You are by far our most expensive friend,” wrote German journalist Walter Wullenweber in the weekly AthensPlus, published by leading conservative Greek daily Kathimerini. The crisis over Greece’s debt mountain, and the potential threat it poses to the single European currency, has revived old resentments and stereotypes between Greeks and Germans. Opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Germans are hostile to the idea of bailing out Greece if Athens needs financial support from its European Union partners. That helps explain why Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose coalition is divided on the issue, has sought to avoid turning her pledge of political support for Greece into offering money. The mass-circulation Bild daily, a dependable barometer of ordinary Germans’ gut reactions, said this month “the proud, cheating, profligate Greeks” ought to be “thrown out of the euro on their ear” because of their finances. To that list of epithets, Wullenweber added charges of tax evasion, corruption and laziness. Now Greeks are starting to get outraged at German outrage. “How does Germany have the cheek to denounce
A man looks at ‘half-price’ offers in a shop window in Athens on Feb 18, 2010. – AFP us over our finances when it has still not paid compensation for Greece’s war victims?” Margaritis Tzimas, of the main opposition New Democracy party, asked in parliament last week. The conservative lawmaker reflected a belief among many Greeks that post-war West Germany paid too little to too few in compensation for the brutal 1941-44 Nazi occupation of Greece. On the streets of Athens, a joke is doing the rounds about the government’s attempt to make citizens collect receipts to flush tradesmen out of the
black market: “For every VAT receipt not collected, the Germans will shoot 10 patriots.” The Socialist government that took office last October is publicly contrite about Greece’s responsibility for its own fiscal mess, due to years of uncontrolled spending, poor revenue collection and dodgy statistics. But privately, some senior officials bristle at alarmist comments by German politicians and central bankers which they say have amplified market pressure on Greek debt. German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle, for example,
told parliament in Berlin last month that some euro zone states were showing dangerous weakness that may have “fatal effects” on all states in the currency area. Greeks recall that Greek “Gastarbeiter” (guest workers) were among migrants who contributed to Germany’s economic miracle in the 1960s and 1970s while their homeland was ruled by a military dictatorship backed by NATO, of which West Germany was a member. They also note that Greece has been and remains a bumper export market for German goods, including tanks, since it joined the EU in 1981, as well as a playground for German tourists. Berlin profits from a large trade imbalance with Athens. Six deputies from the small Left Coalition party last week urged the government to press Berlin over the reparations issue and blamed German banks and politicians for Greece’s crisis. “By their statements, German politicians and German financial institutions play a leading role in a wretched game of profiteering at the expense of the Greek people,” they said in a written question to the government. Beneath these resentments lie Greek fears, rooted in history, of once again falling under foreign tutelage. After the first modern Greek state won independence from Ottoman Turkey in 1821, the great European powers imposed a German-speaking Bavarian, Otto, as king of Greece from 1832 until
he was overthrown in a revolution in 1864. In 1850, British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston sent gunboats to blockade the port of Piraeus to exact compensation for a Briton whose property had been damaged in riots in Athens. Greece defaulted four times on its debt between 1827 and 1932, but the most humiliating economic experience, seared into the national consciousness, was the imposition of International Financial Control by six great powers led by Britain in 1898. In return for a loan, which Greece finally paid off some 80 years later, the six powers took direct control over most revenues, helping themselves to the proceeds of tax on tobacco, matchboxes, salt, oil, playing cards, stamps and customs duties. That is one reason why talk in Brussels and Berlin of the idea of appointing an EU overseer for Greece’s public finances strikes a raw nerve. Joining the EU, with its cornucopia of agricultural and regional subsidies worth up to 4 percent of gross domestic product in the peak years, gave Greeks a feeling that they were at last on equal terms with the European great powers. The debt crisis has suddenly thrown that into doubt. “We are furious at the Germans,” said Mahi Konstantinidou, 55, a civil servant. “We don’t like their attitude - telling a fellow European state what we have to do. What is Europe for? We are partners,” she said. — Reuters
ANALYSIS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
13
Fudging facts can sour public mindset By Ron Fournier
C
onservatives leapt to their feet when Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney declared Democrats the party of “No!” no to balanced budgets, limits on lawsuits, tax cuts and tough interrogations of terror suspects. But their applause this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference was for an illusion. Romney’s assertions lacked context at best and at worst were flat-out wrong. While Romney and fellow Republicans were filling the air with red-meat distortions, liberal Democratic activists were torturing facts online as they wrote commentary about the conservative gathering. Americans are almost numb to it by now, expecting politicians and their allies to fudge facts. President Barack Obama embellishes the number of jobs created by last year’s stimulus bill while Republicans claim, incorrectly, that not a single job resulted from the measure. So what? All politicians play fast and loose with the truth, right? Such distortion and dishonesty cause Americans to be increasingly skeptical of - even cynical about - their political institutions and leaders. Once people lose faith in the political system, they’re less likely to
Former Gov Mitt Romney speaks to attendees of the 37th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb 18, 2010 in Washington, DC. – AFP vote, less willing to pay taxes to support government-run programs, less motivated to run for office themselves and - sociologists say - they’re even less likely to get involved in their own communities. These are consequences of cutting corners in the public square. And so it’s worth noting when Romney, the former
Massachusetts governor positioning himself for the 2012 presidential race, tells the CPAC crowd that Democrats are opposed to tax cuts. He conveniently left out the fact that the stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama and approved by the Democratic-led Congress included $288 billion in tax benefits, including refund-
able credits of $400 for individuals and $800 for families in 2009 and 2010 covering about 95 percent of taxpayers. Democrats are against balanced budgets? You might chalk that up to harmless hyperbole except for important facts that Romney overlooked: A Democratic president, Bill Clinton, oversaw surpluses and
the U.S. debt skyrocketed under President Bush, a conservative Republican. Romney could have pointed to projections of deepening deficits on Obama’s watch _ more than $9 trillion from 2010 through 2019. But it’s easier to say Democrats are against balanced budgets, even if that’s bogus. Romney said Democrats are against “tort reform,” or the limiting of lawsuits. Actually, Obama has put this idea on the table in an effort to get Republicans to address the troubled healthcare system. Finally, Romney followed Republican talking points by suggesting that the Obama administration went easy on the 23-year-old Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit in December. If a Republican were president, Romney said, “a conversation with a would-be suicide bomber would not begin with ‘You have a right to remain silent’.” The fact is the conversation with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not begin with a Miranda warning, and he cooperated with FBI agents to the point of turning against the cleric who claims to be his teacher. Abdulmutallab also has helped the US hunt for the radical preacher. Several Republicans at CPAC denounced Obama for putting suspected terrorists in
the criminal system rather than trying them in military tribunals. While that’s a legitimate point of debate in this era of terrorism, Obama’s critics seem to have forgotten - or they chose to ignore - simple facts: The Bush administration sent many terrorists to prison, including a 9/11 co-conspirator and a man who tried to bring down an airplane with a bomb in his shoe. All were read their rights. All got lawyers. All appeared in court. In these hyper-partisan times, it’s rarely good enough to respond to an unfair attack with a factual argument. Fire is fought with more high heat. And so it was this week, when liberal bloggers reacted to the CPAC distortions with false attacks of their own. On the Daily Kos website, one blogger noted the standing ovation given to “the self-confessed war criminal Dick Cheney”. Whatever one might think of his interrogation policies, the former vice president has never been charged with a war crime, much less confessed to one. No matter. The same blogger criticized anti-liberal protests at CPAC, adding with a rare burst of evenhandedness: “Some of what went on was the same kind of silliness partisans of all stripes engage in.” — AP
Politics hits rough seas in B’desh, defies hopes By Anis Ahmed
P
olitical feuds propelled by recent student unrest and long-standing animosity among leaders have raised concerns among overseas donors and friendly governments about impoverished Bangladesh’s long-term stability. Delegates at this month’s Bangladesh Development Forum meeting committed - for now - to further assistance to the South Asian nation of 150 million people to reduce poverty and develop power, energy and infrastructure. But they warned Bangladeshi participants against a bitterly personal and rigidly partisan political climate undercutting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s goal of making the country, where some 40 percent of the population now gets by on under $1 a day, a middle income nation by 2021. Renata Dessallien, UN Resident Director in Bangladesh, told the meeting that “Bangladesh’s democracy has been hampered by excessive competition between the two major political parties - a competition that has sometimes exceeded normal democratic parameters.” “Yes,” said Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. “Political division is harmful for development activities and so we are trying to make parliament functional.” But even as the meeting was in progress, lawmakers from Hasina’s Awami League and ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) fiercely traded what parliament’s speaker said were “unparliamentary and abusive” words, and the BNP staged several walkouts from the legislative body at the time of the aid meeting. The BNP only recently started attending parliament at all, after a near year-long boycott, claiming unfair treatment by the Awami League, which leads a coalition with a more than two-thirds majority in the 345-seat legislature.
The Dec 2008 election that brought the Awami League to power after a period of military-backed emergency rule was considered relatively fair and peaceful by Bangladesh standards. That brought hopes for political stability and possible cooperation among the top two parties - each headed by a strong-willed woman from families long prominent in politics - in a country whose near 40 years of independence have seen sporadic bouts of military rule and street fighting and violence between the parties. Indeed, foreign direct investment in Bangladesh totalled $941 million in the fiscal year to June 2009, covering the run-up to the election and the first months of the Hasina government, compared to $650 million in the previous year, the central bank said. It said investment confidence in Bangladesh also rose in the first quarter (JulySeptember) of the current fiscal year, although figures were not available. However, a little more than a year after Hasina was sworn in, many Bangladeshis say things are turning sour, and question whether investment flows will keep rising, as the top political parties continue at loggerheads and there are signs of increasing violent crime, much of it linked to political groups. “Usually aid volumes depend on the mood of the donors but investment flows are linked to business and profit, which can be badly affected unless our acrimonious political leaders settle their disputes amicably,” Badiul Alam Majumdar, an analyst and secretary of a prominent pro-democracy group, Citizens for Good Governance, told Reuters. “A return to street violence and destructive actions could jeopardise democracy, development and the economy,” he said. “What we see today was not expected,” said A S M Abur Rob, a former minister and an ex-student leader of the 1970s. “In a display of unending
vengeance, politicians on either side of the divide look very eager to shower abuse ... on past and present leaders,” he told Reuters. Rob said “rival leaders often use students loyal to them as a ladder to power. They supply them weapons, drugs and support to break the law. This makes the students violent, unruly money and power-mongers.” He was referring to growing clashes among student political groups that at
many universities have become little more than mini-mafias, competing for cuts from money-generating activities and for control of the campuses. “What now happens in the universities is nothing but terrorism,” A B M Musa, a former newspaper editor, columnist and analyst, said in a recent television appearance. Even as little progress is made in dealing with such critical issues, top politicians play what critics call tit-for-
tat games. In one example, the government last week renamed Dhaka’s Zia International Airport after a Muslim saint, rather than BNP leader Khaleda’s late husband Ziaur Rahman, assassinated in 1981 while serving as Bangladesh president. The BNP has denounced the decision and called for protests in Dhaka this week, which officials fear could lead to violence. — Reuters
Russia patience not snapped By Stuart Williams
I
n half a decade of nuclear crisis, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has counted on the Russia of strongman Vladimir Putin to balance the hard line of the West with a more moderate stance. But in the last weeks, senior Russian figures have signalled mounting frustration with Iran, saying that new sanctions could be realistic and even casting doubt on Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear drive is peaceful. With the United States courting Moscow on the subject, speculation has grown that the previously unthinkable might happen - Russia joining the West in agreeing sanctions that would threaten the Iranian economy. Analysts caution however that while there has been an unprecedented shift in Russia’s rhetoric on Iran, this does not equate to a wholesale change in policy that could see it back tough measures against the Iranian oil industry. The position of Russia, which has the closest contacts with Iran of any major power, is crucial. It is a veto-bearing UN Security Council permanent member and also has an unmatched capacity to influence Tehran. “In the last months it is true that a lot has changed in the behaviour of Russia towards Iran,” Rajab Safarov, director of the Centre for Contemporary Iranian Studies in Moscow, told AFP. “But it is the emphasis and the tone that have shifted, while Russia’s overall position on Iran has not changed,” he added. “These statements are an attempt to put pressure on Iran to make it more open to negotiations.” Russia’s chief worry in the nuclear crisis was preventing any dramatic escalation of regional tensions, given that its southern border lies just 150 kilometres (100 miles) from Iran, said Safarov. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Iran’s arch enemy in the region, was in Moscow last
week to seek Russian support for “biting” sanctions against Iran that would hit the oil industry, its foreign currency lifeblood. But while President Dmitry Medvedev has since September 2009 repeatedly said that sanctions could not be ruled out, Russia appears to be some way from backing Western calls for tough economic punishment. Safarov said: “In spite of its threatening statements, Russia would not support a Security Council resolution for new sanctions if there was one now.” Russia is in “a slightly different place” to a few months ago, said one Western diplomat, asking not to be named. “But there is still a huge process to go through.” With Russia often finding itself sidelined in post-Cold War diplomacy, the prolongation of the Iran standoff allows it to flex its muscles on a big issue where it unquestionably remains a player. “Russia has an interest in the issue remaining in suspense,” said Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Centre in Moscow. “If Ahmadinejad gives in to the pressure, Russia will first get the credit but then its role would diminish. “Russia will never vote for economic sanctions at the UN Security Council against Iran as it would lose its specific role.” With Russia’s position crucial, one man has kept a careful public silence. The last major policy statement on Iran from Putin - who in 2007 became the first Kremlin chief to visit Tehran in the Islamic Republic’s history - dates back to October. But lower-ranking figures have made statements that would have been unimaginable just months before. Iran is “always changing its conditions” and Russia’s fears were now “not so far away” from those of Europe and the United States, said parliament’s foreign affairs committee chief Konstantin Kosachev last month. — AFP
Dutch looking away from Europe, world By Reed Stevenson
T
he collapse of the Dutch government over troop deployments in Afghanistan will distance the country from its EU neighbours, reduce its involvement on the world stage and could prompt a shift to the right at home. Despite a long internationalist tradition rooted in centuries of sea trade, the European country of 16 million has turned inwards in recent years as the economy has stagnated and political and social tensions have risen. A reduced Dutch presence in European affairs and Afghanistan could make it difficult for the continent to unite around a bailout for Greece, and could also affect troop deployments by other Western states nearing the end of their mandates. “The Netherlands will be more sceptical about European integration,” said Philip van Praag, political science professor at Amsterdam University. After months of simmering discord over how to tackle the financial crisis, a NATO request for the Dutch to extend their deployment of nearly 2,000 troops triggered the split of the fragile left-right coalition on Saturday. Local elections on March 3 will offer an early glimpse into how the break between Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s centre-right Christian Democrats and his deputy Wouter Bos’s Labour Party will play out with voters. Any new government, which would be installed after expected mid-year parlia-
Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende delivers a speech after he announced his government has collapsed in The Hague on Feb 20, 2010. – AFP mentary elections, will also have to submit a budget by September that can reign in spending, even as voter discontent rises over proposals such as raising the retirement age and income taxes. “We are in the middle of a financial crisis and holding elections now would lead to a lot of insecurity for the public and investors,” said Andre Krouwel, professor of political science at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. The Dutch troops, deployed in Uruzgan province since 2006, are almost certain to be brought home this year, at
a time when the United States is stepping up its offensive against the Taliban and urging other Western nations to do the same. The Netherlands is among the top 10 contributing nations to the NATO mission. Twenty-one Dutch soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing forward with plans to increase troops in Afghanistan, despite strong opposition to the Afghan conflict at home. Polls show that the Afghan war is also deeply unpopular in Britain. The Dutch withdrawal will hurt
Europe’s image as a partner in foreign and security issues, said Edwin Bakker, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute. The roots of Dutch unease over sending troops to Afghanistan lie in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre when lightly-armed Dutch U.N. soldiers, lacking international air support, were forced to abandon the enclave to Bosnian Serb forces who then killed up to 8,000 Muslims who had sought protection from the Dutch. A damning 2002 report on Srebrenica triggered the government’s collapse and ushered in Balkenende’s first administration. Dutch politics once known for its stability and consensus - has been unpredictable ever since. That has coincided with a gradual slide towards isolationism. Dutch voters rejected a draft constitution for Europe four years ago. Many are also concerned about Muslim immigration, the growing influence of Brussels over Dutch laws and Dutch taxpayers’ contributions to the EU budget. A poll released on Saturday showed that 55 percent of the Dutch want highly-indebted countries to be kicked out of the European Union. Last week, another poll also showed strong support for Greece to leave the euro. The Netherlands was one of the six founding members of the European Union that signed the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, leading to the creation of the euro currency. Geert Wilders and his anti-immigra-
tion Freedom Party are likely to be the main beneficiaries of Saturday’s government collapse and gain a more influential voice in policy. During European Parliament elections in June 2009, the Freedom Party won enough votes to be the second-biggest Dutch party represented in Brussels after the Christian Democrats. Opinion polls tip the party to become the largest or second biggest party in parliament by siphoning votes from Labour. The political heir to populist antiimmigrant politician Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered in 2002, the bleachblonde Wilders has challenged the country’s traditional tolerance of immigration and has called for lower taxes, a ban on immigrants from Muslim countries and the influence of the European Union to be reduced. “People want a new fresh party with good new views, tough on crime, tough on mass immigration and this is really what people look forward to,” Wilders told Reuters. “I believe indeed we can have excellent results in the next few months and it can only change the Netherlands for the better.” Few expect Wilders to join a coalition, but a big victory would put him in prime position to support a minority government-most likely the Christian Democrats - and drive his agenda. “Wilders will be an outsider. He’s very clever and knows he’ll lose a lot of votes if he joins a coalition,” said Van Praag. “He has much more freedom from the outside.” — Reuters
focus
Looming verdict ups Thailand security risk By Jason Szep
T
hai media say the country has entered a “seven-day danger period” before a “final showdown” on Friday. The military is on alert. Police checkpoints are spreading. Judges have been offered safe houses. A Supreme Court ruling on Friday over whether to confiscate $2.3 billion of assets belonging to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s family has put Thailand on edge, raising the risk of renewed unrest that could do more damage to Thai markets. Media call it “judgment day” in a seemingly intractable political conflict pitting the military, the urban elites and royalists, who wear the revered king’s traditional colour of yellow at protests, against the mainly rural supporters of Thaksin, who say they have been disenfranchised and wear red. A ruling in favour of seizing Thaksin’s assets could spark a violent backlash by his supporters. But regardless of which way the court rules, Thailand’s protracted political crisis is likely to rumble on, and remain a drag on investment and confidence. “There is no good outcome because whatever the verdict is, there will be reaction from one political group or the other. We are in for a long and grinding battle,” said Warut Siwasariyanon, head of research at Finansia Syrus Securities in Bangkok. “Neither side is showing signs it can afford to compromise.” The verdict will be read out on Friday afternoon and markets will probably be closed before they can gauge reaction to the ruling. They reopen on Tuesday after a long weekend, and will face selling pressure if violence has erupted or seems likely. “The scenario that most people expect is that all of his assets will be confiscated and that there will be some backlash from the red shirts,” said Danny Richards, economist and senior Asia Editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “Investors don’t want to see this escalate into any major violence on the streets that would bring the army in.” But markets have had plenty of time to factor in Thailand’s higher risk level, and foreign investor participation in the local bond, currency and stock markets is fairly low, meaning the size of any sell-off next week may be limited - just as it was during previous flashpoints in 2008 and 2009. Because confiscation of all his assets could be politically explosive, some analysts expect a compromise, with the court giving Thaksin back as much as $1.4 billion which his lawyers say was earned before he entered office and is owed his family. “Seizing all the assets is still possible but it appears to be a very dangerous option and I think everybody knows why it is dangerous,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. “I think the judges are really considering the repercussions, so there might be some kind of compromise.” Such a decision could limit immediate fallout in markets. “Partial seizure of the assets is what financial markets prefer because both sides can claim a victory, which will help limit the degree of violence,” said Prapas Tonpibulsak, chief investment officer at Ayudhya Fund Management. Thailand’s stock market
has lagged regional peers this year, down 3.91 percent so far compared with a 1.21 percent drop in the Philippines, a 0.5 percent decline in Malaysia, and a 1.18 percent gain by Indonesian stocks. Dealers say political uncertainty is a key factor weighing on the Thai market. The cost of insuring Thai sovereign debt - often used as a measure of political risk - has risen sharply this year. Five-year credit default swap spreads hit a ninemonth high of 135.18 basis points earlier this month but have since moved lower and were quoted at 114 on Monday. “The verdict may be a critical turning point for Thai politics in the months ahead,” Standard Chartered said in a research note on Monday. It is also a critical moment for Thaksin, a 60year-old former telecommunications tycoon who became the first leader in Thai history to win election twice, both in landslides, after building support in the vote-rich north and northeast. His supporters say he revolutionised Thai politics with populist policies aimed at eradicating poverty, from universal healthcare to rural cash handouts. His critics accuse him of authoritarianism, corruption and of undermining the monarchy. Friday determines the fate of assets frozen after he was ousted in a 2006 coup. Convicted of corruption and sentenced in absentia to two years in prison, he remains a political force, often rallying supporters via video link from self-exile in Dubai or taunting the government from across the border in Cambodia. Anti-graft bodies and public prosecutors say Thaksin used government policies during five years in office to enrich his family’s telecoms business, Shin Corp. They have urged the nine-judge panel to confiscate every asset his family earned from selling shares in Shin to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings in 2006. Thaksin’s lawyers say the case is politically motivated. The political crisis has taken a toll on Thailand and its $264 billion economy, triggering frequent protests, riots, airport blockades, and three changes in government in 15 months. “Red shirt” leaders say they have no plans to mobilise on Friday after holding almost daily protests nationwide this month, but they won’t stop Thaksin supporters from gathering outside the court and have called for as many as a million people to take to the streets sometime after the verdict to topple the government. “We do not want to be seen pressuring the court to go one way or the other,” said Jaran Ditsatapichai, a “red shirt” leader. “We will have to figure out a way to do it safely and in a way that can really paralyse the government.” Security agencies are taking no chances. Judges have been offered “safe houses”. Military checkpoints have gone up. Soldiers and special police forces are on alert. The central bank asked commercial banks on Sunday to start tightening security. The “red shirts” say that regardless of the verdict, they will continue a campaign to topple the government. “I am not here fighting for Thaksin. I am fighting for democracy,” said Siriwan Meesak, 60, a retired civil servant who was among about 1,000 “red shirts” who rallied outside Bangkok Bank’s headquarters on Friday, forcing it to shut its doors. “Whatever the verdict, I will still protest.”— Reuters
NEWS
14
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Iran to build 2 nuke plants in mountains
BANDAR ABBAS: Iran’s Jamaran guided-missile destroyer fires in an exercise in the Arabian Gulf on Sunday. Iran on Friday launched its first domestically built destroyer, calling it a major technological leap for its naval industries. — AP
The warning seemed directed at airlines based in the Gulf Arab countries and flying into Iran, but the newspaper report also said Iran had taken action against a foreign employee of one of its own airlines. A Greek employee of Iranian commercial carrier Kish Air had been fired for using the term “Arabian Gulf” on a display board, and the airline had been asked to apologise over the incident. The Saudi-based Islamic Solidarity
Sports Federation said last month it had scrapped the Islamic Solidarity Games which were to be held in Iran in April because of a dispute over whether the Gulf waterway is “Arab” or “Persian”. Designation of the key waterway for global oil and gas supplies has long been a touchy issue among the countries bordering it Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq and Iran. Iran says it is the Persian Gulf, the Arab states say it is Arab. Foreign language
descriptions can offend either party if they use one name or the other, or sometimes if they avoid an adjective altogether. The dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program, which Tehran says is aimed solely at generating electricity, is part of a wider concern among Sunni Muslim-led Arab governments over Iranian expansionism in the Middle East. Iran has a network of allies including Shiite groups in power in Iraq, the Syrian government, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that rules Gaza. — Reuters
Clashes erupt over Israel heritage plan Continued from Page 1 Several hundred ultranationalist Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in the midst of some 170,000 Palestinians. Under accords signed in the 1990s, the Palestinians control 80 percent of the city and the Israeli military controls 20 percent. Netanyahu’s move heightened longstanding tensions around the shrine. Jews revere the site as the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Bible says the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried along with three of their wives. Muslims call it the Al-Ibrahimi mosque, reflecting the fact that Abraham (PBUH) is considered the father of both Judaism and Islam. At a special Cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu added the cave and a second West Bank shrine, the traditional tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem, to the list of some 150 heritage sites. The addition of the two West Bank sites reflected pressure from Jewish settlers and other nationalists to expand the number of heritage sites in the West Bank. The prime minister, who has angered settlers by agreeing under US pressure to slow settlement construction in the West Bank, said the two sites must be preserved because they show Israel’s ancient
ties to the land. “Our existence here doesn’t just depend on the might of the military or our economic and technological strength,” Netanyahu said. “It is anchored first and foremost in our national and emotional legacy.” His decision drew criticism from the United Nations Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, who noted that the sites are holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. “These sites are in occupied Palestinian territory. I urge Israel not to take any steps on the ground which undermine trust or could prejudice negotiations, the resumption of which should be the highest shared priority of all who seek peace,” Serry said. “We strongly condemn this decision which yet again confirms the Israeli government’s determination to impose facts on the ground,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. “This Israeli decision is provocative for Muslims around the world and especially Palestinians,” he said. The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip also lashed out at the decision, with its tourism minister Mohammed Al-Agha calling on Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank to make their way to the site and “defend” it. Jordan also condemned what it called Israel’s “provocative” plan to include the
sites, saying it would “harm peace efforts in the region and anger millions of Muslims around the world.” Yesterday’s clashes were the latest sign of trouble for US efforts to restart peace talks. Negotiations broke down more than a year ago after Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip. US envoy George Mitchell has been working for months to try to bring the sides together, most recently by offering to mediate indirect talks. Both Israel and the Palestinians have hinted they would welcome such a way out of the impasse. In a newspaper interview published yesterday, Netanyahu said he was hopeful negotiations would soon resume. “I think the Palestinians, at least, may be backing down. There are signs that negotiations with them will begin in the foreseeable future,” he told the Haaretz daily. The Palestinians have said they would not resume negotiations until Netanyahu freezes all settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians for their future state. Netanyahu has slowed West Bank construction, but refused to stop building in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after the 1967 war. He claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital. — Agencies
On Iraq, Sheikh Mohammad said Iraq is a key part of the Arab region’s security mechanism so that everybody is required to work in earnest to ensure smooth and successful elections in Iraq. “Iraq is now undergoing a sensitive period, and the elections are consequently a crucial water-
shed in its history given that it will determine its identity. Therefore, we wish that the elections will be represented by all components of the Iraqi people,” he said. Asked about his tour, the minister said he would meet his Portuguese counterpart during his visit to Portugal, and then move to Britain to meet its foreign secretary and deliver a speech at the British-Kuwaiti
wants to hold the minister politically responsible for Kuwait’s participation in the tournament, “he better hold him accountable for the low performance level of the national women soccer squad and his neglect towards women sports in general.” Meanwhile, MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei denounced the par ticipation of the
women’s team in the championship, adding that such a par ticipation is against sharia. “The participation of the women’s team in a tournament outside the country defies the teachings of Islam and is against the nature and physique of women,” the Islamist lawmaker said.
Deqbasi to file info minister’s grilling Continued from Page 1 support of at least 20 MPs and they need five more to oust the minister. Meanwhile, the Assembly’s budgets committee yesterday discussed the 2010/2011 budget with Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali and other officials, head of the committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad said. Abdulsamad said revenues are projected at KD 9.72 billion and expenditure at KD 16.16 billion, leaving a huge deficit of KD 6.42 billion before the 10 percent deduction of total revenues for the Future Generations Fund. He said that projected spending for the next year is 33.5 percent higher than expen-
diture in the current fiscal year which ends March 31. Abdulsamad said that oil revenues of KD 8.61 billion have been calculated on the basis of a price of oil at $43 a barrel, a daily production of 2.2 million barrels and an exchange rate of the dollar at 292 fils. The budget has given the cost of oil production for the year at KD 1.54 billion and the committee expressed reservations at the gradual increase in the cost of crude production, Abdulsamad said. He said that wages of government employees are projected at KD 3.58 billion or 22 percent of total spending, but if wages of other government agencies are added, the amount increases to KD 7.22 billion, repre-
Continued from Page 1 direct reference was made to it because there was no proof Israeli agents carried out the assassination. But Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband had no such qualms, urging Israeli leaders to give their “full cooperation” to an international investigation into the assassination. The declaration is unlikely to have any long-term repercussions for EU-Israeli ties and Israeli officials have played down the possibility of a full-blown crisis. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip, said the EU statement lacked teeth. “Condemning the use of (European) passports was insufficient. The statement did not indicate any condemnation of the crime, Mabhouh’s assassination,” he said. Using Hamas’s term for Israel, he said: “This will tempt the occupation to carry out more crimes of this kind.” Dubai authorities say at least 11 assassins travelled on forged British, Irish, French and German passports to kill Mabhouh in a hotel on the orders of Israel’s
spy agency Mossad. Mabhouh was involved in smuggling weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip, Hamas has said. France and Germany have asked Israel for an explanation and President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke of France’s “irrevocable condemnation of what is nothing less than an assassination” after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris. Prosecutors in Cologne are looking into whether one of the men acquired a German passport under a false pretext to engage in spying, and could refer the case to federal prosecutors for investigation, a spokesman said. Miliband said he had set out his concerns to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman during talks on the sidelines of the EU meeting in Brussels. He urged Israel to cooperate with a British inquiry into how as many as six British passports could have been forged for use by the assassins. “It’s also important to say that Israel, in some ways above all countries, has the most to gain from a Middle East that is based on the rule of law and that’s why it’s right to take these issues to the highest lev-
el in Israel and ask for their full cooperation in the inquiry,” he said. Lieberman issued a statement after meeting Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheal Martin, saying “there is no information showing that Israel is involved in the matter”. Israel has a policy of ambiguity on intelligence issues. Hamas is shunned by the West for rejecting its calls to recognise Israel and renounce violence. Israel’s deputy prime minister said there was more to the story than met the eye and Israel’s ties with Europe were good. Dubai police say they are virtually certain Israeli agents carried out the killing and have released the identities of 11 people using European passports who they say were involved. Six Britons with the same names of members of the alleged hit team live in Israel and said they were victims of identity theft. The information raised speculation that the Mossad copied their passports and amended the documents to allow the assassins to enter the emirate, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel. — Reuters
Libya frees Swiss man, jails another Continued from Page 1 Switzerland yesterday said host countries must ensure the security of foreign representatives. “We are still working towards a solution... Furthermore, the security of foreign representations is always the responsibility of host countries,” its foreign ministry said in a statement. Libyan Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa told Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera earlier that Goeldi “must report to police and serve his sentence”. The businessman faces the four-month sentence, reduced from an earlier 16-month term, for overstaying his visa and an $800 fine for illegal business activities. Relations between the countries have been strained since Hannibal Gaddafi was arrested in Geneva after two domestic
Continued from Page 1 Friendship Society, as well as attend the celebration of Kuwait’s national festivals at the Kuwaiti embassy in Britain. He added that he would then fly to Luxembourg, Brussels and then Libya where he will attend preparatory meetings of the upcoming Arab summit in Tripoli. He pointed out that he will discuss Libyan-Swiss tensions during his European tour. — KUNA
MPs see red over women in ‘blue’ Continued from Page 1 “Women have the right to play any sports at a competitive level. Neither legislators nor anyone else, excluding parents, reserve the right to subject women to any type of restraint or custodianship,” she said. Awadhi also rejected MP Hayef’s statement, saying that if the lawmaker
applied, and now,” he added. World powers suspect Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel to power nuclear reactors or in very high refined form to produce the fissile core of an atom bomb. Iran is at loggerheads with world powers for not accepting an IAEAdrafted deal which would supply it with nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor in return for the transfer of the bulk of its lowenriched uranium. Tehran insists it wants a simultaneous exchange of the two materials, with the transfer taking place inside the country, a demand strongly opposed by world powers. Tensions rose further after Iran began work on enriching uranium to 20 percent purity level from 3.5 percent, which according to experts brings it closer to the 93 percent level required for making a bomb. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, warned in a newspaper interview that a pre-emptive Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be a “disaster of unpredictable consequences”. “We have to find a solution through diplomatic means,” he told the leading Spanish daily El Pais. “We must not leave the negotiating table.” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani threatened Iran will hit back if attacked. “Iran certainly will not start a war ... But if we are attacked, we will respond strongly,” Ahani told Croatia’s Vecernji List daily. — AFP
workers complained he had mistreated them. The row escalated when Libya detained and confiscated the passports of Hamdani and Goeldi, and deepened again last year when a tentative deal between the countries fell apart. Goeldi and Hamdani were both convicted of identical charges but an appeal court dropped the charges against Hamdani. Last week, Hamdani retrieved his Swiss and Tunisian passports, according to Amnesty International, but without exit visas. From her home near Geneva, Bruna Hamdani said she was anxiously waiting to hear from her husband. “I have no news. I spoke to my husband this morning at 9:00 am (0800 GMT) and he didn’t have his visa, and that’s all,” she told AFP by telephone. “So for as long as I’m not sure that my husband (has) crossed the Libyan border, and
that I’m sure and certain, that he has spoken to me and confirmed it, I really have nothing to say to anyone.” The dispute between Libya and Switzerland took a new turn earlier this month - and expanded to include other European countries - when Tripoli decided to deny entry to citizens of Europe’s 25state Schengen free-travel zone. The move was in retaliation for visa restrictions by Switzerland, which is a member of the Schengen zone. Switzerland last autumn reportedly listed 186 senior Libyans, including Gaddafi and the foreign minister, who would be denied access to Swiss territory. Last week, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said she was pressing ahead with diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff, after meeting in Madrid her Libyan counterpart. — AFP
Travel chaos hits Europe as Lufthansa pilots strike
Kuwait rejects new Iran sanctions: FM Continued from Page 1
be hidden in mountains so as to protect them from “any attacks.” On the diplomatic front, European nations at a meeting in Brussels yesterday appeared divided over boosting sanctions against Iran. “Unhappily all the actions by the Iranian side for weeks confirm that we must move to (more) sanctions,” French European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche said. But several of his EU counterparts said diplomacy had not run its course and insisted on the need for a UN Security Council decision. On Sunday, Petraeus said the United States, which along with its ally Israel has not ruled out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites, would increase pressure on Tehran. “I think that no one at the end of this time can say that the United States and the rest of the world have not given Iran every opportunity to resolve the issues diplomatically,” said Petraeus, head of US Central Command. “That puts us in a solid foundation now to go on what is termed the pressure track. That’s the course on which we are embarked now,” the general told NBC television. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday insisted “now” was the time for new sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. “It is uncertain that these measures will suffice, but at least we will have tried. If the UN Security Council does not agree, they could be imposed separately, outside the UN. What is certain is that these sanctions must be
Unhappy with Israel, EU condemns killing
Iran warns airline ban over ‘Gulf’ tag Continued from Page 1
TEHRAN: Iran said yesterday it is considering plans to start building two new uranium enrichment plants from next month, with the sites concealed in the mountains to avert air strikes. The announcement from Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi came soon after top US General David Petraeus warned that Washington would now pursue “pressure track” against Iran to thwart its galloping nuclear program. “Inshallah (God willing), in the next Iranian year (starting in March) as ordered by the president we may start the construction of two new enrichment sites,” Salehi told ISNA news agency. Last November, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Iran would build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, after Tehran was strongly rebuked by world powers for building a second enrichment plant near the Shiite holy city of Qom. Salehi said the enrichment capacities of the new sites would be similar to the existing facility in the central city of Natanz, where a defiant Tehran is refining uranium despite three sets of UN sanctions. According to the latest UN nuclear watchdog report, Iran has installed in Natanz 8,610 centrifuges, the device which rotates at supersonic speed to enrich uranium. Of these, 3,772 centrifuges are actively enriching uranium under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Salehi said the new plants will be equipped with new generation centrifuges and the facilities would
senting 45 percent of total spending and as high as 84 percent of oil income. He also said the budget includes subsidies worth KD 4.4 billion, of which KD 2.07 billion is subsidies for power plant fuel, KD 880 million for oil products and gas, KD 267 million as assistance to Kuwaiti manpower in the private sector and KD 281 million as social aid. Abdulsamad said that the finance minister told the committee that the actuarial deficit of the Public Institution for Social Security reached KD 10.9 billion two years ago, and about KD 5.4 billion has been paid in the 2008/2009 budget. The rest will be paid over the next five fiscal years at KD 1.094 billion every year starting from the 2010/2011 fiscal year.
Frankfurt airport after a 14-hour flight from Vietnam to find that their connecting flight to Marseille was canceled and trains to Paris were overbooked. “There is no information, we are left on our own,” he told German news agency DAPD. “We have not eaten or drunk anything.” Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest airline by sales, said many long-haul flights to the US, including New York and Denver, were canceled but it was still running many domestic flights and shorthaul routes across Europe. Other flights to the US - including Newark, New Jersey, Dallas and Chicago - were running as scheduled yesterday, as were flights to destinations in Africa, South America and Asia. The airline estimates the strike could cost it some Ä25 million ($34 million) per day. In London, Unite, Britain’s biggest labor union, said after the vote that it was not announcing any strike date and its members will meet Thursday to discuss the ballot result before deciding on a strike date. A previous strike threat by BA cabin crew - planned for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays - was canceled only after the airline obtained an emergency court injunction blocking it. A Eurostar Paris-to London train, meanwhile, inexplicably broke down in southern England late Sunday, plunging more than 700 passengers into darkness and forcing them to climb down ladders onto the track to a replacement train. They arrived in London about 2:30 am yesterday, more than four hours late. Last week, Eurostar was sharply criticized by independent investigators for its response when several trains broke down
before Christmas in the Channel Tunnel, disrupting travel plans for tens of thousands of people. Fears about job security were the underlying theme for all the airline work actions. The Lufthansa pilots are concerned that cheaper crews from the company’s smaller airlines in other countries could eventually replace them. The French air traffic controllers are upset about plans to integrate European air traffic operations, leaving them to face new work rules, the loss of their civil servant benefits or even job cuts. British Airways cabin crews don’t want the company to slash the number of staff working on flights. The Lufthansa strike is set to end Thursday at midnight but could be extended. “The four days apparently are not enough to get Lufthansa going to find a solution with us at the negotiating table,” Alexander Gerhard-Madjidi, a spokesman for the Cockpit pilots’ union, told Bayerischer Rundfunk Radio. “That means we are going to prepare further strike measures and they are going to be expanded in length and duration,” he said. Pilots for Lufthansa Cargo and the low-budget subsidiary, Germanwings, were also taking part in the strike. Lufthansa typically has 1,800 flights a day and offers some 160 long-haul flights to destinations worldwide. The airline said it was trying to rebook travelers on partner airlines or trains and would reimburse those unable to be rescheduled. Resat Saritas tried to get home to Dubai but found his flight was canceled. Despite his unhappiness over his flight, he said the strike was justified. “The pilots deserve more money. The mentality of the company is not good. Please
don’t do this again,” he said. “It’s not nice for the pilots and it’s not nice for the passengers.” Germanwings said it was still operating several flights this week to destinations including Britain, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy and Croatia, among others, but warned of cancellations, too. Lufthansa, based in Cologne, owns or holds significant stakes in airlines including Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, JetBlue of the US and Britain’s BMI. Those airlines are not affected by the strike. The pilots are seeking increased work security and want German labor conditions to apply to Lufthansa pilots hired abroad, in an effort to prevent their jobs from migrating to neighboring countries with cheaper conditions. Lufthansa has denied it was planning to relocate the jobs. Lange said Lufthansa was still open to further talks, but only without preconditions. Tony Concil of the International Air Transit Association in Geneva noted that the global airline industry is still losing money and still needs to cut operating costs. “The industry lost $11 billion in 2009 and will probably lose $5.6 billion in 2010,” he told AP. “The emphasis at airlines is saving cash, managing capacity as effectively as possible, and cutting costs.” Lufthansa reached out to travelers online, posting a strike schedule on its website and offering updates on canceled flights on its Twitter feed. But some travelers were still caught unaware. “We arrived in Frankfurt from Taiwan. We have been on the road for 24 hours,” a Swiss woman told AP Television News. “We wanted to fly on with Luf thansa but couldn’t because the flight was canceled. We could not get a Swiss Air flight either so now we have to go on the train for another six hours.” — AP
SPORTS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
15
San Diego makes a pitch for America’s Cup regatta SAN DIEGO: Mayor Jerry Sanders made a personal pitch Sunday to software mogul Larry Ellison to hold the 34th America’s Cup in San Diego. The two men met privately before a public ceremony aboard the USS Midway museum on San Diego Bay featuring the oldest trophy in international sports. Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing won back the America’s Cup for the United States a week earlier in Valencia, Spain, completing a two-race sweep aboard its space-age trimaran against two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland. The Cup belongs to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, BMW Oracle Racing’s patron. Ellison said San Francisco was his first choice as the port in which to defend sailing’s most coveted trophy, but
that the city by the bay was no shoo-in. Sanders said he can appreciate Ellison giving San Francisco the first crack at hosting sailing’s marquee regatta. “But we really know we can do it better,” Sanders said. San Diego has hosted three America’s Cup regattas, in 1988, 1992 and 1995. BMW Oracle Racing spent 16 months testing its massive trimaran in San Diego before relocating to Valencia late last year. It was in San Diego where the syndicate first used the radical wing sail that gave the trimaran a definitive speed edge over the Swiss catamaran. Ellison said making San Diego a stop on a victory tour also was a nod to the San Diego Yacht Club, the former Cup-holder that stood by BMW Oracle Racing during a bitter, 2 1/2-year court fight against the Swiss that
preceded the Americans’ stunning sweep. Ellison said a decision about the 34th America’s Cup will be made in conjunction with all challengers as the sailing community tries to repair the damage caused by the court fight, in which Ellison’s syndicate triumphed. “Again, these aren’t our decisions that we are going to or we should make all by ourselves,” Ellison said during a trip from the Midway to the San Diego Yacht Club aboard a replica of America, the schooner that beat a fleet of British ships in 1851 to give the silver trophy its name. “We’re talking to all the teams involved and all the interested parties to make sure we make a decision that’s right for sailing.” At one point, some serious star power gathered with America’s co-owner and captain, Troy Sears, for a photo op at the helm.
Ellison was joined by Dennis Conner, a fourtime America’s Cup winner; BMW Oracle Racing CEO Russell Coutts, now a four-time Cup winner, including the first three as a skipper; and Jimmy Spithill, who at 30 became the youngest skipper to win the America’s Cup. “All three of those guys have steered America’s Cup champions, and I haven’t, so I thought I’d get out of the picture pretty fast,” Ellison laughed. Coincidentally, Coutts helped bring the America’s Cup back to California after leading Team New Zealand to a five-race sweep of Conner off San Diego in 1995. Sanders said he thinks San Diego has an excellent shot at regaining the regatta. “San Francisco has to prove that they can do it. We’ve got a few years, so I think we’re in good position,” the mayor said.
“If San Francisco can get it done in time, that would be great. If not, San Diego is a fantastic alternative,” said Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp. “They’ve hosted three Cups here in San Diego and they did a terrific job. It would be great. I think we want to be in an urban area. I know it’s very important to Russell and the rest of the team that we make it a spectacular spectator sport that will inspire young kids, who watch it on television to say, ‘Wow, that’s cool, I want to go sailing.’ We really should have it a large-scale urban area.” Newport, Rhode Island also has lobbied Ellison to host the Cup. Newport hosted the racing from 1930 until 1983, when the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak ended. Ellison reiterated his pledge that
BMW Oracle Racing will push for fair rules and an independent governing body. “Everyone will have a fair chance to win,” he said. “They just have to sail fast. No politics included.” Ellison, who attended a ceremony with his team Saturday at San Francisco’s City Hall, said he hoped the decision on the venue could be made in the next couple of months. He said he hoped the next regatta could be held as early as 2012, or maybe 2013. “Again, the sooner the better. Everybody wants to see a multi-challenger event again,” he said. Even though he spent an estimated $200 million on the entire campaign, including the court fight, Ellison didn’t ride aboard his trimaran during Race 1 due to a weight limit, watching it from a chase boat. He was aboard during the clinching Race 2. — AP
MARANA: Ian Poulter, of England, holds the champions trophy after his 4 and 2 victory over Paul Casey in the finals of the Match Play Championship golf tournament. —AP
Poulter breaks US drought MARANA: Ian Poulter broke his American duck when he outplayed fellow Briton Paul Casey 4&2 to win the Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain on Sunday. “To finally win over here, it means everything,” Poulter told reporters. “I’m just so happy to finally win on American soil.” “I was very comfortable on the course today. I felt in control of my game all week. I don’t know if there was any given point where it was going to be my week (but) I just felt very calm.”
The win gave Poulter a $1.4 million winner’s cheque and propelled him to fifth in the world rankings, but the Briton said he would have to hold off on the celebrations. “I can’t see myself having too many drinks tonight because I might wake up with a sore head tomorrow,” Poulter, who scheduled to tape a television advertisement in California early yesterday, told reporters. Poulter, who collected his first ATP title and 10th European Tour win with the victory, was quoted in media reports a couple of
years ago saying he felt he could challenge Tiger Woods for the top ranking, were he to fulfil his potential. “I didn’t quite say it was just me and Tiger (but) I just felt that if I could deliver what I believed I could, then I could put myself in a good situation and I’ve certainly done that over the last 18 months and I’ve certainly been able to deliver on that today.” Poulter dominated most of the 36-hole final, trailing for only one hole early before taking the lead for good at the seventh. He
was two-up after 18 holes and never led by less during the second round. “Ian played great stuff,” Casey told reporters. “You’re probably going to write Casey played rubbish but you have to realise Ian played excellent golf. “I think he kept it in play on every single hole around here, and made a lot of clutch putts. He’s putting very, very well.” Poulter, 34, has employed science to hone his putting, using a new system that charts the exact break on the greens.
KUWAIT: The Kuwait’s sixth International Table Tennis Championship, the Salwa Cup, will begin tonight after its official opening at 8:00 pm at Salwa Hall in Marina Crescent. The championship is recognized on the international agenda of table tennis championships and tournaments. The championship is held under the patronage of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad. The opening ceremony will be attended by the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Mohammed Al-Afasi. Salwa Hall Theater in Marina Crescent was prepared with modern technical equipment, including a laser light show and fireworks, to light up Kuwait’s sky and announce the beginning of the Salwa Cup. The opening ceremony will be broadcasted live on KTV’s Channel Three. The championship will be held from Feb 23-27, and stars 289 male and female players from 38 different countries. The first competition will be held today at 9:00 am at Fajhan Hilal Al-Mutairi Hall in Hawally’s Qadsiya Sports Club. It will start with preliminary matches for the single men and single under 21 and continue until 8:00 pm. The matches will determine who qualifies for round 64 of the tournament. The next round of the championship will feature the participation of the top 32 world champions. Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad, Head of the Higher Organizing Committee for the Championship
and President of the Qadsiya Sports Club invited fans of table tennis to attend the 6th Salwa Cup. “This year there will be many surprises in the championship and some changes as well. Every year this championship has improved until it reached this level. I would like to thank all the committees working on this Championship and all the sponsoring and supporting companies,” he noted. Mohammed Al-Matouq, President of the Table Tennis Federation and the Deputy of the Higher Organizing Committee welcomed all participating teams. He also thanked all the officials working and supporting this championship. “This championship is one of the biggest table tennis championships internationally. The cash prizes for the Salwa Cup are set at $300,000 for all the categories,” he said. The Head of the Competitions Committee at the International Table Tennis Federation, Khalid Al-Salihi, praised the high standard of the Salwa Cup. “It became one of the most special and largest international table tennis championships because of its financial prizes and the participation of top world champions. Also, Kuwait has many good champions in this game such as Ibrahim Al-Hasan,” he stated. Young Kuwaiti player Mishari Al-Bannay is glad to be participating with the Kuwaiti national team in this championship. “This is my first time in such a big international championship with all these top world champions. I hope to gain experience by playing with these champions,” he said.
“I was just amazed they were on the course three hours after I’d finished,” said Poulter. “That might be one of the factors why I’ve come through the way I have today.” Added Casey: “I feel mentally tired but I’m not going to make excuses. There were a lot of shots I wanted to pull off and didn’t.” In the match for third place, Colombian Villegas bounced back from his semi-final disappointment to beat Spaniard Sergio Garcia 5&4. —Reuters
Bonnaire, Fall start for France against Wales
T-T Salwa Cup begins today By Nawara Fattahova
“I don’t know if I want to give the secret away but I’ve done a lot of homework on the greens this week,” he said. The Englishman also caught a lucky break when Casey’s semi-final against Camilo Villegas stretched into Sunday morning after the two were deadlocked after five extra holes late on Saturday. Though Casey needed only one more hole to despatch Villegas on Sunday, he appeared drained and made a scrappy start to the final.
Julien Bonnaire
MARCOUSSIS: France coach Marc Lievremont has named flanker Julien Bonnaire and wing Benjamin Fall in his starting line-up to face Wales in the Six Nations at the Millennium Stadium on Friday. Bonnaire and Fall replace injured duo Vincent Clerc and Fulgence Ouedraogo in the only changes from the team that defeated grand slam champions Ireland 33-10 at the Stade de France on Feb. 13. The 29-year-old Bonnaire will win his 50th cap in Cardiff while Fall, 20, made his second appearance in France’s 18-9 win against Scotland at Murrayfield aon Feb. 7. “I’ll start with some bad news, Vincent Clerc has been added to our long list of players ruled out through injuries since the start of the championship,” Lievremont told a news conference after naming his team on Monday. “Fall is not as experienced as Clerc but we hope the change will not affect the spirits of the team,” he added. “The return of Bonnaire is logical because he was with us as a playing replacement against Scotland and Ireland and will bring us more options at the line-out.” The French coach stated that he gave his team the goal of clinching the third win a
row, a feat that has eluded the side since he took charge after the 2007 World Cup. “We have been talking about it since our win over Ireland. The players have been talking about it a lot among themselves. I don’t think there is a syndrome of the third win, I don’t think we are blocking it off,” he said. “We’ll travel to Cardiff with a lot of respect for the Welsh but we want to capitalise on our first two wins,” he added. “I think that contrary to us, the Welsh had problems in their first half against England and Scotland but played very well at the end of both games. They are yet to play good rugby over 80 minutes but we expect a very complicated game on Friday.” Team: 15-Clement Poitrenaud, 14Benjamin Fall, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12Yannick Jauzion, 11-Alexis Palisson, 10Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra, 8Imanol Harinordoquy, 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5-Pascal Pape, 4-Lionel Nallet, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-William Servat, 1-Thomas Domingo. Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18-Julien Pierre, 19Alexandre Lapandry, 20-Frederic Michalak, 21-David Marty, 22-Julien Malzieu. —Reuters
SPORTS
16
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Get ready sports fans, pole dancers eye Olympics TOKYO: For Japan’s Mai Sato, watching all those gold medals being handed out in Vancouver is a bittersweet experience. Sato knows the demands of being the best. In her world, blisters are the rule, bruises a way of life. And the training — five hours a day, five days a week. The world champion in her sport, Sato is as athletic, dedicated and competitive as the Olympians representing their nations. And she thinks it’s high time her discipline, too, got some real recognition. Still, pole dancing? In the Olympics? Absolutely, say thousands of pole dancers and the rapidly growing number of international and national federations transforming what was once the exclusive property of strip clubs and cheap bars into a respectable — and highly athletic — event. “I could definitely see pole dancing
Przeplasko, founder of the International Pole Dancing Fitness Association, the sport’s fledgling supervisory body, believes Olympic recognition is only a matter of time and would be a victory for under appreciated sports worldwide. “There will be a day when the Olympics see pole dancing as a sport,” she said. “The Olympic community needs to acknowledge the number of people doing pole fitness now. We’re shooting for 2012.” It’s already too late for any new sports to be added to the London Games. But the IOC decision to end its support of exhibition sports after Barcelona has not completely closed the door on Olympic hopefuls looking for a way to showcase their skills — Beijing did it with the martial art wushu. Pole dance advocates note that more unlikely sports have gotten the
in the Olympics,” said Sato, who, a dancer since the age of three, outtwirled a bevy of athletes from 11 countries at the second International Pole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo two months ago. “I would love to win a gold medal.” It’s admittedly a high bar. Established sports such as squash and cricket have failed to make the Olympics, baseball and softball were recently cut, and the International Olympic Committee’s decision to end its support of nonofficial, demonstration sports after the Summer Games in 1992 has made gaining a foothold, the way judo and taekwondo did, all that much harder. Also, pole dancing needs to first gain IOC recognition as a sport — which would undoubtedly be an uphill battle. No matter, pole dance enthusiasts say. Hong Kong-based Ania
IOC’s approval. Tug of war, for example, was one of the early Olympic medal contests. Equestrian events are in the Olympics, but who owns a horse? Curling, which virtually no one pays any attention to in non-Olympic years, has become one of the Winter Games’ biggest darlings. Though they are not in the games, the IOC recognizes such obscure sporting endeavors as boules, powerboating, bandy and floorball. KT Coates, a leading pole dancer in Britain and director of Vertical Dance, is leading the effort to make pole dancing a “test” event in 2012 and foresees a more formal pitch in 2016, when the Olympics go to Rio de Janeiro. “After a great deal of feedback from the pole dance community, many of us have decided that it’s about time pole fitness is recognized as a compet-
itive sport, and what better way for recognition than to be part of the 2012 Olympics held in London,” Coates wrote in a petition she is readying for the London organizers. “It has the wow factor,” she told The Associated Press in an e-mail. So far, the petition has about 4,000 signatures. Coates is shooting for 5,000. Iina Laatikainen, one of Finland’s top pole teachers, likens pole dancing to skateboarding and snowboarding, two sports that have gotten serious mainstream attention without completely abandoning their rebellious roots. “I think getting in the Olympics would be great for the sport,” she said. “I actually see a lot of similarities in what pole dancing is now for women with what skateboarding used to be for men back in the day. Pole dancing is definitely on its way to becoming a
mainstream sport.” But some pole dancers worry the sensual side of pole dancing, and its counterculture undertones, would be destroyed in an effort to clean it up for the Olympics. After all, would it really be the same without stilettos, a boozy audience and a red-tinted spotlight? And how do you score for sexiness? Others fear old-school pole dancers would be eaten alive by gymnasts, who could easily make the conversion from other apparatuses, circus performers or Chinese acrobats, who have a long tradition of performing aerial tricks. “I don’t need to see pole dancing in the Olympics,” said Wendy Traskos, co-founder of the US Pole Dance Federation, which will be hosting its annual US championships next month. “I don’t think this is necessarily the path that we need to take, as a sport.”
Traskos, a former competitive gymnast who lives in New York, believes pole dancing needs to do more groundwork before it shoots for the Olympics. In particular, scoring for competitions needs to be standardized, she said, adding that the names of the techniques vary among different clubs in different regions. “I feel there are many small, tiny, steps that need to be taken before this sport, or any sport, can get into the Olympics,” she said. “We are on, like, tiny step 10 of 1,000.” Nevertheless, she said pole dancers on the medal podium is not as wild a dream as it might have seemed just five years ago. “Now, when you talk about it you don’t hear ‘like a stripper’ anymore,” she said. “You hear things like, ‘Oh, my friend takes classes for fitness’ or ‘Yes, I’ve seen it on Oprah.”‘ —AP
‘Miller Time’ make it day of gold and goalie
WHISTLER: Gold medalist Bode Miller of the US poses at the medal ceremony for the men’s Super Combined at Whistler Medals Plaza during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. —AFP
Big-name athletes lend star power and pep talk VANCOUVER: Big-name athletes are giving Olympic curling a boost by lending both their star power and locker-room motivational techniques. Retired track and field star Carl Lewis became the latest from another sport to try to fire up a US men’s curling team that has sputtered at the Vancouver Games. The nine-time Olympic gold medallist showed up for Sunday’s match against Britain and gave
the curlers a pregame pep talk to remind them that they were Olympians just like him. Lewis, 48, was a fast man who said he developed a fondness for the decidedly un-quick sport about eight years ago. He followed Vernon Davis, tight end with the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers and the team’s honourary skip, who helped motivate the squad last week.
VANCOUVER: Canada’s third Marc Kennedy releases a stone during a match against Switzerland in the men’s curling round robin session 9 match at the 2010 Winter Olympics. —AFP
“What I hope they can learn, because there’s something similar to all athletes, it’s hard work, dedication, focus. If you don’t have those things it doesn’t work in anything,” said Lewis, who equated the hack from which curlers push themselves down the ice to starting blocks on the running track. “I hope that I can give them that, and relax them a little bit and at the end of the day just give them some insight.” In the end, it was not enough to lift the United States to a win over the strong Brits. They now have only the faintest hope of making the playoffs. No matter, said team member John Benton, who appreciated the talk and added profile Lewis’s presence gives the game of brooms and rocks, which is still often viewed as a curiosity. “More than anything it brings a little bit more legitimacy to the sport of curling for the U.S. viewers,” Benton said. “For them to know that people of that stature are participating in the sport, it’s really nice. It brings it up a notch.” Teams on a roll, such as Canada, are also humbled by attention from outside their discipline. The team won their game against Switzerland on Sunday to improve their record to 7-0 and secure a playoff berth. On Saturday, they were thrilled when they spotted Wayne Gretzky in the Vancouver Olympic Centre crowd. Earlier, the ice hockey great sent captain Kevin Martin a note congratulating him and promising to show up for a game. —Reuters
Olympics medals table VANCOUVER: Olympic Games medals table on Sunday after six of the day’s six medal events: United States Germany Norway Switzerland Canada South Korea Sweden China Netherlands Austria Russia France Slovakia
Gold 7 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Silver Bronze Total 7 10 24 7 5 18 3 4 12 0 2 7 4 1 9 4 1 9 1 2 6 1 1 5 1 1 5 3 3 8 3 3 8 2 4 8 1 1 3
Australia Czech Republic Great Britain Poland Latvia Italy Japan Belarus Croatia Slovenia Estonia Finland Kazakhstan
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 2 0 1 0 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
2 3 1 4 2 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1
VANCOUVER: It was indeed “Miller Time”- as the beer slogan goes-for the US Olympic team on Sunday after skier Bode Miller snatched his first Olympic gold medal and ice hockey goalkeeper Ryan Miller stopped Canada in a heartbreaking loss for the hockeycrazed host nation. Miller the skier, in a remarkable comeback after quitting last year, slalomed from off the pace to grab the men’s super combined, adding gold to his haul of a silver and bronze in these Winter Games. At night, all eyes turned to ice hockey, where US beat Canada 5-3 in Olympic men’s qualifying Group A on a day packed with three matches between historic rivals. Miller the goalie, who famously sported “Miller Time” on his helmet last week before Olympic officials forced him to remove the slogan, recorded 42 saves at the net. Earlier in the day, the Winter Games host suffered a tragic turn of events as figure skating champion Joannie Rochette’s mother died of unknown causes, just days before the start of the women’s Olympic competition. Hours later, Rochette turned up to train looking remarkably composed. She has been tipped as the only athlete likely to stop an Asian sweep of the medals in the women’s competition. Day nine of competition also brought a third gold for the Netherlands’ speedskating team, the second gold for German biathlete Magdalena Neuner and the first bobsleigh gold for experienced German pilot Andre Lange. Up on Whistler mountain, the US ski team, already the medal leaders of the Games’ Alpine competitions, sealed their dominance with Miller’s stunning come-frombehind win. Aksel Lund Svindal, who won gold for Norway in the men’s super G, had led after the downhill round and Miller trailed a distant seventh. But the American, silver medallist behind Svindal in the super G, set the pace with a blistering slalom and Svindal was unable to finish after missing a gate. Miller’s triumph at the twilight of his career might just silence the critics of the former tearaway of American skiing, but the 32-yearold played down the gold’s importance. “The gold medal is great, it’s perfect, that’s what everyone is shooting for but the way I skied in these last races is what matters,” said Miller. The Americans top the medals table with seven golds, ahead of Germany with six and Norway and Switzerland with five apiece. In speedskating, Ireen Wust of the Netherlands upgraded her 2006 Olympic bronze in the 1,500m to gold in Vancouver. The 23-year-old had become her country’s youngest Olympic gold medallist ever in 2006 with her win in the 3,000m in Turin. Germany’s Neuner won her second gold medal of the Games with a storming finish in the women’s biathlon 12.5km mass start. Switzerland’s Michael Schmid took the gold medal in the crash-filled debut of men’s ski cross. In the two-man bobsleigh, the peerless Lange proved his total domination of the sport, hardly scraping a wall during four smooth drives on a course that has produced several high-speed crashes on Saturday. Lange, known as the Teddy Bear for his affable nature off the track, has now won the last four Olympic bobsleigh golds, twoman and four, dating back to Salt Lake City in 2002. In Canada, the attention was not on medals, but on the world’s six top-ranked ice hockey teams who were closing out preliminary rounds with rematches of the last three Olympic finals. —Reuters
VANCOUVER: Rick Nash No.61 of Canada attempts to control the puck against the United States during the ice hockey men’s game between Canada and USA. —AFP
Russia on track, Canada off course VANCOUVER: Russia got their gold medal plans back on track while Canada swerved off course with a shock loss to the US that sent a shudder rumbling across the Great White North on Olympic ice hockey’s Super Sunday. For hockey-mad Canadians, who have been dreaming about hockey gold since the day Vancouver was selected to host the 2010 Winter Games, a 5-3 loss to the young Americans was a sobering if not fatal wakeup call. While Russia, the United States, Finland and Olympic champions Sweden all move directly to the quarter-finals, Canada will now have to take the long road to the gold medal contest and play a sudden death qualification game on Tuesday against Germany to earn a place in the last eight. Before Canada sputtered, Russia’s Big Red Machine was picking up speed again after a defeat to Slovakia by beating the Czech Republic 4-2 in a rematch of the 1998 Nagano gold medal final to grab top spot in Group B. Sweden, who beat Finland to take the
Olympic crown in Turin four years ago, showed they have lost none of their golden touch either, cruising past their Nordic rivals 3-0 to notch a third straight win to top Group C. Despite suffering their first loss of the preliminary round, the Finns will follow the Swedes directly into the last eight having posted the best second-place record. “Everything is ahead, now the tournament starts,” said Finnish forward Teemu Selanne, the Olympics’ all-time leading scorer. “There are no easy games. “The only good thing is that it is in our own hands. We can control our own destiny.” Brilliant blue skies and Spring-like conditions made it a prefect day to be outside soaking up the Games atmosphere but the place still to be was inside Canada Hockey Place for a spectacular ice hockey hat-trick featuring the world’s six top ranked teams clashing in three of the international game’s most mouth-watering rivalries. After Canada failed to add to their Games gold medal total on the second weekend of Olympic competition, the hosts
looked to their men’s hockey team for a lift. But the U.S. turned Olympic Super Sunday into Sombre Sunday for Canada as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead after just 41 seconds and never trailed to secure top spot in Group A along with cross-border bragging rights. “We’re just like every team in the tournament now and we’re all trying to survive because if you lose you go home,” Canada coach Mike Babcock told reporters. “We understand what we’re up against and we’ll just start preparing for the next game.” It might be hard for Canada not to look beyond Tuesday’s contest with an even larger hurdle looming on the horizon. If Canada can get past the Germany it will set up a mouth-watering quarter-final showdown with Russia that will see one of the two favourites for gold crash out even before reaching the medal round. The three other qualification games will see Switzerland face off against Belarus, Czech Republic take on Latvia and Slovakia against Norway. —Reuters
Kostelic silverware is a family affair WHISTLER: With a course set by his father, pieces of advice from his sister and loving cheers from his mother, Ivica Kostelic could barely go wrong. The Kostelic family, who put Croatia on the Alpine skiing map in the late 1990s, once again had plenty to celebrate after Ivica won a silver medal in the men’s Olympic super combined on Sunday. “We’ve been together all our lives and I think it’s fare that we share this moment together as well,” Kostelic told reporters after finishing second to Bode Miller in the event, aimed at all-round skiers and featuring a downhill and a slalom run. The Kostelic clan, always united at major events, share a condo in this select mountain resort and look to each other for inspiration. Enter sister Janica, who has won more Olympic Alpine skiing gold medals than any other woman and would have almost certainly achieved even greater things had she not been persistently hampered by knee problems that forced her to retire early. While the 28-year-old Janica was a real phenomenon, Ivica, who is two years older and could also write a book about knee injuries, had to work harder to make it to the very top. “He has put a way more effort into skiing than I ever did,” Janica told reporters after her brother’s moment of glory. “In men’s skiing, there is no other way to make that difference. Of course, I’m proud of my brother. He deserves this.” While Kostelic’s mother Marica was cheering from near the finish
WHISTLER: Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic is seen during the slalom of the Men’s Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Super Combined event at Whistler Creek side Alpine skiing venue. —AFP area, his father Ante, a former handball player and the Croatia ski coach for years, had been busy setting the course for the slalom section of the super combined. “Dad’s course certainly helped,” said Kostelic, who was in ninth position after the downhill run. “Slalom skiers wouldn’t have great races if slalom courses were simple. The setting was demanding enough, so that the slalom skiers could make up time.” Ivica and Janica skied together
for years, becoming the first siblings to claim gold medals in the same event at world championships when they each won the slalom in 2003 in St Moritz, Switzerland. Now Janica concentrates on offering advice to her brother, helping him with his training and mental preparation. “She is so much more relaxed than I am,” Ivica said. “She helps me calm down and I need it.” While Janica has been more prolific over the years, Ivica has a record of rising to the occasion and
won silver in the super combined at the 2006 Turin Games. “I’ve been working for this for the last four years,” he said after putting his hands on a second Olympic medal. “I didn’t know if my time was good enough for a medal but when I saw that (Swiss bronze medallist Silvan) Zurbriggen was behind me, I almost had a heart attack and felt ‘that’s it, I’ve got it’. It’s hard to describe, it’s just awesome.” —Reuters
SPORTS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
17
UIS claims Don Bosco Inter School Basketball Championship Strong performance from ICSK and CSK KUWAIT: The 6th Don Bosco Inter School Basketball Championship has seen some excellent performance from the other Indian Schools, with UIS losing its ground on overall performance. The finals this year witnessed a large crowd for the Basketball
Championship co-sponsors Nasser Sports, which was held for the age groups: Boys under 12yrs, Girls under 12yrs, Boys under 14yrs, Girls under 14yrs, Boys under 16yrs / Girls under 16yrs.
Overall Champs United Indian School with Sponsors and Coach
Boys under 12yrs:
Indian English Academy School (IEAS)
The first semi finals between Indian English Academy School (IEAS) and Indian Educational School (IES) was more like the finals of the Championship with both schools displaying skills and talent by Master Brandon Fernandes of IEAS and Master Sharath Ganesh both captains leading from the front. Brandon missing six penalty shots, taking the match to a nail biting finish with IEAS beating IES by 2 points to face United Indian School (UIS) in the finals. Final played between IEAS and UIS, was not exciting as expected, UIS taking the height advantage and outstanding display by Kevin D’souza / Nikhil Verghese and Sujin Sebastian leaving no room for IEAS in the competition to secure the winners trophy. UIS - 1st place, IEAS- 2nd place, IES - 3rd place and ICSK (a)- 4th place
Overall Championship 2010: United Indian School (UIS) Speaking to a couple of parents who were present to witness their children or their nephews and nieces playing commented that schools must improve the standard of Girls basketball. The Championship this year was Co-sponsored by “Nasser Sports” with special thanks to Mr. Rajesh and Mr. Biju for their support. Speaking to the organizers Don Bosco Oratory team leader Mr.
Christopher Fernandes who mention that without the support of Nasser Sports / IEAS management / Jessie and his teams of officials / Cargosave INC (USA) and Riherds Trophies Co. (USA) would have not been possible to host such a Championship, and request for future support to keep this Championship moving forward and looking for fresh new talents.
Indian Educational School (IES)
Boys under 14yrs:
Indian Community School (ICSK)
It was The Game of the entire Championship with a thrilling finish. Played between Indian Community School (c) (ICSK) and Carmel School Kuwait (CSK), any one present there would say this “The Game of the Championship” as mentioned above a thrilling finish more than salvaged an occasional rough although played with tension by both schools. From the very beginning both teams played at a fast space, thus not giving the spectators a chance to guess as to who would be crowned winners for the Under 14 category. It was until the last one minute 2seconds ICSK lads could not hold on to the pressure, thus giving CSK the advantage and ensure that this year that they are the “Winners for Under 14 category” CSK- 1st Place, ICSK - 2nd Place, ICS - 3rd Place and IEAS - 4th Place
Carmel School Kuwait In the Girls finals, it was UIS taking the First Place in all the 3 categories.
Carmel School Kuwait (CSK)
Girls under 12yr: Winners - UIS (A), Runners Up - UIS (B), 3rd Place Fahaheel Al Wataniya Indian School, and 4th Place Indian International School (Mangaf)
Boys under 16yrs:
United Indian School (UIS)
It was the UIS taking on ICS in the finals. UIS taking control of the court and making a point to ICS that they are and would like to regain this category’s winners as they have done for the last 5yrs. UIS young talent and future stars: Abhishek Koshy, Anu James along with others who would later play for local teams such as MVP / Aisses / Safety 7 or Don Bosco Oratory. ICS was no match for the mighty UIS who won the match with no stiff competition. UIS - 1st Place, ICS - 2nd Place, CSK - 3rd Place
Girls under 14yr: Winners - UIS, Runners Up - IEAS, and 3rd Place Fahaheel Al Wataniya Indian School Girls under 16yr: Winners - UIS and Runners Up - CSK
United Indian School
Indian Central School (ICS)
Crunch openers as AFC Champions League kicks off SINGAPORE: Korea’s Pohang Steelers open their AFC Champions League defence with a tough encounter against Adelaide United this week while Saudi powerhouse Al Ittihad face Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Bunyodkur. Asia’s top club competition gets underway with eight matches today and another eight tomorrow as the battle starts to
reach the final in November, with the winner assured of a place in the FIFA Club World Cup. It has been a troubled closeseason for Pohang with longtime Brazilian boss Sergio Farias leaving them for a lucrative job with Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli, while their Brazilian top scorer Denilson moved to Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor.
Much will depend on former Fulham star Seol Ki-Hyeon as they line up in Australia against an Adelaide side on Wednesday boosted by the recent signing of Dutch striker Sergio van Dijk on a short-term deal. Van Dijk has been signed on a six-month contract to incorporate the AFC Champions League group stage and a possible round of 16 appearance.
“We’ve signed Sergio for the Asian Champions League which is great, he’ll certainly bolster and strengthen our squad,” Reds’ coach Aurelio Vidmar said. “He’s got a fair bit of experience and he certainly knows where the goals are, so we’re looking forward to his inclusion and doing his very best for us in the Champions League.”
Former Chelsea boss Scolari is confident Bunyodkor can make an impact in this season’s tournament after their disappointment last year when they were knocked out by Pohang in the quarter-finals. The Brazilian has been putting his players through their paces at a training camp in Dubai. “The camps in Dubai helped players increase their
tactical skills and physical condition and I am satisfied with their performance,” he said. “Our players just returned from the vacation and we are step by step getting them into their top physical condition.” Scolari knows his team will have their work cut out Tuesday against Al Ittihad, who are twotime champions and made the final last year.
David obstacle to Canadian glory VANCOUVER: Canada are eyeing success in the first ever Olympic women’s ski cross today but must first get past France’s Ophelie David, who has dominated the sport for many years. The host nation currently fill three of the top four places in the World Cup rankings - world champion Ashleigh McIvor, Kelsey Serwa and Julia Murray - but veteran David stands in the way of Olympic glory. Other skiers to watch out for include Switzerland’s Fanny Smith and Sweden’s Anna Holmlund. David, who has won six consecutive World Cups and leads the points race this season, said she was delighted when she found out her sport would make its Olympic debut in Vancouver. “I was super happy to show off my sport,” said the 33-year-old, who won last month’s Winter X Games in Aspen, ahead of McIvor and Serwa. Speaking about conditions at the troubled Cypress Mountain venue, plagued by warm weather and a lack of snow, she said: “The snow is different from one side (of the course) to another. The texture of the snow is strange, spring snow.” She said the granular snow could pose a challenge. “We will have to manage that for passing. Could be mushy, could be hard,” added David, who competed for Hungary at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Canada’s women are confident they can make a mark following the failure of the men to secure a podium finish on Sunday despite a clean sweep at the X
Games. And even with the looming challenge of David, Canada’s Serwa is upbeat about the host nation’s chances. “We’re the strongest in the field, so hopefully that’s a reflection into the race,” she said. Serwa, 20, said the Canadians had to be confident they could beat the topranked David. “We just have to be confident we can beat her at the start. We’ve all beaten her before, so we have to make sure we can beat her again.” McIvor said standing on the podium last year at Cypress after a World Cup event in which she finished second convinced her that she had a shot at an Olympic medal. Fourth-ranked Murray has just returned to skiing after knee surgery. “I’m getting tons of physio and icing and trying my best to be 100 percent for the race,” the 21-year-old said. Inclusion in the Games is a major milestone for ski cross, in which four racers are pitted against each other down a motocross-style course. In ski cross, the only new event to be introduced at these Games, all competitors have one timed run, which determines the qualification ranking before the final round, in which 32 competitors take part in four-man races. The two top-ranked skiers in each race advance to the next round. Skiers race down a track constructed on a normal ski slope featuring different types and sizes of jumps, roller sections, banks, and turns. —AFP
In other games, Chinese teams will try to put the corruption scandal that has rocked China aside when they get their campaigns underway. Beijing Guoan take on Melbourne Victory while Champions League newcomers Henan Jianye face Singapore Armed Forces. Shandong Luneng travel to Japan to play Sanfrecce
Hiroshima while Changchun Yatai are away to Kashima Antlers. Japan’s J-League is widely regarded as the best in Asia and there are four teams from the country in Champions League action with Gamba Osaka facing Korea’s Suwon Bluewings and Kawaskai Frontale against another Korean outfit, Seongnam Ilhwa. —AFP
Women gear up for bob virtual reality
Kuwait National Team
Cricket Festival Match KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Nationals Cricket Team will take part in the multi-nations Cricket Festival Match to be played Thursday Feb 25 celebrating National and Liberation holidays. Kuwait National Team consisting of nationals will take part besides India XI and Pakistan XI and KOTC XI. The matches are to be witnessed by Indian and Pakistani Ambassadors and Kuwaiti members of parliament that will mark a significant point for the Kuwaiti nationals playing cricket under the
captaincy of experienced Taher Bastaki well assisted by Mahmood Bastaki, well known Kuwaiti cricketer and Mahmud Abdulla, instrumental and experienced figure in the side. A great day for cricketers of the multinations, a full day event will be played at Sulaibiya Bastaki and Falcon Grounds. The winners of the morning matches will play in the final and the losers will play for third and fourth position.
WHISTLER: Defending champion and multiple World Cup winner Sandra Kiriasis will seek to add to her trophy cabinet today in the women’s bob, but compatriot Cathleen Martini is out to deny her. The ongoing debate about whether the Whistler track is too fast will have to be put on hold come race time as the women shrug off a series of crashes by the women and men alike in recent days. “Intense” and “difficult” are just two of the adjectives which have been bandied about trackside. But organisers insist the venue is safe even though racers will go from the top, given the bob’s need for a running start - unlike the luge, where the start was lowered following Georgian competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili’s fatal crash in precompetition training. Today sees heats one and two prior to Wednesday’s medal races and Kiriasis, Martini and US 2006 silver medallist Shauna Rohbock will all be in the mix - as will this season’s world silver medalist Kaillie Humphries, who will be out to give Canada’s women a first Olympic medal at the event. Another home hope, Kuwait-born Helen Upperton, is also desperate
for a podium placing after she just missed bronze by 0.05sec four years ago. Rohbock won the test event last February while USA 2’s Erin Pac managed a couple of bronze World Cup finishes during the season. USA 3’s Bree Schaaf, who has switched from skeleton, has also landed top-10 World Cup finishes. Meanwhile, it’s virtual reality time for the Belgians, whose Eva Willemarck and Elfje Willemensen only took up the sport two years ago. A Belgian TV production company, Canvas, decided a Belgian team would be a great idea and brakewoman Willemarck and pilot Willemensen answered the call for candidates. “They were searching for athletes who wanted to try something new - Bobsleigh,” said Willemarck. “A television programme also evolved. We all entered and got some selection tests and now we’re at the Olympics.” To begin with, recalls Willemsen, “I wanted to jump out at curve seven.” But they both got used to it. Regarding the TV crew, “they don’t follow us,” says Willemarck. “It’s not Big Brother.” —AFP
SPORTS
18
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Stuttgart no longer easy pickings for Barcelona Champions League preview
SPAIN: Barcelona’s Mexican defender Rafa Marquez shoots during a Spanish League football match in this file photo. — AFP
Inter desperate to stop the rot against Chelsea LONDON: Jose Mourinho might not be Italian football’s favourite import but he will be flying the flag for Serie A tomorrrow as his Inter Milan side host Chelsea in their Champions League knockout round first leg. Italy’s struggles in Europe’s prime club competition were underlined last season as Inter, totally dominant at home for four years, were swept aside by Manchester United to go out at the first knockout stage for the third season running. Now, leading the way in Serie A again, Inter take on England’s table toppers at the San Siro with former Chelsea boss Mourinho bestriding the tie. Holders Barcelona are in action today where their stranglehold on German clubs and VfB Stuttgart’s weakness against Spaniards points to only one eventual result. French champions Girondins Bordeaux travel to Olympiakos Piraeus today while Sevilla will have to dig out their thermals for their Wednesday trip to CSKA Moscow. It is the San Siro, though, which draws the eye as two Champions League-winning managers of contrasting personalities go head-to-head. Mourinho won the competition with Porto before going close with Chelsea, while the Londoners’ latest import, Carlo Ancelotti, lifted it twice with AC Milan. Outwardly the two men could not be more different as Mourinho delights in making waves them riding then for all he is worth, while Ancelotti seems content to go about his work in a businesslike, understated manner. The two men were anything but friends as they clashed in previous Milan derbies but Mourinho knows better than anyone that Chelsea are no longer cowed by big-name reputations. Having recovered from an end-of-year domestic wobble, they are now four points clear in the Premier League and on course to win the title for the first time since Mourinho’s days. Inter’s Serie A lead has been whittled down to five points after three successive draws and while Didier Drogba is scoring for fun for Chelsea, Inter’s Samuel Eto’o is struggling for form and fitness. Inter have not beaten an English team in their last five attempts, failing to score in their last four. Barcelona, so fortunate to get past Chelsea in the semifinals last season, also have statistics on their side against a Stuttgart team who have lost seven and drawn three of their last 10 games against Spanish opposition while Barcelona have won 11 and drawn two of their last 13 Champions League games against German teams. However, Stuttgart will hope their domestic run of seven wins in eight games,
topped by Saturday’s 5-1 win at Cologne, will prove more important. Barcelona maintained their Spanish League lead with a 4-0 win over Racing Santander on Saturday and though they have lost only one league match all season they have not sparkled in Europe and will have to step up a level. That cannot be said for French league leaders Bordeaux, who dropped just two points in a qualifying group that included Juventus and Bayern
Munich. Olympiakos have a proud home record but travel poorly so the Greeks really need to gain a significant advantage today if they are to progress. It looks a similar story in Moscow where CSKA boast strong home form and, with the temperature plummeting, they will hope to build enough of a lead to defend. Sevilla travel on a high after qualifying for the King’s Cup final and winning their last two league games. — Reuters
ITALY: Inter Milan’s Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho gestures during an Italian League match in this file photo. — AFP
BERLIN: Holders Barcelona visit VfB Stuttgart today in a Champions League last-16 tie which may have looked easy when the draw was made but has since taken on a completely different complexion. When Stuttgart came out of the hat on Dec. 19 they were 15th in the Bundesliga, with two league wins, and only goal difference stood between them and the relegation playoff spot. Since then the Germans have jumped to ninth in the table after seven wins in eight games under former Tottenham Hotspur coach Christian Gross and they go into the first leg against Barca full of confidence. Stuttgart sounded another warning on Saturday when they won 51 at Cologne, helped by four goals from Brazilianborn striker Cacau who returned after a month out through injury. “Now we are looking forward to Barcelona. We need to focus our energy for that one then we can cause an upset,” said Cacau, who played four matches for Germany last year and is still nurturing hopes of a World Cup callup. “Saturday was a first step.” Gross, who took over two days before their final group stage match against Unirea Urziceni which Stuttgart won 3-1, said: “We’re happy to be playing against one of the world’s best teams. There’s a lot of prestige at stake.” La Liga leaders Barcelona, 4-0 winners over Racing Santander on Saturday, have lost only one league match all season. They topped Champions League Group F ahead of Inter Milan but managed only seven goals in six games which included two goalless draws. Barca captain Carles Puyol acknowledged they would be facing a much-improved side. “They are doing better,” he said. “They are a very dangerous team. If we do not keep our concentration we will find ourselves in trouble.” The Catalans have included Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Daniel Alves and Xavi in their squad but Barca did not say whether the trio would be fit to play. Ibrahimovic was replaced by Thierry Henry, who scored only his third goal of the season, against Racing. Probable teams: VfB Stuttgart: 1-Jens Lehmann; 27-Stefano Celozzi, 5-Serdar Tasci, 17-Matthieu Delpierre, 2Cristian Molinaro; 35Christian Traesch, 32Zdravko Kuzmanovic, 13Timo Gebhart, 23Aleksandr Hleb; 18-Cacau, 29-Pavel Pogrebnyak Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 5-Carles Puyol, 3-Gerard Pique, 4-Rafael Marquez, 19-Maxwell; 8Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets, 24-Yaya Toure; 10-Lionel Messi, 9-Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 17Pedro. —Reuters
Mancini baffled over missing Tevez LONDON: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini remains unsure of when to expect Carlos Tevez back at the club after the Argentine striker made an urgent trip to his homeland last week on compassionate grounds. Tevez returned to Argentina after his wife gave birth to their second daughter prematurely but Mancini said following his team’s 0-0 draw with Liverpool on Sunday that he was not sure of his 26-year-old forward’s plans. “I don’t know where Tevez is... I think he is in Argentina,” the Italian told reporters. “It’s a big problem for us because we have an important week and we don’t have Tevez. For me it is no good. Carlos has been eight days at home and I don’t know if, while in Argentina, he has been working. “I hope Carlos, within the next two days, can come back here because we need him. Maybe he is on the plane. I spoke to him three days ago. He had some problems with
his family but now it has been resolved and I hope he comes back. I need him.” Manchester City play Stoke City in an FA Cup replay and go to Chelsea for a Premier League match this week. As well as missing Tevez, Mancini is also without suspended midfielder Patrick Vieira and injured winger Martin Petrov while striker Roque Santa Cruz has a knee injury. City also need to improve on a recent disappointing run of just two wins in their last six matches. Sunday’s match at Eastlands was a poor one with few chances for either team, who both lost ground in the race for fourth spot in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa both winning. “Against Liverpool it is not easy to win the game, we tried but Liverpool are a good team,” Mancini added. “At the end of the game the draw was the right result as we didn’t concede any chances to Liverpool and they did not concede any chances to us.” — Reuters
ATHENS: Bordeaux’s players warm up during a training session one day before their UEFA Champions League football game against Olympiakos. — AFP
Beware of our 12th man, Olympiakos tell Bordeaux ATHENS: Olympiakos Piraeus winger Jaouad Zairi has told Girondins Bordeaux to expect a red-hot reception from the crowd in today’s Champions League last16 first leg. “The atmosphere in the Karaiskakis Stadium is boiling hot,” said Moroccan Zairi. “Our supporters are fanatics and are literally our 12th player. “Such support can turn a match. We have already beaten Arsenal at home this season and we will give everything to win today.” However the Greeks, who are making only their third appearance in the knockout rounds, are up against one of the Champions League’s form teams. Laurent Blanc’s swashbuckling side are top of Ligue 1 and dropped just two points in the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition, conceding only two goals. Zairi, who has been injured recently and is likely to be on the bench today, said his team mates were fully aware of the task ahead. “Bordeaux are a quality side with a lot of talented, well-known players and an exceptional coach in Laurent Blanc,” he
said. “They cause teams all kinds of problems. We have analysed a lot of their matches but in the end the main focus will be on our own approach to the game.” Olympiakos, who are coached by Serbian Bozidar Bantovic, have an unblemished home record in this season’s competition following 1-0 victories over AZ Alkmaar and Arsenal and a 2-1 win over Standard Liege. They will be without Diogo and Luciano Galletti but fellow South American, midfielder Dudu, is expected to return from injury. Bordeaux defender Matthieu Chalme said his team must forget the atmosphere likely to be generated by the home supporters. “We must not fear the hot atmosphere Olympiakos fans can create,” he said. “We have got our fans used to victory. “We have no right to fail now. Our aim is to go through to the quarter-finals and it is not beyond us.” The game represents a perfect chance for Bordeaux to deflect attention away from the media speculation surrounding
Blanc’s future. Blanc is widely considered the favourite to succeed Raymond Domenech as France coach after this year’s World Cup and he said himself last week he did not know what he would do next season. “If somebody is able to say what I’ll do tomorrow he is very clever as I don’t know myself,” Blanc told the French paper L’Equipe. Bordeaux will be well rested after the French League allowed them to postpone their Ligue 1 game against Auxerre at the weekend. Their only absentee is captain and midfielder Alou Diarra, who has a thigh injury. Probable teams: Olympiakos: 71-Antonis Nikopolidis; 35-Vasilis Torosidis, 4-Olof Mellberg, 21Avraam Papadopoulos, 3-Raul Bravo; 25Enzo Maresca, 6-Ieroklis Stoltidis, 20Dudu, 19-Jesus Datolo, 32-Lomana Lua Lua; 9-Matt Derbyshire Bordeaux: 1-Cedric Carrasso; 21Matthieu Chalme, 2-Michael Ciani, 27Marc Planus, 28-Benoit Tremoulinas; 17Wendel, 5-Fernando, 8-Yoann Gourcuff, 18-Jaroslav Plasil; 7-Yoan Gouffran, 29Marouane Chamakh. —Reuters
Ferdinand, Vidic set to return to United defense LONDON: Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are fit and available again to resume their central defensive partnership as Manchester United aims to bounce back from Saturday’s loss to Everton with a victory over West Ham today. The Ferdinand-Vidic linkup was one of the strengths behind United’s three consecutive league titles. But they have rarely played together this season because of injuries. With Ferdinand back from a four-game suspension and Vidic finally over a leg injury, manager Alex Ferguson was able
EPL Preview to name both in his squad yesterday and, after some poor defending against Everton on Saturday, the duo is expected to start against West Ham at Old Trafford. Although the defeat left United four points behind Chelsea and allowed Arsenal in third to close to within two points of Ferguson’s team, the manager is convinced his team will revive its push for another title. “The league has been wide open this season, it’s been funny like that,” he said. “Teams have dropped points you don’t expect them to drop, but the very nature of the league suggests we still have a good chance. “We’ve got a big match on Tuesday night. It’s a massive game for this club and hopefully we can get the result we need.” While defensive lapses let United down, the performance of top scorer Wayne Rooney was another big disappointment. Despite his 25 league and cup goals including 13 in his previous 15 matches, Rooney made little impact against the club where he started his career as United threw away the lead in the first half. With the League Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley on sunday looming, Ferguson might be tempted to give Rooney a rest and field Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen against West Ham, but he has named his top striker in the squad. Nani is suspended, however, and Ryan Giggs is still recovering from a broken right arm. West Ham comes off a 3-0 victory over Hull, only the first time this season Gianfranco Zola’s team has won two games in a row. The result lifted the team to 13th in the standings and four points above the relegation zone. — AP
LONDON: Manchester United’s English forward Wayne Rooney reacts in this file photo. — AFP
Matches on TV (local timings) English Premier League Man United v West Ham .......................................................................23:00 ShowSports 1 ShowSports 2 UEFA Champions League Stuttgart v Barcelona ........................................................................... 22:45 Al Jazeera Sport +5 Al Jazeera Sport +3 Olympiacos v Bordeaux ........................................................................ 22:45 Al Jazeera Sport +4
SPORTS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
19
UAE investor Fahim resigns from his Portsmouth role DUBAI: United Arab Emirates businessman Sulaiman al-Fahim resigned from his position as the non-executive chairman of debtravaged Premier League club Portsmouth yesterday and gave his 10 percent shareholding to the club’s supporters’ trust. Fahim confirmed the developments to Reuters as moves continued in London to save the 112year-old club from going into liquidation. Asked by Reuters whether he had resigned from his position and given away his shares, Fahim said: “Yes.” The club’s chief executive Peter Storrie told Sky Sports News yesterday that the owner, Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai, was exploring a new initiative to try to save the club. “As far as general negotiations are concerned (with potential new owners) they are just about complete,” Storrie said. “It is now all about proof of funds. If that is proved through bona fide banks, Mr Chainrai is in London and is prepared to push ahead and get the deal done. “In this situation, you are always sceptical but always hopeful that this football club will survive.” Portsmouth face a winding-up petition from Britain’s Revenue and Customs office in the High Court on March 1, for unpaid taxes,. They club had appealed for permission to sell players in a bid to raise urgent funds but the Premier League declined their request. In October, Fahim sold 90 percent of the club’s shares to Saudi businessman Ali al Faraj. Chainrai has since become the club’s fourth owner in less than a year. British media have reported that the club have debts of more than 70 million pounds ($107.7 million). There is no guarantee that the club, English champions in 1949 and 1950 and FA Cup winners twice, will still be in existence to play their next scheduled home match against Birmingham City in the FA Cup sixth round on March 6. On Saturday, the club lost 2-1 at home to Stoke City, a result that left Portsmouth on 16 points from 26 matches- eight points from safety at the bottom of the table. If they survive the winding-up order and are placed in administration, Portsmouth will have nine points deducted which would seal their almost inevitable relegation from the English top flight.—Reuters
BRAZIL: Botafogo’s Lucio Flavio (center) holding up a trophy, celebrates with teammates at the end of the Guanabara Cup final soccer game against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro.—AP
Botafogo wins Guanabara Cup MEXICO CITY: One half of the Rio de Janeiro state championship final was set Sunday with Botafogo’s 2-0 victory over Vasco. Sebastian “El Loco” Abreu and Fabio Ferreira scored second-half goals to give Botafogo the Guanabara Cup. Defender Ferreira broke the deadlock in the 70th minute and Uruguay striker Abreu converted a penalty in the 84th for Botafogo, which will face the winner of the Rio Cup — the tournament’s second stage — for the state title. It is the second consecutive Guanabara Cup title for Botafogo, which is trying to win the Rio state tournament for the
first time since 2006. In the Sao Paulo state championship, Robinho’s Santos maintained its lead by beating Mirassol 2-1, while Palmeiras defeated Sao Paulo 2-0 in its first match without sacked coach Muricy Ramalho. Ferreira scored in front of more than 80,000 fans at Maracana stadium with a header off a corner kick, and Abreu converted from the penalty spot after he was grabbed inside the area by Vasco defender Nilton, who was sent off. “Sometimes we are not able to play great football, but we can always overcome that by playing with a lot of heart, like we did today,”
Abreu said. Vasco had been a man down from the 72nd minute after defender Titi shown a red card for a hard foul on Botafogo striker Caio. In the Sao Paulo state championship, it was the seventh consecutive win for Santos, which played without youngsters Neymar and Paul Henrique because of suspensions. Robinho, on loan from Manchester City, was substituted in the 73rd. Santos has 25 points, four more than second-place Santo Andre, which won 3-1 at Barueri. Palmeiras rebounded from a series of disappointing results with a commanding 2-0 win over rival Sao
Paulo at Palestra Italia stadium. Striker Robert scored both goals. It was Palmeiras’ first match since firing coach Ramalho and hiring former player Antonio Carlos Zago, who is starting his coaching career. Palmeiras is seventh in the standings with 16 points, while Sao Paulo is fifth with 17. Argentine powerhouses River Plate and Boca Juniors both struggled for draws Sunday, leaving them far off the pace of league-leading Velez and Colon in the Clausura tournament. Marcelo Gallardo scored from a free kick in the 50th minute to help River Plate salvage a 1-1 draw with
Arsenal. Arsenal opened the scoring via a Sergio Sena goal in the 40th. River has only five points from five matches, one more than a very weak Arsenal side. River Plate played with 10 men after Matias Almeyda was sent off for his second yellow card in the 51st minute. Argentine international Martin Paleremo headed in the equalizer in the 71st minute after Godoy Cruz went ahead 1-0 in the 23rd with a Federico Higuain goal. Velez and Colon lead Argentina’s Clausura tournament with 11 points, followed by Godoy Cruz with nine and Tigre and Independiente with
eight. Banfield, Chacarita and Gimnasia have seven. In Mexico, Juan Pablo Rodriguez and Carlos Morales scored late goals as Santos rallied to a 3-3 draw with Estudiantes to stay among the Mexican league leaders. In other matches Sunday, Pumas defeated Atlante 1-0, Cruz Azul drew Indios 0-0 and America and Tigres drew 2-2. The runaway league leader in Mexico is Guadalajara Chivas, which defeated Puebla 3-2 on Saturday. It was Chivas’ seventh straight victory, the best start to a season since Mexico football went professional in the 1940s.—AP
Late goal gives Lille win at Rennes
FRANCE: Rennes’ midfielder Yann M’Vila (right) vies with Lille’s defender Florent Balmont (left) during their French Division One football match.—AFP
Palermo salvages point for giants Boca Juniors BUENOS AIRES: Martin Palermo was Argentina’s saviour in a World Cup qualifier against Peru last October and he repeated the role for his club side Boca Juniors when he salvaged a point for the Buenos Aires giants on Sunday. The 36-year-old striker was perfectly positioned to meet a high cross from the left by Luciano Monzon and lob a neat header into the top corner for Boca’s 69th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Mendoza side Godoy Cruz. It was Clausura championship leading scorer Palermo’s fourth goal in five matches and the first conceded by Boca’s opponents. Godoy Cruz, who would have joined last year’s Clausura winners Velez Sarsfield and Colon at the top of the table, had gone ahead in the 23rd minute with a goal by Federico Higuain, brother of the Real Madrid and Argentina striker Gonzalo. Boca have been trying desperately to pull out of a slump since the middle of last year. After coach Alfio Basile resigned in January, his successor Abel Alves has
tended to rely on younger players and controversially substituted Palermo in a 0-0 draw at home to Atletico Tucuman last weekend. Palermo’s strike partner Lucas Viatri could have won it for Boca but fluffed his chance in front of goal. Boca keeper Javier Garcia then clawed a header from substitute Rodrigo Salinas off the line to secure the point. Velez, who beat Independiente 3-0, and Colon head the standings on 11 points from five matches, two points more than Godoy Cruz. Boca in 10th place have six points. Title-holders Banfield, who won the Apertura championship in December, are four points off the pace after a 0-0 draw with bottom team Rosario Central. Racing Club ended a run of three defeats that cost coach Claudio Vivas his job last week by giving his successor Miguel Angel Russo a winning start, 1-0 at home to San Lorenzo in the weekend’s top Buenos Aires derby.—Reuters
PARIS: A late goal by substitute Pierre Emerick Aubameyang gave third-placed Lille a 2-1 win at Stade Rennes in Ligue 1 on Sunday. The 20-year-old forward scored the winner from close range one minute from time after having come on for Pierre-Alain Frau, who had opened the scoring for the visitors early in the first half. Stade Rennes, who are ninth on 37 points, equalised midway through the first half through Jerome Leroy. Lille are on 47 points from 25 games, four points behind leaders Girondins Bordeaux. Champions Bordeaux did not play this weekend as the French League agreed to postpone their game against Auxerre to give them a break before today’s Champions League last-16 first leg at Olympiakos Piraeus. Second-placed Montpellier squandered the opportunity to move level on points with Bordeaux when they lost 1-0 at St Etienne on Saturday. Brazil midfielder Michel Bastos scored a hattrick in less than half an hour to help Olympique Lyon thrash Sochaux 4-0 away on Sunday. Argentina striker Lisandro Lopez added a late fourth goal for Lyon, who are fourth on 46 points from 25 games. Sochaux are 15th on 32 points. “We got off to a good start and we scored quite early in the game thanks to Michel Bastos, who showed great efficiency in front of the goal and performed very well in the first half,” Lyon coach Claude Puel told Foot+ channel. “We controlled the pace of the game after the break as we were a little bit tired,” he added, referring to Tuesday’s 1-0 win against Real Madrid in the Champions League. Senegalese striker Mamadou Niang also hit a hat-trick as Olympique Marseille beat Nancy 3-1 at home. The Provence side are fifth on 45 points. “I don’t mind who scores. The most important thing was to beat Nancy... If I’m Ligue 1 top scorer at the end of the season, it will only be the ice on the cake,” Niang told reporters after his 14th goal of the campaign took him to the top of the scoring charts. Marseille captain Niang headed home his side’s first goal at the near post from a cross by Charles Kabore in the 10th minute. Nancy’s Andre Luiz scored an equaliser from close range three minutes later but Niang put the home side in front again with a left-footed volley from inside the box just after the half hour. Niang sealed Marseille’s win after the break following a swift counter-attack.—Reuters
MADRID: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring against Villarreal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. —AP
Real trounce Villarreal MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo proved himself to be the perfect team player when he scored a goal and helped set up four more as Real Madrid trounced Villarreal 6-2 in La Liga on Sunday. The world’s most expensive player scored a trademark freekick, that beat Diego Lopez for sheer pace, and through a mixture of perspiration and inspiration guided the team to victory and back within two points of leaders Barcelona. Near the end of the game, when he won a penalty, he even turned down the chance to take the ensuing spot kick and allowed Xabi Alonso the honour, despite being the nominated taker. “I gave the ball to Xabi because there are enough chances for every-
one,” Ronaldo told reporters after the match. “The team played well and there is no need to worry about what happened in Lyon,” he added, referring to the 1-0 last-16 Champions League defeat away to Olympique Lyon during the week. “Here we all win and lose together.” The Portuguese forward has been accused of being selfish in the past and back in December was criticised after he missed a spot kick against Almeria and then refused to join in the celebrations when a team mate netted the rebound. He also earned himself an unnecessary red card in that game, and was sent off again against Malaga last month, picking up a two-match suspension. Local media reported Real Madrid
were worried that his behaviour was damaging team morale and their chances, but that side of the 25-yearold was nowhere to be seen on Sunday. He opened the scoring and ran tirelessly at the Villarreal defence, helping set up two goals for Gonzalo Higuain and one for Kaka before winning the penalty at the end. In keeping with an emphasis on the team as a whole rather than its individuals, Real coach Manuel Pellegrini refused to single out Ronaldo for special praise on Sunday. “The team played to a high level in attack, but also showed themselves to be very secure in defence,” he told reporters. “I am pleased with the performance levels of all the players.”—Reuters
www.kuwaittimes.net
NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Sunday: Orlando 101, Cleveland 95; Denver 114, Boston 105; Detroit 109, San Antonio 101 (OT); Memphis 104, New Jersey 94; Oklahoma City 109, Minnesota 107; New Orleans 102, Houston 94; Golden State 108, Atlanta 104; Phoenix 104, Sacramento 88; Utah 93, Portland 89 (OT). (OT denotes overtime). Eastern Conference Atlantic Division
Boston Toronto Philadelphia NY Knicks New Jersey
W 35 31 21 19 5
L 19 24 34 35 51
PCT .648 .564 .382 .352 .089
GB 4.5 14.5 16 31
Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Indiana
Central Division 43 14 .754 29 26 .527 26 28 .481 20 35 .364 19 36 .345
13 15.5 22 23
Orlando Atlanta Miami Charlotte Washington
Southeast Division 38 19 .667 34 20 .630 2.5 29 28 .509 9 27 27 .500 9.5 19 34 .358 17
Denver Utah Oklahoma City Portland Minnesota
Western Conference Northwest Division 37 19 .661 36 19 .655 .5 33 21 .611 3 32 26 .552 6 13 44 .228 24.5
LA Lakers Phoenix LA Clippers Sacramento Golden State
Pacific Division 42 14 .750 34 23 .596 22 33 .400 18 38 .321 16 39 .291
Dallas San Antonio New Orleans Houston Memphis
Southwest Division 35 21 .625 31 23 .574 3 30 26 .536 5 28 27 .509 6.5 28 27 .509 6.5
8.5 19.5 24 25.5
ORLANDO: Magic guard Jameer Nelson (right) puts up a three-point basket in front of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams during the second half of an NBA basketball game.— AP
Magic dump Cavs, Nuggets pound Celtics ORLANDO: Dwight Howard had 22 points and 16 rebounds in a bruising battle with Shaquille O’Neal as the Orlando Magic beat Cleveland 10195 on Sunday to hand the Cavaliers their first three-game losing streak in two years. Cleveland’s skid comes on the heels of a 13-game win streak. Howard was 8-for-13 shooting and added four blocks, and Vince Carter had eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Magic beat Cleveland for the first time this season. O’Neal made his first eight shots and finished with 20 points, and LeBron James had 33 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were eliminated by Orlando in last year’s Eastern Conference finals. Nuggets 114, Celtics 105 At Denver, JR Smith scored 16 of
his 19 points in the fourth quarter as Denver recovered to beat Boston after blowing an early 20-point lead. Chauncey Billups had 26 points and Carmelo Anthony added 23 for the Nuggets, who avoided back-toback losses for the first time since late December with the victory over the NBA’s top road team. Ray Allen had 25 points and Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Marquis Daniels added 15 points apiece for the Celtics, who lost for the first time in their last four road games. They remain an NBA-best 20-10 away from home. Thunder 109, T’wolves 107 At Minneapolis, Kevin Durant scored 32 points to extend his streak of games with at least 25 points to 28 as Oklahoma City edged Minnesota
for its ninth straight win. Russell Westbrook had a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists, and Jeff Green added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder. Jonny Flynn and Kevin Love each had 19 points for the Timberwolves, who have dropped five in a row. Durant scoring streak surpasses Allen Iverson’s 27-game streak in 2001. It’s the longest since Michael Jordan had 40 straight games of 25 or more points in the 1986-87 season. Jazz 93, T Blazers 89 At Portland, Oregon, Carlos Boozer scored on an offensive putback at the end of regulation to force overtime, then gave Utah its first lead since the opening minutes as the Jazz rallied from down 25 in the
third quarter to stun Portland. Boozer had 22 points and a career-high 23 rebounds for the Jazz, who trailed 64-39 with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. They outscored the Blazers 44-19 over the final 19 minutes to send it to overtime. Brandon Roy led Portland with 23 points and Marcus Camby had 18 rebounds. Deron Williams added 18 points and 12 assists for the Jazz. Pistons 109, Spurs 101 At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton scored 27 points and Rodney Stuckey added 20 and Detroit held on for the win after trailing to start overtime. Manu Ginobili’s layup tied the game at 9393 with 27.5 seconds left, and the Pistons missed two game-winning shots at the end of regulation. Tim
Duncan had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs. Grizzlies 104, Nets 94 At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Rudy Gay scored 29 points as Memphis added another exclamation point to a frustrating season for New Jersey, rallying from an 18-point first-half deficit for the win. O.J. Mayo scored 10 of his 24 points in a 17-point run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and put the Grizzlies ahead for good, adding to the woes of the Nets (5-51). Zach Randolph added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Marc Gasol tallied 14 of his 16 points in the second half for Memphis. Brook Lopez had 26 points to lead the Nets, who led 3620 after their highest-scoring first quarter of the season.
Simon sent packing DUBAI: Gilles Simon, the former world number six, has still not won a match on the ATP World Tour for three and a half months after suffering a straight games defeat in the first round of the Dubai Open yesterday. Simon, who is trying to make a comeback from a long-lasting knee injury, certainly had his moments against Marcos Baghdatis, the former Australian Open finalist, before going down 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in a onehour, 42-minute match full of long rallies. The eighthseeded Frenchman broke back twice in the first set, and from 0-3 to 3-3 in the second, and played many well-constructed baseline rallies, but had too high an error ratio during key phases of the match, and was therefore unable to capitalise on his best tennis. Baghdatis, by contrast, did well with what fate had dealt him, for he was suffering from a high fever. He rallied consistently and served aggressively and was pleased to have caused the first seeding upset of the tournament. The Cypriot also spoke well of his opponent. “You can see Gilles is a great player, but he was lacking in confidence. He just needs matches,” he said generously. Simon’s biggest problem is a tendon in the right knee which is not regenerating, which means that,
after a three month lay-off, he has been practising for just 20 days. That is creating problems for other parts of the body, unused to the stress, and he had a pain in his side which inhibited his service action. “I don’t think he was playing better than me. I think at the end of the match I was playing far better than him,” Simon said. “But in the final game he didn’t have to do anything! “Of course it’s difficult to play great shots when you are tight but I was playing four winners in the games before and then making four mistakes.” Simon went all the way to Australia last month and then decided against playing in the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne. He competed in Marseille last week, his first ATP Tour match of the year, but lost in the first round there too, and now plans to compete at the Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells in two-week’s time. He has been told by the doctor that it is fine to play unless he feels pain in the knee again, and then he should stop immediately. “It is difficult to know what will happen to it. But I must try to play,” Simon said. Meanwhile Baghdatis now appears to have a decent chance, if he can recover from his illness, to progress to a quarter-final, possibly against Nikolay Davydenko, the ATP World Tour champion.— AFP
Warriors 108, Hawks 104 At Oakland, California, Stephen Curry scored 32 points and made the go-ahead free throw in the final minute after a technical foul on Jamal Crawford to help Golden State edge Atlanta. Monta Ellis scored 26 for the Warriors, who got their first win against a team with a winning record since beating Boston on Dec. 28. Joe Johnson led Atlanta with 31 points, Al Horford added 26 and Josh Smith had 14 points and 17 rebounds. The Hawks have lost three of four. Suns 104, Kings 88 At Phoenix, Jason Richardson scored 26 points, Amare Stoudemire had 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Steve Nash had 17 assists as Phoenix completed a season series
sweep of Sacramento. Newly acquired Carl Landry led Sacramento with 18 points. Beno Udrih had 17 and Donte Greene and rookie Tyreke Evans each scored 16 for the Kings. The Kings began the season 9-8, but since then they are 9-30. They are 5-25 on the road and have lost nine straight in Phoenix. Hornets 102, Rockets 94 At New Orleans, David West scored 27 points, including four in the final 2 minutes, to lift New Orleans to the win. Darren Collison added 26 points for New Orleans, the fifth straight game he’s had 24 or more. Chase Budinger scored 18 points and Aaron Brooks added 15 for Houston, which has dropped two straight. — AP
Ferrero makes it two titles in a row in South America
Dubai Open
DUBAI: Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus returns the ball to France’s Gilles Simon during the first day of the Emirates Dubai ATP Tennis Championships.— AP
BUENOS AIRES: Juan Carlos Ferrero completed a perfect two-week tour of South America with a 5-7 64 6-3 victory over fellow Spaniard and top seed David Ferrer in the Buenos Aires Open on Sunday. Former world number one Ferrero, the second seed, had won the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe last weekend, having chosen the claycourt tournaments in South America as part of his bid to climb back up the rankings. “This is an amazing feeling. When I left home I never imagined I’d have two weeks like these and beat such good players as David,” 2003 French Open champion Ferrero, who took his tally to 14 titles, said in a courtside interview. “It’s not the most comfortable feeling to beat the best friend you have on the circuit.” The resurgent 30-year-old will return to the world’s top 20 on Monday when updated rankings are issued. The title remains in Spanish hands after Tommy Robredo’s victory last year. It was the fourth Spanish win in 10 years after Carlos Moya was twice champion in 2003 and 2006. Ferrero’s victory is the more impressive because of the form his opponent had shown all week, culminating in a 6-1 6-1 semi-final rout of fifth-seeded compatriot Albert Montanes on Saturday-just hours after playing a quarter-final in the rain-interrupted tournament. The supremely fit Ferrer broke Ferrero in the opening game and dominated the first set as his opponent attempted to find his more varied game. Ferrer broke again in the 11th to take the set on his second set point when Ferrero netted after an hour of attritional tennis under a heavy sky that threatened more rain. He also broke in the first game of the second set handed it straight back after volleying long with his rival at his mercy. Some brilliant exchanges in the middle of the set provided some relief from the long, hard-hitting ral-
lies, with Ferrer’s net play bringing the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club crowd to their feet. But Ferrer netted a service return at 4-5 down to concede the second set then volleyed wide to concede a vital break in the eighth game of the third. Ferrero needed just one match point to clinch victory when, having forced Ferrer wide to his left, he drove into the other corner. Both players will remain in Latin America to take part in the Acapulco tournament in Mexico this week.— Reuters
Querrey bags Memphis title MEMPHIS: Sam Querrey came back from a set down to overhaul fellow American John Isner 6-7 76 6-3 and win the Memphis Championships on Sunday. Querrey was two points from defeat in the second set tiebreaker but rallied to win it 7-5 and then carried the momentum into the third, breaking his opponent twice to seal his third career title and first of the season. The American pair, named in the US Davis Cup team to take on Serbia, are friends and frequent practice partners. “It’s tough playing your good buddy like that-if anyone else could win the tournament, I’d want it to be him, so you’re not going to get the same reaction from me about it than if I were playing someone else,” Querrey told reporters. “He’ll win some of these and I’ll win some of these.” In a battle of big serves from big men, Querrey is 6-foot-6 and Isner 6-foot-9, neither player was able to break the other in the first two sets. “I had the match on my racquet,” Isner said. — Reuters
Gulf Bank announces its 2009 operating results
22
No 20bn euro aid plan for Greece: EU executive
In Thailand, world’s top FM stands tall
25
26
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
www.kuwaittimes.net
New refinery will help tap Kuwait’s heavy oil Petrochem industry holds key to future: Expert KUWAIT: The new oil refinery that will be set up by the Kuwaiti Oil Company (KOC) is a necessity to make use of the heavy oil found in Kuwait, Kuwaiti oil expert Dr Mena Maarfi said here yesterday. The Kuwaiti expert, also director of the oil refinery department at the Oil Research and Study Center of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, said in an interview with the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) yesterday the current
Kuwaiti oil refineries can deal with little quantities of heavy oil, though this will negatively affect the refinery with an expected increase in its production. She made clear that the negative effect is to include an erosion in the machinery of these refineries due to the high percentages of sulfur as the current refineries are not well-equipped for processing such kind of oil and need introducing big changes to them to do this task.
The expert went on to say that the KOC announced that it is going to produce 50,000 bpd of heavy oil in 2011 and 2012 and it had already started to make use of a number of fields existing in northern, southeastern and southwestern of Kuwait. However, she said that this necessitates some preparations as the absence of special refineries for such kind of oil will make Kuwait sell it as a crude oil, making it miss the opportunity of selling it at
higher prices in the form of products. The expert also said that it all depends in the end on the marketing plans of the KOC and whether it wants to refine this kind of oil, then sell it or desires to sell it as a crude oil, pointing out that selling it as a crude will be “a loss for the state.” Maarfi said that the future of the oil industry will depend on the petrochemical industries as they are more profitable in this sector and as the global demand for the petrochemicals are on the
increase, pointing out that “Kuwait started to take notice of this through setting up lucrative petrochemical projects.” She added that Kuwait took the lead since the 1970s in the petrochemical sector and so it was more proper for it to continue this path because it creates new job opportunities, besides being highly lucrative. Maarfi said that the drive of the KOC is to depend on the heavy oil in order to achieve the main goal behind the oil sec-
tor strategy that aim at reaching four billion bpd output in 2020 along with keeping this rate till 2030, pointing out that reaching this strategy “requires from us producing 900 thousands bpd of heavy oil.” Eventually, the expert pointed to the possibility of achieving integration between the oil refineries and the petrochemical industries in what makes the refineries produce materials suitable for the petrochemical industry. —KUNA
Bharti lines up $9bn loans for Zain Africa NEW DELHI: India’s Bharti Airtel has lined up $9 billion in loans from foreign and local banks for its planned acquisition of the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain, the Economic Times reported yesterday. The newspaper cited three people familiar with the matter as saying nearly a dozen banks-mostly foreign-had come forward to commit the amount in longterm loans, compared with earlier plans of taking shortterm or bridge loans. Standard Chartered is leading the consortium of banks and has alone committed $5.5 billion, the paper said. The pricing for the 7-year loan could be close to 300 basis points over the London inter-bank offered rate, it said. Barclays has also committed close to $5 billion to
the company, the paper said. Sources had earlier told Reuters Standard Chartered and Barclays were advising Bharti on the deal and also on the funding and that Standard Chartered was looking to lead roughly $5 billion loan for Bharti. The Economic Times said about $2-$3 billion could be rupee loans from a couple of Indian banks keen on being part of a syndicate of banks. Foreign banks including ANZ, BNP Paribas, Citi, DBS, Bank of TokyoMitsubishi UFJ and JPMorgan were likely to be par t of the overseas syndication, it said. Among Indian banks, the State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank, besides some state owned banks, also want to partner in this deal, it said. — Reuters
Etisalat closing in on Iraqi operator ABU DHABI: Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) is close to buying a majority stake in Iraq’s Korek Telecom as it looks to double revenues from overseas operations in three years, Etisalat’s chairman said. Etisalat, the Gulf Arab region’s second-largest telecommunications firm by market value, has been aggressively expanding outside the United Arab Emirates since its monopoly there was broken by Dubai-based du. The company said on Feb 18 there were six markets in the Middle East and North Africa that it was investigating for both acquisitions or new licenses. “Etisalat is almost near to finalizing a deal with Korek,” Mohammad Omran said at a press conference, later adding it was in talks to buy a majority stake in the northern Iraqbased telecom firm. Iraq currently has three mobile phone operatorsKuwait’s Zain, Korek and Asiacell, a unit of Qatar Telecommunications Co, each of which has paid the government $1.25 billion in license fees. Omran said the six markets the firm was looking at also included Algeria and Libya. “Etisalat will opt for a bonds issue based on its needs,” Omran said. “It depends on major acquisitions ... we are ready,” he said, adding it would also depend on market conditions. Omran was quoted last week as saying the firm was interested in buying Djezzy, the Algerian unit of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom. The Algerian government wants Orascom to relinquish ownership of Algeria’s No.1 mobile phone operator, government and finance industry sources told Reuters. “If we do all we have in mind, it (2010 spending) will be a big amount,” Omran said.
Etisalat, which recently crossed the 100 million subscriber mark, operates in 18 countries, stretching from Tanzania to Indonesia and including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The firm submitted a bid in July for a license in Libya and has previously indicated its interest in acquiring a company in Iraq and bidding for licenses in Lebanon and Syria. It failed last year in a bid to take a stake in Meditel, Morocco’s secondlargest telecommunications’ firm and had its license withdrawn in Iran. “Etisalat expects revenues from international operations to (reach) 20 percent in 3 years,” he said, rising from 10 percent now. Meanwhile, India has deferred a decision to allow transfer of shares from resident to non-resident in the India telecoms venture of Etisalat, a finance ministry statement said yesterday, without citing any reason. The UAE telecoms company said earlier this month that it had filed an application to raise stake to 50 percent plus one share in its Indian unit, Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd, from its current 44.73 percent and was awaiting regulatory approval. The statement from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a unit of the finance ministry, said the board has approved 12 foreign direct investment proposals worth 10.46 billion rupees ($226 million), including one from Max India, which runs hospitals and a life insurance business in the country. Max India’s proposal to raise 5.29 billion rupees ($114.5 million) through fully convertible debentures had been approved, the statement said. The government also approved Walt Disney’s proposal to print a speciality magazine in India, it said, without indicating any potential investment details. — Reuters
YIWU, China: In this photo taken on Sunday, a Chinese man holds a cardboard displaying job listings, heading to a job fair in Yiwu in east China’s Zhejiang province.—AP
Dubai not to seek ‘preferred’ creditor status Talks to continue on $22bn in debt on ‘equitable’ basis DUBAI: Dubai dropped plans to seek preferred creditor status in the restructuring of stateowned Dubai World, a reversal which removed a key stumbling block in talks with lenders. It said the restructuring of some $22 billion in debt would be “equal” for all creditors but a source said Dubai World will likely not repay a $980 million Islamic bond linked to its property unit Nakheel and due in May. Dubai shook markets in November with plans to delay repaying $26 billion of debt linked to Dubai World’s main property units Nakheel and Limitless World. It averted default on a $4.1 billion Islamic bond issued by Nakheel after a last minute bailout from Abu Dhabi. The debt restructuring plan is scheduled to be unveiled in March. Until then the Gulf Arab emirates will continue to fund working capital and interest payments on an unsecured basis. “That is a concession from the government,” a source familiar with the matter said. “We haven’t let go of our want but we will continue to fund on an unsecured basis,” the source said, adding: “We’re not going to do this forever.” “We are going to put forward a plan that
shares the recoveries with the lenders,” the source said, referring to the government’s intention to make the restructuring plan “equitable.” The Dubai government, acting through the Dubai Financial Support Fund (DFSF), has given the conglomerate about $6.2 billion over the past 12 months and plans to provide more. Collateral for further aid was cited as an impediment to a deal to address Dubai World’s unmanageable debt burden. Taking Dubai World security against future help would make the DFSF a preferred creditor in the event of an insolvency. Dubai is in talks with an informal creditor committee made up by Standard Chartered, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as local lenders Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Japan’s Bank of TokyoMitsubishi, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, joined the group in January. In Abu Dhabi, the head of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) said he expected Dubai to reach a speedy resolution and did not expect it would seek AMF funds. “Their reputation is not just for today so they are keen to reach a satisfactory solution fast,” Jassim Al-Mannai, director general of the fund, told reporters. —Reuters
Deyaar chief believes prices near bottom DUBAI: Dubai’s battered real estate prices have nearly bottomed out and should start to recover, but probably not until at least next year, the head of one of the troubled emirate’s most prominent property developers said yesterday. Prices in the Mideast sheikdom dropped by half in less than a year from their peak in late 2008 as overseas buyers, many of them speculators relying on easy credit, fled the market. The unexpectedly steep plunge led to widespread job cuts and contributed to Dubai’s financial problems by depriving many local developers the cash they needed to pay the bills and cover debts racked up in a torrid building boom. Deyaar Development Co, Dubai’s second biggest listed developer, was among those hurt by the downturn. CEO Markus Giebel told reporters yesterday that while he does not expect a dramatic recovery in Dubai’s property market, prices are unlikely to fall significantly further. “Dubai has reached a bottom phase,” Giebel said. “I cannot tell you if it goes 5 percent up or down. But I’m very certain it will not go 20 or 30 percent up or down in the next year.” Giebel said he expects prices will fluctuate in a narrow range before possibly starting to recover in 2011. Unlike some other Dubai firms, such as troubled islandbuilding developer Nakheel, Deyaar is not owned outright by the emirate’s government, though the state does have an indirect stake. Deyaar last week said its 2009 profit dropped 95 percent to 30 million dirhams ($8.2 million), as sales fell and the company booked impairment charges and made other accounting adjustments. Giebel said Deyaar planned to move beyond primarily developing luxury high-rises to focus more on specialized markets and low-income housing, which is scarce in Dubai. It also is looking to expand to other parts of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and possibly Iraq. Deyaar currently owes its contractors less than 100 million dirhams ($27.3 million), much of it overdue, but is working to clear those debts, Giebel said. Dubai is struggling to get out from under more than $80 billion in debt.—AP
Qatar learns lessons of Dubai property peril DUBAI/LONDON: Gulf state Qatar will have to endure at least another 12 months of falling property prices before a recovery in 2011, when the benefits of a prudent approach towards real estate development begin to pay off. Industry experts said Qatar is learning lessons from Dubai’s flawed speculative building model, which imploded during the global financial crisis and saw residential prices plunge some 60 percent from their 2008 peak. Qatar escaped from that storm with minor injury and state moves to control development of new offices, shops and homes mean its fledgling market may heal up to a year before Dubai. “You didn’t have the same amount of supply and projects completed at the same time in Qatar, so I think the timing and phasing is to the advantage of the Qataris,” said Ziad Makhzoumi, chief financial officer at Arabtec, the United Arab Emirates’ largest contractor. Analysts at investment bank The First Investor expect house prices in Qatar, down about 30 percent since the crisis, to fall a
further 10-15 percent before bouncing back next year as the government’s disciplined control on new building bears fruit. Contractors in the United Arab Emirates are already beating a path to take advantage of Qatar’s lucrative construction market, for all types of property, which is seen up 7 percent to about $5.6 billion in 2010, investment bank TFI said. Commercial property prices in Qatar, down 20-30 pct in 2009, are likely to stabilise in the second or third quarter of this year, property consultant told Reuters. These projected growth and stabilization stories mirror that of Qatar’s economy, which is seen up 16.1 percent this year due to massive expansion at its natural gas facilities, compared with a 2.5 percent projection across the UAE. This is likely to spur real estate demand across the Gulf state in sharp contrast to Dubai, where a shaky jobs market has forced expats to flee, delaying a turnaround in property prices until 2012, a poll showed in January. — Reuters
22
BUSINESS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Focus on core banking business, superior customer service
Gulf Bank announces its 2009 operating results KUWAIT: Gulf Bank has announced operating profits of KD 83 million for 2009. However, provisions requirements of KD 111 million for the credit portfolio led to a net loss of KD 28 million for the year, or 12 fils per share. Ali Al-Rushaid Al-Bader, Gulf Bank’s Chairman, stated: “Gulf Bank’s normal operating profit amounted to KD 106 million before adjusting it for accounting considerations. This notable operating performance is the direct result of the hard work of all the staff, as well as the new conservative strategy to refocus on our core banking business.
However, this strong operating performance was, unfortunately, negatively impacted by the provisions required for coping with the retreating quality of some credit facilities and market general conditions”. “Despite the substantial increase in the credit provisions, the Bank’s capital ratio, at 16%, remains comfortable and adequate for its needs and for future growth requirements”, Al-Bader added. Gulf Bank is now on very solid grounds to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. The Bank is committed to maximizing Shareholders’ returns and to providing its customers with world-
Gulf Bank Chairman Ali AlRushaid Al-Bader
class standards of service quality and competitive value. “The Bank’s management will continue to implement its plans aimed to grow the Bank’s business and its credit and investment portfolios, ensuring the realization of targeted objectives. We will focus on developing our human capital to meet top professional standards and best practices, thereby enabling Gulf Bank to better serve its customers. We expect the Bank to show operating profits in 2010, sufficient to absorb any additional provisioning requirements”, Al-Bader concluded.
Servcorp is certainly not Kuwait-ing around
Over 280 global space business leaders to converge on Dubai
Servcorp to dominate ME with Kuwait office KUWAIT: Servcorp, international serviced and virtual office provider is planning to dominate the Middle Eastern market with the unveiling of its premium offices in Kuwait City. Servcorp’s aggressive and strategic 2010 expansion plans will continue to ensure they remain one step ahead of its competitors. While its competitors around the globe appear reluctant to invest in this location, Servcorp is continuing to build its portfolio regardless. Kuwait City was the third opening Servcorp has successfully accomplished in the Middle Eastern market in less than six months; other locations include Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, joining other existing offices in Dubai, Doha, and Manama. Servcorp’s new opening in Kuwait City couldn’t actually
World Space Risk Forum set to open DUBAI: The World Space Risk Forum, a bi-annual conference that brings together professionals in the space business, will be held, in association with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), in Dubai from 1 to 3 March 2010. Over 280 delegates, 85% of whom are from overseas, will come together at the forum to exchange ideas on space risk management and insurance. Delegates attending the event will include CEOs and CFOs of satellite manufacturers, satellite operators and launch service providers, in addition to all the major global insurance brokers and underwriter companies. Over the course of the three day forum, they will discuss key topics such as Technical Developments in the Space Industry; Impact of the Global Economy on the Space Industry; Legal and Regulatory Environment within the Space Industry; and the outlook for the sector over the next three decades. A panel of industry experts will debate each session topic giving the audience an opportunity to gain insights on new developments in the space industry and their economic consequences. The event will feature a number of key note addresses from the likes of Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic; Jean-Yves Le Gall, CEO of Arianespace; David Williams, Chief Executive of Avanti Communications; Padraig McCarthy, CFO of SES Astra; and Faraj Elamari, CEO of Rascom. Dr. Ramin Khadem, Chairman of Odyssey Moon, will deliver the opening
Jeff Cassidy, of Global Aerospace and Chairman of the World Space Risk Forum 2010 Working Committee key note speech on the future of the space industry. Abdulla Mohammed AlAwar, CEO of the DIFC Authority said: “DIFC’s support for the World Space Risk Forum is part of our efforts to encourage the development of niche sectors within the insurance industry like space risk management. DIFC has created an internationally-benchmarked regulatory framework and business-enabling infrastructure to support the development of the insurance market within the region. Several global insurance firms have already based themselves in
DIFC to tap the vast opportunities available in the Middle East. The region’s highly untapped market, rising awareness levels and the growth of insurable assets are driving the expansion of its insurance market. With the recent growth of the space industry in the region, space risk management is another niche sector that offers high potential for growth. The World Space Risk Forum in Dubai offers an invaluable opportunity to discuss new strategies and solutions for managing risk in the rapidly evolving space industry.”
Abdulla Mohammed Al-Awar, CEO of the DIFC Authority Jeff Cassidy, of Global Aerospace and Chairman of the World Space Risk Forum 2010 Working Committee commented: “The World Space Risk Forum’s inaugural event in Dubai is a significant milestone in fulfilling His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s long term commitment of establishing aerospace, high technologies and telecommunication as key strategic industries for the emirate’s future economic success. “The opportunity that the space industry, currently worth over $150 billion per year globally, can offer Dubai and the UAE, is significant. Already
locally based companies such as Elseco, Thuraya, Yahsat and Dubaisat are making significant strides to accessing this potential. With the world’s leading space business experts congregating here for the forum, both the UAE and the Middle East have an opportunity to enhance their role in the global space industry.” As part of the World Space Risk Forum activities, DIFC will be hosting an official reception on Monday, 1st March 2010. Further information on the World Space Risk Forum, including registration details and a full program agenda can be viewed at www.wsrf2010.com.
come at a better time as the Government is currently concentrating its efforts on decreasing dependence on oil revenues by encouraging privatization and overseas investments. Consequently, Kuwait is recognized for being one of the fastest growing economies. Barry Barakat, General Manager, Kuwait comments: “We’ve mastered Australia and the international market and now we’re keen to be well established in the Middle East. For a location that has previously been identified for its business prowess, it’s going to be interesting to see business growth unfold. I have no doubt our unprecedented service and products will continue to give us a competitive edge that will ensure we’re the first port of call for all serviced and virtual
office requirements. We’ll be offering our renowned levels of service, infrastructure and facilities for both existing local organisations as well as the flood of foreign companies looking to make their mark in this exciting market.” The new 18th floor Servcorp site is located within the prestigious Sahab Tower in the Salhia Commercial Complex, situated in the heart of Kuwait City’s bustling business and commercial district. The Complex incorporates three floors of stores, including high fashion and luxury brands, four floors of offices and dedicated car parking for 450 vehicles. The Servcorp offices will feature a sophisticated corporate look, superior customer service and an unrivalled, fully converged IT and communications network.
Celebrate National Day, Liberation Day at the ‘Safir’ Marina Hotel Kuwait Special packages organized for guests and residents KUWAIT: The “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait is ready with its best offers and activities to celebrate Kuwait’s 20th year of liberation. The National Day and Liberation Day festivity commences with a five day special to guarantee that all its guests have an enjoyable time with their friends and family. Families wishing to spend their holidays with their loved ones at the “Safir” Marina Hotel can avail of the minimum stay room packages. They can relax and enjoy their stay in the beautifully designed, sea facing rooms at discounted prices from 25th February till 1st March. The hotel’s rooms are eloquently designed and have all the requisite facilities and luxurious amenities. They can avail the exotic spa, pool area and
state of the art fitness centre. Celebrate these holidays with The “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait and enjoy the difference at the strategically located Hotel which lies in the heart of the city not far from the Kuwait International Airport and Kuwait City. The hotel overlooks many unique features of Kuwait including Kuwait Towers, The Scientific Center, Marina Mall and Marina Crescent. The hotel’s different restaurants take its guests on an endless journey starting from The Six Palms Restaurant which serves the best Eastern and Western cuisines, to The Atlantis Restaurant which specializes in International and other Mediterranean cuisines. Both restaurants offer the most scrumptious platters and meals.
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
.2830000 .4430000 .3900000 .2650000 .2750000 .2570000 .0045000 .0020000 .0781130 .7610300 .4020000 .0750000 .7460570 .0045000 .0500000
.2930000 .4530000 .3970000 .2740000 .2810000 .2640000 .0075000 .0035000 .0788980 .7686780 .4180000 .0790000 .7535550 .0072000 .0580000
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
CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2877500 .4454860 .3924460 .2677070 .2771310 .0527310 .0399660 .2592620 .0370510 .2043300 .0031390 .0062550 .0025240 .0034050 .0042160 .0783820 .7636460 .4069560 .0767720 .7477740 .0062550
.2898500 .4486320 .3952170 .2696030 .2790940 .0531050 .0402490 .2610920 .0373130 .2057780 .0031620 .0062990 .0025420 .0034290 .0042450 .0788820 .7685150 .4098380 .0772620 .7525420 .0062990
US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals
TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2898500 .4486320 .2696030 .0772620
Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 289.150 Euro 397.000 Sterling Pound 451.110
Canadian dollar Turkish lire Swiss Franc Australian dollar US Dollar Buying
281.410 191.400 272.010 259.830 287.000
Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash
ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.201 6.218 3.401 2.524 3.912 205.400 37.250 4.178 6.238 8.721 0.301 0.292
Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham
ARAB COUNTRIES 56.250 52.670 1.364 208.920 408.520 195.400 6.324 35.610 GCC COUNTRIES 77.150 79.480 751.530 768.300 78.790
Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham
SELL CASH 263.900 769.780 4.460 281.800 567.700 15.800 53.300 167.800 56.300 397.700
10 Tola
GOLD 1,216.300
37.780 6.240
408.630 0.194 87.750 3.920 204.900
SELL DRAFT 262.400 768.780 4.180 280.300
206.400 52.690 396.200
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
Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.
271.000 8.900 78.880 289.100
Rate per 1000 (Tran)
US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars
TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 450.800 289.100
288.900 282.000 452.330 399.120 268.405 708.110 766.105 78.635 79.265 77.070 407.675 52.675 6.265 3.400
2.525 4.175 6.265 3.150 8.685 5.565 3.920
Currency 750.770 3.420 6.255 79.520 77.190 206.440 40.370 2.524 450.800
Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd
Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash
37.910 6.600 0.034 0.292 0.260 3.250 410.220 0.195 87.750 48.000 4.260 208.400 2.183 49.800 750.950 3.500 6.420 79.950 77.190 206.440 40.370 2.777 452.800 41.000 272.500 6.400 9.070 217.900 78.880 289.500 1.410
Sterling Pound US Dollar
GOLD 215.000 112.000 59.000
20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram
Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal
289.050 3.410 6.270 2.535 4.175 6.300 78.680 77.250 768.000 52.645 452.800 0.0000312 3.900 1.550 410.300 5.750 399.700 285.000
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 *Rates are subject to change
Transfer rate 288.800 396.350 450.350 280.050 3.180 6.260 52.630 2.522 4.172 6.275 3.400 768.400 78.675 77.000
BUSINESS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
23
Oil edges up near $80, pares gain of 6-week Dollar down 0.17% against currency basket
VIENNA: Austrian Chancellor Werner Fayman, center, speaks at a joint news conference with Vice Chancellor Josef Proell, left, and Governor of the Austrian national bank Ewald Nowotny after a meeting with top officials of the Austrian banks, yesterday, at the federal chancellery in Vienna. Fayman said after the meeting that the Austrian government plans a bank-tax. —AP
Aramco starts output from two revamped gas plants KHOBAR: State oil company Saudi Aramco has brought online the expanded Juaymah and Hawiyah gas plants, sources close to the project said yesterday. Aramco is focusing on meeting domestic gas demand after completing last year a crude expansion project to boost output capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day. Gas demand in the kingdom is growing annually by 7 percent as oil revenues fuel economic expansion. Aramco aims to raise gas supplies 30 percent to 8 billion cubic feet per day in five years. It also sees its non-associated gas processing capacity rising to 9 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) by 2015, from 6.2 billion cfd, an Aramco executive said last year. “The projects are finalized, mechanical completion is done,” one source said. Aramco is boost-
ing capacity at Juaymah by around 50 percent to handle increased volumes of petrochemical feedstock ethane and light oils that form when gas is extracted, called natural gas liquids (NGLs). The expansion at Juaymah will add 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) of additional splitting capacity to the gas plant, taking capacity there to 815,000 bpd. The increased ethane and NGL output comes from the expansion of the Hawiyah and Khursaniyah gas plants. The plant at Hawiyah will process an additional 800 million cfd of non-associated gas, raising the plant’s capacity to 2.4 billion cfd. Last month, Aramco started operating the Khursaniyah gas plant which would process 1 billion cfd of gas from the 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) Khursaniyah oilfield. —Reuters
Al-Rajhi, Arcapita launch $500m Gulf property fund DUBAI: Al Rajhi Capital, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank and Bahrain’s Arcapita Bank has launched a $500 million Gulf property income fund to capitalise on falling prices, the firms said yesterday. The two companies will seed a joint investment of $50 million for the fund, which will focus on logistics warehouses, healthcare and educationrelated assets in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab region, they said in a statement. Saudi Arabia has earmarked around $400 billion to boost infrastructure over the next five years and is looking to cater for growing demand for new housing from the young population in the world’s largest oil exporter.
Al Rajhi and Arcapita have completed the first acquisition for the fund and bought a logistics and distribution centre in the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, for $79.7 million. “We believe that this fund is launching at a time that will allow us to deploy our financial resources to gather a portfolio of prime real estate assets at attractive valuations,” Jorge Cantonnet, managing director and head of private equity at Al Rajhi Capital said. The logistics facility is the main distribution hub for Azizia Panda United Company, a leading supermarket firm in the kingdom, and will be leased back to Azizia over 18 years, the statement said. Dubai-based investment
bank Rasmala Investments said in October it was setting up a 500 million-riyal Islamic ($133.3 million) property fund to pursue opportunities in mid-income housing in Saudi Arabia. But in Dubai, which has been worst affected in the region by the economic downturn, the emirate’s second-largest developer, Deyaar, postponed earlier in February a 500 milliondirham ($136.1 million) distressed property fund after international investors withdrew previously committed funds. Property prices in Dubai have plunged some 60 percent since their peaks in 2008 and billions of dollars worth of projects have been put on hold or cancelled. —Reuters
WTO says ‘too early’ for ministers to meet on Doha GENEVA: World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy said yesterday that he was against inviting ministers to a meeting in March which is aimed at driving forward negotiations for a global trade liberalization pact. While acknowledging that political commitment was needed to conclude the Doha Round of talks, Lamy also assessed that it was “too early” to call on ministers to make such a push at the end of next month. “On... the political decision about 2010, I believe this is a judgment that belongs to ministers and that, on this specific issue, engagement will be needed,” he told diplomats representing the WTO’s 153-member states. “Given where we are right now, it is also clear, however, that the end of March is too early for that,” added the director-general of the WTO. Lamy said that the meeting in March,
aimed at taking stock of the progress in negotiations, would be “best undertaken by senior officials at this stage.” Lamy had earlier warned that WTO member states risk missing the 2010 target set by world leaders for reaching a long delayed global trade pact unless there was a breakthrough by the end of the first quarter. The Doha Round of negotiations for a trade liberalisation deal began in 2001 with a focus on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations, by aiming for a deal that would cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods. Deadlines to conclude the talks have been repeatedly missed. Discussions have been dogged by disagreements, including on how much the United States and the European Union should reduce aid to their farmers and the extent to which developing countries such as India and China should lower tariffs. —AFP
LONDON: Oil held just below $80 a barrel yesterday, paring much of an ear- lar weakened as the impact of last week’s surprise rise in a US central bank lier gain to a six-week high, as the dollar came under pressure and a strike at emergency lending rate faded. Oil also gained a lift from rising crude oil proFrench oil refineries entered its sixth day and spread to other plants. The dol- cessing in China and tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. US crude for March delivery rose 5 cents to $79.86 a barrel by 1446 GMT. It earlier reached $80.51 — the highest for a nearby contract since Jan. 13. Brent crude for April rose 1 cent to $78.20. “We’re seeing some risk appetite returning with the dollar weakening against other currencies,” said Mike Wittner, oil analyst at Societe Generale. A weaker dollar makes crude and other dollar-denominated commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies and tends to support oil prices. Gold climbed to a one-month high. Oil in New York rose 7.7 percent last week, the largest single-week percentage gain since October. The market’s peak so far in 2010 is $83.95 on Jan 11. Some investors have taken the view that the recent rally was overdone, analysts said. “Oil looked toppish at $80, SEOUL: A currency trader gestures in front of screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index that’s the upper end of the trad(KOSPI) and the exchange rate between the US dollar and the South Korean won, right, at the Korea Exchange ing range,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank. “It’s Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. The KOSPI yesterday jumped 33.20 points, or 2.08 perunlikely to see a level of $80 cent, to close 1,627.10. —AP being sustained given still-weak fundamentals. Physical demand is still lacklustre, outside China at least.” Workers at Total’s French refineries continued strike action, raising concern about fuel supplies and supporting the price of refined products such as gasoil. The 339,000-bpd Gonfreville refinery will halt production fully late on Tuesday due to the strike, the CGT union said. Four other Total refineries are in the process of halting production. her wedding day. It is a genuine A marriage will be made in Tension about Iran’s nuclear pleasure to be whisked away in heaven this month, as luxury work also provided support. such style by Oman Air so that brands and world-leading Iran has earmarked potential we can share our designs with designers unite to showcase sites for new nuclear enrichthe beautiful women of Muscat exclusive wedding fashion, as ment plants and construction of and Dubai.” well as dream reception and two of them could begin this Professor Jimmy Choo OBE, honeymoon destinations in year, a nuclear energy official a range of whose exquisite Muscat and Dubai. said yesterday. work will be exhibited at each For the first time, The More data emerged from show, adds: Shangri-La Wedding Shows will China suggesting strong “I am thrilled be taking part take place at Shangri-La’s Barr demand. The China Petroleum in these Wedding Shows and to Al Jissah Resort and Spa, and Chemical Industry be bringing my work to Muscat Muscat on 26th February and at Association (CPCIA) said China and Dubai. To be working alongthe Shangri-La HotelotelH, processed 30.14 million tons of side Caroline Castigliano, and Dubai on 27th February. They crude in January, up 29 percent such celebrated brands as Oman will bring together Oman Air, Caroline Castigliano from a year earlier. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts Professor Jimmy Choo OBE Air and Shangri-La Hotels and There are signs that oil invenand world-famous haute cou- Professor Choo will highlight Resorts, is an added pleasure. I future husbands, how luxury tories, which ballooned last year ture designers Caroline the unique qualities of couture hope that, together, we can brands and the very best in fashand built up on tankers at sea as Castigliano and Professor design which will provide the inspire brides-to-be throughout ion design can come together to demand declined because of the Jimmy Choo OBE to celebrate perfect wedding day for any the Middle East and beyond and create an experience that is out economic crisis while supply ensure that the most important of this world. the ultimate in superlative wed- bride. remained ample, are falling furding and honeymoon style. “Caroline Castigliano’s The designers will be joined day of their lives exceeds all ther, according to analysts. Presented in the style of an by hundreds of invited guests their expectations.” gowns and Jimmy Choo’s Societe Generale, in a note Peter Hill, Chief Executive Couture shoes are the ultimate elegant wedding reception, with drawn from high society, diplodated Friday, said preliminary delicious food, spectacular wed- matic circles and the worlds of Officer of Oman Air, concludes: luxury for any stylish and inventory data for the United “Oman Air is delighted to be sophisticated bride, equalled ding cakes and plentiful business and finance. States, Japan and Europe, as well refreshments, each Wedding Caroline Castigliano says: supporting these wonderful only by leaving on honeymoon as short-term floating storage, Show will offer invited guests “These Wedding Shows are a Wedding Shows and to be work- within one of the most comfortshowed a 2.17 million barrel-perthe opportunity to experience wonderful opportunity for us to ing with Shangri-La Hotels and able, spacious and opulentlyday decline in crude and refined outstanding hospitality in two of celebrate the beauty and glam- Resorts to show brides-to-be appointed aircraft in the skies products stocks in the first half of the Gulf’s finest hotels and to our that every girl dreams of for and, of course, their parents and Oman Air’s Airbus A330.” February. find out how receptions and “Stock movements-building honeymoons can be transin January and falling sharply in formed into breathtaking February so far, also neatly events. explain the price action,” Societe And to bring additional glamGenerale’s Wittner said, referour to these spectacular shows, ring to the rally in prices over the the national airline of the past week. Sultanate of Oman, Oman Air, Some think the rally has furwill be flying Caroline ther to run. Goldman Sachs said Castigliano and Professor Choo that benchmark oil prices will in from London onboard its rise to $85-$95 a barrel this year highly-acclaimed, luxury Airbus as global economic growth accelA330-300 aircraft. During the erates. —Reuters event, Castigliano and
Oman Air helps bridal dreams take flight As luxury brands unite for ME wedding shows
Qatar may launch single regulator
Saudi inflation eases in Jan to 4.1%: Agency RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation inched down to 4.1 percent in January from 4.2 percent in December after a drop in home rents index offset a rise in food prices, official data showed. Month-to-month, the inflation rate, as measured by the cost of living index, rose 0.2 percent in January, the official SPA news agency said on Sunday quoting the govern-
ment’s statistics department. The renovation, home rents, water and fuel cost index rose 11.6 percent in the 12 months to end-January down from 12 percent in December while the food and drinks cost index rose an annual 2.2 percent in January up from 1 percent the previous month, it added. Earlier on Sunday, the Saudi central bank said hous-
ing will keep inflation rising during the first quarter but a stabilization in food prices will keep it below the 1.5 percent recorded in the previous quarter. The food and drinks index account for 26 percent in the weighting of the cost of living index while the renovation, home rent, fuel and water group weighs 18 percent in the living index. —Reuters
NEW YORK: A man buys a cup of coffee from a sidewalk stand yesterday in New York City. Restaurant breakfast sales across the country are down sharply, and analysts blame the troubled economy for the dip as fewer Americans go to work in the mornings. —AFP
DOHA: Qatar may launch its planned single financial regulator this year, the head of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) said yesterday. The Gulf country first unveiled the plan for a joint market watchdog in 2007 to cope with its growing financial and banking sectors, and to attract foreign investment as it competes with regional rivals such as Dubai. “I hope it (the launch) is rather this year than next,” QFCRA chairman and chief executive Phillip Thorpe told Reuters on the sidelines of a regulatory conference. The global financial crises delayed the plan as the world’s largest natural gas exporter focused on containing risks in the banking sector. Thorpe said the project was back in focus again as government officials have in recent weeks said that progress would be made. The plan would combine the Qatar Financial Centre regulator, the Qatar Central Bank and the Qatar Financial Markets Authority, which regulates the Doha bourse, into one entity. The global credit crunch sparked calls across the globe for tighter regulation of the financial industry. Qatar, whose economy is seen growing 16 percent this year, spent roughly 6.5 percent of gross domestic product on its intervention in the banking sector last year. —Reuters
24
BUSINESS GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT
MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS
KSE stocks extend gains KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) along with major indicators and indices ended yesterday’s trading session in the green extending its winning streak to 14 out of 15 sessions. Zain continued to extend its gains and investors are reevaluating stocks backed by government initiatives to boost the economy. Global General Index (GGI) added 1.92 points (+0.93 percent) during the session to reach 207.61 points. Furthermore, the KSE Price Index increased by 22.10 points (+0.30 percent) the and closed at 7,441 points. Market capitalization was up KD314.08mn yesterday to reach KD33.94bn. Market breadth During the session, 143 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 56 equities gained versus 52 that retreated. A total of 99 stocks remained unchanged during yesterday’s trading session. Trading activities ended on a negative note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange decreased by 14.79 percent to reach 508.01mn shares. In addition, value of shares traded dropped by 13.14 percent to stand at KD78.89mn. The Services Sector was the volume and value leader, with 30.53 percent of total traded volume and 32.51 percent of total traded value. National Ranges Company saw 35.04mn shares changing hands, making it the volume leader. Zain, on the other hand, was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD10.15mn. In terms of top gainers, Automated Systems Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 14.08 percent and closed at KD0.405. On the other hand, Kuwait Resorts Company shed 10.42 percent and closed at KD0.086, making it the biggest decliner in the market yesterday. Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they mainly ended on a positive note except for Global Insurance Index which was unchanged during the trading session. In terms of gainers, Global
Industrial Index took the top spot with a 1.55 percent gain backed by Kuwait Cement Company. The scrip ended the day up 4.05 percent and closed at KD0.770. In addition, Gulf Rocks Company, the second biggest gainer in the market, also ended on a positive note with a 9.62 percent gain to close at KD0.285. Global Banking Index added 1.31 percent making it the second biggest gainer during today’s trading session. The index’s gain was aided by heavyweights National Bank of Kuwait and Gulf Bank which ended the day up 1.61 percent and 7.94 percent, respectively. On the other hand, Global Food
Index was the top decliner for the second day in a row with a 1.97 percent decline. Heavyweight Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana) and Danah Al-Safat Foodstuff Company, the only decliners in the sector, ended the day down 2.38 percent and 3.09 percent, respectively. Global’s special indices ended mainly in the green with the exception of Global Islamic Index which was the only decliner. The index shed 0.06 percent from its value backed by Al-Madar Finance & Investment Company making it to the top decliners list for today with a 8.20 percent drop. Global Large Cap Index posted a 1.09 percent gain
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
making it the top gainer backed by National Bank of Kuwait. Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at 75.17 a barrel on Friday 19/2/2010, compared with $74.49 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. Shareholders of Kuwait Finance House, or KFH, the country’s biggest Islamic lender, will vote in March on a proposal to increase the bank’s capital by 8 percent to KD248.80mn. KFH will boost its capital by issuing bonus shares that will raise the lender’s capital by KD18.40mn.
Oman drops after rally; low volumes hit UAE DUBAI: Oman’s index dropped one percent on profit-taking yesterday after a rally and most regional bourses traded sideways, while volumes remained low in the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia’s index rose for a ninth straight session, gaining 0.1 percent despite opening lower, helped by rising oil prices and late buying in bluechips. Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co (Safco) continued its positive run and rose 0.5 percent while Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) ended flat. Investor sentiment towards most markets, except UAE bourses, remained positive with the upcoming “dividend season” encouraging buying, an analyst said. “We have seen couple of weeks of good performance so markets are taking a bit of a breather. We will see more and more interests coming in and the catalyst of upcoming dividends will keep prices stable,” said Haissam Arabi, chief executive and fund manager at Gulfmena Alternative Investments. Oman’s index, which touched a 15month high last Thursday, dropped 1.0 percent as financial stocks led declines, with Bank Muscat falling 1.0 percent. “The market (Oman) is up over 4 percent month-to-date and profit booking from investors has led to the correction,” said Ajeev Gopinath, assistant vice president for asset management at Gulf Baader Capital Markets. “However, fundamentals remain solid with improvement seen in corporate sector sentiments.” UAE stocks witnessed low volumes, with Dubai’s index ending 0.1 percent lower after dropping for a third straight session. Abu Dhabi’s index inched down 0.05 percent. “Unfortunately, we are still overshadowed by Dubai’s debt restructuring. I think this has left a big question mark and hence the low volumes,” Arabi said. A late rally in Zain shares pushed up Kuwait’s index to a positive close. The
index rose 0.3 percent while Qatar’s index index rose 0.1 percent helped by a surge in Barwa Real Estate’s shares which rose 2.8 percent. The stock has witnessed a rally after saying it was in talks with Qatar Petroleum to sell Barwa Financial District.Egypt’s main index fell slightly on low volumes reversing a modest midday rally led by heavyweight conglomerate Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). Mobile operator Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, also known as Mobinil, led the downward trend, shedding 2.6 percent. HIGHLIGHTS OMAN The index fell 1.04 percent to 6,728 points. SAUDI ARABIA The index added 0.1 percent to 6,487 points. KUWAIT The index rose 0.3 percent to 7,441 points. DUBAI The index fell 0.1 percent to 1,622 points. ABU DHABI The benchmark edges down 0.05 percent to 2,753 points. EGYPT The index fell 0.1 percent to 6,702 points. QATAR The measure rose 0.1 percent to 6,957 points. BAHRAIN The index rose 1.6 percent to 1,537 points. —Reuters
BUSINESS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
25
Greece faces key tests with strike, bond issue ATHENS: Greece geared up for a nationwide strike yesterday called by unions to protest cuts as financial markets waited to see how Athens will finance itself out of a debt crisis shaking the European Union. “The strike should be a big success and should paralyze the whole country,” Stathis Anestis, a leader of the powerful Greek General Confederation of Labor union, known as GSEE under its Greek acronym, said yesterday. The strike-the second major protest since Greece unveiled austerity measureswill mobilise thousands of workers, bringing ships, planes and trains to a standstill, as well as shutting down banks and news-
rooms. Greece has vowed to reduce its budget deficit from an estimated 12.7 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2009 to below the EU limit of three percent by 2012 but has warned major cuts in public spending will be needed. Social action will also do little to calm investors, who have dragged down the value of the euro and boosted the risk premium on buying Greek government bonds in recent weeks amid fears that Greece could default on its debt. A crucial test of market confidence in Greece could come as early as this week with the government attempting a multibillion-euro (dollar) bond issue, the Financial
Times reported earlier, citing bankers in Athens. Prime Minister George Papandreou added further urgency in an interview with the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Program” on Sunday in which he said that Greece’s borrowing needs were only covered up until the middle of March. “Our borrowing needs are covered till mid-March,” Papandreou said, adding that Greece needs EU support “so that we can borrow at the same rate as other countries, not at high rates” that undermine the country’s reform efforts. The yield on 10-year Greek bonds-the interest rate that Greece must pay on bonds
it issues to borrow money in the marketswas at 6.411 percent during trading yesterday, compared to 3.281 percent for German 10-year bonds. The European single currency meanwhile was trading at $1.3602 in morning London trade, down from $1.3608 late in New York on Friday-a far cry from the peak of 1.6038 dollars that it reached in July 2008. A report in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine citing German finance ministry sources on Saturday said the eurozone could aid Greece to the tune of “between 20 billion and 25 billion euros” ($27 billion and $34 billion). A ministry spokesman dismissed the
report as “speculation.” Writing in the Financial Times on Monday, legendary financier George Soros said the crisis in Greece had highlighted fundamental problems with the workings of the 16-nation euro-zone and warned the euro could collapse. “If member countries cannot take the next steps forward, the euro may fall apart,” he said, adding that the euro’s construction was “patently flawed” and that “a fully fledged currency requires both a central bank and a Treasury.” Soros said that “makeshift assistance” should be sufficient to sort out Greece’s debt problems but warned that other weak
euro-zone members like Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain could not be helped in the same way. The European Union has pledged political support for Greece and has hinted at more concrete financial assistance in the future but it has also imposed strict deadlines and monitoring for Greece’s deficitcutting program. Greece has by far the highest budget deficit in the euro-zone. International ratings agency Moody’s has also calculated that Greece must allocate 15.1 percent of its revenues to interest payments, about twice the ratio for two other debt-burdened euro-zone members, Spain and Portugal. — AFP
Germany still undecided on bailing out Athens
No 20bn euro aid plan for Greece, says EU executive ATHENS/BRUSSELS: The European Commission denied yesterday there was any European Union plan for 20-25 billion euros aid for Greece, and Germany’s finance ministry said it had made no decision on aid for Athens. They were
DUNKIRK: On strike workers of oil giant Total’s refineries of Dunkirk, northern France, attend a general assembly yesterday as France’s government moved to calm fears of petrol shortages during an open-ended strike at Total’s refineries. — AFP
French strike threatens to choke off petrol pumps PARIS: French filling stations started to run dry yesterday as striking refinery workers sought to choke off the fuel supply to force oil giant Total to guarantee their jobs. With families hitting the road for the half-term holiday, unions warned petrol could run short within days thanks to strikes at Total’s six refineries, which the firm says supply about half of France’s fuel depots. In the western town of Rennes, AFP reporters saw some filling stations closed and cars queuing at others. Stations were also shut in the southern city of Toulouse and others were crowded in towns such as Brest and Nantes. The government moved to calm fears of shortages, but unions cranked up threats that their open-ended action, now in its sixth day, could halt supply. “I call on all consumers to create a shortage, to go and fill up their tanks, in order to stop the strike lasting too long,” a local leader of the CGT union, Marcel Croquefer, told striking refinery workers in Dunkirk. “Shortages are what make the decision-makers afraid.” On Friday, Total’s management began to halt refining due to the stoppage, launched in protest at the mothballing of the Dunkirk refinery, which employs 370 people directly and 450 sub-contractors. Dunkirk has been on strike for six weeks and Total’s other five refineries were also expected to wind down one by one over the coming days. “We have already caused a shortage of diesel, and the filling station opposite the refinery has run out of diesel,” said Franck Manchon, a CGT representative at the Grandpuits refinery near Paris. The CGT has also called for a strike at the two refineries in France run by ExxonMobil, the
biggest US oil company, to support the Total workers. Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said yesterday there would be no shortages. “The government will take measures so that France will not get stuck,” he insisted during a radio interview. Total said in a statement that “measures have been taken to ensure there is no risk of shortages” and that it was still talking to the unions. It plans a full formal works committee meeting on the issue at the end of March. But unions have warned that petrol could run short within days. “We strongly fear that next week, fuel shortages will be on the agenda,” said CGT union representative Charles Foulard, who walked out of talks with Total management on Sunday. Total has insisted it will not close the Dunkirk plant permanently, nor any other refineries, nor cut any jobs. But it has not promised to maintain Dunkirk’s refining activity, setting the stage for tough negotiations on the restructuring of jobs at the site. The French Petroleum Industry Union said on Friday the country’s depots had only between 10 and 20 days’ worth of fuel. The company says it must adapt to falling demand due to the economic crisis and a shift towards cleaner energy. It posted a 44-percent year-on-year drop in profits in 2009 due to falling prices, but has vowed to keep investing, eyeing partnerships with China and gas projects in Iran. “Things have changed drastically in this business,” its chief executive Christophe de Margerie said in an interview in the weekly Journal du Dimanche. — AFP
Taiwan economy grows 9.2% in Q4 TAIPEI: Taiwan’s economy saw its strongest growth in five years in the fourth quarter, surging 9.2 percent with help from stimulus-fueled demand from China for the islandís high-tech exports. For all of 2009, Taiwan’s economy contracted 1.9 percent, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said yesterday. That was the biggest contraction since 1951, the agency said. It predicted economic growth of 4.7 percent for 2010. Growth of 15.2 percent in Taiwan’s exports in the fourth quarter reflected economic
recovery in the mainland China, the US and some European markets, said Shih Su-mei, minister for the agency. Growing revenue from an increasing number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan also helped drive up the island’s economic growth during the OctoberDecember period, the agency said. It said increasing global demand for Taiwan’s high-tech products will continue to boost the island’s economy in 2010. Taiwan’s export-reliant economy was badly hit by the global recession, but a wide-ranging stimulus program in China —
its biggest market — boosted high-tech and other sales in the second half of the year. In the third quarter, gross domestic product was down 1 percent year-on-year, compared with contractions of 6.9 percent in the second quarter and 9.1 percent in the first. Taiwan’s electronics and computer firms export parts and components to China for assembly before reexporting to major markets in the world. The statistics agency said Taiwan’s jobless rate for January dropped 0.06 percentage point from December to 5.68 percent. — AP
MUMBAI: Indian onlookers react while watching share prices on the digital broadcast outside the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai yesterday. Indian shares rose 0.28 percent in choppy trade, tracking global markets which gained on bargain-buying after losses last week, dealers said. — AFP
“There is no such plan because Greece has not requested a single euro in financial aid,” European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a news conference in Brussels. In Berlin, a finance ministry spokesman told a news conference Germany had not made a decision on aid for Greece but expected the debt-ridden country to be able to refinance in April. Greece’s central bank governor meanwhile said the country was prepared to take extra fiscal steps to make sure it meets its deficit-cutting targets though he said financial markets were over-reacting to the country’s financial woes. “Even if some risks materialize-like (poor) growth-the government is prepared to take immediate corrective action,” George Provopoulos, also a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, told Bloomberg in an interview. “The government has said already on several occasions that it will take any additional measures required in order to achieve its goal,” Provopoulos was quoted as saying. Der Spiegel had reported that “initial considerations” by the German finance ministry were for financial aid for Greece to be calculated according to the proportion of capital each country holds in the European Central Bank. Greece has pledged to reduce its budget deficit by 4 percentage points to 8.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010. Spreads of Greek government-bond yields over German bunds have surged since October. A good reception last week for a syndicated 5 billion euro, 15-year Spanish bond fuelled speculation that Greece may launch a planned 10-year syndicated bond as soon as this week. The premium investors demand to buy 10-year Greek government bonds rather than German benchmarks fell yesterday as markets continued to speculate on the prospects for a bailout. The 10-year Greek/German government bond yield spread narrowed by three basis points on the day to 314 bps, the narrowest since Feb. 17. In his comments to Bloomberg on the way financial markets were reacting, Provopoulos was quoted as saying: “They take advantage of the weak link to make profits.” “It’s clear that there is a certain degree of overshooting. Given the high degree of uncertainty in the markets, one should not expect that the situation will normalize overnight.” Greece’s deficit swelled to 12.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, way above the EU’s cap of 3 percent, and Athens needs to sell some 53 billion euros of debt this year, including at least 20 billion euros in April and May. In another report, Germany’s Handelsblatt business daily on Monday said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble favours using bilateral aid to help Greece in the event that Athens defaults on its debt commitments. Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told Reuters late on Thursday Greece would decide on the next bond issuance soon but confirmed no details. — Reuters
reacting to a report in German weekly Der Spiegel on Saturday that Germany’s finance ministry had sketched out a plan in which countries using the euro currency would provide aid worth 20-25 billion euros ($27-$33.7 billion).
ATHENS: Posters calling for a nationwide strike yesterday stuck on a pole in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens. Greece geared up for a nationwide strike tomorrow called by unions to protest cuts as financial markets waited to see how Athens would finance itself out of a debt crisis shaking the European Union. — AFP
BMW lays off UK pension liabilities with D- Bank LONDON: German car maker BMW has offloaded 3 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) of longevity risk from its UK pension scheme to Deutsche Bank, in the largest longevity insurance transaction conducted to date. The German bank’s insurance subsidiary Abbey Life carried out the deal, which was structured with British specialist pension insurer Paternoster in which Deutsche is a shareholder, in order to cover the pension scheme liabilities related to approximately 60,000 pensioners. Abbey Life will insure longevity risks on the BMW pension scheme and transfer a proportion of the risk to a consortium of reinsurers, including Hannover Re, Pacific Life Re and Partner Re, the bank said in a statement yesterday. Hannover Re said separately it expects a premium from the deal of about 80 million
pounds a year. “This transaction represents a ground-breaking precedent in the rapidly growing market for insurance against longevity risks,” Ed Jervis, chief executive of Paternoster said in a statement yesterday. BMW is not the only firm to have recently looked to the longevity swap market as a way of covering the risk posed by people living longer. Last May, Babcock International became the first British company to do such a swap deal using Credit Suisse as counterparty to hedge 500 million pounds. Then in December Swiss Re undertook a longevity swap in a deal in the UK with the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund which was the first transaction by a public sector pension scheme. The longevity swap covered around 1 billion pounds of its pensioner liabilities. A report by consultants Hymans
Robertson on February 17 predicted the longevity swap market would hit $10 billion in 2010. Hymans said it expected two other longevity swap deals worth well in excess of 1 billion pounds which were expected to close in the first half of 2010. “Premier Foods have been reported to be in negotiations over a longevity swap deal covering around 2 billion pounds of Rank Hovis McDougall’s pension scheme’s liabilities,” the report said. Deutsche Bank is a member of the newly formed Life and Longevity Markets Association (LLMA). The LLMA wants to transfer the UK’s 2 trillion pounds of pension liabilities to the capital markets to help pension schemes and insurers manage the financial pressure of increased life expectancy. — Reuters
Chavez: Saboteurs targeting Venezuela’s power grid CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez accused his adversaries of sabotaging Venezuela’s electricity grid as part of a broader plan aimed at bringing about the system’s collapse — and his downfall. Chavez said authorities must be “on the alert” and apprehend anyone who cuts electricity cables connected to the grid. Such sabotage has caused power failures in some regions and exacerbated the effects of severe energy shortages, he said. “Be on the lookout! Patrols must be carried out to capture the saboteurs because those responsible must be caught and put in prison,” Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program, “Hello President.” Referring to his government’s adversaries, he said: “They think that’s how they’re going to topple Chavez, and that’s what they’re seeking, but if there’s an electricity collapse, it won’t be Chavez who is going to fall. Prepare yourselves, bourgeois folks, because it will be you who will fall.” The accusations were vague and Chavez provided no evidence supporting them. Energy Minister Ali Rodriguez echoed the allegations. “I have no doubt that many of the failures that are
occurring are the product of sabotage. We are investigating,” Rodriguez said. Opposition leaders scoffed at the president’s claim, saying Chavez is trying to shed the blame for power shortages that critics say his government caused by failing to invest enough in electricity production over the last decade. “The president is a great manipulator and he uses lies to fool the people,” Juan Jose Molina, an opposition politician, said in a telephone interview. He noted more than a dozen projects to build thermoelectric plants have been delayed. “It’s Chavez’s own incompetence that’s going to bring him down,” Molina said. “We want to get him out (of office) with votes.” Chavez declared an energy emergency earlier this month, announcing that his socialist government will punish businesses and industries that use what the government considers excessive amounts of electricity. He promised discounts to those that cut consumption. Under the plan, large businesses and factories must cut electricity consumption 20 percent or face sanctions, including hefty surcharges on electricity bills. The energy-saving initiative also targets ordinary
Venezuelans who use more than 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month — an estimated 24 percent of all residential consumers, according to Chavez. The plan is aimed at easing energy shortages that Chavez
blames on a months-long drought. The lack of rain has caused water levels to drop to critical lows behind the Guri Dam, which supplies roughly 70 percent of Venezuela’s electricity. — AP
TOKYO: Nippon Keidanren, or Japan Business Federation, Chairman Fujio Mitarai (right) shakes hands with Keidanren Chairman designate Hiromasa Yonekura, during a joint press conference in Tokyo yesterday. Sumitomo Chemical Co Chairman Yonekura will succeed Mitarai who retires at the end of May from the top job of Japan’s largest business lobby. — AP
26
BUSINESS
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Bitter winter puts Mongolia in bind over mining ULAN BATOR: As Mongolia cowers under the brutal thrall of its worst winter in decades, questions are being asked as to whether the country should end its reliance on nomadic herders and dig deeper into its mineral reserves instead. Some 800 years ago, Mongolia’s nomadic herdsmen were surging across the steppe under the leadership of Genghis Khan and conquering China, Tibet and much of central Asia. Today, most of their descendents are at the mercy of the hostile Mongolian weather or crammed in the capital, Ulan Bator, where they struggle to make a living even though the country sits on some of the world’s richest mineral reserves. Mongolia has been extremely cautious about developing its huge but untapped reserves of coal, copper, gold and uranium, and it recently announced it would cancel an auction for the world’s biggest coking coal reserve at Tavan Tolgoi. However,
the government’s hand might be forced by massive fiscal debt, coupled with a crippling humanitarian problem as nomadic herders, fleeing a freezing winter that is killing their herds, overwhelm the capital. The ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party needs cash quickly to relieve the strain on Ulan Bator and provide jobs and an education for a million struggling nomads. The cash can only come from opening up its mining sector to foreign firms. “You have to have revenues coming from somewhere and that is going to come from mining. If you do dodgy deals, then yes you will have a problem, but I don’t think Mongolia should be holding back,” said Arshad Sayed, country manager with the World Bank. Foreign mining firms have been discouraged from investing in Mongolia since the government began to insist on majority local ownership for big projects and slapped a
windfall tax on mining profits which will not expire until next year. Most of Mongolia’s resources remain unexplored, particularly in the South Gobi region, but copper reserves from the Oyu Tolgoi deposit alone are second only to Chile. Its inferred uranium reserves are also estimated to be the world’s second largest, behind Australia. Yet this underground wealth provides little solace for the millions of refugees who huddle from the cold in Ulan Bator’s makeshift shanty towns, stuffing rudimentary stoves with coal and wood or anything else that burns, and casting the city in a sulphurous fog. The recent snowstorms, known locally as the zud, are said to be even worse than the winter ten years ago, when scores of stranded nomads died along with 11 million heads of livestock. “My sister still lives in the east as a herder and every day she wakes and finds more animals dead,” said Dambadarjaa Enebish, a 60-year-
old refugee, one of thousands of nomads who fled to Ulan Bator during the harsh winter of 1999-2000. With at least two million head of livestock already believed to have perished, conditions don’t come much tougher even by the standards of the harsh central Asian steppe. The Red Cross said it could be spring before the full extent of the damage is known. “It is a very bad crisis,” Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatariin Batbold told Reuters. “The cold we are experiencing now is a record low for the last 37 years and 90 percent of the country is covered in snow.” Ulan Bator’s refugee problem began after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when herders facing new Russian export restrictions began to flee the harsh pastures and erect thick woollen tents known as “gers” on the hills that encircled the capital. “During Soviet times there were large collectives that demarcated
areas,” said Sayed of the World Bank. “It was well organised, the meat could be gathered and prices were stable, but the market has now disrupted the whole chain, and it gets worse at the time when it is needed the most.” Now, the collective farms have disappeared, herds are more dispersed and the Soviet-era supply chains have broken down, forcing herders in far-flung regions to rely on middlemen to sell their meat. When the bad weather comes, those middlemen don’t arrive, he said. Ulan Bator’s ger districts account for about 60 percent of the city’s 1.8 million residents. A majority of the country’s 2.7 million people live in the capital. “I’m not going back to the countryside even though the air here makes me cough, because there is no other way, but I told my sister to stay. There is nothing for her here,” said Enebish. Many of Ulan Bator’s unemployed nomads have found a perma-
nent home in the crowded shanty towns that surround the city. But others have not been so lucky. Thousands of orphans and vagrants descend through manholes into the capital’s crumbling Soviet-era hotwater system each winter to seek refuge from the bitter cold. They are often pelted with stones by city regulators trying to push them out of the underground labyrinth. As Mongolia tries to forge ahead with efforts to convert its vast underground wealth into tangible gains, aid workers suggest many nomads are the victims of the laissez-faire economics that dominate the country’s solidly business-oriented parliament. In the 1990s, herders were encouraged to apply for cheap loans to expand their herds, but few had the wherewithal or experience to sustain those herds through the brutal winters, leaving the country’s banks with a mountain of bad debt. Furthermore, the marginal land could not sustain
the expanding livestock, explained Tungalag Buyan-Ulzii of the Mongolian Red Cross. This was especially the case when soaring cashmere prices encouraged nomads to breed more goats, which have long been the scourge of sustainable agriculture in poverty-stricken farmland throughout Africa and Central Asia as goats eat through crops and leave grassland barren. “The government wants to encourage smaller herds but it isn’t going to impose restrictions,” she said. Rana Flowers, UNICEF’s representative in Mongolia, said the government might need to consider more proactive measures. “They have allowed herds to increase in an uncontrolled way, and unless they are prepared to deal with it, they will face a zud every year,” she said. Experts say herds have increased by half in the last two decades, and Mongolia’s barely fertile land can no longer feed them. — Reuters
EU verdict on bank restructuring within weeks
Irish ‘bad bank’ transfers delayed until end March DUBLIN: Ireland will transfer the first loans to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) “bad bank” by the end of March, missing its latest deadline of late February, as it waits on European approval to begin the scheme. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said yesterday work valuing the total loans initially worth 80 billion euros ($109 billion) was also still ongoing on the scheme charged with cleansing its troubled banking sector. The transfer of loans to NAMA which the government estimates it will pay 54 billion euros for was originally meant to start in December and the head of the country’s debt agency had said earlier this month
that it would make its February target. “It will take until the end of March but it is very important we get the valuations right. We also have to get our EU approvals and they are going very well,” Lenihan told Ireland’s Newstalk radio station. The write-downs caused by asset transfers to NAMA will require banks to raise additional capital and the central bank said recently that the government would have to provide more capital to them as a result. Ireland was forced to take nearly 16 percent ownership of Bank of Ireland yesterday-its first direct stake, in lieu of a payment due on the 25 percent indirect
stake it took last year. The bank said on Friday it would transfer nearly 200 million ordinary shares in lieu of a due 250 million euro payment that could not be repaid until a European Commission verdict on its restructuring plans for state aid. The Commission had told Bank Of Ireland and rival Allied Irish Banks, which the government also holds a 25 percent indirect stake in, to stop paying dividends on shares and interest on some debt pending the restructuring decision. Lenihan said he expected that verdict in a matter of weeks, adding that it was possible the taxpayer would have to
In Thailand, world’s top FM stands tall BANGKOK: At 1.93 meters (6 ft 3 in) in height, Thailand’s finance minister often stands above the crowd. That’s even more the case after winning “Global Finance Minister of the Year” honors from The Financial Times’ Banker magazine. But as British-born, Oxford-educated Korn Chatikavanij accepts the award at a Bangkok ballroom yesterday, he knows he has a tough job ahead in reforming Thailand’s convalescing economy and helping it expand at a time of political tension and rising anti-government protests. Thailand has one of Asia’s slowest projected growth rates this year, although data just released for the end of 2009 was stronger than expected and Korn says that momentum carried over into this year. Of immediate concern is whether a Supreme Court ruling due on Friday on ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s $2.3 billion in family assets will trigger a reprise of riots last April that might further alienate investors. “Some key reforms are needed. Some of these do require a better political environment than we have today in order to ensure success,” said the 46-year-old former chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Thai unit. But bridging the political divide isn’t easy. Anti-government protesters fume that they have been disenfranchised by the elite in Bangkokand Korn is an easy target. His grandfather was a privy councillor to King Prajadhipok, his uncle founded the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, a state monopoly, and his father was commissioner of the Revenue Department and director of the Fiscal Policy Office. Korn himself made his mark quickly. In 1987, at 23, he founded J.F. Thanakom Securities to become the youngest chief of a major Thai investment bank after working three years for SG Warburg in London, which he joined from Oxford University. He spent almost all of the following years in banking before joining the Democrat Party in 2004. He won a seat in
Thailand Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij parliament a year later and was appointed finance minister in 2008 in the cabinet of longtime friend and fellow Oxford alumnus Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand’s prime minister. “We always felt one day I would come into his fold as it were-the realm of politics-but I took my time, almost 19 years,” he said in a recent interview with Reuters at parliament. “For me, this is the right thing for the right time.” The Banker agrees, praising Korn for navigating Thailand’s trade-reliant economy through the financial crisis, with fiscal stimulus measures it put at more than $61.2 billion while boosting long-term government spending on infrastructure. “(Korn) has introduced an active and extensive reform programme that has succeeded in putting Thailand’s economic policy back on track after several years of economic paralysis and frequent government changes,” the magazine said. The stimulus, however, hit some rough patches, which even Korn concedes. The health minister and his deputy resigned after allegations of corruption linked to how the money was spent in their ministry. Disbursement has been slower than expected. The government has also faced criticism over a courtordered suspension of 64 projects worth up to $12 billion at the world’s eighth-biggest petrochemicals hub in eastern Thailand, which raised questions over the stability of investment in Thailand. A local environmental group had lobbied to clean up Map Ta Phut since 1996, claiming pollution from the
plants had caused at least 2,000 cancer-related deaths. The group has threatened to target another 181 projects if they, too, fail to comply. Korn comes down firmly on the side of the environmentalists, saying the case could mark a positive turning-point and help Thailand retool its economy to rely less on manufacturing. “The Map Ta Phut court ruling could prove beneficial for Thailand in the very long term,” he said. “What we would like to see is a much bigger share of the service sector compared to manufacturing. What’s notable over the past 10 years is that with the economic growth that Thailand has seen, the service sector share has actually shrunk a little bit. That’s unusual.” “Some investors may not like it. But we have to protect our own environment and the future living conditions of our own citizens,” he added. He also disagrees with manufacturers and shippers pressing Thailand to build a deep seaport on its western shore to allow exporters to ship directly to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Such a project would jeopardize one of Thailand’s biggest assets, he said-tourism in the southern Phuket region, home to some of the world’s most coveted beaches. He would like to see tourism expand, helping to build up the service sector. “We shouldn’t sacrifice a very robust tourism sector in the south and put that at risk through the development of major industrial projects that would go along with that port,” he said. — Reuters
inject further capital into the banks but restated his preference that the lenders meet their capital needs privately. “I believe there is scope for asset disposals within the banks themselves. There is also scope for the realisation of other assets they have overseas,” Lenihan earlier told national broadcaster RTE. Bank Of Ireland shares were down 6.4 percent at 1.18 euros at 1034 GMT while Allied Irish Banks fell 3.1 percent to 1.08 euros. Allied Irish’s first payment is due in May and Lenihan said there would be a “far clearer picture” regarding its restructuring plan by then. — Reuters
Malaysia Airlines posts Q4 profit KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines said yesterday it turned around in the fourth quarter, helping it stay in the black for 2009 despite the global economic slump. The carrier recorded a net profit of 610 million ringgit ($179.4 million) in the three months through December — rebounding from two consecutive quarters of losses — thanks to a reduction in operating costs. Revenue for the fourth quarter declined 14 percent to 3.3 billion ringgit ($970 million). For the full year, the state-owned carrier reported a net profit of 490 million ringgit ($144.11 million), a better performance compared to a net profit of 244 million ringgit ($71.77 million) in 2008. This was mainly attributed to gains from fuel hedging of 1.15 billion ringgit ($338.23 million). Excluding those gains, the airline reported an operating loss of 628 million ringgit ($184 million). Last decade, the airline returned to black in 2007 after a series of losses, but its growth plans were derailed by the global economic crisis and volatile oil prices. “We have been resilient in the face of adversity,” said chief executive Azmil Zahruddin. “For 2010 we are positioning ourselves to capture growth in light of signs of recovery.” He said the airline is looking into introducing new destinations to boost sales as it expands it network. The International Air Transport Association has said that the worst was likely over for airlines but predicted the global industry will face another harrowing year in 2010, with losses expected to reach $5.6 billion from $11 billion last year. It has said Asia Pacific carriers could see losses shrink from $3.4 billion in 2009 to $700 million this year. — AP
SINGAPORE: A female vendor (right) takes a nap under an umbrella in the financial district of Raffles Place in Singapore yesterday. Singapore said it will raise levies to curb the hiring of foreign workers, amid growing unease among locals over the influx of guest workers and immigrants in recent years.— AFP
Ferrovial’s BAA sees passenger recovery LONDON: British airport operator BAA expects to see a modest recovery in passenger traffic volumes in 2010, it said yesterday, but warned the industry as a whole faces further economic challenges. The company, owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, reported a 17.1 percent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to 885.2 million pounds ($1.4 billion), driven by increased revenue and strong cost control. BAA, which owns London’s Heathrow and Stansted airports but sold Gatwick for 1.5 billion pounds in December, said passenger traffic fell by 3.8 percent in 2009 to 85.9 million. It added that Heathrow outperformed competitors, seeing a decline of 1.5 percent. Revenue increased by 8.3 per-
cent reflecting higher tariffs and a strong retail performance. BAA has committed to investing 1 billion pounds this year to upgrade its airports and Chief Executive Colin Matthews told Reuters the investment is reaping rewards by encouraging passengers to spend more inside the airports. “Passengers who are confident and relaxed are more inclined to spend money than those who are stressed or hassled or delayed. The better we make the airport work, the better our retail performance is,” Matthews said in an interview. Heathrow has faced criticism over passenger delays in the past including problems following the opening of its flagship 4.3 billion pound Terminal 5 in March 2008. He added that the weak-
ness of sterling had also been a factor behind higher retail spending by passengers. “With the pound relatively weak there’s a proportion of our passengers who find the offering more attractive if they’re thinking in dollars or euros,” Matthews said. The sale of Gatwick and a 500 million pound equity fundraising in November helped the company cut debt while still increasing investment in its airports. The company has also returned to the bond markets to raise funds for the first time since 2006, raising over 900 million pounds through offerings including the largest inflationlinked bond issued by any corporate entity since 2007. Net debt at the year-end stood at 8.58 billion pounds, compared with 9.43 billion at the end of 2008. — Reuters
Air France, JAL mull joint venture: Report
TOKYO: Ground staff wave to passengers on a Japan Airlines (JAL) aircrafts at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. — AFP
PARIS: Air France-KLM and Japan Airlines are discussing joining forces on flights between France and Japan to share costs and revenues, a French daily reported yesterday, but the companies denied any such plans. Under the joint venture, the two airlines would harmonise their prices, schedules and business practices, La Tribune reported, citing unidentified Air France sources. But both airlines shot down the report. “We deny that there are talks underway on the creation of a joint venture between Air France and JAL,” an Air France spokesman said. JAL, which declared bankruptcy in January, said that the report was “untrue”. JAL spokeswoman Yap Sze Hunn said: “Air France is our valued bilateral partner with whom we share code share flights connecting Japan to Paris and beyond, and we are committed to strengthening this relationship.” She said: “However, there is no intention now to explore
a joint venture together.” JAL has a code-sharing arrangement with Air France on 10 weekly flights between Tokyo and Paris. The two companies also share codes to connect Japan with 12 other European cities via Paris, the spokeswoman said. JAL rejected an offer earlier this month to team up with the SkyTeam alliance, which includes Air France-KLM and US carrier Delta Airlines. Instead the Japanese airline said it would expand its alliance with American Airlines and its Oneworld partners. JAL went bankrupt a month ago with $26 billion of debt in one of the country’s biggest ever corporate failures, but continued operating and began a painful overhaul involving more than 15,000 job cuts and a public bailout. Code sharing is an important tool for airlines to make alliances by passing each other passengers though ticketing arrangements, thereby maximizing the sales and network capacity of each participant. — AFP
TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
27
US pinpoints code writer behind Google attack BEIJING: US government analysts believe a Chinese man with government links wrote the key part of a spyware program used in hacker attacks on Google last year, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The man, a security consultant in his 30s, posted sections of the program to a hacking forum where he described it as something he was “working on”, the paper said, quoting an unidentified researcher working for the US government.
The spyware creator works as a freelancer and did not launch the attack, but Chinese officials had “special access” to his programming, the report said. “If he wants to do the research he’s good at, he has to toe the line now and again,” the paper quoted the unnamed USgovernment researcher saying. “He would rather not have uniformed guys looking over his shoulder, but there is no way anyone of his skill level can get away from that kind of thing. The state
has privileged access to these researchers’ work.” The report did not say how analysts knew about the man’s government ties. The allegations over the spyware are the latest episode in a dispute that has pitted Google and the United States against China, with its wall of Internet controls and legions of hackers. In January, the giant Internet search engine company, Google, threatened to pull back from China and shut its Google.cn Chinese-language portal over complaints of
censorship and sophisticated hacking from within China. Washington has backed those criticisms and urged Beijing to investigate hacking complaints thoroughly and transparently. Beijing has said it opposes hacking. The Financial Times report also quoted unnamed sources backing a New York Times report that analysts had traced the online attacks to two Chinese educational institutions, the prestigious Shanghai
Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang vocational school. The two establishments have denied the reports. And the allegation that the latter, a high-school level institute that also trains hairdressers, chefs and car mechanics, could take on one of the world’s most powerful Internet firms, have been widely mocked in Chinese cyberspace. “How can these future cooks be such powerful hackers?” a web user from Zhejiang province said on the por-
tal www.163.com. The use of the school’s IP address could simply mean that hackers had taken over its computers to hide their tracks. But Lanxiang’s website also claims to have the “biggest” computer laboratory in the world, a boast it says is confirmed by Guinness World Records. There was less online comment about the well-respected Jiaotong University, which attracts top graduates and has a School of Information Security Engineering. — Reuters
Country faces fresh claims about the source of Google attack
China officer urges new Internet control agency SHANGHAI: This picture taken on January 27, 2010 in Shanghai shows a computer screen displaying the homepage of the website chinaSMACK.com. — AFP
China’s ‘bridge blogs’ show Great Firewall’s other side SHANGHAI: Whether it is about US arms sales to Taiwan or how the film epic “Confucius” stacks up to “Avatar”, the world’s first snapshot of Chinese opinion often comes from chinaSMACK.com. The website combs China’s rowdy web forums, translating popular topics into English to provide a glimpse of what is on people’s minds on the other side of the “Great Firewall” of government censorship. “Chinese people see the Internet as one of the only real tools they may have,” chinaSMACK’s founder, who goes by the pseudonym Fauna, said in an e-mail interview. China is home to the world’s largest web population, with 384 million people online, but experts fear censorship and language barriers mean it is growing isolated from the global Internet. With 1.3 million page views and more than 500,000 visitors in January, according to the site’s figures, chinaSMACK has become a leading “bridge blog”-a site that translates Chinese content for an international audience. Fauna, who keeps her identity secret to avoid the wrath of Internet users and authorities alike, said she started the site 18 months ago to improve her English. She describes herself as a typical Shanghainese woman, “very far” from her 30s, who likes music, movies and TV-but one with a serious Internet habit. She spends four to six hours daily on the site, plus time reading forums throughout the day. The items and comments she translates are often lurid, salacious and sensational, but Fauna said she and her four-person team of contributors do not intentionally seek out racy posts. Their formula is to simply translate the most active forum discussions-avoiding overtly political topics. “The material that becomes popular on the Chinese Internet is usually very shocking or controversial,” Fauna said, explaining the “SMACK” in the site’s name captures what she imagines first time visitors feel. Recent postings featured Chinese netizens sounding off on how the “50 Cent Party”-civil servants are allegedly paid 0.5 yuan (seven US cents) for each pro-government web comment they postseems to be working overtime. Others include a man marrying his fiancee at her funeral, soldiers being buried half-naked in snow to train for the cold and “Leopard Print Man” who is enjoying 15
minutes of fame for wearing strange outfits on Shanghai’s subway. Some postings such as the racist reaction to Lou Jing-a black Chinese girl who performed on an American Idol-style reality show-have gained national and international media attention after appearing on chinaSMACK. About a third of chinaSMACK’s readers are in the United States, 18 percent are in China, while Britain, Canada and Singapore each account for roughly five percent of traffic, Fauna said. At a time when Google is considering pulling out of China over censorship and only a fraction of Internet content is being translated from Chinese to English-and vice versa-experts say bridge blogs like chinaSMACK play a vital role. Other similar sites are Danwei.org, ChinaHush.com and ChinaGeeks. “Bridge blogs have become an incredibly precious resource,” said Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based Internet consultant. “I just wish there were more of them and they covered a broader range of what people are talking about online. “The hype-worthy is just the tip of the iceberg, there’s a lot down there,” he said. Although far from weighty, chinaSMACK captures the “Internet memes”-jokes, concepts and catchphrases that are shaping Chinese culture online and beyond, Kuo said. “The Chinese Internet for some reason seems to be a lot more tightly integrated. A meme will start in one corner and will bounce its way up to every corner a whole lot faster in China,” Kuo said. Like the US celebrity news site TMZ.com, chinaSMACK is a cultural weather vane, said Shaun Rein, managing director of the China Market Research Group. “It’s one of my mustreads everyday,” Rein said, adding it captures youth and digital culture well. “It has a great finger on the pulse of the Internet culture in China that is a lot more vibrant than Americans think,” he said. Fauna said part of her goal was to dispel misconceptions that Chinese people are united in their opinions. “I hope chinaSMACK can show the world there are many Chinese netizens and they are not all the same ... Chinese netizens are nice, sympathetic, funny, silly, mean and hateful. Chinese netizens are people like everyone else.”— AFP
JAKARTA: A model displays smartphones with Google’s mobile operating system Android during its first launch in Jakarta yesterday released by Indonesia’s second-largest cellular operator. —AFP
BEIJING: A Chinese major general has called for a new national body to enforce Internet controls, while China faced fresh claims yesterday about the source of hacking attacks that hit search giant Google. People’s Liberation Army Major General Huang Yongyin said China needed to keep pace with the efforts of other big powers to fight online infiltration and attacks. “For national security, the Internet has already become a new battlefield without gunpowder,” Huang wrote in the February issue of Chinese Cadres Tribune, a magazine published by the Communist Party’s influential Central Party School. In January, the giant Internet search engine company, Google, threatened to pull back from China over complaints of censorship and sophisticated hacking from within China. Huang’s comments appeared after Western media reports said a vocational school whose graduates include military recruits was one source of the hacker attack on Google. The reports said the author of spy-
ware used in the assault had government ties. U.S. government analysts believe the program’s creator is a Chinese security consultant in his 30s who posted parts of the code on a hacker forum and described it as something he was “working on”, the Financial Times reported yesterday. He works as a freelancer and did not launch the attack but Chinese officials had “special access” to his programming, the paper added, quoting a single, unnamed government researcher. “If he wants to do the research he’s good at, he has to toe the line now and again,” the researcher was quoted saying. The allegations over the spyware are the latest episode in a dispute that has pitted Google and the United States against China, with its wall of Internet controls and legions of hackers. Washington has backed Google’s criticisms and urged Beijing to investigate hacking complaints thoroughly and transparently. Beijing has said it opposes hacking. Huang’s comments underscore the influential currents within the Chinese
government that see the Internet as a key security concern. “Lawless elements and hostile forces at home and abroad have increasingly turned to the Internet to engage in crime, disruption, infiltration, reactionary propaganda and other sabotage activities,” wrote Huang, who appears to play no direct role in China’s online policy. The magazine was dated Feb. 6, but arrived with subscribers yesterday, after China’s Lunar New Year holiday. The government needs to surmount the fragmented control of the Internet to confront these problems, preferably with a national administrative system, Huang said. Over a dozen ministries and agencies have a hand in enforcing the Chinese government’s Internet policies. Huang called for China to reduce its reliance on foreign technology which is vulnerable to attacks by “hostile forces abroad”. His concerns are matched by worries overseas about attacks from within China. The Financial Times report quoted unidentified sources backing an earlier claim in the New York Times that ana-
How to decline Facebook friends without offence
MUMBAI: In this Friday, June 20, 2008 file photo, a worker sorts electronic equipment for recycling at a factory for recycling electronics and electrical equipment in Mumbai, India. — AP
UN warns of tech waste in developing world BALI: Sales of household electrical gadgets will boom across the developing world in the next decade, wreaking environmental havoc if there are no new strategies to deal with the discarded TVs, cell phones and computers, a UN report said yesterday. The environmental and health hazards posed by the globe’s mounting electronic waste are particularly urgent in developing countries, which are already dumping grounds for rich nations’ hightech trash, the UN Environment Program study said. Electronic waste is piling up around the world at a rate estimated at 40 million US tons (36 million metric tons) a year, the report said, noting that data remain insufficient. China produces 2.6 million US tons (2.3 million metric tons) of electronic waste a year, second only to the United States with 3.3 million US tons (3 million metric tons), it said. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said the globe was ill-prepared to deal with the explosion of electronic gadgets over the past decade. “The world is now confronted with a massive wave of electronic waste that is going to come back and hit us, particularly for least-developed countries, that may become a dumping ground,” Steiner told The Associated Press ahead of a UNEP executive meeting in Bali. He said some Americans and Europeans have sent broken computers to African countries falsely declared as donations. The computers were dumped outside slums as toxic waste and became potential hazards to people, he said. The report predicts that China’s waste rate from old computers
will quadruple from 2007 levels by 2020. Meanwhile, in India, waste from old refrigerators , which contain hazardous chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbon gases , could triple by 2020. It said the fastest growth in electronic waste in recent years has been in communications devices such as cell phones, pagers and smart phones. Most of the recycling of electronic waste in developing countries such as China and India is done by inefficient and unregulated backyard operators. The environmentally harmful practice of heating electronic circuit boards over coal-fired grills to leach out gold is widespread in both countries. The report called for regulations for collecting and managing electronic waste, and urged that technologies be transferred to the industrializing world to cope with such waste. While electrical products such refrigerators, air conditioners, printers, DVD players and digital music players account for only a small part of the world’s garbage, their components make them particularly hazardous. Prof. Eric Williams, an Arizona State University expert on industrial ecology who did not participate in the UNEP study, said it was difficult to comment on the credibility of the electronic waste growth forecasts because the report gives little explanation of how they were calculated. “It is the environmental intensity of e-waste rather than its total mass that is the main concern,” Williams told the AP via e-mail. “If e-waste is recycled informally in the developing world, it causes far worse pollution than the much larger mass of regular waste in landfills,” he said.— AP
China president signs up for microblogging BEIJING: China’s President Hu Jintao has set up a microblogging account that has drawn thousands of followers as of yesterday, in a country where social networking sites remain tightly controlled. The account was set up on a microblogging platform operated by the People’s Daily, the main print media mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, which Hu heads. Hu’s profile contained no message, photo or information other than his name and official titles. The state-controlled Global Times newspaper
said the People’s Daily had set up its microblogging site on February 1. It said it had confirmed with the site that Hu’s account was genuine. It was not clear when the account was set up, but more than 14,000 web users had signed on to follow the account by yesterday morning, allowing them to receive updates by email, Windows Messenger, or Google’s Talk service. “I am looking forward to communicating with the Secretary General (of the Party),” said one user. Another expressed disappointment, saying,
lysts had traced the online attacks to two Chinese colleges, Jiaotong University in Shanghai and the Lanxiang vocational school. The two schools denied the reports on the weekend. Jiaotong University attracts top graduates and has a School of Information Security Engineering. It said in a statement sent to Reuters yesterday it was “shocked” by the New York Times report, calling it “totally unfounded”. “If Google believes it needs to seek a legal remedy, this school is willing to actively cooperate with an investigation by the revelant parties to clear up the facts,” the university said. Allegations that Lanxiang, a high-school level institute that also trains hairdressers, chefs and car mechanics, could take on Google have been mocked widely in Chinese cyberspace. “How can these future cooks be such powerful hackers?” a web user from Zhejiang province said on the portal www.163.com. Lanxiang’s website also boasts it has the “biggest” computer lab in the world.— Reuters
“It’s a pity he hasn’t written anything yet.” Hu’s microblogging presence has emerged in the middle of a row between China and the United States over Beijing’s restrictions on the Internet and Google’s presence in China. Google threatened last month to abandon its Chinese-language search engine google.cn, and perhaps end all operations in the country, over censorship and cyberattacks it says targeted the email accounts of Chinese rights activists. The New York Times reported last week that
the hack attacks had been traced to two elite Chinese schools, but both have denied any involvement. China’s government has recently walked a tightrope on the Internet, with leaders saying they were committed to developing the Chinese web even as Beijing operates a huge censorship system dubbed the “Great Firewall of China.” Authorities attempt to strictly control exploding use of the Internet in the country-restrictions that include stifling foreign social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube.— AFP
A colleague I just met at work has invited me to be their friend on Facebook. I don’t want to offend them, but nor do I want to share my candid photos and lousy Scrabble scores with someone I hardly know. Can I ignore their invite? “Can I be your friend?” might work as an ice-breaker among small children, but it’s not a question you hear often between adults, at least not outside of Las Vegas. Friendship, it is generally understood, is a relationship that evolves through shared interests, common experiences and a primeval need to share your neighbor’s power tools. Yet for many people, Facebook permits a return to the simplicity of the schoolyard. Rather than inviting someone to be our Facebook friend only after we’ve become friends in the real world, many of us are using Facebook as a short-cut around all that time-consuming relationship building. Why bother asking someone you’ve just met questions about their family, interests and ability to run a farm or aquarium, when you can simply send them a friend request and read the answers in your Facebook news feed? And so we think little of receiving friend requests after we meet someone for the first time at, say, a dinner party. If you like the person, perhaps because they brought an excellent bottle of wine to the party, then you can accept the request in the hope of further opportunities to sample the contents of their cellar. If you didn’t get to taste the wine because they accidentally spilled the bottle over your brand new party dress, then etiquette experts would probably agree that you can decline the friend request, send them a dry-cleaning bill and humiliate them in a derisory posting to your real Facebook friends. In the workplace, however, the dynamic is very different. The consequences of offending someone by ignoring their friend request are greater with a colleague you see every day than with a careless dining companion you may never meet again. So why are people you work with increasingly offering to share their Facebook output? Joan Morris DiMicco,
an IBM researcher who studies social software in the workplace, said it’s partly because some people just don’t anticipate the ramifications of sharing their personal life with colleagues. But it’s also a function of the Facebook interface, which recommends other people for you to friend. “Once you’ve connected to one person you work with you get recommendations to connect to others that you work with,” she said. Of course, many people don’t have a problem with being Facebook friends with colleagues, especially those they know well. But for those who would rather keep their work and private lives separate, there are options other than ignoring an unwanted friend request. One is to accept the invitation and then use Facebook’s privacy settings to limit the flow of information between you and your new “friend”. To do this, you can create a “colleagues” list from the Friends menu and then add to it your new friend. Then navigate to the privacy settings and use the “Profile Information” section to control what information people on the “colleagues” list can see. An alternative, says workplace etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, is to suggest to the colleague that you connect instead on LinkedIn, a social network for professional relationships. “You can just go ahead and ask them to join you on LinkedIn and hope they forget they sent you a Facebook friend request,” said Pachter, the author of New Rules @ Work. “Or you can say, Thanks for asking me. I’m keeping Facebook for my family and friends. I’m asking you to join me on my professional network instead.’” Pachter said that whatever you do, it’s important not to offend your colleague-and that’s not just because politeness is good etiquette. “The person you offend might end up being your boss next year,” she said. Got a question about the etiquette of email, social networks and other workplace technologies? Send them to richard.baum@reuters.com or via Twitter to @rbaum. —Reuters
HEALTH & SCIENCE
28
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Guidelines for controlling TB on airlines are a waste: Study PARIS: World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for preventing the spread of TB through air travel are largely a waste of time and resources, an expert said on Sunday. The WHO recommendations, set down in 2006 and 2008, urge health watchdogs to trace and screen passengers who have sat for longer than eight hours in rows adjacent to someone who has tested positive for pulmonary tuberculosis. In addition, an individual with TB should be barred from all commercial air travel until clearing two tests to show he or she is no
longer infectious. But a review of the evidence, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, suggests there is little danger of contagion from air travel and tracing passengers is a burden for poor countries whose money would be better spent fighting TB at source. TB specialist Ibrahim Abubakar of the University of East Anglia in eastern England looked at 13 investigations into 41 scares that tuberculosis had been transmitted by air travel. A total of 2,761 passengers and crew were screened after potential contact
with a TB case. Only 10 of them showed up positive when using the tuberculin skin reaction test, which meant they had been latently infected by the microbe. Yet none became actively infected, meaning they developed the symptoms of the disease. Several factors combine to determine whether someone with TB, through coughing and wheezing, can transmit the dangerous lung bacterium to others, says the paper. They include the bacterial load in the sputum, the duration and nature of contact,
shared air space or ventilation and vulnerability of exposed people. Most airliners, though, have high-efficiency air filtration designed to snare germs bigger than 0.3 nanometres-which means in principle that the TB bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is caught. In addition, cabin air is generally renewed more than 15 times an hour, which is more than the standard used in isolation rooms used for multidrug-resistant TB cases, says Abubakar. “Although an airline cabin is a closed confined space, the cumula-
tive duration of exposure is relative short compared with households or...other modes of transport where individuals might travel on the same route daily,” he notes. Another point, he says, is that TB has the best chance of infecting people when their immune systems are weakened by cancer, AIDS or other diseases. Yet most people who travel by air are relatively healthy. Efforts to trace passengers deemed at risk were often fruitless and were costly, the paper adds. In a case in 1992, doctors spent 600 hours and more
than 25,000 dollars to investigate 152 passengers, but turned up no evidence at all of any transmission. The report does not doubt the severity of the TB epidemic or the need to trace passengers in the event of a genuine emergency. But, it says, there are grounds to doubt the current WHO guidelines. “Resources might be better spent addressing other priorities of tuberculosis control and helping all achieve Millennium Development Goals related to tuberculosis.”—AFP
Most ‘test tube’ kids are healthy, researchers find
KUWAIT: Partial view of attendees of the international medical conference.
Convention addresses novel rheumatoid arthritis treatment KUWAIT: International and regional medical experts meeting in Dubai this week addressed the importance of early detection and adequate treatment for patients afflicted by rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an auto-immune disease resulting in the loss of joint function which often leads to disability and other systemic complications. The event was organized by Roche, the world’s largest biotech company, where it announced the launch of its innovative drug, Actemra(r) (tocilizumab), the only product to show superiority over methotrexate (MTX), the most widely used treatment against rheumatoid arthritis. Research has shown that rheumatoid arthritis patients have high levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), the key cytokine or protein involved in the inflammatory process. The overproduction of IL-6 leads to inflammation, swelling, joint damage and destruction, as well as other symptoms. Speaking at the event, Country Manager, Roche Kuwait, Dr Hussein Mokaddam, said: “By blocking the action of IL-6, Actemra, the world’s first IL-6 receptorinhibiting monoclonal antibody, rapidly improves the signs and symptoms by reducing inflammation both in the joints and throughout the body, thereby helping more RA patients to achieve the ultimate goal of remission.” Rheumatoid arthritis is generally diagnosed through several symptoms and signs such as morning stiffness for an hour, pain and swelling of joints, and general weakness. The experts called on patients who notice these and other signs and symptoms to seek a rheumatologist’s opinion. Over a hundred specialists from around the world participated in the one-day medical convention. Medical experts including Ernest Choy from the UK, Jean Dudler from Switzerland, Andrea
Rubbert from Germany, Adel Al Awadhi from Kuwait, Mohamed Hamoudeh from Qatar and others addressed the latest clinical trials and case studies linked to Actemra. Rheumatologists also underlined the importance of optimization of the treatment options in Rheumatoid Arthritis and called on patients to seek early specialist opinion. “The key thing here is early detection in order to determine the best course for treatment which ideally should help doctors treat the symptoms and stop progression of the disease. “We look forward to using this new treatment option which will help our patients better manage RA signs and symptoms and hopefully substantially modify the course of the disease” said Professor Adel AlAwadhi, consultant rheumatologist at Al-Amiri Hospital in Kuwait. Professor Khaled Alsaeid, consultant in pediatrics and rheumatology at Mubarak Hospital in Kuwait, who participated in the convention said: “the latest clinical trials and case studies that were presented by colleagues from all over the world, showed that Actemra delivers a unique combination of a rapid onset of action and an efficacy that keeps improving over time. This means that many of my patients have now a new hope that will help them deal with this life-changing disease that affects them both physically and emotionally”. According to the World Health Organization’s latest statistics about 1% of the world’s population suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Twice as many women are generally affected by RA than men. The earlier the disease starts, the more likely it is that patients will become severely disabled. The disease also impacts the average life expectancy, shortening it by three to seven years.
BHUBANESWAR: An infant monkey looks from the lap of its mother at a Zoological park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, India, Sunday. —AP
SAN DIEGO: More than 30 years after the world greeted its first “test-tube” baby with a mixture of awe, elation and concern, researchers say they are finding only a few medical differences between these children and kids conceived in the traditional way. More than 3 million children have been born worldwide as a result of what is called assisted reproductive technology, and injecting sperm into the egg outside the human body now accounts for about 4 percent of live births, researchers reported Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The majority of assisted reproduction children are healthy and normal, according to researchers who have studied them. Some of these children do face an increased risk of birth defects, such as neural tube defects, and of low birth weight, which is associated with obesity,
hypertension and Type 2 diabetes later in life, the researchers said. “Overall, these children do well,” said Andre Van Steirteghem of the Brussels Free University Center for Reproductive Medicine in Belgium. “It is a reassuring message, but we must continue to follow up.” Carmen Sapienza, a geneticist at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, noted that few of these test tube children are older than 30, so it’s not known if they will be obese or have hypertension or other health problems at age 50 or older. Sapienza said researchers found differences in 5 percent to 10 percent of chromosomes between assisted reproduction children and other kids. What’s not clear is whether these differences result in some way from assisted reproduction techniques or if they stem from other factors, perhaps ones that caused the couple’s infertility in the
first place. Only a small fraction of the assisted reproduction children were outside the normal range of gene expression, Sapienza reported. “However, because some of the genes found to be affected are involved in the development of fat tissue and the metabolism of glucose, it will be interesting to monitor these children, long term to determine whether they have higher rates of obesity or diabetes.” “There are genetic causes of infertility that you can bypass now,” Van Steirteghem said. “But this may mean that the next generation will be infertile, and that is something that all clinics should mention.” One factor in low birth weight may be that in many cases assisted fertility results in multiple births, which tend to be early and of lower weight. “We must reduce the epidemic of multiple births,” Van Steirteghem said, noting that in Sweden the rate had been cut from around 30 percent in the early
1990s to about 5 percent today. In the United States, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology reported that the use of single-embryo transfers is increasing, and the frequency of triplet births is down to below 2 percent. Sapienza noted that women seeking assisted reproduction tend to be older than those who conceive naturally, but said that had been controlled for in the studies comparing the two groups of children. Dolores J. Lamb of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston urged more testing of males for the reason for infertility. “There are correctable causes of male infertility and a couple can then have children the natural way,” she said. Also, infertility can be the first symptom of diseases such as testicular cancer, Lamb said. As of 2008, the most recent data available, the United States reported that 361 clinics did 140,795 treatment cycles leading to the birth of 56,790 babies.—AP
Poverty in childhood can shape neurobiology: Study CALIFORNIA: Living in poverty can shape the neurobiology of a developing child “in powerful ways”, affecting children’s behavior, health and how well they do later in life, a study presented here Sunday shows. US researchers found what they called “a biology of misfortune” among adults who were poor as children, in particular if they lived in poverty before the age of five, the study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) shows. Early childhood is a”crucial time for establishing the brain architecture that shape’s children’s future cognitive, social and emotional wellbeing,” the study says. “Children growing up in a disadvantaged setting show disproportionate levels of reactivity to stress, and it shows at the level of hormonal studies, neurological brain imaging studies and at the level of epigenetic profiling,” said Thomas Boyce, of the University of British Columbia. The researchers studied data on more than 1,500 individuals born between 1968 and 1975 taken from a 40-year demographic study of US households that measured family income during every year of childhood, educational attainment, what level people reached in their careers, plus crime and health as adults. They found “striking differences” in how the children’s lives turned out as adults, depending on whether they were poor or comfortably well-off before the age of six. “Compared to children whose families had incomes of at least twice the poverty line during their early childhood, poor children complete two fewer years of schooling, work 451 fewer hours per year, earn less than half as much,” the study said.
They also received more than 800 dollars a year more in food stamps as adults, and were more than twice as likely to report poor overall health or high levels of psychological distress, the study said. Poor children were also fatter than their more affluent counterparts, and were more likely to be overweight as adults. And the litany of misfortunes continues, with poor males twice as likely to be arrested and poor women six times more likely than their more affluent age-group peers to have a child out of wedlock. But “economic conditions in early childhood matter most for labor market success,” Duncan said. The study also found that it was possible to positively shape the futures of poor children, by giving the families of under-fives additional income. This was associated later in life with significantly higher adult earnings and work hours, and less need for state aid in the form of food stamps, the study found. “The analysis indicates that policy makers might do well to focus on situations involving deep and persistent poverty early in childhood,” the study said. According to the authors of the study, four million children in the United States lived in poverty in 2007. Jack Shonkoff, a professor at Harvard University, said the study provided “an amazing opportunity to learn more about the biology of misfortune and that will help us to develop some new ideas and create new interventions that may be able to mitigate the impact of adversity.” But he ruled out a quick fix that would address the biological side of the problem. “Understanding the biology helps inform new social strategies rather than being turned into a medical treatment,” he said.— AFP
Scientists shed light on sleep through the ages CALIFORNIA: What starts with an “s” that seniors need more of than younger adults, is great to get a bit of in the middle of the day and could cause teens to turn to drugs if they don’t get enough of it? The answer is sleep, according to several studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) found that 68-year-old adults, on average, did better on a simple memory test if they got more sleep. In younger adults, aged 27 years on average, the quality of sleep also affected how they performed on the same test. “What mattered in the younger adults was sleep efficiency-
that the sleep was consolidated into one solid chunk,” said Sean Drummond, a professor at UCSD’s department of psychiatry who led the study, adding that sleeping soundly and uninterruptedly happens less and less frequently with age. “The most common change in sleep as we age is you wake up in the middle of the night and you’re awake for some time, meaning you have lower sleep efficiency,” Drummond said. “In the older adults what we found is that waking up in the middle of the night did not affect brain function or performance the next day but if a young adult did that, it had significant detrimental effects on brain function,” he said. Another study looked at the possible benefits of napping. “Our
question first was could you get the same benefits from a short daytime nap as a full night of sleep,” said Sara Mednick, also from UCSD’s department of psychiatry. “We started looking over a number of different tests beginning with a visual learning test, which showed that if you had a 90 minute nap you showed the same level of benefit as a full night of sleep,” Mednick said. “There’s something very special about naps,” she said. But not everyone has the luxury of being able to catch a few Zs in the middle of the day, and as a substitute, many seek a caffeine boost. But a double espresso works less well than a 20-minute nap, said Mednick. “On some tasks, such as those involving perceptual memory, caf-
feine works as well as a nap,” said Mednick. “But when the task involves the hippocampus, the area of the brain devoted to explicit memories you can manipulate consciously, such as learning a list of words or a phone number or name, with caffeine, your memory for those kinds of tasks is decreased,” she said. Meanwhile, another study found that “two significant clinical and public health problems, sleep disorders and drug use in teens” are closely inter-twined. Not only are teens who sleep less than seven hours a day more likely to do drugs, but they are also likely to pass both their bad sleep and drug-use behavior to friends and siblings. “An adolescent who does not get enough sleep can influence a friend’s sleep behavior, which increases the risk
that the friend will use drugs,” the study says. Researchers at UCSD and Harvard University found that teens with a friend who sleeps less than seven hours a night are 11 percent more likely to sleep less than seven hours themselves and 19 percent more likely to use marijuana than teens whose friends get a good night’s kip. The US National Sleep Foundation recommends that teens get at least 8.5 hours of sleep and that adults, both younger and older, get at least seven hours. The study was the first to find that poor sleep habits and drug use spread through teenagers’ social networks “like a contagion,” extending to up to four degrees of separation-or to friends of friends of friends of friends.—AFP
LANCASTER: A Great Blue Heron stands on one leg on the ice at Longs Park in Lancaster, Pa, Sunday. —AP
30
WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
70% of Soor employees on the healthy track
G
ethealthykuwait.com, Kuwait’s largest national health campaign for better nutrition and weight management, announced today that it provided 110 employees at fuel marketing company, Soor, with free on-thespot health tests and consultations in an effort to empower employees to better their lifestyles at the workplace. Since its launch in 2009, gethealthykuwait.com expert nutritionists from Diet Care and Taiba Hospital, the founders of the campaign, helped Kuwait lose over a ton of fat and provided more than 3100 people with health check-ups based on weight analysis, glucose tests and private one-on-one consultations. With these health checkups, gethealthykuwait.com’s team of experts consults individuals on methods to bettering their personal health and nutritional intake. Gethealthykuwait.com’s Chief Nutritionist and Diet Care’s Operational Manager, Sami Al Bader said: “Our nutritionists spent private time with each employee at Soor to ensure they are updated with their personal health
statuses to lead a healthier lifestyle. Obesity has one of the most significant threats to health in Kuwait, and it is our national objective to make a change in the community by reaching out to as many individuals and empowering them to combat this pandemic.” Gethealthykuwait.com’s Head of Testings and Taiba Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer, Rashed Al Fadala said: “At gethealthykuwait.com we aim to provide every employee with the opportunity to take the first step to living a healthier life. Because many individuals spend most of their time at work, gethealthykuwait.com focuses on getting employees to recognize the health risks they might be putting themselves through daily. Our last visit to Soor helped 110 employees on their way to leading a healthier lifestyle starting at their workplace.” To motivate and inspire people, gethealthykuwait.com offers a free vacation for three people to the magical island of Bali, Indonesia, for the person who loses the most percentage of his body weight. Ivan Kristovic, cycle one
Embassy information EMBASSY OF UKRAINE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait informs that it has started updating the information about Ukrainian citizens, who live and work in Kuwait. In this connection, we are asking you to refer to the Embassy and update your file in consular register in order not to be excluded from it. Please note, that the last day of updating your data is 20th of March, 2010. For additional information please call: 25318507 ext.106 or visit the embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait (address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str.6, house 5). The consular section of the Embassy open every day from 09:30 till 14:30 except Friday and Saturday.
GHK’s expert nutritionist, Sarah Dimashkieh (left), provides free health consultations to Soor employees (right) winner, lost 8.8 per cent of his body weight in 28 days and recently Nawaf Al-Thabian, cycle two winner, lost 32
kilograms in 3 months. Gethealthykuwait.com is extending two more opportunities to win a trip to Bali
for the person who loses the highest percentage of their weight in cycle 3 and cycle 4 of the campaign.
Monira Al-Qadiri participates in Tokyo Art Expo
K
uwaiti artist, Monira Al-Qadiri, took part recently in the annual exhibition held by PhD students at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts, in which 30 students represented their works as part of their graduation
thesis. The exhibition, which lasted for one week, featured participation from 3000 visitors, as the university’s administration will be publishing a book regarding the exhibition and participating artists.
Al-Qadiri, who is a specialists in video, media and animations arts, presented during her participation a comprehensive work of art regarding her thesis in “Eastern Sorrow Aesthetics”. Furthermore, Al-Qadiri also partici-
pated in an art show sponsored by the Tokyo Municipality at the ‘Tokyo Wonder Site’ hall, in which she demonstrated her latest work of art that displays “spiritually enriched eastern connotations”; and that after she was cho-
sen among several other artist who applied to have the chance to demonstrate their arts at the hall. After gaining her PhD, Al-Qadiri is expected to release her thesis in a book published in both Japanese and English.
Seminar on ‘Secure family for moral restoration’
I
ndian Islahi Center is organizing a seminar on “Secure family for moral restoration” to discuss in detail the present confrontations on family issues with the participation of distinguished scholars from India and Kuwait at 6.30 PM, Thursday 25th Feb. 2010, Jamia Community Hall Abbassiya. The programme will be inaugurated by IIC chief guest Jb. Moosa Salahi - Secretary KNM Malappuram West District and Lecturer of Valavanur Ansar Arbic College Kerala in the presence of our respected audience and guests Dr Amir, N.A. Munir, Faisal Manjeri, Eng. Basheer, Pasteur Alexander, Siddiq Valiakath, Salam Valanchery, Rafi Nandi etc. We request the presence of all including families to witness a dialogue of prevailing family affairs.
Biggest Kuwaiti flag to be flown
W
ataniya Telecom is delighted to invite you to a press conference in which it will announce the launch of the biggest Kuwaiti Flag to be flown in Kuwait’s sky on February 24, 2010 at 11:00 am near Marina Mall’s offices located by Salem Al-Mubarak Street. Done in honor of National and Liberation Day, Wataniya is sponsoring the event to reinforce its nationalistic endeavors towards Kuwait and its people. Leaders from Wataniya telecom will be present at the press conference.
Volunteer League holds International Mother’s Language day
B
angladesh Awami Volunteer league Kuwait chapter observed the very auspicious international mother’s language day 2010, during a meeting held on 20th February, Saturday at Gulshan Hotel in Kuwait City. Mr. Mohammed Masud Karim president of Awami volunteer’s league Kuwait branch presided over the meeting. Engineer Abdur Rob the founding President of
Bangladesh Awami league Kuwait branch and Chief patron of Awami volunteer’s league Kuwait chapter was the chief guest of the event, Mr. Sayed Ali Rezu, Burhan Uddin Faruk Advisor of Awami volunteer’s league Kuwait branch, Hasan Ali GS Joybangla Cultural Group, Kuwait branch, Poet Salirn Reza, Jahangir Hossain Bablu editor of Ekushe Bangla, Bahar uddin Vice president Awami
volunteer’s league Kuwait, Jashim Uddin were the special guests. Lak Miah General Secretary of Awami volunteer’s league Kuwait Chapter presented the programme. In the Beginning of the celebration verses from the holy Quran was recited and one minute silence was observed in honor of gallant martyrs of the language movement of 1952 that ushered the independence of Bangladesh.
Awami Seschasebok League honour their central leaders
R Jalalabad association, Kuwait holds Milad & Doa Mahfil
A
Milad & Doa Mahfil hold by Jalalabad association, Kuwait to commemorate the sad demise of mother of the religious secretary Mawlana Komoruddin Jalalabadi and the grand mother of vice-president Enam Ahmed. Al-Haz Momin Chowdhury the president of Jalalabad welfare association and Jalalabad association presided over the Mahfil and Abdul Khalek Choudhury, Haji Mohibussamad, Manna Ahmed Jaygirdar all advisors of the organization, vice president’s Jalaluddin Khan Babul, Lutfor Rahman Ludai Miah, M
Faisal Ahmed, Sayed Muhidur Rahman Sundor Ali, Nurul Amin Joynal, Moyeeb Ali Mahboob, Shamsud Ahmed, president of Shaymol Sylhet were present as special guest. The general secretary Moinul Al-Izlam conducted the whole program, Milad and Doa
offered by Mawlana Komoruddin Jalalabadi. Hafez Hossain Ahmed recited verses from the Holy Quran. Hacez Aftabuddin and Mawlana Alauddin took part in the discussion. A large number of Bangladeshis took part in the Milad & Doa Mahfil.
ecently the honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasena came to Kuwait on an official visit with a company of 84 delegates. Among the delegates, there were the leaders of Awami Seschasebok League Mulla Abu Kawsar, the Acting President, Matiur Rahman, Assist. General Secretary and Pratik Saha the General Secretary of Dhaka reporter’s unity. Awami Seschasebok League Kuwait branch met with their leaders in a tea-party held at the Mughal Mahal restaurant in Salmiya led by Ataul Gani Mamun, the first convener of the association while Shahajahan Sanu, the President, Abul
Kalam Azad the vice president, Shamsul Haque the general secretary. Salauddin, the organizing secretary, Muzammal Haque, the office secretary, Sabbir Ahmed, the secretary of publicity wing also present in the meeting. They discussed the current problems facing the society and political issues and how to develop the organi-
zation. Kausar the acting president urged to the Bangali community living in Kuwait, obey the rules and regulation of the Government of Kuwait and not to be violated any law. We should work sincerely and honestly for the development of the society and Kuwait which will help us to make better relationship with Kuwait and Bangladesh.
EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya whishes to inform the general public that the Embassy will remain closed from Thursday, February 25th to Monday, March 2nd 2010, on the occasion of National Day, Liberation Day and Birthday of Prophet Mohammed respectively. Office operations will resume on Tuesday, 2nd March 2010. EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on Thursday, February 25 and Monday, March 1, 2010 on account of “National Day of Kuwait” & “Holi”. 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. EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy would like to advise that it will be closed on Thursday 25 February 2010 on the occasion of the National Day of the State of Kuwait. EMBASSY OF BANGLADESH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will remain closed from Thursday 25 February to Monday, 01 March 2010 on the occasion of National Day and Liberation Day of the State of Kuwait & Holy Eid-E Miladun Nabi.
Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20
KKIC to hold Islamic seminar
Announcements FEBRUARY 24 Churches join worship: In the history of the Kuwait Episcopal Churches in Kuwait, a joint worship service will be held on Wednesday the 24th February 2010 at Indian Central School Auditorium. The leaders for the day are Rt Rev Kuriakose Mar Evanious Metropolitan of Kannaya Syrian Church, 12 Clergies of the Episcopal Churches and Choir leaders. The singing secession will be led by St Peters CSI Congregation Choir, under the leadership of Rev Jacob T Abraham and Choir Master, Thomas Koshy, with various other teams. The worship service will be led by Rt Rev Kuriakose Mar Evanious Metropolitan, Ranny Zone of Kanannay Syrian Church and the worship service will begin at 7:30 pm followed by a procession. The joint worship service is an effort to bring all the Episcopal believers together and revitalize the fellowship of the 10 churches in Kuwait. All members are requested to be present. FEBRUARY 24-27 Islamic seminar: Kuwait Kerala Islahi Centre is organizing a 4 day-long Islamic Seminar at Farwaniya Garden Ground starting from February 24 to 27 and will be under the patronage of His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs, Minister of Justice and Awqaf & Islamic Affairs Advisor Rashid Abdul Mohsin Al Hammad. Assistant Undersecretary for Cultural Affairs Ibrahim AlSaleh, Advisor for Minister of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs Shaikh Jassem Muhammed Al Farhan, Director of Department of Justice Salem Abdullah Al-Hassan, Shaikh Yousuf Shuaib and Shaikh Khalid Sinan from Ministry of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs will be attending the Islamic Seminar Inauguration program. Indian Ambassador Ajay Malhotra will be inaugurating Exhibiton, Vision-2010 on Feb 24. All are invited to attend this program with your families and friends.
31
WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
K
uwait Kerala Islahi Centre (KKIC) is organizing its 2nd Islamic Seminar starting from February 24 to 27, 2010 at Farwaniya Garden Ground under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs, Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs Rashid Abdul Muhsin Al-Hammad. The seminar 2010 will mainly focus on all Indian community in KuwaitMuslims as well as non-Muslims. Addressing a press conference on Sunday evening at Abbassiya, the KKIC office-bearers informed that the slogan of the seminar will be: ‘Islam: the Straight Path for Mankind.’ The prime message of Islam is to worship Allah alone and to save our life from the everlasting agony. The world is material, but our action will be eternal and everlasting; the right deeds will be counted for our salvation from the eternal agony and astray. The seminar 2010’s slogan ‘Islam straight path for mankind’ is a relevant topic to think about His existence, meaning of life. The seminar will be held in 13 sessions lasting for 4 days.
* Exhibition ‘Vision 2010’ throughout 4 days Feb 24, Wedneday: Exhibition Inauguration- Inaugural Ceremony Feb 25, Thursday: * Effective Parenting * Students Meet (English) * Play way session for kids * Discussion Meet (Topic: Secular India and Religious Minority) * Women’s Conference * Ideological Conference * Seminar Slogan presentation Lecture Feb 26, Friday: * Medical Camp * Visual Debate * Public Conference Feb 27, Saturday: * Dawa Conference (Arabic) * Peace Assembly (Malayalam) * Peace Assembly (English) Presentation, lectures on religious, social and medical field with questionanswer sessions In order to create awareness about the Islamic ideal to non-Muslims, peace assembly is worth. Exhibition ‘vision 2010’
Islam through Holy Quran * Flex message presentation * Visual Media theatre * Counselling centre
* Dawa Corner The seminar will be inaugurated by Sheikh Ebrahim Ahmad Al-Saleh (Deputy Undersecretary, Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs) and exhibition will be inaugurated by Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador of India. Separate tents for gents and ladies will be arranged.
FEBRUARY 26 Daasotsava invitation: Kuwait Kannada Koota (KKK) invites all its members to the Daasotsava program on Friday, February 26 at Carmel School Auditorium. Program commences from 7:15 am, which will be followed by breakfast at 8 am and lunch at 2 pm. Members are requested to be dressed in traditional attire. IOC fest ’09 winners: Indian Overseas Congress, Kuwait is conducting its 16th Annual day celebrations on Friday, 26th February 2010 at Indian Central School Auditorium, Abbassiya. Various Senior Congress leaders from Kerala including K.C Joseph MLA, E.M Augasthy Ex. MLA, V.D Satheeshan MLA will be attending the function. IOC as an organisation of equally minded people from India, have been anchored with a vision of imparting the spirit of economically prosperous, socialy just, politically united and culturally Harmonious India to the expatriate Indian Community. The uncomparable public speeches of V.D Satheeshan, E.M. Augusthy and KC Joseph will be memorable talks to the Congressmen in Kuwait. Since few years IOC is conducting Arts festival for all the Indians in Kuwait. More than one thousand participants from all States of India are participating in various competitions organised. every year. The winners of IOC Fest ‘09 will be awarded with prizes and certificates at the function. Various committees under the leadership of M.A Hilal, Somu Mathew Geevarghese Abraham, Raju Zakarias, K.J. John, John Abraham, Tony Mathew, Adv. John Thomas, C. Ramachandran, Thajudeen, Alex Bino Joseph, Varghese Mamparampan, Shaji Kavalam, are actively working to make this a memorable event among the Indians in Kuwait. IOC requests all the IOC Fest ‘09 winners to contact Tony Mathew (66853100) or Raju Zakarias (99234968). FEBRUARY 27 Family get-together: The Kuwait Mar Thoma Church celebrates its grand family gettogether 2010 - ‘Kudumbasangamam- 2010’ with numerous colourful cultural programmes at the national evangelical church of kuwait (NECK) premises on Saturday the 27th of February 2010 from 9 am to 4 pm. Main attraction this year would be the inimitable Christian Music Treat being presented by the orchestra led by Star Musician Jolly Abraham. This will be interspersed with various cultural programmes, competitions (fancy dress, drawing / painting etc.). Exhibition stalls, tantalizing presentations of multi cuisine home made food items from different parish members, etc, will add to the grace of this celebration. All parish members, friends, and well wishers are cordially invited with family to participate in the function. For more particulars, please make use of the following contact numbers: General Convenor: 9985 4931, Parish Secretary: 9912 4096. MARCH 26 CRYcket 2010: The 13th annual crycket tournament is scheduled to be held on Friday, 26th March 2010 at the KOC Hockey Grounds, Ahmadi. This tournament is organized by FOCC (Friends of Cry Club). Friends of CRY Club (FOCC) is associated with CRY (Child Rights and You), India and its main objectives are to create awareness of the underprivileged Indian children, help restore their basic rights, strive to provide support in personal development of the Indian children in Kuwait and bring out the qualities of social commitment in them. FOCC has been organizing CRY awareness programmes for children through its two annual events - CRYcket (Cricket match for children below 14 years organized annually since 1997) and CRY chess tournament (for children of all ages organized annually since 2005) - and ‘Brain Bang’ programme which is an ongoing bi-weekly Accelerated Learning activity. CRYcket will be played by 24 teams of children and about 500 spectators are expected for this special one-day event. The deadline to receive the registration forms is 18th March 2010, however registration may be close earlier if the available slots of 12 teams in each category are filled. A colourful souvenir will be released to mark the 13th year of FOCC’s activities in Kuwait. For details how to become a sponsor and/or to advertise in the Souvenir or to volunteer as a FOCC member, pls visit www.focckwt.org or email focckwt@yahoo.com
Youth India Launching: YI conducts Youth Meet at Riggai
A
s a prelude to the Launching ceremony of Youth India - the youth wing of KIG, a Youth Meet was organized by Youth India Riggai unit with variety programs. KIG Riggai Area Organizer Ashraf Muhammed inaugurated the Youth meet and said that Kuwait is a peace loving country and law abiding Indians living in Kuwait are contributing to the nation building in great extend, they love Kuwait as their second home country. Youth should come forth to bridge the gap between communities and work for peaceful co-existence and communal harmony, he added. KIG Public relation convenor Faisal Manjeri presented his topic on “Media: the Truth and Lies” and urged the gathering not to be betrayed by the biased media, which try to confuse
the people by spreading false and pre-cooked news items. Casting various examples from media he tried to substantiate his points. Mathew Pappadi and Najeeb V.S conducted “Brain hunt” a multimedia quiz competition in which Riggai Cricket team won the prize by beating Riggai boys and Riggai football team. The football team, “Riggai fighters” who won the cup in a soccer tournament conducted by Salmiya football club was honored in the meet and prizes were distributed. Riggai Youth delivered group songs, Youth India Riggai unit president Abdul Aziz presided over the function, secretary Firoz A.P. welcomed the audience, KIG Friendship wing convenor P.P. Abdul Razack, Youth India President Khaleelurahman etc., addressed the audience.
NAFO hosts family get-together, honors outgoing students
N
AFO Kuwait hosted a ‘Kudumbasangamam’ -family gettogether and a farewell lunch on Friday 19, February 2010, at Indian Community Junior School, Salmiya and honored its outgoing senior students Anand Rajeev, Kaviya G. Nair, Lakshmy
Velayudhan Nair, Priyanka Radhakrishnan Nair, Revathi Suresh and Shilpa R Kaimal who are leaving Kuwait to pursue their higher education. Junior students - Gauri Manoj and Geethu Manoj, who are leaving Kuwait to continue their education in Kerala were also given a warm farewell.
Greetings
H
appy birthday to Adnan Fahad Refai. Best wishes from friends and family.
H
appy birthday to Ahmad Fahad Refai. Best wishes from friends and family.
NAFO life member Kurup decorated the senior students with gold medals. The event was attended by hundreds of NAFO members and their families. NAFO general secretary, BS Pillai welcomed the gathering, president, Dr. Srikumar, patron, Dr. Suresh, ladies wing chief advisor, Dr
Indira Raman, advisory board member, Dr. Prasad Nair, general committee convener, Rajan Menon and children’s wing coordinator, Dr. Vasanthy Nair felicitated the outgoing students. All speakers reminded the outgoing students about their future challenges and their social
obligations and wished them bright futures. The outgoing students thanked NAFO for providing them various opportunities for molding and developing their career and personality, and for improving their cultural talents. Event convener A R Subbaraman expressed a vote of thanks.
AUK's National and Liberation Day celebrations program Tuesday, February 23, 2010: Arab Literature Club: Poetry Reading By Dr. Abdulaziz Albabtain Head of board of trustees of Al-Babtain's prize for Poetic Creativity The Office of Student Life is organizing Arabic pottery reading ceremony By Dr. Abdulaziz Albabtain as part of the overall National Day and Liberation Day celebrations program. This event is held in association with AUK's Arabic Literature Club. The event will include pottery reading by Dr. Abdulaziz Albabtain. The event will be concluded by honoring Dr. Abdulaziz by making him an "Honorary President" for the AUK's Arab Literature Club. Date: on Tuesday February 23, 2010 -Time: 2-3 pm. Location: AUK's Auditorium, AUK Campus, Salem Al-Mubarak Street, Salmiya. For more information please call: PR & Marketing Department American University of Kuwait Tel.: 22248399 Ext. 306.
PTD official calls Chandra Babu Naidu Pravaasandra Telugu Desam (PTD), Kuwait official BP Naidu called Telugu Desam Party President and Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandra Babu Naidu last Friday at NTR Bhavan in Hyderabad. BP Naidu explained the ongoing membership enrollment of Pravaasandra TDP, and their other activities. N Chandra Babu Naidu appreciated
the participation of Kuwait NRIs in raising money for flood victims and suggested that Pravaasandra TDP play a lead role in party activities. Meanwhile, Pravaasandra Telgu Desam officials Mulakala Subbarayudu Naidu, Venkat, Pidikiti Srinivasa Chodary, Peram Ramana and Udaya Prakash thanked Chandra Babu Naidu for his suggestions.
WOW cleans the beach: WOW (Women’s Overall Welfare) will be organizing series of events ‘“Save The Earth”. Come and join hands with us on 27th Feb from 10 am to 12 noon at TGI FRIDAYS beach. International expatriate community would like to express thanks and gratitude to Kuwait. All ladies are welcome! For more information contact arshia.wow@hotmail.com or call 66113282
TV PROGRAMS
32
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Orbit / Showtime Listings
00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
00:50 01:45 02:40 03:35 04:30 05:25 06:20 06:45 07:10 07:35 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:45 10:10 10:40 11:05 11:55 12:50 13:15 13:45 14:10 14:40 15:35 16:00 16:30 16:55 17:25 17:50 18:20 19:15 20:10 21:10 22:05 23:00 23:55
Kathy Griffin Prison Break Friday Night Lights Dawsons Creek Prison Break One Tree Hill Heroes Kathy Griffin Hotel Babylon Saving Grace Friday Night Lights Dawsons Creek Heroes One Tree Hill Friday Night Lights Prison Break Hotel Babylon Saving Grace Kathy Griffin Heroes Inside the Actors Studio Flash Forward One Tree Hill Midnight Man
Animal Cops Houston Natural World Untamed & Uncut I’m Alive Animal Cops Philadelphia Animal Cops Houston Lemur Street Monkey Life RSPCA: On the Frontline Vet on the Loose Wildlife SOS Pet Rescue Animal Precinct The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Planet’s Funniest Animals RSPCA: On the Frontline Animal Cops Houston Corwin’s Quest Wildlife SOS Pet Rescue The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Planet’s Funniest Animals Natural World Lemur Street Monkey Life Pet Rescue Vet on the Loose Wildlife SOS RSPCA: On the Frontline Animal Cops Philadelphia K9 Cops Natural World Animal Cops Houston Untamed & Uncut K9 Cops Animal Cops Miami
00:45 Holby City 01:45 Coast 02:45 Terry Jones’ Barbarians 03:35 Holby City 04:35 Holby City 05:35 Coast 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 Days That Shook The World 13:15 The Weakest Link 14:00 Eastenders 14:30 Doctors 15:00 Bargain Hunt 15:45 Cash In The Attic 16:15 Red Dwarf (re-mastered) 16:45 Red Dwarf (re-mastered) 17:15 The Weakest Link 18:00 Doctors 18:30 Eastenders 19:00 Holby City 20:00 Holby City 21:00 The Weakest Link 21:45 Doctors 22:15 Eastenders 22:45 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2 part version) 23:45 Judge John Deed
00:05 00:30 01:00 01:20 01:45 02:15 03:15 03:45 04:15 04:43 05:15 05:45 06:15 07:00 08:10 09:00 09:25 09:45 10:30 11:30 12:20 13:10
17:10 17:35 18:00 18:25 18:45 19:00 19:25 19:50 20:15 20:40 21:05 21:30 21:50
Glamour Puds Masterchef Goes Large Masterchef Goes Large Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun Saturday Kitchen Saturday Kitchen The Naked Chef Glamour Puds Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun Coleen’s Real Women Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Rhodes Across India Rhodes Across India Living In The Sun Antiques Roadshow Coleen’s Real Women
00:15 Streets Of Hollywood 00:40 E!es 01:30 Extreme Hollywood 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 THS 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 50 Most Shocking Celebrity Confessions 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Kendra 09:50 Kendra 10:15 E!es 11:05 THS 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Wildest TV Show Moments 13:15 Wildest TV Show Moments 13:40 THS Investigates 15:25 Behind The Scenes 15:50 Behind The Scenes 16:15 E!es 17:10 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 17:35 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Streets Of Hollywood 19:15 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 19:40 THS 20:30 THS 21:20 Kendra
Valkyrie on Show Movies 14:00 14:45 15:40 16:05 16:30 16:50 17:10 18:10 18:50 19:45 20:15 21:05 21:30 22:00 22:50 23:40
01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:30 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:30
00:00 01:00 02:00 02:55 03:50 Shine 04:45 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:55 Shine 08:50 09:45 10:10 11:05 12:00 12:30 12:55 13:25 13:50 14:15 15:10 16:05 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00
00:40 01:30 02:20 03:10 04:05 05:00 05:55 06:20 07:10 07:35 08:00 08:50 09:40 10:30 11:20 12:10 13:00 13:50 14:40 15:30 16:20
Rhodes Across India Rhodes Across India Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Antiques Roadshow Coleen’s Real Women Living In The Sun Daily Cooks Challenge Masterchef Goes Large New British Kitchen New British Kitchen The Home Show 10 Years Younger The Naked Chef
Quadrophenia - 18 Nathalie... - PG 15 Bopha! - PG 15 Cocoon - PG 15 West Side Story - PG 15 Grateful Dawg - PG Millions - PG 15 Girl With A Pearl Earring - PG Limbo - PG 15 Big Night - PG 15 A Clockwork Orange - PG 15 Eyes Wide Shut - 18
Untamed & Uncut Miami Ink Street Customs 2008 American Chopper Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard Mythbusters How Does it Work Ultimate Survival Extreme Engineering Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard Street Customs 2008 How Do They Do It? Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Destroyed in Seconds Destroyed in Seconds How Do They Do It? How Does it Work Fifth Gear American Chopper Miami Ink Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Destroyed in Seconds Destroyed in Seconds Street Customs 2008 How Do They Do It? How Does it Work Building the Future Man Made Marvels Asia Extreme Explosions
Dr G: Medical Examiner Fbi Files A Haunting Forensic Justice Dr G: Medical Examiner Forensic Detectives Real Emergency Calls Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghosthunters Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Extreme Forensics Diagnosis: Unknown Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Guilty Or Innocent? Diagnosis: Unknown Fugitive Strike Force Forensic Detectives Fbi Files
17:10 18:00 18:50 19:40 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50
Extreme Forensics Diagnosis: Unknown Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Guilty Or Innocent? Diagnosis: Unknown Fugitive Strike Force Deadly Women Undercover
00:40 Man Made Marvels Asia 01:30 Robocar 02:20 Mighty Ships 03:10 Mega Builders 04:00 Beyond Tomorrow 04:50 Science of Star Wars 05:45 How Does That Work? 06:10 Mean Green Machines 06:40 One Step Beyond 07:10 Robocar 08:00 Scrapheap Challenge 09:00 Science of Star Wars 10:00 Mighty Ships 10:55 How Does That Work? 11:20 Stunt Junkies 11:50 Robocar 12:45 Mean Green Machines 13:10 One Step Beyond 13:40 Science of Star Wars 14:35 Mighty Ships 15:30 Cell Phone Revolution 16:25 How Does That Work? 16:55 Scrapheap Challenge 17:50 Brainiac 18:45 Man Made Marvels Asia 19:40 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 20:30 Discovery Project Earth 21:20 How It’s Made 21:45 How It’s Made 22:10 Mythbusters 23:00 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 23:50 Discovery Project Earth
00:00 00:20 00:45 01:10 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:45 03:10 03:35 04:00 04:25 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:20 07:45 08:10 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:00 11:25 11:45 12:10 12:35 12:55 13:20 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:15 15:40 16:00 16:25 16:45
Phineas & Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana The Replacements Jonas Suite Life On Deck Sonny With A Chance Hannah Montana Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life of Zack & Cody The Suite Life of Zack & Cody The Replacements
My Friends Tigger and Pooh Handy Manny Special Agent Oso IMAGINATION MOVERS Lazytown Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Brandy & Mr Whiskers Fairly Odd Parents Hannah Montana I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Higglytown Heroes My Friends Tigger and Pooh Handy Manny Special Agent Oso IMAGINATION MOVERS Lazytown Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Brandy & Mr Whiskers Fairly Odd Parents Hannah Montana I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Suite Life On Deck Replacements American Dragon Kim Possible Famous Five Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb Replacements I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Fairly Odd Parents
00:00 Chopped 01:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 01:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 02:00 Food Network Challenge 03:00 Iron Chef America 04:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 04:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 05:00 Teleshopping 08:00 Giada At Home 08:50 Barefoot Contessa 09:15 30 Minute Meals 09:40 30 Minute Meals 10:05 Rescue Chef with Danny Boome 10:30 Rescue Chef with Danny Boome 11:00 Great British Menu 11:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 12:00 Barefoot Contessa 13:30 Giada At Home 14:00 30 Minute Meals 14:30 30 Minute Meals 15:00 Barefoot Contessa 15:30 Barefoot Contessa 16:00 Grill It! with Bobby Flay 17:00 Barefoot Contessa 18:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 18:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 19:00 Rescue Chef with Danny Boome 19:30 Rescue Chef with Danny Boome 20:00 Great British Menu 20:30 Kitchen Criminals 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:30 Barefoot Contessa 22:00 Food Network Challenge 23:00 Iron Chef America
01:30 The Big Man 03:25 Sweet Lies 05:00 Exposed 06:40 Crooked Hearts 08:30 Hair 10:30 Arena 12:10 Home Is Where The Hart Is 13:35 Babes In Toyland 15:10 Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell 17:00 A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum 18:35 The Burning Bed 20:10 The Playboys 22:00 Stigmata
00:00 Billable Hours 00:30 Will and Grace 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Monday Stand Up night 04:30 Life & Times of Tim 05:00 Billable Hours 05:30 Best of The Tonight Show 06:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 07:00 Home Improvement 07:30 The Simpsons 08:00 Coach 08:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 09:00 The Colbert Report 09:30 Drew Carey Show
10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Frasier 11:00 All of us 11:30 Eight Simple Rules 12:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 13:00 Will and Grace 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 14:00 Home Improvement 14:30 Malcolm in the Middle 15:00 Coach 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Drew Carey 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Eight Simple Rules 18:30 All of us 19:00 Rita Rocks 19:30 Will and Grace 20:00 The Tonight Show With Conan OBrien 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report
03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 10 Years Younger 01:30 Eat Your Self Sexy 02:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 03:00 Mom Gets Real / Now you know / Amplified 04:00 Huey’s Cooking Adventure 04:30 Fresh 05:00 The Best of Jay Leno 06:00 GMA LIVE 08:00 Ahead of the Curve 08:30 Nature’s Edge 09:00 The Martha Stewart Show 10:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 11:00 Downsize Me 12:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 13:00 Huey’s Cooking Adventure 13:30 Fresh 14:00 The Martha Stewart Show 15:00 GMA LIVE 17:00 GMA Health 17:30 What’s the Buzz 18:00 Eat Your Self Sexy 18:30 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View 20:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 21:00 Jimmy Kimmel 22:00 Jay Leno 23:00 The Monique Show
01:00 Premier League Classics 01:30 Premier League 03:30 Barclays Premier League Review 05:00 Premier League 07:00 Barclays Premier League Review 08:30 Premier League 10:30 Premier League 12:30 Barclays Premier League Review 14:00 Premier League 16:00 Premier League Classics 16:30 Premier League Classics 17:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 17:30 Premier League World 18:00 Premier League 20:00 Portugol 20:30 Futbrasil 21:00 Premier League Classics 21:30 Premier League World 22:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 22:30 Goals Goals Goals
00:00 02:30 04:30 06:15 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00
Into The Wild - PG 15 Walk All Over Me - 18 Every Second Counts - PG Daddy Day Camp - FAM Beethoven’s Big Break - FAM All She Wants For Christmas No Reservations - PG 15 The Celestine Prophecy - PG Beethoven’s Big Break - FAM Capturing Mary - PG 15 Vantage Point - PG 15 Valkyrie - 18
01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00
Living Hell - 18 The Darkroom - PG 15 Devil’s Diary - PG 15 The Last Drop - PG 15 Player 5150 - PG 15 Iron Eagle - PG 15 Netherbeast Incorporated - PG Player 5150 - PG 15 Linewatch - 18 Penthouse - PG 15 Connected - PG 15 The Forsaken - 18
00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00
Little Nicky - PG 15 Bachelor Party 2 - 18 Heavyweights - PG Year Of The Dog - PG 15 Life Or Something Like It - PG The Prisoner Of Zenda - PG RRRrrrr!!! - 18 Twins - PG Little Nicky - PG 15 Breaking Up - 18 Crush - 18 Jackass: The Movie - 18
00:00 Scooby-doo And The Reluctant Werewolf - FAM 02:00 Genghis Khan - PG 04:00 Olsen Twins: When In Rome 06:00 Kung Fu Panda - PG 08:00 Yogi Bear And The Magical Flight Of The Sp - PG 10:00 Olsen Twins: When In Rome 12:00 Mostly Ghostly - PG 14:00 Genghis Khan - PG 16:00 Beverly Hills Chihuahua - PG 18:00 Max Keeble’s Big Movie - PG 20:00 Kong Return To The Jungle 22:00 Mostly Ghostly - PG
00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00
Ugly Betty Desperate Housewives Every Body Loves Raymond My Name is Earl Sex and the City
Sex and the City C.S.I Ally Mcbeal Emmerdale Coronation Street Every Body Loves Raymond My Name is Earl 24 C.S.I Ally Mcbeal Law & Order Emmerdale Coronation Street Every Body Loves Raymond My Name is Earl Ugly Betty Desperate Housewives Law & Order 24 Emmerdale Coronation Street Law & Order C.S.I: NY C.S.I: NY C.S.I Sex and the City
02:30 Goals on Monday 04:00 Super League 06:00 Premier League World 06:30 Premier League Classics 07:00 Goals on Monday 08:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 09:00 Super League 10:35 Live Twenty20 Cricket 14:00 Goals on Monday 15:30 Super League 17:00 Weber Cup Bowling 18:00 Guinness Premiership 20:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 21:00 Futbol Mundial 21:30 Twenty20 Cricket
00:00 Super League 01:45 Super 14 03:30 Twenty20 Cricket 07:00 Portuguese Liga 09:00 Premier League World 09:30 Goals on Monday 11:00 Weber Cup Bowling 12:00 Premier League Darts 16:00 Twenty20 Cricket 19:30 Premier League World 20:00 Super League 22:00 Futbol Mundial 22:30 Barclays Premier League Highlights 23:30 Premier League Classics
00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 19:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
NCAA Basketball WWE Vintage Collection Bushido UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE ECW UAE National Race Day FIM World Cup Rat Race NCAA Basketball Bushido WWE ECW Red Bull X-Fighters UAE National Race Day Rat Race NCAA Basketball LG Action Sport NCAA Basketball UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter
01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00
Drug Wars - PG 15 Iron Road Part 1 - PG 15 Iron Road Part 2 - PG 15 Custody - PG 15 Frame Of Mind - PG 15 Decameron - PG Yes Man - PG 15 Iron Road Part 1 - PG 15 Iron Road Part 2 - PG 15 Largo Winch - PG 15
21:00 Grey Gardens - PG 15 23:00 Cadillac Records - 18
01:05 40 Carats 03:00 The Big Sleep 05:00 The Collector 07:00 The Screening Room 07:30 The Screening Room 08:00 Blackboard Jungle 09:40 High Society 11:25 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 13:10 40 Carats 15:00 The Champ 17:05 Bhowani Junction 18:55 Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm 21:05 The Year of Living Dangerously 23:00 Tap
00:40 01:30 02:20 03:10 04:00 04:55 05:50 06:40 07:30 08:20 09:10 10:00 10:55 11:50 12:40 13:30 14:20 15:10 16:00 16:55 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00
Battle 360 Deep Sea Detectives Warriors Modern Marvels Ice Road Truckers 3 Ax Men Battle Stations Battle 360 Deep Sea Detectives Warriors Modern Marvels Ice Road Truckers 3 Ax Men Battle Stations Battle 360 Deep Sea Detectives Warriors Modern Marvels Ice Road Truckers 3 Ax Men Battle Stations Battle 360 Deep Sea Detectives Warriors Modern Marvels Hell’s Battlefield
00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00
Ruby Ruby Peter Perfect Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane The Dish How Do I Look? Split Ends Dr 90210 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Area How Do I Look? Style Star Style Her Famous My Celebrity Home Style Star Dress My Nest Peter Perfect Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? Ruby Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Dress My Nest What I Hate About Me Split Ends Style Her Famous The Dish Running In Heels
19:30 20:00 21:00 22:00
Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Split Ends Clean House Dress My Nest
01:00 01:04 01:35 02:00 02:45 05:00 05:04 05:18 08:00 08:04 08:35 13:00 13:04 13:50 16:00 16:04 16:35 18:00 18:45 20:00 20:04
Code RNB Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Code Guest Star Playlist Code New Playlist Code Urban Hit Playlist Code Hip Hop Us Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Code Latina
00:00 Globe Trekker - U 01:00 Angry Planet - U 01:30 The Thirsty Traveler - U 02:00 Planet Food - U 03:00 Feast India - U 03:30 Travel Today - U 04:00 Essential - U 04:30 Chef Abroad - U 05:00 Globe Trekker - U 06:00 Swiss Railway Journeys - U 07:00 The Thirsty Traveler - U 07:30 Angry Planet - U 08:00 Globe Trekker - U 09:00 Essential - U 09:30 Rudy Maxa’s World - U 10:00 Distant Shores - U 10:30 Distant Shores - U 11:00 Chef Abroad - U 11:30 Entrada - U 12:00 Planet Food - U 13:00 Globe Trekker - U 14:00 Chef Abroad - U 14:30 The Thirsty Traveler - U 15:00 Taste Takes Off - U 15:30 Entrada - U 16:00 Food And Wine Special-varun Sharma - U 17:00 Globe Trekker - U 18:00 Skier’s World - U 18:30 Hollywood And Vines - U 19:00 Chef Abroad - U 19:30 The Thirsty Traveler - U 20:00 Globe Trekker - U
00:00 01:00 -U 02:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
Music For The Masses - U (p) Mtv Unplugged Kate Perry Vh1 Rocks - U Smells Like The 90s - U Greatest Hits - U Vh1 Music - U Chill Out - U Vh1 Hits - U Vh1 Music - U Aerobic - U Top 10  aerosmith - U Music For The Masses - U Vh1 Pop Chart - U Vh1 Music - U
Yes Man on Super Movies
Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 20:55 Happy Texas 22:35 Someone Like You 00:10 Shining Through 02:20 Bachelor Party 2: The Temptation 03:50 Eyewitness 05:30 Happy Texas 07:10 Someone Like You 08:45 Bachelor Party 2: The Temptation 10:20 Alien 3 12:10 Watching The Detectives 13:45 The Ramen Girl 15:25 The Preacher’s Wife 17:30 Predator 2 19:15 Up Close & Personal STAR World 20:00 Reaper 20:50 Charlie’s Angels 21:00 Stone Undercover 21:50 Bewitched 22:00 [V] Tunes 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 7th Heaven
Last
Last
03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:50 06:00 06:50 07:00 07:50 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 15:30 16:00 17:00 17:50 18:00
The Goode Family The King Of Queens According To Jim According To Jim Ghost Hunters International Jackie Chan Adventures Brothers & Sisters Charlie’s Angels Kyle XY Starsky & Hutch Reaper V.I.P. Worst Week The Bold And The Beautiful 7th Heaven Charlie’s Angels Brothers & Sisters Different Strokes [V] Tunes Ghost Hunters International The Goode Family The King Of Queens According To Jim According To Jim American Idol Australia’s Next Top Model Charlie’s Angels Boston Legal
18:50 Bewitched 19:00 American Idol Granada TV 20:30 Airline (Series 5) 21:00 Total Emergency 22:00 Emmerdale 22:30 Coronation Street 23:00 Total Emergency 00:00 The Paul O’Grady Show 01:00 Trinny And Susannah Undress (Series 1) 02:00 Mystery Tuesday: The Stepfather 03:30 Strange But True? (Series 4) 04:00 Pets From Hell 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 The Paul O’Grady Show 07:00 Trinny And Susannah Undress (Series 1) 08:00 Mystery Tuesday: The Stepfather 09:30 Strange But True? (Series 4) 10:00 Staff From Hell 11:00 Emmerdale 11:30 Coronation Street 12:00 The Paul O’Grady Show 13:00 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) 14:00 Mystery Tuesday: The Stepfather
15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00
Strange But True? (Series 4) Emmerdale Coronation Street The Paul O’Grady Show 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) Mystery Tuesday: The Stepfather
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 The List 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 [V] Tunes 12:00 [V] Plug 12:30 The Playlist 13:00 Loop
14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00
[V] Countdown Backtracks [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Loop [V] Countdown
Fox News 01:00 America’s News HQ host Shannon Bream 03:00 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 04:00 The O’Reilly Factor(repeat) 05:00 America’s News HQ hosts Gregg Jarrett and Julie Banderas 07:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 08:00 FOX Report Sunday host Julie Banderas 09:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 10:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 11:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 12:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 13:00 FOX Report Sunday 14:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 15:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 16:00 War Stories with Oliver North
17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00
Bulls and Bears (repeat) Cavuto On Business (repeat) FORBES on FOX (repeat) Cashin’ In (repeat) FOX & Friends First Live FOX & Friends Live America’s Newsroom America’s Newsroom
National Geographic Channel 20:00 Mega Thursday -Mega Factories : Tanks 21:00 Helicopter Wars -Duel In The Desert 22:00 Ground War -Command And Control 23:00 Theme Week -Ultimate Disaster : Earthquake 00:00 Air Crash Investigation -Missed Approach S4 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -ShowReal Asia : Mumbai Mega Flood 02:00 Situation Critical -Apollo 13 03:00 Animal Extractors -Race Against Time S1-7 04:00 Animal Autopsy -Elephant 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -ShowReal Asia : Mumbai Mega Flood 06:00 Meet The Natives - USA -The Cowboy People 1
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
33 ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available one room with separate bathroom in old Riggae new C-A/C two bedroom flat, for family or working women. Interested please contact 97522921. (C 20372) 23-2-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Sharq, C-A/C 2 bathrooms, neat and furnished flat, looking for Indian small family or 2 working ladies or one executive bachelor rent KD 100. Call: 99849490. (C 20365) Sharing accommodation available, two bedroom, two bathroom flats in Abbassiya. Tel: 55845280. (C 20366) Accommodation available for family/bachelors/ working ladies in a two spacious room flat in Abbassiya close to Paradise hotel from first of March. Contact: 99698501/ 94046540. (C 20368) Sharing accommodation for Indian working ladies, couple, family in a 2 bedroom C-A/C flat in Maidan Hawally opposite Fourth Ring Road with Indian lady. Contact: 99325130/ 25649970. (C 20369) 22-2-2010
One room available for Keralites or Indian bachelors in Sharq Kuwait City with cooking and satellite facilities. Contact: 97964063. (C 20362) Sharing accommodation with kitchen facility available for three months from 15th March, 2010 in Chitra studio building, next to Faiha store for a non-smoking, decent couple: KD 75/month. Contact: 97973657. (C 20361) Sharing accommodation available in Jleeb near Tourist garden, 2 bed, 2 bath, bachelor/couple or working ladies. Contact: 97506913. (C 20363) Sharing accommodation available for Christian couples or working ladies in Abbassiya near United Indian School and opposite to Jas restaurant, Madeena Supermarket, in a central A/C new building with double bedroom, double bathroom with Keralite Christian family. Contact: 94060249. (C 20364) 21-2-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya near Classic typing center, for a bachelor. Contact: 66829585. (C 20355) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya CAC, separate bathroom, spacious room ready for occupancy. Call: 99412951.
(C 20358) Accommodation available for Indian bachelors, central A/C, big room, near UAE Bank building, old Riggae. Contact: 99709823. (C 20356) Furnished sharing accommodation available in Mangaf Block 3, for working ladies & executive bachelor, two bathrooms, internet connection. Contact: 67008764, 99468018. (C 20359) One furnished room available near Indian Central School, Abbassiya, for decent bachelor or small family from 25th Feb. Indians only, reasonable rent. Contact: 99764178. (C 20360) 19-2-2010 Sharing accommodation available for single girls. Contact: 97527233. (C 20348) Sharing accommodation available for Christian couples or working ladies in Abbassiya. Please contact: 66538532. (C 20347) Sharing accommodation available in Salmiya behind Appolo, for Indian bachelors. Contact: 97961405/ 66176090. (C 20349) Sharing accommodation available for executive bachelor/ couples/ visiting
family (preferred Christian) in a 3BHK, 2 bathroom centralized A/C flat near Shara Amman, Salmiya. Interested may please call 66624123. (C 20346)
CHANGE OF NAME Old name: Mohd Shaukat Ali Ansari, Indian Passport No: B1589375. New name: Mohammad Ansari. (C 20367) 22-2-2010
FOR SALE Toyota Corolla 2003 model, 1.8 engine, golden color, center lock, excellent condition, cash price KD 1950. Phone: 55074670. (C 20371) Mitsubishi Lancer model 2007, km 63,000, color white, excellent condition. Contact: 97848608. (C 20373) Pajero IO 2002, 5 door, 112,000 km, color metallic silver, excellent condition, automatic gear four wheel drive. Tel: 94417123. (C 20374) 23-2-2010 1997 Mercedes-Benz EClass for sale, insurance up to 14th Feb 2011. Please contact: 99256044. 22-2-2010
BMW 740i black 1996 model, 220,000 kms with beige leather seats in good condition. Contact: 97201151. (C 20353) Furniture with household items 2 dish antenna two bedroom flat with two toilets central A/C near City Center, Salmiya with land line telephone transferable rent. Contact: 97201151. (C 20352)
MATRIMONIAL RC girl 24/165, BTech, born and brought up in Kuwait, worked with Wipro as software engineer for 2 years, currently employed in a nationalized bank in India, invites proposals from parents of professionally qualified and well-settled boys. Contact email: frmprop@gmail.com (20354) 19-2-2010 Seeking alliance for a Ker-
alite RC 27, 152 cm Palai Dioces working staff MoH in Jahra (GNM) looking for alliance preferably working in Kuwait from Kottayam district. Email: sthomas@qnetstaff.com (C 20337) 17-2-2010 SITUATION VACANT
Required cook for house, good experience on all kinds of continental food , good salary, part time or full time. Contact: 66519719, 23901053. (C 20357) 19-2-2010
Looking for home nurse to take care of old Kuwaiti male. Salary 150 KD, send your CV immediately to fax: 24836310 contact Mob: 97687707. (C 20343)
SITUATION WANTED Indian male, American citizen (MBA in finance and hospital administration), 10 years of international experience including in USA with Bank of America in the field of finance, HR, administration, banking. Well versed in
all software applications and computers. Contact: 55354081. Email: guy_great32@yahoo.com (C 20331) Indian male MBA, B.Com (27 years) having 4 years experience in finance and investment in Kuwait seeking suitable placement. Proficient in MS Office & Tally. Fluent in English, Arabic, Hindi. Article # 18, transferable visa. Contact: 55492163. Email: abdul_sudheer@yahoo.com (C 20336)
No: 14649
Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Tuesday 23/02/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 0283 Beirut Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Kuwait 544 Cairo Turkish A/L 1172 Istanbul DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 0305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 0138 Doha Ethiopian 622 Addis Asaba/Bahrain Air France 6782 Paris Jazeera 0503 Luxor Jazeera 0527 Alexandria Kuwait 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur Jazeera 0529 Assiut Jazeera 0481 Sabiha British 0157 London Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Falcon 201 Bahrain Kuwait 204 Lahore Kuwait 382 Delhi Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 332 Trivandrum Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 284 Dhaka Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 0121 Sharjah Qatari 0132 Doha Etihad 0301 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 0691 Shiraz Wataniya Airways 1121 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Iran Air 605 Isfahan Jazeera 0447 Doha Jazeera 0165 Dubai Jazeera 0425 Bahrain Jazeera 0113 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 1021 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Lufthansa Cargo 8292 Frankfurt Kuwait 672 Dubai Syrian Arab A/L 341 Damascus Wataniya Airways 2301 Damascus Jazeera 0525 Alexandria Jazeera 0257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 2001 Cairo Saudi Arabian A/L 600 Jeddah Kuwait 562 Amman Kuwait 744 Dammam Jazeera 0457 Damascus Qatari 0134 Doha Kuwait 546 Alexandria Royal Jordanian 800 Amman
Time 00:05 01:05 01:15 02:15 02:15 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:30 04:25 05:35 06:10 06:25 06:30 06:35 06:40 06:45 07:00 07:35 07:50 07:55 08:05 08:10 08:15 08:30 08:55 09:00 09:35 10:40 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:00 11:05 11:10 11:20 11:20 12:55 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:35 13:45 14:10 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 15:00 15:30 15:40
Jazeera Mihin Lanka Emirates Gulf Air Etihad Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Arabia Thai Jazeera Wataniya Airways Sri Lankan United A/L Wataniya Airways DHL Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Rovos Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Singapore A/L Kuwait Jet A/W Oman Air Egypt Air Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Indian Gulf Air Middle East Qatari Emirates KLM Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Global Jazeera Jazeera India Express Lufthansa Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Pakistan
0173 403 857 215 0303 510 0493 0239 0217 0125 519 0367 2101 227 982 2003 473 1025 602 542 618 674 093 166 786 614 774 104 552 458 512 572 0647 618 0459 2103 0343 993 217 402 0136 859 0443 1129 0449 0429 091 0117 0185 389 636 2201 1029 205
Dubai Colombo/Dubai Dubai Bahrain Abu Dhabi Riyadh Jeddah Amman Isfahan Sharjah Bangkok Deirezzor Beirut Colombo/Dubai Washington DC Dulles Cairo Baghdad Dubai Beirut Cairo Doha Dubai Kandahar/Dubai Paris/Rome Jeddah Bahrain Riyadh London Damascus Singapore/Abu Dhabi Tehran Mumbai Muscat Alexandria Damascus Beirut Sanaa/Bahrain Chennai/Mumbai Bahrain Beirut Doha Dubai Amsterdam Bahrain Doha Bahrain Baghdad Adu Dhabi Dubai Kozhikode/Mangalore Frankfurt Amman Dubai Lahore/Peshawar
16:05 16:40 16:55 17:05 17:15 17:15 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:40 17:45 17:45 17:50 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:30 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:00 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:30 19:35 19:40 19:45 20:05 20:05 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:55 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:20 21:35 21:40 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:15 22:20 22:25 22:40 23:15 23:30 23:40 23:45 23:55
Departure Flights on Tuesday 23/02/2010 Airlines Flt Route Tunis Air 328 Dubai/Tunis Jazeera 0528 Assiut Pakistan 240 Sialkot United A/L 981 Washington DC Dulles Indian 576 Goa/Chennai DHL 371 Bahrain Turkish A/L 1173 Istanbul Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 0306 Abu Dhabi Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa Qatari 0139 Doha Air France 6782 Dubai/Hong Kong Jazeera 0524 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 1020 Dubai Jazeera 0164 Dubai Wataniya Airways 2000 Cairo Jazeera 0112 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 0446 Doha Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 1120 Bahrain Jazeera 0690 Shiraz Jazeera 0422 Bahrain Rovos 094 Dubai/Kandahar Wataniya Airways 2300 Damascus Kuwait 545 Alexandria Jazeera 0256 Beirut British 0156 London Kuwait 671 Dubai Kuwait 561 Amman Jazeera 0456 Damascus Arabia 0122 Sharjah Kuwait 101 London/New York Emirates 856 Dubai Qatari 0133 Doha Etihad 0302 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 2002 Cairo Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris Iran Air 604 Isfahan Jazeera 0342 Bahrain/Sanaa Kuwait 743 Dammam Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 0172 Dubai Wataniya Airways 2100 Beirut Jazeera 0492 Jeddah Jazeera 0366 Deirezzor Jazeera 0238 Amman Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Egypt Air 611 Cairo Kuwait 551 Damascus Wataniya Airways 1024 Dubai
FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161
Time 00:01 00:05 00:35 00:40 00:50 03:15 03:15 03:50 04:10 04:15 05:00 06:10 07:00 07:00 07:00 07:30 07:35 07:40 07:45 07:50 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:10 08:30 08:35 08:55 09:00 09:15 09:25 09:35 09:35 09:40 10:00 10:20 11:30 11:40 11:45 11:50 11:50 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:05 12:15 12:20 12:25 13:00 13:40 13:55 14:20 14:25
Syrian Arab A/L Kuwait Jazeera Lufthansa Cargo Wataniya Airways Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Saudi Arabian A/L Kuwait Kuwait Royal Jordanian Qatari Mihin Lanka Gulf Air Etihad Emirates Arabia Jazeera Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Global Jazeera Jazeera Thai Wataniya Airways Sri Lankan Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Jet A/W Oman Air Egypt Air Singapore A/L Gulf Air DHL Kuwait Kuwait Middle East Jazeera Kuwait Falcon Qatari Kuwait Emirates KLM Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait
342 Damascus 673 Dubai 0216 Isfahan 8292 Sharjah 2102 Beirut 0458 Damascus 511 Tehran 617 Doha 501 Jeddah 773 Riyadh 613 Bahrain 801 Amman 0135 Doha 404 Dubai/Colombo 216 Bahrain 0304 Abu Dhabi 858 Dubai 0126 Sharjah 0262 Beirut 511 Riyadh 0184 Dubai 0116 Abu Dhabi 2200 Amman 092 Baghdad 0448 Doha 042$ Bahrain 520 Bangkok 1128 Bahrain 228 Dubai/Colombo 1028 Dubai 283 Dhaka 361 Colombo 343 Chennai 351 Cochin 571 Mumbai 0648 Muscat 619 Alexandria 457 Abu Dhabi/Singapore 218 Bahrain 171 Bahrain 801 Cairo 675 Dubai 403 Beirut 0188 Dubai 381 Delhi 102 Bahrain 0137 Doha 301 Mumbai 860 Dubai 0443 Bahrain/Amsterdam 0480 Sabiha 0526 Alexandria 0502 Luxor 411 Bangkok/Manila
14:30 14:30 14:35 14:50 15:10 15:30 15:35 15:35 15:45 16:10 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:10 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:40 18:50 18:50 19:00 19:05 19:15 19:15 19:30 20:15 20:20 20:50 20:55 21:10 21:20 21:35 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:00 21:10 22:20 22:30 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:25 23:50 23:55
SPECTRUM
34 CROSSWORD 909
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) Your ability to
concentrate is strong—a good day to get things done. Good eye-hand coordination and a persistent effort make almost any task run well. Everyone’s emotions are very present but within control. If you remember your priorities, it can be a very productive day. Reward and or penalties are given out as deserved. You can expect a little boost—some extra support or recognition from those around you. A little surprise mail or good news brings smiles all around. You will find that you are appreciated for your ability to act and followthrough with projects. You may decide to take advantage of a little open time this afternoon to express your appreciation to loved ones. Your platonic relationships are fun and it may that they become like family. Taurus (April 20-May 20) Your mind feels like it is on
a racetrack pathway today. Activities are fast moving. Today is a great day for anything nontechnical. If you need to meet a schedule or organize a party, this is the day for you; perhaps you will be teaching a new exercise or dance routine. You are on your feet and ready for whatever may come today. If it seems that things are moving too fast, step back for a bit. If you do not allow yourself a break from time to time, your talents could be of little value. Working with partners in an open, natural, creative environment brings good fortune. You will get many things accomplished. While you are with friends and family this evening, you could use your motivation constructively by encouraging someone else to take the lead.
Pooch Cafe
ACROSS 1. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods. 4. An ugly evil-looking old woman. 7. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 11. The part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth. 12. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism. 13. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind. 14. Aromatic bulb used as seasoning. 15. Towards the side away from the wind. 16. A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn. 17. A state in midwestern United States. 19. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 21. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on. 22. A condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people. 24. A radioactive element of the actinide series. 26. The cry made by sheep. 31. A master's degree in business. 33. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma. 36. A hard gray lustrous metallic element that is highly corrosionresistant. 38. (informal) Of the highest quality. 42. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum. 44. A master's degree in fine arts. 47. A light touch or stroke. 49. Blood cells that engulf and digest bacteria and fungi. 50. Someone who engages in arbitrage (who purchases securities in one market for immediate resale in another in the hope of profiting from the price differential). 51. Type genus of the Anatidae. 52. Consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree. DOWN 1. A genus of Platalea. 2. Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers. 3. A pointed tool for marking surfaces or for punching small holes. 4. Ground snakes. 5. Fermented alcoholic beverage similar to but heavier than beer. 6. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology. 7. An informal term for a father. 8. The sixth month of the civil year. 9. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 10. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology. 18. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 20. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples. 23. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 25. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light. 27. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research. 28. An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling of lightheadedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months. 29. A trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group. 30. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores. 32. One of the evil spirits of traditional Jewish and Christian belief. 34. An enclosed space. 35. Being ten more than one hundred ninety. 37. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates. 39. Gymnastic apparatus consisting of two parallel wooden bars supported on uprights. 40. A small cake leavened with yeast. 41. Related to or located at the back. 43. A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number). 45. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages. 46. A bloody and prolonged operation in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945). 47. A hard gray lustrous metallic element that is highly corrosionresistant. 48. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.
Gemini (May 21-June 20) You need a career that is mentally stimulating and allows you to express your creative side. Now would be a good time to review and update your resume and give some thought to a job change or upgrade. This afternoon you are likely to reach out or attract a loved one. Try not to put undue strain on any personal relationship at this time. Avoid being extravagant. You have a passion that manifests itself in art. You show a great deal of interest in all family matters, particularly concerning the general living environment in the home. Further, you may wish to strengthen ties with the older generation by offering to run errands or by bringing them easy-to-heat food. You are on an even keel, content and focused to move forward. Also . . . this is a good time for travel.
Non Sequitur
Cancer (June 21-July 22) Now you can concentrate on practical matters. Your optimism is helpful in teaching yourself to grasp the big, grandiose picture; study. Do not forget, however, that the whole is made up of many parts. Each part must be considered and none can be missing or out of place. This is a good day for long-range planning. However, as usual, flexibility will keep things moving. Exercise caution and care in business dealings for this day. Consider the physical and the financial realm regarding business, so as to not get in over your head. Community activities at this time should be both well-attended and successful. The power of attraction and desire for love is great and you are wise to exercise caution before entering a new relationship that may come. Leo (July 23-August 22) Optimism is easy to find today. Many projects come to your attention—recognition is present. Your ideas gain a great deal of attention. This is a fine time to try out some new ideas or engage in some new business dealings or investments. Compromise should be exercised whenever possible. Mental stimulation from others is key for you right now and it’s a good idea to make every effort to cooperate and compromise with others. At home this evening, it would be wise to try and foster a sense of togetherness and team play among family members. You should probably try hard at this time to squelch the desire to do everything by yourself. Insights into purchases for the family can be considered now, which may include a new car.
Zits
Virgo (August 23-September 22) This is definitely a day to get many things done, especially if you are the leader. You tend to attract the people whose energy matches your own. Insight and clarity are successful leadership qualities in your favor. You are able to handle most any situation. If you are full of passion and enthusiasm by the end of the day you may want to become involved in an exercise program. It will help you to work off some of that excessive energy. You may find yourself working hard to make time for your family this week. This is a period of optimism and accomplishments. New projects get the green flag! You are coming into a period of greater than usual emphasis on emotional security, which is likely to manifest as settling down somehow—good for real-estate. Libra (September 23-October 22) You are happy to be with others and to work in groups today. You may be asked to complete a certain task or job. Your management and directional abilities are in high focus. It is important to stay focused and discourage coworkers from chatty, on-the-job interactions. You want to accomplish your work and be recognized for the quality of work that you provide. You encourage work breaks and you try to maintain the effort to enjoy visiting with co-workers during the break times. You truly desire fun and should not hesitate to get to know new people and form new acquaintances. Also, love is in full bloom and it is a good time to fully demonstrate the depth of affections to loved ones. There is a good balance in your life.
Mother Goose and Grimm
Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This is a great day to
sign contracts, conclude business deals or make plans. Your sharp mind will see all aspects from all angles. Any high-level mental pursuits should be rewarding and stimulating. Welcome all new ideas! There are new concepts that you are aware of and may find yourself talking about with co-workers. It is an excellent time to solicit the help of others, though it’s important that you truly know the needs of your company or business before asking. You should take every opportunity to get outside and enjoy the natural world. Work will seem easier and you should feel more relaxed once you engage in some sort of healthrelated activity. You enjoy good relations with family members and a financial position is on the upswing. Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) If ever there was a day to work with groups, this is it! Your acute sensitivity to other people’s moods could enable you to fine-tune those moods as you would a violin. Your purchase power is to be envied. Of course, with your ability to socialize, you can create a great business transaction as well. Import, export or becoming a buyer for a company would not be an unusual option as a profession. Awareness of your monetary situation is a good thing now—it may be as difficult to gauge as a picture on a wall. You must be practical in personal decisions about finances. You should love being around people today, especially those to whom you are emotionally attached—and possibly older friends with whom you can reminisce. Enjoy your companions this evening.
Yesterday’s Solution
Capricorn (December 22-January 19) This
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
time marks a period of introspection and evaluation of goals. You may feel lonely and self critical at this time, but do not be too hard on yourself. Focus your effort on self-discovery instead. There may be much responsibility at this time but people that may not express their appreciation recognize much of your work. Perseverance is crucial to your own sense of accomplishment—you will be glad you finished what you set out to complete. You may take on an easygoing manner to friends and family just now. The need to relax and enjoy a setting away from work is important. You may decide to do some sort of creative work that will add to the atmosphere or comfort of your surroundings. This is also a good time to return a favor. Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Self-discipline and a sense of self-worth become important issues in your life. A fear of asserting yourself can hold you back—as can coming on too strong. The trick is learning to make the most of your personal talents and abilities—working within your limitations instead of feeling hemmed in by them. Colors are brighter, images sharper, music more moving. Emotions run deep, especially with a loved one. Previously bland relationships could now border on love/hate. Intensity rules! You can control this, so enjoy each moment. You are alive and well—give someone else a helping hand today. When appropriate, encourage local businesses to distribute KIDS WELCOME HERE signs. Create or help with a community theater group for kids. Pisces (February 19-March 20) You should experience all the benefits of this most powerful planet. This is a good time to lead the way on a project-at work or home. Your originality is unusually heightened. Your desire to succeed is strong, not only financially, but personal as well. Your enthusiasm is high and your creative juices are flowing—ready to be applied to the work at hand. If you give your best effort now, considerable success will occur. Harmony with friends and loved ones is in order. This afternoon may be a good time to socialize and enjoy those friends that bring you joy. Consider what you might do to improve relationships that may need work—positive energies are in your corner. Hold fast to friends and family—they are a great source of strength and encouragement.
INFORMATION
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
35 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
SPECTRUM
Walter Koenig’s son missing he actor son of “Star Trek” veteran Walter Koenig has disappeared while visiting friends in Canada, and family pleaded on Sunday for information on his whereabouts to be given to the Vancouver police. Andrew Koenig, 41, who co-starred as “Boner” on the 1980s sitcom “Growing Pains,” was last seen in Vancouver on Feb 14 after neighbors said he sold all his possessions in Los Angeles. “He’s been depressed,” his father, who has a degree in psychology, told local ABC television station KABC. “He’s trying to get ahead in this business and he’s been working at it a long
T
time.” Koenig, 73, who played Starfleet officer Pavel Chekov on the original “Star Trek” series and the first seven feature spin-offs, said drugs were not an issue. Andrew Koenig, who last telephoned his parents on Feb. 9, did not catch his return flight to Los Angeles a week later. Koenig, who has posted additional details on his website (http://www.walterkoenigsite.com), said he and his wife would fly to Vancouver on Tuesday to join the search. Andrew Koenig’s showbusiness friends also sent Twitter messages seeking information about his disappearance.
Lohan feared drugs would kill her
he 23-year-old actress - who has an on/off relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson - used alcohol and illegal substances to ease the pain of her personal problems, and claims the situation worsened when her father Michael Lohan started giving interviews about her in 2007. She said: “When my father was going public, that’s when I hit rock bottom. I abused substances too much and it wasn’t the answer to my problems. “I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine, and mind-altering substances. Now I’m in a place where I don’t need to use anything and I feel emotions because I choose to. “I never
T
want to be close to losing everything I worked for and aspired to have my whole life. I’ve made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them - that has probably saved my life.” The ‘Mean Girls’ actress got to know about cocaine because of her drug user father, and despite witnessing his descent into addiction she still tried the substance. She added in an interview with The Sun newspaper: “I was only aware of cocaine because of my dad. I was terrified of it. But I tried it because I was stubborn, stupid and wanted to see what it was like. “It’s not something I ever want to do again. It made me feel like s**t. It
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Miller is ʻso happyʼ with Law
36
he actress - who rekindled her romance with her ex-fiance last year after they split in 2006 following revelations he had cheated on her with his children’s nanny - says things with the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ actor are going great. Sienna revealed: “It’s going really well. I’m so happy actually, he’s great!” Sienna is back in the UK for London Fashion Week and yesterday hosted a show for the Twenty8Twelve clothing label she runs with her sister Savannah. The 28-year-old actress is now reportedly planning to move back into Jude’s swanky London home. Speaking of the couple’s rekindled romance, a source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Jude and Sienna move pretty fast. They are just so into each other. It’s not like they are a new couple. There will be no weirdness; they know each other’s good and bad habits. “There are a lot of ghosts to be laid to rest. But moving in is a chance for them to start afresh. They have been lost without each other since the split. Since they’ve been reunited they have never been happier.” The couple reunited last autumn while they were both starring in separate Broadway plays in New York. Over the Christmas period the couple holidayed together on the Caribbean island of Barbados along with Jude’s three children, Rafferty, Iris and Rudy, from his marriage to Sadie Frost. Last year, Jude became a father for a fourth time after American model Samantha Burke gave birth to his daughter Sophia following a brief relationship.
T
Harrison Ford only acts for money
became uninteresting to me. I’m hyper anyway and I have that kind of personality, so I don’t need something like that.” Speaking about the first of her three stints in rehab, Lindsay admitted she requested treatment after collapsing in her bathroom. She said: “The first time I checked myself in because I had taken Ambien. It’s a sleeping aid but it makes you hallucinate. “I’d run a bath and fallen asleep on the floor and it overflowed. When I woke up, I was so scared I called my therapist and said, ‘Can I just go somewhere for a month? I’m around bad people and I need to take care of myself.’ I was terrified, so I put my name in.”
he ‘Indiana Jones’ star, who is one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood, claims money is his only incentive to keep going. He said: “I’m in it for the money. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. This is my job. “Acting is my craft. I’ve spent my whole life working on it and I want to get paid well to do it, because otherwise I’m being irresponsible, not valuing what I do for a living. “When I came into this business I didn’t even know the names of the movie studios - I was under a contract to a studio for $150 a week. One thing I learned is that the studios had no respect for a person who was willing to work for them for that amount.” However Harrison, who lives with actress Calista Flockhart, admits there is an unwelcome side to his job - the fame. He told Live:
T
Thurman panicked she would never work again
Cole ends marriage by text heryl Cole has dumped her husband by text message. The ‘Fight for This Love’ singer sent the SMS to soccer player Ashley Cole after four women came forward to say they had bedded the sportsman, and another revealed how he sent her flirty messages in a bid to have sex with her. Cheryl fled from the UK to Los Angeles last Wednesday - without wearing her wedding ring - following the accusations and has decided she has had enough of the 29-year-old England player. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Cheryl has decided enough is enough and she is going to divorce him. She has told Ashley to get out of the family home because she does not wish to see him. “She has no desire to hear any more excuses or explanations. Grand gestures will not help either. When she left for America last week she wasn’t exactly sure of her future.” Other sources claim the pair’s marriage has been a sham for some time and Cheryl knew she had to leave her husband of almost four years. A friend of Cheryl, 26, told the Daily Star newspaper she had told them: “I should have dumped him in December!” The source added: “She can’t bear to be in the same room as him now. “She says he has absolutely humiliated her. There is no way back. If he hasn’t moved out by the time she gets back to Britain she will stay in the house they built for her mum in the grounds.” Cheryl has reportedly been making divorce plans since last week, and wants to issue a statement about her split by the end of the week. The final straw for the singer came over the weekend when it was revealed Ashley had cheated on her with US government worker Ann Corbitt, 28, when his team Chelsea were on a US tour last July. He reportedly phoned Ann begging her not to make their night of passion public. He is said to been sobbing to her as he said: “I can’t lose my wife over this. If I lose my wife, I don’t want to live.”
C
Jolie reunited with her father ngelina Jolie has reportedly reunited with her father Jon Voight. The Oscar-winning beauty - who raises six children with her partner Brad Pitt - was photographed with her kids and her dad in Venice on Sunday sparking rumors they have reconciled after being estranged for years. Brad, 46, is believed to have encouraged 34-year-old Angelina - who has recently been living in Venice, Italy, while she prepares to shoot ‘The Tourist’ opposite Johnny Depp to “smooth things over” with Jon, 71. A source said: “Since Brad and Angelina have been together, he has been encouraging her to smooth things over with her dad. And when it comes to the kids, Brad wants them to know their grandfather the way
A
the kids know his parents.” The ‘Wanted’ actress - who has three adopted children, Maddox, eight, five-year-old Zahara and Pax, six, and three biological children, Shiloh, three, and 19-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne - has been at war with her dad for years after he accused her of having “mental problems” shortly after her split from ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton in 2002. Jon said at the time: “I haven’t come forward and addressed the serious mental problems she has spoken about so candidly to the press over the years, but I’ve tried behind the scenes in every way.” The screen veteran has previously spoken about how he hoped to reconcile with his daughter on a permanent basis, saying: “We’re in touch, but not regularly.
he ‘Kill Bill’ star admits she continues to be surprised that she gets work. She said: “When I was 16, they were like, ‘Mm, well enjoy yourself. You might not be an adult woman actor’. “And then when you’re in your twenties , they’re like, ‘Enjoy yourself. That late-twenties thing is not going work’. And somehow I hung around. “Becoming a mother definitely took the focus off my work. Then I had a few panics that I couldn’t get a job any more, and then I would get one.” The 39-year-old actress, who has two children - Maya Ray, 11 and Levon Roan, eight from her marriage to actor Ethan Hawke - also admits to loving her career. She told Style: “I love what I do. For my wellbeing, I need to be reminded that I have other purposes. In the old days, people pined for their husbands. In modern life, your work is like your man, your love.
T
“There’s nothing good about being famous. You always think, ‘If I’m successful then I’ll have opportunities’. “You never figure the cost of fame will be a total loss of privacy. That’s incalculable. What a burden that is for anybody. It was unanticipated and I’ve never enjoyed it.”
SPECTRUM
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
37
BAFT Awards
‘Hurt Locker’ takes 6 prizes at UK film awards ritain’s love of the underdog has triumphed as intimate war drama “The Hurt Locker” beat 3D spectacular “Avatar” to take six prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards. Kathryn Bigelow won the best-director battle with Avatar’s James Cameron, her ex-husband, for her intense depiction of a bomb-disposal squad in Iraq. “It means so much that this film seems to be touching people’s hearts and minds,” Bigelow said Sunday. Both films had eight nominations for the British awards, considered an indicator of possible success at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles next month. “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” each has nine Oscar nominations. “The Hurt Locker” also took British prizes for original screenplay cinematography, editing and sound. “Avatar” won awards for production design and visual effects for its vivid vision of a distant moon populated by a blue-skinned species called the Na’vi. “Hurt Locker” screenwriter Mark Boal dedicated the best-film prize to the hope of peace “and bringing the boys and girls back home.” Bigelow also paid tribute to soldiers serving in Iraq, and said the goal of the film was “putting a bit of a spotlight on a very, very difficult situation.” “I hope that in some small way this film can begin a debate ... and bring closure to this con-
B
List of winners Academy fellowship: Vanessa Redgrave Best film: “The Hurt Locker” Actress: Carey Mulligan for “An Education” Actor: Colin Firth for “A Single Man” Director: Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” Foreign film: “A Prophet” Animated film: “Up” Adapted screenplay: “Up in the Air” Orange rising star: Kristen Stewart (voted for by the British public) Production design: “Avatar” Original screenplay: Mark Boal for “The Hurt Locker” Outstanding British film: “Fish Tank” Supporting actress: Mo’Nique for “Precious” Make up & hair: “The Young Victoria” Costume design: “The Young Victoria” Supporting actor: Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds” Special visual effects: “Avatar” Cinematography: “The Hurt Locker” Outstanding British contribution to cinema: Joe Dunton Editing: “The Hurt Locker” Sound: “The Hurt Locker” Music: “Up” Short animation: “Mother of Many” Short film: “I Do Air” Outstanding debut by British writer/director/producer: Duncan Jones, director of “Moon.”—Reuters
Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow , Greg Shapiro and Nicholas Chartier pose for photographers with their British Academy of Film Award (BAFTA) for ‘Best Film’ for ‘The Hurt Locker’ at the Royal Opera House in central London, on February 21, 2010. —AFP
Mark Boal poses with his ‘Original Screenplay’ for ‘The Hurt Locker’ award.
Carey Mulligan poses with her ‘Leading actress’ award for her role in ‘An Education’. flict,” she said. The “Avatar”/”Hurt Locker” battle initially seemed like a David-and-Goliath story. Cameron’s last feature, “Titanic,” won 11 Oscars, including picture and director. “Avatar” is a global phenomenon that has taken more than $2 billion at the box office. “Hurt Locker” has made about a hundredth that much. “It did not seem like a slamdunk commercial proposition,” said Boal, who thanked Bigelow and the cast for making “an unpopular story about an unpopular war.” Homegrown British talent did not go home empty-handed. Rising star Carey Mulligan was named best actress for playing a precocious teenager in 1960s London in “An Education.” Colin Firth was named best actor for his performance as a bereaved Englishman in California in Tom Ford’s “A Single Man.” Firth said he almost declined the awardwinning role, which has also earned him an Oscar nomination. He said he had been about to turn it down by email “when someone came to repair my fridge.” He never sent the e-mail. “I would like to thank the fridge guy,”
Vanessa Redgrave poses with her British Academy of Film Award (BAFTA) for ‘Academy Fellowship’.
Colin Firth poses with his ‘Leading actor’ award for his role in ‘A Single Man’.
Firth said. Firth said he had emerged from working with fashion designer-turneddirector Ford “better groomed, more fragrant and more nominated than one has ever been before.” Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, already a hot Oscar favorite, won the supporting actor prize for his turn as a chilling, charming Nazi colonel in “Inglourious Basterds.” The supporting actress award went to Mo’nique for “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” Director Duncan Jones took the award for best British debut for his lost-in-space drama “Moon.” A tearful Jones, whose father is musician David Bowie, said it had taken him a long time to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. “Finally, I think I’ve found what I love doing,” he said. Earlier, Kate Winslet, Audrey Tautou, Quentin Tarantino, Vanessa Redgrave and “Twilight” stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart all walked the red carpet before the ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House, with Prince William on hand to add real royalty to showbiz aristocracy.
Matt Dillon poses with Lee Daniels after he collected the ‘Best supporting actress’ award on behalf of Mo’Nique for her role in the film ‘Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire’.
Kathryn Bigelow poses with her ‘Director’ award for ‘The Hurt Locker’.
Christophe Waltz poses with ‘Best supporting actor’ for ‘Inglourious Basterds’ award.
Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg and Kim Sinclair pose with their ‘Production Design’ for ‘Avatar’ award.
Kristen Stewart poses with ‘The Orange Rising Star Award’.
Mulligan turned heads in a sweeping monochrome floral dress by Vionnet. She described the experience of being nominated as “like being punched-nicely.” Prince William, wearing a traditional Saville Row suit, received huge cheers and stopped to chat with waiting fans and have his picture snapped outside the opera house. William presented a lifetime achievement award to Redgrave, and also was announced as the new president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which presents the awards-a role once held by his grandfather, Prince Philip. “Fish Tank,” Andrea Arnold’s drama about a feisty London teenager, was named best British film. The award for best animated feature went to Pixar’s soaring 3D adventure “Up,” and Jacques Audiard’s prison thriller “A Prophet” was named best foreign-language film. “Twilight” actress Kristen Stewart won the rising star award, decided by the public. Stewart was cheered loudly by hundreds of film fans when she arrived at the opera house-but even she admitted to being star-struck. “I’m sitting right behind Kate Winslet, and every time she turns around I wish I didn’t exist,” Stewart said. “I love her.” —AP
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis pose with their ‘Editing’ for ‘The Hurt Locker’ award.
Terry Gilliam poses with Joe Punton after he received ‘Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema’ award. —AP/ AFP photos
SPECTRUM
38
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Fashion
Westwood condemns consumerism after London show there. Then it moved quickly into Westwood’s special realm, a mixture of odd pairings that combined some traditional elements with looks that were new and different. One outfit mixed brightly colored plaid trousers with a polka dot blouse in orange and red-somehow, it worked. There were mustard-colored tops and tuxedostyle jackets with pink details, Alice in Wonderland hats, and one model came out wearing an apron, sharpening a knife somewhat menacingly as she walked. Some of the most effective pieces were the simpler ones, including an elegant black cocktail dress that closed the show. “The great thing about Vivienne is that you can wear her clothes if you’re 16 or 60,” said Jo Wood, a supermodel in an earlier era who recently returned to the catwalk to model for Westwood. “She’s fantastic.”
VIVIAN WESTWOOD
MATTHEW WILLIAMSON Designer Matthew Williamson showed an exuberant display of slinky evening wear in
ne-of-a-kind designer Vivienne Westwood Sunday night presented a gorgeous collection of autumn and winter outfits at London Fashion Week, then went backstage and told reporters she hopes people stop buying her clothes. “Stop all this consumerism,” said Westwood, the former high priestess of punk who has increasingly used her catwalk shows to spotlight her concern about climate change.”I just tell people, stop buying clothes. Why not protect this gift of life while we have it? I don’t take the attitude that destruction is inevitable. Some of us would like to stop that and help people survive,” she said. Her show capped a gala day at London Fashion Week, with shows by Matthew Williamson, Jasper Conran and other top designers.
O
JASPER CONRAN Candy-colored silk crepe dresses for winter? Why not, asked designer Jasper Conran. Conran kicked off his show with ballooning capes and dresses in thick wool and flannel worn over bodysuits. His dramatic spherical coats and bodices were inspired by British sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, while details like space-age mirrored sequins and geometric cutouts were a modern take on the playful shapes and styles of the 60s. Dark sheer tulle dresses were adorned with PVC panels, geometric sequins and huge polished silver cuffs. Conran’s black and grays contrasted with imposing cardinal red, a bold orange and peacock blue. Even with softer styles, the designer focused on big, voluptuous silhouettes-like a nude textured organza dress with a billowing back resembling insect wings. “Peep show” A-line shift dresses had rectangular sheer panels cut out whimsically at the waist, thigh and arch of the back. The show closed with a splash of color and light, fluid fabrics that contrasted with the severity of the earlier pieces. Summery silk crepe dresses appeared in eye-popping fuchsia, canary yellow and tangerine, just right to lift the winter mood. —AP
MATTHEW WILLIAMSON
VIVIAN WESTWOOD Long one of Britain’s most celebrated designers, Westwood said she wants to try other challenges, including a television series on art and science after she shows her Gold Label collection in Paris next month. She was in an enviable position: Her new collection had brought the house down, supermodel Kate Moss-in a black top, tight jeans and black leather cap-was waiting to congratulate her, and the audience of adoring fans included singer Janet Jackson and model Naomi Campbell. The eclectic Red Label collection, which Westwood called romantic, began with models wearing tee shirts designed to call attention to the crisis in Haiti, in hopes of raising money for Campbell’s effort to help mothers and babies displaced by the earthquake
vibrant colors. With a variety of prints, fur, slim-cut leather pants and even low-rise harem pants, Williamson wowed a star-studded audience with his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. “Absolutely fantastic,” said ‘60s supermodel Twiggy, whose stellar career has been marked by longevity. “I want about ten things. I want the harem pants in every color, they were amazing, and also those evening dresses, I probably couldn’t wear them, but I think we’ll be seeing a lot of those on the red carpet.” Twiggy said Williamson’s clothes were extremely wearable. “I love Matthew to death, I think he’s a genius,” she said. “They’re for all age groups. The young look great in them. I’m certainly not young, and I love wearing them.” Actress Sienna Miller was also proud to pronounce herself a “FOM” — Friend of Matthew-and praised his outfits from her front row perch. So did model Yasmin Le Bon. “He’s taken the brand to a whole new level,” said Miller, who is showing her Twenty8Twelve collection, designed with her sister Savannah Miller, later Sunday night. The collection showed Williamson’s easy approach, with gray and black checked wool overcoats set off by fur sleeves or collars in the same colors. Underneath the coats, models wore sexy offthe-shoulder dresses or dresses cut extremely low in the back.
Pixie Geldof wears an outfit by designer Vivenne Westwood Red Label for her Autumn/Winter 2010 collection at London Fashion Week in London, Sunday. —AP
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
SPECTRUM
39
Fashion
‘Indian Super Queen’ beauty pageant
(Above) Indian Bobby reacts after winning the ‘Indian Super Queen’ beauty pageant for the transgender community in Mumbai on February 21, 2010. (Right) From (left) Indian 1st runner-up Rani, winner Bobby, second runners-up Ritu and Aparna blow kisses after the finals of the ‘Indian Super Queen’ beauty pageant for the transgender community. ‘Indian Super Queen’, launched in Mumbai on January 11, 2010 is the first ever beauty pageant organized for the transgender community in the country the latest in a series of recent attempts to break down barriers for India’s transgendered citizens. —AFP
ʻNot yet senileʼ Pierre Cardin Milan fashion show to still empire-building at 87 launch with tightened schedule P fter New York and London, Milan picks up the thread of the international fashion circuit tomorrow with a tighter schedule for the main shows to meet the needs of buyers and journalists. Several thousand buyers from around 40 countries are expected in Milan as well as 2,000 journalists. Many of them will then move on to the Paris shows, which stretches over nine days, from March 2 to 10. The tighter-than-usual event comes after fashion maven Anna Wintour, editor of the American Vogue magazine, put Italian noses out of joint this month when it emerged that she could only spare
A
three days for Milan, rather than the full week. “No one, even if she is called Anna Wintour, can allow themselves to make or unmake our fashion calendar,” Letizia Moratti, the mayor of Milan, told Italian reporters, calling for a united front against such pressure. Wintour, who served as the inspiration for the book and subsequent film “The Devil Wears Prada” which features the fearsome head of a fashion magazine, is regarded by many as the most influential person in the industry. Mario Boselli, president of the Italian National Fashion Chamber (CNMI), also said that designers should keep in mind their
Models walk past decorations as they present creations by designer Ana Locking during the Madrid Cibeles Fashion week yesterday in Madrid. —AFP
own strength and not give in to pressure from the “foreign press”. But the main fashion shows have nevertheless been reorganized over four days. This year, young Italian stylists will open the Milan fashion week with a show bringing together several newcomers who won their place on the catwalk in a competition. Young designers who have broken through in recent years will also feature. Thursday will include shows by Dolce&Gabbana, Fendi and Prada, while the highlight of Friday’s shows will be from Gianfranco Ferre, Versace and Jil Sander. Bottega Veneta, Max Mara, Ar mani and Gucci will follow
Saturday, with Mar ni, Rober to Cavalli and Missoni giving their shows on Sunday. While there will be other shows on Monday, none of the big names will take part. The Milan show will feature some 200 collections from Italian and foreign designers, featuring ready-to-wear women’s clothing for the autumn season. While many designers will stage the traditional catwalk shows, others have chosen to present their collections in showrooms or by appointment. In this rather more economic proposition, the clothes and accessories are presented much as they would be in a shop. —AFP
ierre Cardin likes to talk about selling his multibillion fashion empire, but though aged almost 88, he seems to have too many irons in the fire to contemplate retiring any time soon. Ushering three accountants out of his office-across the road from the French president’s-the indefatigable Cardin leaps out of his chair and waves a tiny shiny designerstyle metal box. “It’s a sewing kit, for travelers,” a slightly disheveled Cardin says in an interview ahead of publication of a new book on his career. “I think it will bring in lots of money. After all, everyone needs to sew on a button from time to time.” The last active survivor of the great postwar Paris fashion houses, Cardin from his cluttered office runs one of the world’s most successful fashion empires-a conglomerate that even in this corporate age has remained under his single ownership and leadership for 60 years. “I never had money to start with,” he proudly insists. “My company grew with the profits I made.” Reviled on and off by many of his contemporaries for exploiting his name, allegedly demeaning high fashion, this son of poor Italian immigrant parents celebrates the 60th anniversary of his firm claiming to own licenses for 1,000odd products sold under his name. “I cover the entire world, except perhaps North Korea, and I could go there too if I chose,” he says in his inimitably immodest way. Estimated at 310 million euros in personal wealth in 2009 and ranked 97th of top French fortunes by economic magazine Challenges, Cardin’s mixedbag conglomerate includes Paris theatres, Maxim’s restaurants, food and drink products, a new golf course, and, of course, fashion and other accessories. “My latest toy (the sewing kit) is an act of
creation,” he goes on to say. “It’s my name that brings in the cash.” One of the great visionary stylists of the 1960s, Cardin’s commercial strategy was equally revolutionary. He was the first of the designers for the rich-and-famous to launch a ready-to-wear collection, the first to move into men’s fashion-and the first to sell his brand-name. “Clothes are important, everyone has to dress,” he muses. “It’s like plants, like trees, you change your cover every season.” Cardin was also first to venture into China, India and
mark as did Elsa Schiaparelli, Madeleine Vionnet, Pierre Cardin.” What about Dior’s current creations under John Galliano? “It’s all costume, theatrical costume,” he says. “The entire fashion scene nowadays is nothing but costumes.” “Fashion is supposed to be wearable,” adds Cardin, whose sole Paris boutique continues to offer space-age-like designs. “Women should be able to live a normal life in their clothes.” “Fashion and design are not the same. Fashion is what you can wear. Design can be unpleasant and unpopular but
French fashion designer Pierre Cardin poses on February 17, 2010 in his office in Paris. —AFP Japan, respectively 30, 50 and 45 years ago. “I was right to do all this,” he says. “I very rarely advertise. My creation does it all.” Said to run the entire empire of 450 staff in Paris and 200,000 worldwide almost singlehandedly, and somewhat chaotically, Cardin has little time or favor for the current kings of couture. “To know whether a designer’s left a mark on fashion you need to close your eyes and think what they represent,” he says. “Chanel left her little suit, Paco Rabanne’s about metal. Courreges left a
it’s creative. So design is where the real value lies.” In July he plans one of his now rare catwalk shows, a sumptuous affair to mark the 60th anniversary of the brand. In between time he also plans to launch a pouch for carrying golf balls, an idea connected to his new golf course near the Marquis de Sade’s castle he owns in southern France. “Why not give the rich something to spend their money on? Without them the world would stop. “I’m hanging in, I’m not senile.” —AFP
McQueen’s former fashion college marks his death he London fashion college where Alexander McQueen studied paid tribute to the late designer at its masters degree course show Sunday, through the words of the man himself describing his time there. Central Saint Martins helped launched the careers of many of Britain’s top designers, including John Galliano, and its graduate catwalk show at London Fashion Week was a fitting place to mark McQueen’s suicide on February 11. The head-to-toe jumpsuits in white pleats, pink and blue men’s shirts, and trailing jer-
T
sey dresses with huge stars that graced the catwalk here Sunday were testament to the inventiveness of CSM students, who McQueen epitomized. The designer’s own words opened the show, through an audio interview he once gave describing how he ended up doing a masters at CSM despite having lef t school at 16 with only one qualification. “I actually went there to teach pattern cutting, and ended up doing the master’s degree. I only had one Olevel in art so it was quite cool,” said McQueen, who graduated from CSM in 1992. He added: “But what I
Messages for late British designer Alexander McQueen are pictured on a wall on the first day of the London Fashion Week, in central London, on February 19, 2010.—AFP
liked about it was the freedom of expression and being surrounded by like-minded people... it showed me there were other people out there like me.” Sunday’s masters degree show included collections from 22 young designers, including Matthew Harding, who created all-white fulllength outfits, whether jumpsuits or shirts and skirts worn over trousers, all made from white pleats. The monochrome trend continued with Jackie JS Lee, who matched structured tunics, trousers and skirts in all stone and all black with
simple detailing. Jackie JS Lee was jointly awarded the Harrods design award- 5,000 pounds (7,700 dollars, 5,700 euros) and a spot in the department store’s display window-with Lilly Heine, who adorned her outfits with blocks of fabric stuck together like plywood and cut to reveal the layers underneath. Another graduate, ShaoYen Chen, used a similar technique but sculpted white dresses out of thousands of compacted white fibres which were trimmed into big, ballooning sleeves and classic prom dress shapes. —AFP
www.kuwaittimes.net
‘Aisheen Still Alive in Gaza’ Wins at Berlinale 2010
‘A
isheen Still Alive in Gaza’, a documentary film produced by AlJazeera Children’s Channel , coproduced and directed by Nicolas Wadimoff was awarded the Forum Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. The jury members emphasized the film’s “open and unbiased view of the perseverance of a people - like a dandelion breaking through the asphalt.” In a special ceremony for independent juries’ awards held on Saturday, Faycal Hassairi, Executive Producer at JCC and Nicolas Wadimoff, Director of Aisheen, received the award on behalf of Al-Jazeera Children’s Channel. The Ecumenical Jury awards its prizes to one film in each category of the festival: the main competition, the forum and the panorama. The films are
Faycal Hassairi and Nicolas Wadimoff. selected based on their success in portraying actions and human experiences in the most respectful approach to human
dignity and universal values. Commenting on this accomplishment, Malika Alouane, Director of Channels’
Programming at Al-Jazeera Children’s Channel said: “The prize that ‘Aisheen Still Alive in Gaza’ received in Berlinale 2010 is a testimony to our strong production vision in adopting issues of concern to humankind; it also delivers JCC’s mission in overcoming the challenges and bridging the gap between people.” “We proudly dedicate this prize to Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, for her continuous support to the Channel since its launch in 2005,” she added. Alouane emphasized that “being awarded the prize of the Ecumenical Jury at such a prestigious and internationally renowned festival proves that ‘Aisheen Still Alive in Gaza’ succeeded in depicting the daily life of the people of Gaza post the Israeli attack in late 2008 in
an honest and objective manner.” “I am deeply moved by this award and would like to dedicate it to all the people in Gaza who helped make this movie a reality by allowing us into their lives,” said Nicolas Wadimoff, director of Aisheen; “I hope that their courage and dignity will touch hearts everywhere as they have touched mine,” he concluded. Aisheen Still Alive in Gaza witnessed an unprecedented success during the five screening sessions; tickets were sold out and some watched it standing or sitting on the cinema hall stairs. The Ecumenical Jury for the Berlinale 2010 consists of six members from all churches of Germany, NGOs, academics, and cinema and television content makers.
Hong Kong rejoices over Berlin film prize H
ong Kong celebrated a rare foreign prize for one of its films yesterday-a low-budget family drama set in the 1960s-a triumph viewed as a huge moral boost for a struggling industry overshadowed by the booming Chinese market. Alex Law’s “Echoes of the Rainbow” won the Crystal Bear prize at the Berlin International Film Festival over the weekend-the festival’s top accolade for youth-themed movies. It’s hardly an Oscar-it’s even a step down from Berlin’s top-tier Golden Bear and Silver Bear prizes-but it’s generated tremendous excitement in this former British colony des-
perate for a renaissance in its once-storied motion picture sector. At its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, when China was still opening up from decades of isolation from the West, this freewheeling capitalist city was a major center of Chinese-language cinema, churning out stylish kung fu and action thrillers that made international stars out of actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun-fat. But with the mainland economy now modernized and thriving, bringing the promise of hundreds of millions of theatergoers, movie production has shifted north, drawing Hong Kong’s top talent with it. In a sign
of the changing times, Chan also attended the Berlin festival-but he was there to promote a war film set in ancient China geared toward mainland audiences. With the Chinese film market now dominated by big-budget historical epics and imperial dramas shot against the vast landscapes of the mainland, stories set in Hong Kong have become all but extinct. While this densely populated financial hub of 7 million people returned to Chinese rule in 1997, many locals still pride themselves on their distinctive identity that draws from both Chinese and Western cultural influences.—AP
Hong Kong film director Alex Law poses with the Berlin International Film Festival Crystal Bear prize for his movIe ‘Echoes of a Rainbow’ during a press conference in Hong Kong yesterday.—AP
A journalist looks over newly excavated fortifications outside the Old City walls in Jerusalem, Monday.—AP
In ancient wall, scholar sees proof for Bible
A
n Israeli archaeologist says newly excavated ancient fortifications in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of the Bible’s King Solomon. Archaeologist Eilat Mazar says pottery shards date the walls to the 10th century BC If she’s right, the findings would indicate a strong central government in Jerusalem then because building city walls demanded great resources and organization.
One school of archaeologists, including Mazar, believes the Hebrew kings David and Solomon were 10th century rulers. A second school argues that David’s monarchy was mythical. Mazar says her findings provide support to the biblical account that David and Solomon ruled the city then. Based on the wall’s age and location, she theorized yesterday that it was built by Solomon.—AP
Indonesia’s president moonlights as pop star T
he words of the president of Indonesia boom through the room, and 24-year-old Desy grows quiet, listening to her leader’s message: “Is there in your heart? Is there in your spirit? The affection that I wait for like dew in my heart?” Desy, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, leans against the counter of this downtown music store and grins. This is her favorite of the nine ballads President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has penned for his latest album, released last month and entitled “Ku Yakin Sampai Di Sana,” or “I Believe I’ll Get There.” Though he’s perhaps more readily associated with concerns over terrorism and corruption than love and longing, Yudhoyono’s side career as a pop musician is not all that surprising in a place where the politician as performer is common. Case in point: at the height of Indonesia’s bloody battle against East Timor’s bid for independence in 1999, Indonesia’s former military boss, Gen. Wiranto, took some time out to croon Morris Albert’s hit “Feelings” at a gathering of military veterans. Strange as it may sound to outsiders, song is a means of communicating with Indonesia’s vast and fragmented population of 235 million. It is a way of connecting with the common people-a skill that has taken on great importance in a country that emerged from a dictatorship in 1998 and now allows the people to elect their leaders. The president’s songs, which cover everything from love and family to the environment and humanity, are all performed by popular local musicians. And the tune blasting through the music store — ”Adakah,” or “Is There?” — is sung by none other than Joy Tobing, the winner of the first season of Indonesian Idol. Desy, the sales clerk, acknowledges it’s a little weird. “But that’s the way Yudhoyono gets people to listen to more of his words,” she says. “As the president, maybe Yudhoyono likes for people to know more about himself.” This curious connection between politics and performance is actually a long-
In this photo taken Thursday, Feb 18, 2010, an album containing songs written by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is displayed at a music store in Jakarta, Indonesia.—AP standing tradition in Indonesia, where the sultans of old displayed their power in lavish dance dramas, says Barbara Hatley, a professor of Indonesian language, literature and popular culture at the University of Tasmania in Australia. Today, the country’s leaders benefit from huge media exposure, she says, and their performance skills are very much on show-and in competition. “It certainly has to do with democratization and the need to sort of sell your party and sell yourself,” she says. “It seemed to be something that local leaders are really supposed to do. When you have a concert or event, they should be up there joining in.” And join in they do. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Yudhoyono faced off against his opponent, Wiranto ... on the stage of Indonesian Idol.—AP
‘World’s best restaurant’ elBulli to become non-profit foundation
e
lBulli, the Spanish restaurant repeatedly crowned the world’s best, is to become a non-profit foundation from 2014, its avant-garde chef Ferran Adria announced yesterday. elBulli will become a “foundation for all avant-garde gastronomy lovers.., a breeding ground for new ideas and for new talents,” he told a news conference at a culinary fair in the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela. He said the new “private and nonprofit” foundation will grant between 20 and 25 scholarships annually for chefs and other industry professionals. “We want it to be a thinktank of gastronomic creativity,” said the controversial creator of “molecular gastronomy”. elBulli, on Spain’s northeastern Catalan coast, last year came top of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for the fourth year in a row following a poll of more than 800 chefs, restaurant critics and industry insiders for Britain’s Restaurant Magazine. Gourmets the world over reserve months in advance for a table in the establishment, where about 30 avant-garde dishes are available on a menu for a price of about 200 euros (270 dollars). But Adria announced last month that his restaurant would close for two years from 2012, citing fatigue and a need to plan for the future. He said yesterday that one of the long-term aims of the
new foundation would be the completion of an “exhaustive and detailed” encyclopedia of contemporary cuisine. The foundation’s gastronomic creations will be available for tasting every year from 2014 “by a certain number of customers.” “The creation of this foundation is another step forward, certainly very significant, in our aim for constant evolution and permanent commitment to creativity,” he said. Adria, 47, who joined the kitchen staff of elBulli in 1984, and Heston
Blumenthal in England have since the late 1990s rocked the world of gastronomy by using science to “deconstruct” and rebuild food, both astonishing diners and delighting reviewers. Taste-bud treats on the elBulli menu have included oyster meringue, hot ice cream, frothy truffle cappuccino and liquid ravioli, while vegetables are turned into lollipops or whipped foams. But Adria has had to respond to critics who say the chemicals used in his “molecular gastronomy” make it unhealthy.—AFP
This file picture dated January 26, 2010 shows Spanish chef Ferran Adria giving a press conference at Madrid Fusion, the annual international culinary conference focusing on the cutting-edge in haute cuisine gastronomic fair, in Madrid.—AFP